In Memory of Laura Pollan

Today, all of Cuba grieves for the passing of Laura Pollan, the co-founder of las Damas de Blanco (The Ladies in White). For nearly a decade, she helped to stage weekly protests with other wives of political prisoners to press for their release. She never missed a week, regardless of whether it rained or if the island was awaiting the imminent arrival of a hurricane. She also never gave up hope that her voice, and the voices of so many other families, would be heard.

She was 63 years old when she passed from this world on Friday, October 14th. According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, she had been in intensive care for acute respiratory problems since October 7th.

As the head of the Commission said of her, "She was a teacher and a housewife, but she became a leader for civil rights. She has played a fundamental role, without a doubt even beyond winning freedom for her husband."

Indeed, it is true that few can remember a time when Pollan was seen wearing any colour other than white. But, before the Black Spring of 2003 that saw her husband and dozens upon dozens of other Cubans imprisoned on trumped up charges, Laura Pollan was a high school literature teacher who loved cats and plants. She steered clear of politics.

When she dared to speak out against her husband's imprisonment and to call for his release, the Cuban authorities labelled her a "traitor" and a "subversive agent" in the employ of the United States. Even under attacks by paramilitary forces, she and the other brave members of the Ladies in White have continued to march peacefully once a week, a silent and non-violent expression of resistance against a decaying dictatorship that stubbornly clings to power.

IFLRY stands in solidarity with the Ladies in White, the family of Laura Pollan, as well as all those who knew this courageous person, as they go through a difficult and trying time. Her loss is felt around the globe. But, as Laura Pollan passes from this world, she also leaves behind a powerful legacy. The weekly marches of las Damas de Blanco have secured the release of many political prisoners. The decision to continue, to carry on the legacy of Laura Pollan, is a welcome one.

On behalf of the IFLRY Cuba Programme Team, I commit myself to intensifying our efforts, to giving all that we can and all that we have in the struggle for a brighter future for Cuba and the Cuban people. Laura Pollan deserves no less from us.

Paul Pryce

IFLRY Cuba Programme Manager

Source: IFLRY

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Cuba: united opposition launches a new political platform

Still divided, the Cuban opposition presented to the press on Wednesday a new political platform called “The Way of the People”, presented by some as a project of “democratic transition” and by others as simply a “common position” .

More than fourty opposition leaders and former political prisoners of various currents and trends have endorsed this document proposes a “national dialogue”, “new laws”, a “referendum”, and remains open to new members.

Developed by Oswaldo Paya, leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and Sakharov Prize 2002 of the European Parliament, the document proposes to “establish a genuine national dialogue and to initiate an inclusive process of change.”

Among the signatories are the best-known opponents: Guillermo Fariñas, Sakharov Prize 2010 and led dozens of hunger strikes, Laura Pollan, leader of the Ladies in White, a group of wives and relatives of political prisoners-, liberal economist Martha Beatriz Roque, the Social Democrat Manuel Cuesta Morua or Elizardo Sanchez, the leader of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights, tolerated by the authorities.

Former political prisoners as Felix Navarro, Angel Moya, Guido Sigler and José Daniel Ferrer also among the signatories of the platform.

“The document was drafted by the signatories, and I am sure it is viable and necessary because the message is for all the people of Cuba,” he told AFP Oswaldo Paya.

In a “basic proposal”, the document calls for new legal provisions guaranteeing freedom of speech, press, association, worship, internal and external migration, and the right of citizens to run for public office.

Opponents also offer “a referendum for the people to decide sovereignly changes” constitutional and legal and paves the way for “citizen participation on this journey of change.”

Similarly, the signatories want the organization to “a national dialogue and free elections for all public office and for a Constituent Assembly.”

“More than a political project, I think it is mainly to express the will to establish a common position in specific circumstances,” he told AFP Manuel Cuesta Morua.

For Elizardo Sanchez, the document “provides a set of ideas that open a field for reflection, but it is not a proposal for a transition.” “This is a positive contribution to think the time of transition when it comes,” he added.

In half a century of communist rule in Cuba, opponents, considered by authorities as “mercenaries” in the pay of the United States have developed various projects and proposals for transition, all gone unheeded.

The best known, the “Varela Project”, named after a 19th century priest-independence, also developed and supported by Oswaldo Paya, was as a petition for a referendum on popular initiative. Presented to Parliament in 2002, the project has been buried by the assembly that wrote into the constitution the character “irrevocable” of socialism in Cuba.

The Cuban authorities, under the presidency of Raul Castro has launched in the spring a series of economic reforms designed to prevent the bankruptcy of a system modeled on the Soviet Union of the seventies, do not listen to proposals from dissidents and highlight the changes are also aimed at strengthening the system.

by Sandeep

Source: PISQA 

The whole document (in Spanish)

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Obama eases Cuba visa, remittance and travel curbs

President Barack Obama on Friday eased restrictions on visas, remittances and travel under the US embargo on Cuba, seeking to weaken the long grip on power of the communist Havana government. The move will expand religious and educational travel between the United States and Cuba, allow any airport to offer charter flights to the country and restore cultural initiatives suspended by the previous Bush administration.

"These measures will increase people-to-people contact, support civil society in Cuba; enhance the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people and help promote their independence from Cuban authorities," the White House said in a statement.

"The president believes these actions, combined with the continuation of the embargo, are important steps in reaching the widely shared goal of a Cuba that respects the basic rights of all its citizens.

"These steps build upon the president's April 2009 actions to help reunite divided Cuban families; to facilitate greater telecommunications with the Cuban people; and to increase humanitarian flows to Cuba."

Obama's move means that religious organizations will be able to sponsor travel to Cuba under license and will allow higher educational institutions to send students to Cuba and restore licenses of educational exchanges.

Staff and students will also be allowed to attend conferences, seminars and workshops in Cuba and there will be more scope for journalists to travel to Cuba, according to the White House.

In another move, Obama will restore a license allowing any American to send remittances of up to 500 dollars per quarter to people in Cuba are not part of their families, as long as they are not senior Cuban government or Communist Party officials.

Obama also ordered that all US international airports will be able to provide charters to and from Cuba.

Currently, only New York, Miami and Los Angeles airports have that privilege.

The US embargo on Cuba was partially imposed in 1960, just after Fidel Castro staged his revolution, became law in 1962 and is now the biggest remaining hangover from the Cold War. The United States bans trade with and most travel to Cuba.

But Obama has the power, under legislation passed in 2000, to regulate 12 categories of authorized travel to Cuba.

He used his presidential authority in 2009 to reverse the Bush administration's tightened restrictions on immediate family travel and allowed Cuban Americans to send remittances to relatives.

But he cannot lift the embargo on Cuba unless the move is authorized by Congress, an unlikely prospect.

In a first reaction, Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio, born in Miami to Cuba American parents who fled Castro's revolution, condemned the decision to ease restrictions.

"I strongly oppose any new changes that weaken US policy towards Cuba. I was opposed to the changes that have already been made by this administration and I oppose these new changes," Rubio said.

"I believe that what does need to change are the Cuban regime's repressive policies towards the independent press and labor unions, its imprisonment of political prisoners and constant harassment of citizens with dissenting views, and its refusal to allow free multi-party elections.

"It is unthinkable that the administration would enable the enrichment of a Cuban regime that routinely violates the basic human rights and dignity of its people."

Source: Hindustan Times

Reaction to easing travel to Cuba mixed

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Cuba To Promote Foreign Investment

Cuba in future will be a country that promotes foreign investment, expands the private sector and dutifully pays off its debts, according to a proposal revealed on Monday by the ruling Communist party.

But it will not renounce the socialist system installed half a century ago after Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution, according to the 32-page document that will guide debates at a Communist party congress in April.

"The economic policy in the new phase will correspond with the principle that only socialism is capable of overcoming difficulties and preserving the gains of the revolution, and that in the updating of the economic model, planning will be paramount, not the market." - it said.

The document, entitled "Guidelines of Economic and Social Policy," is the program of reforms President Raul Castro will place before the party congress for its consideration.

They could be modified during extensive public discussions ahead of the congress, which was announced by the president on Monday night and will be the first since 1997.

The congress is where Cuba's only legal political party sets direction for the country, supposedly for the next five years, although it will have been 14 years since the last meeting.

The April gathering will be particularly important because, given the age of current leadership, it will be the last for the generation that fought the revolution and has held power since then, hewing hard to communist ideology.

President Castro, 79, took office in 2008 after older brother Fidel Castro, 84, ruled the island for 49 years and finally resigned due to ill health.

He promised to improve the daily lives of Cubans and has focussed on economic improvement, including major reforms announced in September to cut a million government jobs and expand the private sector by granting 250,000 new licenses for self-employment.

ONLY THE ECONOMY
He said Cuba's economy will be the only topic at the congress.

The guidelines include reforms already begun by Raul Castro -- among them the reduction of the state's role in the society and the decentralization of agricultural management.

They include a proposal to eliminate the monthly food ration Cubans receive, symbol of decades of state paternalism and a particular target of Raul Castro, who says handouts have discouraged productivity.

They also call for provisions for bank credits for the new self-employed and wholesale stores to cut their costs, but also for them to pay taxes to finance public spending.

In contrast to past policy, state-owned businesses that do not make money will be completely liquidated.

And the authorities will look to improve the country's international credibility "through the strict fulfilment of contract commitments."

Cuba's standing with the international business community has been damaged the past two years as a cash crunch forced the freezing of Cuban bank accounts held by foreign businesses and of payments to many of them.

The party also proposes "to continue encouraging the participation of foreign capital in Cuba, complementing national investment in those activities of interest to the country."


The document mentions, for example, the development of golf courses, marinas and luxury condominiums to attract wealthier visitors to the Caribbean island.

Raul Castro said that before being distributed, a copy of the guidelines was submitted to Fidel Castro for his consideration. Even though he is no longer president, he is still head of the Communist party.

By Esteban Israel

From: SwissInfo

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"Women in White" - A documentary about the Ladies in White

More "guts" than the rulers of Cuba.

Narrated by Andy Garcia, the 55 minute documentary, The Women in White, tells the story of courageous Cuban women trying to free their imprisoned men.

In March 2003, Castro ordered a crackdown of dissidents.  His secret police arrested 75 men – journalists, writers and human rights activists – during three nights now known as “Black Spring.”

Two weeks later, the men’s wives, mothers, daughters and sisters gathered to pray for the release of their loved ones.  In that crystallized moment, “Las Damas De Blanco” was born. Every Sunday since, the women dress in white and silently walk the streets of Havana. 

This documentary was finished last year. Some things have changed since then, but many political prisoners still remain in jail and their wives, daughters and mothers continue to fight for their freedom.

Ladies in White 

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Cuban dissident wins Sakharov prize

Guillermo farinas during his 135-day hunger strike earlier this year

The European parliament has awarded its prestigious Sakharov human rights prize to Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas, parliamentary sources told AFP.

"The Sakharov winner is Guillermo Farinas," a source said on condition of anonymity.

The 48-year-old journalist and psychologist has often used hunger strikes, putting his own health at risk, as a means of protest to achieve greater freedoms in the Communist island of Cuba.

Farinas is the third Cuban to receive the prize, after Oswaldo Paya in 2002 and the Ladies in White group of women whose husbands are jailed in Cuba, which received the award in 2005.

European parliament president Jerzy Buzek will officially announce Farinas as the winner of the Sakharov Prize later on Thursday. The award will be presented to the winner on December 15.

The 22nd Sakharov Prize, named after late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, comes with a cash award of E50,000 ($A70,932).

Ethiopian opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa and Israeli rights group Breaking the Silence had also been on the shortlist for this year's award.

The decision to give this year's award to Farinas came four days before European Union foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg to discuss the 27-nation bloc's relations with Cuba.

Spain's Socialist government wants the EU to normalise relations with Cuba, a position opposed by the Czech Republic and Slovakia, former communist bloc countries.

The EU's "common position" at present is to insist that Cuba make progress on human rights and democracy before ties are normalised.

Farinas held a 135-day hunger strike earlier this year that left him near death but compelled the Cuban government to agree to release 52 political prisoners.

Another fast between 1995 and 1997 brought attention to his allegations of corruption at the hospital where he worked.

He also carried out a six-month hunger strike in 2006, but that time he failed to force the government to allow freer access to the Internet.

From: World News Australia

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Using Che Guevara image riles some Cuban Americans

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Some Cuban Americans in south Florida are upset to see a picture of revolutionary Che Guevara promoting an irreverent car race.

The “24 Horas de Cuba del Norte” — or 24 Hours of Cuba of the North — is part of a national circuit of farcical auto races called 24 Hours of LeMons. Drivers spend less than $500 and race junk cars decorated like Halloween floats.

Other races in the circuit have names like “The Can’t Get Bayou” in New Orleans and “The Rod Blagojevich Never-Say-Die 500″ in Chicago.

But the use of Cuban revolutionary Guevara’s image in the Dec. 30-31 race’s logo crosses the line for some native Cubans. Critics say it’s like using Ku Klux Klan imagery to advertise in the South.

Race organizers say they don't plan to change the campaign.

From: Cheat Games

Video - The Victims of Che Guevara

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Cuban church leader arrested on questionable charges

A respected church leader in Cuba was unexpectedly arrested on Monday and taken to a town in Central Cuba where he is expected to stand trial. CSW believes the charges of “offensive behaviour” and “threats” against Reverend Roberto Rodriguez to be false.

Those close to Reverend Rodriguez, who is in his late 60s and in poor health, say he became a government target after the organization he led publicly withdrew from a government sanctioned religious umbrella group in the second half of 2008, and that the criminal charges against him are an attempt to discredit and silence him. His arrest was so sudden that Reverend Rodriguez was unable to take important medication with him. It is feared that without it, his health will continue to deteriorate.

Reverend Roberto Rodriguez

According to his family, state security officials arrived at the home without warning on 30 August and forced Reverend Rodriguez to go with them. The family understands that he will be taken to the town of Placetas where he will be put on trial sometime over the next few days. Prosecutors are asking that he be given a one-year prison sentence.

Charges were first brought against Reverend Rodriguez in late 2008 and he was given three trial dates over the course of 2009 but no trial ever took place. He and his family were forced to move after being subjected to constant verbal and physical abuse from their neighbours, apparently acting with the support of the government. He has spent the last 21 months under house arrest.

CSW is calling on the Cuban authorities to release Reverend Rodriguez immediately and drop all charges against him.

CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said, “The treatment of Reverend Rodriguez and his family over the past 21 months has been disgraceful. The European Union will be looking at the human rights situation and reviewing its Common Position on Cuba this month. While some heralded the release of some Cuban prisoners of conscience this summer as an improvement in the human rights situation, the arrest of Reverend Rodriguez this week demonstrates that the Cuban government is not interested in real human rights reform. We call on the EU to make urgent representations on behalf of Reverend Rodriguez to the Cuban government.”

From: Christian Today

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Cuba expands free-market reforms

The Cuban government has issued two free-market reforms aimed at boosting its struggling economy, including allowing foreign investors to lease state-owned land for up to 99 years.

The moves, announced in the official Gazette newspaper on Thursday and Friday, are considered a significant shift for the country as Raul Castro, the country's president, promises to scale back government control of businesses.

The government has said it was modifying its property laws "with the aim of amplifying and facilitating" foreign investment in tourism, and that doing so would provide "better security and guarantees to the foreign investor".

A small group of investors in Canada, Europe and Asia have been waiting to crack the market for long-term tourism in Cuba, built on drawing wealthy visitors who could live part-time on the island instead of visiting for a few days.

Golf tourism

It may also help the country embrace golf tourism.

Investment firms have for decades proposed building 18-hole courses ringed by luxury housing under long-term government leases.

Cuba currently has just two golf courses nationwide, but the tourism ministry has said it wants to build at least 10 more.

"I think this is huge. This is probably one of the most significant movesin recent years relative to attracting foreign investment,'' Robin Conners, CEO of Vancouver-based Leisure Canada, told the Associated Press.

The company plans to begin construction next year on a luxury hotel in Havana and also wants to build hotels, villas and two championship golf courses on a stretch of beach in Jibacoa, 60km to the east.

Cuba has allowed leases of state land for up to 50 years with the option to extend them for an additional 25, but foreign investors had long pressed tourism officials to endorse 99-year deals to provide additional peace of mind to investors.

The longer leases also mean lower interest rates on international banking mortgages.

Self-employment

Another decree put forward allows the expanded sale of farm products, and could have far greater impact on ordinary Cubans.

It authorises them to produce their own agricultural goods - from melons to milk - and sell them from home or in kiosks.

They must pay taxes on any earnings.
 

It is also the first major expansion of self-employment rules since Castro said in an address before parliament on August 1 that the government would reduce state controls on small businesses - a significant development in a country where about 95 per cent of people work for the state.

The new rules are consistent with other efforts by Castro's government, which has allowed minor free-market openings while also seeking to eliminate black-market income.

It has also been made easier to obtain permits for home improvements and increased access to building materials, while more strictly enforcing prohibitions against illegal building.

From: Aljazeera

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Mother of Cuban Dissident Died in Hunger Strike Pays Respects to Her Son

Mother of Orlando Zapata, a dissident who died in February after an 85-day hunger strike, Reina Luisa Tamayo pays respects to her son at local cemetery after weeks of being blocked by government supporters. Her son, Orlando Zapata, died on February 23 during his hunger strike for better prison conditions, bringing widespread international condemnation.

Tamayo said that she has been harassed by Cuban police in an effort to prevent her from marching.

However, Tamayo was allowed to march on Sunday after weeks of encounters with pro-government crowds who thwarted her previous attempts.

Reina Luisa Tamayo vowed to continue her protests in honor of her son.

Although Tamayo is not a member of the organization, the Cuban dissident group the Ladies in White held a protest in Havana to show support for her, and to demand the release of all remaining political prisoners on the island.

Laura Pollan, a member of the Ladies in White and the wife of Hector Maceda, a political prisoner, thanked governments and non-government organizations for their support of Tamayo.

So far, 26 of 52 political prisoners have been released, along with their relatives, into exile in Spain.

Most of them were arrested in March 2003 during a crackdown on opposition to the communist regime. 

From: TAN Network

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What is in fact the Castro communist revolution?

 

On April 11th (2003), the Cuban government executed three men accused of hijacking a ferry.  Worldwide outrage and condemnation have been reported, a welcome development.  But, the brutal nature of the Castro regime is not news.  Thousands of its victims have written this tragic story for over 44 years.  Close to 6,000 executions for political reasons have been independently documented, a figure believed lower than the actual number.
 
On April 2nd a group of ten hijacked a ferry with 50 passengers in an attempt to flee Cuba for the United States.   A standoff of one day ended without violence, although the hijackers were reportedly armed with one pistol and several knives. On April 8th, the three ringleaders -Lorenzo Enrique Copello Castillo, Barbaro Leodan Sevilla García and Jorge Luis Martínez Isaac- were sentenced to death for acts of terrorism in secret summary trials, in total disregard of due process of law.   Less than three days later they were executed by firing squad, their families notified only after the bodies had been buried under cement.  Seven alleged co-conspirators received prison sentences ranging from life to three years. 

 
The executions were believed to be the first in three years. In its four decade long reign in power, however, the Cuban Communist government has executed thousands in its effort to crush opposition. A documentation effort led by Dr. Armando Lago, the Truth Recovery Archive on Cuba, is recording the loss of life resulting from the Cuban Revolution. It reports executions of eighteen men who, from 1961 to 1992, attempted to flee the country by boat, most without resorting to force or violence. In 1963, for example, the New York Times reported that three Protestant ministers left Cuba by boat as part of a group of nineteen. They arrived at Anguilla Key, Bahamas, where the Cuban Coast Guard staged a raid.  Returned to Cuba, Reverends José Durado, Pablo Rodríguez and Antonio González were swiftly executed for exiting the country illegally.
 
Cuba’s Penal Code establishes the death penalty, delivered by firing squad, for a large number of causes that include numerous acts against state security, including hijacking.  The Penal Code also declares illegal entry to and exit from the national territory as crimes punishable with prison. The Truth Recovery Archive on Cuba has documented the assassination of 73 people, including children, caught while attempting to flee the country by sea.  Cuban patrols have machine gunned the escapees or rammed their vessels, drowning them. Many more anecdotal accounts are known, including the sinking of rafts with sandbags thrown from aircraft.
 
The Castro regime has shown time and time again its mercilessness with those who challenge its absolute rule. The executions came in the wake of a crackdown on Cuba’s peaceful dissident movement and two plane hijackings.  As world attention has been focused on Iraq, 75 human rights’ activists and independent journalists and librarians received prison terms ranging up to 28 years for conspiring with U.S. diplomats to subvert the government. 
 
For additional information on the Truth Recovery Archive on Cuba and updates on research on loss of life during the Cuban Revolution, go to www.CubaArchive.org.

From: Cuba Archive 

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Cuba: mother of dead hunger striker banned from marking son's death

Amnesty International has called on the Cuban authorities to end the ongoing harassment of the mother of a prisoner of conscience who died following a hunger strike.
Reina Luisa Tamayo, whose son Orlando Zapata Tamayo died in February this year, has been repeatedly harassed by authorities and government supporters during the regular marches she carries out in the town of Banes, in memory of her son.
Reina Luisa Tamayo told Amnesty how on Sunday 15 August government supporters arrived early in the morning and surrounded her house, preventing her and her relatives and friends from marching and attending mass at the church.
Ahead of the march Cuban security forces also allegedly detained some of the women due to attend in their homes for up to 48 hours, without providing any explanation.
Amnesty International’s Deputy Americas Director, Kerrie Howard said:
“Reina Luisa Tamayo is simply paying tribute to her son who died in tragic circumstances, and that must be respected by the authorities.
Every Sunday Reina Luisa Tamayo, who is usually accompanied by relatives and friends, walks from her home to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, to attend mass, from where they march to the cemetery, where Orlando is buried.
Reina Luisa also told Amnesty that six loudspeakers were installed near her house and were used to shout slogans against her and the Ladies in White, an organisation of female relatives of prisoners of conscience campaigning for their release.
Amnesty International has also expressed its concern at a series of recent detentions by the police of independent journalists and dissidents.  Writer Luis Felipe Rojas Rozabal was detained by the police at 7am on 16 August, at his home in the town of San Germán, province of Holguín.
Luis Felipe’s family is unaware of the reasons of his arrest, but they have said they suspect this might be related to his criticism of the government. He has been arbitrarily detained on several previous occasions in similar circumstances.
Several members of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, a network of political dissident organisations, have also been detained.
Kerrie Howard continued:

“At a time when the Cuban government has begun to release prisoners of conscience, the campaign of harassment against Reina Luisa Tamayo and the arbitrary detention of journalists and dissident figures shows that the authorities are yet to make significant progress on human rights.”

Background
In March 2003, Orlando Zapata Tamayo was arrested and, a year later, sentenced to three years in prison for “disrespect”, “public disorder” and “resistance”. This was the first of a series of convictions for “disobedience” and “disorder in a penal establishment”.
Orlando was one of dozens of prisoners of conscience adopted by Amnesty International in Cuba at the time. The majority were among the 75 people arrested as part of the massive March 2003 crackdown by authorities against political activists.
In early December 2009, Orlando started a hunger strike to campaign for the release of prisoners of conscience held in Cuba. He died on 23 February 2010.
Currently there are at least 30 prisoners of conscience in Cuba’s jails.  Last month following talks held between Cuban authorities and Roman Catholic Church officials in Havana, the Cuban government agreed to release 52 of the 53 prisoners of conscience which remained in Cuba’s jails. So far 23 have been released.
Amnesty International calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience currently held in Cuba, including lawyer Rolando Jiménez Posada who is serving a 12-year prison sentence and who is not as yet scheduled for release.

From: Amnesty International UK

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Raul Castro wants “an opening” with Washington to help with the economy

Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Roman Catholic archbishop of Havana, told The Washington Post that Cuban President Raul Castro wants “an opening” with the United States.

“He has a desire for an opening with the US government,” Ortega was quoted as saying. “He repeated to me on several occasions that he is ready to talk to the United States government directly, about every issue”.
Ortega and the Catholic Church led negotiations with the Cuban government that secured in recent weeks the release of more than 50 dissidents who have been jailed for years.
The church official made the comments in an interview with the columnist Jackson Diehl, who published them in Monday's edition of the US daily.
According to Ortega, Castro's motivation to improve relations with the United States lies in the chance that Cuba's economy can be revived by US trade and investment.
When asked whether such talks could include democratic reform as requested by the administration of US President Barack Obama, the cardinal said things need to be taken “step by step.”
“It's not realistic to begin at the end. This is a process. The most important thing is to take steps in the process” Ortega said.
He highlighted the current situation as “something new” and as something that is set to “open possibilities” in the communist island.
Ortega was in Washington last week to collect a prize, in what was his second visit to the US capital in a little over one month.
He met with high officials of the Obama administration, including Obama's National Security Adviser Jim Jones and Arturo Valenzuela, the Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. In his first visit to Washington in late June, he had already met with Valenzuela.

From: MercoPress

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Extended Street Footage- El Maleconazo- Cuban Uprising for Freedom on August 5, 1994

Amateur video footage of the "maleconazo" uprising in Havana, Cuba on August 5, 1994. This spontaneous demonstration of the Cuban people's desire for freedom is being remembered around the world on August 5, 2009 as "Cuban Resistance Day."

Video no profesional mostrando imágenes del levantamiento conocido como el maleconazo, ocurrido en La Habana, Cuba el 5 de agosto de 1994. Esta manifestación espontánea del deseo del pueblo cubano por la libertad se recordará en todo el mundo el 5 de agosto de 2009 como El Día de la Resistencia Cubana

5th August, 1994

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Cuba tries armed men tied to US anti-Castro group

Santa Clara streets

Three armed men who were intercepted by Cuban border guards in 2001 and have been awaiting trial since then on charges they planned acts of sabotage went to court behind closed-doors Friday, according to a veteran human rights activist.
Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said that during a roughly eight-hour hearing in the central city of Santa Clara prosecutors presented their case against the three Cuban-born exiles: Ihosvani Suris de la Torre, Santiago Padron Quintero and Maximo Pradera Valdes, also known as Maximo Robaina.
Authorities are seeking 30-year prison sentences for Padron and Pradera, and life behind bars for Suris. A judge will now rule on their guilt and determine an appropriate sentence for each — though it was not clear when that decision would come.
"The trial is ready for sentencing," Sanchez said by phone Friday night. He said the three men were transferred from a maximum-security prison in Havana to Santa Clara for their day in court.
Island border agents first intercepted the men on the northern coast of Villa Clara province, of which Santa Clara is the capital. After exchanging gunfire with Cuban authorities, the three fled to Jutia Key Island, where they were arrested April 26, 2001.
They were armed with four AK-47 assault rifles, an M-3 rifle, three Makarov pistols and night goggles, all purchased openly at stores in Miami, according to evidence Cuban prosecutors detailed on state television in the months following the arrests.
In Miami, Andres Nazario Sargen, leader of anti-Castro paramilitary group Alpha 66, said in 2001 that Suris and Robaina were active members of the group but went to Cuba independently. He said back then that Padron had been a member years ago, but had not been active lately.
The three have long featured prominently in a video shown several times a week on Cuban state television, where the voice of Suris is apparently heard, confessing that the group arrived in Cuba to commit acts of violence. That same presentation includes a bugged phone conversation between Suris and a man identified as a leader of the anti-Castro, Cuban-American community, detailing a plan to detonate an explosive inside the Tropicana, Havana's best-known cabaret.
Cuban authorities did not comment on Friday's proceedings, and rarely discuss such matters publicly.
Sanchez's commission is not recognized by Cuba's communist government, but largely allowed to operate.
Sanchez said he did not know exactly why it took eight years for the three to go to court, but that he suspected it was no coincidence that authorities held a trial a day after the U.S. State Department again included Cuba on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba has bristled at that charge, which Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez dismissed as "two-faced and hypocritical."

WILL WEISSERT (AP)

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Cuba: The repression has to stop

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Five Cuban dissidents reject proposed exile

Havana, July 14 (DPA) Five of 52 dissidents that Cuba has agreed to release from prison and send into exile, have refused to go to Spain in line with the deal.

As the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco, a group of wives and mothers of dissidents) said Wednesday, the five have informed Havana’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega of their decision.

Several released political prisoners have arrived in Spain since Tuesday and were to decide whether to stay there or go elsewhere, under an agreement between Cuban and Spanish authorities brokered by the Roman Catholic Church.

According to the Ladies in White, Pablo Arguelles Moran, Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique, Regis Iglesias Ramirez and Felix Navarro Rodriguez have refused to leave the communist island.

Cuba agreed last week to release 52 political prisoners after talks mediated by Spain and the Catholic Church. Spain is expected to receive up to 20 of the dissidents.

If any of the exiled prisoners wanted to return to Cuba, they would need special permission from the Cuban government.

From: CalcuttaTube

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