This weekend in the U.S., we celebrate Memorial Day.  Started in 1868, following the Civil War,  this holiday has served as an annual remembrance of the nation’s war dead.  Flowers and American flags are placed at grave sites of service members who were casualties in the nation’s wars.  It was first called “Decoration Day.”

President Barack Obama spoke on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend at the National War College on U.S. counter-terrorism strategy.

The speech, available in full here, is summarized in a New York Times editorial The End of the Perpetual War, which reads in part:

For the first time, a president stated clearly and unequivocally that the state of perpetual warfare that began nearly 12 years ago is unsustainable for a democracy and must come to an end in the not-too-distant future.

Of course, no counter-terrorism speech by a U.S. president, even one about dismantling some of the dangerous policies his administration inherited from its predecessor, would be complete without a list of interventions, swords and ploughshares, which will remain active parts of U.S. foreign policy going forward.

But, of critical interest to us, Mr. Obama also said the following:

• Now is the moment to ask hard questions about the nature of today’s threats and how we should confront them, because what we do affects our standing in the world and our vital interests in the region.
• He warned that “Unless we discipline our thinking, our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or continue to grant Presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states.”
• He quoted James Madison, our fourth president, who said “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”
• Most of all, he defined the current threat as “lethal yet less capable al Qaeda affiliates; threats to diplomatic facilities and businesses abroad; homegrown extremists. This is the future of terrorism.”

Tellingly, in a speech that ran to nearly seven-thousand words and defined the future of counter-terrorism policy, President Obama never mentioned “Cuba”.  Not once.

And yet, this is the same President Obama who decided to keep Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list for the thirty-first consecutive year.  The same president who – we are now told – is excluding from entry into the United States some of Cuba’s most important scholars so they cannot attend a meeting of the Latin American Studies Association in Washington next week.  Some states of perpetual war, as George Orwell might have said, are more equal than others.

Just a year after Decoration Day was first celebrated, African-Americans in Baltimore turned out for a demonstration.  As the Baltimore Sun reported, “A procession including the Sons of Gideon, Lincoln Rangers and the Hannibal Club formed in downtown Baltimore and marched to the cemetery under the banner held aloft by Capt. William H. Butler that proclaimed, ‘Give us equal rights and we will protect ourselves.’”

By turning out to remind their city of the wartime sacrifices by all soldiers, black and white, they expressed their democratic faith in an effort to make their country better.

On the eve of this Memorial Day, we simply express the hope that when the subject of Cuba and the terror list next arises, President Obama will remember the remarks he delivered at a time when he set politics aside and apparently said what he actually believes.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

U.S. reportedly to deny visas of Cuban scholars headed for LASA… again

As we went to press, a Cuban colleague wrote to us that the U.S. Interests Section in Havana had expressed its intention to deny visas to several Cuban scholars who planned to attend the International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, next week in Washington, D.C. Those individuals denied entry by the State Department include Milagros Martínez, Vice Rector of the University of Havana, and Rafael Hernández, director of the internationally respected Temas magazine.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that this has happened. Last year, eleven academics were similarly denied visas at the last minute, with a Washington Post editorial stating that “the reasons for the rejections are mysterious and mystifying. Of the 11, many are well known and internationally respected academics with long-standing ties to top American scholars. One is a former ambassador to the European Union.”

The reasoning behind this year’s denials is equally mystifying. What is certain is that the State Department’s denial of visas to Cuban academics, year after year, threatens the academic exchange enjoyed at LASA’s annual conference, and is inconsistent with what President Obama calls “the openness and freedom on which our way of life depends.”  During the Bush Administration, the exclusion of Cuban academics forced LASA to move its meeting elsewhere for several years, to the detriment of U.S. cities and businesses that missed the opportunity to host and provide services to the event, which convenes some 5,000 scholars each year.

Once again, these scholars will stare at empty chairs and name plates, instead of engaging with their Cuban counterparts in discussions that are unique to the community brought together by LASA – just the type of meaningful interactions that the U.S. should facilitate, not hinder.

U.S. diplomat interacts with blogger and tweeter gathering in Havana

Conrad Tribble, the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, attended a street meet-up of Cuban bloggers and tweeters this week, many of whom hold critical views of the U.S. mission on the island, reports the Associated Press. The meeting was organized by a group of social media users who had once before held the informal gathering, organizing under the hashtag #TwittHab.

Tribble, who has served in Havana for nine months, has an active Twitter account through which he interacts with a number of Cuban users. His arrival prompted some mixed and surprising reactions, particularly given the demure approach he reportedly took, mostly listening to the exchanges taking place. He further explained his appearance in a response to a Cuban blogger here, writing “Dialogue, in spite of political or ideological differences, is essential to diplomacy.”

Some strong supporters of Cuba’s government criticized Tribble’s visit, while others thanked him for his participation, and encouraged further online discussion. Former Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray wrote,

“Opening the doors to Mr. Tribble is an intelligent, courteous and appropriate step. The response cannot be silence. … If Mr. Tribble wants to know how we Cubans think about all trends and opinions; receiving and listening to him strengthens us, it does not weaken us.”

Josefina Vidal, Director of North American Department of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, meets with U.S. Department of State

Josefina Vidal, director of the North America Department of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, met with U.S. State Department officials to discuss bilateral issues during a trip this week to Washington, D.C., reports Café Fuerte. Included among the topics discussed were the status of Alan Gross, combatting drug trafficking, and environmental protection. Vidal also offered condolences to the United States for the deaths caused by the tornado in Oklahoma last week.

CANF offers scholarships to Cuban dissidents to study in the U.S.

The Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), once the epicenter of support for a hardline against the Castro government, has announced a program providing scholarships to Cuban youth on the island to study at U.S. universities, reports Martí Noticias. Jorge Mas Santos, CANF’s president, says that his organization has put up $500,000 to fund the program and has hired well-known dissidents Berta Soler and Guillermo Fariñas to travel the island as coordinators, establishing regional representatives.

In an effort to “empower dissident leaders” the two will also participate in choosing grantees. Although another of Mas Santos’s organizations has provided around 100 such scholarships since 1997, the CANF president says he is now working with U.S. government officials to institutionalize the project, which will be advertised on Radio Martí. A video report on the new program is available here.

Oregon University System begins travel to Cuba program

Next month, 15 students from three universities in the Oregon University System will travel to Cuba for the first time as part of a new study abroad program, reports Oregon University newspaper The Daily Barometer. In preparation for the trip, the students will take a course dedicated to Cuban society and culture through film. Once on the island, students will be enrolled in courses on different themes, such as education and health care, in addition to seeing and meeting Cubans working in those respective fields.

IN CUBA

Cuba lifts import restrictions on high wattage appliances

Cuba’s General Customs Office has published a resolution, effective immediately, that lifts previous restrictions on the importation of high wattage appliances, reports Cuba Standard. In 2005, then-president Fidel Castro banned such imports as a part of the “energy revolution,” a campaign targeted at reducing energy consumption, which also saw the replacement of old refrigerators and air conditioning units, and the introduction of energy-efficient light bulbs.

According to the new regulations, travelers may import appliances to Cuba as long as the imports are not commercial, and fall within new limits: each traveler may carry up to two AC units with a capacity under one ton; two electric stoves or ovens with a consumption of under 1,500 watts; two microwaves with consumption under 2,000 watts; and up to two electric water heaters, shower heads, deep fryers, irons and toasters. Such appliances are in high demand in Cuba as many citizens are starting small businesses, such as restaurants, food carts and beauty shops.

Amnesty International releases annual human rights report

Amnesty International has released its “State of the World 2013” report, an annual review of the status of human rights in 155 countries and territories. Its summary on Cuba states: “Repression of independent journalists, opposition leaders and human rights activists increased. There were reports of an average of 400 short-term arrests each month and activists traveling from the provinces to Havana were frequently detained. Prisoners of conscience continued to be sentenced on trumped-up charges or held in pre-trial detention.”

The report says that seven new “prisoners of conscience” were adopted by the organization during the year; three of those were released without charge. The report also notes, as it has in previous years, that the U.S. embargo has had a negative impact on the health and wellbeing of Cubans, as reported by the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and other UN agencies.

IRI poll finds Cubans more optimistic about economic outlook

The International Republican Institute has released the results of a survey conducted in Cuba from January 20 – February 20 of this year, reports the Miami Herald. According to the survey, Cubans are more optimistic about their economic future, with 45% of respondents saying that they believed their family’s economic situation would improve in the next twelve months and 35% saying it would stay the same. Last year, only 27% of respondents had expected improvements, and 58% expected no change. In addition to questions about the economy, the Cubans surveyed answered questions about the government, remittances, and the Internet, among others. The Herald also reported that Cubans in large majorities favor direct elections of their president and say the government is repressive. The IRI does not release details about its sampling methodology, but the report says that 688 adults from 14 provinces were surveyed.

Tornado hits town in central Cuba

A tornado hit the town of Potrerillo in the central province of Sancti Spíritus yesterday, damaging 39 homes, two of which were destroyed beyond repair, reports El País. No fatalities were reported. Cuba’s official hurricane season begins on June 1st and lasts until November 30th. Last year, two hurricanes – Isaac and Sandy – caused extensive damage in the eastern zones of the island.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Corruption trial against Canadian businessman begins

The closed trial of Canadian businessman Sarkis Yacoubian began on Thursday, reports Reuters. Yacoubian, owner of the import firm Tri-Star Caribbean, confessed that he began bribing Cuban officials while working for the Tokmajian Group, which recently had its operating license in Cuba revoked. Upon founding Tri-Star Caribbean, he said he continued the practice. Canada’s Ambassador to Cuba, Matthew Levin, attended the trial, reports Reuters. The prosecution of corrupt foreign executives, part of President Raúl Castro’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, is expected to continue with additional trials against at least three more Canadian and British business executives arrested last year. These proceedings are unusual; in the past, foreign businessmen suspected of corruption were typically deported.

Fiber-optic cable from Cuba to Jamaica activated

A fiber-optic cable that connects Cuba to Jamaica is now active, reports the Miami Herald. The connection will provide Cuba with greater bandwidth and supply back-up if the island’s recently-activated connection to Venezuela has problems. Additional details are provided by the Internet analysis firm Renesys’ blog, here. In order for many Cubans to access the Internet, significant improvements in Cuba’s national telecom infrastructure are needed, reports the Associated Press. But, Doug Madory of Renesys notes, “From a technical standpoint, these are good steps to increase their connectivity to the world and hopefully one day get off of satellite.”

Around the Region

Reversal in Ríos Montt conviction and sentence

On Monday, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court overturned the recent conviction of Efraín Ríos Montt, the country’s former military dictator, reports the Los Angeles Times. Ríos Montt’s conviction for the genocide of over 1,700 Ixil Maya had represented the first time in history that a country’s court held a former leader accountable for crimes against humanity.  Ríos Montt’s trial will now revert to where it stood on April 19, before it was briefly reversed by a lower judge over a technical issue with Ríos Montt’s defense. The Pan American Post writes that while the reversal represents a setback, it takes the trial back to a date when much of the evidence had already been presented and predicts that, given the testimony, a different outcome is unlikely. Kate Doyle in The Nation says the reversal is a continuation of attempts to delay and derail the trial by Ríos Montt’s allies.

On Friday the 24th, protests were called in Guatemala in solidarity with the victims of genocide and to condemn impunity, reports Proceso Digital. In support, human rights organizations in Argentina, Mexico, Honduras, Peru, and Nicaragua will hold simultaneous rallies.

Honduras: reports of police death squads continue

Disappearances and killings of gang members shortly after run-ins with the Honduran national police continue, reports the Associated Press. During an interview, Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield defended U.S. support to Honduras’ national police, stating:

“The option is that if we don’t work with the police, we have to work with the armed forces, which almost everyone accepts to be worse than the police in terms of the mission of policing, or communities take matters in their own hands. In other words, the law of the jungle, in which there are no police and where every citizen is armed and ready to mete out justice…These are the three options, and although the National Police may have its defects at the moment, it is the lesser evil of the three available options.”

Meanwhile, the report cites Alba Mejía, Deputy Director of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which has documented hundreds of cases of death squad-style killings since 2000, saying: “We are convinced that there is a government policy of killing gang members and that there is a team dedicated to this activity.” Earlier reporting by the Associated Press on this story can be found here.

Recommended Reading

What I learned in Cuba, Rep. Kathy Castor, Tampa Bay Times

U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14) outlines what she learned in her recent fact-finding trip to the island with the Center for Democracy in the Americas, commenting on the potential benefits of engagement between the U.S. and Cuba, including for her district of Tampa. She discusses her encounters with cuentapropistas, government officials and other Cubans, concluding that Cuba “has instituted significant changes to its economy.” Rep. Castor uses the recent example of cooperation by Cuba’s government in the two kidnapped U.S. children to show normalizing relations would benefit both countries.

Pro-normalization group honors Tampa congresswoman, Cuba Standard

The Cuba Standard covers CDA’s decision to honor Congresswoman Kathy Castor at our annual event in June, writing, “In a first for U.S. politics, a Florida member of Congress is becoming a figurehead for the U.S. movement to normalize relations with Cuba.” CDA is honoring Rep. Castor for her courage in advocating for a modernization of U.S. policy toward Cuba, and for her work to position Tampa as a gateway to the island.

Gender Equality in Cuba: Is it Real?, Sheyla Hirshon, Havana Times

Sheyla Hirshon reviews CDA’s newest publication Women’s Work: Gender Equality in Cuba and the Role of Women building Cuba’s Future and calls it a fascinating and highly readable study of gender relations.  “More than just an academic study,” she writes, “the book is permeated with the authors’ obvious affection and admiration for Cuban women and their struggles.”

Cubans Visit their Ancestral Home in Africa, Emma Christopher, Havana Times

Emma Christopher, director of the soon-to-be released documentary They Are We, writes about the visit of four Cubans to their ancestor’s chiefdom in Sierra Leone. Divided by the transatlantic slave trade over 180 years ago, but connected in tradition and culture, the arrival of the Cubans to the Upper Banta chiefdom was met with tears, drums, dancing and singing in the shared but extinct Banta language. Despite the language barrier, Christopher notes, the Cuban visitors experienced daily village life and left the chiefdom after a week-long stay determined to stay in touch with their newfound family.

Foreign-investments reform, Roberto Veiga González, Progreso Weekly

Roberto Veiga González examines the government of Cuba’s delay in updating the Law on Foreign Investments, originally proposed in July 2012. He points out that the delay and secrecy involved in drafting the guidelines are inconsistent with President Raúl Castro’s criticisms of secrecy, and he calls for institutionalized mechanisms to be created to ensure widespread dialogue, arguing that public consensus would bestow legitimacy on the changes.

Cuba’s sugar mills get new lease of life, BBC

Sarah Rainsford of the BBC explores one town’s return to sugar milling after a seven-year hiatus. The town of Méjico has seen a “fresh buzz of activity,” with over 400 jobs created and new machines invested in place for the mill to re-open. However, Rainsford points out, many challenges remain as machine parts arrive late, young workers lack experience, and the pressure to reach production targets is high.

The Economist Explains: Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba?, The Economist

A $350 million golf club, to be called the Carbonera Club, has been approved by the government of Cuba, and another golf course may be completed by the end of this year. The construction of these courses is significant; since the Revolution, no new golf courses have been built on the island. With Venezuela’s future less certain, the article points out, Cuba now more than ever must look to attract tourists.

DAI lured Alan Gross with a lucrative contract to smuggle banned satellite communications equipment into Cuba on a mission that left him serving a 15-year prison sentence.

The settlement applies to the Beltway contractor and not its codefendant, the United States.  This agreement – Tracey Eaton makes the text available here – is sealed and confidential.  But, the lawsuit has already yielded significant disclosures about U.S. regime change programs in Cuba and the settlement marks a new phase for DAI.

DAI’s profile was raised a few weeks after the arrest, when James Boomgard, its chief executive, insisted in an interview that Alan Gross had done nothing wrong.

“It’s such an innocuous, innocent thing.  I’m not a Cuba expert,” he said, “but other people who understand the politics of this are puzzled as well.”  He went on to say that Gross never met with dissidents and that “there are no satellite phones involved.”

This was a curious, call it Freudian, assertion, which Boomgard should have known to be untrue.

As Desmond Butler wrote in his groundbreaking piece USAID contractor work in Cuba detailed, Alan Gross was bringing in satellite consoles known as BGANS, satellite phones, and other forms of equipment to Cuba, that was the point of this long-standing DAI project, and as he said in a trip report filed before his last trip and capture, it would be “problematic if exposed.”

Problematic indeed.  Unlike the ten spies rolled up and exchanged for spies in Russian prison in 2010, or Raymond Davis, the CIA contractor in Pakistan, freed from prison by payments of “bereavement money” after he murdered two motorists in the street, Mr. Gross has been left sitting in prison for more than three years as some Members of Congress cautioned U.S. officials not to negotiate for his release.

Late last year, the Gross family filed a $60 million law suit against DAI and the United States and accused the defendants of negligence, gross negligence, and the willful disregard of their rights.

In the case of DAI, the family argued when they sent him to Cuba with satellite network communications gear, they didn’t warn him of the risks, protect him from the risks, educate or train him to reduce the risks, and they didn’t stop him from returning to Cuba when they knew he was in danger, because it would have cost DAI a lot of money under their rich regime change contract.

For Mr. Boomgard, who once cooed, “helping people is all that Alan has done in Cuba and elsewhere,” this must have been more than he could bear.  $60 million is a lot of money.

So, DAI, rather aggressively went into court demanding the suit be dismissed because, frankly, Alan Gross wasn’t their problem.  DAI argued it had no duty to protect Alan Gross from the injury he suffered due to his confinement.

DAI claimed it enjoyed “sovereign immunity,” and like the federal government, it could not be sued. Without such immunity, contractors like them could never find pawns like Alan Gross to do their risky business in Cuba.  Ruling against DAI would put the court in a position of undermining the foreign policy of the United States.

This is what they said in January.  By May, they changed their tune; except, of course, so far as Jim Boomgard is concerned.

“We have been clear from day one that Alan’s safe return to his family is our first priority,” he said Thursday in a joint statement with Judy Gross.  “Settling this litigation allows us to work together on that overriding goal.”

Although the settlement includes a non-disclosure agreement between the Gross family and DAI, Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive is hopeful that more information could come out.

“Alan Gross himself deserves credit for indirectly admitting, through this lawsuit to the extensive illicit operations he was involved in and exposing the false representations of the Obama Administration about what he, DAI and USAID were doing.  If the State Department doesn’t settle, perhaps Gross’s lawyers can force the release of even more damning information about this controversial U.S. effort to roll back the Cuban revolution.”

That said, we may never know what really made DAI decide to settle.  But here’s a clue.

Two years ago, the company was named a “Top Innovator” in a global poll of international development professionals.

Accepting the award, Dr. James Boomgard effused, “it’s an honor to be recognized for the fresh thinking and resourcefulness we try to bring to the world’s development challenges.  As employee-owners, we have a very personal stake in the ideas, products, and services we are bringing to the marketplace in service of that mission.”

It’s always about the Benjamins.  The settlement undoubtedly saved DAI lots of money, but they won’t tell you how much.  It’s a secret.

IN CUBA

Cuba charges foreign businessmen and prepares for trial, anti-corruption campaign continues

Foreign executives in Cuba who have been in custody since 2011, when their businesses were shut down by authorities, have been charged with economic crimes and operating beyond the limits of their business licenses, sources close to the cases informed Reuters.  According to the sources, some have been accused of paying bribes to officials for favorable business opportunities. Cuban law stipulates that trials must begin within a month of charges being filed, and a Western diplomat stated that “There is definitely movement and the trials should begin soon.”  The arrests occurred as part of Cuba’s crackdown on corruption under President Raúl Castro, who has urged his government to be “relentless” in its fight against corrupt practices.

Rodrigo Malmierca, Minister of Foreign Commerce and Investment spoke of “irregularities” in joint ventures at a cabinet meeting last week, reports the Miami Herald.  Adel Yzquierdo, Minister of the Economy, reported corruption and theft in the fuel sector, stating, “The high demand and profits in this illegal business create a permanent siege of employees in this sector by unscrupulous people who later sell the fuel for up to 60 percent less than the official price.”  Yzquierdo suggested that new technology would modernize the measuring, storing, and distribution of fuel and curb theft.

Varadero marina development project underway, expanding; golf course to follow

As part of a billion-dollar effort underway to diversify tourism and create upscale options, Cuba’s government has announced two large-scale development projects, each in Varadero, reports Cuba Standard.  These announcements follow last week’s news that Cuba is now able to offer lodgings to 60,000 tourists.

One project is to expand Marina Gaviota, making it the largest marina in the Caribbean, according to Frank País Oltuski, vice president of state company Grupo Gaviota S.A. Cuba’s own resources will fund the work.  The London-based Esencia Group will initiate construction on the second project, a golf complex, in 2014.  Plans include a 420-acre gated community with 650 apartments and villas, a hotel, a country club, a spa, a yacht club and, of course, a golf course.  According to Manuel Marrero, Cuba’s Minister of Tourism, “at least” eleven such residential golf resorts will be built across the island.

Decreased food production in Cuba for early 2013; wholesale agricultural market established in Boyeros

Cuba’s National Statistics Office (ONE) released a report indicating that agricultural and food production for the first quarter of 2013 has dropped since 2012, reports Café Fuerte.  The report concludes that production of crops outside of the sugar cane sector has decreased by 7.8%, while food production alone has decreased by 20.8%.  The greatest production decreases noted in the report occurred in the potato, banana, and citrus fruits harvests, with a decrease also seen in the production of milk and eggs.  Production of tomatoes, green vegetables, rice, and meat has increased.

At a meeting of the Council of Ministers, Cuba’s Vice President Marino Murillo announced that a wholesale market for agricultural and livestock products has been established in Boyeros, a municipality in Havana, reports Havana Times.  It is the first of several planned wholesale markets for farm products, to be located in the Havana, Artemisa, and Mayabeque provinces.  The market in Boyeros will be accessible to private buyers as well as state entities.  Each wholesale market will operate in one of two ways: under state administration, or under the management of agricultural cooperatives.

Café Fuerte also notes that Cuba’s government announced a new policy regarding the sale of agricultural and livestock products, which will be implemented to centrally regulate the production prices of staple agricultural products including rice, beans, potatoes, and tomatoes.

Cuba holds anti-homophobia parade

Cuba’s sixth annual anti-homophobia parade took place in Havana last weekend, drawing about 500 members and supporters of Cuba’s LGBT community, reports Havana Times.  Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), began Saturday’s march urging a dialogue within Cuba to eliminate prejudice in families, which she stated is one of “the most vulnerable areas in the rights of LGBT people.”  The BBC provides video coverage of the parade.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

U.S. shipping insurance company fined for sanctions violations

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has ordered the American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association (also known as the American Club), a New York-based shipping insurance company, to pay a fine of $348,000 for violations of U.S. sanctions against Cuba, Sudan and Iran, reports Cuba Standard.  OFAC has charged the company with 55 violations, but stated in a press release that these violations “constitute a non-egregious case.”  According to OFAC, between 2004 and 2006, the American Club processed three protection and indemnity insurance claims involving Cuba that amounted to $40,584.

Retired members of Havana’s baseball team Industriales to play in Miami and Tampa

Thirteen veterans of the Industriales, the so-called “Yankees of Cuba,” will travel to Miami and Tampa Bay in July to play a series of friendly games, reports the Miami Herald.  They will face off against Cuban baseball stars living in Florida, including former Industriales players Orlando “El Duque” Hernández and Rey Ordoñez, who recently visited Cuba for the first time in 21 years following changes to Cuba’s immigration laws.  The games will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Industriales, and are sponsored as a cultural exchange program by the enterprise Somos Cuba (We Are Cuba).

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Haiti’s Prime Minister pays official visit to Cuba

Laurent Lamothe, Haiti’s Prime Minister, visited Cuba this week to meet with Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s First Vice President, to strengthen relations between the two nations and increase collaboration in education and healthcare, reports AFP.  Upon his arrival, Lamothe thanked “Cuba’s government for its support, collaboration, and solidarity.”  Díaz-Canel recently led Cuba’s delegation to the fifth summit of the Association of Caribbean States, held in Port-au-Prince.

Cuba hosts ALBA meeting

The 4^th meeting of the Ministerial Council on Social Issues of ALBA takes place Friday in Havana, reports ACN.  Delegations from the ALBA nations will discuss social programs funded by the Bank of ALBA, including education, literacy programs and medical cooperation, as well as the upcoming 5^th ALBA sports games.

Around the Region

Ríos Montt convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity, sentenced 80 years in prison

General Efraín Ríos Montt, ex-dictator of Guatemala and the first former head of state to stand trial for genocide in his home country, was convicted last Friday of genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 80 years in prison, reports the BBC.  The historic trial, which began on March 19 and encountered delays and controversy after twenty days of trial proceedings, reached its conclusion amid broad shows of support from Guatemala’s Maya populations as well as international human rights organizations including the UN.

Yassmín Barrios, the tribunal’s presiding judge, declared that along with a series of reparations to victims, to be administered by the government, March 23, the date Ríos Montt came to power, is to be Guatemala’s National Day Against Genocide.  Ríos Montt’s attorneys announced almost immediately that they would appeal the ruling, and Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has been reviewing and deliberating over at least four challenges to the trial since Monday.  While Guatemala’s President Otto Pérez Molina, who was implicated in witness testimony as complicit in the massacres of Maya populations carried out in the Ixil region under Ríos Montt’s U.S.-backed,17-month reign in 1982-3, continues to deny that genocide occurred, he confirmed in an official statement that he will respect the court’s ruling.

Jo-Marie Burt of WOLA and George Mason University offers analysis for the Open Society Justice Initiative, and cultural anthropologist Victoria Sanford offers further insight in an op-ed for the New York Times.  Elisabeth Malken of the New York Times examines the U.S.’s role in supporting Ríos Montt’s rule, which went virtually unmentioned in the trial proceedings.  Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-2) has also issued a statement praising the ruling.

Recommended Reading

Special Feature: Along the Malecón: “Satellite dishes don’t look like surf boards”

In Revisiting Operation Surf, investigative journalist Tracey Eaton converses with Robert Guerra, former director of Freedom House’s Internet Freedom Project, about the attempt to smuggle satellite dishes into Cuba by disguising them as boogie boards.

Havana Bay slowly reclaims historic splendor, AFP

AFP reports on the efforts of Havana’s Office of the Historian to restore the historic Havana Bay waterfront, and on a cleanup program for the area begun in 1998.  Pollution in the bay has lessened significantly and fish and birds have returned, as Cuba diversifies its tourism industry and continues development of the Port of Mariel.

Upcoming Events

Five Days for the Cuban Five, May 30-June 5

Five days of events will be held in Washington, D.C. starting on May 30, in support of Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, and René González.  The activities will include a press conference, various live music performances, panel discussions, an art exhibition, and a rally in front of the White House.  Speakers and performers will include Angela Davis, Dolores Huerta, and Danny Glover.  A preliminary agenda can be found here.

Human Rights and Accountability in Guatemala, Washington Office on Latin America

On May 21, the Washington Office on Latin America will host an event featuring analysis of the domestic, international, and judicial implications of the trial’s outcome, from experts including Kate Doyle of the National Security Archives, Jo-Marie Burt of WOLA and George Mason University, and Helen Mack of the Myrna Mack Foundation.

Unsurprisingly, this didn’t make headlines.  It’s a little sad but it’s not news that their two-year-old message about Cuba, “your change isn’t big enough,” still permeates the administration’s talking points.

They must have decided, if it worked for President Obama in September 2011, “We have not seen evidence they have been sufficiently aggressive in changing their policies economically,” to just keep repeating the message, even if the point they are making really isn’t so.

You might ask, what does any of this have to do with Mother’s Day?  We were just getting around to that.

To its credit, the administration has spent part of the last four years advocating for women to be equal partners in more just, prosperous, and more effectively governed societies.  It was just last week when Treasury Secretary Lew said:  “The facts are clear: empowering women is not only a question of equity, it is simply smart economics.”

The State Department has been all in, too.  They tweet about women.  They herald investment in women-owned enterprises as “one of the best ways to achieve economic, financial, and social impact.”  They have created a partnership program to expand women’s political and economic participation.

But Cuban entrepreneurs or “cuentapropistas” – and especially female small business owners – are rarely offered a seat at any of these tables.  That’s not a big surprise either – if they are not willing to admit that economic reform is happening at scale in Cuba, where the biggest changes in its economic model are taking place since 1959 – it wouldn’t occur to them to reserve a seat for a Cuban.

That’s a shame.  Paradoxically, what is happening in Cuba – with men and women leaving the state payroll for jobs in the non-state sector –happens to be consistent with the oft-stated desire by the U.S. for greater independence of the Cuban people.  It’s easy for us to talk about.  But, they are the ones who are taking great risks, taking on new and unfamiliar responsibilities, and making a leap at a disruptive time in Cuba’s changing economy.

A lot of these businesses fail, as do small businesses here in the U.S.  But, when they succeed, as an entrepreneur named Barbara told us in our report about the future of gender equality in Cuba, Women’s Work, exciting things can happen:

“My life has improved over the last several years with the possibility of working as a cuentapropista….More than anything, the benefit of being a cuentapropista is the ability to manage your own decisions. I can decide how to invest, what hours to work, whether I want to offer specials and other decisions regarding how to manage the business. In other words, I’m my own boss and I suffer the consequences, but also reap the benefits of my decisions. Moreover, economically, there are few, if any, jobs in the state sector that can compare with cuentapropismo when it comes to salaries. I’ve been able to save a little money, invest in fixing up my house, buy my daughter what she needs and put food on the table. In the end, I’m a more independent woman. My husband and I help each other but we both contribute and I don’t have to rely on him.”

It would be nice, but only a start, if the President and Vice President credited Cuba’s government with making the changes it has, and then recognized that women like Barbara actually exist.

But they could go even further.  The administration should end the backlogs and delays that cause many people-to-people groups and research institutions to wait for months to hear back on renewals and new applications, so that more Americans could visit Cuba and utilize the services in the growing private sector, helping to empower individual Cubans, just like their talking points say.  If Miriam Leiva’s White House petition is any test, steps like these would be warmly welcomed in Cuba.

They could also facilitate the flow of capital to entrepreneurs in Cuba by allowing imports of products made by Cubans working in small businesses and cooperatives.  They could stop freezing financial institutions with the fear of fines for engaging in legal transactions with individuals and institutions in Cuba.  They could make projects that help women in Cuba eligible for remittances under the president’s 2011 policy.

In fact, there’s a lot of serious progress that could be made if they included Cuba, Cubans, and Cuban women in their vision of a more just world built on gender equality.

It’s a thought for Mother’s Day and we hope they think about it.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Congressman Rush introduces bill to lift embargo and bring Alan Gross home

Rep. Bobby Rush (IL-1) introduced a bill calling for the normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba, including an end to the embargo and the removal of Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terror list, all under the condition that Cuba releases imprisoned USAID contractor Alan Gross. Rush stated in a press release:

“Lifting the trade embargo with Cuba is long overdue…Cuba has a rich history and is a close neighboring country that offers access to cultural growth and learning for many Americans. We have shut the door on our two nations coming together to work to build a strong alliance. Cuba is no longer a threat to the United States and the continuation of the embargo on trade between the two countries declared in 1962 is not fulfilling the purpose for which it was established. We are the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that still maintains an embargo and its removal is long overdue.”

Rush’s introduction of this bill comes almost four years to the day after the introduction of his  2009 bill, the “United States-Cuba Trade Normalization Act,” a similar bill which did not advance beyond the committee level.

Cuba reaffirms wish to negotiate with U.S. over Alan Gross

Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s Foreign Minister, stated that Cuba is willing to negotiate with the U.S. over imprisoned USAID contractor Alan Gross, reports Cubadebate. Cuba’s government has previously expressed that it would welcome discussions with the U.S. to resolve the case. Rodríguez again raised the issue of the Cuban Five, but rejected comparisons between Gross’s case and that of René González, who, he explained, completed his “unjust” 13-year sentence and was serving out parole in Florida until a U.S. judge ruled last week that he could return to Cuba permanently if he renounced his U.S. citizenship.

Appeals court affirms lower court ruling against anti-Cuba Florida law

A federal appeals court ruled against Florida’s 2012 law that would ban the state from awarding contracts to companies whose parent companies or subsidiaries do business in Cuba, reports the Miami Herald. The ban on awarding contracts of over $1 million would have significantly hurt many companies operating in Florida, including Odebrecht USA. While the company itself does not work in Cuba, its Brazilian parent is involved in developing Cuba’s Mariel Port. The law also would have also severely affected European and Canadian companies with operations in Florida as well as Cuba.

Mariela Castro travels to Philadelphia for Equality Forum, urges U.S.-Cuba dialogue

Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuba’s President Raúl Castro, spoke in Philadelphia at a panel on the status of LGBT people in Cuba, and received an award for her activism around LGBT rights, reports The Advocate.  Sarah Stephens, CDA’s executive director, also participated as a panelist.

While in Philadelphia, Ms. Castro said the “dream” of normalized U.S.-Cuba relations, would one day become a reality: “I wish … I was a magician or (one of those) people who knows everything. That’s not the case,” but, “that dream is going to be a reality someday,” reports the Miami Herald. Upon her return to Cuba, Castro reiterated the calls made during her visit to the United States for a respectful U.S.-Cuba dialogue, “without conditions,” reports EFE.

Ladies in White co-founder Miriam Leiva creates White House petition supporting people-to-people travel

Miriam Leiva, independent journalist and co-founder and former member of the Ladies in White, initiated a White House petition asking the Obama administration to continue allowing people-to-people travel to Cuba, as the exchange is “helping open minds.” The petition reads:

“Keep your people to people policy towards the Cuban people. People on the Island are thankful for your allowing remittances, Cuban-Americans visiting, and Cuban and American scholars, artists, etc., in both directions. Your proactive policy and its impact on the improvement of people’s daily lives due to assistance and exchanges with family and friends destroy Cuban authorities propaganda, blaming the US for all the regime’s wrongdoings. The embargo should be lifted, since it has being counterproductive, although I know you cannot do it now, but you can go further in your current policy. We pray for Alan Gross’ returning to U.S. ASAP.”

In 2009, Leiva testified on camera at a hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs advocating for the U.S. to lift the travel ban.

Americas Media Initiative organizes Eastern Cuba tour for documentary filmmaker

As part of its “Closing Distances/Cerrando Distancias” project, Americas Media Initiative, a U.S. non-profit that works with Cuban filmmakers, has organized a tour of Eastern Cuba for U.S. documentary filmmaker Minda Martin. From May 17-24, Martin will travel to Bayamo, San Pablo de Yao, Guantánamo province, and Baracoa to screen her films and participate in question-and-answer sessions with Cuban audiences. This is the second film tour organized by Americas Media Initiative in less than a year, working in collaboration with the Havana-based Young Directors Film Festival (Muestra Joven).

IN CUBA

Díaz-Canel speaks out against media control, urges open discussion within Cuba

Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s First Vice President, declared Monday that attempting to control the news is an “impossible illusion,” reports EFE. In a televised statement at a meeting of professional educators, Díaz-Canel stated:

“The news today comes from all sides, good and bad, manipulated and truthful, it circulates over the (online) networks, it gets to everyone, people know all about it. So what is the worst possible choice? Silence.”

Noting that censorship makes no sense, Díaz-Canel particularly encouraged educators attending the seminar to hold meaningful debates and discussions within the classroom. Earlier this year, he had commented that the state media sources were “limited” and require improvements.

Cuba now able to house over 60,000 tourists, continues to expand tourism industry

Over the past year, Cuba has opened eight new hotels, and is now able to offer lodgings to 60,552 tourists, reports Café Fuerte, adding that the goal for 2020 is 85,500 rooms.  In the last two years, Cuba has added 8,000 new rooms, over 60% of which are categorized as four- and five-star. Manuel Marero, Cuba’s Minister of Tourism, stated at the International Tourism Fair in Varadero, that Cuba is looking to diversify and expand its tourism industry, “in accordance with the times we’re living in,” reports EFE. The anticipated strategy features hotel expansion, modernization, and construction in Holguín, Varadero, Trinidad, and Camagüey, as well as investments in other tourist destinations throughout the island, according to Granma.

Cuba to introduce updated identification system

Cuba will initiate a gradual shift to a new form of identification for citizens, beginning in July, in an effort to update the system of citizen registration and reduce the possibility of identity fraud, reports Café Fuerte. Under the new system, personal identification cards will feature a barcode by which the data on the card is electronically verifiable. In a process expected to continue through 2019, the Office of Identification and Registration, a branch of the Ministry of the Interior, will issue millions of new identification cards each year.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Cuba uses WTO to challenge Australia’s “no label” laws on tobacco

Cuba sought the aid of the World Trade Organization to overturn Australia’s laws on tobacco products, reports the New York Times. Cuba claims that Australia’s laws banning the use of labels and brand names on tobacco products have created “technical barriers” to the sale of Cuban tobacco in Australia. Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras joined Cuba in challenging these laws. Cuba and Australia will have 60 days to resolve the matter before the establishment of a WTO dispute resolution panel.

Cuban doctors to be dispatched to Brazil

Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Brazil’s Foreign Minister, announced that Brazil will contract for about 6,000 Cuban doctors, who will be deployed in underserved communities, mostly away from urban centers, reports the BBC. Although details have not been finalized, the announcement indicates growing cooperation between Brazil and Cuba, including the development of the Mariel Port Special Development Zone, biofuel production, and food safety programs, points out Cuba Standard, as well as planned collaboration in the production of medicines for sale in Brazil and abroad.

The two countries also signed a $176 million accord to modernize five of Cuba’s airports. Gastão Vieira, Brazil’s Minister of Tourism, announced that the first non-stop flight between Cuba and Brazil will take off on June 10, reports Cuba Standard. Offered by Cubana Aviación, flights will go between São Paulo and Havana once per week.

FAO sends congratulations to Fidel Castro

Following a visit to Cuba last week, José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), congratulated Fidel Castro for Cuba’s early compliance with FAO goals, reports Prensa Latina. At the 1996 World Food Summit, the FAO established the goal of halving the number of undernourished people worldwide by 2015. Cuba and a number of other Latin American nations have already achieved that goal.

Around the Region

Venezuela’s President Maduro tours Southern Cone, makes Petrocaribe announcements

Last weekend, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro announced at a Petrocaribe summit in Caracas that Honduras and Guatemala have been added to the program, reports the Associated Press. Petrocaribe, initiated in 2005, offers its 18 member countries Venezuelan oil at a preferential payment rate.

In the lead-up to Venezuela becoming president pro-tempore of Mercosur, President Maduro toured the Southern Cone securing political endorsement of his presidency as well as promises of expanded trade and cooperation. Maduro began his trip in Uruguay, signing an oil agreement with President José Mujica, reports MercoPress. From there he traveled to Argentina, where he attended a political rally, was awarded the Order of the Libertador San Martín, and signed 11 bilateral agreements with President Cristina Fernández, reports the Buenos Aires Herald. In Brazil, he met with President Dilma Rousseff, who promised to amplify trade and cooperation, and with ex-President Lula da Silva, reports Reuters. Addressing a university audience in Brazil, Maduro said, “Let’s build a social, workers’, farmers’ and productive Mercosur, with which to promote joint enterprises.”

Meanwhile, the governments of the U.S. and Venezuela continue to spar. In response to President Obama’s comments regarding post-election “crackdowns” in Venezuela during his trip to Mexico, Venezuela’s government released a statement on Monday affirming Venezuela’s respect for democracy and human rights, and rejecting Obama’s statements.

Recommended Reading

A future in oil for Cuba?, Interview with Jorge Piñon, Progreso Weekly

In an interview with Progreso Weekly, energy affairs expert Jorge Piñon discusses Cuba’s prospects for oil and alternative energy sources, and explains that while Cuba’s oil exploration thus far has not been fruitful, hope is not lost for the future of Cuba’s oil industry. Piñon states, “If we find what we hope for, within five to seven years, Cuba could produce 250,000 barrels per day.”

It’s Time to Delist Cuba, Arturo López-Levy, Foreign Policy in Focus

Cuban scholar Arturo López-Levy argues that Cuba simply does not fit the definition of a state sponsor of terrorism and should be removed from the State Department’s list of terrorist-supporting countries. The recent addition of former Black Panther Assata Shakur, who was given asylum in Cuba decades ago, to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list does not provide a satisfactory reason to continue this designation. “Characterizing Cuba as a terrorist state–and more generally implying that the island in any way poses any threat to U.S. security–hinders the United States’ ability to develop a strategic vision for post-Fidel Cuba,” he concludes.

Recommended Viewing

Cuban spy back in Havana: No grudge against U.S., Portia Siegelbaum, CBS News

In an interview of René González, one of the Cuban Five, after his return to Cuba, González discusses his decision to renounce his U.S. citizenship and remain on the island. He says he has no grudge against the United States after his imprisonment, and expressed gratitude at being able to return to his family. He comments briefly on the case of Alan Gross, saying he wishes him well, and that a humanitarian solution should be pursued.

González, who was permitted by U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lenard to travel to Cuba for two weeks under strict conditions pursuant to his probation, will renounce his citizenship and remain in Cuba. González becomes, as the Havana Times reported, the first of the five Cubans to return and reside in Cuba following their convictions.

González, who served a 13-year sentence, was allowed to return to Cuba on April 22 to attend a service for his father who died at age 82.

But, González, a U.S. citizen, is permitted under the laws of the United States to renounce his citizenship to a consular official while visiting a foreign nation.  The court has the power to modify his probation accordingly, and enable González to serve the remainder of his term in Cuba without reporting to the court.

Attorneys for González filed a motion to modify his probation, to remove a requirement imposed by the court that he return to the U.S. by May 6^th, clearing the way for him to renounce his citizenship and stay in Cuba.

The U.S. Department of Justice told the court that it would not oppose González’s request, and the “Government indicated that ‘the FBI has concluded that the national security interests of the United States are furthered if the defendant…does not return to the United States.”

That led Judge Lenard to issue an order today modifying his probation and allowing him to renounce his U.S. citizenship and not return.

According to the Associated Press, González is thrilled but wants a chance to review the judge’s decision.  “First I have to read the order,” he said. “If the order is real, it will be a great relief to me.”

González was convicted for acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, conspiracy to act as a foreign agent and to defraud the United States.

González, along with Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, and Fernando González, were arrested in 1998, for their roles in efforts to track Miami groups who, according to Cuba’s government, were responsible for terror attacks against the island.

The case of the Cuban Five has been a significant obstacle in U.S.-Cuba relations.  As Peter Kornbluh wrote in The Nation last month:

“The Cubans are holding US subcontractor Alan Gross, now in his fourth year of incarceration for illicitly attempting to set up a satellite communications network in Cuba as part of the US Agency for International Development’s Cuba Democracy and Contingency Planning Program. And the United States is holding the ‘Cuban Five,’ who include four Cuban spies, now in their fifteenth year in prison for conducting espionage operations, mostly against exile groups with violent pasts…Raúl Castro has called for mutual ‘humanitarian gestures’ to resolve these obstacles to improved bilateral relations.”

This case is controversial in the U.S. and complicated for domestic political reasons in both countries.  The decision by Judge Lenard, available here, may not bring relief to the families of Alan Gross or other members of the Five who remain in prison in the U.S., but it is a welcomed development in any case.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Cuba to remain on State Sponsors of Terrorism List

The State Department has missed its April 30th deadline to file its Country Report on Terrorism, and it is now expected to be released in late May.  Cuba watchers hoped the report would reveal a decision to drop Cuba from the state sponsors of terror list. According to The Hill, a State Department spokesperson indicated that release of the report is not used as a vehicle to announce decisions to add or drop countries, and that Cuba when the list is published will retain its designation.

But, as the Miami Herald reported, that does not rule out the possibility that at any time in the future, the U.S. government can decide that Cuba should be removed from the state sponsors list.

On a related matter, Joanne Chesimard, a fugitive living in Cuba, was added this week to the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists.  Chesimard, a former member of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, who goes by the name Assata Shakur, escaped from prison in 1979, and received asylum in Cuba in 1984.  She was convicted of murder in the 1970s for her role in a shootout which left a New Jersey state trooper dead.

Although the Associated Press reported that Cuba does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S., according to the website of the U.S. Department of State, such a treaty is in place.  While the countries cooperate on fugitive cases from time to time, they rarely observe the treaty.

Although the issue of fugitives plays no statutory role in determining whether a country is a state sponsor of terror, the U.S. government said in last year’s report, “The Cuban government continued to permit fugitives wanted in the United States to reside in Cuba and also provided support such as housing, food ration books, and medical care for these individuals.”

59 in Congress sign letter urging Obama to end travel restrictions to Cuba

Representative Sam Farr (CA-20) sent a letter signed by 59 Members of Congress to President Obama urging the administration to expand the right of Americans to travel to Cuba.  Their proposal would build on Obama’s decision in 2011, which restored people-to-people travel, and allow all categories of permissible travel to Cuba be carried out under a general license. In a press release Farr points out that “there are no better ambassadors for democratic ideals than the American people” and that “a pragmatic policy of citizen diplomacy can be a powerful catalyst for democratic development in Cuba.”

The full text of the letter is available here.

Seasonal flights to resume between Tampa and Holguín, Cuba

The Tampa International Airport (TIA) announced that after a three-month hiatus, seasonal flights to Holguín, Cuba, will resume in June, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Until February of this year, TIA had offered five flights to Cuba each week, but discontinued two because of low demand and stiff competition.

IN CUBA

Over 2,000 of Cuba’s state-owned businesses now in private sector

Since 2009, over 2,000 formerly state-owned businesses in Cuba have been leased to private management, reports EFE. The initiative to shift the management of state-operated businesses began as an experiment with barbershops and hair salons in 2009. Since then, the changes have grown to include 47 economic activities, employing over 5,000 people. The shift gives employees of the formerly state-operated businesses the ability to manage the business and set prices, while collectively handling the costs of rent and utilities. Employees have some complaints, such as tax burdens and a lack of wholesale markets where businesses can buy supplies. However, both the government and workers have acknowledged that this new arrangement has improved service, reduced absenteeism, and increased employee salaries.

Cuba celebrates International Worker’s Day

As President Raúl Castro presided over Cuba’s May Day parade in Havana, First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel led the celebration in Santiago de Cuba, reports ACN.  This year’s theme was “For a more prosperous and sustainable form of socialism” and the late President Chávez of Venezuela was honored, reports Havana Times (article and slideshow).

Victoria Burnett of the New York Times reports on May Day in a changing Cuba, where private sector workers joined state sector workers in the celebrations in Havana.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Nicolás Maduro pays official visit to Cuba

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro visited Havana last Saturday on his first official trip to Cuba since taking office, reports EFE. While in Cuba, Maduro met with President Raúl Castro and took part in the 13th Meeting of the Cuba-Venezuela Intergovernmental Commission. The commission signed 51 bilateral agreements, and pledged to spend $2 billion on bilateral social development programs this year, reports Reuters. The agreements regarding energy management and social programs follow Maduro’s campaign promise to continue the relationship Hugo Chávez forged with Cuba.

Cuba undergoes Human Rights Review at UN

This week, the UN Human Rights Council performed its Universal Periodic Review of Cuba, a process that takes place every four years for each member country. During the review, several governments recommended that Cuba extend an open invitation for visits by UN human rights experts. In response, Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Relations, extended a permanent welcome to such experts, on the condition that the purpose of the visits be “non-discriminatory” and impartial, reports EFE.

Rodríguez further stated that “Cuba will never accept a process of regime change,” from UN member countries, specifically referencing suggestions made by the U.S.

Rodríguez presented evidence of Cuba’s advances in human rights, citing the country’s universally accessible education and healthcare systems. His complete statement for the Universal Periodic Review is available here.

According to the Miami Herald, UN Watch, a Geneva-based NGO affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, said Cuba had committed fraud “on a massive scale” to influence the Council’s review of its human rights record.

FAO Director General visits Cuba

On Friday, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations arrived in Havana to meet with Cuban government officials, reports Cubadebate. While in Cuba, Graziano will discuss food security programs with officials such as Minister of Foreign Relations Rodríguez; Vice President Marino Murillo; Gustavo Rodríguez Rollero, the Minister of Agriculture; and Félix González Viego, President of the National Association of Small Farmers.

Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment ends contract with Canadian firm Tokmakjian

Cuba’s government has officially ended the operations of Canadian firm Tokmakjian Group, reports Café Fuerte. The conglomerate had operated on the island for the past 25 years, until a 2011 corruption scandal resulted in the closing of the company’s offices in Havana and the arrest of the company’s head, Cy Tokmakjian. Until now, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment had not taken any major action against the company. Tokmakjian Group’s operations were the second largest of any foreign enterprise on the island, selling mining and construction equipment as well as cars and car parts.

President Raúl Castro has led a nationwide campaign against corruption, which has seen the arrest of several high-level foreign business representatives, as well as Cuban nationals. In a 2011 speech, Castro stated that corruption in Cuba “is equivalent to counter-revolution,” encouraging the government to be relentless in its campaign as corruption “could lead to self-destruction.”

China fulfills Cuba cargo ship order

Shanghai Shipyard Co. Ltd. has delivered the sixth of ten cargo ships that Cuba had ordered from China, reports Cuba Standard. The additional 35,000-ton grain cargo ships are expected to increase Cuba’s maritime trading capacity with nations far from the Caribbean. In addition, the ships will lower the cost of grain shipments to Cuba, which often come at a premium cost due to the sanctions prohibiting ships coming from Cuba to dock at U.S. ports.

350 Cuban doctors sent to Ghana

As a part of the recently-renewed Ghana-Cuba Medical Service and Educational Agreement, 350 Cuban doctors arrived in Ghana on Wednesday, reports the Daily Graphic. The agreement aims to improve Ghana’s doctor-to-patient ratio, which now stands at one doctor to every 10,000 patients. Ghana matched Cuba’s contribution by sending 250 young Ghanaians to Cuba for medical training. The Ghanaian-Cuban partnership began twenty years ago and is renewed every two years.

Around the Region

U.S. citizen accused of conspiracy against Venezuela’s government

U.S. citizen Timothy Hallett Tracy, arrested in Venezuela last Wednesday, was accused of sowing unrest in the country, reports La Jornada. According to The Guardian, Tracy was in Venezuela as a documentary filmmaker and spent time interviewing people on both sides of the country’s political spectrum. Gloria Stifano, Tracy’s lawyer, clarified that he is the subject of an investigation and so far “nobody has said that he is criminally responsible,” reports El Universal. She also stated that his human rights would be respected, and he will not be imprisoned.

National Electoral Council discloses timeline and procedures for secondary audit

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has released a statement outlining a timetable and detailing procedures for a secondary audit of Venezuela’s recent presidential election. The audit was agreed to in response to a formal request by former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. However, the CNE clarified that some of Capriles’s demands are “impracticable.”

Venezuela’s opposition claims to have lost last month’s election due to massive fraud, prompting the CNE to state, “Anyone who puts forward charges on such a scale must provide a minimum of necessary elements in order to ascertain whether these charges are indeed suppositions of fact.” According to the CNE, the investigation demanded by the opposition into alleged complaints of irregularities in the voting process is not possible given the incomplete documentation it provided which does not clearly indicate “which polling booths; which records; who is involved” and provides no “precision whatsoever regarding possible damage to the vote.”

Bolivia expels USAID

In a May Day declaration, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales announced the expulsion of USAID, reports BBC. Morales said the move is to protest a remark by Secretary of State John Kerry in which he described Latin America as the “backyard” of the United States. USAID’s operations in Bolivia focused on counter-narcotics and military initiatives. Bolivia, along with six of the eight ALBA countries, signed a resolution last June calling for all member states to expel the agency.  For further analysis of the USAID program, see our feature in Recommended Reading.

El Salvador Update: April, 2013, Linda Garrett, Center for Democracy in the Americas

Linda Garrett, CDA’s Senior Policy Analyst on El Salvador, discusses developments that have taken place in El Salvador during the month of April, including President Funes’ visit to Washington, D.C. and his announcement of formalized support for the country’s historic gang truce and peace process.  The update covers developments in the presidential race and in the U.S. trials against former Salvadoran military officials. It also includes a detailed chronology of El Salvador’s (gang truce) peace process, and a map of municipalities that have joined the “Violence-Free Municipalities” program.

If you would like to receive the Monthly El Salvador Update via email, contact: ElSalvadorUpdate@democracyinamericas.org.  

Recommended Reading

Special Feature: Along the Malecón: In Cuba: USAID Flies Into the Cuckoo’s Nest

Investigative journalist Tracey Eaton examines how schizophrenic U.S. policy toward Cuba can be.  Eaton provides examples drawn from USAID’s program there noting that while typical development programs seek to alleviate poverty, USAID’s work in Cuba is framed by legislation whose real goal is “to increase poverty, not reduce it.”

Amid Fealty to Socialism, a Nod to Capitalism, Victoria Burnett, New York Times

Havana’s May Day Parade now acts as a curious metaphor for Cuba’s changing economy, writes Victoria Burnett. Private and government-owned businesses work together and learn from each other, as the inefficiencies of the purely state-run economy are being replaced with a new entrepreneurial spirit within the private sector. The growing number of private sector workers in the parade expressed that participating is a way to show solidarity with all workers on the island, public or private.

Havana’s Classic Taxis Get a Taste of Competition, EFE

For the first time in decades, taxis in Cuba – especially in Havana – are facing increased competition. As the city continues to experience serious transportation problems, a boom in licenses for private taxi drivers has made the competition for customers fierce. Private taxi licenses make up 11% of the 400,000 private licenses registered in Cuba.

Shakur’s addition to Most Wanted Terrorist List reeks of Cuba Lobby desperation, William Vidal, On Two Shores

William Vidal of On Two Shores analyzes the news of the past few months about Cuba’s place on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism; beginning with reports in February that Cuba would be removed from the list and culminating in this week’s announcement that Cuba will remain on the list.

Political calculus keeps Cuba on U.S. list of terror sponsors, Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times

Carol J. Williams examines the political considerations in keeping Cuba on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, even as national security analysts call the designation “counterproductive,” and note that there is no evidence indicating that Cuba is a national security threat to the U.S.

The Impact of Telesur and Cuba’s Media Crisis, Fernando Ravsberg, Havana Times

Fernando Ravsberg of the Havana Times analyzes the effects of Telesur’s broadcast in Cuba, contrasting the news coverage with Cuba’s national television.

Recommended Viewing

A glimpse inside Cuba’s high security prisons, Sarah Rainsford, BBC

Leading up to Cuba’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN, the government opened several prisons for foreign journalists. Here, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford gets a rare tour of one of Cuba’s high security prisons.

A FINAL WORD:

THE ROAD FROM NEW YORK TO PHILADELPHIA GETS SHORTER

For some time, the Equality Forum, an organization dedicated to advancing LGBT rights, planned a 2013 summit with Cuba as its featured nation and Mariela Castro, Director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) as its honored guest.

The summit, being held in Philadelphia, May 2-5, coincided with meetings related to United Nations population policy in New York.  Ms. Castro was granted a diplomatic visa that got her to New York to visit the UN, and she applied for permission from the State Department to go beyond the 25-mile barrier that prevents high-ranking Cubans from moving about the country as freely as diplomats and citizens from other nations are permitted to do in the U.S., so she could attend the summit.

Her request apparently posed too big a dilemma for the decision makers at State.  After all, this is the same Mariela Castro who was recognized in the Department’s 2012 Human Rights Report for being “outspoken in promoting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons,” and who was granted a visa to attend the 2012 Latin American Studies Association conference in San Francisco.

But the 97 miles between New York and Philadelphia was simply too much for the Department to handle.  As the New York Times reported last week, State denied her request “without explanation.”  Understandably so; how could you explain why it’s alright for Mariela Castro to visit Manhattan and discuss population policy but not okay to attend an equality conference down the New Jersey Turnpike to talk about AIDS?

Their position was not sustainable.  It took less than four days for the State Department to change its mind, reverse the decision, and give Ms. Castro permission go all the way to the City of Brotherly Love to speak and receive her award.  CNN reported on the development here.

This made some hardliners very unhappy.  Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27) issued a statement denouncing the decision, “For a person like Mariela Castro to attend a conference on civil rights for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people, and to receive an award, is shameful, pathetic and a ruse. The words ‘equality’ and ‘human rights’ don’t exist in the vocabulary of the Castro tyranny.”  Inexplicably, the Babalú website protested the decision by publishing an old picture of Madonna kissing Britney Spears.   They were really upset.

Why? These opponents of engagement with Cuba have never been fans of Mariela Castro, but we suspect that something larger here is at play.

After all, the State Department didn’t give in to the impulse to stick with a decision that made the U.S. bad just to make the hardliners happy.  Instead, it changed its mind.

Think about that.  We know that State is keeping Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terror list for 2013, but the law enables the U.S. government to remove its designation by notifying Congress and reporting the reasons for doing so. It can change its mind.  Maybe State won’t.  But, at least it’s the other side that is going to be up at night thinking they might.

When Ms. Castor returned home, she wrote President Obama and urged him to modernize Cuba policy.  She asked the president to support Cuba’s economic reforms, end the travel ban, lift trade restrictions, engage Cuba in a dialogue on human rights, and, critically, to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terror List.

Such clear, forward thinking was too much for Ralph Fernandez, a Tampa attorney, who “pinned the label ‘terrorist’ on Castor,” as the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported, and said “she joins all terrorists of the western hemisphere in solidarity with the (Castro) regime and tyranny that has brought pain and agony to my people.”

Such rhetoric was sad, but not surprising, and the tactic was all too familiar.  The noisiest critics of the system in Cuba like to stanch free debate in America to stop courage like Castor’s from becoming contagious.

In this case, the name-calling backfired, and emboldened constituents rose to her defense.  Patrick Manteiga, publisher of Tampa’s La Gaceta newspaper, donated space for a full-page ad in last week’s issue that saluted Castor “on her historic trip to Cuba” and he got more than 300 area residents to sign on…in Florida.

This is further proof that the politics around Cuba issues is changing, that the Cuba Lobby, which has petrified politicians and paralyzed policy for decades, can be challenged not just by rare instances of courage but by compelling examples of common sense.

It may take time for this truth to move from Tampa Bay to the halls of Congress, but we hope it’s heard in Foggy Bottom and that the U.S. State Department gets the message fast.

By April 30th, Secretary of State John Kerry must decide whether Cuba should be removed from the list of countries designated as State Sponsors of Terror.

Kerry has previously spoken sensibly on terrorism.  Presiding over the confirmation of Hillary Rodham Clinton to serve as Secretary of State, John Kerry, then-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said:

In the last seven years, we have spent the treasure of this nation – young American soldiers, first and foremost, and billions of dollars – to fight terrorism, and yet grave questions remain as to whether or not we have chosen our battles correctly, pursued the right strategy, defined the right goals.

Now that Kerry is running State, it’s time for him to pursue the right strategy and act decisively by removing Cuba from the terror list.  The merits are clear.

“None of the reasons that landed Cuba on the list in 1982 still exist,” as the Los Angeles Times explained recently. “A 2012 report by the State Department found that Havana no longer provides weapons or paramilitary training to Marxist rebels in Latin America or Africa. In fact, Cuba is currently hosting peace talks between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and President Juan Manuel Santos’ government.”

This is just the point Rep. Castor made to President Obama.  “One of the reasons used to justify Cuba’s presence on the State Sponsors of Terror List was its support of the FARC.  This rationale is no longer valid, and it provides our nation with an opportunity to remove Cuba from the list and focus on global actors who need our attention.”

After returning from Cuba, on a trip led by the Center for Democracy in the Americas, Rep. Castor never stopped working.  She used contacts she made at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to connect grandparents in her district to Cuban and U.S. officials, trying to facilitate the return of Chase and Cole Hakken, children abducted by their parents in Tampa and taken by boat to Cuba.

The same Tampa attorney who called out Castor assured local media that the parents, who were fugitives in Cuba, were safe, “there’s no extradition…There’s nothing that can be done.”

Soon after, the Cubans arrested the parents and returned them to Florida where they face a variety of serious charges, and the boys, ages 4 and 2, were reunited with their grandparents proving, as Rep. Castor said, “the value of engagement” and the importance of reforming the policy.

Whether it takes common sense or courage, something can always be done.  Kathy Castor proved it, and so can John Kerry, if he’s got game.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Mariela Castro denied visa to attend conference in Philadelphia

The U.S. State Department denied Mariela Castro’s request for a visa to attend a conference next week in Philadelphia, reports the New York Times. While she was granted a diplomatic visa to attend meetings at the UN headquarters in New York, where she arrived this week, that visa does not allow her to travel more than 25 miles from New York. Mariela Castro is the daughter of President Raúl Castro, and directs Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX). She was to receive an award at the Equality Forum 2013 for her work advocating for LGBT rights.

Last year, Castro was allowed to attend the annual congress of the Latin American Studies Association in San Francisco, CA. This year’s visa denial could be related to her election this February as a member of Cuba’s National Assembly. U.S. law bars visas for high-ranking members of the Communist Party and government officials.

Tampa City Council members to travel to Cuba

Nearly half of Tampa’s City Council will travel to Cuba in May on a trip organized by the city’s Chamber of Commerce, reports the Tampa Bay Times. Those planning to travel have expressed a desire to better understand the possibilities that future cooperation with Cuba could entail for Tampa. “Tampa is where the future of the relationship between the United States and Cuba will unfold. I truly believe that,” expressed Yvonne Yolie Capin, who will be visiting the island for the first time. The privately financed trip will fly out of the Tampa International Airport, as the participants want to emphasize the city’s position as a gateway to Cuba.

Florida man convicted in Medicare money transfers to Cuba sentenced to four years in prison

Oscar Sánchez, a Florida man convicted of leading a money laundering operation that transferred millions of dollars in Medicare dollars to counterparts in Cuba, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison and one year of home arrest, reports the Miami Herald.  Initially charged last summer along with three other suspects in the money-laundering scheme, Sánchez was found guilty of collaborating with an offshore remittance company to channel over $30 million, fraudulently obtained from Medicare, from a South Florida bank to one in Cuba. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, there is no evidence that the government of Cuba was at all involved in the money laundering. Cuba’s government similarly denies any association with the crime.

IN CUBA

Cuba’s central labor union invites cuentapropistas to participate in May 1st activities and encourages them to join union

The leadership of Cuba’s national labor union, the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC) is encouraging workers in the non-state sector to participate in public activities planned for International Workers’ Day on May 1st, reports Café Fuerte. Salvador Valdés Mesa, secretary general of the CTC and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party, stated “Unions exist to organize workers from all sectors, to represent them and shape values, so as not to renounce the active participation of that great mass in the updating of the country’s economic model.”

Although 85% of self-employed workers are a part of the Cuban Workers Union (CTC), which comes with Social Security benefits, active participation remains quite low. Some self-employed workers have advocated for the creation of an independent union, suggesting that such an organization could more effectively represent them.

For first time since 1959, Havana’s Capitol building will host parliament

Cuba’s National Assembly will move to the Capitol building in Havana, where, for the first time since 1959, members will use offices and convene twice-annual parliamentary sessions, reports the Associated Press.

This historic building, the Capitolio Nacional, was built in Havana from 1926-1929, is modeled after but is slightly larger than the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Eusebio Leal, city historian of Havana, whose office has overseen the restoration of the building, stated that while it is still unclear exactly when the Capitol will be ready for its renewed use, the restoration is “a work of great importance for the architectural world and for Havana.”  Leal also told the AP that the Office of the City Historian hopes to reopen Havana’s historic Martí Theater later this year.

Revenues of Sherritt, Cuba’s largest private investor, reported to be lagging

Sherritt International Corp., Cuba’s largest private foreign investor, has reported a 29% drop in net earnings, reports Cuba Standard. The mining and energy company, based in Canada, credited the drop – from $352.3 million during the first quarter of last year to $280.8 million this year – to the cancellation of a coal mining contract in Canada, as well as lower prices for nickel and cobalt, and increased operation costs. Although nickel production in the company’s Moa Joint Venture plant in Cuba was down due to delays in haul truck availability, the company reports that its outlook for 2013 remains unchanged.

Cuba’s biotechnology industry expected to double in five years

Officials from BioCubaFarma, Cuba’s biotechnology company, expect the company to double its operations over the next five years, to produce over $5 billion in export revenue, reports Xinhua.  Launched in 2011 by the Sixth Congress of Cuba’s Communist Party as part of an effort to develop Cuba’s biotechnological and pharmaceutical industries and advance biotechnology and genetic research, BioCubaFarma plans to broaden the array of products it offers domestic and international markets.  The company manufactures generic drugs, vaccines, biomedicines, diagnostic systems, and medical equipment, and also performs research in the areas of neuroscience and neurotechnology.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Díaz-Canel to head Cuba’s delegation at summit of Association of Caribbean States

Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba’s First Vice President, will lead the country’s delegation at the fifth summit of the Association of Caribbean States, reports Juventud Rebelde. The summit starts today in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  Leaders of the twenty-five member states and of four associate-member states will discuss furthering regional cooperation, and are expected to form an agreement to continue to support Haiti’s reconstruction and development process.

Ladies in White receive human rights prize in Brussels

On Tuesday, Cuba’s Ladies in White received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in Brussels, reports the BBC. The group was awarded the distinction in 2005, but members had been unable to travel to Europe until recently, following Cuba’s migration reforms. Laura Labrada received the award on behalf of the group.

International chess tournament begins in Havana

The 48th annual José Raúl Capablanca International Memorial Chess Tournament began on Sunday in Havana, reports Xinhua.  The tournament is named after the Cuban chess player who held the world chess championship from 1921 to 1927. More than 200 participants from over 21 countries arrived in Havana for the tournament, which culminates May 1.

Around the Region

Caracas Connect: Venezuela’s Elections – Photo Finish and a Lingering Controversy, Dr. Dan Hellinger and Dawn Gable, Center for Democracy in the Americas

CDA witnessed Venezuela’s election, the announcement of the results, and the campaign’s immediate aftermath while visiting Venezuela this month. Dan Hellinger and Dawn Gable offer analysis and eye-witness reports in this edition of Caracas Connect.

As the National Electoral Council (CNE) audits the voting machines used in the vote, President Nicolás Maduro has moved forward, establishing his team and setting his administration’s strategy. On the home front, more than half of Venezuela’s cabinet members were replaced this week, while ministers in key sectors, such as foreign affairs, oil and defense, were retained, reports AFP. Maduro also launched what he has dubbed a “New Cycle of the Revolution,” that will focus on “building peace, security, and coexistence,” reports Venezuelanalysis.

President Maduro has appointed Calixto Ortega as the new Charge D’Affaires in Venezuela’s embassy in Washington. Maduro voiced hopes that Ortega will improve the dialogue between the two nations, according to a release by state newswire AVN. Mr. Ortega formerly served in Venezuela’s National Assembly and participated in the now defunct Boston Group, a friendship alliance between members of Venezuela’s parliament and the U.S. Congress. The group included Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY-5) who attended Hugo Chávez’s funeral and who recently expressed his intention to work toward repairing U.S. relations with Venezuela, reports The Hill.

The State Department’s response to this change is positive, yet puzzling. While the U.S. has still refused to recognize formally Nicolas Maduro’s presidency, it did so indirectly through spokesman Patrick Ventrell. “With all bilateral diplomatic relationships, it’s important to establish effective channels of communication between governments,” he said, referring to the appointment of Ortega which he expressed “could be a step in that direction,” reports AFP.

Meanwhile, tensions remain high while the world awaits the results of an audit that, according to CEPR, has a less than one in 25 thousand trillion chance of producing a result different from that of election night. Adding to international tensions, Timothy Hallet, a U.S. citizen has been detained in Venezuela, accused of being an intelligence agent involved in a plan to destabilize the government, reports La Jornada. The U.S. State Department has declined to comment on the situation until it has obtained more information about Hallet’s activities in Venezuela.

If you would like to receive Caracas Connect updates via email, please write to: CaracasConnect@democracyinamericas.org.

Beatification process to move forward for El Salvador’s slain Archbishop Romero

Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, the Vatican official leading efforts to canonize Archbishop Oscar Romero, said that the process has been “unblocked,” reports the Associated Press. The beatification had been stalled under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, due to the Vatican’s opposition to liberation theology. But, Pope Francis has shown a willingness to move forward with the process. According to La Prensa Gráfica, Salvadoran Monsignor Jesús Delgado claims to have had a conversation in 2007 with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, in which Bergoglio expressed: “If I had been pope, the very first thing I would have done would be order Archbishop Romero’s beatification.”

Horacio Cartes elected president of Paraguay

Paraguay held its presidential election on Sunday to elect a new leader following the abrupt impeachment of former President Fernando Lugo in June, 2012. Horacio Cartes of the conservative Colorado party won the vote with 46%, reports Reuters.  When Cartes is sworn-in in August for a five-year term, it will mark the Colorado party’s return to power in Paraguay after a five-year break in its sixty-year reign.  The Pan-American Post and Bloggings by boz each provide a roundup of news coverage of the election, and the domestic and regional implications of Cartes’ victory.

Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has initiated steps for Venezuela and Paraguay to normalize diplomatic relations, mending the two countries’ ruptured relations following Lugo’s impeachment, reports MercoPress.

Representatives introduce “Countering ALBA Act”

Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27) and Albio Sires (NJ-8) introduced a bill Thursday called the “Countering ALBA Act,” urging the OAS to take action against ALBA governments, whom they say are guilty of human rights abuses in their own countries.  The bill encourages President Obama to “stand with the people of ALBA nations” by imposing sanctions on those leaders determined to have been complicit in human rights violations.

Recommended Reading

Cuba: Reconnecting with an old friend, Daniel Whittle, Environmental Defense Fund

Dan Whittle tells a powerful story about the friendship between Hall of Fame Major League Pitcher Jim Bunning and Conrado Marrero, a Cuban-born pitcher who went to play for the Washington Senators in 1950. He writes, “A few weeks ago, I met Connie Marrero at his home in Havana. He was almost 102, and though frail, blind, hard of hearing and no longer throwing a slider, Connie was excited to hear news of his old friend.  He reminisced about playing with Bunning and against Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams and other legends. When I told him that Bunning gave him credit for changing his game, he just smiled. I told that story in Tampa as a reminder that U.S.–Cuba relations were once as close as the sliver of saltwater that separates the two nations, and should be so again.”

Special Feature: Along the Malecón: USAID may slash Cuba program, while Office of Cuba Broadcasting carries on as usual

Investigative journalist Tracey Eaton reports on USAID’s proposal to cut funding to its Cuba program, as Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio called the cuts “out of proportion.”  But even as USAID proposes cuts to its Cuba budget, U.S. taxpayer dollars continue to fund the Office of Cuba Broadcasting’s regime change programs, carried out by “unnamed contractors.”

What the Beyoncé and Jay-Z Cuba uproar teaches us, Luis A. Pérez Jr., Kansas City Star

Luis Pérez Jr. reflects on the recent uproar over Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s recent trip to Cuba, arguing that the time has come for the United States to discard official pretexts and government permission requirements for Cuba travel, and allow all Americans to travel freely to Cuba.

Take Cuba off terror list, George Strain, The Advocate

Professor George Strain writes a letter to the editor at The Advocate, asking why the United States seems unable to remove Cuba from its list of State Sponsors of Terror. He notes that keeping Cuba on the list undermines the credibility of the list itself, as well as the United States’ standing in the region.

The Latin America Working Group (LAWG) delivered a petition of over 8,000 signatures to the State Department today, asking Secretary Kerry to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

The Bay of Pigs and Chronic Hubris, Manuel Gómez, CounterPunch

CDA board member Manuel Gómez reflects on the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion and its place in the history of U.S.-Cuba relations, not as an aberration, but as illustrative of a well-established pattern of the U.S.’s long-held preference for “regime change” policies toward Cuba rather than diplomacy.

How Cuban Villagers Learned They Descended From Sierra Leone Slaves, Emma Christopher, The Atlantic

Filmmaker Emma Christopher investigates a connection caused by the slave trade between members of a small community in Cuba and a tribe in Sierra Leone. Taking note of the similarities in the traditional dances of both groups, she investigates the link to discover that the community in Cuba descends directly from Sierra Leone. The West African tribe, seeing their distinct and local culture alive in Cuba, invited members of Perico, Cuba to visit and rediscover their roots.

The forgotten terrorists of Miami, Vivian Mannerud, Cuba Standard

Vivian Mannerud, owner of the Cuba travel agency Airline Brokers, whose Coral-Gable offices were firebombed a year ago tomorrow, reflects on acts of domestic terror, and the country’s response to last week’s bombing in Boston.

Guatemala in the arc of history, Emma Stodder, Center for Democracy in the Americas

Emma Stodder, CDA’s Stephen M. Rivers Memorial Intern, writes on Guatemala’s trial proceedings against former dictator General Efraín Ríos Montt, which were held up by a number of chaotic judicial pronouncements this week. The search for justice continues, and although trial proceedings are now in question, she reflects that the trial itself is regionally groundbreaking, paving the way for future trials against human rights abusers.

But these events were surpassed by the suffering inflicted on Boston and its marathon.  It began with terrorism at the finish line, where bystanders were killed and grievously wounded, as were runners trying to complete the race.  As we went to press, there was more: a campus police officer murdered at MIT, gun battles, a metropolitan-wide lockdown, and rampant fear.

This incident stung us for obvious reasons, but also because, as Governor Deval Patrick reminded us, “Massachusetts invented America.”  Even at a time when the United States is so disunited, Massachusetts with its special place in America’s history and civic ideals was also able to connect us and bring us closer together.

Starting when we learned something was horribly wrong on Boylston Street, there were stories of women and men rising to their better selves; Samaritans coming to the aid of strangers; Cuba and other nations expressing their condolences; reporters and others insisting that lies be brought to heel with the truth, because facts, like the size of the casualty count, matter, and because no victim (and no nation) should be wrongfully accused of committing or supporting terrorism.

In his eternal inaugural address, President John Kennedy, a son of Massachusetts, brought the Cold War to the center of his foreign policy, when he said “Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas.”  But, he also said, just a few sentences later, “let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.  Let us never negotiate out of fear.  But let us never fear to negotiate.”

Fifty years ago, as Peter Kornbluh explains (behind the pay wall in The Nation), the Kennedy administration made a diplomatic approach to Cuba’s government that resulted in Cubans imprisoned in the U.S. and Americans, including CIA agents, behind bars in Cuba returning to their homes.  He offers this example of James Donovan’s ‘metadiplomacy’ to show how normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba are possible, when we do not fear to negotiate.

Civility is not weakness.  There are prisoners still left to be freed, a terrorism policy that must be applied based not on politics but the facts, lessons to be learned from the displays this week of humility and humanity, public officials who must rise to their better selves.  Boston reminds us: this work can truly be our own.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

René González to spend two weeks in Cuba on family visit

A U.S. federal judge has ruled that René González may visit Cuba for two weeks to attend his father’s memorial service, reports Havana Times. González, one of the Cuban Five, is currently serving the second of his three-year parole following a 13-year term in prison. González must abide by conditions the judge set: submitting a detailed itinerary prior to departure; forbidding him from being in contact with Cuban intelligence officials, and requiring regular contact with his probation officer in the U.S. throughout his stay on the island.

Before departing for Cuba, Mr. González must also obtain a passport from the U.S. State Department. In 2012, after being granted permission for a two-week visit to see his terminally ill brother in Cuba, it took 10 days for the State Department to issue González a passport.

Kerry reiterates that the U.S. will not make a prisoner exchange for Alan Gross

This week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated the longstanding position that the U.S. will not exchange the Cuban Five for imprisoned USAID subcontractor Alan Gross. Instead, Secretary Kerry is pushing for Cuba to release Gross as a “humanitarian gesture,” reports the Miami Herald. Secretary Kerry, in testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the U.S. is currently “trying to find whether there is a humanitarian capacity or not” in Cuba for Gross to be released.

State Department releases annual report on human rights practices

The U.S. State Department released its “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012,” an annual publication which profiles countries’ human rights records, as well as global developments in human rights.  The report’s executive summary on Cuba points out the continued dominance of the Communist Party within Cuba’s government and highlights violations of human rights, including the unlawful use of force, harsh prison conditions, arbitrary arrests, selective prosecution, denial of fair trial, severely restricted Internet access, circumscribed academic freedoms, limited freedom of movement, and maintained significant restrictions on the ability of religious groups to meet and worship.

Although this report reiterates what was included in previous years, it also mentions the case of dissident Oswaldo Payá, who was killed in a car crash, and his family’s request for an international investigation in his death.

Twenty people accused of falsifying Cuban passports in Florida

Twenty people in Florida face charges in U.S. District Court in Miami for forging Cuban passports, reports Café Fuerte. The prosecution of these individuals is part of the largest push against the falsification of Cuban documents within the past decade, dubbed Operation Havana Gateway. The falsified documents are used to aid undocumented immigrants gain permanent residency in the United States through the Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cuban nationals to reside permanently in the U.S. after a year. The coordinated effort involved various government agencies including Customs and Border Control, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Diplomatic Security Service of the State Department.

Cuban midfielder to join U.S. World Cup team

Cuban soccer player Osvaldo Alonso, a midfielder who plays for the Seattle Sounders, a Major League Soccer team, awaits approval by the International Football Association (FIFA) to join the U.S. national team, reports Café Fuerte. Alonso, who left Cuba’s national team in 2007, and became a citizen of the United States in 2012, still needs FIFA’s permission to play for the U.S. in time for the 2014 World Cup. Before FIFA allows Alonso to play for the U.S. national team, the Cuban Olympic Committee must first grant him permission, as FIFA regulations require that a player who has represented one nation in the past receive permission from that nation before playing for another team.

IN CUBA

Cuba to grant more autonomy to provincial governments and to state-sector businesses

New measures, which would allow for more autonomy in financial decision-making for state-run businesses, were announced in Juventud Rebelde on Wednesday, reports Reuters. The loosening of state controls will be applied on a small scale before more widespread reforms are implemented.

Meanwhile, Fernando Ravsberg reports for the Havana Times about the changes taking place in the province of Artemisa. New public administration approaches are being tested in the province to lower costs and decrease bureaucracy in addition to strengthening local leaders’ authority in crucial decision-making. The provincial government is now responsible for identifying its own needs and budgeting accordingly, and is empowered to add to its state-assigned budget through collecting its own taxes. The province has also moved forward in encouraging small enterprise by granting more than 20,000 commercial licenses.

Alfredo Guevara dies

Influential intellectual and essayist Alfredo Guevara died on Friday at the age of 87, reports Havana Times. Guevara was a founder of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Act and Industry (ICAIC) as well as the founder of the annual Havana Film Festival. He directed the film festival every year since its founding in 1979. A prominent force in the island’s cultural life, he also acted as Deputy Minister of Culture in 1975 and served as Cuba’s ambassador to UNESCO in the 1980s.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Cuba and Russia to cooperate on construction of new Havana airport

After a visit by Prime Minister Dimitri Medvedev to Havana, Russia’s government announced plans to aid in the construction of a new international airport in Cuba, reports Europa Press. The airport will be constructed on the San Antonio de los Baños airbase, located about 20 miles from Havana. This new project comes after Denis Mantourov, Russia’s Commercial and Industrial Minister, announced a cooperation plan in November, which includes the creation of a joint Russian-Cuban airlines with service in the Americas by 2020.

OAS human rights commission calls for inquiry into death of Oswaldo Payá

The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States (OAS) formally requested that Cuba’s government release details about the car crash that killed Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero last year, reports the Miami Herald. IACHR press office director María Isabel Rivero confirmed that a letter had been sent to Cuba’s government, but said that its contents were confidential.

Cuba’s government has not answered to the OAS since its 1962 suspension due to the organization’s decision that “Marxism-Leninism is incompatible with the inter-American system.” The OAS voted in 2009 to lift Cuba’s suspension, creating a mechanism by which Cuba could opt to re-join. Cuba’s government responded that while it was appreciative of the gesture, it would not re-join.

Around the Region

Venezuela: Election Update

Nicolás Maduro was formally sworn in as President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, reports Al Jazeera, after nearly a week of controversy. Venezuelans returned to the polls last Sunday in a special election following the death of President Hugo Chávez in March. Maduro won the election with 50.8% of the vote, over opposition candidate Henrique Capriles’ 49%, who declared shortly thereafter that he would not accept the election results, reports BBC Mundo.

As per regulations determined by Venezuela’s National Election Council (CNE), the country uses electronic voting machines, which produce a paper trail. The CNE supervises an audit of 54% of the machines, comparing the electronic tally to the paper receipts in order to ensure accuracy.

Prior to the election, Capriles refused to sign a document pledging to recognize the election’s results. Immediately after the result was announced, he urged his supporters to take to the streets to protest the results, reports David Smilde’s blog Venezuela Politics and Human Rights. According to official state television, VTV, the protests became violent and by Tuesday, eight Maduro supporters had been killed, with dozens of others injured. Luisa Ortega Díaz, Venezuela’s Attorney General, said that Capriles would be held accountable for the violence.

Both the U.S. and the Organization of American States (OAS) have stated that they will not recognize the election results until a full audit of the voting machines has been completed, reports Bloomberg.  Most countries of the Americas, as well as China and Russia, have recognized the results.  India and the rest of the Non-Aligned countries have also done so.  The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the National Lawyers Guild, which served as international observers of the election, have also ratified the election results. The Carter Center supported the results as well, but considered an audit of 100% of the voting machines to be a reasonable solution to the impasse.

Today, the CNE announced that it would perform an audit of the remaining 46% of voting machines, reports Venezuela’s Embassy to the U.S.

IPS’ Foreign Policy In Focus will host a presentation by Dan Kovalik of the National Lawyers Guild and Alex Main of CEPR, who just returned from Venezuela serving as official international accompaniers. David Smilde of the Washington Office on Latin America’s (WOLA) Venezuela Politics and Human Rights blog will lead a discussion Tuesday at WOLA, assessing the election results and their significance.

Click here to read an analysis of the election results and subsequent controversy, by Dr. Dan Hellinger, CDA’s emeritus president and advisory board member, and Dawn Gable, CDA’s Assistant Director in a special edition of Caracas Connect.

Constitutional Court suspends and threatens to annul Ríos Montt trial proceedings

Kate Doyle of the National Security Archives reports for the Open Society Justice Initiative on the unexpected turn of events in the trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt, former dictator of Guatemala. Though the trial was expected to hear closing arguments on Friday, Judge Carol Patricia Flores abruptly called the trial to a halt, declaring the proceedings “null and invalid.” Claudia Paz y Paz, Guatemala’s Attorney General, stated that the ruling was “illegal” and announced that she would use every possible measure to reverse Judge Flores’ decision and allow the trial to continue. Judge Yasmín Barrios, head of the tribunal overseeing the trial, stated that in spite of the ruling, the trial would resume Friday morning. Ríos Montt is the first former head of state to be tried for genocide in his own country.

U.S. Congress Members voice support for peace in Colombia

A bipartisan group of 62 Members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry regarding Colombia. The letter, led by the offices of Reps. Jim McGovern and Jan Schakowsky, asked that the United States support, peace, development, and human rights in Colombia. The letter highlighted the importance of the peace talks taking place between Colombia’s government and the FARC:

“We appreciate the statements made by the State Department in support of the Colombian peace process and ask in the months ahead that you encourage the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) negotiating teams to stay the course.”

The letter made recommendations for supporting justice in cases of human rights abuses, support for sustainable land restitution policies, protection for human rights defenders and at-risk communities, as well as the implementation of a counter-drug policy which allows Colombia to develop its own suitable strategies while encouraging rural development.

The peace talks between Colombia’s government and the FARC will resume in Havana next week on April 23, reports AFP.

Recommended Reading

Special feature: Along the Malecón: U.S. withholds democracy “trade secrets”

Investigative journalist Tracey Eaton reports on the activities of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe’s “Democracy for Cuba” program via documents obtained through a FOIA request. The documents he pried out of the State Department were heavily redacted, not because they contained national security secrets, but because the Department claims an interest in not disclosing its partner organizations’ “trade secrets and confidential business information.”

My Week with Yoani: The Takeaway, Ted Henken, El Yuma

Ted Henken of Baruch College reflects on his experience with Yoani Sánchez during her tour of the United States. He provides five points summarizing Sánchez’s trip. Citing the need for bilateral engagement, Henken highlights Sánchez’s point that Cubans in both the U.S. and the island need to bridge their relationship and bring about change on their own.

Ron Paul: Why Can’t We All Travel To Cuba?, Ron Paul, Albany Tribune

Ron Paul reflects upon the inconsistencies in U.S. policy revealed by Jay-Z and Beyonce’s trip to Cuba. Pointing out that the travel ban does not reflect the freedom that the United States tries to promote.  Former Congressman Paul states that restricting travel “in the name of human rights is foolish and hypocritical.”

Why American business needs to follow Beyoncé to Cuba, Chris Farrell, Bloomberg Businessweek

Chris Farrell argues that Americans traveling to Cuba – especially public figures such as Beyoncé – is a step in the right direction for U.S.-Cuba relations. More importantly, Farrell states, an end to the embargo and a normalization of relations could prove to be positive for American businesses.

Wild Cuban Days (if You’re Canadian, Maybe), Joyce Walder, The New York Times

Joyce Walder recounts some of her frustrations during a people-to-people trip to Cuba. While satisfying her desire to see Art Deco architecture and experience the country, she found her people-to-people itinerary to be overly-structured, and at odds with her own ideas of cultural exchange and interaction with locals.

How Cubans’ Health Improved When Their Economy Collapsed, Richard Schiffman, The Atlantic

Richard Shiffman of The Atlantic reports on a recent study by researchers from Spain, Cuba, and the U.S. that found that during the Special Period of the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cubans’ health improved due to weight loss. Food shortages, resulting changes in diet, and greater rates of traveling on foot and by bike due to the loss of most of Cuba’s transportation system resulted in decreased incidences of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, and lower mortality rates.

Oil companies leave Cuba to search for oil elsewhere, William E. Gibson, Sun Sentinel

William E. Gibson analyses recent developments in Cuba’s quest to tap into oil fields off its coast. In recent years, many international companies that took an interest in possible offshore oil deposits have all but abandoned their projects due to underwhelming finds and technological challenges. Gibson reports that this shift away from investing in the possibility of Cuban oil has relieved many environmentalists concerned about possible oil spills affecting not only Cuba, but also the Florida coastline.

Just for visiting Cuba, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were serially accused of violating the law, taking a vacation, enriching a dictatorship, even ignoring or subsidizing racism.

Vicious words, and a familiar tactic.  Slagging celebrities has long been part of the larger effort to demonize virtually anyone for visiting Cuba; because, as opponents of better relations with Cuba understand better than most, there is no greater threat to the U.S. policy of isolating Cuba than giving more Americans the undisturbed right to see the island and its people for themselves.

We have seen dramas like this before. The NY Times examined the Beyoncé and Jay-Z controversy and called it “predictable.”  But, as we watched this story, we think it concluded with a happy ending.

Yes, in the future, less celebrated visitors to Cuba are still likely to be vilified; but, this tactic of demonizing travelers to stop Americans from going to Cuba may have finally run its course.

Here’s what happened.

Scene 1:  Express outrage and call for an investigation

As soon as the news broke, travel opponents found the chance to express indignation ahead of the facts too rich to pass up.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said, “I’m absolutely uncomfortable with the way, and concerned about, not just Jay-Z and Beyoncé but some of the travel, the ‘people to people’ travel, that has been occurring in Cuba.”

Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Díaz-Balart quickly sent a letter to the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury Department agency that regulates travel to Cuba, in which they concluded the trip was illegal tourism but called on the government to investigate nonetheless.

Critics probably should have kept their powder dry, as Professor Ted Henken had the good sense to suggest, “J+Z’s” harshest critics ought to check out what they did in “#Cuba b4 sounding off.”

Scene 2:  Uh oh, the trip was legal.

Treasury complied with the request, and the investigation commenced.  But, it quickly became apparent, as Talking Points Memo and others reported the outrage was at odds with the facts.

Just days after receiving their letter, U.S. Treasury’s Assistant Secretary of Legislative Affairs Alastair M. Fitzpayne, wrote Reps. Díaz-Balart and Ros-Lehtinen, and said:

“It is our understanding that the travelers in question traveled to Cuba pursuant to an educational exchange trip organized by a group authorized by OFAC to sponsor and organize programs to promote people-to-people contact in Cuba.”

Scene 3: Blame the investigators

Even before the entertainers were “absolved by Treasury,” Senator Marco Rubio worried that if the couple hadn’t violated the rules, then the rules were being misunderstood or mal-administered.

“If,” he said, the trip was fully licensed, “the Obama Administration should explain exactly how trips like these comply with U.S. law and regulations governing travel to Cuba and it should disclose how many more of these trips they have licensed.”

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen agreed:  If the tourist activities undertaken by Beyoncé and Jay-Z in Cuba are classified as an educational exchange trip, then it is clear that the Obama administration is not serious about denying the Castro regime an economic lifeline that US tourism will extend to it.”

Scene 4: Just Keep Throwing Punches

Why didn’t the Treasury letter put this issue to rest?  Why are reporters and commentators still talking about it?  Celebrities + Attacks = News.

If you say Jay-Z and Beyoncé just went to Cuba for a good time; if you liken travel to Cuba to visiting a zoo, or taking a tropical vacation, or if you call Senators “snowbirds” seeking warmer climes, even when they’re in Cuba trying to free Alan Gross, you’re going to make news.

Further, if you make the baseless charge that Rep. Kathy Castor, who supports removing the embargo, is acting like a foreign agent for the Castro brothers rather than pursuing the U.S. national interest, that’s fair game.

If you start listing places that Beyoncé and Jay-Z should have visited, like Senator Rubio did, it’s unlikely that anyone will remind him that he’s never been there himself.

Denigrating travelers makes good copy; demonizing travel costs the critics nothing.

The Surprise Ending:  An Old Tactic May Be Running Its Course

This is changing.  We may have reached the day our friend Stephen Rivers dreamed of – when cultural figures who visit Cuba open political space in our country to reexamine its policy of punishing the Castros by denying Americans their constitutional rights to visit the island.

The scholar, Arturo López-Levy calls it the ‘Beyoncé Effect,’ the chance to “take a fresh look at the U.S. policy toward Cuba with the candidness of an adolescent. It is difficult to defend a policy that stomps on the same rights it preaches.”

Senator Jeff Flake agreed, commenting on Twitter:  “So, @Beyoncé and Jay-Z @S_C_ are in Cuba? Fine by me. Every American should have the right to travel there.”

Tom Popper, president of Insight Cuba, is feeling it.  He told the Atlantic, “The awareness level has been raised [and] the future for people-to-people travel has never been brighter.”

By triggering the debate, their trip performed a real service.  We were reminded that what Beyoncé and Jay-Z did is legal; that celebrated leaders of Cuba’s civil society and many others want U.S. restrictions on travel to end; and that engaging with Cuba and focusing on problems that matter – like the threat of a scary hurricane season – is more important than slagging celebrities.

This tactic truly is storm and fury signifying nothing.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Rep. Kathy Castor returns from Cuba, advocates for normalization of relations

Returning from a four-day fact-finding mission to Cuba, Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) told a press conference in her district that “it’s time to try something new” in U.S. policy toward Cuba, reports the Tampa Bay Times.

Rep. Castor reported that “there are new, privately owned small businesses – restaurants everywhere, hotels and motels. Reform is happening, and much of the money is not going to support the actual government.  It is going to those individuals, just like the remittances.”  Rep. Castor is only the second Florida politician to travel to Cuba since 1959.  Calling for a normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, especially an end to the embargo and travel restrictions, Rep. Castor said that Cuba has “embarked on economic reforms that the United States of America should promote.”

Rep. Castor also announced that she intends to request that Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama “open talks to lead to greater trade and travel opportunities” between the U.S. and Cuba.  The two countries have much to gain from engagement with one another, stated Rep. Castor, including cooperation in offshore oil drilling, cultural exchange, and the opening of new markets for manufacturers.

With a nod to her Tampa constituents, as well as the celebrity travelers who also made headlines last week, Rep. Castor stated, “Every American should be able to travel [to Cuba], including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, and including the people in the Tampa Bay area — and they should fly out of Tampa.”

U.S. and Cuba cooperate in kidnapping case

A Florida couple who kidnapped their two sons, taking them to Cuba, have been returned to the United States, reports the New York Times.

The couple, Joshua and Sharyn Hakken, who had recently lost custody of their sons, took the children from their grandparents’ house and traveled to Cuba on a sailboat.  Cuban officials swiftly informed the U.S. State Department that the family had arrived in Havana, and cooperated to expedite their return on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press.  The Hakken parents are now jailed without bond in Tampa, reports CBS, while their two sons have been reunited with their grandparents, the Associated Press reports.  The case evoked contrasts with the case of Elián González.

The U.S. Interests Section in Cuba said in a written statement, “We would like to express our appreciation to the Cuban authorities for their extensive cooperation to resolve this dangerous situation quickly,” reports the Associated Press.

U.S. government denies Cuban academics visas for LASA conference

The U.S. Interests Section in Havana has denied the visa requests of a number of Cuban academics intending to travel to the U.S. to participate in the annual conference of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), reports Café Fuerte.

Convening hundreds of regional experts, the LASA conference will take place from May 29 through June 1 in Washington, D.C.  Like last year, the visa denials have already begun rolling in as the conference nears.  Among those Cubans denied their visas are journalist and Professor Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, Professor Carmen Castillo, as well as bloggers Isbel Díaz Torres and Dimitri Prieto Samsónov of the Red Observatorio Crítico.  In response to the denials, Ted Henken of Baruch College said, “To refuse visas of these three bloggers and young intellectuals is a lost opportunity for the U.S. to hear critical and authentic voices from inside Cuba.”

Miami-Cuba maritime shipping ends due to financial and technical problems

The first direct maritime shipping route from Miami to Havana, since the imposition of the embargo, has terminated service less than a year after its start last July, reports the Associated Press.  The effort was plagued by a ship with mechanical problems, finances in arrears, and slow service provided by Cuba’s package delivery company.

Conducted by International Port Corporation (IPC), the heavily-used shipping service allowed U.S. citizens to ship medicine, toiletries, food, construction supplies, washing machines, and refrigerators at lower prices than by airplane. The service also facilitated shipments of humanitarian goods to Cuba from authorized NGOs, charities, and religious groups.

According to the Associated Press, IPC encountered financial problems, apparently missing payment deadlines for docks, warehouses, and other facilities.  Along with mechanical problems with the Ana Cecilia, due to seawater entering the boat, IPC’s financial setbacks on the Miami side of the operation slowed the shipping service, nearly shuttering it in mid-December. Additionally, the popular service was slowed in Cuba, as the volume of goods shipped in the holiday season was too large for Cuban authorities to process quickly.  It is not clear when, if ever, the IPC will resume direct maritime shipments between Miami and Havana.

U.S. government requires conditions if René González returns to Cuba for father’s funeral

Before a federal judge approves the request by René González to visit Cuba for his father’s funeral, U.S. prosecutors have asked that specific conditions be placed on the member of the Cuban Five limiting his activities, reports the Associated Press.  González seeks permission to return temporarily to Cuba for his father’s funeral.  Candido González, age 82, succumbed to a stroke.

The conditions proposed by U.S. federal prosecutors include the submission of a detailed itinerary prior to González’s departure to Cuba, that González not have contact with Cuban intelligence officials, and that González maintain regular contact with his probation officer in the U.S. throughout his stay on the island.

Over 31,000 Cubans became U.S. citizens last year

Cubans constituted the sixth largest nationality to become U.S. citizens in 2012, reports Café Fuerte.  According to a report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 31,000 Cubans became citizens, while 32,000 obtained permanent resident status in 2012.  This past year saw the second highest number of Cubans receive U.S. citizenship in the past 12 years.  In 2008, over 39,000 Cubans became U.S. citizens.

Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, Cubans who arrive in the U.S. are allowed to remain in the country and can request residency a year after their arrival.  Following this period, they qualify for the right — denied most U.S. citizens — to visit Cuba under the rights restored by President Obama for unlimited family travel. It is not yet clear whether the Cuban Adjustment Act will see any changes under the U.S.’s imminent immigration reform.

IN CUBA

Fidel Castro founds educational complex

Cuba’s former President Fidel Castro has founded an educational complex in Havana, and attended Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony marking the completion of its construction, reports EFE.  Located in the Playa municipality of Havana, the complex will serve 140 children from preschool to sixth grade, and also houses a houses a library and a computer lab, reports state newspaper Granma.  The new educational complex was constructed over a period of 11 months and is named after current President Raúl Castro’s late wife Vilma Espín.  The former leader of Cuba spoke with local children, teachers, construction workers, and residents at the inauguration ceremony for nearly two hours, Havana Times reports.

Rising sea levels threaten coastal homes and ecosystems in Cuba

Tomás Escobar, director of Cuba’s National Environment Agency, said this week that rising sea levels around Cuba place the island’s coastal homes and ecosystems at risk, reports AFP.  Speaking at a panel held in Cuba Thursday regarding the country’s environmental policy, Escobar warned that at the current annual rate of increase in sea level, Cuba could lose up to 9,000 coastal homes and 2,700 square kilometers of coastal land by 2050.  Under President Raúl Castro, Cuba’s environmental policy has focused on hurricane preparedness and monitoring the rising sea levels.

Cuba creates regulations for Internet domain name usage

Cuba’s Ministry of Communications set new regulations this week for Internet domain names on the island, reports EFE.  The new regulations aim to create a “distributed, hierarchical, and scalable service with decentralized control,” according to the ministry’s announcement in the Gaceta Oficial.  As Internet usage expands on the island, the Ministry of Communications has begun work to set a regulatory framework for Internet services in Cuba.

Roberto Zurbano removed from Casa de las Américas editor position following NYT op-ed on racism in Cuba

Roberto Zurbano was removed from his position this week as an editor for the publishing house Casa de las Américas, reports the Associated Press.  Zurbano’s op-ed article about racism on the island ignited criticism and debate from other intellectuals in Cuba (listed here by blogger Sandra Álvarez).  Zurbano expressed frustration toward the New York Times, claiming that they mistitled his article, and cited the error as an “ethical violation.”  A spokesperson for the Times responded that the newspaper had worked with Zurbano over various drafts of the article, and that the newspaper will stand by its translation.  Despite the title’s possible mistranslation, Zurbano does not wish to retract anything in the body of his article, and has told reporters that he continues “to think the same ideas. There is still much to discuss about racism.”

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Foreign journalists visit Cuba’s prisons on official tours

Journalists from the Associated Press and other international media outlets toured four of Cuba’s prisons early this week, reports the Associated Press. The first of their kind in nearly a decade, the tours were conducted in advance of the UN Human Rights Council’s periodic review of prisons on the island, a mandatory practice for member-nations, Havana Times reports.  During their tour of Cuba’s largest maximum-security prison, Combinado del Este, journalists observed workshops in which prisoners complete tasks including disassembling cars, repairing motors, and making shoes, reports the AP.  Roelis Osorio, director of Combinado del Este, told journalists that 27% of prisoners there work voluntarily and receive compensation, while 37% of prisoners take classes in the penitentiary.  Cuba’s 200 penitentiaries currently house a total of 56,000 prisoners across the island.

Mariel Port Special Development Zone soon to be operational

The Special Development Zone currently under construction in Cuba’s Port of Mariel will begin partial operations within the next several weeks, reports Havana Times.  Built to take over shipping operations from Havana Bay, the zone will feature tax exemptions for exports completed at the zone and export fee refunds for companies that bring benefits to Cuba’s economy.  Brazilian multinational Odebrecht will handle the project’s infrastructure, while Brazil’s government will provide $640 million of the total $900 million needed for the project.  Full-scale operations are projected to begin within the next two years, and are expected to attract foreign capital.

Around the Region

Presidential campaigns finish in Venezuela; election to be held Sunday

Venezuelans will return to the polls on Sunday to elect the country’s next president in a special election following the death of President Hugo Chávez in March, reports Havana Times.  The two candidates, interim President Nicolás Maduro and opposition coalition leader Henrique Capriles, concluded their brief campaigns this week amidst a flurry of international media coverage.  As in Venezuela’s October 2012 presidential election, the Carter Center will send a small delegation to accompany the process, reports WOLA’s Venezuela Human Rights and Politics blog.  Although Maduro is widely expected to win the election, Capriles has apparently refused to sign a National Election Council document pledging to recognize the results of Sunday’s election.

The Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) will be live-blogging Sunday’s election via The Americas Blog.

Full court ruling on Salvadoran General Vides Casanova’s deportation is released

Although immigration Judge James Grim’s ruling in favor of the deportation of Salvadoran ex-General Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova had been known since February 2012, the U.S. Justice Department has just recently released the full ruling, including reasoning and documentation, reports the New York Times.  Gen. Vides Casanova is implicated in serious human rights abuses during El Salvador’s civil war, and played a role in the 1980 rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen.  He is now appealing his deportation order.

After holding the decision secret in order to protect Gen. Vides Casanova’s privacy, the Justice Department acceded to a request by the New York Times, that it be released, due to the potentially precedent-setting nature of the case combined with deep public interest in its outcome.

Trial of Ríos Montt: Defense presents military experts, prosecution presents forensic experts, Matt Eisenbrandt, Open Society Justice Initiative

Matt Eisenbrandt of the Open Society Justice Initiative reports on the progress of the trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt, the first former head of state to stand trial for genocide in his home country.  Ríos Montt’s defense team presented its first witnesses Thursday, as the prosecution responded with forensic evidence from massacres, and testimony from an international law expert continuing through Friday.

Also on Friday, Guatemala’s President Otto Pérez Molina visited the Ixil region of the country just six days after a prosecution witness implicated him as a leader of state counterinsurgency forces that carried out massacres in the region.  President Molina arrived in the Ixil Triangle to distribute 10,000 bags of food aid and visit social programs, according to Prensa Libre, while at the same time denying the visit had anything to do with the Ríos Montt trial.

Recommended Reading

Special Feature: Along the Malecón: Rags and riches on Cuba money trail

Investigative journalist Tracey Eaton examines current funding to USAID’s Cuba democracy promotion partner-organizations. The lack of transparency and accountability in the use of these funds continues to leave journalists and Cuba policy hardliners questioning whether U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used effectively.

Rapprochement with Cuba, Josh Clement, Center for International Policy

Josh Clement of the Center for International Policy (CIP) outlines the proceedings of a conference it hosted on March 23, titled Rapprochement with Cuba: Good for Tampa, Good for Florida, Good for America.  The conference featured Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) and other speakers, and sought to encourage engagement between the U.S. and Cuba through a dialogue based on cooperation and respect. Panelists encouraged the American public to write to their state representatives to request that they make engaging with Cuba a priority.

Miguel Díaz-Canel: The man tipped to lead Cuba, Sarah Rainsford, BBC News

Sarah Rainsford takes a look at Cuba’s Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel from the perspective of his home town, Santa Clara. Díaz-Canel’s practical management style came to light while he was the head of the Communist Party in Santa Clara, during the economic crisis of the 1990s. Described by townspeople as an honest leader with a personal touch, he brings the promise of a more socially open Cuba, as he allowed for the flourishing of Cuba’s most prominent gay club, El Mejunje, under his watch.

The Cuba Lobby, William LeoGrande, Foreign Policy Magazine

William LeoGrande examines the ways in which U.S. policy toward Cuba has been influenced by the Cuba Lobby over the past 50 years.  He writes: “When a courageous U.S. president finally decides to defy the Cuba Lobby with a stroke as bold as Nixon’s trip to China, she or he will discover that so too the Cuba Lobby no longer has the political clout it once had.”

Recommended Viewing

The gang legacy of Central America’s wars, David Gonzalez, New York Times

David González of the New York Times reports on photojournalist Donna De Cesare’s newest book, titled Unsettled/Desasosiego. The book contains photographs highlighting the effects of violence, both political and gang-related, that has gripped Central America and immigrants from the region over the last 30 years.

Visitors to the monuments along the Tidal Basin often stop at the Jefferson Memorial.  Modeled after the Roman Parthenon, it speaks loudly to those who can appreciate his vital and open mind.  One panel reads:

“I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and institutions,” quoting a letter he wrote after his presidency, “But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.  As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times.”  Otherwise, he concluded, “We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him as a boy…”

Is there a better metaphor for U.S.-Cuba policy, buttoned so uncomfortably into the straitjacket fitted for it by Senator Jesse Helms and Congressman Dan Burton?  You might have read about their Helms-Burton law using Netscape Navigator to “surf” the web when it passed in 1996.

Seventeen years later, the conditions that existed on the ground then – in Havana and Miami, where its passage was demanded – have changed as much as the technology we use to learn about them.

No, Cuba is not marching toward a multiparty democracy.  But, it’s economic system is being revamped, government payrolls are being down-sized, cooperatives and private businesses are on the rise.  State-owned media carry complaints about the slow pace of reform.  Houses and cars are being sold on the open market.  Cubans with cellphones pass in and out of hotels.  Most Cubans, including Cuban dissidents, are free to travel, even tweet their opposition to government policy, and return.  These changes are real, and a Vice President whose last name is Díaz-Canel, not Castro, is in place to carry them forward.

Yes, Florida too, once ground zero for policies like Helms-Burton, has a different look and feel.  President Obama’s travel reforms are speeding the reconciliation of the Cuban family and helping Cuban-Americans support relatives taking advantage of Raúl Castro’s economic reforms.  Miami Cubans, including Carlos Saladrigas, who once led thousands to stop believers from visiting Cuba to witness Pope John Paul II celebrate mass in the Plaza of the Revolution, embraced the chance to see Pope Benedict XVI worship with the island’s faithful.

The last election saw President Obama split the Cuban American vote with his opponent; Miami elected a pro-family travel Democrat to a Congressional seat; and Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) is in Cuba right now pursuing the business interests of her district and the foreign policy interests of the United States.  Today, it is the hardliners who are increasingly marginalized, while Mr. Saladrigas and his Cuba Study Group join the ranks of those who have long called for Helms-Burton’s repeal.

These are big changes.  What might Jefferson have thought about them?  History teaches us that our Third President wanted to purchase or annex Cuba for reasons he expressed in his time, which might seem eerily familiar to us in our time.

And yet, spring has come to Jefferson’s capital.  It is easy to imagine that he would find the changes happening in Havana and Miami to be self-evident; that as evidence of what he called “discoveries,” and we might call, “new thinking,” were made, he’d want the policy to be more enlightened; that he’d have us slip from the confining coat of Helms-Burton, and beckon his successor in the White House (with apologies to Chance the Gardener) to turn over a new leaf as well.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa in Cuba on a fact-finding mission

Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) arrived in Cuba on Wednesday evening on a four-day, fact-finding trip led by the Center for Democracy in the Americas, to pursue opportunities that will position her district, which includes the port city of Tampa, as a gateway to Cuba, reports the Tampa Bay Tribune.

Expressing her hopes for a productive trip, Rep. Castor stated, “If we can take the next step nearer to better relations, we can help people and create business jobs in the Tampa area…There is not a day that goes by that I don’t hear from someone seeking help with regard to an issue involving Cuba.” Rep. Castor has also expressed her opposition to the embargo, as she recently told the Tampa Bay Business Journal: “It is time for the U.S. to modernize its relationship with Cuba, lift the embargo and end restrictions on American’s rights to travel to Cuba.”

Social Security benefits cannot be collected from Cuba

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has stated that U.S. citizens and residents cannot collect benefits while in Cuba or North Korea, reports the Miami Herald. According to Maria Díaz, a SSA spokesperson for South Florida, Social Security payments cannot be sent to either country. Therefore, U.S. citizens, including Cuban-Americans, who visit these countries for more than 30 days, will not be able to collect payments due them until reaching another country. Those holding only resident status in the U.S. forfeit their benefits completely for periods corresponding with visits to these two nations. She also clarified that it has long been unlawful for an intermediary to collect and forward benefits to someone living abroad.

Questions regarding such benefits arose after recent changes in Cuba’s immigration law making it easier for Cubans who leave the island to retain their residency, or to repatriate after spending significant time abroad.

Non-university academic service providers may lead Cuba study abroad programs

Third-party academic service providers are permitted to lead study abroad programs in Cuba, as determined on a case-by-case basis by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), reports Inside Higher Ed. According to the State Department, “The goal is to provide study-abroad options for students whose university or college does not have a stand-alone Cuba program but which is nevertheless prepared to grant course credit for formal study in Cuba.”

The State Department will publish guidelines for such cases in the Federal Register and on the OFAC website.

Direct flights now available between Miami and Manzanillo

Next week, Wilson International will begin chartering weekly flights between Miami and Cuba’s eastern city of Manzanillo, reports Café Fuerte. The company also announced it will add a weekly flight between Miami and Camagüey starting April 16. With the addition of this route, chartered flights will operate between the U.S. and five cities in Cuba: Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Holguín, and Manzanillo. Cuba Travel Services, a charter company, also announced they will begin offering a weekly flight to Santa Clara within the next few weeks.

U.S.-produced, Dominican-made “Cohibas” get legal OK

The United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) has overruled a lower court’s decision and will permit General Cigars, a U.S. firm, to market cigars under the Cohiba name, reports ABC. In 1981 and 1992, General Cigars registered their Dominican-made cigars under the Cohiba trademark without the consent of Cubatabaco, which has used the Cohiba trademark for its famous Cuban-made cigars since 1969. The TTAB justified overturning Cubatabaco’s previous legal victory saying that, due to the embargo, Cubatabaco has no legal standing in the U.S. CubaDebate published an article calling the decision “blatant robbery” and “disregard [for] international regulations on trademarks, patents and intellectual property.”

Beyoncé and Jay-Z in Cuba

U.S. superstars Beyoncé and Jay-Z are in Cuba for their fifth wedding anniversary, reports Havana Times. Beyoncé, a pop singer, and Jay-Z, a rapper, were surrounded by fans yesterday as they toured Old Havana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The couple took photos with schoolchildren, and visited several well-known restaurants in the area. Some photos of their visit are available from the AP.

IN CUBA

State firms to implement performance-based pay; new non-agricultural cooperatives to become operational

Cuba’s Council of Ministers announced that state-owned enterprises may now devote up to half of their after-tax profits to employee incentives and to research and development efforts, reports EFE. The statement came during a meeting this week to discuss how economic reforms would proceed in 2014. According to Granma, these after-tax funds are meant to be used for investment, employee training, research and development, and to pay workers based on their performance.

Marino Murillo, one of Cuba’s Vice Presidents, and a steward of the country’s economic reforms, announced at the meeting that 126 new non-agricultural cooperatives will soon be operational, reports Havana Times. Murillo explained that “These new forms of management will be initiated in 111 farmers markets, five are associated with passenger transport services, six auxiliary transport services, two for waste recycling and 12 related to construction activities.” It is not yet clear whether the new cooperatives will be organized by the government or by their members.

President Raúl Castro also commented that Cuba’s economic reforms are proceeding at an appropriate pace, and cannot be rushed, reports Café Fuerte. Responding to critics who say that Cuba’s reforms should be advancing more quickly, President Castro stated, “if we analyze the path that we have taken we can see that [the reforms] are advancing at a good pace, since the magnitude and complexity of the problems does not permit us to resolve them overnight. We have to resist pressure from those who insist that we should go more quickly.”

Cuba cancels land agreement with farmers for contractual breach

Cuba’s government cancelled its contract with 67 farmers who had entered into an agreement to work idle government land, citing “repeated violations” of the farmers’ obligations to cultivate tobacco, reports AFP. The farmers, in the Ciego de Ávila province, had requested land under the Decree-Law 259 for the cultivation of idle lands, but did not grow tobacco in this harvest, according to Granma. This contributed to a setback in the county’s planting plan, with 40 of 428 hectares not being planted, a loss of about 37 tons of tobacco.

In 2008, Cuba passed laws allowing farmers to request use of government lands in usufruct. Land is granted to farmers on a contractual basis, for an initial period of ten years. Recently, the government has increased the amount of land that can be given to farmers under such an agreement.

Father of René González, a member of the Cuban 5, dies

Cándido René González, father of René González, passed away on Monday after suffering a stroke, reports CubaDebate. Cándido González moved to the United States in the 1950s and joined a branch of the revolutionary 26 of July Movement in Chicago, leading him to return to Cuba in 1961. He joined an anti-aerial brigade during the Cuban Missile Crisis, took part in sugarcane harvests, and acted as a union leader.

René González, one of the Cuban Five, cannot attend his father’s funeral in Havana because of his continued probation in the United States. In March of last year, González was granted permission by the U.S. District Court of South Florida to travel to the island for 15 days, after which he returned to the U.S. to continue serving his probation.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Mariel Port Special Development Zone rules published

Regulations for Cuba’s first free trade manufacturing zone were unveiled Tuesday, reports AFP. The Mariel Special Development Zone will feature manufacturing for both export and domestic markets, and take over shipping operations currently done in Havana. Brazilian multinational Odebrecht will handle the project’s infrastructure, while Brazil’s government will provide $640 million of the total $900 million needed for the project.

Vice President Marino Murillo traveled to Brazil this week and met with Brazil’s Vice President Michel Temer to discuss trade, investment, cooperation and development aid issues, Havana Times reports.

Cuba abstains in UN vote on arms sales treaty

The UN General Assembly has voted on a treaty intended to regulate the global sales of weapons, reports The New York Times. The framework for the treaty was based on the International Code of Conduct on the Transfer of Arms, written by seven Nobel Peace Prize laureates under the leadership of Costa Rica’s former President Oscar Arias, reports the Pan-American Post. The vote passed with 154 votes in favor, three against, and 23 abstentions. ALBA countries Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua abstained alongside China, Russia, Egypt, Indonesia, and India. Rodolfo Reyes, Cuba’s Ambassador to the UN, said the treaty:

“(G)ives arms exporting countries the power to evaluate the behavior of importers on the basis of subjective and imprecise criteria that are subject to abuse and manipulation for political reasons.”

It is expected that the treaty will not be implemented for years to come, and the abstentions, especially from countries that are key arms exporters, raise questions about what weight the document will carry in the future, according to The New York Times.

Around the Region

El Salvador Update: March 2013, Linda Garrett, Center for Democracy in the Americas

Linda Garrett, CDA’s senior policy analyst on El Salvador, discusses developments in the country during the month of March, including the legacy of impunity for civil war crimes and the ongoing gang truce and peace process.

If you would like to receive CDA’s Monthly El Salvador Update via email, contact: ElSalvadorUpdate@democracyinamericas.org.

Trial of Ríos Montt: Witnesses testify to rape in Ríos Montt genocide trial; defense also objects to documents, Shawn Roberts, Open Society Justice Initiative

Shawn Roberts of the Open Society Justice Initiative reports on the progress of the trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt, ex-dictator of Guatemala and the first former head of state to stand trial for genocide in his home country. Proceedings resumed Monday after an Easter recess, as witnesses for the prosecution testified to torture, massacres, and rape committed by state counterinsurgency forces. In Thursday’s court proceedings, a witness for the prosecution implicated Otto Pérez Molina, current President of Guatemala, as a Captain of state counterinsurgency forces that carried out massacres at Ríos Montt’s orders.

Recommended Reading

Special Feature: Along the Malecón: Agency takes new strategy toward Cuba

Investigative journalist Tracey Eaton reveals the budget of the Broadcasting Board of Governors’ Cuba program, how the money is used, and questions the BBG’s role in future U.S. policy toward Cuba.

Cuba Report: Is the New Miami Dynamic a Game Changer?, Elizabeth Newhouse, Center for International Policy

Newhouse highlights the changing attitudes in Miami toward Cuba, noting that the shift is reflected in recent lobbying efforts by Cuban Americans: “The message they unequivocally delivered was that a sizable majority (60%) of Cuban Americans in south Florida now favors engagement with Cuba, and that the area’s hardline congressional representatives do not reflect the views of most of their constituents on the issue.”

Cuba: The Beginning of the Post-Castro Era, Arturo López-Levy, Huffington Post

Arturo López-Levy examines the transition of Cuba’s economic and political environment under Raúl Castro’s leadership. He notes that the “loss of Fidel’s charismatic leadership” in a sense pressured the Cuban Communist Party to “govern under new conditions” and focus on economic reforms. Eventually, these reforms, he argues, will push for political liberalization, starting at the individual level.

Comenzó la pelea entre peso cubano y peso convertible ¿A cuántos rounds será?, Carlos Batista, AFP

Cuba’s two currencies – the peso cubano (CUP) and the peso convertible (CUC) – are headed toward a showdown of sorts. A new tax law specifies that taxes are to be paid in CUP, even by workers in the private sector and those employed by foreign companies who are paid in CUC. The fact that the majority of salaries on the island are paid in CUP, coupled with this new law, puts the CUP in a favored position for eventually becoming Cuba’s only currency.  When the 6th Congress of the Cuban Communist Party met in 2011, it confirmed a gradual transition but was cautious to note that it will depend on an increase in national productivity.

Cuba and the United States: Time to Lean Forward, Edward T. Walsh, News & Observer

Edward T. Walsh, a frequent traveler and organizer of study abroad programs in Cuba, argues in this op-ed column for removing Cuba from the U.S. State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile are new immigration destinations for Cubans, Global Post

In the last 20 years, there has been a new trend in Cuban emigration in the Americas. While historical settlements in Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela remain popular, more and more Cubans are emigrating to Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile.

Recommended Viewing

Talking about Cuba with Ellery Biddle and Elaine Díaz, Global Voices

Ellery Biddle, editor of Global Voices Advocacy, and Elaine Díaz, a journalist, professor and blogger in Cuba, discuss their thoughts on Cuba’s Intranet and access to the Internet on the island.

Ms. Díaz wrote this week in her blog, La Polémica, that she was denied a visa to participate in the Latin American Studies Association’s upcoming conference in Washington, D.C.  She details the process she endured, which ended with her being denied a visa on the grounds that she was a “possible emigrant.”

Like everything else, baseball couldn’t escape the politics and propaganda that have surrounded the relationship over the last three centuries.

Even the story of how baseball got to Cuba is in dispute.  Some say it began when a Cuban named Nemiso Guillo, attending school in Mobile, Alabama, returned home in 1864 (others say 1871) with a bat and baseball in his trunk.  Another credits U.S. sailors bringing the game to Cuba aboard an American naval vessel.  While we in the U.S. claim that Abner Doubleday, a Union general in the Civil War, invented the game, indigenous people in Cuba and neighboring islands played batos, “a bat-and-ball game,” before the region was colonized.

What is not in dispute is how fast baseball became part of the whirl of commerce, culture, and exchange between our two countries.

In the 1870s, Esteban Bellan, a third baseman, became the first Cuban to play professionally in the U.S. Cuba founded the first baseball league outside of North America in 1878. American players debuted for Club Colón the following year. Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson, and Satchel Paige are among the Americans who toured and played in Cuba, while star players born and raised on the island made their mark on the game in the U.S. for decades prior to the Cuban revolution.

But, engagement and exchange ended with the embargo. Cuba’s government, fearing the sport had been corrupted by professionalism, instituted an amateur league, forcing players to undergo significant cuts in pay.  As the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba entered the Special Period, players started a stream of defections, to enjoy the benefits of major league contacts, which have continued to this day.  This year, 60 Cuban players started the spring competing for positions on U.S. teams for the season starting next week.

Like the ping pong diplomacy used to “open” dialogue with China, baseball was considered a bridge for restoring dialogue with Cuba.  Exhibition games planned during the Ford administration were cancelled due to reports of Cuban troops in Africa. More successfully, the Baltimore Orioles, after three years of lobbying by owner Peter Angelos, played two match-ups with the Cuban National Team; they tied the series one game apiece, during a period of relaxed restrictions under President Bill Clinton.

That was too much for Members of Congress like Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who, according to Lars Schoultz’s epical history, That Infernal Little Cuban Republic, declared “with every pitch, the belief of the Cuban people that the United States would never engage their oppressor will be eroded slowly.  With every swing, the hopes of political prisoners and dissidents for solidarity from the superpower 90 miles away will gradually be shattered.”

With the election of George W. Bush, baseball returned to being a political tool.  His administration tried to block Cuba from playing in the World Baseball Classic, preventing the world from watching Cubans take on U.S. big leaguers, which the New York Times called “one of the Classic’s most entertaining aspects.”

According to White House press secretary Scott McClellan, what bothered the Bush administration was not the Cubans’ prowess but, “Our concerns were centered on making sure that no money was going to the Castro regime, and that the World Baseball Classic not be misused by the regime for spying.”

The crisis was solved when Cuba agreed to donate its proceeds to Hurricane Katrina relief.  This was apparently enough to satisfy President Bush, even if whatever Cuban spying he feared took place nonetheless.

In 2013, Cuba participated in the World Baseball Classic without incident. By liberalizing Cuba’s travel and migration policies, President Raúl Castro has made it easier for Cuban baseball players who defected to play for U.S. teams to come to the island and visit their families, as José Contreras did in January.  His return demonstrated that times have changed.

But, other things, like U.S. policy, sadly remain the same.  This February, the U.S. taxpayer-funded Office of Cuba Broadcasting, paid $70,800 to renew its annual agreement with Major League Baseball, Along the Malecón reports, allowing Radio and TV Martí to broadcast games in Cuba, as they have since 2005.

Rather than providing the feed directly to Cuba’s state television and radio network, the U.S. government prefers delivering baseball broadcasts over channels relatively few Cubans can hear (as a 2010 study by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations showed), whose director, Carlos García-Pérez, last year signed an editorial that referred to the leader of the Cuban Catholic Church, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, as a lackey of the Castro regime.

This is baseball not as diplomacy but as propaganda. We need a fresh start.

As Louis Pérez argued this week in Bradenton Herald, that fresh start could include full restoration of travel rights for Americans to visit the island, and removing Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terror.  Rep. Kathy Castor (FL-14) called last week for ending the embargo entirely.  While that is pretty courageous for a Member of Congress from Florida, it puts her together with Cuban dissident Yoani Sánchez (who, coincidentally is visiting Miami at the same time as President Obama is visiting the city).  She has called for exactly the same thing.

Any one of these ideas would be better than the regime change policies we have now.  But old habits die hard.  With Easter and the beginning of baseball just days away, the U.S. still can’t keep its mitts off of Cuba.

This week, in Cuba news…

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Obama could soon decide Cuba’s status on State Sponsors of Terrorism list

Secretary of State John Kerry must decide whether to advise President Obama to keep Cuba on the State Department’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism before its annual publication on April 30, reports Fox News Latino. Cuba’s presence on the list prevents U.S. sales of arms and dual use items, including some hospital equipment, and imposes financial restrictions, some with extraterritorial reach. Most of all, it is a point of friction with Cuba’s government, which maintains that Cuba’s inclusion on the list is and has always been political.

When the Obama left Cuba on the list last year, the stated reasons were: Cuba was harboring members of the ETA and fugitives wanted in the U.S. on criminal charges; reports had indicated that the government “provided medical care and political assistance to the FARC;” and the government did not participate in the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body that fights money-laundering and terrorist financing.

As CDA and allied organizations like WOLA and LAWG have argued, “The official justification for maintaining Cuba on the list has become increasingly thin…. Cuba does not, for example, endorse terrorism as a policy.” Moreover, even the U.S. State Department recognizes the role Cuba is playing as a peace broker in the talks between Colombia and the FARC taking place held in Havana. As Ambassador Anthony Quainton, who was involved in Cuba’s original designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, has said, “the time has come, for our mutual interests, to remove Cuba from the list.”

The Associated Press suggests that the terror list decision could serve as a litmus test for future relations between the two nations, and may also have implications for bilateral issues such as the case of Alan Gross. In recent weeks, several publications including the Los Angeles Times have called for the removal of Cuba from the list.

Click here to sign the petition created by The Latin America Working Group requesting the removal of Cuba from the list, which states:

Remove Cuba from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism now. Any rationale for keeping Cuba on this list has long-since disappeared, especially with Cuba now playing a principal role in facilitating and hosting the Colombia-FARC peace negotiations being held in Havana. Removal of Cuba from this list will allow the United States to take steps leading to normalized relations with Cuba, and it will positively impact the U.S. relationship with all of our Latin America neighbors.

Diplomats from Cuban Interest Section in Washington visit Tampa

Llanio González López and Warnel Lores Mora, counselor and first secretary of the Cuban Interests Section, took part in an event, Rapprochement with Cuba: Good for Tampa, Good for Florida, Good for America, promoting normalized relations between the U.S. and Cuba held last week in Tampa, reports Cuba Standard. This marked the first visit by Cuban diplomats in over a decade to Tampa, a city with a large Cuban-American population.

Congresswoman Kathy Castor (FL-14) also attended the Tampa conference. Rep. Castor’s speech strongly advocated for engagement with Cuba. She stated her support for ending the embargo, saying that the policy simply “does not make sense any longer.” While acknowledging that significant issues still exist between the U.S. and Cuba, she held that these disputes can be dealt with diplomatically.

Separately, José Ramón Cabañas, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, visited the University of Georgia as the keynote speaker of a conference debating the embargo on Cuba. This was his first trip outside the U.S. Capital, other than trips to visit members of the Cuban Five held in separate prisons around the country.

Obama administration joins calls for investigation into deaths of Cuban dissidents Payá, Cepero

Victoria Nuland, the U.S. State Department spokesperson, announced on Thursday that the U.S. will join calls for an independent investigation into the deaths of Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero. Earlier this month, Ángel Carromero, the driver in the accident that killed Payá and Cepero in July of last year, spoke to the Washington Post about the crash and his imprisonment in Cuba, before returning to Spain through an agreement between the two nations.

Since then, six U.S. senators have sent letters the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights requesting an investigation into the circumstances of the car crash, reports the Miami Herald.

Ms. Nuland voiced the White House’s support for these requests Thursday:

…the United States supports the calls for an investigation with independent international observers into the circumstances leading to the deaths of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero in Cuba. The people of Cuba and the families of these two activists deserve a clear, credible accounting of the events that resulted in their tragic deaths. The United States will continue to advocate for the rights of all Cubans to speak out in defense of human rights and democracy.

U.S. magazine, OnCuba, to open office in Havana

U.S.-based magazine OnCuba, recently received the permission from Cuba’s government to open an office in Havana, reports EFE. The monthly publication focuses on the arts in Cuba, and also covers themes such as business and the economy. It is currently is distributed on flights between Cuba and the United States and by various booksellers nationwide, and is available digitally. The magazine’s editorial group stated that the Havana office will help OnCuba develop new projects, including contributions to a planned quarterly publication created by expert Cuban designers and artists, for distribution in the United States.

IN CUBA

Sugar Cane Production at Risk

Due to broken equipment and organizational problems, this year’s sugar harvest is at risk of not reaching higher production goals, reports AFP. In an article published this week in Granma, Juan Valera Pérez, an expert in sugar production, stated that production problems coupled with damage to crops from Hurricane Sandy will prevent the planned 20% increase from last year’s 1.4 million ton sugar harvest, though he did not indicate by how much. He criticizes the fanfare surrounding this year’s harvest for lacking a solid basis, calling it “harmful boasting.”

State anti-corruption body established

The creation of a new anti-corruption body, the State Control Commission (CEC), was announced by Cuba’s Council of State in the Gaceta Oficial on March 14th, reports Café Fuerte. The CEC’s main objective is to investigate and study reports of corruption within government institutions and to understand its causes in order to prevent future corruption. Gladys Bejerano, Comptroller General and one of Cuba’s five Vice Presidents, will lead the commission, which will be made up of officials from various government ministries and agencies.

Construction cooperatives authorized, farming co-ops increase market share

Marino Murillo, Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning, announced the authorization of cooperatives for building maintenance and renovation, reports Cuba Standard. In support, the Domestic Trade Ministry will also expand sales of construction materials and create wholesale mechanisms. A number of cooperative initiatives for other sectors of the economy have been announced, but the necessary regulations have not yet gone into effect.

Farmers currently make up the majority of Cuba’s cooperative workers and private distribution networks and new state-run wholesale markets are changing how Cubans purchase food, Reuters reports. Farming cooperatives are increasingly selling their products directly to private kiosks and stalls making up over 40% of food sales last year in a market that five years ago only represented 15%. Private cooperatives in both farming and sales have largely outperformed their state-run counterparts and sell their products at prices lower than retail. Earlier this month, Cuba’s government announced the creation of a wholesale market on the Isle of Youth, the first of its kind in Cuba, to sell food products, as well as consumer and industrial goods for those in the state and private sector.

Cuba to produce environmentally friendly cement

Cuba will begin producing “green” cement starting this April in the central province of Sancti Spiritus, reports EFE. The innovative ingredients emit 32% less CO2 into the atmosphere and the manufacturing process uses 29% less energy than conventional methods. The project comes as a result of joint research between the Lausanne Polytechnic University in Switzerland and the Universidad Central Marta Abreu in Villa Clara.

Cuban video game makes virtual revolution

Cuban programmers have developed a game that allows players to fight virtually in the Cuban revolution, reports The Associated Press. Starting from the boarding of the Granma boat in Mexico and continuing through various battles in the Sierra Maestra, gamers assume the roles of revolutionaries with attributes similar to revolutionary heroes like Ernesto Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos. Developers stated that they hoped help players identify with Cuban history and a movement in which many of their grandparents played a role.

Around the Region

U.S. State Department continues aid to Honduran police despite allegations of abuse

A recent investigation finds that U.S. State Department funding continues to go to Honduran National Police (HNP) forces that are under scrutiny for abuse, reports the Associated Press. Congress prohibited by law the U.S. sending aid to forces connected to human rights violations; yet, a report by the AP has linked U.S. aid to HNP officers operating under Director General Juan Carlos Bonilla, who has been accused of extrajudicial killings and disappearances.

Honduran law states that every police officer falls under the jurisdiction of the Director General, but official statements from Honduras’ government say that no aid goes to Bonilla. Allegations against Bonilla led to a freeze of $30 million in aid last August, though most of this funding has since been restored. The AP also reports that the State Department announced last week that Honduran security forces are to receive another $16.3 million in aid.

Chile’s former president Michelle Bachelet announces candidacy for re-election

After leaving her post as leader of U.N. Women, the international body’s agency for gender equality, Chile’s former President Michelle Bachelet returned home and announced her candidacy in the November 17 presidential election, reports the BBC.

Bachelet, Chile’s only female president, held office from 2006 until 2010. Expectations and support for Bachelet are high, reports the Pan-American Post; but, if elected, she would face significant pressure to reform Chile’s education system and to increase mining royalties. Bachelet said her primary goal as president would be to reduce income inequality, which she says has been “the main reason for the anger” that many Chileans feel toward the current government of President Sebastián Piñera.

Trial of Ríos Montt: “They only came to kill”: more testimony on massacres, as outside protest claims no genocide occurred, Emi Mac Lean, Open Society Justice Initiative

Emi MacLean of the Open Society Justice Initiative reports on the progress of the historic trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt, former dictator of Guatemala. Ríos Montt is the first former head of state to stand trial for genocide in his own country. Trial proceedings have entered a recess until April 1st.

Salvadorans honor slain Archbishop Oscar Romero, 33 years after death

Hundreds of Salvadorans marched in San Salvador last Sunday in honor the memory of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980, reports the Associated Press. Many of the faithful held signs urging the canonization of Romero into sainthood ; a process begun 17 years ago, bogged down under the previous two popes, but that many hope will be realized under Pope Francis I. Given the current pope’s emphasis on ministering to the poor, many see a connection between Francis’ message and Romero’s ministry.

Recommended Reading

For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn’t Begun, Roberto Zurbano, New York Times

After half a century of revolution, Rodrigo Zurbano says Cuba has still not overcome its legacy of racial exclusion. Zurbano hopes that greater participation in Cuban politics by blacks and women will help bridge the racial divide on the island.

Young Computer Scientists in Cuba Short of Opportunities, Ivet González, IPS

Ivet González of IPS outlines the issues facing young graduates of computer engineering programs in Cuba. Over 10,000 young people graduated in 2012 with degrees in computer science, electronics, or other technical specialties, but many found that the industry in Cuba simply does not generate enough jobs to match their field of study.

VP Diaz-Canel: Cuba’s man on the make, Nick Miroff, Global Post

Nick Miroff analyses the ascent of Miguel Diaz-Canel to the top of Cuba’s government. Since his election as First Vice-President of the Council of State, Diaz-Canel has become an increasingly public figure. Diaz-Canel is seen as an accessible person, with a reputation as a “technocratic manager.” Representing a younger generation within Cuba’s politics, he has expressed his support for President Raúl Castro’s economic reforms.

Why the U.S. Should be Paying Attention to Cuba, Karina Marquez, Latin America Working Group

Karina Marquez of LAWG reports on the presentation by Jose Cabañas, Chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., given last week at American University in Washington, D.C. Cabañas discussed the economic reforms and other initiatives being pursued by Cuba’s government, that were initially laid out by the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines adopted in 2011. Cabañas also emphasized his government’s willingness to establish “normal relations” with the United States in order to promote dialogue on issues affecting both countries, such as drug trafficking and migration.

Since assuming leadership in 2006, following the illness of his brother, President Raúl Castro initiated a gradual process to update the nation’s economic model and loosen restrictions on the Cuban people.

Restrictions on cell phone ownership, access to tourist hotels, ownership of computers and DVD players, the ability to rent a car, sell real property, travel and return to the island, have ended or begun to fall away.  A process involving Raúl Castro, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, and the government of Spain provided for the release of high profile political prisoners, including the remainder of those confined from a round-up that took place in 2003.  Some 400,000 Cubans have taken the opportunity to open small businesses in newly legalized professionals.  The former Pope Benedict XVI, who was warmly received in Cuba last year, spent part of his visit inspecting the San Carlos and Ambrosio Seminary, “the first building that Cuba’s government has allowed the Catholic Church to build since the 1959 revolution.”

Cuba is not the multi-party democracy the U.S. has been demanding it become at the point of a spear since 1959.

Even so, the idea that any reform was taking place in Cuba has been too foreign for many in the U.S. to accept, so it’s been dismissed in recent years, much like evidence of rising temperatures and catastrophic storms could not persuade some people to worry about the weather.

Reform in Cuba, however, has just gotten a lot harder to deny.  Consider, for example, Yoani Sánchez, Cuba’s dissident blogger, now visiting the U.S. in the midst of an 80-day world tour. What’s she doing here anyway?  Reform deniers were absolutely certain she wouldn’t get a visa when Cubans’ travel rights changed.  Well, as former Congressman Bill Delahunt wrote in The Hill this week, “it is now easier for Yoani to visit our country, than it is for most Americans to visit hers.”

Free to speak her mind on U.S. soil, is Yoani denying that changes are taking place in Cuba? Quite the opposite.  In fact, she told an audience at New York University that “Irreversible change” is transforming Cuba, because independent bloggers and democracy activists are forcing Raul Castro’s government to evolve. “Cuba is changing,” she said, “but not because of Raul’s reforms. Forget that.”

This line of thought clearly engaged the Washington Post, which wrote after she visited the newspaper:  “Cuba has lately seen some economic reforms and liberalizations; one of them allowed Ms. Sánchez to travel freely abroad for the first time. But she told us the real change in Cuba today is not from the top but rather from below.”

Serious analysts like Arturo López-Levy say it’s “nonsense” that conditions are changing in Cuba without the Cuban government changing its policies.

True, but there’s a larger point: For Yoani, the Post, and others, the question is different; it’s moved from “is reform even happening in Cuba?” to “who is responsible for the changes underway?”

That’s a huge and important shift.  The hardliners know it and they don’t like it.  Capitol Hill Cubans angrily labels the reforms “fraudulent change.” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen calls her colleagues in Congress “Castro apologists” because they support lifting restrictions on Cuba.

Theirs is the language of denial.  They may be out in the snow and the rain stomping their feet in anger, but the debate on Cuba – like the weather – has really changed.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Court hears Florida appeal of Cuba contracts law

A law that prohibits companies that have done business in Cuba or Syria from bidding on government contracts in Florida is being contested in a federal appeals court, reports the Associated Press. The law, passed last June, was initially blocked in U.S. District Court. The State of Florida is appealing the decision, urging a panel of judges to “allow enforcement of [the] law.”  Odebrecht Construction Inc., which is challenging the law written to deny companies like it business, is contesting the constitutionality of the law.  Odebrecht, a Coral Gables-based subsidiary of the Brazilian company which is currently working on the overhaul of Cuba’s Mariel port, has previously won contracts for several projects in the Port of Miami.

Opponents of the law argue that, under the U.S. Constitution, only the federal government is authorized to conduct U.S. foreign policy. In June 2000, in Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 against a Massachusetts law restricting state purchases from companies doing business in Burma, ruling that states cannot set foreign policy. However, Florida Governor Rick Scott continues to support for the law and defend it in court. The court has not specified when it would rule.

Gallup poll shows Democrats, Republicans differ on view of Cuba

A recently-released Gallup poll shows that Democrats have a more “favorable” attitude toward many of the 22 countries asked about its survey on foreign policy, including Cuba. According to the poll, when asked about Cuba, 45% of Democrats had a favorable view of the country, compared with Republicans’ 24%.  The 21% difference between the two parties marked the largest divergence between the two parties.   Twenty percent separated members of the two parties’ views of China.

Yoani Sánchez in the U.S.

Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sánchez was in New York and Washington, D.C. this week. Sánchez met with members of the U.S. Congress and the State Department. She was also hosted by journalists, academics, and think tanks. While at the CATO Institute, she spoke about the need for the U.S. embargo to be lifted, reports Foreign Policy. Sánchez also met at the White House with Ricardo Zuñiga, presidential advisor for the Western Hemisphere, the Miami Herald reports.

Former Congressman Bill Delahunt (MA) blogged about her visit in The Hill, writing, “As Sánchez is welcomed to Washington, D.C., I hope that Cuba’s sternest critics don’t forget: it is now easier for Yoani to visit our country, than it is for most Americans to visit hers.”

Ms. Sánchez returned to New York yesterday, where she spoke at the United Nations headquarters in an event organized by the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA), reports AFP. Though Ms. Sánchez was initially scheduled to use the UN’s official press conference room, Cuba’s representatives at the UN complained that she should not be permitted to use the room, as she is not a UN official. The UN Secretary General agreed with the complaint, and moved Ms. Sánchez’s scheduled event to a room on the UN Correspondents Association floor.

After completing her visit to New York, Ms. Sánchez will continue on to Europe, and then Miami on April 1.

IN CUBA

Bebo Valdés, Cuban pianist and composer, passes away at 94

Bebo Valdés, legendary Cuban jazz pianist and composer, passed away in Sweden at the age of 94, reports El País. Valdés’ music was an important precursor to Afro-Cuban jazz, and he was known for developing his own distinctive rhythm, the batanga. Over the course of his career, he performed alongside musicians such as Nat King Cole, Benny Moré, and Carlinhos Brown, and also appeared in the documentary Calle 54, had been suffering from Alzheimers Disease. His son, Chucho Valdés, a well-known jazz pianist and composer in his own right, was traveling in Spain and not immediately available for comment, reports the Associated Press.

Baseball player Rey Ordoñez returns home following Cuba migration reform

Reynaldo Ordoñez, a Cuban who played nine seasons of Major League Baseball in the U.S. as a shortstop for teams in New York, Tampa Florida, and Chicago, took advantage of eased travel restrictions that went into effect in January and returned to his native Cuba for the first time since leaving in 1993, reports the Huffington Post. Ordoñez remarked that his return to the island was “hard to believe” and that he still felt “a knot in his stomach” being back home. He also said he was surprised at how many people recognized him, stating “It surprised me because I’ve been gone twenty years and, really, I didn’t play much in Cuba.”  His outstanding defense can still be seen here.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Capriles declares he will end oil aid to Cuba if he wins Venezuela’s presidential election

Henrique Capriles, Venezuela’s opposition candidate for president, announced that he will cut oil aid programs to Cuba if he wins the upcoming election, reports Reuters. Capriles, arguing that the program which provides Venezuela with Cuban doctors and other professionals in exchange for oil, does not benefit Venezuela, declared that a halt to these programs would free up resources that would raise worker’s salaries and help dampen the effects of inflation.

Capriles currently trails interim president Nicolás Maduro – who has stated that he would continue oil aid to Cuba if elected president – by 14 percentage points, reports the Associated Press. Widely expected to win the April 14^th election, Maduro has announced a full itinerary of campaign rallies throughout Venezuela in the lead-up to the vote.

Canadian entrepreneur to offer around-Cuba cruises

Dugald Wells, a Canadian entrepreneur, will offer cruises around Cuba to European clientele starting this coming winter, reports Cuba Standard. Wells’ Cruise North Expeditions joins two other British cruise lines in offering trips to the island. Cuba’s cruise industry has been at a disadvantage as the world’s largest cruise lines are based out of the United States, thus subject to the embargo. Previous attempts by the U.S.-based United Caribbean Lines to obtain a license from the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) allowing the company to provide ferry service to the island were unsuccessful.

Díaz-Canel travels to the Vatican for inauguration ceremony of Pope Francis

Miguel Díaz-Canel, recently named First Vice President of Cuba, headed an official delegation to the Vatican for Pope Francis’ inauguration ceremony on Tuesday, reports Café Fuerte, This is Díaz-Canel’s first trip abroad since becoming First Vice President.

Cuba’s government has also declared Good Friday a national holiday for the second year in a row, reports AFP. Last year, President Raúl Castro declared Good Friday a holiday following the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the island, but did not make the holiday permanent. The declaration of a national holiday and Díaz-Canel’s trip add to a series of actions by Cuba’s government to improve relations with the Catholic Church. Earlier this year, land was returned to the Church’s possession as a gesture of goodwill.

China will assist Cuba in transitioning to digital TV

Cuba’s Ministry of Communications announced on Tuesday that China will help Cuba transition from analog to digital television, thus fulfilling a 2011 agreement, reports Xinhua. Cuba’s Telecommunications Research and Development Institute (Lacetel) and its Chinese counterpart will showcase the digital TV system at a forum held in Havana.

Around the Region

Efraín Ríos Montt, dictator who ordered and oversaw mass killings in Guatemala, stands trial for genocide in landmark human rights case

The historic trial of General Efraín Ríos Montt, the 86-year-old former dictator of Guatemala, began Tuesday in Xix, Guatemala, making him the first former head of state to stand trial for genocide in his own country, reports Reuters.

Proceedings began as Ríos Montt replaced his previous lawyer, with whom he had worked since he was first charged with war crimes in January 2012, and hired Francisco García Gudiel to head his defense team, reports the Pan-American Post. García Gudiel, one of several attorneys accused in 2008 of illicit activities, promptly requested a five-day recess to familiarize himself with the case, but the request was denied. García Gudiel then requested that two of the judges presiding over the tribunal recuse themselves, claiming that the tribunal’s chief justice, Jazmin Barrios, had a personal vendetta against him, and that another judge, Pablo Xitumul, was a personal friend.

After denying the request, the presiding judges ejected García Gudiel from the tribunal; Ríos Montt was expected to name a new defense lawyer, but instead arrived in court for the tribunal’s second day without an attorney. The Open Society Justice Initiative is creating a record as the proceedings progress, available here. According to the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), testimony from over 140 witnesses for the prosecution will be given in both Ixil and Spanish.

One in a series of U.S.-backed military dictators during Guatemala’s civil war, Ríos Montt seized power in 1982 and ruled for just 17 months before being overthrown in another coup. During his time in power, prosecutors say, Ríos Montt oversaw a scorched-earth campaign of systematic killings by state counterinsurgency forces of at least 1,771 Ixil Mayas in three towns in Guatemala’s Quiché department in the western highlands, reports the Associated Press.

Then-President Ronald Reagan, under whom the U.S. provided funding and training to Guatemalan counterinsurgency forces, called Kaibiles, once stated that Ríos Montt was “totally dedicated to democracy in Guatemala,” and that the dictator and his military junta government had gotten “a bum rap.”

Ríos Montt was a congressman in Guatemala’s National Assembly, allowing him immunity from being charged with war crimes. When his term ended in 2012, a Guatemalan court charged him with war crimes, on January 26 of that year. Since then, the ex-dictator’s attorneys have delayed the trial with a series of appeals, claiming that there had been no genocide, and that Ríos Montt had held no control over counterinsurgency operations carried out by the military, reports Reuters.

Under Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, Guatemala’s justice system has begun a concerted effort to bring generals and former dictators from the country’s decades-long civil war to trial. Paz y Paz stated, “It’s historic…We cannot leave thousands of deaths unpunished. We must deliver justice to the victims.”

El Salvador: Who Pays for the Broken Plates?, Linda Garrett, Center for Democracy in the Americas

Linda Garrett reflects on the anniversary of El Salvador’s “National Law of Reconciliation,” which gave amnesty for war crimes committed during the civil war, asking when those responsible for atrocities will be held to account. She writes, “Repeal will not be on anyone’s agenda this year, as the 2014 presidential campaign gets underway. For the right, the amnesty is the incontestable ‘spinal column’ of the peace agreement; for the left, the election is priority, and ‘now is not the right time.’ The pro-amnesty arguments heard in 1993 are heard still: turn the page, close the book, salt on wounds, forgive and forget, threat to peace.”

If you would like to receive CDA’s Monthly Updates on El Salvador, please contact: ElSalvadorUpdate@democracyinamericas.org.

Venezuela temporarily halts communication with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs; Nicolás Maduro opens Twitter account

Elías Jaua, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, suspended talks between Roy Chaderton, Venezuela’s OAS representative, and Roberta Jacobson, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemispheric Affairs, that were meant to improve bilateral relations, reports EFE. “When you understand that you are talking to a sovereign people, call us back,” Jaua said. This comes after Venezuela expelled U.S. officials from Caracas, accusing them of attempting to recruit Venezuelan military officers for “destabilizing projects.” The U.S. denies this claim.

On Sunday, Venezuela’s Interim President Nicolás Maduro started his own Twitter account, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune. The handle @NicolasMaduro has gained over 155,000 followers thus far. Hugo Chávez’s Twitter account, which has over 3 million followers, will remain active and used to spread the recently deceased leader’s ideas.

Death squad killing accusations against Honduras’ police force

Despite U.S. funding for the improvement and professionalization of Honduras’ police force, accusations of police abuse, including death squad-style killings and disappearances are still rampant, reports the Associated Press. Over the last three years, prosecutors in Honduras have received over 150 formal complaints about death squad-style killings in Tegucigalpa, and some 50 complaints in San Pedro Sula. Accusations of human rights violations often are not pursued, as the criminal investigation arm of the Public Ministry is made up of the very officers under suspicion.

Recommended Reading

A Transgender Elected Official Reflects an Evolving Cuba, Victoria Burnett, New York Times

Adela Hernández is the first transgender person to be elected to public office in Cuba, representing the town of Caibarien (about 2,000 residents). Her election reflects shifting attitudes on the island and has drawn the support of LGBT advocates like Mariela Castro Espín, President Raúl Castro’s daughter. Ms. Hernández looks at her election as an opportunity for others in the LGBT community. “Behind me,” she says “there is a space now that others can walk through.”

Cubans on the move as new real estate market grows, Reuters

The real estate market in Cuba is seeing sales rise since the enactment of a 2011 decree that allowed Cubans for the first time to buy and sell their homes in decades, reports Reuters. With handwritten signs popping up around the island, the market has seen increased interest not only from Cubans, but also from foreign buyers, most of whom are technically prohibited from purchasing real estate on the island. The major obstacle of the new market is that, while there is no shortage of those selling homes, “few Cubans have the money to buy.”

Special Feature: Along the Malecón: Secret Files of Alan Gross

In his most recent post about Alan Gross case, Tracey Eaton analyzes documents released by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, hearing a $60 million lawsuit filed by imprisoned USAID subcontractor Alan Gross, which describe a broad mission vastly exceeding State Department explanations of his activities. The plan Gross wrote and submitted to his employer DAI, a federal contractor in Maryland, was conceived, in his words, to “change the status quo” and “hasten a transition to democracy,” using U.S. government funds set aside for “transition-to-democracy initiatives.”  Gross’s plan cited the strategic importance of Cuba’s Jewish community, which he believed could be used as a “secure springboard” to reach others in Cuba, including 30,000 members of the country’s Masonic Lodges.

Changing of the Guard, Cuban-Style, William LeoGrande, AULA blog

Dr. Bill LeoGrande, Professor of Government at the American University School of Public Affairs, writes about how Cuba’s First Vice-President, Miguel Díaz-Canel’s possible ascension to the presidency would differ from past candidates who never reached the top job. For the first time, a potential heir was not only born after the revolution, but is the product of government institutions, rather than owing his “ascent” to a personal relationship with Fidel Castro.

Time to Bet on Cuba, Ted Piccone, Brookings Institution

Ted Piccone writes that President Obama’s second term marks an important opportunity to normalize relations with Cuba. Urging President Obama to “invest political capital in defrosting relations,” Piccone offers policy recommendations, including initiating a dialogue with Cuba’s government, removing Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, and granting general licenses to facilitate further people-to-people exchange with Cuba.

Goat Farming, a Growing Alternative in Cuba’s Reform Process, Ivet González, Inter Press Service

Ivet González profiles a self-employed farmer, Dayamí León, writing that her experiences reflect a wider move toward goat farming in the region around Cienfuegos. The farm employs 12 people and produces 51,000 liters of goat milk annually, among other livestock products, and represents a successful example of Cuba’s market reforms. Ms. González notes that the goat milk produced in the farm helps supplement the nutritional needs of young people in Cuba.

Dreams of Saving Art Deco Havana, Victoria Burnett, New York Times

Victoria Burnett of the New York Times writes from the World Congress on Art Deco, for which hundreds of art connoisseurs from Cuba and around the world have descended on Cuba’s capital. With its “crumbling elegance,” hundreds of admirers have shown interest in restoring Havana’s Art Deco architecture. Juan García, an attendee of the Congress as well as a Cuban architecture historian, expressed hope for exchange between American and Cuban architecture experts; but to seriously consider restoring Havana’s architectural heritage, these efforts would require foreign investment in order for the island’s market to take off.

Conspicuous consumption comes to post-reform Cuba, Agence France-Press

A new, upscale, consumer culture is developing in Cuba due to economic reforms, according to this article from AFP. While foreign travelers still generate much economic wealth on the island, the estimated 400,000 individuals that make up the independent worker class are starting to take part in activities that used to be dominated by tourists such as vacationing in Varadero beach resorts. Self-generated wealth on the island is often supplemented by the estimated $2 billion that Cuban émigrés send to their families on the island.

Upcoming Event

One Year After the Gang Truce in El Salvador

The Washington Office on Latin America and the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University will be holding a panel on El Salvador’s gang truce on Friday, March 29^th, 2013, 10:30 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. Speakers will include Hector Silva Ávalos, Research Fellow at AU’s CLALS and CDA advisory board member, Edward Maguire, American University law Professor, Steven Dudley, Co-Director of InSight Crime, and Alys Willman, World Bank Social Development Specialist. The panel will be moderated by WOLA’s Program Director, Geoff Thale.