Three of the four candidates campaigning for the Republican nomination to be president promised to overthrow the Cuban government, returning U.S. policy toward Cuba and the region to the Cold War footing that existed in the 1960s.

Legislators in the U.S. Congress echoed the candidates’ calls for a cutback in travel to Cuba and opened an inquiry into a people to people travel program authorized by the U.S. government and sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution.

Apparently missing the memo about avoiding travel to the island, Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, prepared to visit Cuba, meet with President Castro, and sign pacts to expand cooperation with the Cuban government.

President Rousseff will visit the island on Tuesday just as Cuba’s Communist Party Conference will complete its meeting this weekend which, according to President Raúl Castro, will focus on internal party issues – though many had hoped for new announcements on economic reforms and migration.

In a snapshot, the week’s events reminded us of how U.S. policy toward Cuba remains suspended in a state of arrested development, still struggling to escape the politics and ideas of the Cold War, unable to contemplate economic reforms, oil drilling, or the broader changes taking place in Cuba, while Brazil – like the rest of Latin America – is on a trajectory that builds on engagement and mutual respect; on a trajectory that leads to the future.

This week in Cuba news…

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Hardline Cuba rhetoric continues leading up to Florida Republican primary

Just days before Florida’s January 31st primary, the Republican presidential candidates reiterated their positions on Cuba in campaign appearances and during primary debates in Tampa and Jacksonville this week, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

• Speaker Gingrich delivered a speech at Florida International University in which he attacked the Obama administration and promised to overthrow the Cuban government, Fox News Latino reports.  “They worry about an Arab Spring in Egypt,” he said, but “I don’t think its occurred to a single person in the White House to look south and propose a Cuban Spring…We are in fact not going to allow a negative future of new generation dictators to replace the Castro brothers.”

• Governor Romney spoke at an event sponsored by the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC and released a White Paper on Cuba and Latin America.  He said that President Obama had adopted a strategy of “appeasement” toward Cuba, called the restoration of Cuban American travel to the island unilateral concessions, and promised to return the travel limits to Cuba to the reduced levels put into place by President George W. Bush in 2004.  The Romney White Paper also called for increased support for the regime change programs that landed U.S. contractor Alan Gross in prison.

During the Tampa debate, when moderator Brian Williams asked former Governor Mitt Romney what he would do if he received a “3 a.m. phone call” telling him that Fidel Castro had died and that as many as half a million Cubans were fleeing the island for the U.S.  Romney said he would “thank Heavens that Fidel Castro has returned to his Maker” and that his administration would engage with Cuba’s new government and support the island’s dissidents, the New York Times reports. He then criticized Obama for easing restrictions on travel and remittances, and for not doing enough to help the Cuban dissident movement.

As he has done in the past, Speaker Gingrich advocated for aggressive “overt” and “covert” pressure to bring about a “Cuban Spring” within the next four years.

In Jacksonville, Senator Santorum asserted that President Obama rewarded “thuggery and Marxism” by opening up travel and remittances to Cuba.

By contrast, Rep. Ron Paul said that sanctions, however well-intentioned, “help the dictator and hurt the people.”  He said in Tampa:

I don’t like the isolationism of not talking to people…I think we’re living in the Dark Ages when we can’t even talk to the Cuban people. It’s not 1962 anymore and we don’t have to use force and intimidation and the overthrow of governments, I just don’t think that’s going to work.

Congressman Paul, to his credit, also brought the debate — and perhaps even the candidates — back to a semblance of reality, if only for a brief moment. When he was asked by CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer what he would say if Raul Castro called him in the Oval Office, Paul said, “Well, I’d ask what he called about, you know?”

The White House issued a statement, also below, saying “We will remain steadfast in our outreach to the Cuban people through unlimited Cuban American family visits and remittances, purposeful travel, and humanitarian assistance to dissidents and their families in support of their legitimate desire to freely determine Cuba’s future.”

Statements continue to be released regarding the death of Wilman Villar

The death of Wilman Villar, a Cuban dissident arrested in November, following a 56-day hunger strike, has generated numerous responses from Cuba, the U.S., and the international community. From Washington, the White House press secretary released a statement saying:

Villar’s senseless death highlights the ongoing repression of the Cuban people and the plight faced by brave individuals standing up for the universal rights of all Cubans.  The United States will not waver in our support for the liberty of the Cuban people.  We will remain steadfast in our outreach to the Cuban people through unlimited Cuban American family visits and remittances, purposeful travel, and humanitarian assistance to dissidents and their families in support of their legitimate desire to freely determine Cuba’s future.

However, Cuba hard-liners in Congress, including Representatives Ros-Lehtinen, Diaz-Balart and Rivera, and Senators Rubio and Menendez used the occasion to criticize Cuba’s government and to call for a tightening of U.S. policy toward the island.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry responded with its own statement, rejecting the U.S. government’s position and stating that the comments “yet again demonstrate the permanent policy of aggression and meddling in Cuba’s internal affairs, and are astonishing for their hypocrisy and double standard,” citing instances of human rights abuses within the U.S. prison system, the AP reports.

Cuban journalist Fernando Ravsberg penned a piece in which he described the complexities of reporting on a death that has parties on both sides exaggerating and slanting the truth.

International human rights organization Amnesty International released a statement saying that Cuban authorities are “responsible” for Villar’s death, while Human Rights Watch commented that the tragedy has “highlighted repressive tactics” on the island.

Following his death last Thursday, Villar was buried in a local cemetery in his hometown of Contramaestre in the Santiago de Cuba province, AFP reports.

Following trip, Senator Durbin calls for more diplomacy between U.S. and Cuba

Following his trip to Cuba last week, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois is calling for increased diplomacy between the U.S. and Cuba, the Peoria Journal Star reports. The trip was Sen. Durbin’s first to the island. During an interview after returning to Washington, Durbin stated:

New diplomacy with Cuba is long overdue…We felt with our old foreign policy that we could oust Fidel Castro. It turned out that old age ousted Fidel Castro, not our foreign policy.

While in Cuba, Sen. Durbin, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on human rights, pressed the government for the release of American contractor Alan Gross. He also noted signs of economic change in the government of Raúl Castro, stating, “I think his leadership is trying to measure the amount of change Cuba should experience…Little by little they are inching into the 21^st century…If they do I think there will be an appetite for more.”

Durbin emphasized the potential economic benefits of increased trade, specifically mentioning grain exports and Caterpillar Inc., which is based in Peoria. The Illinois Farm Bureau has similar interests, and is planning a March trip to island.

House investigates Smithsonian people-to-people trips

The Committee on House Administration has requested information from the Smithsonian Institution regarding planned people-to-people delegations, following criticisms from Rep. Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18) in which she claimed that “The Smithsonian’s 10-day trips to Cuba will amount to little more than a tropical vacation,” The Hill reports. In response to the inquiry, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen stated:

I commend the Chairman for his leadership and for promptly addressing my serious concerns shared by so many about Smithsonian Journeys’ poor judgment in facilitating trips to the repressed island of Cuba…It is my hope that through this investigation, Congress ensures that no taxpayer dollars have been used to promote tourism travel to Cuba.

The Smithsonian’s trips are offered through its People-to-People Cultural Exchange Program. According to the McClatchy news service, Linda St. Thomas, a Smithsonian spokesperson, responded to Rep. Ros-Lehtinen’s accusations, stating:

There isn’t one single day at the beach, not one single day…It is not that kind of vacation. Otherwise they wouldn’t qualify for the people-to-people exchange trips. It is not a Caribbean vacation.

St. Thomas added that it “goes without saying” that the institution would provide the requested information, and that they had no intention of canceling the four trips planned by the Smithsonian for this year.

Expert proposes U.S.-Cuba cooperation on transexual health

Lin Fraser, president of the Worldwide Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), praised the work of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) and called for cooperation between the U.S. and Cuba on issues relating to transgender health, AFP reports. Fraser, who lives in California, attended CENESEX’s VI Congress on Sexual Education, Orientation, and Therapy, which took place Jan 23rd-26th. Fraser added that the attendance of six WPATH experts at the conference, held in Havana, could provide a “starting point to increase cooperation.”

Through the efforts of CENESEX, which is run by Mariela Castro, Cuba’s government began providing free sex-change operations to Cubans in 2008. CENESEX has spearheaded campaigns on the island to eradicate homophobia, and Ms. Castro has stated that Cuba’s National Assembly will consider legalizing same-sex civil unions this year.

IN CUBA

Party Conference to begin on Saturday

A special conference of Cuba’s Communist Party is scheduled to meet this Saturday and Sunday. Nick Miroff for NPR reports that while many had hoped that important decisions on some key issues – like migration and term limits – would take place at this meeting, President Raúl Castro has, in recent weeks, attempted to tone down expectations that any new announcements on economic reform will follow the conference. Instead, he has emphasized that the focus of the conference will be on internal party affairs.

Miroff points out that many people will be paying attention to any changes in party leadership, and signs of who could be rising in the party ranks, and potentially take over important positions once current leaders -many in their 70s and 80s – are gone. He notes that though while Fidel Castro was in power, several younger politicians were present in the public eye and seemingly being prepared to enter into leadership, most of those people were sacked after being caught on tape criticizing the government.

Rafael Hernández, editor of the journal Temas, predicts that new leaders will rise through party ranks in Cuba’s provinces outside of Havana, adding that:

Most of the Communist Party leaders in every province are very young. And taking into account the importance of Communist Party general secretary in every province, we will find that 40 percent of them are women. Many of them are blacks.

This conference is the first time that the full party leadership will convene since the 6^th Party Congress, held in April of last year.

Beach resort town of Varadero to host international golf tournament

Varadero, a beach town a few hours outside of Havana, will be the home to the fourth Montecristo Cup, an international golf tournament, Havana Times reports. The Cup will take place from April 19-21st, and include a tournament for men and women. Cuba has moved toward opening several golf resorts throughout the island, investing a total of more than $1.5 billion in four initial projects in an effort to build the tourism industry, as a New York Times article from 2011 reports. For now, such projects are aimed at Canadian, European and Asian tourists, because U.S. citizens cannot legally travel as tourists to Cuba.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Opening of ethanol production under consideration by Cuban government

Cuba’s government is considering developing large-scale ethanol production on the island, a project that would potentially be open to foreign investment, the Cuba Standard reports.

Former president Fidel Castro has been opposed to large-scale ethanol production, however, Tovar Nunes, the spokesman for Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, stated during his visit to the island last week that “Fidel’s resistance in this field is being overcome,” and that soon investment opportunities in Cuban ethanol production could open up to Brazilian companies. Castro has repeatedly warned against the pressure that crop-based ethanol would put on food production and food prices, thereby hurting Cuba and the global poor. Venezuela and the ALBA bloc have supported Castro, abstaining from ethanol production.

The island has the potential to be the world’s third-biggest ethanol producer, according to Jorge Hernández Fonseca, a Cuban-born researcher at the Brazilian Universidade do Estado do Pará. Brazil is the second biggest ethanol producer in the world, after the U.S. Over the past five years, Brazilian companies have expanded beyond their domestic market and invested in production in the Caribbean and Central America.

Brazilian President Rousseff to discuss trade, investment in Cuba

Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, will visit Cuba for the first time during her presidency on January 31st. Rousseff has reportedly scheduled meetings with various economic and trade officials on the island, as well as requested a meeting with former president Fidel Castro, Reuters reports. During her presidency, Rousseff has emphasized issues of economic cooperation, and her trip will reportedly focus on trade issues. This includes the modernization of the port of Mariel – a project which is being managed by Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht.

The Cuba Standard reports that President Rousseff will witness the signing of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new agreements, largely arranged in a preparatory visit by Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota last week. These agreements will include a release of the second $230 million (of a total nearly $600 million) in credit for the Mariel project. That project is estimated to be completed by mid-2013. Trade between the two nations increased 30% between 2006 and 2010, when it totaled $488 million, while trade for the first 11 months of 2011 totaled $570 million.

Meanwhile, Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez was granted a visa to travel to Brazil for the screening of a new documentary on Cuba and Honduras, The New York Times reports. Sánchez has not received an exit visa from Cuba’s government, required to leave the country, and has been denied such visas on multiple occasions.

Around the Region

Leopoldo López pulls out of Venezuela primary

Leopoldo López has pulled out of Venezuela’s opposition primary that will take place on February 12, the BBC reports. López made the announcement at a press conference together with leading candidate Henrique Capriles, and told Capriles “you will be the next president,” following his withdrawal from the race. The announcement will be a huge boost to Capriles, now the likely winner of the primary. He would then go on to face Chávez in the presidential election, set for October 7th.

Reuters Factbox provides an in-depth analysis of the remaining contenders in the opposition primary, as well as the electoral climate leading up to the general presidential campaign.

Facing pressure from the U.S., Lobo allows drug-related extraditions

The Honduran National Congress has passed an amendment to the Honduran Constitution authorizing the signing of treaties with foreign governments to extradite Honduran citizens charged with drug trafficking, terrorism and organized crime, IPS reports. The law was passed  only 24 hours after a surprise Miami meeting between Honduran President Porfirio Lobo and U.S. government officials last Wednesday.

According to the article, only representatives of the left-wing Democratic Unification party have expressed any concern about the terrorism-related extraditions, however, those representatives still voted in favor of the law. In addition, government officials reportedly lead negotiations with political parties and economic groups in order to secure their approval of the amendment. Previously, article 102 of the Honduran constitution prohibited the extradition of nationals to a foreign country.

This action comes only four days after all U.S. Peace Corps volunteers were withdrawn from Honduras, due to the risks stemming from a wave of violent crime, AFP reports.

According to Honduran diplomatic sources, the U.S. delegation was headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson and U.S. Ambassador in Tegucigalpa Lisa Kubiske, and included both narcotics officers and officials of the U.S.  National Security Council. In addition to pushing for purges of the Honduran police to address corruption problems, the U.S. delegation announced that it would be sending two special security advisers to Honduras to work directly President Lobo, who stated “soon there will be U.S. personnel here…and that will contribute to the tranquility of the Honduran people.”

Earlier this week, the Miami Herald published an editorial highlighting Honduras’ security problems, stating that “The country is quickly turning into a disaster zone.” The editorial insists that “Honduras has to become more active in combating drugs, including allowing extradition of indicted traffickers to the United States and taking other strong measures to combat crime,” and blames current problems on corruption and a lack of accountability.

Michael Allison at Central American Politics blog responded to the editorial, arguing that the Herald overlooked the U.S. role in the militarization of Central America during the civil wars of the 1970’s and 80’s, and ending:

I support an effort to hold Honduran leaders accountable for the security situation and corruption. However, the editorial also should have called on the US congress and the executive branch to review their own actions. How have they contributed to the situation in Honduras? How are they going to change the way that they operate?

Finally, in an op-ed published by the New York Times, Dana Frank lays out an argument for why U.S. policy and aid strategy is to blame for many of Honduras’ human rights and security problems, specifically criticizing U.S. policy following the country’s June 2009 coup. Frank argues that the coup and subsequent political turmoil are the primary cause of human rights violations and increased repression in Honduras.

Latin America faces human rights atrocities

This article from The Guardian reports on the various actions being taken in Latin American countries to address human rights violations during past civil wars and dictatorships. It details court proceedings and government actions currently being undertaken in Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia and El Salvador, which move to acknowledge responsibility for state-sanctioned violence during cold-war military campaigns against leftist movements throughout the region, and in certain cases punish individuals for atrocities committed. Specifically, the article talks about Funes’ recognition of military responsibility last week for the massacre at El Mozote, and the court trial of Guatemala’s former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, which began on Thursday.

Recommended Reading

The real Florida winner? Barack. Here’s why, Achy Obejas, WBEZ

Achy Obejas, a Cuban-American author and journalist, argues in an insightful piece that President Obama is the real winner in this race because while candidates in the primaries direct their appeals to Cuban Americans, they no longer comprise the majority of the state’s Latino population and they have concerns outside of issues relating to Cuba.

Coming to Florida: Cuba Policy Pander-Fest, Sarah Stephens, The Huffington Post

“Cuba-bashing by both political parties is a four-season sport in American politics, but it’s always more extreme around election time. With Florida’s primary and two debates immediately before us, it’s worth remembering just how big a role campaigns play in sustaining this failed, Cold War-era policy and toughening the policy between election.”

 Cuba Is Changing, Slowly but Surely, Ted Piccone, the Brookings Institution

“As I sat on the curb in front of central Havana’s Capitolio, the impressive domed hall that resembles the U.S. Capitol building, and watched the 1950s-era Plymouths and Soviet-made Ladas go belching by, I was sure I had entered a surreal time warp a mere one-hour flight from Miami. And yet, after a week of meetings with Cuban and foreign diplomats, journalists, academics and artists, I became convinced that Cuba, indeed, is changing in many ways.”

The cases of Alan Gross and the Cuban Five, Salim Lamrani, the Center for International Policy

“The way may be opening for increased U.S.-Cuban ties…There is, however, the proverbial ‘fly in the ointment’ and that is the case of Alan Gross, arrested on December 3 of 2009 and since then representing a major obstacle to improved relations–along with the case of the Cuban Five on the other side (but more on that later).”

Over the last twenty years, big changes in U.S. policy that turned tighter the screws of the embargo took place in presidential campaign years.

Other than politics, it’s hard to explain why the Cuba Democracy Act passed in 1992, the Helms-Burton Act became law in 1996, or the Bush travel restrictions which clamped down on Cuban American travel to the island were imposed in 2004.

As policy makers toughen the policy in Washington, candidates are out on the trail with red-meat rhetoric to try and outdo their opponents and prove their anti-Castro bona fides.

In 2007, during the last campaign, candidates at a Univision debate were asked about the Castro regime having survived nine U.S. Presidents.  “What would you do differently,” the moderator said, “that has not been done so far, to bring democracy to Cuba?”

Senator Fred Thompson replied with tough talk, “I’m going to make sure that he didn’t survive ten U.S. presidents.”

Also running that year, Governor Mitt Romney endorsed the embargo, promised Cuban Americans he’d stand “side by side with the members of this community in fighting the menace of the Cuban Monsters,” and quoted Fidel Castro, using the phrase “Patria o muerte, venceremos [Fatherland or death, we will prevail],” in the mistaken belief that the slogan would rouse hardliners in the exile community to his side.

Four years later, it’s happening again.

Gov. Romney was out last fall with a white paper calling Cuba a rogue nation leading a virulently anti-American movement across Latin America and castigating the Obama administration for relaxing sanctions on Cuba without “demanding reforms.”

These days, according to press reports, while maintaining his tough stand from 2008, Romney mentions “almost nothing” about Cuba’s off-shore drilling and U.S. Cuba relations; he’s campaigned in Florida mainly against President Obama and promoting his economic plans.

But his surrogates have Romney’s back: with Capitol Hill Cubans attacking his opponents and with endorsements by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (who defend Romney against attacks for his anti-Dream Act immigration stance before Latino audiences).

Perhaps sensing a void, Speaker Gingrich is on the offensive. He has at least one commentator cheer-leading his pandering appeals to Miami Cubans.  Gingrich casts himself as the harshest critic of the Castro regime, vows to reestablish the Bush-era travel restrictions on Cuban Americans, has hired a top campaign adviser to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and offers a less restrictive immigration policy.

He is also running this Spanish-language radio spot which ridicules Romney’s Castro sloganeering from 2007 and talks up his work in Congress with Romney supporters Ros-Lehtinen and Diaz-Balart on Helms-Burton in 1996.

With the Florida presidential primary taking place on January 31, two nationally-televised debates set for Tampa (NBC) on Monday and Jacksonville (CNN) on Thursday, and four candidates including the anti-embargo Rep. Ron Paul and the pro-Monroe Doctrine Sen. Rick Santorum vying for votes, it’s hard to believe the anti-Cuba pander-monium won’t really get out of hand.

This actually matters.  While many Americans correctly view campaign pandering with cynicism, candidates tend to mean – and do as officeholders – what they actually say during campaigns.  That’s especially true of presidents who can wheel freely on foreign policy (more so than on domestic affairs).

As one scholar wrote recently:

I suspect that many Americans would be quite skeptical of the idea that elected officials, presidents included, try to keep the promises they made on the campaign trail.

Political scientists, however, have been studying this question for some time, and what they’ve found…is that presidents invariably attempt to carry out their promises…presidents’ agendas are clearly telegraphed in their campaigns.

The rhetoric also matters because the issues matter.

Whether it’s the sad news that we report on the death of Wilmar Villar, a 31-year-old dissident, who has just died in prison after a nearly two-month hunger strike; the predicament of Alan Gross, the U.S. contractor starting his third year in jail for carrying on activities under a regime change program some of the candidates are promising to intensify; the imminence of Cuba drilling in the Gulf of Mexico; or anyone one of a number of issues made more complicated by the existence of the embargo, it matters what the candidates say about these issues because any one of them could be elected president and have the opportunity to turn their rhetoric into U.S. foreign policy come 2013.

All of us had better be paying attention and listening.

IN CUBA

Jailed Cuban dissident on hunger strike dies in custody

Wilmar Villar Mendoza, a Cuban dissident arrested in November, who has been  on a hunger strike to protest his prison sentence, has died after forsaking food for 56 days, Reuters reports. Villar, who was 31 years old, was sentenced to four years in prison on charges that included disobedience, resistance and crimes against the state after taking part in a demonstration, the BBC reports.

Cuba’s government has so far not made any comment about Villar’s death. Human Rights Watche has released a statement, in which José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at the organization, states “Villar Mendoza’s case shows how the Cuban government punishes dissent…Arbitrary arrests, sham trials, inhumane imprisonment, and harassment of dissidents’ families – these are tactics used to silence critics.”

Spain, in a statement released by its Foreign Ministry, condemned his death and called for the liberation of all political prisoners in Cuba, AFP reports. In February 2010, dissident leader Orlando Zapato Tamayo, considered by Amnesty International as a “prisoner of conscience,” died after an 85-day hunger strike.

Get Ready, Get Set, Drill: Scarabeo 9 arrives off the coast of Cuba

The oil drilling platform Scarabeo 9 has arrived off the coast of Cuba, where it is visible from the Malecón, Havana’s sea wall, the AP reports. Photos are available from the state-run website CubaDebate.  Repsol, the Spanish oil company, stated that it will begin exploring for oil in the Gulf of Mexico using the rig “within days.”

Scarabeo 9’s previous stop was in Trinidad and Tobago, where Repsol invited a team from the U.S. Coast Guard and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to inspect the rig. The inspectors, as Reuters reported, found it to “generally comply with existing international and U.S. standards.”

Experts estimate that Cuba may have between 5 and 20 billion barrels of oil and10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in its off-shore Exclusive Economic Zone. A large find would have a huge impact on Cuba’s economy, its relationship with Venezuela, on which it depends for two-thirds of its oil requirement, and U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba.

Marc Frank for the Financial Times reports on the significance, and the current status and implications for U.S.-Cuba relations. To read CDA’s publication about U.S. policy and Cuba oil drilling, click here.

Deteriorating building in central Havana collapses, killing four

A residential building in central Havana collapsed due to structural deterioration, killing four and injuring five others, EFE reports. The building had been declared uninhabitable several years ago, but several families had refused to vacate and continued to live in the structure, though according to neighbors authorities had tried several times to clear them out.

Cuba suffers from a chronic housing shortage and, according to official figures, more than half of the buildings on the island are in a state of disrepair. Some recent economic reforms permitting the retail sale of construction materials and offering loans for construction purposes are aimed at addressing this problem. Blogger Yoani Sánchez, in a post following the collapse, states:

What urgent solution will be applied so that these tragedies won’t continue to be a part of our daily landscape? We will not accept a response in the style of, “We are studying the issue in order to apply solutions in a gradual way.” Nor do we now fault the inhabitants themselves, who stayed in an uninhabitable place. Where could they go? Instead, we demand that the State construct, repair, protect us.

State communications company ETECSA lowers prices of text messages, cell phone calls

Cuba’s Ministry of Informatics and Communications has announced a substantial reduction in cell phone costs, Prensa Latina reports. Resolutions 11 and 12 from the Ministry, which have yet to be published in the Official Gazette, will reduce the prices paid by Cubans for phone calls and text messages.

Text messages will drop from 16 cents to 9 cents, and phone calls will drop from 60 to 45 cents per minute. In addition, people receiving phone calls will no longer be charged by the phone company. All prices are in Convertible Pesos (CUCs).

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Cuban court documents released in sentencing of Alan Gross

The blog Café Fuerte has obtained and released the Cuban court document used in the sentencing Alan Gross in his trial last March.  An American, Mr. Gross was arrested in December 2009 for bringing highly regulated satellite equipment to the island while under a contract with USAID’s “democracy promotion” programs in Cuba. The document outlines the case against Gross, including a summary of the statements of those who testified.

According to the sentence, Cuba’s government was aware of Gross’ activities starting in 2004, when he delivered a package from Marc Wachtenheim, a director of the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF), a USAID-funded organization. On that occasion, Gross handed the package to José Manuel Collera Vento, an undercover agent of the Cuban government, who was at the time working with Wachtenheim. According to Collera Vento, who testified in the case, Wachtenheim contacted Gross again in 2007 about acquiring high-tech communication devices to be brought to the island, including BGAN satellite connections. Gross agreed and received $5,500 from PADF to obtain the equipment. That same year, Gross reportedly proposed an experimental program to Wachtenheim, to supply pro-democracy groups in Cuba with high-tech communications equipment. The project was not accepted.

The document continues that in 2008, Gross began a contract with the Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc, also funded by USAID’s Cuba program. It states that he traveled to the island a total of seven times, creating three BGAN satellite networks for the Jewish communities in the cities of Havana, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba, telling these communities that his work was a donation to increase communication within the Jewish community.

According to Collera Vento, who is also former president of Havana’s Masonic organization, Gross had plans to initiate a similar program for the island’s Masonic Lodges when he was arrested in 2009.

Neither Cuba’s nor the U.S. government has commented on the release of the sentence or confirmed the document’s authenticity. The Associated Press reports that Gross’ attorney, Peter Kahn, stated in response to the document’s release:

This document is further confirmation of what we have said all along — the Cuban authorities cannot point to any action by Alan P. Gross intended to subvert their government…The trial evidence cited in the document confirms that Alan’s actions were intended to improve the Internet and Intranet connectivity of Cuba’s small, peaceful, non-dissident, Jewish community.

The Cuba Interests Section in Washington, DC indicated last week, in an unpublished response to an earlier Washington Post editorial, that Cuba would consider releasing Alan Gross in a humanitarian exchange for the five Cuban agents imprisoned in the U.S. since 1998. In statements this week, State Department spokesman William Ostick stated that “An exchange for any of the members of the Cuban Five is not possible,” adding that “Their cases aren’t comparable and the Cuban Five were convicted in federal court and are serving their sentences…Alan Gross is not a spy,” AFP reports.

Senator Dick Durbin travels to Cuba

Illinois Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin traveled to Cuba this week. Sen. Durbin, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, Ricardo Alarcón, President of the National Assembly, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Archbishop of Havana as well as members of the international diplomatic community, the staff of the U.S. Interests Section and Cuban reformers, according to a statement from his office. According to the release,

The trip has focused on changes in Cuba — including Cuba’s substantial offshore drilling proposal — as well as discussions on improved relations between the US and the island nation..Durbin also pressed the Cuban government to release Alan Gross, a USAID contract worker who has been jailed since 2009.

Durbin is the second-highest ranking member of the Senate, and his trip marks a rare occasion of diplomatic contact between high-ranking U.S. and Cuban officials.

Baltimore-Havana flights to begin March 21st to coincide with Papal visit

Flights between Baltimore’s BWI airport and Cuba are set to begin on March 21st, a date chosen in advance of Pope Benedict’s arrival to the island planned for the 26th, the AP reports. The weekly flights are scheduled to depart the airport at 3 PM, and are organized through the charter company Island Travel & Tours.

Since President Obama eased requirements for airports to host direct flights to Cuba in January of last year, Baltimore is one of about a dozen airports that have been approved to charter flights to the island.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Spanish journalist to be freed from Cuban prison following negotiations

A Spanish businessman-journalist arrested after filming a hidden-camera report about underage prostitution in Cuba will be freed from a Cuban prison, reports EFE.  Sebastián Martínez Ferraté, who was arrested in July 2010 and sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption of minors and procurement, will soon be able to return to Spain thanks to negotiations between Madrid and the Castro government.

Trinidad Jiménez, who served in Spain’s prior government as Foreign Minister, began talks with her Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez, because of  Ferraté’s fragile health, hoping to secure his freedom for humanitarian reasons. Her successor, José Manuel García-Margallo, resumed negotiations after taking office and called Ferraté’s wife, María Ángeles Sola, last week to tell her he would soon be released. Sola says she has no idea when her husband will be allowed to return to Spain, but hopes and believes it will be as soon as possible.

Brazilian FM, in Cuba, announces upcoming visit by President Dilma Rousseff

Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff will be making her first visit to Cuba on January 31, Xinhua reports. Brazil’s Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota made the announcement on Monday, during a meeting with Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.

According to Patriota, Rousseff’s stay will be “an opportunity to develop and strengthen bilateral political dialogue, based on the confidence we have built at unprecedented levels.” He also expressed Brazil’s willingness to help Cuban development and to have closer cooperation with the island, particularly in regards to the healthcare sector.

Patriota met with Raúl Castro on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming meeting, and also visited the port of Mariel, the site of an $800 million joint renovation project that is said to be the most important joint economic undertaking of the two countries. Rousseff’s visit will be part of her first trip abroad in 2012, with stops in Cuba and then Haiti, reports Radio Cadena Agramonte.

Around the Region

El Salvador commemorates 20th anniversary of Peace Accords, massacre at El Mozote

January 16th marked the anniversary of the signing of the 1992 peace accords that ended El Salvador’s 12-year civil war. In a speech (video in Spanish available here) commemorating the occasion, President Mauricio Funes apologized for the 1981 massacre of 936 civilians, a large percentage of whom were children, in an army counter-insurgency operation in the town of El Mozote, the AP reports. Funes formally acknowledged the government’s responsibility for the murders, calling the El Mozote massacre “the biggest massacre of civilians in the contemporary history of Latin America”.  Funes continued by asking for forgiveness from the relatives of the estimated 12,000 people disappeared in the conflict:

I ask forgiveness of the mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of those who still today do not know the whereabouts of their loved ones. I ask forgiveness from the people of El Salvador, who suffered an atrocious and unacceptable violence.

His speech was given at the massacre site in front of thousands of farmers and others who had traveled to commemorate the occasion. He stated that the peace accords had helped to change the army, adding that “Twenty years after the peace accords we have a different armed forces, democratic and obedient to civilian power.”

CDA’s executive director Sarah Stephens, along with our El Salvador consultant Linda Garrett, traveled to El Salvador to be present for the commemoration of the accords, and to meet with officials and members of civil society on the eve of this important anniversary. Here is an exclusive video interview with Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez about the importance of the President’s speech at El Mozote. We look forward to providing a link to our report on the trip and its events, as well as January’s El Salvador Update, in coming weeks.

Venezuela announces plans to withdraw from World Bank arbitration court

Rafael Ramírez, Venezuela’s Oil Minister, announced on Sunday that the country plans to leave the World Bank’s international arbitration body, the AP reports. Ramírez stated, “We do not accept impositions and we are going to rescue our national sovereignty…We are going to send notification of our withdrawal of the ICSID [International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes]”.

Last week, Exxon was awarded $907 million in compensation after seeking ten times that amount in an ICSID court. Venezuela called the final decision a “successful defense,” but still has another pending case from Exxon in the ICSID court. The decision by Venezuela to leave the court would affect more than a dozen foreign companies that currently have unsettled disputes with the Venezuelan government for compensation of assets seized during nationalizations and state takeovers, for a total of 17 pending cases.

Chávez announces he will close Miami consulate

President Hugo Chávez has announced plans to shut down Venezuela’s Miami consulate following the expulsion of a diplomat on charges of espionage, the AP reports. Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuela’s consul general in Miami, was ordered to leave the U.S. last weekend, after an FBI investigation of allegations that she had discussed a possible cyber-attack on the U.S. government while serving in another diplomatic post in Mexico. Chávez called the action an unfair action by the U.S. State Department, stating that “There’s no proof that she was going around carrying out espionage.”

State Department spokesman Mark Toner, in response to Chávez’s announcement, stated “The decision on how to manage its consulates and how to provide consular services to Venezuelan citizens is entirely that of the Venezuelan government.”

Recommended Viewing

Interview with Salvadoran Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez, Center for Democracy in the Americas

In an exclusive interview, CDA asked Hugo Martínez to talk about the significance of President Funes’ speech at the site of the El Mozote massacre on the 20^th anniversary of the signing of the Peace Accords.

Recommended Reading

It’s time to remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, Jeffrey Goldberg, the Atlantic

“It’s been curious to me for some time that Cuba, a country that does not sponsor terror groups, is listed by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terror. Cuba’s inclusion (there are three other countries on the list, Iran, Syria and Sudan) undermines the seriousness of the list. Cuba is on the list, of course, because Castro-haters in the U.S. want it to be on the list, but it is not intellectually or analytically honest to include Havana. The State Department realizes this, of course, which is why its description of Cuba’s ‘terrorist’ activities is written the way it is.”

Reforms, slow and steady, Phil Peters, The Cuban Triangle

Phil Peters of the Lexington Institute looks into the pace and progress of Cuba’s economic reforms, providing links to several informative news articles.

U.S. frets at Cuba oil exploration, Marc Frank, the Financial Times

“A huge oil drilling platform will sink deepwater wells off Cuba next week in a move that has caused angst in the US at the prospect of significant oil discoveries that could alter Cuba’s economic future and Havana’s relations with Washington.”

He continued:  “The announced visit to Cuba by Pope Benedict XVI and the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the image of the Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, have also been taken into account.”

In relation to the Pope’s visit, President Castro said:

Our people and government will have the honor of welcoming His Holiness with affection and respect.

We Cubans have not forgotten the sentiments of friendship and respect left in 1998 by the presence on our soil of Pope John Paul II.

Pretty significant. Cuba’s Catholic Church and the Vatican have pursued a policy of engagement with Cuba’s government and reaped the rewards that flow from the position of respect from which they have operated.   Releases of political prisoners in 2010 and 2011 – as well as the actions undertaken in December –demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.

Elements of Pope Benedict’s itinerary were released this week; among the highlights:  he will celebrate Mass in Revolutionary Plaza in Havana before an audience that will include Cuban Americans from Miami who are now organizing a pilgrimage to be among the faithful.

News about his plans, however, may well have been overshadowed by the controversy surrounding another visit to Cuba, by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

We do not minimize in any way the concern people feel about Iran’s nuclear program and the threat that nuclear weapons pose to world peace.

But while the reaction it generated may have obscured the news about the Pope’s itinerary, we think in the tale of these two visits, we expect more to come from his visit in March than anyone has to fear from the visit of Iran’s president this week.

The Pope’s trip– coming at a time when Cuba is reforming its economy and considering changes in areas like migration that can give greater opportunity to Cuba’s people – can be as historic and meaningful as his predecessor’s in 1998.

This is the power, even the magic, of engagement.

IN CUBA  

Cuba releasing 2,900 prisoners in lead-up to Pope’s visit next spring

On December 23rd, Raúl Castro announced in a speech to Cuba’s National Assembly that the ruling Council of State had decided to grant amnesty to 2,900 prisoners, adding that the Council of State had “taken into account” the upcoming Papal visit, scheduled for this coming spring, as well as requests by Catholic Church officials in Cuba and family members of the prisoners, among others, in deciding on the release.

Alan Gross, the American contractor in jail since December 2009, was not included in the amnesty. Those to be released include many prisoners who are more than 60 years old, female prisoners, people who are ill, youth, and some first-time offenders. Also freed were 86 foreigners, convicted of drug trafficking or prostitution.

Four days after the announcement, the AP reported that the government seemed to be making good on its promise, and had already freed some 2,500 prisoners.  In 2010 and 2011, Cuba freed more than 100 political prisoners in a deal negotiated between the government and the Catholic Church.

In other highlights of his National Assembly address, President Castro:

• Reported that the Cuban economy under-performed to expectations and blamed smaller than predicted economic growth on a lack of investment and shortages of inputs for agriculture, the food industry, and construction;
• Ramped up his rhetoric regarding his government’s commitment to the fight against corruption, citing examples of fraudulent agriculture sales and the theft and slaughter of beef cattle, and declared that the Cuban state will treat corruption as harshly as it dealt with the threat posed by drug trafficking;
• Promised to welcome Pope Benedict to Cuba with “affection and respect,” and paid tribute to the late John Paul II’s visit to Cuba in 1998; and,
• Said that “family ties,” in a reference to the Cuban diaspora in the U.S., demonstrate how positive relations with the U.S. could be, despite – in his view – the disappointing performance of the Obama administration in its relationship with Cuba.

Raúl Castro attempts to tone down expectations for Party Conference in press comments

In rare comments made to the press upon the departure of Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Raúl Castro stated that people should not raise their expectations so high regarding the Party Conference scheduled for the end of this month, adding that the Conference is an “internal matter,” EFE reports. He added:

The Conference is in progress, but there’s no reason to have so many expectations… the Party Congress was the definitive [event]. Now it’s an internal party matter of perfecting it.

The president’s comments seemed to be aimed at toning down expectations surrounding the upcoming Conference, perhaps including speculation that a reform or relaxation of migration policy could be announced.

In a post from her blog Generation  Y, entitled “Conference Rhymes with Patience” (as it does, in Spanish), Yoani Sánchez comments on general skepticism leading up to the conference, and regarding the reform process in general.

Details released on dates of Pope’s visit and Miami pilgrimage

The Cuban Catholic Church released dates and a partial itinerary for Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip this spring, now confirmed for March 26-28, the AP reports.

The Pope will arrive in the western city of Santiago, where he will be received by President Raúl Castro and then driven through the city in the “Popemobile.” The next day, he will visit the sanctuary of Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre, about 12 miles west of Santiago. The Pope will then fly to Havana, where he will meet with Cardinal Jaime Ortega and other Church leaders, followed by a private meeting with President Castro. Finally, on the 28th, Pope Benedict will perform mass in Havana’s Revolution Plaza, the same site where Pope John Paul II gave mass to hundreds of thousands of attendees in 1998.

Pope Benedict’s trip is shorter than Pope John Paul’s 1998 visit, when he stayed in Cuba for five days and visited the cities of Santa Clara and Camagüey, in addition to Santiago and Havana.

The Virgin of Caridad del Cobre completed its 16-month tour of the island at the end of December, and on December 30th some 3,000 people attended a ceremony celebrating the return of the saint to its sanctuary at El Cobre Basílica, Reuters reports. Cardinal Jaime Ortega led the mass, giving a speech that encouraged Cuba’s economic reforms and called for reconciliation between Cubans at home and abroad:

Our people appreciate peace as a superior good and have prayed much asking the Virgin of Charity that it include reconciliation…Mother, come again over the sometimes agitated waves of our history, and with your mantle, that the waters can never dampen, cover all the Cubans, also those that live outside of Cuba.

Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami who was also in attendance, echoed Ortega’s sentiment, reports the Miami Herald.  “I’ve been able to come here today as a way of expressing that the Cuban people wherever they are, are still one people,” he told reporters. In regards to Pope Benedict’s upcoming visit to the statue’s shrine in El Cobre, Wenski said he thought that “a lot of Catholics here in South Florida would be very happy to be able to participate in the pope’s visit in some way…This is the closest Pope Benedict has come to South Florida.”

Archbishop Wenski also announced details of his planned pilgrimage of Cuban Americans to the island for the Papal visit, EFE reports. The pilgrims will attend the Pope’s mass on March 26th in Santiago, and then fly to Havana to attend the mass there, returning to the U.S. on March 29th.

Economic reforms advance in agriculture, restaurants and housing

Cuba’s government will lease more than 200 formerly state-run cafeterias to private owners in the western province of Holguín this year, Reuters reports. The cafes will be leased out as part of an experimental program that has not been reported on by the national media, presumably because it will go nationwide sometime in the future, according to the article.

State-run cafes, which have existed since the Cuban Revolution, have long been criticized for their dreary appearance and for having bad service and food. This new program comes as the cafeterias for the first time are facing stiff competition from more attractive, privately-run restaurants, cafes, and snack shops, following the liberalization of restrictions on such businesses. Another article from Reuters reports on last year’s boom in home-based restaurants, called paladares, noting that more than 1,000 were registered in less than 14 months.

The Cuba Standard reports on developments since the government’s December 2nd decree enabling direct food sales from agricultural cooperatives to restaurants and hotels catering to the tourism industry.  According to the article, state newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported that 71 agreements for direct food sales between agricultural producers and tourism companies had been confirmed as of last week. The first agreement was signed in early December, between a farm cooperative in the province of Matanzas and a hotel in Varadero.

Finally, an article by Marc Frank in Reuters reports on Cuba’s booming housing market, which has arisen after the purchase and sale of homes was legalized in November. Frank reports that throughout smaller provinces, “For Sale” signs adorn windows of houses, and buyers walk streets looking at the homes they hear about by word of mouth, as access to Internet and other means of advertising are limited. He also reports that most houses are being bought with the help of family abroad, which can provide the hard cash necessary to purchase homes, quoting one possible seller who stated “We want $35,000 and have a possible buyer, but she is checking with her family in Miami.”

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Offshore drilling rig gets “OK” following U.S. inspection in Trinidad and Tobago

As part of an effort to alleviate concerns, the U.S. Coast Guard and officials from the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement finished their inspection of Scarabeo 9, the offshore drilling platform destined for Cuba, reports the Miami Herald.

The inspection was completed on Monday off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago with the goal of protecting U.S. economic and environmental interests from the ramifications of a major oil spill. Repsol, the Spanish company in charge of the drilling project, invited the United States to inspect the platform and has agreed to adhere to U.S. requirements once they begin drilling, though the platform will function in Cuba’s Exclusive Economic Zone and does not require U.S. approval to operate.

Inspectors compared conditions on the platform with international safety and security standards in addition to U.S. drilling standards for operating in the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.  The inspection found that the platform generally complies with existing regulations, but does not grant any type of certification or endorsement.

In comments made exclusively to Cuba Central, Dr. Lee Hunt, President of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, had this to say about the inspection:

This comports with our position that Repsol is a reputable exploration and production operator and Saipem (the rig’s owner and operator)  is a world class deepwater drilling contractor. We should expect nothing less than this positive report.

While it is gratifying to see the high level of cooperation given by Repsol to the U.S. government agencies such as BSEE and USCG, the fact remains that the embargo continues to inhibit their access to timely and adequate spill response, capping and containment.  Again this safeguard can be remedied by State and OFAC with licenses that will enable, not hinder, protection of the environmental and economic resources of both the U.S. and Cuban people.

Dan Whittle, Cuba program director for the Environmental Defense Fund, who called the inspection “a significant good first step, still offered caution about the inspection saying, “In and of itself, it’s not enough.  It makes me want to know more.”

As we went to press, an article published in the Miami Herald reported that upon passing inspection, the rig could arrive in the Florida straits in two weeks.

Tampa is No. 2 airport for Cuba flights

Tampa’s weekly charter flights to Havana and Holguín, Cuba are proving so successful; they are now selling more seats than longer established flights from the cities of New York and Los Angeles, Tampa Bay Online reports.

Tessie Aral of ABC Charters stated “We are doing very well…How well things go in the spring will be affected by the economy.” Three charter airlines currently host flights between Tampa and Havana, while ABC Charters added a service to Holguín in Novembers. These four weekly flights still pale in comparison with the number of flights from Miami, which average around 60 per week.

But Tampa’s sizeable Cuban community, the third largest in the nation, is expected to maintain a strong demand for the flights, presenting an opportunity for further growth. Steve Michelini, a director of World Trade Center Tampa Bay, who traveled with a delegation of seven to Cuba on a trade mission last September, stated, “If you expect Cuba to be open, with most restrictions gone in another five years, it’s time now to begin planting seeds to work on relationships.”

Republican convention in Tampa expected to highlight Cuba

Tampa Bay Online also predicts that Cuba will gain attention as a foreign policy issue leading up to the Republican Convention which will be held in Tampa beginning August 27th.   With the exception of Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidates oppose lifting the embargo or loosening restrictions on trade and travel between Cuba and the United States.  Former Governor Mitt Romney listed Cuba as a “rogue nation” in a 43-page white paper, along with Venezuela, Iran and North Korea.

With the Republican convention taking place in electoral vote rich Florida, the article predicts a spotlight on the state’s sizeable Hispanic vote – which is dominated by Latinos of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent – as well as on the rising prominence of the state’s junior senator, Marco Rubio, and his prospects for nomination as Vice President.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Iran’s President visits Cuba, meets with President Raúl Castro and Fidel Castro

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cuba Wednesday night as a part of his Latin America tour, and was received by Cuba’s Vice-President Esteban Lazo at Jose Martí International Airport, the BBC reports. That evening, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Havana. The next day, he met with President Raúl Castro to discuss the “excellent status” of relations between the two nations, CubaDebate reports. He then met with former President Fidel Castro, reportedly for a two-hour chat, reports the AP.

Some analysts have suggested that this Latin America tour, which included stops in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Ecuador, was aimed at showing that Iran maintains allies, despite increasing tensions with the U.S. and the European Union.

Canada’s Foreign Minister for Latin America softens Cuba rhetoric before trip to the island

Diane Ablonczy, Canada’s Foreign Minister for Latin America, softened some of her country’s previous stances towards Cuba in statements this week, including expressing praise for the process of economic reform, Canadian Business reports. Ablonczy stated that “We see a very significant process of economic reform and liberalization in Cuba,” in an interview leading up to a trip to the island. However, she added that “Political change is not what Cuban leadership has in mind,” indicating that an opening in the political system might not follow the reforms. She did maintain that “Canada, as an investor in Cuba, with lots of people-to-people contact, wants to play as positive and constructive role as possible.”

Canada and Cuba are key trading partners. Millions of Canadian tourists visit Cuba each year, and two-way trade topped $1billion in 2010. Sherritt International, a Canadian oil and gas company, is the largest foreign investor in Cuba, and partners with the Cuban government to control much of the island’s natural resource exploitation, including natural gas and nickel. Ablonczy has largely been supportive of opening relations in the region, and added that such openings can lead to “important human rights advancement in these countries, providing the economic opportunity that is often key for people breaking free from tyranny and oppression.”

Cuban hospital inaugurated in Dukhan City, Qatar

Qatar’s Emir, H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, formally opened a 75-bed hospital in the Dukhan City, Qatar, The Peninsula reports. The inauguration was attended by the Cuban Health Minister, Dr. Roberto Morales Ojeda, and a documentary film about the hospital was shown. The Emir unveiled a memorial plaque and toured its wings, later attending a luncheon banquet.

The state-of-the-art hospital was funded, built and equipped by Qatar. Cuba has provided more than 200 medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, and specialists in the fields of rehabilitation, dentistry, pathology, biomedicine and radiology. Its outpatient clinics opened mid-year in 2011, serving patients taken on a referral basis. A statement issued by the Supreme Council of Health affirms:

The Cuban hospital is a modern facility which has not only been designed to meet the present population and workforce requirements, but it has the possibility of expanding to provide more services to  greater numbers of people in future. Hence, it represents a focal point to promote the integration of the medical care with the other activities of prevention and health education to people in the neighboring western areas of Qatar.

Around the Region

Former Salvadoran soldiers receive Spain’s extradition request

El Salvador’s government has announced that it received formal extradition requests from Spain for thirteen former military officers who have been implicated in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, their house keeper and her daughter, the New York Times reports. Five of the priests were Spanish, and Spain hopes to try a total of fifteen Salvadoran officers, two of whom currently reside in the U.S.

An INTERPOL “red alert” was issued for the soldiers last year, but the Salvadoran Supreme Court did not extradite, stating that such alerts required the location, and not detention and extradition, of the persons indicted.

El Salvador’s Foreign Minister Hugo Martínez stated that the request has been forwarded to the high court for consideration.

Chávez names ally accused of drug ties by U.S. as his new defense minister

Hugo Chávez has appointed as his new Defense Minister Henry Rangel Silva, a powerful general and close personal ally who has been accused by the U.S. of drug trafficking, the Washington Post reports.

In a speech in the central Venezuelan city of Guarane, Chavez announced that Rangel will be taking over the ministry from Gen. Carlos Mata Figueroa. The U.S. has accused Rangel of aiding drug traffickers and arming the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, including him among three other members of Chávez’s inner circle in its Foreign Narcotics Kingpins list in 2008. Rangel’s inclusion on the list meant that any assets he had in the U.S. were frozen and Americans were barred from doing business with him. Chavez has vehemently denied the charges, calling Rangel a “revolutionary soldier.”

Another article from the New York Times analyzes the appointment, its potential motivations and its likelihood of further straining already frigid relations with the United States.

Arbitration panel reduces award to Exxon Mobil for nationalized Venezuelan oil

An international arbitration panel awarded some $908 million to Exxon Mobil for oil assets in Venezuela nationalized in 2007, the Wall Street Journal reports. Analysts are calling the verdict a victory for Chávez and a setback for Exxon, which had been demanding $7 billion.

According to Exxon spokesman Patrick McGinn, the $908 million “represents recovery on a limited, contractual liability of PDVSA that was provided for in the Cerro Negro project agreement.” Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Venezuela’s state oil company, called the verdict a “successful defense” and said that it would pay $255 million over the next 60 days, after subtracting existing debts.

Recommended Reading

Time to clean up U.S. regime-change programs in Cuba, Fulton Armstrong

A former senior staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Fulton Armstrong, wrote this about the Alan Gross case:  “When a covert action run by the CIA goes bad and a clandestine officer gets arrested, the U.S. government works up a strategy for negotiating his release. When a covert operator working for USAID gets arrested, Washington turns up the rhetoric, throws more money at the compromised program, and refuses to talk.”

FACTBOX: Key political risks to watch in Cuba, Jeff Franks, Reuters

“Cuba has opened more of its retail services to the private sector and liberalized land lease terms so farmers can rent more state land and keep it in the family as reforms aimed at fortifying the socialist system for the future continue.”

Cuba wraps up dramatic year of economic change, Paul Haven, the Associated Press

“A year at the vanguard of Cuba’s economic revival has not brought Julio Cesar Hidalgo riches…Yet the wide-faced 31-year-old says he is grateful to be in business at all. A year ago, Hidalgo was concocting chalky pastries in a Spartan state-run bakery where employees and managers competed to pilfer eggs, flour and olive oil, the only way to make ends meet on salaries of just $15 a month. Today, he is his own boss, a taxpayer, employer and entrepreneur.”

Holding Honduras Accountable, Los Angeles Times Editorial Board

“Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world, according to the United Nations, and its government has long been plagued by allegations of corruption and human rights abuses. A 2009 military coup deepened political rifts and eroded public trust in democratic institutions. And a recent Human Rights Watch report found that officials have yet to bring to justice many of those allegedly responsible for violations committed after the coup.”

Recommended Viewing

Many Cubans unhappy with pace of change, Tom Ackerman, Al Jazeera

“After a year of economic reforms, Cuba marks the 53rd anniversary of its communist revolution. The latest reforms saw carpenters, locksmiths and photographers able to operate independently of the state, but many Cubans feel that this is insufficient.”

Recommended Listening

Pope to Visit Cuba to Endorse Church’s Growing Role, NPR

Nick Miroff, a correspondent for NPR, previews Pope Benedict’s upcoming trip to Cuba, in this report heard on NPR.

A Final Word

Our thanks to Dr. Phil Brenner and Dr. Dan Hellinger for their excellent essays on Cuba in 2012 and the political situation in Venezuela.  We appreciate their analysis and their willingness to pitch in over the holidays.

We also owe many of our readers a big debt of gratitude.  As 2011 drew to a close, we made several appeals to our readership for financial support – support we need to do the best possible job on preparing this publication.

We offered as an inducement a financial match, provided by a generous donor to the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA), and the promise that we would continue to make the Cuba Central News Blast a high quality and “go to” source of information about Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations.  We are deeply gratified by the response which was prompt and generous.  We send our thanks to the readers who wrote us checks and signaled their support for our work.

As we like to say around CDA, more to follow.

For the last twelve years, President Hugo Chávez has governed Venezuela, led on issues relating to political and economic integration in the region, and constructed a tight relationship with Cuba.  Ill with an undisclosed form of cancer and addressing tough economic conditions in his country, he is facing a competitive election against an apparently united political opposition.  Reelected, Chávez would continue ties with Cuba; defeated the future of the Venezuela-Cuba relationship and Venezuela’s support for Cuba’s economy will be in doubt.

To understand the larger context of what is happening in Venezuela, we asked our colleague and trusted advisor, Dr. Dan  Hellinger to consider writing a piece that analyzed Venezuela’s election outlook and related issues for our Cuba Central audience.  We know of no one more qualified to do this, and Dan returned with an essay that we think is quite extraordinary.

Dan’s day job is Professor of Political Science at Webster University.  He is a co-editor, contributor, and author of several books such as Venezuelan Politics in the Chávez Era,Venezuela: Tarnished Democracy, and The Democratic Facade. His future publications include Democracy at Last textbook and Participation, the State and Civil Society in Venezuela co-edited book.

He also moonlights as a musician and as emeritus president of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.

We’ll be back on track with news from Cuba next week.  Until then, please read and enjoy what Dan has to say.

Happy New Year!

Venezuela Update

By Dan Hellinger

Summary:

• President Chávez’s Health Introduces Political Uncertainty before 2012 Elections

• In Caracas, Latin American presidents create new international organization

Venezuela’s presidential elections are scheduled for October 7, 2011, but the country remains in doubt about who will appear on the ballot.  The uncertainty on the government side is due to questions about the health of President Hugo Chávez, whether, as he insists, he is really free of the cancer first diagnosed in Cuba in June 2011.  The opposition, united for the moment, is due to choose a candidate in a primary on February 12. Economic issues and personal security are likely to be the main issues for Venezuelans voting in the election, but foreign capitals from Havana to Washington will be paying close attention to the outcome.  Meanwhile, developments in the Middle East and Russia raise issues about the government’s foreign policy, and a major summit of Latin American leaders gives birth to a new hemispheric organization in Caracas.

Chávez’s health

While on a visit to Cuba in 2011, President Hugo Chávez was diagnosed with cancer.  The facts remain closely guarded secrets; perhaps no one outside of Cuba and the president’s family really knows what kind of cancer was diagnosed or what the prognosis for recurrence is.  President Chávez (aged 57), who was first elected president in 1999, claims that two operations and four chemotherapy treatments have left him cancer-free, but he has not released any independent medical validation of this claim.

As might be expected, this failure to inform the Venezuelan public has unleashed a wave of rumors. On the opposition side, and in Washington, the constant speculation is evocative of the premature reports and repetitive predictions of the death of Fidel Castro.  In early November,Roger Noriega, a former Bush administration figure and former ambassador to the Organization of American States, spread a rumor that Chávez has only months to live.  Other reports claim that Chávez’s doctors have given him two years.

It seems likely that at a minimum Chávez expects to be healthy enough to contest the October election.   Were he to be incapacitated without preparing a transition there would be a scramble within the ruling party, the United Socialist party of Venezuelan (PSUV), to secure the nomination.  Even some chavistas see the illness as a wake-up call to reduce the Bolivarian Revolution’s dependence on one charismatic leader.

Possible Successors to Chávez

Four leaders are most often mentioned as possible successors to Chávez, though other contenders might emerge were the president’s health to decline rapidly.

Rafael Ramírez is president of the state oil company and has far-reaching ties to both business groups and social organizations that have benefitted from the company’s contracts and financing of anti-poverty programs. But Ramírez lacks charisma, and the company itself has suffered some erosion of its reputation due to scandals and inefficiencies.

Diosdado Cabello is former governor of the State of Miranda, which includes much of the Caracas metropolitan area.  He is an old and loyal colleague of Chávez since their days together in the military.  Cabello’s political fortunes have benefited greatly from his longtime relationship with Chávez, but he was an unpopular governor, frequently denounced by grassroots chavistas as bureaucratic and corrupt. He lost the 2008 gubernatorial election to Henrique Capriles Radonski, who is the leading contender for the opposition coalition’s nomination. Nonetheless, Chávez subsequently brought him into the cabinet as Minister for Housing and Public Works, a key patronage post.  More recently Chávez promoted Cabello to a top ranked post within the PSUV, second only to the president himself.

Nicolas Maduro is Foreign Minister.  Unlike Cabello and Ramirez, he comes directly out of the working class, having no formal education beyond high school and having been a bus driver and organizer of the union representing the Caracas Metro.  He would be the successor most appealing to the grassroots, but would be less acceptable to the PSUV political class.

Maduro would probably have the best chance both to hold the PSUV together and to wage an effective campaign, but were Chávez to be incapacitated before the October election it is not at all clear that the party would hold together.  The prize for winning the election, just as it was before 1998, is access to the enormous wealth generated by oil exports, the base of patronage. This provides incentive for fierce competition, probably including additional candidates not mentioned above.

Opposition Candidates and the Question of Unity

President Chávez is a source of unity not only for his party, the PSUV, but also for the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).  Polls may prove to be unreliable, since it is difficult to predict who will actually participate in the opposition primary. There are three leading candidates according to the polls:

Henrique Capriles Radonski started his career as a member of the COPEI party, which has nearly disappeared after being the second most important party in the country before 1998.  For eight years, he was mayor of a relatively wealthy suburb of the capital. During the 2002 coup against Chávez, he was present during a mob attack on the Cuban embassy – either trying to defuse the crisis or purposely allowing the attack to go on, depending upon whose account one believes.  He seems to be leading the race for the nomination and attempting to position himself as a populist for the general election.

Leopoldo López has gotten much attention for his successful appeal for the Inter-American Court on Human Rights (IACHR) to find that he should be reinstated as a candidate.  Previously, he had been administratively barred from holding office (along with many other candidates, including chavistas).  This occurred because, in 1998, his mother, while an official at the state oil company, had written a company check to a political organization he had helped organize.  López has never been tried or convicted in connection with the case.  After the IACHR decision in September 2011, the Venezuelan Supreme Court ultimately ruled in effect that he could run but did not lift the ban on his holding office. Nor did it reaffirm it. Hence, should López win the nomination, and even more so should he win the general election, a great deal of uncertainty, if not instability, could be unleashed.  López is regarded by many as less ideological than Radonski, and he has built a substantial grassroots base in poor neighborhoods in the far eastern metropolitan Caracas area.

Pablo Pérez is governor of Zulia, the most populous state and home to Venezuela’s second city, Maracaibo.  After losing a race for mayor of Maracaibo in 2004, he successfully ran for governor and won with 53 percent of the vote. His party, “A New Era,” is a regional break-away from the Democratic Action Party (AD), which was the dominant party in the country before 1998.

There are other candidates, most notably María Corina Machado, a deputy in the National Assembly who is best known for leading a group that participated in the 2002 coup; Antonio Ledezma, a former Caracas mayor; and Diego Arria, a former member of AD who has filed acomplaint against Chávez with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a tactic denouncedby more moderate factions of the opposition. There are eleven different parties.  There already exists speculation that Arria is preparing to run an independent campaign. Though he would garner a small percentage of votes, it could be enough to tip the balance in a close race.

Currently, polls, even by opposition associated organizations, generally show Chávez with a high approval rating, from 51 to 60 percent.  Polls show Chávez ahead of the most likely candidates by a few percentage points, but not enough to assure his victory.  Furthermore, Chávez’s popularity does not transfer automatically to the PSUV and its elected officials, and local and state elections are scheduled for December 2012, two months after the presidential vote.

The major opposition candidates have faced each other in debates where the three strongest competitors have carefully avoided wishing the president ill and, with an eye on the general election, put forth the idea that they would keep popular social programs and merely govern them better. This may have some appeal in the barrios, but all of the candidates have some baggage, either uncomfortable connections to the old regime or to the 2002 coup.  Furthermore, the programs, known as misiones (missions), are linked to a broader program of creating participatory democracy.  That is, they are supposed to be more than just relief or welfare programs, but lay the basis for “twenty-first century socialism.” Transforming them into traditional social welfare programs may be resisted, even in barrios were the chavistas fail to win the vote.

Will elections be fair? Would Chávez accept defeat?

We need to distinguish between the campaign and the election itself.  The Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) has professionally administered a series of highly contested elections since 1998, which have been vetted by international  observers, such as the Carter Center.  It uses the most sophisticated electronic voting systems.  Expect the opposition and much of the U.S. media to raise questions about the fairness of the balloting; but, in reality, it would take a sophisticated effort, though not an impossible one, to pull off a fraud.

Recently, the head of the CNE toured the United States defending the integrity of the Venezuelan election system. However, the most serious problem with the election is likely to be the campaign itself.

The opposition will enjoy overwhelming support from wealthier Venezuelans and an overwhelming bias against Chávez in most of the media, especially the electronic media.  If Washington follows past practices, the U.S. will pursue a two-track approach, materially supporting the opposition and hoping to win the election, while simultaneously preparing to deny the legitimacy of the election in case of a loss.  This strategy has been battle-tested in Chile, Nicaragua, and elsewhere since World War II, and there is little reason to think Washington will be hands-off.

Chávez will fight back with domination of the state television network, which is supposed to be neutral, and by ramping up social spending – and carefully ensuring he gets the credit through the state network (though it is the least watched among the major media) and through state-financed propaganda (e.g., “information” posted in public places and transportation).

For comparison, imagine that the New York Times, Washington Post, and all four major television news networks decided to oppose Obama’s re-election, not just on the editorial page but by adopting Fox News standards for reporting, while Obama decided to fight back by taking control of public television and direct use of Federal funds to mount a thinly-veiled campaign on his behalf.

The army is responsible for carrying out the logistics of elections – distributing ballots and machines, providing security at the polls, etc. Most of the high command seems loyal to Chávez, but the institution also prides itself as defender of the 1999 constitution and guarantor of its legitimacy.  Credible reports of serious fraud would do substantial harm to Chávez’s standing with his fellow Latin Americans.  A coup to ensure Chávez’s continuance in power would come with a substantial diplomatic cost as well and surely with a serious cost in terms of unity with the armed forces.

Implications for Cuba

No country views the Venezuelan elections with more apprehension than Cuba.  Cuba is a member of PetroCaribe, the Venezuelan initiative to discount oil to Central American and Caribbean nations.  It also has special additional arrangements through the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America (ALBA) and the Integral Cooperation Agreement (ICA, of 2000) to import badly needed oil from Venezuela.   Cuba pays for the oil in part with personnel who aid in health care and a variety of other services.  This barter system makes it difficult to calculate in monetary terms the value of Venezuelan aid.

Venezuelan sold Cuba an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil per day in 2006 under ALBA and the ICA, according to Havana.  World prices fluctuated that year around $70; Cuba paid $27.  However, we should keep in mind that the cost of producing a barrel of conventional oil in Venezuela is only between $3 and $7, depending on the field. Another 55,000 bpd is sold through PetroCaribe on the same terms sold to other Caribbean nations.  The total comes close to fully supply Cuba’s daily consumption of 170,000 bpd. Some of the Venezuela oil provided Cuba is refined at two refineries that were refurbished by a joint company (PDV-CUPET) and then re-exported, providing valuable foreign exchange for Cuba.

It is unlikely that any opposition candidate would continue the ICA, and all have made blanket statements about ending support for Cuba.  However, it is unlikely that any of them would simply do away with PetroCaribe, a diplomatic initiative that has netted Venezuela closer ties with countries it has long sought to influence.  Conceivably some aid might flow to Cuba under this program, especially if Cuba continues with its market-oriented economic reforms. Still, there is little doubt that an opposition victory would be highly consequential for Cuba’s economy.

Arab Spring and Venezuelan Politics

Because of its long and sad experience with American intervention in its internal affairs, many Latin American governments have reacted cautiously, if not with outright opposition, to events in the Middle East.  The NATO intervention in Libya earlier this year drew at best a lukewarm endorsement; Latin American countries have longer and deeper ties to Iran than superficial news coverage suggests, and even those countries that reject Chávez’s warm embrace of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would recoil against further sanctions or an attack on Iranian facilities.

Whereas President Chávez’s offer in March to mediate the conflict between the President Muammar Gaddafi and Libyan rebels was treated in the American press as little more than a stunt, the proposal was taken seriously by the African Union, which proposed it to the conflicting parties.

What does provide food for thought regarding Venezuela’s view of the Arab Spring is the repeated conviction on the part of President Chávez that the opposition to Gaddafi and now to Syria’s embattled Bahar al-Assad is largely fomented by the United States, whom he accuses of “infiltrating terrorists” into the country.  In 2009, Chávez charged that the United States and Europe were behind Iranian protests of alleged fraud in the re-election of Ahmadinejad. More recently, Chávez went out of his way to “congratulate” Russian president Vladimir Putin on the “victory” of his party in parliamentary elections widely reported to have been marked by widespread fraud.

The common denominator behind these actions is Chávez’s conviction that Washington is orchestrating the overthrow of governments that share Venezuela’s resistance to continued U.S. hegemony.  Surely Washington seems willing and able to meddle in the internal politics of its adversaries, but to reduce the troubles of allied governments to U.S. intervention and dismissing mass discontent may ultimately come back to haunt Chávez.

The question of more immediate importance is whether Chávez’s diagnosis of popular opposition to allies abroad might be imported into Venezuela, where the U.S. has a well-documented history of intervention but where opposition protests need little inspiration from Washington. Furthermore, given Chávez’s endorsement of questionable electoral outcomes abroad, would he accept as valid an opposition victory next October? Would Chávez blame the loss upon American intervention and attempt to annul the results? On the other hand, the opposition, egged on by Washington, might decide this time, in contrast to 2006, to proclaim fraud and protest simply to evoke comparisons to global democracy movements?

Of course, the Venezuela situation is far removed from the conditions provoking the Arab spring, but the narrative coming out of the Middle East provides a convenient frame for the Western media to portray Chávez’s project as anti-democracy – especially in the hyper political environment of the U.S. presidential campaign. The Venezuelan opposition has been capable of putting hundreds of thousands of protestors in the streets in the past; the Chávez government has shown itself capable of responding with even larger demonstrations. There is therefore a risk that even after a clean election Venezuela could fall back into the instability that marked the period between 2001 and 2004.

Is the OAS about to disappear?

A major, largely uncovered story out of Caracas was the first meeting of the Community of South American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in the Venezuelan capital.  Thirty-three nations, including Cuba, met to found the new hemispheric organization.  Thirty-two presidents (Costa Rica sent its vice president) attended. In a sign of U.S. disdain, the New York Times devoted a mere 100 words, from an Associated Press report to the weekend.

Just as important, the exclusion of the United States and Canada from the new organization is an expression of the Latin America’s growing confidence of assuming an independent role in world affairs. Latin American nations have taken strong stands on a number of global issues at odds with the preferences of the U.S.  Several nations spoke out strongly against the NATO intervention in Libya, and others were very guarded in expressing limited support. The historic summit established a goal for CELAC to act to form a “concerted voice for Latin America” on global issues.  The idea for CELAC grew directly out of hemispheric criticism over the decision by the United States government under President Obama to back elections in Honduras after the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya.  Nonetheless, President Chávez welcomed current Honduran President Porfirio Lobo to the meeting, an indication of how determined he was to ensure a complete show of unity. Chile’s conservative president, Sebastián Piñera, was chosen temporary president

The presidents agreed on an Action Plan for a wide range of economic and social projects for integration.  Among the agreements was a commitment to design a new “financial architecture,” an attempt to take advantage of the relatively successful economic record of most countries in the region, even in the face of the global recession. Critics argue that the new organization lacks a physical headquarters, institutional mechanisms to form and implement plans, and even a physical location.

However, the delegates agreed to hold the next summit in Chile, and then the 2013 meeting in Havana.  In other words, delegates sent a message of their seriousness by agreeing to meet into two capitals with governments at ideologically polar opposites, but united in a determination to give Latin America a voice independent of the Organization of American States (OAS).

The delegates did not agree on whether CELAC should replace or complement the OAS, but it is notable that the first meeting of CELAC comes shortly after the House Foreign Relations Committee voted to defund the OAS entirely as it marked up the State Department authorization bill for fiscal year 2012.  Conservatives want the OAS to act more aggressively against Chávez and other leftist governments, whom they accuse of violating democratic commitments.  Liberals for the most part have reacted with indifference.  In Venezuela itself much of the oppositionreactedwith alarm to the Republican move to defund the organization.

This indifference in Washington is all the more notable given the recent OAS “celebration” of the 10th anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. While the charter commits all of the signatories to democracy, Latin Americans are increasingly critical of the document’s liberal philosophy, seen as increasingly outmoded as social movements demand changes in the associated economic philosophy and the growing power of concentrated media ownership.

The combination of growing Latin American independence and Washington’s tone-deaf reaction to hemispheric changes may soon leave Washington with a new “monument,” a magnificent, vacant architectural gem. The OAS headquarters, built 101 years ago at 17th and Constitution Avenue, has a tropical patio, marbled staircases, fine galleries, and “monumental halls” which surely, as the OAS website says, will continue “to delight the thousands of tourists and diplomats who visit the elegant structure every year.”

2011 started with a decisive change in Cuba policy by the Obama administration that opened the door to travel for more Americans, opened the travel market to more U.S. airports, and opened new sources of financial support for everyday Cubans as their nation updates its economic model and they anticipate significant changes in their lives.

We at Cuba Central tracked these and other developments throughout the year, and we reported them – weekly and comprehensively -directly to you.

Even though it’s a holiday, we thought that some of our readers might be asking, “what about 2012?”

Good question. And we have an answer!

For this week’s special edition, we asked one of the best and most respected experts on U.S.-Cuba relations, Dr. Philip Brenner, to write about what may happen on the island in 2012 and the likely direction of U.S. policy.

Phil Brenner, professor of international relations at American University, has spent his academic career visiting and writing about Cuba, about Latin America more broadly, and about U.S. policy toward the region.   He is co-editor of A Contemporary Cuba Reader (Rowman and Littlefield), and co-author of Sad and Luminous Days: Cuba’s Struggle with the Superpowers after the Missile Crisis (Rowman and Littlefield). He is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Democracy in the Americas.

If you read one thing about Cuba during this holiday weekend, we recommend this:

I returned two weeks ago from my first trip to Cuba in one year.  Though I had only a few days there, what I saw convinced me that 2012 will be a watershed year on the island. While predictions about Cuba are best made with crossed fingers, I’ll offer you here a brief glimpse of what may lie just over the horizon.

Hope Returns

One year ago, I could almost taste the air of disappointment which was palpable everywhere.  More than four years after Raúl Castro had assumed the leadership of Cuba from his brother, and after several promises of significant change, there seemed to be very little movement.  Fewer Cubans had applied for small business licenses than government planners had anticipated. Generous grants of free land had not led to an outpouring from the cities to the countryside, so that the program was not solving problems of food supply. The Cubans’ apathetic response to these initiatives was one reason Raúl decided not to follow through with his draconian plan to lay off one million people from the government payroll by March 2011, because there were not enough jobs outside of the government to absorb so many unemployed workers.  As a result, the bureaucracy continued to lay mired in inefficiency and corruption.

This December, I found more food in the stores, and what could even be called an upbeat mood. To be sure, tourism increased to over 2.5 million visitors with some improvement in the world economy, and remittances from relatives abroad were up. Cuba’s GDP grew more in 2011 than it had in 2010.  But something intangible also had changed. For the first time in many years, I sensed that hope had returned – even among young people. There will be a major Communist Party “Conference” at the end of January – a follow-up to the 6th Party Congress held in April 2011.  There are few details about what will happen at the Party Conference, but there was a nearly unanimous anticipation among people with whom I spoke – from taxi drivers, to students, academics, retired workers, and former and current government officials — that the Party Conference would speed up necessary change on the island.

Party Conference

Prior to the April 2011 Party Congress, Cubans engaged in months of debate over more than 200 proposed lineamientos or guidelines for economic and social policy that the Congress would consider (see CDA’s 2011 study,  Cuba’s New Resolve: Economic Reform and its Implications for U.S. Policy, written by Collin Laverty). While the countrywide discussions led to modifications of nearly all the lineamientos, the guidelines remained fairly general. The Congress apparently also left some key decisions unresolved. This situation produced the need for a procedure that had not been used before, a Party Conference.

Opening on January 28, 2012, the First Party Conference formally will take up 97 items listed in its Basic Document.  But during my recent visit, I was encouraged to monitor how the Conference handles three issues listed in the introduction which could be centrally important to the changes occurring in Cuba:

1. “Assuring the promotion of women, blacks, mestizos, and young people to positions of major responsibility”: This could result in the retirement of some elderly party leaders and the elevation of a new generation to the Politburo and even the Council of Ministers.
2. “The current challenges demand us…to open channels for legitimate individual and collective aspirations; and to face prejudices and discrimination of all kinds that persist within the bosom of the society”: The context for this objective is a surrounding list of criticisms about the party that suggest it has become too bureaucratic, too concerned about upholding “obsolete dogmas and perspectives,” and too distant from the daily lives of Cubans.  The implied message: the Party is not currently able to play its appropriate role as a vanguard which can guide the country in confronting its challenges. One possible outcome, therefore, may be a significant reduction in the size of the Party, so that only those who are the most ideologically well prepared and psychologically fit can be members. This change would relate directly to a third objective.
3. Revising the “Party’s relationship to the Union of Young Communists and the mass organizations”: This would propel the process of restructuring  begun in 2009, to rationalize decision making by reducing the authority of the Party over specific government operations, and increasing the responsibility and accountability of government agencies.  By attenuating close ties between the Party and the mass organizations – the Women’s Federation, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Small Farmers Association, the Federation of University Students, and the Labor Confederation – the apparent hope is that these organizations will recover some useful function, and actually represent various interests in a kind of pluralistic competition that will also add to the legitimacy of government decisions.

The Conference also is likely to endorse Raúl’s campaign against corruption, which he declared on December 23 to be “one of the principal enemies of the Revolution, much more harmful than the subversive and interventionist activities of the U.S. government…”.

In addition, the Cuban president may use the Conference to announce a change in travel regulations – reducing or removing restrictions on access to passports and exit visas – which Cubans were hoping he would have proclaimed on December 23.

However, it is unlikely that the Conference itself will initiate further economic changes. These were rolled out throughout 2011 and are likely to continue throughout 2012. This week, for example, the government announced that it would rent space in state-owned workshops for the private practice of several categories of professionals, including carpenters, locksmiths, and jewelers. In the last year the number of Cubans who obtained licenses to start their own businesses nearly doubled to 338,000, according to an AP story in the Huffington Post.

Political Change

Even before the Party Conference, there has been a significant rejuvenation in the Party leadership. The Western press is fond of noting that the Cuban President is 80 years old, and that he selected as his first vice president a youthful José Ramón Machado Ventura, who is 81.  But the Council of Ministers, which has gained significant power, is made up of 34 people whose median age is 56 and average age is 60.  Contrast that to President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, which has an average age of 55, or the U.S. Senate where the median age is 62.

Twenty-five percent of the Council of Ministers are women, and nearly forty percent of the Communist Party’s Central Committee’s membership is female.  Consider one example. The Ministry of Foreign Relations has only two members on the Central Committee. One is the Minister of Foreign Relations; the other is Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, the 50-year old chief of the North American desk.  Internationally respected as a savvy professional, she is a likely future foreign policy leader.

Perhaps more striking, as Temas Editor Rafael Hernández observed in a November lecture at theInter-American Dialogue, the average age of the provincial party heads is 44 years. One notable rising star is Mercedes López Acea, the General Secretary of the Communist Party in Havana province.  A 46-year old woman of mixed descent, she was trained as a forest engineer, rose quickly through the party ranks far away from Havana, and now is a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party.

In 2012, political change is likely to be spurred by the grassroots as well as from the center. As the central government devolves more decision making authority and funds to municipal governments, the election campaigns for the municipal assemblies may possibly become more actively contested. Party membership is not a requirement for election. At the same time, there will be wider use of email, and with a fiber optic connection finally working, increased access to the Internet. The operation of a broad band cable had been delayed by the installation of faulty equipment, a rumored result of corruption in ETECSA, Cuba’s telecommunications company.

The political role of the Catholic Church also has been growing, along with the government’s tacit approval of its activities, and it is likely to continue in 2012.  Church commentaries on Cuba’s economic and social changes – published by Havana’s archdiocese in Espacio Laical - are often critical, invariably cogent, and widely available. Notably, Raúl Castro linked the Council of State’s announcement on December 23 – that the government would be granting amnesty to approximately 2,900 elderly and sick prisoners – to Pope Benedict XVI’s planned spring 2012 visit to Cuba.  (Similarly, the release of 52 political prisoners in July 2011 was facilitated by meetings with church officials.)

U.S.-Cuban Relations

Alan P. Gross was not among the 2,900 prisoners released. The U.S. government refuses to take the one step that would enable a discussion about Gross’s release even to begin: publicly acknowledging that the USAID sub-contractor violated Cuban laws. As Fulton Armstrong, who recently resigned as a senior Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer, wrote in the Miami Herald on December 26, “When a covert action run by the CIA goes bad and a clandestine officer gets arrested, the U.S. government works up a strategy for negotiating his release. When a covert operator  working for USAID gets arrested, Washington turns up the rhetoric, throws more money at the compromised program, and refuses to talk.”

U.S. officials have said repeatedly that there can be no movement on U.S. relations with Cuba until Cuba frees Gross from prison. However, U.S. and Cuban officials have been meeting quietly to discuss several issues, and they are likely to continue doing so in 2012.  These have included periodic migration talks, monthly meetings to maintain peace and order at the Guantanamo Naval Base fence line, and ongoing cooperation between the Cuban and U.S. coast guards and drug enforcement agencies. Significantly, U.S. and Cuban officials met earlier this month at multilateral sessions in the Bahamas, to discuss potential responses to oil spills that might result from drilling in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and Florida Straits. Repsol, a Spanish energy firm, is slated to begin off-shore drilling in Cuban territorial waters in mid-February. (The Cuba Central News Blast reported on December 9, and I confirmed during my trip to Havana, that Cuba did attend the Bahamas meeting, though a U.S. State Department press release had omitted Cuba from the list of participating countries.)

Meanwhile, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Controls has continued to issue licenses for educational and humanitarian travel, and the State Department has steadily approved visas for visits by Cuban scholars. Earlier this month, President Obama held fast in threatening to veto the $1 trillion omnibus appropriations bill for FY 2012 (which began on October 1, 2011) if it contained an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart (Republican-Florida) that would have reinstated severe restrictions on Cuban-Americans’ travel to the island and their remittances to family members. One test of the Obama’s resolve will come in May, when the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) holds its International Congress in San Francisco. LASA has been convening outside of the United States since 2004, because the Bush Administration denied visas to all the Cubans scheduled to participate in the 2003 meeting. More than 30 Cuban scholars will be seeking visas for San Francisco.

In any case, the calm in the relationship is unlikely to last much past the New Year’s hiatus, as Cuba could well be an issue in the 2012 presidential election. In late November, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney gleefully accepted endorsements from Representatives Díaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican-Florida). No quid pro quo was revealed publicly, but I cannot imagine that they gave their support to Romney without receiving assurances he would take a hard-line position on Cuba. Also in November, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich weighed in on Cuba, baldly declaring in an interview that he was working on a plan “to get the Cuban people to freedom by 2014.”

Indeed, the calm is balanced precariously on a razor thin edge. Any number of events in 2012 could bring on new tension. Consider that one year ago Cuba and the United States were well advanced in discussions over a potential joint program to aid Haiti after the devastating Port-au-Prince earthquake. The United States would have supplied equipment and medicine, and Cuba would have supplied medical personnel for the project. But planning collapsed, according to U.S. officials, when former Cuban President Fidel Castro took umbrage at remarks by former U.S. President Bill Clinton ignoring the contribution of Cuban and Latin American doctors in providing relief to Haiti. Cuban officials counter that the project stalled because the United States refused to suspend its covert program to recruit Cuban doctors who are sent abroad.

Since 2006, the U.S. agents have brought more than 1,600 Cuban doctors to the United States with offers of immediate citizenship and support for obtaining a U.S. medical license. “How could we possibly expose our doctors in Haiti to this subversive campaign?” a Cuban official exclaimed to me in an interview. “Why can’t the State Department understand how their programs undermine possibilities for cooperation?” he asked rhetorically. The State Department and USAID have nearly $50 million in funding for various programs aimed at provoking the Cuban government in 2012.

International events might also affect the U.S.-Cuban relationship. Turmoil in Venezuela, or an Israeli attack against Iran could well place the United States and Cuba on opposing sides.  President Obama may feel pressure to “punish” Cuba by cutting back on Cuban visas, imposing new restrictions on educational travel, and reinstalling obstacles that increase the difficulty for U.S. suppliers to sell food and medicine to Cuba.

Yet if Respol or other international energy giants strike oil in Cuban waters, the United States may find it has a new calculus in defining its interests vis-à-vis Cuba, and U.S. oil firms may decide it is worth their while to lobby for changes in Cuba policy. Discovering oil “would be a game changer,” National Security Archive senior researcher Peter Kornbluh aptly remarked in an interview on December 26.

There is a bravado in Cuba now, as several people told me they no longer pay much attention to the United States. That’s not true. I found as much interest as ever in the U.S. election, the U.S. economy, and U.S. baseball.  But it is true that as Cuba moves ahead in 2012, officials will not count on improved relations with the United States in planning their next steps. In September President Obama remarked in a White House interview that “Hopefully, over the next five years, we will see Cuba looking around the world and saying, we need to catch up with history.” I can readily believe that President Castro might wish the same awakening for the United States in 2012.

After the threat that Christmas in Cuba would be cancelled by the U.S. Congress, this is a joyous moment.

These family reunifications have been taking place in increasing numbers since President Obama totally eliminated restrictions on family travel (and financial support) in 2009.  It is our hope that the momentum behind this decent, humane policy will protect it against the inevitable political attacks we anticipate seeing in 2012 and beyond.

“Stopping it?” Professor Andy Garcia said to the AP.  “Impossible. It is the people-to-people contact we want and need, and it is already happening.”  This is wonderful for people in the U.S. with family in Cuba.

Unfortunately, there are two sets of bystanders waiting for these liberties to be commonly shared.

For most U.S. citizens, travel to Cuba remains forbidden fruit, despite the loosening of the rules by President Obama early in 2011 which restored categories of non-tourist travel that were abolished by President Bush.

The restrictions that still exist for the overwhelming majorities of Americans make no sense.

A goal of U.S. policy – bringing more information to the Cuban people – remains unfulfilled by Cold War era impediments to travel that block contact, exchange, and engagement by Americans with everyday Cubans unless they can fit into a category crafted by Congress and approved by the executive branch.

To say the least, it is an affront to our constitutional rights and awkward for a country that so often lectures others about liberty.

By the same token, the Cuban government continues to impede the right of its citizens to travel.  The difficulty Cubans encounter should they want to leave the island and return is, as Reuters reports, “one of the biggest gripes about life under the government in power since Cuba’s 1959 revolution.”

As a 60-year old woman told Freedom House earlier this year, “I wish we had more freedoms to travel, I wish people could go out of Cuba for vacations.”

In the hours before we went to press, Cuba’s National Assembly was meeting to hear from President Raúl Castro about the status of the Cuban economy.  There had been speculation, as the Associated Press reported, that the parliament might ease the “travel restrictions that keep most Cubans from ever leaving the island.”  Whether or not this happens today, it is inevitable.

Our organization, the Center for Democracy in the Americas, has received a license from the U.S. Treasury Department to organize legal trips to Cuba, which we have done for better part of a decade for delegations that regularly include U.S. policy makers.

We have spent wondrous days and evenings in the company of everyday Cubans – artists, academics, and others – with rare opportunities to talk, listen, and understand each other better.

We always leave such encounters hoping that meetings like these will, someday, no longer be rare but commonplace; sparked by people who got together because they could and not because they belonged to the right family or asked their government’s permission to travel so they could enjoy a freedom that should belong to everyone.

Wherever you – our readers – are going for the holidays, we wish you safe travels.

In the meanwhile, this week in Cuba news….

IN CUBA

New housing laws are under way

More than360 home sales took place during the last weeks of November, following the legalization of the purchase and sale of homes on November 10th, EFE reports.  In a statement before the Parliament Commission of Industry and Construction, the National Housing Institute said there have been an additional 1,579 donations and 409 house swapping transactions. As part of Cuba’s economic reforms, Cubans now enjoy unprecedented flexibility in property transactions and the law now allows the sale, donation, or swap of homes as long as all properties are registered with current information.

New credit laws go into effect

A new credit law has gone into effect allowing small business owners, farmers, and those looking to repair or improve upon their homes to take out bank loans, IPS reports. Radio Cadena Agramonte reports that farmers holding a land lease or ownership title can request a minimum credit of 500 pesos; those interested in purchasing building materials and paying for labor associated with home construction may request a minimum of 1,000 pesos, and the self-employed can request a minimum of 3,000 Cuban pesos. 500 bank offices have been set up across the country to grant credit and provide financial advice.

Government lowers taxes on entrepreneurs, now numbering more than 357,000

Cuban state media has announced that individual income taxes will be decreased and the taxes that contracted workers must pay will be revised in an effort to provide them greater financial resources and flexibility, El Universal reports. However, the report did not give specifics, or reveal when the changes would take effect or what labor categories they would apply to.

Deputy Labor and Social Security Minister José Barreiro announced before the Parliament’s Committee on Economic Affairs this week that there are currently 357,663 self-employed workers in Cuba – more than double the 157,000 reported in October 2010, Prensa Latina reports.

Phil Peters’ Cuban Triangle breaks down the numbers here.

Cuba changes laws on land leases to farmers in attempt to increase productivity

Cuba’s government has changed the land lease laws applying to small farmers, allowing them to rent more land and keep it in their family as if they own it, Reuters reports. The article cites statements from small farmers, adding that the measures were adopted at a meeting of the Council of Ministers and have not yet been publicly announced. The farmers, in a phone interview, reported that they were told in local meetings that they will be able to lease up to 165 acres of land from the state beginning in January, and that leases would last up to 25 years. Currently the maximums are set at 33 acres for 10 years, the same numbers as when the program began in 2008. Farmer Anselmo Hernández stated:

These measures deal with many of the problems we face and give us security in terms of our work…Twenty-five years is a life-time of work and faced with whatever problem the family will be the benefactor of what we have done.

To date, more than 150,000 farmers have leased 4 million acres of land from the government. Many complaints surrounding the program addressed the size of land plots, and the 10-year limit on leases. This week, the Cuban Parliament’s Agrifood Committee advocated for a more efficient process for handing over idle land, Cuban New Agency reports. Pedro Olivera, Director of the National Center of Land Control, related that applications for land grants often take more than 108 days to be processed, adding that there are currently over two thousand overdue applications.

Cuba estimates 4 million ton oil output in 2011

Tomás Benítez , Cuba’s Minister of Basic Industry, stated that the national industry produced an estimated 4 million tons of oil in 2011, EFE reports. A report issued by the Energy and Environment Committee stated that this year’s production is over 98% of planned output and attributed the shortfall to technological difficulties and low results at some new wells.

Cuba has big plans for developing an offshore drilling program in its Exclusive Economic Zone. Scarabeo 9, an Italian-funded, Chinese-built drilling platform, is set to arrive in Trinidad and Tobago en route to Cuba around Christmas, Reuters reports.

To read CDA’s publication about U.S. policy and Cuba oil drilling, click here.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Vatican delegation visits Cuba to prepare for Papal visit, President Raúl Castro declares that Cuba will accept the Pope with “affection and respect”

A delegation from the Vatican visited Cuba this week in preparation for the Pope’s announced visit to Cuba next Spring, EFE reports. President Raúl Castro met with the delegation headed by Alberto Gasparri, the principal organizer of the Pope’s international travels. During the meeting, the Vatican delegation discussed planning for the trip, and President Castro affirmed that he would greet the Pope with “affection and respect.”

The trip will be followed by a stop in Mexico, and is timed to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint. It will mark Pope Benedict XVI’s second trip to Latin America; he visited Brazil in 2007.

Canadian banks look towards Cuba

The Financial Post reports that two of Canada’s biggest banks have begun quietly building relations with Cuba for the first time since 1959. The Bank of Nova Scotia recently applied to open an office in Havana to focus on trade finance, while the Royal Bank of Canada is reportedly in the early stages of discussing a potential venture on the island. They will be joining Canada’s sixth-largest bank, National, which has had a representative office in Havana since 1995, the Globe and Mail reports.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Broadcasting Board of Governors finds misuse of power in layoffs at Radio Martí

Radio/TV Martí, the broadcast operation with little-to-no audience in Cuba, but serves a source of employment and funding for Miami, was the subject of an investigation by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the Washington Post reports. The BBG’s 94-page decision on the case brought against its Office of Cuba Broadcasting determined that management misused power to demote or terminate employees in the guise of a reduction of force (RIF).

Arbitrator S.R. Butler stated that a 2009 RIF was “engineered and targeted at certain employees for reasons personal to them,” adding that the former Office of Cuba Broadcasting director Pedro Riog

…knew that, by sequencing certain reassignments of certain employees, he could shield employees whom he regarded as supporters and punish, maybe even get rid of, other employees who had spoken critically to GAO (Government Accountability Office) investigators — all under cover of a probably-upcoming budget reduction that could be used to justify a RIF — and no one would ever be the wiser. (He was wrong.)

Butler added that BBG management in Washington “either looked the other way or actively continued…Riog’s improperly motivated RIF plan,” and concludes that “the record as a whole convinces the Arbitrator that this was an improperly-motivated RIF from the beginning, and must be reversed in toto.”

This would mean that people laid-off in 2009 could return to their jobs with back pay. BBG spokesman Letitia King stated that the agency plans to appeal the decision.

Sen. Marco Rubio continues to hold Western Hemisphere nominees

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is blocking two of President Obama’s Western Hemisphere nominees to express his continued opposition to changes this year in U.S. Cuba travel policy, the Hill reports. In a speech to the U.S. Senate, Rubio said that he had inquired with the State Department about two specific “people-to-people” travel itineraries by a New York company.  What Senator Rubio called the State Department’s unsatisfactory response prompted him to resume the holds on the nominees:

Then I got this letter today that, to summarize, basically says: ‘Thank you for your letter, but we can’t talk to you about it’. That is not what I expected to get, and so we are going to hold those nominations again until we take this seriously.

Rubio is holding the nominations of Adam Namm to be Ambassador to Ecuador and of Roberta Jacobson for Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere. His announcement comes a week after he spearheaded the successful filibuster of Mari Carmen Aponte’s nomination to be Ambassador to El Salvador. According to the Washington Post, he told GOP colleagues at a lunch last Thursday that he would be willing to drop the holds on Jacobson and Namm and vote to break the filibuster on Aponte if the State Department agreed to change Cuba travel policy and adopt a more aggressive stance towards Nicaragua.

University baseball team from Michigan to play series, distribute humanitarian aid in Cuba

Michigan’s Grand Valley State University has announced that its baseball team will be traveling to Havana for a series of exhibition games in early January. The GVSU program will also be working in collaboration with First Hand Aid, a Grand Rapids-based organization that works to provide Cubans with humanitarian aid. In addition to scheduled games, the students will help deliver medical supplies to hospitals and clinics, and will also donate athletic equipment to various youth organizations. “We are looking forward to the opportunity to take this trip and compete against some of the best baseball players in the world,” said head baseball coach Steve Lyon. He added that he expects the humanitarian work to enrich the players’ experience in the country.

This marks the second time that a university baseball team will travel to Cuba for friendly matches – in 2008, a team from the University of Alabama played several exhibition games in Havana, reports Café Fuerte.

Around the Region

MERCOSUR summit concludes in Montevideo with agreement to increase tariffs

The summit of regional trade organization MERCOSUR met in Montevideo, Uruguay this Monday and Tuesday, Reuters reports. At the summit, member countries Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay agreed to raise tariffs on imports 35% in order to protect national industries from what Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff labeled “an avalanche of predatory imports that jeopardize growth and employment.”

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez attended the meeting in his first official trip abroad since he revealed that he was diagnosed with cancer this June. Chávez stated, “I’ve overcome the most difficult phase of this cancer… I’m fully back on my feet and here to make a strong play for Latin America’s integration and unity.” Venezuela appealed once again to be integrated as a full member of the trade bloc, a move that continues to be blocked by Paraguayan legislators.

During the summit, the organization also signed a free trade agreement with the Palestinian territories, marking the first trade deal between Palestine and a bloc of nations outside of the Arab world, Fox News Latino reports. The deal remains largely symbolic, however, as Israel strictly controls imports and exports involving the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The January 6^th 2012 edition of the news blast will consist of analysis on Venezuela’s upcoming election, its potential impact on Cuba, and efforts to increase integration in the Hemisphere by Dr. Dan Hellinger.

Peace Corps announces scale-back in Central America

Increasing violence has led the Peace Corps to announce that it will pull out of Honduras, and stop sending new volunteers to Guatemala and El Salvador, the New York Times reports. 158 volunteers were withdrawn from Honduras in January, and the training of 29 other recruits was halted. Aaron S. Williams, director of the Peace Corps, stated that the organization plans to “conduct a full review of the program.” For now, officials have decided to keep 355 volunteers already in Guatemala and El Salvador but will not send the 76 recruits scheduled to begin training there next month, instead sending them to other countries.

While Kristina Edmunson, a Peace Corps spokeswoman in Washington, stated that the decision was based on “comprehensive safety and security concerns,” rather than any specific incidents, a blog portal for volunteers has an entry that refers to a volunteer being shot in an armed robbery in Honduras. Edmunson stated that from time to time the organization withdraws or restricts work in the countries where it has volunteers.

Recommended Viewing

The Gardens of the Queen, Anderson Cooper, 60 Minutes

The world has lost 25% of its coral reefs and, according to Dr. David Guggenheim, another 25% is at risk over the next twenty years if nothing is done to protect them.  Guggenheim likens coral reefs to undersea rain forests; the threat to their existence is an urgent, existential, environmental crisis.

What 60 Minutes learned is that coral reefs in Cuban waters and protected by the Cuban government have experienced long-term growth in their fish populations and enjoy unique health by comparison.  The story of these invaluable treasures is told in this video presented by Anderson Cooper and explained by David Guggenheim.

Recommended Reading

Cuban Americans stream to the island for the holidays, Laura Wides-Munoz, the Associated Press

“President Barack Obama allowed unlimited family visits by Cuban-Americans shortly after taking office and removed the $1,200 annual cap on remittances. Exact numbers are difficult to come by, but the Cuban government said earlier this year it expected about 500,000 U.S. visitors annually, the vast majority of them Cuban-Americans.”

Poverty and Progress: poverty continues to fall in Latin America, The Economist

“The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reckons that 31.4% of the region’s population was living below national poverty lines in 2010. This maintains a steady fall from a peak of 48.4% in 1990. Since 1999, most countries have made strides toward reducing poverty.”

A Cuban dissident remembers Hitchens, Miriam Leiva, Slate

In this tribute, Cuban dissident Miriam Leiva writes about her and her husband’s interactions with Vanity Fair journalist Christopher Hitchens and his family.

In Cuba property thaw, new hope for a decayed icon, Andrea Rodríguez, the Associated Press

“…along the Malecon, many buildings are dank, labyrinthine tenements bursting beyond capacity, plagued by mold and reeking of backed-up sewer drains. Paint peels away from plaster, and the saline air rusts iron bars to dust. Some buildings have collapsed entirely, their propped-up facades testimony to a more dignified architectural era. Now, for the first time since the 1959 revolution, a new law that permits the sale of real estate has transformed these buildings into extremely valuable properties.”

Hemingway’s granddaughter in Cuba marks 50th anniversary of his suicide, Lori Smith, People

“Ernest Hemingway’s granddaughter Mariel returned to his Cuban home on the 50th anniversary of the famous author’s suicide. Fifty-year-old actress and author Mariel, who is named after a Cuban fishing village that was a favorite of her father Jack and grandfather, visited his Cuban home last month after a restoration project which took two years.”

Cuban Hip Hop Has Its Magic: Interview with Magia López, Yusimi Rodríguez, Havana Times

“One of the emblematic groups of Cuban hip hop is the duo ‘Obsesion,’ made up by Alexei Rodríguez (aka: El tipo este) and Magia Lopez, who is also the manager of the Cuban Rap Agency.  This year they won an award in the Cuban ‘Lucas’ music video clip competition and another one at the Cubadisco awards in the category of rap music for their new recording El Disco Negro.”

As we prepared to publish this week’s news summary, we awaited final word that the House and Senate have, in fact, sent end-o- the-year budget legislation to the White House after removing restrictions on family travel.

Pushing up against a Friday deadline and a possible government shutdown, Congress is apparently ready to send the White House legislation to fund the federal government for 2012 without the proposal by Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart that restored punishing Bush-era travel restrictions on Cuban Americans.

How did it happen that cruel limits on family travel, adopted without a dissenting vote last June in the House Appropriations Committee, got dropped at the 11^th hour from this $1 trillion bill?

Here’s what we have learned from news accounts and Congressional sources so far.

The White House stood firm.  President Obama repealed travel restrictions on Cuban Americans in 2009, and he never abandoned the policy.  After the Díaz-Balart amendment was adopted, the White House issued a veto threat, followed up with another statement this week, defended its foreign policy prerogatives and, according to the New York Times, “declined to allow Democrats to sign off on the bill until restrictions on travel to Cuba were removed.”

Pro-embargo legislators rose to the occasion.  Resisting pressure from hardline colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opposed the restrictions calling them “too important” to foreign policy to be shoved through Congress in this fashion.  Rep. Harold Rogers, House Appropriations Chair, agreed to rewrite the bill and drop the Cuba language to shape a compromise and deter a government shutdown.

Congressional champions did their part.  Rep. José Serrano fought privately and publicly against the Díaz-Balart provision.  Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Senator Jerry Moran, who wanted to use the budget bill to end obstacles against food sales to Cuba, lost their provisions as part of the compromise.  Senators Kerry, Conrad, and others were activated against the provision.  Breaking ranks with the hardliners, Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, Florida penned a letter to the House conference committee members, writing:

We must not go back to the days when sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, and grandsons and granddaughters were unable to visit sick or dying relatives in Cuba.

Editorial pages kicked in.  In its editorial, the New York Times scorned legislators for acting to limit family visits just in time for the Christmas holidays.  The Tampa Bay Times called the Díaz-Balart rider “a shameful tactic,” saying “(he) has no business, anyway, telling American citizens where they can and cannot travel.”

The people were heard.  On a national level, grassroots organizations like the Latin America Working Group alerted their constituents as we and others notified our readers and sounded the alarm.

Perhaps most important, Floridians and Cuban Americans raised their voices. The Miami Herald reported that the majority of Cuban American callers to talk shows on Miami’s Spanish-language radio stations were “overwhelmingly and strongly in favor of unlimited travel, with many arguing that Washington has no right to limit their visits with relatives in Cuba.”  A digital poll showed 60% of respondents opposed to the Diaz-Balart language.  And considerable attention was paid to Yoani Sánchez when she tweeted from the island:

Mucha preocupacion en las calles habaneras ante posible restriccion de viajes y remesas a #Cuba Seria un terrible paso atras!

A lot of concern on the streets of Havana about the possible restriction of travel and remittances to #Cuba It would be a terrible step backwards!

All of this mattered a great deal.  But again, why did this story – at this moment – end so happily?

First, cutting off travel is wrong, and so is dividing families.  This principle – so blindingly obvious, so enshrined in our values and in global definitions of human rights – was protected this time by the Congress.  While it is entirely possible that advocates for cutting family travel will be heard from again, the Congress is acting to honor these ideas and do the right thing.

Second, travel to Cuba is deeply meaningful to growing numbers in the diaspora.  Statistics tell part of the story:  Family visits declined by 80%, according to some estimates, following the Bush cutbacks.  After the Obama reforms, the 2010 numbers exceeded 350,000 visits and the 2011 figures are likely to top those. In public opinion surveys, support for travel among Cuban Americans exceeds 60%.

But it’s about more than travel numbers; it’s about the heart and putting family above politics.  As one veteran community leader said: “These are people just trying to have a rational relationship with family in Cuba.  They’re not going to make themselves or their families martyrs for the point of view of someone else.”  The desire among these families to provide emotional and financial support now, as their relatives experience enormous changes in Cuba as the government updates its economic model, is only growing.

Third, the political landscape is changing.  Yes, as they often argue, the advocates for travel restrictions were elected by their constituents.  But the change in local sentiment is palpable.  The Obama travel reforms – in 2009 for Cuban Americans and the broader liberalization in 2011 – are investing increasing numbers of people in Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and elsewhere in reaching beyond the Cold War habits of restricting liberties in the U.S. in the name of advancing democracy in Cuba.  They like the new policy and they want to keep it.

When Senator Rubio stands on the Senate floor, as he did last night, and stretches the truth about the travel cutbacks, trying to assure his colleagues that the travel limits really aren’t that bad (what…he’s just for dividing families a little?), we take it as a sign that he and others know they are overreaching.

Suffice it to say that –and it’s important that my colleagues know that – what we’re asking for, what’s being asked for in the omnibus, and what will be coming over here if its kept in, won’t prohibit families from traveling to Cuba; it will just limit the amount that they can, and that’s a wise policy, one that I support, because it limits access to hard currency to a really tyrannical regime.”  Senator Marco Rubio, U.S. Senate floor, December 15, 2011.

It’s premature to say the old order which has kept Cuba policy frozen in the amber of its own ineffectiveness is being overturned, but the politics around this issue have clearly been transformed and we acknowledge and welcome this change.

So, 2011 which began with President Obama opening the door to Cuba for people-to-people travel ends, we hope, with Congress doing the right thing and leaving the door open for Cuban families to continue being reunited.  Just in time for the holidays.

This week in Cuba news…

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

More details on U.S. plans to inspect oil drilling rig en route to Cuba

The U.S. is sending four inspectors to Trinidad and Tobago next month to examine Scarabeo 9, the oil rig en route to Cuba to commence offshore drilling, Bloomberg reports. Inspectors from the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of the Interior will check the generators, positioning system, and firefighting equipment while the rig is docked in Port-of-Spain. They will be able to discuss their findings with Repsol, Cuba’s partner,  but the inspectors have no enforcement power, and will not be able to look at the blowout preventer, a device that failed to stop the massive BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, or the well casing and drill fluid that will be used on site.

Though less than 10% of Scarabeo 9’s components are U.S.-made, the rig’s blowout preventer is a product of Houston-based National Oilwell Varco Inc. However, as the company does not have a license to do business with Cuba, this means the drill operators must seek training and spare parts from companies in Europe or Asia. In one interview, Lee Hunt, president of the Houston-based International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC), compared the situation to “buying a Mercedes and being told you have to go to a Ford dealer for parts.”

Hunt argued more broadly that U.S. sanctions unnecessarily limit Cuba’s access to services and technology for spill prevention and clean-up that U.S. companies have developed since the BP spill. An opinion piece from Forbes declares that the embargo’s limitations represent “a dangerous threat to the environment and a huge missed opportunity to the U.S. oil industry.”

There has been some interaction between the U.S., Cuba, and Caribbean countries, as we reported last week. The Miami Herald this week has more on the regional talks, adding that the U.S. has participated in a mock response drill with Repsol in Trinidad.

To read CDA’s report on oil drilling, Cuba and U.S. policy, click here.

Cuba is a focus of Human Rights Week activities by State Department and Amnesty International

The U.S. Department of State released a statement calling on Cuba’s government to respect activities surrounding Human Rights Week, AFP reports. The statement said that “We are deeply troubled by reports of increased repression by the Government of Cuba against Cuban citizens peacefully expressing themselves,” citing reports that activists, journalists and others were detained leading up to Human Rights Day on December 10th. President Obama declared Human Rights Week from December 10th-17th.

Amnesty International has called for urgent action in the case of activists Ivonne Malleza Galano and her husband Ignacio Martínez Montejo, who have reportedly been held without charge since their arrest in Havana on November 30th for staging a peaceful demonstration. According to Amnesty International, Malleza Galano was held incommunicado for ten days before being allowed a phone call to inform family and friends of her whereabouts. Relatives visiting on the 12th “were told by staff… that Ivonne Malleza Galana and Ignacio Martínez Montejo are being accused of public disorder and could be investigated for up to 60 days. The report concludes:

If, as it seems, Ivonne Malleza Galano and Ignacio Martínez Montejo have been detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, they are prisoners of conscience and should be released immediately and unconditionally.

Treasury Department seeks to close loopholes in “State Sponsors of Terrorism” sanctions

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked at least a dozen U.S.-listed companies to disclose their business activities with countries on the State Department’s list of “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list, including Cuba, the Financial Times reports. SEC’s financial division sent inquiries to companies including Sony, Caterpillar, American Express, Aecom Technology, Iridex, and Veolia Entertainment as part of a review of companies’ investment risks to the holders of their securities.  A loophole, which is currently being examined by Congress, allows some U.S. subsidiaries to continue business in sanctioned countries, as long as they run separately from their parent company and don’t employ U.S. citizens.

Cuba has remained on the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list since 1982 joined only by Iran, Syria, and Sudan (other countries such as North Korea have been removed from the list). For an opinion piece by CDA Executive Director Sarah Stephens on why Cuba should be removed from the list, click here.

U.S. and Cuban scientists meet in Havana to discuss cooperation in environmental and biological science

U.S. and Cuban scientists began a 5-day meeting in Havana on Monday to discuss increased cooperation in future projects, EFE reports.  17 Americans and 23 Cubans are attending the event, which was co-organized by the Cuban Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS). Former AAAS president Peter Agre, a 2003 Nobel Laureate in chemistry and a member of the U.S. delegation, stated “I think both sides can benefit from collaboration and that this is the best way to develop future projects,” adding that “This country has much to teach in solving persistent problems in other areas of the planet,” AIN reports.

The Cuban group is led by CAS president Ismael Clark and Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, scientific advisor of the State Council and son of the former president. According to the CAS, the meeting aims to create “a scientific sustainable cooperation between two countries without formal relations since 1961,” Xinhua reports. Organizers said that the meeting would be divided into specialized sessions to explore specific collaborative possibilities between the two scientific communities.

Havana Jazz Festival opens; American musicians and travelers able to attend

The Havana Jazz Festival opened this Thursday and thanks to a people-to-people license, for the first time, U.S. citizens are able to attend the event, EFE reports. The license was obtained by the magazine Jazz Times in conjunction with licensed travel organizer Insight Cuba. According to the official state promoter Paradiso, some 300 foreigners will be attending the festival, many of them from Canada and the U.S.

Participating as performers are several U.S. musicians, pianist Arturo O’Farrill, guitarist Kash Killion, and saxophonist Neil Leonard, who is accompanied by musicians from the Berklee College of Music, where he is a professor. The festival’s official sponsor is the Grammy-winning Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, who has visited the U.S. several times in recent years. The event will last until Sunday.

IN CUBA

Military firm next target in Cuba’s corruption crackdown

Cuban authorities arrested top executives of the military-run trading company Tecnotex as part of the government’s wide-ranging crackdown on corruption, Reuters reports. Among those reportedly arrested was Fernando Noy, Tecnotex’s director, and a well-known military officer in Cuba’s business world who, according to sources, was escorted from the company’s office in handcuffs. Tecnotex is one of Cuba’s most prominent state-run companies, purchasing technology, equipment, and materials for numerous military-owned firms in the Cuban economy’s civilian sector.

The government recently shuttered and arrested top executives at one British and two Canadian companies, all three of which had dealings with Tecnotex. The exact allegations against Noy and the other CEOs are still unknown, and none of the arrests have been reported in the island’s state-run media. Noy’s arrest could not be confirmed with Cuban authorities.

Cuba reaches a new record with 2.5 million tourists in 2011

Official sources report a record 2.5 million tourists have visited Cuba in 2011, according to a DPA story. While Canada remains the main source of visitors, there has been a “significant increase” in tourism from Argentina and Russia. The primary European source of tourists is the U.K. Tourism is a principal source of income for the Cuban economy. The Ministry of Tourism lauded the increase in visitors as a reflection of the good positioning of Cuba despite a “complex international situation.”

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

France-Cuba trade set to raise more than 66% in 2012

Trade Minister Pierre Lellouche made a two-day visit to Havana, marking the first time in nine years that a French ministerial-level official has visited the island, Reuters reports.

After a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodríguez and other Cuban officials, Lellouche stated that he would like to see French investments on the island return to what they were a decade ago, when they made up 10% of Cuba’s direct foreign investment, Cuba Standard reports.

AFP reports that several French business delegations are planning to visit the island, following Lellouche’s talks with Cuban officials, including a delegation from MEDEF, France’s largest employers union. A Cuban delegation will visit France in January to discuss Cuba’s debt and its failure to meet its debt payment obligations to the French government agency Coface. Cuba has seen a gradual rapprochement from European countries after freeing the last of 75 political prisoners held since 2003 earlier this year.

Cuba invites Japanese companies to invest in oil

Cuba’s ambassador in Tokyo, José Fernández de Cossío, is inviting Japanese companies to participate in oil exploration in Cuba, AFP reports. According to a release from Cuba’s Foreign Ministry:

The ambassador [in Tokyo]… related Cuba’s interest that Japanese companies participate as partners in the different aspects of the prioritized oil industry in the country.

The Ministry says the ambassador detailed the “real potential” of the Cuban oil industry as well as “the legal framework through which Japanese companies can find business opportunities.

Around the Region

Senate rejects Mari Carmen Aponte nomination for El Salvador ambassador

The appointment of Mari Carmen Aponte as Ambassador to El Salvador was voted down by the Senate on a vote of 49-37, the AP reports.  Following a recess appointment, Aponte has served as ambassador since September 2010 and her tenure will expire at the end of this year.

Opposition principally focused on unfounded rumors that a former boyfriend was a Cuban spy, and anger over an op-ed Aponte penned in the Salvadoran press in support of LGBT rights in the country. Rep. Jim DeMint (SC) accused Aponte of “promoting a homosexual lifestyle” and “imposing a pro-gay agenda”.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid came to Aponte’s defense, stating:

In the 15 months Mari Carmen Aponte has served as our ambassador to El Salvador, she finalized an important international, anti-crime agreement and forged a strong partnership between our nations. The Puerto Rican community and all Americans are right to be proud of Ms. Aponte’s accomplishments as a diplomat representing our nation, as I am.

Sen. Bob Menendez wrote a piece in support of Aponte in the Miami Herald, which said in part:

I urge my colleagues to support Ambassador Aponte’s nomination, put partisan politics aside, recognize the benefits to America’s security and foreign policy interests that her tenure has delivered, and allow her to continue serving our nation.

Sen. Reid left open the possibility of trying to vote again on Aponte’s appointment at a later date.

House bill threatens sanctions against OAS over Nicaragua

The House’s Western Hemisphere Subcommittee voted Thursday by a vote of 6 to1 to approve a bill that would withhold 20% of U.S. funding to the Organization of American States (OAS) for every permanent council meeting where the organization did not invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter against Nicaragua and Venezuela, Nicaragua Dispatch reports. The bill, spearheaded by Subcommittee Chairman Connie Mack (FL-14), originally only mentioned Venezuela. Rep. David Rivera (FL-25), who represents a large constituency of Nicaraguan-Americans, introduced an amendment including Nicaragua that also passed.

The bill is expected to be approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Chaired by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18).

Venezuela extradites drug trafficker to U.S.

Venezuela extradited one of Latin America’s most-wanted drug traffickers to the U.S. on Thursday, the AP reports.

Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco, better known by his alias, Valenciano, controlled one of the region’s most powerful drug trafficking networks and is accused of shipping tons of cocaine to the U.S. with the help of the Zetas cartel in Mexico. He was captured by Venezuelan authorities last month, with help from Colombian intelligence, in the Venezuelan city of Valencia. The U.S. had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Bonilla’s capture, a payment that the Venezuelan government previously said it would not accept.

Recommended Viewing

Natalie explores, the new post-Fidel Cuba, The Today Show, NBC

The Today Show’s Natalie Morales reports on changes taking place in Cuba, including visits and support from family in the U.S., new opportunities for the self-employed, the ability to buy and sell property and increased freedom of religion.

Recommended Reading

Time for a Compassionate Holiday Release of Six Prisoners, John McAuliff, The Havana Note

Alan Gross has been in prison for two years.  His case, like that of the Cuban Five, should be resolved compassionately during the coming Christmas / Chanukah / New Year holiday.

In Cuba, Dial-Up Internet is a Luxury, Nick Miroff, NPR

“Cuba is one of the least-connected countries in the world, a time-warped place where millions of young people have never been online and a dial-up Internet account is the stuff of dreams. An undersea fiber-optic cable linking the island to Venezuela was supposed to change that this year. But six months after its completion, frustrated Cubans are still starved for Web access.”

Old Havana Declines to Die, Michael Vakitiokis, The New York Times

“Wandering into a small park shaded by fruit trees in Old Havana, I was surprised to come across a bronze bust of Hans Christian Andersen. Havana is a city of surprises, the biggest of which is the miracle of its preservation. It’s not just that half a century of socialist revolution has kept modernization at bay; it’s just as much about the Cuban people’s abiding sense of history and deep cultural pride.”

It turns out that Cuba is at the table, after all, and that’s an important breakthrough for U.S. policy.  Rather than pretending Cuba isn’t drilling for oil in the Gulf (they are), or engaging in the illusion that the U.S. Congress can pass legislation to prevent the Cubans from exploring  in their own territorial waters (it can’t), it appears the U.S. government found a multilateral forum – the International Maritime Organization –under whose auspices a conversation with Cuba could actually take place.

That’s good for the Gulf and good for the U.S.-Cuba relationship.  And, we’d like to see more dialogue, especially direct dialogue, taking place.  As the Orlando Sentinel editorialized this morning:

At least they’re talking to each other. But it makes no sense to engage Cuban officials on international platforms and not in direct talks, too. We hope more engagement is taking place through back channels.

Washington has conducted direct negotiations with Havana on other issues, such as immigration and military matters. Surely drilling in waters close to Florida’s environmentally sensitive and economically vital coasts rises to the same priority level.

The Sentinel is right.  This should not be an isolated event.  And we see this spirit of engagement in other news we’re covering this week:

• In the trip of Pope Benedict XVI to Cuba, now confirmed for 2012, so that he can honor Cuba’s patron Saint, deal directly with Cuba’s government, and affirm the increasingly important role of the Cuban church in areas from economic reform to the release of political prisoners.
• In the recently-concluded National Council of Churches visit to the island which ended with a call for normal relations.
• In the work of U.S. atmospheric scientist Richard Anthes, who engaged directly with his Cuban counterparts in the last few days on U.S.-Cuban cooperation on weather.
• In the words of Peter Kornbluh and Bill LeoGrande and their column which advocates talking directly to the Cubans about how to obtain the release of Alan Gross.

This is the lesson; if you’re serious and you want to get something done, engagement matters.

This lesson often seems lost on those who speak loudest on issues of political freedom in Cuba, who nonetheless oppose engagement with the Cuban government on anything.

As the Sentinel reminds us – on this eve of International Human Rights Day –talking to Cuba can have and will have a political dimension on which these energy discussions can build.  It says:

We have long advocated democratic and free market reforms in Cuba. No amount of oil-drilling revenue will boost the island’s fortunes without fundamental reforms.

We just don’t believe shunning direct talks on drilling will boost that transition.

***

Before proceeding to the news, we want to thank the generous subscribers to the News Blast who sent us donations in the last ten days after our Cyber Wednesday and Saturday appeals.   Everyone can give something – and the news summary represents a major resource investment for us – so we hope that learning about these donations will inspire more readers to support the work we do to produce this unique source of information about Cuba and U.S. policy every week.

This week, we also want to congratulate Lisa Llanos of our staff (she manages the production of the news summary) for reaching a major milestone birthday.  We celebrate the service of Russell Riechers, who today concludes months of magnificent service as a researcher-writer on the blast.

And, we conclude with A Final Word commemorating the sudden and sorrowful loss of Dr. Héctor Silva, one of the most respected political figures in El Salvador.

This week in Cuba news…

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Trinidad Hilton, blocked by U.S. embargo, cannot host meeting of Cuba and CARICOM countries

The Trinidad and Tobago Hilton was unable to obtain permission from the U.S. government to host a meeting of Cuba and the member countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian reports. The U.S.-owned Hilton was to serve as the venue for the opening and the rest of the event; however, the Trinidad and Tobago government was informed last week that the hotel could be not used for this purpose due to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. A statement from Hilton Worldwide said:

The US-Cuban assets control regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control at the U.S. Department of the Treasury prohibit US-based companies from providing any services that benefit the Cuban government unless specifically licensed.

The statement added that the hotel had worked with the appropriate government channels in the U.S. and in Trinidad and Tobago to secure a license for the summit, but that they had been informed that the license would not be granted, and referred questions to the U.S. embassy in Trinidad and Tobago. According to the U.S. embassy, the license wasn’t denied but was still pending; it was received by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury Department on November 28.  This didn’t allow ample time for a decision ahead of the event, the Trinidad Express reports. Organizers were forced to move the venue of the event (discussed in greater detail below) and the summit proceeded without incident.

New Yorkers charged with violating the embargo, bank sanctioned by OFAC

A New York man and his lawyer have been charged with conspiracy to violate the Trading With the Enemy Act, Courthouse News reports. Adem Arici of Brooklyn allegedly “invested millions of dollars in Cuban real estate,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office,which  announced  the prosecution.  Arici’s attorney, Marc Verzani is accused of spending money in Cuba when he traveled there with a third party, a cooperating witness. On the island, Arici allegedly showed Verzani and the third party a hotel he was building and a house that he owned. Though Arici did not decide to purchase real estate, the three spent money on travel expenses, which is illegal under U.S. law.

Both men are also charged with witness tampering in trying to get the cooperating witness to cover up their trip, and Verzani is charged with giving false testimony in a civil proceeding for denying he went to Cuba. The conspiracy to violate the embargo charge is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; witness tampering is punishable by 20 years and a $250,000 fine; obstruction of justice by 10 years and a fine of $250,000.

In related news, OFAC has sanctioned the New York branch of Commerzbank AG, a German-based bank considered the fifth most powerful in the world, Café Fuerte reports. The branch agreed to pay a fine of $175,500 for alleged violations involving a foreign bank based in Miami. The OFAC document states that:

Acting as a guarantor of a letter of credit in the interest of a Cuban national, Commerzbank presented four sets of trade documents to a branch of a foreign bank in Miami that issued the letter of credit to pay for a Canadian company.

The alleged violation took place in September of 2005. According to Treasury Department officials, the aggregate value of the commercial documents exceeds $884,157. The initial fine amounted to $260,000, however, authorities decided to lower the fine after the bank cooperated openly with the investigation, and immediately adopted corrective measures to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future.

Miami Cubans plan a flotilla fireworks show on the U.S.-Cuba maritime border

A coalition of Cubans living in Miami is planning to anchor a flotilla on the maritime border between the U.S. and Cuba and put on a fireworks show in order to highlight the Cuban governments’ human rights abuses, AP reports. The event will be held Friday evening, coinciding with the United Nations International Human Rights Day, December 10th.

According to the organizers of the event, the show is not meant to provoke the Cuban government, and the boats will not enter Cuban waters, which begin just 12 miles off the Florida coastline. The groups plan to have at least six boats participating.

Marilyn Fajardo, a Coast Guard spokeswoman, said that the agency would have cutters and aircraft patrolling the area, but would not bring in additional resources, adding that: “The Coast Guard will not interfere with legitimate law enforcement action of the Cuban government. In other words, if a vessel gets by the Coast Guard and gets into Cuban waters, they are placing themselves in great risk. The U.S. cannot speculate as to the response of another government in this or any situation.”

CubaDebate, aCuban government website, published an article that slammed the event as a provocation that violates international law, accusing organizers of entering Cuban waters illegally, and using such flotillas to smuggle explosives to the island on previous occasions, among other aggressive actions. Cuba’s government also denounced flotilla organizer Ramon Saúl Sánchez as a terrorist and provocateur. The Miami Herald reports that Sánchez, who was involved with violent anti-Castro groups in the 1970s and early ‘80s , claims to have adopted only peaceful practices since he served 4 and a half years in prison in the mid ‘80s after refusing to testify about a plot to kill Fidel Castro.
Western Union announces electronic affidavit for sending money to Cuba

Western Union has announced the launch of an electronic affidavit enabling consumers who meet specific government requirements to send money to Cuba from most participating Western Union Agent locations in the U.S., the Denver Post reports. It previously required the faxing of paperwork verifications. The electronic affidavit will expand money transfer service to Cuba to most Western Union locations, whereas before the service was only available at limited locations.

Flights launched between Atlanta and Cuba

Regular chartered flights from Atlanta to Cuba began this week, the AP reports. The nonstop flights are chartered by Marazul Charters and operated by Delta Airlines. Ivar Fiskaa, a Tampa Bay-based travel service provider, told Global Atlanta:

Of course a lot of the seats will be filled with Cuban Americans returning to see members of their families, but we expect more visitors to be participating in organized people-to-people programs.

Atlanta is one of about a dozen airports that have obtained approval for direct flights to Cuba under a January 2011 White House directive reforming travel and remittance rules.

U.S. and Cuban church leaders meet, call for normalized relations

Church leaders from the National Council of Churches traveled to Cuba for a five-day meeting with the Council of Churches of Cuba, ending with a call for “normalized relations” between the U.S. and Cuba, Religion News Service reports. The groups jointly stated “We declare the following shared conviction: that the half century of animosity between our countries must end.”

The meeting was called to discuss humanitarian issues, and strengthen ties that were formed when Cuban church representatives took part in the 2010 General Assembly of the National Council of Churches. Reverend Wes Granberg-Michaelson, the former general secretary of the Reformed Church in America, stated:

For over five decades, our policy of trying to economically and diplomatically isolate Cuba has not achieved its goal of changing the regime to our liking. Instead, it has economically and diplomatically isolated the U.S.

IN CUBA

National Assembly to meet December 23rd

Ricardo Alarcón, President of Cuba’s National Assembly, has announced that the next meeting of the National Assembly will take place on December 23rd, Café Fuerte reports. The Assembly regularly meets twice each year. Its agenda was not made public, however.  December meetings often serve to evaluate the nation’s economic performance during the year and to discuss the budget of the next year. This meeting precedes a national Communist Party Conference, which is to be held on January 28th. At that conference, new policies could be approved relating to imposing government term limits and ending certain travel restrictions for Cuban nationals.

Pope confirms visit to Cuba, will announce specific dates on Monday

The Vatican has confirmed plans for Pope Benedict XVI to travel to Cuba this coming spring, and will announce specific dates on Monday, the BBC reports. The trip had been announced, but not confirmed, two weeks ago by a Vatican spokesman. A Cuban Church leader stated that the Pope would meet with government officials. Head of the Cuban Bishops Conference, Monsignor José Félix Pérez, emphasized that the primary purpose of the trip would be to honor the Virgin of Caridad del Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint. As we reported last week, Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski is planning a pilgrimage of Miami Cubans to visit the island for the Pope’s visit.

Reports of increased dissident detentions  

There have been reports of an increase in detentions of dissidents in recent days. According to an article in the Miami Herald, some 48 protesters were arrested Friday as they congregated for a march in the town of Palma Soriano. Those detained reportedly include Angel Moya and José Daniel Ferrer García, part of the group of dissidents arrested in 2003 and released earlier this year. According to the article, 38 of those detained have been freed, and Moya and Ferrer García are among those  who have yet to be released. In addition, dissidents cited in the article have reported increased brutality from police forces.

Cienfuegos refinery has produced 81.2 million barrels of oil since reopening in 2007

According to Cuban authorities, a refinery in Cienfuegos has produced 81.2 million barrels of oil since its reopening in 2007, EFE reports. The plant, which is a joint project between Cuba’s government and the regional organization ALBA, led by Venezuela, is currently undergoing an expansion. According to Humberto Padrón, the plant’s director, oil production following the completion of the expansion will help other members of Petrocaribe, a project of ALBA. According to Padrón, more than 90% of the plant’s production currently goes to serve Cuba’s national market.

2012 edition of ETECSA phonebook to include yellow pages

For the first time, Cuba’s state telecommunications company ETECSA will include a directory of services offered by cuentapropistas, Cuba’s new self-employed sector, in its annual phonebook for 2012, Juventud Rebelde reports. To have their businesses included, cuentapropistas must notify ETECSA by December 23^rd and provide all the required documentation. Moreover, there is a 10 CUC (Cuban convertible peso) charge for the entry. Businesses may be listed in multiple sections of the phonebook, and will be required to pay per listing.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Raúl Castro travels to Trinidad and Tobago for Cuba-CARICOM summit

Cuba’s President Raúl Castro traveled to Trinidad and Tobago this week to attend the fourth Cuba-CARICOM summit, bringing him together with heads of state and other representatives of the member nations in the Caribbean Community, Prensa Latina reports. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss opportunities for increased cooperation and investments between Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean.

Castro gave a brief speech in which he marked 40 years since Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago made the decision to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, at a time when Cuba maintained diplomatic relations with few other nations in the region. Castro also held private talks with Trinidad and Tobago’s president George Maxwell Richards and a meeting with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. The Cuban delegation included Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas, and Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca.

Cuba seeks to expand rice production in cooperation with Vietnam

Cuba plans to expand a cooperation project using Vietnamese techniques for rice production to 40,000 hectares, EFE reports. Roberto Cabello, of the agro-industrial group of the Ministry of Agriculture, stated that positive results have led to the possibility of a new phase in the project, describing the plan as “a collaboration that has passed through three stages, aimed at developing the cultivation of the grain in this country with Vietnamese technical assistance.”

The director of the project on the Vietnamese side, Bui Van Duong, affirmed that the project has achieved concrete results through the stages of demonstration, evaluation and production. The project began in 2002 in the eastern Granma province, and has since been implemented in other areas throughout the island. Currently, Vietnam is the principal supplier of rice to Cuba, which imports more than 400,000 tons of rice per year – about 60% of the total rice consumed by the population.

Around the Region

Journalist is shot and killed outside of her home in Honduras

Luz Marina Paz, a radio news host, was shot and killed outside of her home in Tegucigalpa, the AP reports. According to national police spokesman Luis Maradiaga, Paz and her driver were hit by dozens of bullets fired by men on two motorcycles.

Paz hosted a morning radio program called “Three in the News.” The program addressed politics and narcotics trafficking; however, the article reports that she was not especially outspoken or well-known. Paz previously worked at Radio Globo, where she was critical of the coup that overthrew former President Manuel Zelaya in June of 2009.

Human rights advocates say that at least 23 journalists have been killed in Honduras since 2007.

This most recent killing comes as Rep. Howard Berman, ranking member the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, expressed his concern about human rights conditions in Honduras in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter expresses concern about allegations of human rights violations by the military and police and the judicial impunity these institutions have received. In addition, there are concerns about the “dangerous intrusion of the military into basic police functions,” especially “due to the lack of institutional checks and balances” on these bodies in Honduras, and about the links of these with drug trafficking and other criminal organizations.

Recommended Listening

Cuba Central Interview with Dr. Richard Anthes: On the Climate for U.S.-Cuba Weather Cooperation, Center for Democracy in the Americas

In late November, Dr. Richard A. Anthes, one of our nation’s distinguished atmospheric scientists, visited Cuba and participated in talks with Cuban counterparts and in the 6^th Cuban Meteorology Congress. Upon his return, we talked with Dr. Anthes via Skype to get his assessment of the U.S. scientific interest in working with the Cubans on weather-related issues and to learn what obstacles exist to effective collaboration.

You can listen to the exclusive News Blast interview or read the transcript here.  You can learn more about Cuba and hurricane preparedness from this publication, produced by the Center for International Policy.

Recommended Reading

A Cuban Conundrum, William M LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh

Two highly respected scholars on the history of U.S.-Cuba negotiations published an op-ed column this week on Alan Gross and how the U.S. government should approach getting him home.
A Western Hemisphere, minus the U.S., Los Angeles Times editorial

The Los Angeles Times’ editorial board criticizes legislators whose hardline policies toward the region have contributed to isolating the U.S. from Latin America.

Factbox: Key political risks to watch in Cuba, Jeff Franks, Reuters

“The success or failure of Cuba’s economic reforms will be the key issue to watch in the next year as the government moves to strengthen the economy and ensure survival of the island’s communist system once the current aging leadership is gone. The cash-strapped government is looking for ways to cut spending while increasing income, and could get long-term help if offshore oil exploration slated to begin in 2011 is successful. All this occurs against a backdrop of only slightly tempered hostility with the United States, including an ongoing dispute over a U.S. contractor held by the Cubans on suspicion of spying.”

Tampa business leaders hope to strengthen ties with Cuba, Mimi Whitfield, the Miami Herald

The Miami Herald reports on the emergence of Tampa as a gateway for travel to Cuba, championed by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor despite the dissenting views of a powerful champion of hardline exiles in Miami.

A Final Word…

What a sadness.

Dr. Héctor Silva, one of the most respected political figures in El Salvador, died of an aneurism on December 8th, collapsing during a presentation on the politics of transparency and corruption at the Presidential Palace. The government agency he directed, FISDL (Social Investment Fund for Local Development) was recently acknowledged as a model of transparency.

Dr. Silva, 64, was born in Boston, Massachusetts and educated at University of El Salvador where he received his doctorate in 1972 and later trained at University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins. He was active in the Christian Democratic Youth in the 1970s, then a member of the FDR (Democratic Revolutionary Front) in El Salvador until his exile to Mexico in 1980. He returned to El Salvador in 1988 where he was a founder of the Democratic Convergence (CD) party. He was the first FMLN mayor of San Salvador, where he served two terms (1997-2003) and was respected for his skill as a negotiator and his leadership in modernizing municipal governance. He later served one term as a deputy in the National Assembly. San Salvadoran newspaper El Faro published this homage (in Spanish).

“He was one of the most noble men El Salvador has had,” said CD Deputy Douglas Aviles. Minister of Justice and Security Munguía Payés described Silva as “a man who always fought for democracy in the country and for the benefit of Salvadorans.”  And Assembly President Sigfrido Reyes said he was a man “dedicated to his work and his mission…El Salvador has lost a great citizen.” In addition, U.S. Representative Jim McGovern released a statement that referred to Silva as “an extraordinary leader and advocate for human rights and democracy,” one of the “greatest champions” of the Salvadoran people.

This week, the Latin America Working Group (LAWG) and the Center for International Policy (CIP) convened an important conference on Cuba’s presence on the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

The conference was a reminder that Cuba’s listing is a sham and that hardliners in the Congress use its designation as an obstacle to any progress on U.S.-Cuba relations.

Professor Wayne Smith, co-host of the conference and director of CIP’s Cuba project, who served as chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, has been a critic of Cuba’s listing for decades, arguing that it undermines U.S. credibility on the world stage.  He said at the conference, “It is quite clear that Cuba should not be on the list.  There is no evidence to place it there, which anyone can see even in the State Department’s own report on the subject.”

As Mavis Anderson, Senior Associate of the LAWG said, “It is a misuse of this list as a foreign policy tool and places obstacles in the way of the development of a sane and post-Cold War policy toward Cuba.”

In fact, Cuba’s designation is a perfect predicate for the hardliners in Congress to block otherwise rational policy changes or initiatives – because, after all, U.S. law says we’d be helping a state sponsor of terror.  Here are three examples.

Congressman David Rivera uses the terror list to justify trying to stop Repsol and Cuba from drilling together for oil.  He said his legislation to block drilling was necessary to “ensure that Florida taxpayers are not made to pay for an environmental disaster caused by a terrorist regime.”

When Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio sought to stop President Obama from increasing the number of airports allowed to serve the Cuban market, their proposal sought to prevent the expansion of direct flights to state sponsors of terrorism.

Finally, there is the case of Alan Gross. When Ileana Ros-Lehtinen questioned Secretary Clinton recently at a hearing, the Congresswoman stated that “the United States should not be negotiating with a state sponsor of terrorism.”

In essence, the Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee suggested that Mr. Gross remain in a Cuban prison rather than allowing the U.S. government to discuss with Cuba how he could be released.

Alan Gross was put in harm’s way by a USAID regime change program that is a sad legacy of the Cold War.   He should not be abandoned, left sitting in a prison cell because of cynicism and Cold War politics, and the U.S. government needs to refocus its efforts to get him out for humanitarian reasons.

Direct discussions and engagement have produced progress in other, much harder cases.  If the U.S. can get hikers out of prison in Iran, if the U.S. can get a contractor who killed civilians out of a prison in Pakistan, and if we can swap spies arrested in the U.S. for others jailed in Russia, the U.S. ought to be able to figure out a formula for getting Alan Gross back home.

Cuba’s presence on the State Sponsors list should not be an obstacle to getting that done.

This week in Cuba news…

IN CUBA

Cuba to offer bank loans in December, contract services from private sector next year

Cuba’s Central Bank will begin offering loans as part of a new credit system, the Washington Post reports. According to a decree published in the Official Gazette, credits will be available to small-business owners and independent farmers, as well as for citizens to pay for materials and labor associated with home construction or renovation or to “acquire goods for their personal property or satisfy other needs.” The new loan system is set to begin on December 20th, and will be implemented “progressively, as the country’s economic and financial conditions permit.”

In addition to loans, the new laws allow Cubans to use payment methods other than cash, including bank transfers, checks, credit and debit cards, money orders, local letters of credit, and traveler’s checks, reports AFP.

Cubans hoping to venture into the newly-expanded small business sector have argued that Cuba’s economic reform process requires access to credit for citizens. Those who do not have access to hard currency from relatives abroad or other sources have expressed that they lack the necessary resources to front the initial investment of starting a business. Loans for construction may also provide capital to business-related construction for aspiring entrepreneurs, and also have the potential to help alleviate the island’s chronic housing shortage and invigorate the recently legalized real estate market.

Finally, beyond the credit changes, the new laws provide guidelines for state businesses to contract some goods and services from the private sector, Reuters reports. Services such as food and cleaning, construction, and some transportation services, traditionally done by government workers, will have the possibility of being contracted out to the self-employed.

To read more about Cuba’s efforts to update its economic model, visit the website of the Center for Democracy in the Americas here.

Cuba’s government reports 2.7% growth for 2011

An article in Granma says that Cuba’s GDP grew at a rate of 2.7% this year, Reuters reports. This number falls a bit below the 2.9% increase predicted by the government, but represents an increase over the 2010 figure of 2.1%. In the report given to the Council of Ministers, the shortfall was blamed on investment-related construction problems. The budget deficit reduction also fell short of expected figures this year, which was blamed on lower than expected revenue from sales taxes.

According to the Granma article, the Council also adopted economic plans and a budget for 2012, which will be presented at the next regular session of the National Assembly.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Brazilian construction material retailer signs contract to open store in Havana

TendTudo, a Brazilian company specializing in home improvement products and construction materials, has signed a contract to begin supplying Cuba with products for a state-run store in Havana,  Reuters reports.

In 2012, Cuban state company Palco plans to open a Havana store that will be supplied by and modeled after the Brazilian retail chain’s “home center” stores in Brazil. TendTudo’s international unit president Carlos Christensen emphasized that the company is investing in a long-term business relationship with the island, stating “There are important challenges but for us it’s a long-term objective…The idea is to start small and go accompanying the changes in the Cuban market.”

Trials for lung cancer vaccine developed by Cuba to take place in the UK

A therapeutic lung cancer vaccine developed in Cuba will begin a new patient trial in the UK, AFP reports. Erik D’Hondt, the scientific director of the drug company in charge of European distribution of the drug, stated that the clinical study would begin “in a matter of days,” but did not specify how many patients were participating in the study. The vaccine, which was developed at the Molecular Immunological Center in Havana, has shown benefits in extending the life span and improving the quality of life of patients.

Biotechnology Conference held in Havana, Cuba signs cooperation agreements with China

The International Biotechnology Conference of Havana commenced this week at the Center for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Cuban News Agency reports. Some 600 scientists representing about 30 countries are participating in the conference, which focuses on using biotechnology to create sustainable agricultural production methods. The Conference is also being attended by British Nobel Prize Winner Richard J. Robert and Belgian Mark Van Montagu, both pioneers in the field, according to AFP.

Before the conference, Cuba and China signed various agreements to amplify their cooperation in the biotechnology sector over the next five years, reports EFE. The accords seek to strengthen the countries’ links in areas such as biomedicine and bio-agriculture. Additionally, the two countries discussed the potential of exporting goods to third countries. China is Cuba’s second largest trading partner after Venezuela.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Pleas for release and a visit to Alan Gross leading up to the two-year anniversary of his imprisonment

Saturday will mark two years since Alan Gross, a USAID subcontractor, was arrested in Cuba and later sentenced to fifteen years in prison for bringing highly regulated satellite equipment into the island while traveling on a tourist visa. Gross was working for Development Alternatives, Inc. on a contract with USAID “democracy promotion” programs in Cuba.   The U.S. programs have been illegal in Cuba for over a decade.

At a demonstration at the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, Judy Gross stated that her husband had expressed concern over the legality of his work prior to his final trip to Cuba, but was assured by a co-worker that “if anything happens you’ll be out in two days,” the AP reports.

This week, Gross’ mother released a video appeal to President Castro this week asking for her son’s release. Additionally, Representative Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Benjamin Cardin sent bipartisan letters to Jorge Bolaños, Chief of the Cuban Interests Section, urging the Cuban government to release Mr. Gross for humanitarian reasons. Van Hollen’s letter was cosigned by 72 representatives, while Cardin’s letter was cosigned by 18 senators.

In Cuba, Gross received a visit from Rev. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, Reuters reports. Kinnamon later met with President Raúl Castro; however, no details were made public about their discussion.

Archbishop of Miami considering pilgrimage to Cuba for papal visit

The Miami Archdiocese is considering organizing a pilgrimage of Cuban-Americans to the island for the planned visit of Pope Benedict XVI next year, the Miami Herald reports. Archbishop Thomas Wenski stated that there will be no final decision until the Vatican confirms the dates of the Pope’s visit, organized to coincide with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint. Wenski explained the reasoning of the Archdiocese in proposing this pilgrimage, saying:

As the Cuban bishops have said, Cubans continue to be one single people wherever they may be. If the Holy Father is going to be welcomed in Cuba, the Cuban people on this side of the Florida Straits will be participating in one way or another.

Wenski noted that he, as auxiliary bishop, planned another pilgrimage for the January 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II. That pilgrimage was cancelled over concerns by Miami community members that the Pope’s visit would be manipulated to give legitimacy to the Castro government. According to Wenski, the adversaries of the 1998 pilgrimage later regretted their opposition because “they realized that John Paul II had a lot of experience with totalitarian regimes … and wasn’t going to let himself be manipulated by anybody. [Pope] Benedict XVI is not going to allow himself to be manipulated by anybody either. He is going to preach a message of hope.”

Chicago O’Hare now offering direct flights to Cuba

O’Hare International airport began offering direct flights to Havana on Friday, reports the Chicago Sun-Times. C&T Charters, Inc. now offers a weekly flight to and from Havana, that will depart or land in Chicago every Friday. O’Hare is one of a dozen airports that have recently been authorized to host charter flights, and these new flights mark the first time in history that there have been non-stop flights between Chicago and Cuba.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, commenting on the new flights, praised the administration for loosening travel restrictions earlier this year:

With growing demand by Americans to visit Cuba, we’re pleased that President Obama took the bold step of making this country more accessible to Chicagoans who want to fly directly to Cuba from O’Hare to visit family, pursue research and education, or for business reasons.

Charging “appeasement,” Sen. Rubio to oppose 3 State Department appointments

Senator Marco Rubio (FL) has released a statement expressing his intention to oppose the appointments of Roberta Jacobson as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Mari Carmen Aponte as Ambassador to El Salvador, and Adam E. Namm as Ambassador to Ecuador.

Rubio argues that “Rather than stand up to tyrants and promote democracy, this Administration’s policy towards Latin America has been defined by appeasement, weakness and the alienation of our allies.”  The Senator said he will block nominations until the Administration takes “meaningful action” to change its policies, listing as specific demands:

First, the U.S. should immediately adopt significant bilateral and regional measures to encourage a return to constitutional order in Nicaragua.  Second, the U.S. should take immediate action to impose additional sanctions against the Cuban regime in response to the taking of American hostage Alan Gross.  And third, the U.S. should commit to dedicating U.S. democracy funding in Cuba solely to activities that strictly adhere to Sec. 109 of the Libertad Act.

Earlier this year, Rubio rejected the appointment of Jonathan Farrar, former Chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, as Ambassador to Nicaragua, criticizing him for not doing enough to support dissidents in Cuba.  Mr. Farrar had previously served as the principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor under President Bush.

Romney gets Cuban-American endorsements, Gingrich plans to end Castro government by 2014

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked up what the Miami Herald calls “the ultimate Cuban-American endorsement trifecta in South Florida,” gaining the support of Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart and former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The Washington Post reports that Ros-Lehtinen clarified her endorsement, saying that she endorses Romney’s economic plan but disagrees with his immigration stance.  Senator Marco Rubio has yet to endorse any candidate in the Republican field.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Yahoo News, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said he is working on a plan to topple the Cuban government by 2014. His plan would consist of “maximizing dissent” in Cuba, mostly covertly, and targeting younger Cubans. He entertained the idea of getting free radios into Cuban households, through which the U.S. government would be able to “dramatically expand communications” and give Cubans “a continuous alternative model of information.” When asked whether he supported the Coast Guard’s “wet foot-dry foot” policy, Gingrich said that it is a “terrible thing” that the U.S. repatriates anyone trying to get to Florida from Cuba.

However, in the same interview Gingrich unambiguously said he would not reverse Obama’s easing of travel restrictions, as Romney’s newly announced supporters have proposed. As Phil Peters points out in The Cuban Triangle, this is a surprise since Gingrich otherwise maintains a strict hard-line stance on U.S. policy towards the island.

For more on the Gingrich proposal, see our Final Word at the end.

Around the Region

Venezuela arrests Colombian Drug Lord Valenciano, signs bilateral agreements with Colombia

Maximiliano Bonilla Orozco who, under the alias Valenciano, was one of Colombia’s most powerful drug lords, has been arrested in Venezuela, reports BBC. The arrest occurred in the city of Maracay on the Caribbean coast, on the eve of the first meeting between Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez and Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos since Mr. Chávez was diagnosed with cancer in June. Colombian police, who had been monitoring Bonilla’s movement for two years, worked closely with Venezuelan authorities to secure his arrest. According to Insight Crime, Bonilla was detained without a fight.

According to MercoPress, Tarek El Aissami, Venezuela’s Interior Minister, said that Bonilla will be extradited to the U.S. to be prosecuted “as soon as U.S. authorities announce their willingness” to pick him up. He stated that Chávez and Santos had made a joint decision to turn Bonilla over to the U.S., and added that Venezuela will not claim the 5 million dollar reward.

Though Chávez insisted that Bonilla was captured before the presidents’ summit “by happy coincidence,” an intelligence source told Insight Crime that the arrest was deliberately timed to draw attention to cooperation between the two countries. Santos has come under heavy criticism from former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe for his efforts to improve relations with Chávez, who had a more antagonistic relationship with the former president and is often accused of harboring FARC rebels, writes the Los Angeles Times. Chávez again rejected these allegations on Monday, according to Colombia Reports, stating:

Know, Colombia, that we are going to do everything in our power to prevent [the actions] in Venezuelan territory [of] those who conspire…against Colombia, whether drug traffickers, guerrillas, paramilitaries, or other armed forces, who violate or attempt to violate Venezuela’s sovereignty.

At their meeting, Santos and Chávez signed thirteen bilateral cooperation agreements meant to bolster trade, and, in the words of President Chávez, “to strengthen our friendship, trust, and policies.”

CELAC conference begins today in Venezuela

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is convening a summit today in Caracas with the hope of formally establishing itself as a hemispheric organization that excludes the U.S. and Canada, reports the AP. The organization seeks to improve economic and political cooperation by the 33 countries whose heads of state are attending.

As The Miami Herald reports, some see the initiative as a sign of waning U.S. influence in the region.  “Without a doubt, this has not been a wonderful time for U.S.-Latin American relations,” said Sally Shelton-Colby, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Latin America, a former ambassador in the Caribbean and a diplomat in residence at The American University. “The U.S. is focused like a laser beam on the Middle East, South Asia and China for reasons of national security.”

Other observers, including Human Rights Watch, have expressed concerns that the new organization will dilute efforts to protect human rights and individual freedoms in the region.

Honduran military assumes police duties

President Porfirio Lobo of Honduras has deployed the military to police the streets after the Honduran Congress voted to allow the military to take on police duties, reports the BBC.

Honduras has the world’s highest murder rate and is following the example of Mexico, which deployed its own military to fight the drug cartels. Opinion polls cited by the BBC suggest that people feel safer with soldiers on the streets due to high levels of corruption within the police force that were brought to light by murders that have implicated police, such as the October murder of two university students. Honduras Culture and Politics presents the new law and provides analysis here.

Transparency International releases annual corruption report

This week, Transparency International published its annual Corruption Perceptions Report, reports the Pan-American Post blog. The report shows improvement in a number of countries with only three countries ranked in the worst category: Venezuela, Haiti, and Paraguay. Canada has the best ranking, followed in order by Barbados, The Bahamas, Chile, and the U.S. In addition, Cuba saw an improvement of 0.5 on the ten-point scale which has brought the island back to its 2008 level.

U.S. House Committee holds hearing on Nicaraguan elections

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, held a committee hearing yesterday titled “Democracy Held Hostage in Nicaragua: Part 1″. The hearing focused on recent elections in Nicaragua, which some critics have deemed illegitimate and current U.S. policy towards Nicaragua and its president, Daniel Ortega. Jennifer McCoy of the Carter Center, which observes elections throughout Latin America and the world, was invited to speak at the hearing. Her testimony is available here.

Recommended Reading

The Slow-Pitch Ambassadors to Cuba, Bruce Weber, The New York Times

“Wearing orange jerseys — well, T-shirts, really — the Cuban players lined up along the first-base line at Mella Field. We were in blue, along third. All of us held our caps over our hearts, and the Cuban National Concert Band played two national anthems, first the United States’, then Cuba’s, followed, for some reason, by “The Pink Panther Theme.”

Recommended Viewing

Eliécer Ávila gives interview with Estado de SATS

Eliécer Ávila, the former IT student who was the subject a viral video in which he questioned President of the National Assembly Ricardo Alarcón on issues including freedom of Cubans to travel, recently gave an interview (in two parts here and here) to the civil society project Estado de SATS. Unfortunately, the interview is only available in Spanish, but Phil Peters gives his comments on the interview at his blog The Cuban Triangle and Yoani Sánchez devotes a blog post to the interview as well.

A Final Word

The news that former Speaker Newt Gingrich is working on a plan to topple the Cuban government by 2014 shouldn’t have been considered unusual.  Such ideas are hearty perennials – or hearty quadrennials – in U.S. political campaigns.

For example, on December 9, 2007, at a Univision Debate, the question was asked:  When talking about Cuba, Cuban dictatorship has survived nine U.S. presidents. What would you do differently, that has not been done so far, to bring democracy to Cuba?

Former Senator Fred Thompson replied:  “I’m going to make sure that he didn’t survive 10 U.S. presidents.”

Actually, the Cuban government outlasted the Thompson campaign.  We’ll see what happens to the Gingrich proposal in 2012.

Here’s just a sample of the sumptuous array of stories we’re serving this week:

For appetizers, let us suggest some bite-sized stories about economic and institutional reform coming out of Cuba.  Reuters is reporting that farmers will be able to directly sell food to the tourist industry eliminating the state as a middle man.  According to another report, the island’s postal service will be restructured and decentralized to improve efficiency and cut costs and turned into a state-run business.  Restrictions on internal travel by Cubans are being relaxed, according to the Associated Press, so that those with close family in Havana will not have to ask the government’s permission to move to the capital.  The scope and meaning of Cuba’s recent reforms in housing are still subject to debate – on the island and here in the U.S. – according to this article from the Miami Herald.

For main course, we’re pleased to recommend “Pull of Family Reshapes U.S.-Cuban Relations,” an intriguing report from the New York Times on how warming attitudes among Cuban Americans toward Cuba – facilitated by changes in U.S. travel policy initiated by President Obama – have led to a jump in travel to the island, a surge in support for families, and greater contributions of items that Cubans need to start their own small businesses.  The article traces how developments in demography (with new arrivals now outnumbering “aging Cuban exiles from the 1960s”) and changing perspectives (the priority is family and not ideology) are contributing to reconciliation for the Cuban families on both sides of the Straits.

For dessert, you might sample this survey from the International Republican Institute.   It’s easy to be skeptical about polling information, here and in Cuba, but results in this poll are fascinating.  They suggest Cubans have a far greater preoccupation with economic issues (salaries, the double currency, and food) than political ones; they are skeptical that the current government will succeed in solving Cuba’s biggest problems in the next few years; they are increasingly positive about the way things are going in Cuba, but uncertain about how things are going to change in the next twelve months.

Now, you’ll notice, we haven’t specifically put turkey on the News Blast menu.  Believe us; with one U.S. political leader calling for a 21^st Century Monroe Doctrine in last night’s CNN security debate, it was mighty tempting.

For these tasty morsels and more, we bring you this week in Cuba news…Enjoy!

IN CUBA

Progress on Economic Reforms

Government loosens restrictions on internal migration

Cuba’s government has officially relaxed laws limiting internal migration to the capital city of Havana, the AP reports.  According to the law published Tuesday in the Official Gazette, spouses, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and siblings of Cubans who legally reside in the capital will no longer be required to ask for permission to move to Havana.

This new decree modifies existing law, which states that anyone found in Havana who cannot prove legal residence or an official reason for being there can be deported from the city and fined. The policy was adopted during the so-called “Special Period,” after the fall of the Soviet Union, to prevent a mass migration to the capital during a time of economic crisis.

It has not been specified how citizens will be asked to prove that they have close relatives living in Havana.

Cuba’s mail service to be restructured into government holding company

Next year, Cuba’s state mail service will be restructured into a government holding company in an attempt to increase efficiency, the AP reports. Eighteen regional mail service offices and two nationwide entities will comprise a national mail service “business group,” according to Opciones, the Cuban business journal. In addition, regional offices will enjoy more autonomy than in the previous, decentralized system. According to the article, the postal service currently operates more than 1,000 post offices on the island and employs about 13,600 workers. Raúl Marcial Cortina, national strategic director of the current postal service, stated:

It was unthinkable that such a big company could achieve perfection…This is going to have a positive impact on efficiency and on workers’ benefits.

Cuba’s Sugar Ministry recently underwent a similar restructuring from a government ministry into a holding company with plans to close all but 26 of the 178 bureaucratic entities associated with sugar production, and lay off an unspecified number of workers to cut administrative costs by 55%.

Farmers now allowed to sell directly to tourism industry

This Monday, Granma carried a report that farmers will be able to sell their “non-industrialized” products directly to the tourism industry after December 1st. Previously, farmers were banned from selling directly to the tourism industry, with the state playing a “middle man” role in the process. Reuters reports that this change seeks to improve the variety and quality of food available to the tourist sector, cut transportation costs, and reduce food losses resulting from inefficiencies in getting harvested products to market.

In addition to allowing direct transactions between farmers and the tourism industry, the law lets buyers and sellers to set their own prices on these agricultural products. Specific legal changes can be found as published in Cuba’s Official Gazette.

Cuba evaluates expanding cooperatives beyond farming sector

Cuba is creating the basis for an expansion of cooperative business models, which have proven successful in the agricultural sector, Prensa Latina reports. “Cooperatives … should become a dynamic element of the Cuban economic model and will contribute to diminishing budgeted expenses and elevating the population’s standard of living,” stated Dr. Claudio Alberto Rivera Rodríguez, president of the National Association of Cuban Economists’ Center for Studies about Cooperative and Communal Development. Rivera went on to suggest that the cooperative model could be applied to industries such as food service, transportation, housing material production and construction, and artists and artisans, distribution networks, Notimex reports.

Corruption crack-down targets foreign companies

An article by Paul Haven for the Associated Press details how President Raúl Castro’s battle against corruption has recently targeted several foreign enterprises. Castro announced his intention to crack down on corruption involving foreign businesses in 2009. So far, the past two years of investigations have resulted in at least 52 people being sent to prison and the expulsion of over 150 foreign business owners and operators.

According to members of the business community interviewed in the article, the crackdown has some wondering if President Castro is doing the Cuban economy a disservice at a time when the country should be encouraging foreign investment to resuscitate its economy. “It’s like an earthquake,” says one foreign business adviser. “It is a time of opportunity, but also great risk because of what is happening: the arrests, the closures…Everybody is nervous. Everybody is looking over their shoulder to see who will be next, who is the next victim.”

Others, including Cuban economists and government officials, insist that discouraging graft is essential to real economic reform and worth whatever pause it might give to interested foreign investors. “This is not a campaign, what is happening in the fight against corruption,” said Attorney General Dario Delgado. “This is permanent. This is systemic. There is a will on the part of the state…that corruption cannot be permitted.”

Other “In Cuba” news…

Cuba provides flu shots for 600,000 people

Cuba will offer flu shots to more than 600,000 people susceptible to respiratory ailments in a vaccination campaign that began Monday, EFE reports. According to the announcement in Granma, vaccines will be available to Cubans over age 85 (a population of some 160,000 people), those with chronic illnesses and immune deficiencies, disabled people, and pregnant women between the second and third trimester, as well as doctors who are at risk of contracting the virus. The vaccine, a single injectable dosage, provides protection against the H1N1 virus, as well as the influenza B virus and the seasonal H3N2 virus. The vaccination campaign will continue until December 21.

ETECSA to make Internet available to Cuban nationals in Camagüey

Cuban nationals in the city of Camagüey will now be allowed to access the Internet at a “tele-punto” or cyber cafe, operated by ETECSA, the state communications enterprise, CubaNet reports. According to the article, official sources within ETECSA made the announcement last week.  Although there were previously no official restrictions on allowing Cuban nationals to use the cafes, access was limited to foreigners and Cubans with foreign residency.  One woman who is a resident of the city stated:

It was a shame to see the computers in the cyber cafe not being used by anybody. Because few foreigners come to Camagüey, they would have to lower the prices because Cubans can’t pay five dollars for an hour of use.

U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS

Flights inaugurated from Tampa to Holguín

Direct flights between Tampa Bay, Florida and the city of Holguín in Eastern Cuba began on Tuesday, News 13 reports. Janet Zink, a representative of Tampa International Airport, stated

It goes to Holguin, Cuba…and this is a really significant flight because we’re only the second airport in the country to offer service to a City in Cuba other than Havana. We do have the third largest Cuban-American population in the United States…And prior to this, they had to drive to Miami in order to get to Cuba and that did keep some people from going.

Airport officials have reported that nearly a thousand passengers boarded flights to Havana in September, and project that the number of travelers to the island will reach almost 4,000 by the end of next month.

An opinion piece in the St. Petersburg Times from Johannes Werner and Jason Busto, editors of online journal the Cuba Standard, argues that U.S. policy towards Cuba is hurting Tampa interests. The authors cite the experience of inviting Jorge Bolaños, Chief of the Cuban Interests Section, to Tampa for a business forum.  The ambassador was denied permission to leave the Washington area by the State Department, with no reason given other than requests are evaluated on a case-to-case basis.

Orientation for college and university staff pursuing Cuba programs

The Fund for Reconciliation and Development is organizing an orientation to be held in Cuba from January 6 to 15, for college and university staff preparing to send short term faculty led programs to Cuba. According to the announcement by John McAuliff:

It will incorporate meetings and visits to universities and non-governmental humanitarian, environmental and religious organizations, as well as previews of potential student experiences, in Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas, Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Trinidad and Cienfuegos.  

Articles about short term student programs already undertaken can be found at http://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com. For application form, full program and costs, those interested can contact the Fund for Reconciliation and Development at director@ffrd.org.

CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS

Cuba’s relations with Spain may be affected by conservative victory at the polls

The defeat of Spain’s Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) in Sunday’s elections have lead some to contemplate the implications of the results for relations between Cuba, Spain, and the EU, the Miami Herald reports.

On Sunday, the right-wing Popular Party (PP) won an absolute majority in the Spanish Parliament, ending the rule of PSOE Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. When asked last week about Cuba, Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the PP who will now become prime minister, stated “I want democracy. I want freedom. I want human rights. Well, not just me. The whole world wants that.” His campaign, however, focused mostly on Spain’s domestic economic situation.

Some analysts, such as Joaquín Roy, a Spaniard and head of the European Union Center at the University of Miami, argue that both governments have more important domestic issues and so will maintain cordial bilateral relations. Yet, dissidents and others argue that it will be difficult to maintain a cordial relationship because Cuba’s government has been historically thin-skinned toward any criticism.

Blogger Yoani Sánchez published this post about the 12,458 Cubans who for the first time were allowed to vote in Sunday’s Spanish elections due to the so-called “Law of Grandchildren” that allowed them to become naturalized Spanish citizens.

Cayman Islands Detention Centre expecting increase in migrants

According to CayCompass, the Cayman Islands Immigration Detention Centre is experiencing a renewed influx of Cubans detained while trying to leave the island. Thirty-six immigrants have been taken into custody at Grand Cayman in the last two months, and Chief Immigration Officer Linda Evans stated that she expects immigrants to increase:

[The migrants] mention that because of the financial problems [in Cuba], there’s not as much patrolling along the coasts as there used to be…We think we’re going to experience a lot more boats.

According to Cayman’s Memorandum of Understanding with the Cuban government, migrants who land illegally in the Islands are repatriated. While Cuban boats found in Cayman waters are usually allowed to continue, passengers are taken into custody if they have to come ashore.

Around the Region

Funes appoints retired general as Minister of Security amidst protests

Mauricio Funes, the President of El Salvador, appointed retired general David Munguia Payés as Minister of Security on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The appointment marks the first time a military official has served in that position since El Salvador’s civil war. Funes made the appointment despite strong opposition from his FMLN party and inside the Ministry itself. FMLN deputy Sigfrido Reyes heavily criticized Funes’ decision, calling it “a serious step backwards in the process of democratization in this country and in the construction of public security entities in line with the constitution.”

Prior to Funes’ announcement, an unnamed group of top police commanders declared their willingness to resign should a former military official fill the position, reports El Faro. Payés, generally known as a moderate, with previous experience serving as Funes’ Defense Minister, will replace former FMLN guerrilla leader Manuel Melgar, who resigned on November 8th for reasons he would not officially disclose. Many speculate that a principal reason Melgar resigned was because of the United States’ unwillingness to work with him due to his alleged involvement in a 1985 attack that killed three U.S. Marines.

Rep. Jim McGovern honored by Salvadoran Embassy as a “Friend of El Salvador”

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern was honored by the Salvadoran Embassy in Washington, D.C. this week as a “Friend of El Salvador,” Metro Latino USA reports. Ambassador Francisco Altschul stated,

For more than 30 years, Congressman McGovern has been a defender of human rights in El Salvador and from then on has continued his commitment to this country, to helping it face emergency situations through the U.S. Congress.

McGovern recently visited El Salvador with a bipartisan delegation of Members of Congress to assess damage caused by recent rains that caused dozens of deaths and more than $800 million in material losses. McGovern has long advocated for substantial changes in U.S. policy towards El Salvador. After the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter, he worked to condition aid to the Salvadoran military on the improvement of human rights in the country.

The “Friends of El Salvador” awards were initiated this year in all Salvadoran embassies by the Foreign Ministry.

General during 2009 coup registers political party, expected to run for president in 2013

The Patriotic Alliance of Honduras, founded by retired general Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, has filed a 92,000 signature petition to the Honduran Supreme Electoral Court to register officially as a political party, La Tribuna reports. The party’s leadership is made up largely of retired military officers, and party representatives have announced that Vásquez Velásquez is the favorite to represent the party in the 2013 presidential elections. Vásquez Velásquez was the head of the armed forces during the June 2009 coup that ousted then-president Manuel Zelaya.

A piece by Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Econonic and Policy Research, published by The Guardian, criticizes the Obama administration for ignoring human rights violations in Honduras since the 2009 coup, and calls on South America to mobilize to protect activists and organizers who have been the victims of political killings.

Recommended Reading

U.S. can contribute by acknowledging Cuba’s reforms, Michael Shank, the Financial Times

Michael Shank, director of policy and communications for the Institute for Economics and Peace, says the U.S. can make important contributions to Cuba’s economic reforms by acknowledging that the process is real and implementing policies that help Cubans get the cash they need to form small businesses.

Editorial: Rectify the Course, Espacio Laical, Translation by Dawn Gable

This editorial from the Catholic Church publication Espacio Laical is a strong push for continued economic reforms in Cuba. Phil Peters with the Cuban Triangle provides an excellent analysis of this significant contribution to the reform debate.

For Cubans, new property rights – and the return of an old anxiety, Sara Miller Llana, The Christian Science Monitor

President Raúl Castro’s latest reform lets Cubans buy and sell property for the first time in decades.  But the reform has some worried that it could reintroduce pre-revolution class divisions.

Why Cuba is embracing golf, Lyndsie Bourgnon, MacLeans.ca

“In post-revolutionary Cuba, golf was a sport for the rich, the bourgeois. And for 50-odd years, it all but disappeared from the island. (There’s currently only one 18-hole course.) But now Cuban authorities have given preliminary approval to develop four luxury golf resorts. Two of those contracts have been handed to Canadian developers.”