Saturday 30 January 2010

Cuban Youths Pay Tribute to National Hero Jose Marti


Thousands of university students and youths took part in the traditional torch bearing parade on the eve of January 28, to pay tribute to Cuba’s National Hero Jose Marti on the occasion of the 157th anniversary of his birth.

As every year since first organized in 1953, the parade started at the University of Havana and ended at the Fragua Martiana Museum –where Marti was imprisoned as he was 16 years old.

The 157 members of the National Council of the Federation of University Students (FEU) and leaders of other political organizations led the parade.

Short before the beginning of the march, President of the FEU Gladis Gutierrez made a speech noting that the spirit and teachings of Marti were present in the spontaneous mobilization and solidarity of Cuban students, youths and people with the people of Haiti.

«The torches we bear today not only spread the light of Marti’s ideas, but also those of his greatest disciple, Fidel Castro. These flames light the revolution and the youths willing to improve it and make it immortal,» she said.

At the Fragua Martiana Museum, the students placed a wreath on behalf of all Cuban students and youths. Accompanying the students were Politburo member and Minister of Higher Education Miguel Diaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Communist Party in Havana Lazara Mercedes Lopez, and First Secretary of the Youth Communist League Liudmila Alamo.


http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Municipal Elections to Start in Cuba


More than 300,000 Cuban youths aged 16 will cast their vote for the first time in the upcoming April 25 elections of delegates to the Cuban Municipal Assemblies.

During a press conference, National Electoral Commission President Ana Maria Machado and Vice President Ruben Perez Rodriguez announced that the electoral rolls in each constituency will be verified January 28 through February 14 prior to the elections. Where needed, the second round of elections will take place May 2.

Machado and Perez announced that on January 28, the Municipal Electoral Registration Offices would hand to the electoral commissions of each constituency the electoral rolls to speed up verifying the data, and that an estimated 300,000 youths will have the right to cast their vote for the first time since, unlike many countries, Cubans have the automatic right to vote once they’ve reached adulthood.

The number of constituencies across the country this election has risen to 15,093 —15, 057 of which are ordinary and 36 special.

Members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution will be visiting people’s houses to verify any changes in the number of voters. Later on, the electoral commissions will be analyzing the collected data with authorities from the Identity Card Registration Office.


http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Friday 22 January 2010

Cuba Sex Conference Ends

Havana, Jan 22 (Prensa Latina) The Fifth National Congress on Sexual Education, Orientation and Therapy will conclude on Friday in this capital, after five days of intensive and interesting debates.

Issues as transexuality, erectile dysfunction, violence, child and adolescent abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases are part of the event's working agenda to more than 300 delegates.

Swedish experts presented on Thursday some experiences about sex reassignment surgery, prognosis, as well as care programs in their country.

Regarding that aspect, conference chairwoman Mariela Castro Espin confirmed the execution of several sex reassignment surgeries in the Cuban nation.

In statements to the media, the also director of the National Center for Sex Education said that to be consistent with the country's development strategy, which favors social programs and peoples' rights, nobody can be excluded.

Castro Espin stated that a group of Cuban and Belgian experts have already practiced the first sex reassignment surgeries in the island.

This way, we are complying with the law, in this specific case, with a Public Health Ministry resolution that authorizes genital adaptation surgery among those procedures to assist transsexual people (the June 4, 2008 Resolution 126).


http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

protest at Posada trial in El Paso, Texas



On Monday, March 1, the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles goes on trial in El Paso, Texas. Posada will be tried in U.S. District court for perjury--for lying to U.S. immigration authorities about his role in the 1997 Havana hotel bombings which killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.

But the U.S. government refuses to prosecute or extradite Posada for his actual terrorist crimes, although there is ample direct evidence of his principal role in:

1) Hotel bombings in Havana 1997: Posada Carriles produced bombs, paid Salvadoran and Guatemalan mercenaries to fly to Cuba and plant bombs in Havana hotels. Fabio Di Celmo was killed by one of those bombs on Sept. 4, 1997; many others were injured. Posada later boasted to the New York Times reporters Ann Louise Bardach and Larry Rohter of his role. Instead of perjury, he should be tried for masterminding the bombings.




2) Bombing a Cuban civilian airliner: Posada Carriles and his accomplice Orlando Bosch paid two Venezuelan mercenaries to board a Cuban airliner Oct. 6, 1976, which was headed to Cuba from Venezuela, via Guyana and Barbados. The mercenaries, Freddy Lugo and Hernan Ricardo, planted two bombs on the planes and exited in Barbados. Cubana Flight 455 exploded mid-flight, and 73 defenseless passengers and crew were killed. Venezuela filed an extradition request for Posada with the U.S. in June, 2005, shortly after he illegally entered the U.S., but both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have ignored and refused to honor the extradition order.

The National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and other organizations are organizing an important demonstration on Monday, March 1, 8:00 am, in front of the U.S. Federal Courthouse (511 E. San Antonio Ave.) in El Paso, Texas, to demand Posada's extradition to Venezuela, to face trial for 73 counts of premeditated murder.

We will also demand the immediate freedom of the Cuban Five, the five Cuban men who have been unjustly imprisoned by the United States government since Sept. 12, 1998. Their mission was working to stop the U.S.-backed terrorists like Posada, who walk the streets of Miami with complete impunity from Washington while the Cuban Five anti-terrorists are in U.S. prison, despite their life-saving mission.


http://www.freethefive.org

Thursday 21 January 2010

Cuban doctors in Haiti – appeal for funds


Support the Cuban medical brigades in Haiti
21 January 2010

A Cuban bank account has now been opened to receive financial contributions to help with the Cuban medical teams working in Haiti.

If you wish to support the Cuban efforts in Haiti directly then you can do so in the following ways:

The preferred method
1. Make a donation via CSC. We will collate all donations and forward them in lump sums to Cuba to avoid multiple transfer fees (please make cheques payable to 'CSC' and write Cuban doctors in Haiti) on the back) and send to address below. You can also donate by Credit Card at 0208 800 0155. All donations will receive acknowledgement.

2. You can make a direct bank transfer to the Cuban bank account (below) set up to receive donations for the Cuban medical effort in Haiti. Please note that making direct bank transfers to Cuba will involve paying significant bank and transfer charges and that you may not receive confirmation or receipts for your donation.

Title: Terremoto Haití (Haiti Earthquake)
Bank: BICSA
Bank Identification Code (BIC) Código SWIFT del Banco: BIDCCUHH
Account number: 01321010770900
Bank Address: Havana, Cuba

Please note: Payments to Cuba should be made in pounds sterling or euros, NOT US dollars.

For details of the Cuban efforts in Haiti including video reports see
Support the Cuban medical brigades in Haiti
21 January 2010

A Cuban bank account has now been opened to receive financial contributions to help with the Cuban medical teams working in Haiti.

If you wish to support the Cuban efforts in Haiti directly then you can do so in the following ways:

The preferred method
1. Make a donation via CSC. We will collate all donations and forward them in lump sums to Cuba to avoid multiple transfer fees (please make cheques payable to 'CSC' and write Cuban doctors in Haiti) on the back) and send to address below. You can also donate by Credit Card at 0208 800 0155. All donations will receive acknowledgement.

2. You can make a direct bank transfer to the Cuban bank account (below) set up to receive donations for the Cuban medical effort in Haiti. Please note that making direct bank transfers to Cuba will involve paying significant bank and transfer charges and that you may not receive confirmation or receipts for your donation.

Title: Terremoto Haití (Haiti Earthquake)
Bank: BICSA
Bank Identification Code (BIC) Código SWIFT del Banco: BIDCCUHH
Account number: 01321010770900
Bank Address: Havana, Cuba

Please note: Payments to Cuba should be made in pounds sterling or euros, NOT US dollars.

For details of the Cuban efforts in Haiti including video reports see
http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news.asp?ItemID=1768

Cuba Solidarity Campaign is also supporting the TUC Aid appeal for Haiti http://www.tuc.org.uk/




http://www.cuba-solidarity.org.uk/news.asp?ItemID=1775

Friday 15 January 2010

Reflections of Fidel - The lesson of Haiti


TWO days ago, at almost six o’clock in the evening Cuban time and when, given its geographical location, night had already fallen in Haiti, television stations began to broadcast the news that a violent earthquake – measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale – had severely struck Port-au-Prince. The seismic phenomenon originated from a tectonic fault located in the sea just 15 kilometers from the Haitian capital, a city where 80% of the population inhabit fragile homes built of adobe and mud.

The news continued almost without interruption for hours. There was no footage, but it was confirmed that many public buildings, hospitals, schools and more solidly-constructed facilities were reported collapsed. I have read that an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.3 is equivalent to the energy released by an explosion of 400,000 tons of TNT.

Tragic descriptions were transmitted. Wounded people in the streets were crying out for medical help, surrounded by ruins under which their relatives were buried. No one, however, was able to broadcast a single image for several hours.

The news took all of us by surprise. Many of us have frequently heard about hurricanes and severe flooding in Haiti, but were not aware of the fact that this neighboring country ran the risk of a massive earthquake. It has come to light on this occasion that 200 years ago, a massive earthquake similarly affected this city, which would have been the home of just a few thousand inhabitants at that time.

At midnight, there was still no mention of an approximate figure in terms of victims. High-ranking United Nations officials and several heads of government discussed the moving events and announced that they would send emergency brigades to help. Given that MINUSTAH (United Stabilization Mission in Haiti) troops are deployed there – UN forces from various countries – some defense ministers were talking about possible casualties among their personnel.

It was only yesterday, Wednesday morning, when the sad news began to arrive of enormous human losses among the population, and even institutions such as the United Nations mentioned that some of their buildings in that country had collapsed, a word that does not say anything in itself but could mean a lot.

For hours, increasingly more traumatic news continued to arrive about the situation in this sister nation. Figures related to the number of fatal victims were discussed, which fluctuated, according to various versions, between 30,000 and 100,000. The images are devastating; it is evident that the catastrophic event has been given widespread coverage around the world, and many governments, sincerely moved by the disaster, are making efforts to cooperate according to their resources.

The tragedy has genuinely moved a significant number of people, particularly those in which that quality is innate. But perhaps very few of them have stopped to consider why Haiti is such a poor country. Why does almost 50% of its population depend on family remittances sent from abroad? Why not analyze the realities that led Haiti to its current situation and this enormous suffering as well?

The most curious aspect of this story is that no one has said a single word to recall the fact that Haiti was the first country in which 400,000 Africans, enslaved and trafficked by Europeans, rose up against 30,000 white slave masters on the sugar and coffee plantations, thus undertaking the first great social revolution in our hemisphere. Pages of insurmountable glory were written there. Napoleon’s most eminent general was defeated there. Haiti is the net product of colonialism and imperialism, of more than one century of the employment of its human resources in the toughest forms of work, of military interventions and the extraction of its natural resources.

This historic oversight would not be so serious if it were not for the real fact that Haiti constitutes the disgrace of our era, in a world where the exploitation and pillage of the vast majority of the planet’s inhabitants prevails.

Billions of people in Latin American, Africa and Asia are suffering similar shortages although perhaps not to such a degree as in the case of Haiti.

Situations like that of that country should not exist in any part of the planet, where tens of thousands of cities and towns abound in similar or worse conditions, by virtue of an unjust international economic and political order imposed on the world. The world population is not only threatened by natural disasters such as that of Haiti, which is a just a pallid shadow of what could take place in the planet as a result of climate change, which really was the object of ridicule, derision, and deception in Copenhagen.

It is only just to say to all the countries and institutions that have lost citizens or personnel because of the natural disaster in Haiti: we do not doubt that in this case, the greatest effort will be made to save human lives and alleviate the pain of this long-suffering people. We cannot blame them for the natural phenomenon that has taken place there, even if we do not agree with the policy adopted with Haiti.

But I have to express the opinion that it is now time to look for real and lasting solutions for that sister nation.

In the field of healthcare and other areas, Cuba – despite being a poor and blockaded country – has been cooperating with the Haitian people for many years. Around 400 doctors and healthcare experts are offering their services free of charge to the Haitian people. Our doctors are working every day in 227 of the country’s 337 communes. On the other hand, at least 400 young Haitians have trained as doctors in our homeland. They will now work with the reinforcement brigade which traveled there yesterday to save lives in this critical situation. Thus, without any special effort being made, up to 1,000 doctors and healthcare experts can be mobilized, almost all of whom are already there willing to cooperate with any other state that wishes to save the lives of the Haitian people and rehabilitate the injured.

Another significant number of young Haitians are currently studying medicine in Cuba.

We are also cooperating with the Haitian people in other areas within our reach. However, there can be no other form of cooperation worthy of being described as such than fighting in the field of ideas and political action in order to put an end to the limitless tragedy suffered by a large number of nations such as Haiti.

The head of our medical brigade reported: "The situation is difficult, but we have already started saving lives." He made that statement in a succinct message hours after his arrival yesterday in Port-au-Prince with additional medical reinforcements.

Later that night, he reported that Cuban doctors and ELAM’s Haitian graduates were being deployed throughout the country. They had already seen more than 1,000 patients in Port-au-Prince, immediately establishing and putting into operation a hospital that had not collapsed and using field hospitals where necessary. They were preparing to swiftly set up other centers for emergency care.

We feel a wholesome pride for the cooperation that, in these tragic instances, Cuba doctors and young Haitian doctors who trained in Cuba are offering our brothers and sisters in Haiti!




Fidel Castro Ruz
January 14, 2009
8:25 p.m.

Translated by Granma International



http://www.granma.cu/ingles/

Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura Meets with Palestinian Foreign Minister


Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura met with the Foreign Minister of the Palestinian National Authority, Dr. Riad N.A. Malki, who sent a message from Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas to Cuban President Raul Castro Ruz.

During the fraternal meeting, Machado Ventura reiterated Cuba’s unswerving solidarity with the just cause of the Palestinian people in its struggle to become an independent state and condemned the repeated aggressions perpetrated by the Israeli government against the heroic and long-suffering people of Palestine.

For his part, Dr. Riad N.A. Malki thanked the Cuban people for their support of the Palestinian struggle, and reaffirmed his people’s determination to achieve the creation of a national Palestinian state, consisting of the territories within the borders of 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as the return of the Palestinian Diaspora.

Also present for Cuba was Bruno Rodriguez and Jose Enrique Enriquez, director for North Africa and the Middle East of the Cuban Foreign Ministry. Palestinian Ambassador to Havana Akram Mohammad Rashid Samhan was also present at the meeting.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

More Cuban Docs in Haiti after Tremor


Havana, Jan 15 (Prensa Latina) Another group of 60 member of the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade against Disasters and Serious Epidemics has started assisting victims of the quake that hit Haiti last Tuesday.

The team, with experience in China, Pakistan, Guatemala, Indonesia and Bolivia, joined the 344 Cuban health collaborators who were already working in that Caribbean nation before the devastating 7.3-degree earthquake.

As part of the solidarity support to one of the poorest countries of the world, now strongly hit by nature, the Havana government has sent medicines, serum and plasma bags, foods and other provisions.

Cuban physicians have assisted some 2,000 patients and carry out 111 major surgeries and 60 minor surgeries in an improvised field hospital, several mass media reported.

Interviewed by Cuban television, several doctors described the situation in Haiti as critical, and ratified their willingness to work hard to help relieve the pain of a suffering nation.

The three Cubans who were working in Port au Prince at the time of the quake and got wounded, one of them seriously, were flown back to Cuba, the report indicated.


http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Thursday 14 January 2010

Tsunami Threatens Cuba


Shortly after 5:00 p.m., January 12, a helicopter flying over the coastal zone of Baracoa brought unease to this city. In just 20 minutes, the word “tsunami” spread like wildfire among the citizens of Baracoa, causing people to look for safe shelter.

The 7.0 magnitude quake that hit Haiti at 4:53 p.m. —whose epicenter was only 18.45 km north from the capital Port-au-Prince— was also felt in the eastern Cuban provinces.

A few minutes later, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for the area, including the Cuban coastal zone; where people were quickly put on alert to cess out the highest places to evacuate.

Although the Cuban National Center for Research on Earthquakes concluded that the likelihood of the tsunami hitting Cuba were minute, no one was willing to take the risk.

According to the head of “La Voz del Toa” CMDX information department Atmer Suárez Hinojosa, Baracoa citizens quickly reacted to the call to evacuate the city.

Municipal Defense Council President Eudis Romero Suárez said that the evacuees had come back to their homes although they have been told to remain on alert.

Municipal Assembly Vice President Freider Fuentes Vidal said that apart from the helicopter flying over Baracoa, fire-fighters, police officers, among others, contributed to the evacuation.

In the Cuban province of Guantánamo, very near to Haiti, people were immediately informed about the tsunami and civil defence measures were put into place.

Baracoa inhabitants have every reason to be afraid about devastating waves. Firstly, horrific images of a huge tsunami hitting the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, India and other areas on December 26,2004 causing 280,000 casualties spread all over the world. Then, in March 2008, an unexpected swell, caused by a strong anticyclone on the north coast of Cuba, brought about considerable damages in Baracoa: more than 400 houses damaged or completely destroyed, as well as damage to sidewalks, drains, parks, markets, etc.

In addition, in September 2008, waves higher than 5 meters hit Baracoa destroying the La Punta fortress, built in the 18th century to preserve the city from the enemy.

Fortunately, it was just a warning. Anyway, Baracoa citizens showed to be prepared for events like this one.


http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Tuesday 12 January 2010

Repudiation of U.S. measures continues


CAMPESINOS, workers, students, and relatives of victims of terrorism have recalled once again the humanitarian and anti-terrorism tradition of our country.

Alluding to the double standards of U.S. policy, some described as "hypocritical" the measures dictated by Washington, a nation that still protects old and notorious terrorists. Others, who for decades have suffered the blockade of medicines and items of all kinds, are denouncing the contradiction that the United States is slandering a country over which it maintains this criminal policy.

From one end of the archipelago to the other, the demands are joining forces to demand respect for the truth. That is how the Cuban people, day by day, push Yanki infamy to one side.

Translated by Granma International



http://www.granma.cu/

Cuban, US Trade Union Delegations Meet


Havana, Jan 11 (Prensa Latina) A delegation of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)visiting Cuba met with Cuban trade union leaders Monday.

According to the agenda, the US trade union delegation will meet with relatives of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in US prisons, mostly known as The Cuban Five.

Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez were arrested in September 12, 1998, when they were monitoring terrorist actions of anti-Cuban groups in Florida, USA.

Despite their innocence, the Cuban Five are serving harsh sentences from 15 years up to double life plus 15 years of prison.

The US visitors will stay in Cuba until January 16.


http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Monday 11 January 2010

Tribute to Cuban Heroine Celia Sanchez


Havana, Jan 11 (Prensa Latina) Dozens of Cuban citizens gave tribute to Cuban revolutionary heroine Celia Sanchez in the 30th anniversary of her death.

Different generations of Cubans went up to the Pantheon of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) in the Colon Cemetery in Havana to pay tribute to this revolutionary fighter Monday.

The walk was headed by Lazara Mercedes Lopez, first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in the Cuban capital; and Ana Judith Area, first secretary of the Union of Young Communists in Havana.

Celia Sanchez was one of the first women to take arms against the Batista dictatorship until the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

She participated in the preparation of the Granma expedition and together with Cuban clandestine leader Frank Pais, she organized the farmers of the zone to support the expedition.

She came to Cuban land on December 2, 1956 with the group of 82 men headed by Fidel Castro to start the war. On March 19, 1957, she climbed the Sierra Maestra Mountains and became a member of the Rebel Army, being the main promoter of the Mariana Grajales Female Platoon.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Sunday 10 January 2010

Cuba: Provincial Elections Committee Begins Work


Havana, Jan 9 (Prensa Latina) The Provincial Elections Committee (CEP) will begin working on Saturday after being formed in every Cuban province, where there will be held partial elections to vote for delegates to the Municipal Assemblies.

Elections will take place next April 25 and May 2, in second round, in case that any candidate achieves less than 50 percent of the issued valid votes.

According to the law, the CEP has to designate the members of the Municipal Electoral Committee and to control the elections in electoral districts.

Last January 6, the Cuban Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers Ramiro. Valdes headed the swearing-in ceremony of the National Election Committee (CNE) for the partial elections to vote the delegates to the Municipal Assemblies.

The members of the committee promised to fulfil the task loyal before leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba, mass organizations and military entities in the Jose Marti Memorial.

Ana María Mari Machado, Rubén Pérez Rodríguez and Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez will act as president, vice president and secretary respectively.

The CNE has to ensure that the elections system's principles and regulations apply correctly around the country, said the President of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba Ricardo Alarcon.

He highlighted that the voluntary participation of the electors in the next April-May elections will be a demonstration of real democracy.

Delegates have to guide their electors in order to protect and improve the Revolution's work that has withstood the blockade and aggression for more than 50 years.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Friday 8 January 2010

SUCRE Currency to Come into Use in January


CARACAS, January 6.— Venezuelan Minister of Economics and Finances Alí Rodríguez Araque confirmed on Wednesday that the Unified System for Regional Compensation (SUCRE) will come into effect at the end of January, reported Telesur.

The decision to enact the regional currency was agreed upon during the recent ALBA Summit held in Havana and will be valid for use in the nine ALBA member countries.

The first commercial transaction using the SUCRE —a virtual currency that will gradually replace the dollar in ALBA commercial operations— will be used for exporting Venezuelan rice to Cuba, said Alí Rodríguez Araque.

Speaking to Telesur, Venezuelan economist Rafael Antolinez said that with the beginning of a new year, is the beginning of a new method of trade aimed at creating less dependency on the commercial model enforced by developed countries and based on the US dollar. One of the goals is to emulate the positive experience of the Euro in Europe.

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) is an international cooperation mechanism based upon the idea of social, political, and economic integration between the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The ALBA was launched in Havana, Cuba in 2005 within the framework of the Hemispheric Social Alliance. ALBA challenges the hegemony of neoliberal integration and provides an alternative to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), focusing on the market as the source of efficiency and economic growth and prosperity. ALBA is a form of integration to achieve development build on the cornerstone of the fight against poverty and exclusion, through social reform.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu/

Thursday 7 January 2010

Cuba rejects inclusion on blacklist


WASHINGTON.—The Cuban Interests Section in this capital assured this January 5 that the island government is cooperating in the international fight against terrorism, and it condemned its inclusion on the list of states described by the U.S. administration as sponsors of terrorism, EFE reports.

Alberto González, spokesman for the Cuban mission in Washington, stated that Cuba "has complied with, is complying with and will comply with the internationally recognized security measures in these cases," and he noted that the Cuban people "do not recognize in any way the moral authority of the U.S. government to certify their inclusion on this kind of list."

González unequivocally stated that "Cuban territory has never been utilized to organize, finance or execute acts of terrorism against the United States or any other state," and suggested that this latest attack on the island is politically motivated.

On the contrary, he continued, Cuba has been the victim of violence and terrorism on the part of individuals such as Luis Posada Carriles, who remains at large in the United States and has not been brought to justice.

Translated by Granma International

http://www.granma.cu/

Free The Five - East Timorese Lawyers


Dili, Jan 7 (Prensa Latina) East Timorese Lawyer Assocaition Chairman Jose Camoes demanded freedom for five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in the United States, in a message to US President Barack Obama.

In the document, which was accessed by Prensa Latina, Camoes said the US president can release the Cuban antiterrorist fighters from prison, because the Peace Nobel Price he received is a tool to free them.

The Five, as Fernando Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino and Antonio Guerrero are known throughout the world, have remained confined to US prisons since 1998, serving harsh sentences for warning their country about plans by terrorist groups based in Miami, Florida.

The East Timorese lawyer said expectations increased with the end of Geroge W. Bush's government and Obama's arrival at the White House, something that many considered impossible.

He asserted that "the East Timorese Lawyer Association has believed that you, who can take new actions in line with the spirit of freedom of the Latin American people and take the fears of terrorism away from them, can free them too."

"I believe that you, Obama, can do it in the year 2010," said Camoes, also on his own behalf, in the message written in Tetum and English languages.

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Wednesday 6 January 2010

Cuba: US Citizen Worked for Secret Services


Havana, Jan 6 (Prensa Latina) The US citizen detained in Cuba last December, was hired by an enterprise that recruits people for US secret services, affirmed the president of the Cuban parliament, Ricardo Alarcon.

That is a new way in the United States to acquire agents, torturers, spies who they contract in the privatization of war, explained the parliamentary leader in conversation with reporters at the Revolution Square.

Alarcon participated there in the assumption of the National Electoral Commission named to handle the partial polls to be carried out next April and May to elect the delegates for the People�s Power Municipal Assemblies.

The legislative leader commented that the US citizen, detained in December, continues under investigation and "he is much better off, much better -he emphasized- than the victims of those contractors throughout the world."

During the closing ceremony of the recent legislative session last month, Cuban President Raul Castro affirmed the enemy is as active as always.

A sample, he said, was the detention in the last days of a US citizen, euphemistically called in statements of State Department spokepersons as a "contractor" of his government, indicated the President.

He said the individual dedicated himself to illegally supply with sophisticated communication means via satellite groups of the so-called "civil society" who intend to conspire against the Cuban people.


http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Cubans Remember FEU Leader Julio Antonio Mella


On January 10, 1929, 26-year-old leader of the Cuban Federation of University Students (FEU) Julio Antonio Mella was murdered by Gerado Machado´s dictatorship. Mella became an emblematic figure for leftwing organizations around the world.

Every year the FEU laments the murder of Mella, who founded the FEU.

This year, the Julio Antonio Mella University in the province of Santiago de Cuba will host the national act to pay tribute to the FEU leader. Students, professors, FEU and UJC members will place a wreath at the monument to Mella and a gun salute will be fired.

In Havana, apart from the commemoration act, people will hold a vigil at the monument where Mella´s ashes were placed, located in front of the University of Havana. A presentation on Mella´s murder will also be held, which will then be presented at other Havana universities from January 10 to 28.

On January 10, a group of students will climb up the Mella peak in Santiago de Cuba; while in Matanzas, students will make a pilgrimage from La Plaza de la Libertad to the Mella park.

http://www.juventudrebelde.co.cu



Any comrade who has been on the work brigades in Ciamito will remember the ICAP camp dedicated to Julio Antonio Mella

Monday 4 January 2010

How the OFAC Stole Christmas


A spokesman for the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (”OFAC”) told Export Law Blog this morning that discussions between OFAC and the North Pole over Santa Claus’s Christmas Eve itinerary had broken down and were not expected to be resumed before Santa’s scheduled departure on December 24 at 10 pm EST.

The dispute arose from a dilemma that the U.S. sanctions against Cuba posed for Santa’s planned delivery of toys to children in Cuba. If Santa delivers toys for U.S. children first, there will be toys destined for Cuba in the sleigh in violation of 31 C.F.R. § 515.207(b). That rule prohibits Santa’s sleigh from entering the United States with “goods in which Cuba or a Cuban national has an interest.” On the other hand, if Santa delivers the toys to Cuban children first, then 31 C.F.R. § 515.207(a) prohibits the sleigh from entering the United States and “unloading freight for a period of 180 days from the date the vessel departed from a port or place in Cuba.”

A press release from the North Pole announced that the OFAC rules left Santa no choice but to bypass the children of the United States this Christmas. A spokesman from OFAC warned that if Santa attempted to overfly the United States, his sleigh would be forced to land and his cargo seized. He continued:

We know that the outcome is harsh, but we cannot allow Fidel Castro’s regime to continue to be propped up by Santa’s annual delivery of valuable Christmas toys to Cuban children.

Congressional leaders did not return our calls.


http://www.exportlawblog.com/archives/1128

Saturday 2 January 2010

Cubans Celebrate 51st Anniversary of Revolution


Havana, Jan 1 (Prensa Latina) Cubans are celebrating today the 51st anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution, marked by achievements and challenges amid a severe global economic crisis.

For Cubans, the Triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959, meant the materialization of the dreams of justice of those who gave their lives during more than 100 years of struggle for true independence.

Shortly after the revolutionary government took office, the neocolonial system was dismantled, repressive institutions were dissolved, and citizens' rights were fully guaranteed.

In addition, public administration was purged and misappropriated assets were confiscated.

The Triumph of the Cuban Revolution dignified people as the core and motivation of the revolutionary leadership, which immediately undertook the transformation of society.

In that regard, one of the major measures taken at the time was the Agrarian Reform Act on May 17, 1959, by virtue of which large estates were eliminated, as farms larger than 420 hectares were nationalized and the land was granted to dozens of thousands of peasants.

The revolutionary government undertook other changes, including the eradication of racial and gender discrimination and illiteracy, and guaranteeing the people's right to healthcare and sports, among other benefits.

During a ceremony held in eastern Santiago de Cuba, President Raul Castro noted that "revolutions only make progress and survive when they are carried out by the people."

"Having understood that truth and acted invariably in consequence with it has been a decisive factor in the victory of the Cuban Revolution over enemies, difficulties and challenges that were apparently invincible," Raul Castro noted.

The Cuban president urged people to be aware of external dangers and current turbulences in today's world - in reference to the global economic crisis - and warned that it will not be easy to change the current situation, so he called on Cubans to continue to struggle

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/

Friday 1 January 2010

HAPPY 2010 - 52ND YEAR OF THE REVOLUTION

Happy new year!!

ath bhliain faoi mhaise

bliadhna mhath ur

blwyddyn newydd dda

feliz año nuevo

عام سعيد

urte berri on

godt nytår

gelukkig Nieuwjaar

bonne année

გილოცავთ ახალ წელს

ein gutes neues Jahr

felix sit annus novus

Шинэ жилийн баярын мэнд хvргэе

سال نو مبارک

feliz ano novo

ਨਵੇਂ ਸਾਲ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਧਾਈਆਂ

baxtalo nevo bersh

С Новым Годом

bonu annu nou

Срећна нова година

heri ya mwaka mpya

నూతన సంవత్శర శుభాకాంక్షలు

สวัสดีปีใหม่




yeni yiliniz kutlu olsun

a gut yohr



HAVE A GOOD 2010!!

WHERE EVER YOU FIND YOURSELF


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