UN Condemns US Embargo on Cuba

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly condemned the 47-year US trade embargo on Cuba. The vote was 187-3 in opposition to the embargo, with only Israel and Palau supporting the United States (as they did last year).

"The blockade is an uncultured act of arrogance," said the Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez. He likened the policy to "an act of genocide" that is "ethically unacceptable."

US Ambassador Susan Rice said the Obama administration was committed to writing "a new chapter to the story" by engaging with the Cuban government.

Senior US Official Holds Talks in Havana

A senior American diplomat had high-level talks with the Cuban government in Havana, the State Department said Tuesday.

Bisa Williams, acting deputy assistant secretary, met this week with Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez during a six-day trip to Cuba, Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley said.

Williams was in Havana to meet with Cuban officials about restoring direct mail service between Cuba and the United States. Crowley said she extended her stay to meet with Cuban officials and members of Cuban civil service about various issues, including ongoing migration talks.

She also visited areas in western Cuba affected by hurricane damage in 2008.

Crowley said these are first such talks between the two countries in several years.

"It's getting back to something we used to do regularly," Crowley said. "We've done this before, and we are starting to do it again."

Huge 'Peace Concert' in Havana

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans flocked to sprawling Revolution Plaza yesterday for an open-air "peace concert" headlined by Colombian rocker Juanes, among many others.

Some estimates of the crowd were put at more than one million for the five-hour concert. Juanes' visit to Cuba was clearly the biggest by an outsider since Pope John Paul II's 1998 tour.

Hundreds of public buses ferried young and old to the concert site. Most concertgoers wore white - to symbolize peace - and some held up signs reading "Peace on Earth" and "We Love You Juanes."

Travel Agents Booking Trips to Cuba Win Suit

Florida travel agencies that book trips to Cuba gained a victory Tuesday when a federal district judge overturned a state law that required them to post a bond of $250,000 each. 

The judge, Alan S. Gold, said the law was in direct conflict with the federal government's authority to set foreign policy. "The State of Florida," Judge Gold's decision said, "is not entitled to adopt a foreign policy under our Constitution or interfere with the exclusive prerogative of the United States to establish a carefully balnaced approach to relations with foreign countries, including Cuba."

The decision coincides with the Obama administration's move to ease restrictions on Cuban-Americans' travel to the island.

Travel agents celebrated their victory and said they planned to seek compensation from the state for legal expenses totaling several hundred thousand dollars.

(Credit: Carmen Gentile, April 14, 2009, NY Times; Image by TimJim1037, Flickr.com)

Will Obama Open Up All US Travel To Cuba?

Few things engender hypocrisy more broadly than does US policy on Cuba. It's embarrassingly inconsistent for Washington to maintain a trade embargo against Havana, and bar US citizens from traveling to Cuba, when America gleefully does business with regimes like China, whose human rights violations are more egregious than Cuba's.

On Monday, the Obama administration lifted restrictions on Cuban-American visits and remittances to family members in Cuba. It also announced measures to get broader cell phone and television service to Cubans on the island, which the White House said would "open the flow of information" there. But they should at least be followed this year by and end to the travel ban for the rest of the US population -- that is, if Obama throws his support behind a new bill to end it (which may or may not have enough votes in Congress to pass). 

Backing the elimination of the general travel ban would signal a more robust interest in opening dialogue with Cuba. At the same time, it would just as decidedly put the ball in Havana's court. The Castros have insisted that they won't accept conditions for having the embargo lifted. Still, Fidel Castro wrote in an op-ed for Cuba's state-controlled media last week that Havana now wants to negotiate "mutually advantageous" agreements with the US. If the US were to drop the Cuba travel ban, it would almost certainly shift hemispheric attention to what Cuba would then do to reciprocate, such as releasing imprisoned dissidents or permitting more free enterprise. Should the Castros do nothing, Obama can then at least say he made the first significant gesture, but won't have given away the trade embargo.

Not that the embargo gives Obama and the US as much leverage as they might think. What Obama will find in Trinidad is that the embargo is the single most unpopular policy in the hemisphere. Getting Cuba right could resonate for Obama well beyond the Florida Straits. Obama has made it very clear to the world that he cares about how US foreign policy is perceived around the globe. Given that the embargo is one of the most unpopular policies the US practices in the world, with the United Nations voting 185-to-3 last year to condemn it, he risks making his administration look a lot like the Bush Administration if he hangs on to it.

(Credit: Tim Padgett, April 14, 2009, Time Magazine)

Cuban Travel Ban Almost A Thing Of The Past? (NOT an April Fools joke!)

A bipartisan group of senators predicted Tuesday that Congress was ready to pass legislation to allow Americans to travel to Cuba.

Removing the travel ban would produce a burst of tourism, create thousands of jobs and generate as much as $1.6 billion in business a year, an independent research group said.

Sponsors said the bill would free Americans to travel to the one place in the world they can't go and encourage Cubans to push for democratic reforms by exposing them to new people and information. 

"Punishing the American people in our effort to somehow deal a blow to the Castro government has not made any sense at all," said Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.). "At long last, this policy, which has been in place for 50 years and has not worked, will finally be removed."

On one side of the debate in Congress are liberal Democrats, Republican free-traders and farm-state members of both parties who seek a wider market for food sales.

It's about time.

Happy 50 (Now, Let's Get It Right)

Fifty years ago, Che Guevara and Fidel Castro declared a Cuban revolution. This one, Castro said, would not be like Cuba's 1898 independence from Spain, "when the Americans came and took over."

Since that New Year's night in 1959, 10 US presidents have tried to overthrow, undermine or cajole Castro, to no avail. Covert operations, including President Kennedy's Bay of Pigs invasion, failed to dislodge the communist government. A Cold War standoff with Russia over missile bases on the island brought the superpowers to the brink of nuclear war, but it didn't budge Castro.  Diplomatic isolation didn't work. And a trade embargo to protest the expropriation of US property, prevent the export of revolution and press for democracy and human rights has been utterly ineffectual. Rather, it has provided cover for the Cuban government's own deficiencies and served as a pretext for repression.

In short, America has had fifty years of failure. The incoming Obama administration should move quickly to embark on a rapprochement with Cuba and bring an end to punitive policies, especially the economic embargo. The UN condemns it, the European Union is trading with Cuba, and Latin America is urging the US to allow Cuba back into the fold. This policy will take time and political will, but it is in our national interest and, ultimately, in Cuba's.

The US already exports about $700 million worth of food to Cuba annually. Obama should expand this. Obama should also press for human rights reforms -- but human rights should no longer be an obstacle to talk and trade with Cuba (unless the US is prepared to consider halting trade with other regimes with checkered human rights records -- Egypt, Russia, and communist state China, to name just a few).

Peaceful change in Cuba, 90 miles from Florida, is in the interest of the United States. Communication, travel and trade are excellent ways to push for reform of the one-party state. Tourists carrying books and ideas serve as ambassadors for democracy. Manufactured goods speak for the creativity of an open economy. The Cuban people are highly educated after a 50-year revolution, and extremely resourceful after a half century of economic hardship. Their aspirations are fertile ground for change. 

(Excerpted from the LA Times, Editorials, December 31, 2008)

Obama & Fidel

Fidel Castro praised Barack Obama today as a smarter and less warlike than John McCain, but stopped short of endorsing either US presidential candidate.

Cuba's former president said he delayed weighing in until the US Election Day so that "no one would  have time to say I wrote something that could be utilized by the candidates in their campaigns."

"Without a doubt, Obama is more intelligent, cultured and levelheaded than his Republican adversary," Castro said. "McCain is old, bellicose, uncultured, of little intelligence and not healthy."

Help - please...

Cuban officials on Saturday urged the US to loosen the decades-old trade embargo on the island in the wake of deadly flooding caused by powerful storms.

A statement written by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Cuban officials acknowledged that the US government has recently pledged to give humanitarian aid to victims of the severe flooding.

But "if the government of the United States is really willing to cooperate with the Cuban people in face of the tragedy of the hurricane, it is requested to allow the sale to Cuba of those materials considered indispensable and to suspend the restrictions that prevent US companies from offering private commercial credits to our country for the purchase of food in the United States," the statement said.

Hurricane Ike, a dangerous Category 4 storm with 135 mph winds neared Cuba Saturday.

Cuba has already been hit by Hurricane Gustav in recent weeks.

Cuban Musician Faces Censorship, Jail

Cuban musician Gorko Aguila, 39, went to court in handcuffs on Friday, charged with "social dangerousness," which could bring a prison sentence of up to four years. 

Lead singer of punk band "Porno Para Ricardo", Aguila received applause and shouts of support from friends as he was taken from a police car up to the steps of the Havana court, which had drawn a crowd of foreign diplomats, foreign correspondents and government officials during the day.

Aguila's songs have fiercely criticized Cuba's communist government and its leaders Fidel and Raul Castro. The group's CDs are banned in Cuba but copies are circulated widely underground.

Ciro Diaz, a guitarist with the band, said he had been told the government considered Aguila "an anti-social" because "he didn't vote, didn't go to meetings of the Revolution Defense Committee and made songs against the Cuban system."

Happy 55th!

55 years ago today, President Raul Castro, brother Fidel, and a ragtag band of rebels lead an audacious armed attack, launching a revolution that changed an island, and changed the world.

Happy 55th.

EU Vote Alters Cuba Sanctions Policy

The European Union voted to remove its diplomatic sanctions against Cuba despite opposition from the United States. 

As part of its action, the EU also approved conditions on Cuba in return for what the Associated Press called "sanction-free relations." These include the release of all political prisoners; access for Cubans to the internet; and a double-track approach for all EU delegations arriving in Cuba, allowing them to meet both opposition figures and members of the Cuban government.

The EU external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said they felt they had to change the policy in order to encourage more reform in Cuba. The removal of sanctions is an attempt to both acknowledge and encourage more reforms by President Raul Castro. 

Cuban Blogger Denied Travel Visa To Accept Prestigious Journalism Award In Spain

Yoani Sanchez, creator of Havana's Generacion Y blog, was denied a travel visa by Cuban officials that would have allowed her to fly to Spain to receive a top journalism award.

The blogger now apparently will not be able to personally receive the prestigious Ortega y Gasset prize given out each year by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, which she was to have been given Wednesday.

"I have cancelled tonight's flight to Madrid", Sanchez, 32, said upon learning that she would not be given authorization to make the trip.

"It's another way to remind us that we are like little children who need to get our parents' permission to leave the house," she said.

Generacion Y chronicles everyday Cubans' daily woes. Sanchez said her request for a travel visa is the "perfect test" to see if Cuba's new President Raul Castro is serious about opening up the regime.

El Pais praised Sanchez's "vivacious" writing style and "shrewdness" in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba when it announced her prize. The blog, hosted on a server in Germany, is Cuba's most popular, receiving 1.2 million hits a month.

Sanchez was also selected by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people.  

"What makes me happy is that I made the list not by being a famous singer or breaking athletic records, but simply by being a citizen."

Sanchez said she was surprised by the "sepulchral silence" in the Cuban press about her making Time Magazine's annual list. 

"They announced that Bolivian President Evo Morales made the list in the Cuban press but made no mention that a Cuban also made it," she said.

Cuba's Rebel With A Blog Wins Prestigious Journalism Award

Independent Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, who chronicles the woes of life in communist-run Cuba, has been awarded one of Spain's top journalism awards, the Ortega and Gasset prize for digital journalism.

Spanish newspaper El Pais, which awards the prize annually, said Sanchez won it for her "shrewdness" in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba, her "vivacious" style and her drive to join the "global space of citizen journalism."

Her Generacion Y blog is the most popular blog posted from Cuba. It received 1.2 million hits in February alone.

"This is great encouragement for Cuban bloggers who are still at an embryonic stage," she told Reuters by telephone from her home in Havana. "It recognizes that Cuban blogs can be a parallel source of information, reflection and independent opinions from Cuba's official media," the 32-year old said.

Sanchez has drawn considerable readership by writing about her daily life and describing the economic hardships and political constraints in her country. 

"Who is the last in line for a toaster?" was the title of a recent blog that satirized the lifting of a ban on a sales of computers, DVD players and other appliances that Cubans long for, though toaster will not be freely sold until 2010.

Kudos to the very courageous Yoani Sanchez.

Tourist Apartheid Finally Ends In Cuba

Apartheid, in one form or another, is alive and well today in many 'civilized countries' of the world. In some countries, it's a figurative apartheid -- discriminatory norms, unspoken policy and unfair laws; in others, it's a literal apartheid that manifests in walls, fences and other impediments. 

Despite history's dismal view on the age old practice (and the historical fact that it only serves to exacerbate existing problems), the human temptation to 'isolate as solution' still manages to persist as a popular manner in which to deal with seemingly problematical minority groups.

Fortunately, Raul Castro has taken steps to finally end Cuba's long-standing policy of "tourist apartheid." 

For years, Cuban citizens have been banned from hotels and resorts, as well as many of the most beautiful beaches on the island. In their place: tourists. Europeans, Canadians, Mexicans, Americans, Japanese -- hell, anyone really, as long as they're not Cubans.

Additional recent reforms have certainly been crowd pleasers (Cubans are now allowed to buy computers, DVD players, microwave ovens, plasma televisions and cell phones), but the lifting of the ban on citizens enjoying the hotels, resorts and beaches, previously only reserved for non-Cubans, is a particularly symbolic victory for Cuba's everyman.

Relaxing the hotel ban eliminates a glaring historical contradiction within the Cuban revolution. When the Castro brothers' rebels took power in 1959, they joyfully overran beach resorts and hotels that had been the playgrounds of high-rolling foreigners, declaring them open to all Cubans. Their noble vision of equality for all clearly got perverted.

Despite the restrictions over the years, Cubans have been able to clearly see what they've been missing. The tourism industry now generates $2 billion a year, and while the US travel and economic embargo limits contact with Americans, Cubans mix freely with other foreigners.

Cuba's actions, although painfully long in coming, should be an example to other countries around the world that apartheid, in any form, is counter-productive and immoral.

Hell Hath No Fury

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez has something to say to say and she thinks the government is trying to gag her.

For the past 11 months, the 32-year-old cyber rebel has ruthlessly disparaged life on the socialist island in her Generacion Y blog (English version), tackling taboo topics like the country's aging leadership and what she sees as Raul Castro's "vague promises of change."

She even called for Fidel Castro's resignation months before he issued it and suggested that the next ruler be a "pragmatic housewife" instead of a soldier, charismatic leader or a great orater.

Since last Thursday, Sanchez charges, internet users in Cuba are experiencing difficulty logging on to her web site. She is convinced government censors added filtering software to her page to intentionally slow down the connection.

"So, the anonymous censors of our famished cyberspace have tried to shut me in a room, turn off the light and not let my friends in," Sanchez blogged on Monday.

"It won't work," she vowed. "This is just fuel for my fire."

The internet, she says, has become a forum where Cubans are airing complaints. "The authorities are afraid this is turning into something massive."

And, unlike the rest of the press on the island, there is no government control over the printed word on the internet. "We've gone beyond the status quo," said Sanchez.

Her blog, posted on a server in Germany, is growing in popularity. Last month, she says it received over 1.2 million hits. Sanchez believes about a quarter of her readership resides on the island, mostly young Cubans.

It's A New Dawn, It's A New Day

Cuba finally signed two UN human rights pacts that former president Fidel Castro failed to endorse.

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights both came into force in 1976 at the height of the Cold War.

In June, the UN Human Rights Council dropped Cuba from a list of special investigatory mandates for countries where human rights records are of particular concern, in a move criticized by the US and Canada.

A European diplomat in Havana called the signing "a first step in the right direction" by Raul Castro. (Photo by Nigel Atherton)

Fidel Steps Aside

"To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept -- I repeat, not aspire to or accept -- the positions of President of Council of State and Commander in Chief."

Fidel Castro, 81, is retiring as Cuba's head of state, forty-nine years after he seized power in an armed revolution.

Castro's supporters admired his ability to provide a high level of health care and education for citizens while remaining fully independent of the United States.

Castro's detractors called him a dictator whose totalitarian government systematically denied individual freedoms and civil liberties such as speech, movement and assembly.

Monarchs excepted, Castro was the world's longest ruling head of state.

Barack, meet Fidel. Fidel, meet Barack.

In the Chesapeake Rout, according to exit polls in Maryland, Obama won:

* Latino voters by six points: 53-47

* All religions (including Catholics)

* All age groups (including seniors)

* All regions

* All education levels

* and, Women by 21 points

World Mourns Tata Guines, "King of the Congas"

Tata Guines, Cuba's most famous conga drummer, has been buried outside Havana after a six decade career that helped popularize Afro-Cuban rhythms, worldwide.

Known as the "King of the Congas" and "Golden Hands," the 77-year old died Monday after being hospitalized for hypertension. 

Mourners sang, clapped and swayed at a ceremony yesterday in his hometown of Guines -- which he took as his stage name at the start of his career.

Guines took the stage in Havana in the early 1940s and moved to the US in 1957, where he performed with Josephine Baker, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. Guines returned to Cuba in 1959 in protest to the racial segregation he experienced in the US. 

"Fame did not extend beyond the stage. Once you left the stage, it was like the signs said: 'Whites Only'," Guines said.

California Makes First (And Long-Overdue) Trade Mission To Cuba

California, the top U.S. food producing state, sent its first official agricultural trade mission to Cuba, hoping to tap into a potential $180 million food market. 

While other states have been selling to Cuba for seven years (an exception to the trade embargo was granted by Washington in 2000), California has only dipped its toe in the Cuban market, selling products worth just $735,000 to Cuba in 2006.

"Some of us might be a little late in getting there, but we are here," California Food and Agriculture Secretary A.G. Kawamura told reporters in Havana today. Kawamura is leading a delegation of companies seeking Cuban contracts for dairy products, wine, grapes, figs, nuts and other specialty fruits. Estimates are that California can provide Cuba with more than $180 million worth of products from Californian farmers and ranchers.

"California finally is getting off the dime and into trade with Cuba," said Greg Estevane, whose company Global Strategies has sold Californian wine and tomato paste to Cuba. Estevane said that was because the Bush administration is on the way out and the financial restrictions it introduced on business with cuba may be lifted.

What Would Jesus Do? Hint: Defy The Ban

Pastors For Peace is an organization of courageous men and women who believe that the American blockade against Cuba is unconstitutional, mean spirited -- and most importantly, immoral. So what do they do?

In the tradition of Martin Luther King's non-violent action, Pastors For Peace stands up to the US Treasury Department and blatantly defies the ban -- in other words, they exercise their right to travel wherever they please (in this case, Cuba). What's more, they bring (literally) boat loads of humanitarian goods to the island (a recent caravan delivered more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid, including school buses, medicine, clothes and books). 

"As people of faith and conscience, it is our duty to resist and condemn this cruel US policy," declared Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr, Executive Director and founder of IFCO (Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization), a 40-year old ecumenical agency. "IFCO/Pastors For Peace believes the ban is illegal under international law because it uses medicine and food as weapons of war to force another nation to change its government."

Since 1992, Pastors For Peace has made 20 caravans to Cuba (always delivering humanitarian aide). Each time, the Caravan has encountered resistance from US officials, but each time, the US officials back down (proof of the power of organized, motivated and determined people). 

"We can not allow the government to regulate our conscience. Our faith and humanity demand that we provide 'a cup of cold water' (Matthew 25:35) to our brothers and sisters in need. We can not 'surrender unto Caesar' the right to decide who are our brothers and sisters. We can not accept a law that commands us to treat them as "the enemy" when our faith commands us to love them as members of our own family."

For more information on humanitarian trips to Cuba, go to the Pastors For Peace site.

Congrats Guantanamo, You're A Strapping Six Years Old!

Ah, birthdays. Lovely milestones that mark the passing of time. In this case, it's hard to believe Guantanamo is a strapping six years old!

The concentration camp at Guantanamo puts the US in such lovely company as Germany, Bosnia, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, China, Cuba and Somalia -- all countries who've imprisoned people without charge, trial or judicial review. 

Amnesty International is leading worldwide events, rallies and meetings to mark the sixth anniversary of the first transfers of detainees to Guantanamo. Over 1200 parliamentary representatives from many countries around the world have signed a declaration calling to end illegal detention by the US government carried out in the name of counter-terrorism. Hundreds signed from parliaments across continental Europe, the UK and Israel -- countries that are the staunchest US allies in the "war on terror." (Photo courtesy lewishamdreamer, Flickr)

Ex-CIA Philip Agee, Dead at 72 in Havana

Philip Agee, an ex-CIA agent who often infuriated American intelligence officials, has died in Havana. He was 72.

Agee quit the CIA in 1969 after 12 years working mostly in Latin America, at a time when leftist movements were gaining sympathizers and prominence. His 1975 book "Inside The Company: CIA Diary" cited alleged CIA misdeeds against leftists in the region and included a 22-page list of purported agency operatives.

Granma, Cuba's Communist Party newspaper, said Agee died Monday night and described him as a "loyal friend of Cuba, and fervent defender of the peoples' fight for a better world."

Agee's US passport was revoked in 1979. US officials said he had threatened national security. After years of living in Hamburg, Germany, Agee moved to Havana to open a travel web site. The site, CubaLinda, is designed to bring US tourists to Cuba, offering packages, tours and other help that is largely off limits to Americans (because of the travel embargo). 

The Candidates (And Huckabee's Ever-Changing Views)

With Fidel Castro ailing and Cuba's leader-designate, Raul Castro, also advanced in age, it appears likely that the next U.S. president will need to alter policy to accommodate Cuba's changing political environs. The rhetoric and proposed policies of the presidential candidates towards Cuba will undoubtedly hold weight in the upcoming contest.

Following are distillations of some of the candidates' views:

Hillary Clinton: In a 2000 speech at the Council of Foreign Relations, Senator Clinton said she was opposed to lifting the embargo as long as Cuba is "undemocratic."

Joseph Biden, Jr.: Supports the embargo, as well as for the development of a strategy for "democratization in a post-Castro Cuba."  In 1996, Biden voted for the Helms-Burton Act, which sought more stringent international sanctions against the Island.

John Edwards: Supports the embargo, but said he would support and end to travel restrictions on Cuban families. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Edwards said he supported sanctions that "target Castro's regime but help the innocent Cuban people, allowing trade for food and medical supplies."

Mike Gravel: Opposes the embargo and has called for a normalization of relations.

Dennis Kucinich: Kucinich says US policy toward Cuba "has failed." He calls for an end to the embargo and a repeal of the Helms-Burton Act. He also opposes any travel bans.

Barack Obama: In August 2007, Obama called for travel and remittance restrictions on Cuban-Americans to be lifted. In an op-ed in the Miami Herald, Obama said he would engage in bilateral talks with Cuba to send the message that the US is willing to normalize relations with Cuba upon evidence of a democratic opening there. He has voted twice to cut off TV Marti funding. 

In terms of the Republicans, they are all strongly against lifting the embargo, as well as lifting the travel ban (with the exception of Ron Paul, who is generally opposed to the embargo and travel restrictions). Interestingly, Mike Huckabee previously supported lifting the Cuban embargo, but has since changed his opinion. Just this month, Huckabee said he would veto any effort to end the trade restrictions. However in 2002, Huckabee argued that the embargo was harmful to American business. 

 

Coy Castro Hints At Retirement

Fidel Castro, in a letter delivered to Cuba's Parliament this week, said the he "was not a person clinging to power." He elaborated, saying that as a young man, he hoped to cling to power, but has long since outgrown the urge.

Castro continued, "Let me add that I was (clinging to power), because of excessive youth and lack of conscience. What made me change? Life itself." The letter drew a standing ovation from 509 legislators at the National Assembly where his seat sat empty next to his 76-year-old brother, Raul Castro.

Castro, 81, has not said when -- or if -- he will step aside for good after emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede "provisional" authority to his brother 17 months ago. He has not been seen in public since, but remains the head of Cuba's Council of State, Cuba's highest governing body. (Photo courtesy Mr. Jaded, flickr.com)

Mexico Takes Top Prizes at Havana Film Festival

Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas took the Grand Coral this week at the 2007 Havana International Film Festival for Luz Silenciosa, his film about Mennonites in northern Mexico. The film also won Best Direction (Reygadas), Best Soundtrack and Best Photography. 

Other winning films included Brazilian film "El Ano Que Mis Padres Salieron de Vacaciones" by Cao Hamburguer, "El Otro" by Argentinian Ariel Rotter, "Madrigal" by Cuban Fernando Perez, and "Fiestapatria" by Chilean Chico Teixeira.

Baghdad, Yes; Havana, No

Cuban-American, Carlos Lazo, is a sergeant and combat medic who recently served in Iraq. He testified this week to the Committee on Senate Finance about current Cuba policy that forbade him from visiting his two sons in Havana upon returning from Iraq. Following is an excerpt of his articulate statement:

In Iraq, I was risking my life on a daily basis. All I wanted to do was hug my boys and spend even a few hours with them. In a war, time is precious, life is uncertain, and this visit had profound significance to me. 

I flew all the way from Iraq to Miami intending to board a plane to Havana from there. By that time, our government had imposed new restrictions limiting travel to the island. These new regulations, among other things, limits family visits by Cuban Americans to once every three years. The new rules also re-defined the concept of "family."

I served and I survived. After more than a year, and I completed my tour of duty in Iraq, I tried once more to visit my sons and family in Cuba. I was denied a license to do so. Not even the fact that one of my sons was gravely ill and in a hospital was good enough reason for our government to allow me to spend a few hours to travel to Cuba.

When I tell my American friends about the obstacles that stop Cuban Americans from visiting their family members in Cuba, they automatically assume that the restrictions have been imposed by the Castro government. Even after I explain the truth to them, they cannot believe that the travel restrictions were created by our own government. 

Wouldn't it be better if the greatest ambassadors of democracy -- Cuban Americans -- could visit the island and relay our message of freedom and American values? What better way of promoting basic values intrinsic in our society that through people-to-people contacts.

These restrictions are cruel, they are inhumane, they are irrational, and they are unjust. Most of all, rules that prevent families from visiting, and helping, and loving each other -- are un-American.

Bush Gives De Palma A "Time Out" -- De Palma Obeys

Legendary filmmaker Brian De Palma, the man behind such films as Scarface, The Untouchables and The Black Dahlia, was denied entrance by the US State Department to the screening of his latest film at the 29th annual Havana International Film Festival. 

David Lynch (Inland Empire, Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet) was also barred from attending. Other attending dignitaries included Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Javier Bardem, and Gael Garcia Bernal.

"It seems my State Department could not offer me a visa," De Palma said.

In all, the festival features more than 500 films from around the world, including more than 40 from the United States. (Art by Shepard Fairey)

(Illegally) Blogging In Cuba

Blogging in Cuba can get you in a heap of trouble (translation: jail), but that threat hasn't stopped hundreds of bloggers on the island determined to get their messages out. Lately, Cuban bloggers have taken to dressing like tourists, feigning accents and secretly using hotel internet lines (native Cubans aren't allowed inside tourist hotels). 

Meet blogger Yoani Sanchez and her blog Generacion Y (Google-translated version here). Once inside the hotel, Yoani Sanchez has to write fast. Not only because she fears getting caught, but because online access is prohibitively expensive. An hour online costs about $6, the equivalent of half of what the average Cuban make in a month.

Independent bloggers like Sanchez have to build their sites on servers outside Cuba, and they have more readers outside Cuba than inside .

That is not surprising, since only 200,000 Cubans of the 11 million on the island have access to the World Wide Web. This is the lowest rate in all of Latin America -- and sadly ironic for a country with such a high literacy rate (97%).

Alonso Letter Stirs Support From US Entertainment Industry

Cuba's legendary prima ballerina, Alicia Alonso, wrote a letter recently to the Bush administration expressing outrage over their plan to enact further legislation that would severely curtail cultural exchanges between Cuban and American artists. 

Upon seeing the letter, a group called the US/Cuba Cultural Exchange (USCCE), an international network of artists, took the initiative to begin  their own campaign. The combined efforts have resulted in a massive groundswell of support from prominent US artists, including Tom Waits, Sean Penn, Fox Music head Robert Kraft, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker. 

Alonso, who is also a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, stated in her letter, "Let us work together so that Cuban artists and writers can take their talent to the United States, and that you are not prevented to come to our Island to share your knowledge and values; so that a song, a book, a scientific study or a choreographic work are not considered, in an irrational way, as a crime." 

The letter, along with the hundreds of signatures, will be delivered to the White House, and the campaign will  be ongoing until changes are made to allow for a free flow of creative expression between the US and Cuba.

Click here to sign the petition.

Dubai Woos Cuba (But Really Wants To Marry The US)

After two years of negotiations, plans are moving forward for Dubai Ports World (a partly state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates) to invest $250 million in converting the decrepit port in Mariel, just west of Havana, into a modern container facility. A formal feasibility study has been commissioned.

The choice of Mariel, one of the closest points in Cuba to the US, is significant. The port is best known as the setting for a massive boatlift in 1980 when, over a period of six months, 125,000 cubans set off in flimsy rafts as Fidel Castro turned a temporary blind eye to those wanting to leave his poor one-party state. They were picked up and taken to the US by a flotilla of American yachts.

Mariel appeals to international port operators for the same reason -- its proximity to the United States. "This deal isn't just about getting goods to Cuba," said one analyst who had studied the project. It's about getting into the US market." American ports are close to capacity, and environmental restrictions make any big expansion of existing terminals unlikely. In a post-embargo world, Mariel (which is expected to be open for business in 2012) would be a well-positioned hub.

Dubai Ports World refuses to comment on the deal, but there's little doubt that the company is eager to gain a foothold, if not actually in the United States, then as close as possible to it. (Courtesy The Economist 2007/photo jimfrazier/flickr)

East Of Havana

East Of Havana is a documentary about hip-hop artists in Cuba who have to dodge the law in order to perform the music they love. 

The filmmakers faced problems on both sides of the cultural divide. The US government allows Americans to travel to Cuba only under limited circumstances (and this film wasn't one of those 'limited circumstances'). Once in Cuba, the filmmakers had to avoid Cuban authorities to get the footage they wanted.

Jeffrey Wells, from the SXSW Film Festival said, "The film says something quite interesting, which is that as much as Cuban citizens may fear the power of the government, the government fears its people and their freedom of expression exponentially more. The Buena Vista Social Club showed us one side of Cuban music and culture, but East of Havana finally reveals the voice of contemporary Cuban youth and the rise of a very different new generation."

Enough With The Che Murals!

Travel photos from Cuba can be as cliche as a red Che' t-shirt. Do we really need to see more snapshots of Communist propaganda billboards, the decrepit 1950s Chevy, and that old lady in Havana chewing on a cigar?

Enter Martien Muldur, a Dutch-born, New York-based photographer who captures Cuba from a decidedly different perspective. Martien is a minimalist, and if there's one thing Cuba has, it's space. Sure, Havana is on top of itself, but even in those confines, Mulder finds the fresh air, the white noise, the open expanse.

Be sure to check out her site.

"Camel Bus" Retired

The worst of Havana's aging buses is called "the camel." It looks even uglier than that.

Actually it's a tractor-trailer that hauls a homemade double-humped cabin made of two bus shells welded together -- a peculiarly Cuban contrivance whose patchwork conjures up a post-apocalyptic image of transit.

While the big rig is depicted affectionately in political cartoons on state-run television, it also remains the starkest emblem of the island's transportation woes, especially at rush hour when commuters pack the 18-wheelers right up to their 300-person capacity. The camel will be replaced by a fleet of modern Chinese-made buses.

"The only difference is that sardines come with olive oil and tomato sauce," wisecracked Rafael Martinez, 34, a camel commuter who sat on a park bench in central Havana as about 100 other people waited in line for the next bus.

We Ain't No Jiniteras...

It isn't all about Buena Vista Social Club.

One of the (positive) manifestations of Cuba's unique isolation is the brilliant underground music scene. Las Krudas is one of those acts -- check it.

These outspoken feminists are quick to dispel long-standing stereotypes of women in Cuba, as well as any notion of theirs being a weaker sex. The women of Las Krudas are brash, articulate, and give their typically male MC counterparts a run for their money.

Cuba Junky

Want to lose yourself for a few hours? Dive into Cuba-Junky. It has all the basics you could ask for in a Cuban tourism site (exhaustive coverage of hotels, casa particulars, etc.), but also boasts a photographic collection that rivals the best on the net. Kids, artists, sports, religion -- the images are striking and memorable. Here's an image of Los Van Van's Mayito Rivera, one of Cuba's best contemporary musical exports. 

Havana Galerie

An amazing gallery dedicated to the most exciting and cutting-edge artists in Cuba exists in Switzerland of all places -- Zurich specifically -- Havana Galerie. Their site beautifully showcases more than 30 artists -- art lovers and art investors alike will be entranced... The painting to the right is by Havana-born artist Carlos Estevez.

Cuban Elections Set For January '08

Cuba announced that national elections will be held January 20, 2008, to determine whether ailing leader Fidel Castro will continue as president. The date for national elections had not been previously announced, but earlier indications had been that they would not be held until March or April of '08. 

There was no word on why the balloting will be held earlier than originally anticipated. 

Anyone 16 or older can vote in Cuba and casting a ballot is not mandatory. Membership in the Communist Party -- the only legal political party on the island -- also is not required. (Photo courtesy Alex Castro)

Chess With Che'

The world lost a good man today -- Victor Rabinowitz.  He was 96, and died in Manhattan.

Rabinowitz was a leftist lawyer whose causes and clients over nearly three-quarters of a century ranged from labor unions to Black Panthers to Cuba to Dashiell Hammett to Dr. Benjamin Spock to his own daughter.

For much of his career, Rabinowitz teamed up with the lawyer Leonard B. Boudin, who died in 1989, to defend clients like Julian Bond, Daniel Ellsberg, Paul Robeson, the Rev. Philip Berrigan, Rockwell Kent and Alger Hiss. The pair did not take the espionage case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, only because they were already defending someone else accused of being a spy.

The two lawyers won the privilege of representing the new revolutionary government of Cuba as a client over a poolside chess game with Che Guevara at Havana’s Hotel Riviera in 1960. Guevara won, then gave them Cuba’s business.

It quickly provided considerable work. The United States banned Cuban sugar imports, and Cuba retaliated by nationalizing American corporate holdings. Rabinowitz defended Cuba’s position (in the case of Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino) before the United States Supreme Court in 1963. Rabinowitz contended that decisions of other countries about their internal affairs would not be questioned by American courts. In 1964, the courts agreed

Rabinowitz was a member of the Communist Party from 1942 until the early 1960s, he wrote in his memoir, “Unrepentant Leftist” (1996). He said the party seemed the best vehicle to fight for social justice. Krinsky pointed out that Rabinowitz did not join the party until after the Soviet Union and the United States became World War II allies.

1Click2Cuba 2.0

1Click2Cuba debuted in 1999 -- basically as a hobby. A few years after it started, life moved on in other directions and -- the site paid the price. Today, nearly 10 years later, the goal is clear: bring 1Click2Cuba back to its former glory. Back in the day, 1Click2Cuba was one of the best sites on the internet dedicated to Cuban tourism and culture. Today? Well, like many once grand buildings in Havana, renovation is in dire need.

The work has begun. Take note, and watch the site as we slowly but surely re-energize the pages with beauty, wisdom and information. It's a new phase and a new direction. 1Click2Cuba 2.0, if you will.

Change seems to be a common (and welcome) theme these days -- change to the site, climate change, regime change, change locally, change globally. The coming months and years are sure to be a fascinating ride, both in the United States and Cuba (and the world in general).

Change brings inevitable challenges and surprises -- we look forward to the ride (bumps and all).