Cuba Notes for February 2011
By Tom Whitney
Cubans help children in Haiti
Giving child survivors a boost, especially a psychological one, represents a challenge in post earthquake Haiti. That was true too following the 2005 Tsunami in South East Asia. A month after that catastrophe, the UN children’s agency UNICEF tried to identify what worked to protect children’s mental health.
International Book Fair
The twentieth edition of Havana's famous book fair began on February 10. After ten days, it moved on to other cities, ending up in Santiago de Cuba on March 5. The Fair this year honored Paraguay and a bevy of national and international writers. The extravaganza was dedicated to the bicentennials of "the first independence of Latin America" and "the First Declaration of the Abolition of Slavery," and the 220th anniversary of the Haitian revolution. "Two hundred personalities" from four continents received special invitations. Readings, concerts, theatrical and dance programs, colloquia, round tables, and individual presentations took place in 800 venues. The Fair in Havana, attended by 360,000 people and 14 Latin American culture ministers, featured 158 publishers' exhibits from 27 countries. Six million books and 2,400 titles were on hand, of which four million and 513, respectively, were Cuban. Some 700,000 books were purchased, reported Cubadebate.cu Feb 23, 2011
Chinese solidarity builds
Interviewed recently on Rebelion.org, Chinese Ambassador Liu Yuquin points out that his country's commercial dealings with Cuba – second only to Venezuela's - contribute to improved living conditions there. Chinese importations of Cuban sugar, rum, and bio-medical products complement Cuban purchases of cars, buses, refrigerators, electronic devices, and communications products from China. Bi-lateral trade rose from $800 million in 2006 to $1.8 billion last year. The newly opened Gran Melía-Shanghai Hotel in tandem with plans for a hotel near the Hemingway Marina typifies expanding joint venture projects. Chinese technical teams, already involved in modernizing Cuban telecommunications, will join in putting the new Venezuelan – Cuban, under-sea fiber optic cable into service. Cuba recognized the People's Republic of China in 1959, a Latin American first. February 15, 2011
Posada's hired murderers are CIA
A February 6 report from Trinidad and Tobago detailing U.S. intelligence files on Luis Posada, now on trial for lying, is big news in Cuba. http://www.newsday.co.tt/sunday_special_report/0,135310.html
Released in 2007 by the National Security Archives, the files relate to the in-flight bombing October 6, 1976 of Cubana Airlines Flight 455 off Barbados. Trinidad and Tobago Deputy Police Commissioner Dennis Ramdwar's statement October 28, 1976 is included. The official documents his investigation of Venezuelan citizens Freddy Lugo and Ricardo Lozano, who are shown having confessed to placing the bomb and being Luis Posada employees. Ramdwar reported Lozano as saying http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB202/19761026_ramdwar.pdf
"He was a member of the CIA, that he was recruited by the CIA in Venezuela between 1970 and 1971." Lozano recruited Lugo to the CIA. The Newsday report also documents the two men's complicity in bomb attacks on Cuban consulates and air travel facilities elsewhere in the region. February 7, 2011
Teachers of the World meet in Havana
Havana's International Pedagogical Conference opened on January 24. Welcoming 3,300 delegates from 38 countries, Cuban Vice President José Ramón Fernández emphasized teachers' closeness to the people and the necessity to eliminate illiteracy. A final declaration, summarized by Prensa Latina, urged "unity for the preservation of peace" and demanded educational policies worldwide reflecting children's rights to educational access and support for completing school. The document defended Latin American unity and denounced U.S. anti-Cuban hostility. The President of the Association of Latin American Educators sought delegates' support in the campaign to free the Cuban Five. Bélgica Ramírez of the Dominican Republic also displayed the plaque her organization was giving former Cuban President Fidel Castro for his having initiated the Congresses in 1986. February 1, 2011
U. S. mail deliveries are ended
As of January 21, postal authorities began refusing to process mail addressed to U.S. recipients. Beginning in November, they disallowed mail to the United States weighing more than 453 grams. That action came about in response to U.S. restrictions, ostensibly anti-terrorist in nature, imposed on mail received from Cuba and other countries. Since 1963, when the United States ended direct mail communication with Cuba, mail has flowed by way of third countries, primarily Mexico and Canada. The most recent Cuban action is attributed to cost increases stemming from airlines of those countries having to return undelivered mail. There are no political undertones, reports La Jornada newspaper. Bilateral talks on re-establishing direct mail service took place in September, 2009. January 23, 2011
Cuba: Infant Mortality rate hits new low
The nation's infant mortality rate (IMR) last year was its lowest ever, and lowest in the Western Hemisphere. There were only 4.5 first – year deaths for every 1000 babies born. That skilled specialty level health care played a role is illustrated by Villa Clara Province's experience last year. At 2.5, the IMR there was Cuba's most favorable. Of 8,083 babies born, 546 were diagnosed with serious medical problems, 75 of them requiring assisted respiration and 20, surgery. Yet only 16 of that group died. A report on Cubadebate.cu attributes the Cuban achievement to high educational levels, universal health care, an ethos of prevention and health education, blanket immunizations, and "the political will of the revolutionary government to the health of all citizens with special attention to women and children."
January 10, 2011
Washington is down on Cuban dissidents
Recently released Wikileaks documents show Jonathan Farrar, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, deciding that Cuban opposition groups are "disconnected from society [and are] more worried about taking in money" than broadening their appeal. U.S. diplomats find that "very few" dissidents have a "political vision applicable to a future government." They bemoan "the energy opposition factions use up in undercutting one another" while criticizing friction between exile and internal clients over "positioning themselves for power when the Castros leave." Quoting from documents, Cubadebate highlights U.S. officials' realization that such competition has led to "tens of thousands of euros and dollars [going to] to unknown, disconnected, and greedy characters." Henceforth, they would preferentially support "young bloggers, musicians, and artists." December 23, 2010
