Académicos de Cuba y EEUU publicarán recomendaciones para normalizar relación

www.uv.mx

organizado por el agente de inteligencia del servicio exterior cubano por mas de tres decadas, carlos alzugaray treto, un documento referativo puede leerse  aqui >>

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ABC.es

EFE

Académicos de Cuba y EEUU presentarán en Washington un libro con más de 20 recomendaciones dirigidas a los Gobiernos de ambos países para crear espacios de normalización de las relaciones bilaterales en temas como medio ambiente, comercio, viajes, y seguridad y terrorismo.

El documento elaborado por expertos de la Universidad de La Habana y de la American University incluye las recomendaciones producidas desde 2009 dentro del proyecto Talleres Académicos Cuba- Estados Unidos (TACE), informó hoy la agencia oficial cubana Prensa Latina.

Con versiones en inglés y español, el libro será presentado el 30 de mayo en Washington durante el próximo congreso de la Asociación de Estudios Latinoamericanos (LASA) y se prevé su posterior lanzamiento en Cuba.

Los académicos cubanos Milagros Martínez y Carlos Alzugaray, quienes participaron del proyecto, indicaron a Prensa Latina que las recomendaciones abarcan los temas de "medio ambiente, intercambios académicos, seguridad y terrorismo, comercio y desarrollo y libertad de viaje".

Martínez resaltó que los talleres fueron expresión de "diplomacia académica" y consideró que se trata de una importante experiencia en un escenario de "conflictos tan tensos" como los que marcan las diferencias políticas de Cuba y EEUU desde hace más de medio siglo.

"Todo lo que sea recomendaciones que impliquen mayor fluidez entre académicos y estudiantes universitarios puede ayudar mucho, porque para poder hacer cambios hay que entenderse y para entenderse hay que conocerse", afirmó la especialista.

Según la académica, en el proyecto participaron también "personas que tuvieron acceso a sus Cancillerías" y que pueden interactuar con los Gobiernos, dado el interés de presentar los resultados del ejercicio "a instancias gubernamentales que decidan cuáles recomendaciones implementar".

Por su parte, Carlos Alzugaray cree que actualmente se viven condiciones "más favorables" y en Estados Unidos existe "un creciente ambiente político interno de las fuerzas favorables a la normalización de las relaciones".

"Si uno analiza lo que los 'tanques pensantes' norteamericanos han venido diciendo sobre Cuba se verá que son más constructivos", añadió.

Alzugaray opinó que aún cuando el presidente de EEUU, Barack Obama, no ha hecho todo lo que podría, existe "una actitud distinta", y en su última campaña no adoptó "una posición dura" contra Cuba.

En ese sentido, se refirió a la política de Obama de eliminar restricciones a los cubanoamericanos para que visiten la isla y de permitir más viajes de ciudadanos norteamericanos como parte de los intercambios educativos, culturales y religiosos.

Los expertos cubanos coincidieron por otra parte en que el tema del terrorismo "es imprescindible" dentro del conjunto de recomendaciones de TACE.

Según subrayaron, la mayoría de los observadores estima que la inclusión de Cuba en la lista de Estados Unidos de países patrocinadores del terrorismo "desprestigia" ese informe del Departamento de Estado.

Académicos de Cuba y EEUU publicarán recomendaciones para normalizar relación

Inteligentes Utiles: Directora General de la UNESCO elogia sistema educativo cubano

Inteligentes Utiles: Directora General de la UNESCO elogia sistema educativo cubano

Denuncian que espías cubanos se infiltran en grupo académico en EEUU

ElNuevoHerald.com

Juan O. Tamayo

La negativa de visas por parte de Estados Unidos a tres cubanos invitados a un congreso académico ha destapado una protesta sorprendente, tanto en contra de Washington como de los tres académicos estadounidenses pro-Castro que supuestamente controlan la agenda sobre Cuba de la conferencia y los espías de La Habana que asisten a la misma.
La influencia de Cuba sobre la Asociación de Estudios Latino Americanos (LASA) se ha rumorado por largo tiempo entre los académicos estadounidenses. Pocos se han quejado públicamente, por miedo a que La Habana les prohíba la entrada o les niegue acceso a materiales de investigación.
Pero ahora las quejas se han hecho públicas.
“La sección de Cuba de LASA ha caído en manos de partidarios de la revolución, y ha sido completamente politizada”, dijo Ted Henken, profesor de Estudios Latinoamericanos de Baruch College en Nueva York.
“Los que hemos estado en LASA también sabemos que dentro de la ‘delegación’ cubana hay siempre tantos ‘policías’ como en Coppelia un sábado en la noche”, dijo el sociólogo cubano Haroldo Dilla, aludiendo a la famosa heladería de La Habana.
Evelyne Huber, presidenta de LASA, dijo que la sección de Cuba “está abierta a todos los miembros de LASA, y la misma LASA está abierta a todos los estudiosos y otros profesionales interesados en América Latina. No se excluye a nadie de la membresía en base a sus opiniones políticas”.
Las reuniones de la asociación están asimismo abiertas a todos los que se registren, añadió Huber, directora del departamento de Ciencias Políticas de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte. El website de LASA dice que la misma cuenta con más de 7,000 miembros en todo el mundo.
Los comentarios de Henken y Dilla fueron provocados por reportes de que el Departamento de Estado de EEUU ha negado visa, al menos por el momento, a tres cubanos invitados a asistir al congreso anual de LASA, del 29 de mayo al 1 de junio, en Washington.
Ellos han sido identificados como Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, reportera del periódico Granma y profesora de la Universidad de La Habana, y los jóvenes blogueros Isbel Díaz Torres y Dimitri Prieto Samsónov.
Se debería permitir la participación del trío en la conferencia de LASA ya que “se han caracterizado por sus posiciones críticas frente a aspectos específicos de la realidad cubana”, escribió Dilla en una columna publicada el 15 de abril en el website Diario de Cuba.
Henken, miembro de LASA que dirige además la Asociación para el Estudio de la Economía Cubana (ASCE), alegó que las negativas de visa son “una oportunidad perdida para que EEUU escuche voces críticas y auténticas desde dentro de Cuba”.
Pero, aunque la libertad académica y los intercambios siempre son deseables, alegaron ambos hombres, las relaciones académicas EEUU-Cuba están empañadas por una falta de reciprocidad, o por cosas peores.
Henken señaló que a Omar Everleny Pérez, un joven economista cubano que ha criticado algunas de las reformas económicas del gobernante Raúl Castro y a quienes había invitado a participar en un panel de LASA, su propia universidad no le permitirá viajar a Washington.
Y, aunque Baruch College envió a nueve estudiantes en enero a Cuba, La Habana nunca respondió la solicitud que hizo Henken para acompañarlos, agregó. “Nunca me dijeron que no, pero nunca me dijeron nada”, escribió Henken en un correo electrónico a El Nuevo Herald.
Dilla, quien ahora da clases en la República Dominicana, señaló que Cuba no permite a algunos académicos exiliados como él mismo que regresen a la isla a asistir a conferencias, publicar su trabajo en las revistas de la isla o enseñar en sus universidades.
Intervención
Una investigadora estadounidense que presentó un trabajo en la conferencia de ASCE en Miami el año pasado, admitió que la versión impresa de su trabajo no era tan crítica de La Habana como sus afirmaciones verbales porque ella temía que no la dejaran entrar más a Cuba.
“La sección de Cuba de LASA ha sido básicamente intervenida por los cubanos, el gobierno… y nosotros guardamos silencio para conseguir o seguir teniendo acceso a Cuba”, dijo la investigadora, quien pidió conservar el anonimato por las mismas razones.
Henken señaló que cuando LASA estaba a punto de quejarse públicamente de la negativa de visas de EEUU a invitados al congreso del año pasado, él consiguió que se incluyera una queja de que La Habana también había negado permiso a dos críticos para que asistieran: la bloguera Yoani Sánchez y el economista Oscar Espinosa Chepe.
“Los días de guardar silencio están contados”, añadió, porque una reforma de inmigración adoptada por Cuba en enero está facilitando a los cubanos salir de la isla. “Ahora la caja de Pandora ya está abierta. Los resultados son imposibles de controlar”.
Henken visitaba a menudo a Cuba con motivo de investigaciones académicas, pero después de que él entrevistó a varios blogueros en el 2011, incluyendo algunos que critican al gobierno, funcionarios de Seguridad del Estado lo pararon cuando regresaba a su casa y le dijeron: “Esta va a ser tu última vez”.
Aunque el proceso de Estados Unidos de entrega de visas para académicos “tiene sus problemas de politización, burocracia y arbitrariedad”, señaló, “la burla sistemática de la libertad académica y la libertad de movimiento” del gobierno cubano “es mucho más condenable”.
No ha habido indicios del tamaño de la delegación cubana al congreso de LASA el mes próximo. Pero en el 2003 la administración de Bush negó la visa a toda la misión cubana, que se alega constaba de 75 personas.
Dilla, quien asistió a dos conferencias de LASA antes de abandonar Cuba en el 2000, escribió que la asociación debería presionar al Departamento de Estado para que concediera visas, pero agregó que él quería “destacar un par de detalles”.
Agentes
Aunque académicos cubanos altamente respetados asisten a las conferencias de la LASA, señaló, las delegaciones cubanas siempre incluyen a oficiales de inteligencia y colaboradores.
“Algunos están en la nómina de Línea y A”, añadió, refiriéndose a la dirección de la sede de la Dirección de Inteligencia del Ministerio del Interior. “Otros son guardianes de los servicios ideológicos, unos en activo y otros retirados… Pero todos, y por encima de todo, son personas que desempeñan roles que tienen muy poco que ver con el libre debate académico”.
“Se les puede notar en cada congreso, chupando el presupuesto de LASA, coaccionando a los verdaderos académicos y convirtiendo al Task Force de Cuba en una enmarañada y opaca extensión del Departamento Ideológico del Partido Comunista de Cuba”, agregó.
Los cubanos que asisten a las conferencias de la LASA también se reúnen antes de viajar para casi dos semanas recibiendo instrucciones del Departamento Ideológico sobre temas tales como la economía o los derechos humanos, dijo Dilla a El Nuevo Herald en una entrevista telefónica el jueves.
El ex oficial de la inteligencia cubana Orlando Brito Pestana, quien desertó en el 2002 y vive ahora en el sur de la Florida, ha dicho que él asistió a una conferencia de LASA en Canadá alrededor de 1991 con acreditación del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba.
Su trabajo, añadió, era detectar a los académicos pro-Castro que asistían a la conferencia y vigilar a los académicos cubanos que podrían estar planeando una deserción.

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2013/04/26/v-fullstory/1462836/espias-cubanos-se-infiltran-en.html#storylink=cpy

Denuncian que espías cubanos se infiltran en grupo académico en EEUU

U.S. Rep. Castor Relies on Spy's Report in Letter to Obama

capitolhillcubans

Oh the irony.

On the very same weekend that The Washington Post's Magazine runs a cover-story on infamous Cuban spy Ana Belen Montes, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) writes a letter to President Obama citing a report written by Montes for the Defense Department (while serving as a Cuban spy) as part of her rationale for wanting to normalize relations with the Castro regime.

Rep. Castor writes to President Obama that "no evidence exists that Cuba remains a state-sponsor of terrorism" because (citing an old report from the Council on Foreign Relations) "in 1998, a comprehensive review by the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Cuba does not pose a threat to U.S. national security."

If Rep. Castor would have picked up The Washington Post this weekend, she might have learned that the "comprehensive review" she is citing was led by Ana Belen Montes, a former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) senior analyst, who is currently in a federal prison for serving as a spy for the Castro regime.

As The Washington Post reported, "Montes had succeeded beyond the Cubans’ wildest dreams. She was now briefing the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Council and even the president of Nicaragua about Cuban military capabilities. She helped draft a controversial Pentagon report stating that Cuba had a 'limited capacity' to harm the United States and could pose a danger to U.S. citizens only 'under some circumstances.'"

And that, "... intelligence experts consider [Montes] among the most harmful spies in recent memory."

Oops.

That's what happens when a Member of Congress, who is not on any foreign-policy related committee, is advised by unscrupulous business interests, U.S.-based groups with an ideological affinity to the Castro dictatorship and a four-day propaganda trip to Cuba overwhelmingly focused on meetings with regime officials (while ignoring courageous pro-democracy leaders).

However, this isn't the first time Rep. Castor steps in it since her return from Cuba.

She also came back expressing great concern about Cuba's offshore oil drilling and the need for the U.S. to engage with the Castro regime on this effort.

Apparently, Rep. Castor didn't get the memo that Castro's offshore drilling dream is a bust and that even its near-shore drilling effort has now been called off.

Actually, the title of The Washington Post's feature this weekend was quite fitting:

"Ana Montes did much harm spying for Cuba. Chances are, you haven’t heard of her."

There are obviously a lot of things about Cuba that Rep. Castor hasn't heard of -- or simply chooses to ignore.

U.S. Rep. Castor Relies on Spy's Report in Letter to Obama

Congresswoman Kathy Castor Should Stop Supporting Castros

Capitol Hill Cubans

By former New York Times reporter and Miami Herald editor, Angel Castillo Jr., in Florida Voices:

Castor Should Stop Supporting Castro Brothers

In the dying days of their failed communist revolution, Cuba’s Castro brothers, “President” Raul and dictator emeritus Fidel, have added a very useful Washington lobbyist to their roster of U.S. based propagandists.

She is Congresswoman Kathy Castor, a left-wing member of the Democratic Party from Tampa who, since 2007, represents the Tampa and St. Petersburg metropolitan areas. She believes that since 1959 the Castro brothers have merely conducted “an amazing experiment in communism that did not work” on the island.

For some time now, Castor, a 46-year-old lawyer, has been advocating on behalf of the termination of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, the No. 1 priority of the Castros. Of course, the embargo has long been a joke, with Cuba buying food and medicine directly from the U.S., and other goods indirectly through multiple corporations based in Panama and other opaque corporate havens.

Not only does Castor want the embargo to end, she also is advocating on behalf of other urgent Castro goals: remove Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, increase commerce between Cuba and the U.S., and remove restrictions that keep American tourists from traveling freely to Cuba to spend Yankee dollars there.

Castor, however, does not call for Cuba to do anything at all in return for all the financial concessions that she wants the American taxpayers to generously lavish on the octogenarian oppressors of the Cuban people.

While she may not be required legally to register as a lobbyist for Cuba under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, Castor has certainly been acting like one, urging President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, among others, to make life easier for the Castros.

She also has been working hand in glove with several notorious pro-Castro U.S. propaganda organizations to promote the agenda of the Cuban government in this country. These include the Center for Democracy in the Americas, the Center for International Policy, and the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation

Castor was a keynote speaker last month at a two-day Tampa conference titled “Rapprochement With Cuba: Good for Tampa, Good for Florida, Good for America,” during which she vigorously called for an immediate end to all U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba.

Among those participating with Castor at the conference were Castro diplomats Llanio Gonzalez Lopez, General Counselor of Cuba in the U.S., and Warnel Lores Mora, Counselor and First Secretary, both with the Cuban Interests Section in Washington.

Last week, while Beyonce and Jay-Z were happily traipsing through tourist Havana as part of an “educational exchange trip,” Castor arrived in Cuba for a four-day “fact finding mission” ostensibly aimed at creating “business jobs in the Tampa area”.

No sooner did Castor return to Tampa than she hurried to meet with the local news media, including the editorial board of the Tampa Tribune newspaper, to preach about ending the embargo. After listening to Castor, the Tribune dutifully published an editorial calling for an end to the embargo.

Let’s hope all those rich Cuban tourists jam Tampa Bay’s hotels and beaches real soon and help create thousands of good business jobs there.

Congresswoman Kathy Castor Should Stop Supporting Castros

Castro’s US-Based Supporters Continue “Free the 5″ Push

Cuba Confidential

Students Host Event at Columbia U, Help Expand Fight to Free Cuban 5

BY RUTH ROBINETT, in The Militant

NEW YORK — “We can learn from the Five a lesson for our own struggle of how to stand tall and never bow,” said Randolph Carr, political chair of the Black Students Organization in opening remarks at a March 29 student-organized event of some 200 people at Columbia University on the fight to free the Cuban Five — Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. (See Who are the Cuban Five?) “For me the story of the Five is one that is, unfortunately, similar to the story of the many unseen and forgotten that sit, waiting and waiting, behind the wall of America’s dungeons.” said Carr, who is also a leader of Students Against Mass Incarceration. “Similar to the Five, people are swept into the system of incarceration by whatever means and forced to bow down to the weight of that machine. The Five have been swept into that system, and to this day remain unbowed.” He then posed the question: “What do we have to learn about how to live free from those forced to live in cages because of their politics?”

Sponsored by eight campus organizations, the event was attended by dozens of Columbia students. Speakers included representatives from the Caribbean Students’ Association and the Chicano Caucus of Columbia University; Martin Garbus, lead attorney for the Five; Rodolfo Reyes, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations; Julio Escalona, Venezuelan Deputy Ambassador to the U.N.; and Luis Rosa, a Puerto Rican independence fighter and former political prisoner who spent 19 years behind bars in the U.S. It was chaired by Nancy Cabrero, president of Casa de las Américas, and civil rights attorney Michael Warren, who provided an extensive overview of the U.S. government’s frame-up.

‘Cuba gives meaning to solidarity’

Imani Brown speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Students’ Association talked about why the group decided to “stand in solidarity with the Cuban Five and what they stand for.” Brown pointed to the role and example of Cuba in the Caribbean and beyond. “In the history of independence struggles and movements to end the reign of colonialism and neocolonialism worldwide, Cuba has not hesitated to lend its support and strategic partnership to what it has seen as its Caribbean and African family,” Brown said, “ranging from sending freedom fighters to Angola — fighters who include three of the Cuban Five, I should note — in order to end South African apartheid, to providing scholarships to Cuban medical schools to the rest of the Caribbean. Cuba has given new meaning to ideals of solidarity, unity, and support within its community.”

Hernández, Fernando González and René González all took part in Cuba’s internationalist combat mission to defend Angola from the invading white supremacist army of apartheid South Africa (see article on page 7). Like Hernández and Fernando González, Cuban Ambassador Reyes served during the later years of the 1975-91 mission, after graduating from Cuba’s Institute for Advanced Study of International Relations, where they were studying to be diplomats. “We were not professional soldiers,” Reyes said. “We volunteered to go to Angola to fight apartheid and help defend the sovereignty of the Angolan people.” “Fernando and Gerardo could have been in my place,” said Reyes. “But they agreed to take on responsibility for a mission to defend the dignity, sovereignty and life of the Cuban people.”

When Fernando and Gerardo returned from Angola, Reyes noted, counterrevolutionary paramilitary groups operating with impunity from southern Florida were stepping up a campaign of bombings in Cuba, targeting the island’s tourist industry and carrying out other provocations designed to draw Washington into a military confrontation with Havana. The Five’s mission, Reyes said, was to protect the revolution by gathering information on the activities and plans of these rightist groups.

In the days leading up to the event, students organized a successful free-speech campaign to prevent the university administration from limiting participation from outside the campus to 15 people on the pretext of “public safety.” Most who wanted to were able to attend as a result of their victory. But dozens who were not on an RSVP list were turned away by university officials. “We have run into some difficulties, as events like this centered around things others deem controversial often are,” said Brown. “But that’s not going to stop us when it comes to our voices being heard about this important topic.”

‘Fight to free 5 is fight for ourselves’ 

Keep reading on Cuba Confidential >>

Castro’s US-Based Supporters Continue “Free the 5″ Push

Brookings Needs Five Minutes With Senator Rubio

capitolhillcubans

Last week, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) famously said regarding travelers to Cuba:

"Cuba is not a zoo where you pay an admission ticket and you go in and you get to watch people living in cages to see how they are suffering... You just went to Cuba and to fulfill your curiosity — which I could’ve told you about if you’d come seen me for five minutes — you’ve left thousands of dollars in the hands of a government that uses that money to control these people that you feel sorry for."

One traveler who could have used five minutes with Senator Rubio is Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott.

Talbott traveled to Cuba earlier this month, wined and dined with Castro regime officials, and left them thousands of dollars, while probably shunning courageous democracy activists (as his Brookings colleagues have done in the past in order not to "offend" their regime hosts).

Then, he made this amazing "discovery":

From Havana: much of Cuba's expanding tourist sector is controlled by military officers, active & retired.
— Strobe Talbott (@strobetalbott) March 2, 2013

Despite this, Talbott's subordinate at Brookings, Ted Piccone, who led some of the previous trips that shunned Cuba's courageous pro-democracy activists, argues this week that the U.S. should proceed to bail out the Castro regime -- by enhancing business ties with its monopolies (for Cubans are prohibited from engaging in foreign trade) -- in order to soften the blow from the prospective loss of billionaire subsidies from Venezuela.

(This was not a surprise, as in the past, Brooking's Cuba reports have completely glossed over human rights).

Piccone's column is entitled "Time to Bet on Cuba." However, unilaterally engaging the Castro regime and its business monopolies sounds more like "Time to Bet on Castro."

Ironically, this week, we have witnessed the extraordinarily talent and courage of Yoani Sanchez and Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo in New York and Washington D.C.; Berta Soler in Madrid and Rosa Maria Paya in Geneva. Not to mention the leadership of Antonio Rodiles, Jose Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez," Jose Daniel Ferrer, Guillermo Farinas and so many others back in Cuba.  

These outstanding individuals have shown the world that there is indeed a Cuban alternative to the Castro regime -- that there is a bright future ahead.

Brookings is clearly making the wrong bet.

Brookings Needs Five Minutes With Senator Rubio

“Retired” Cuban Spy Pontificates on Cuban Support to Terrorism

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

Cuba and the List of Countries That Promote Terrorism

By Jesús Arboleya Cervera [photo], appearing in Progreso Semanal/Weekly

HAVANA – Every year, the U.S. Department of State publishes a list of “countries that promote terrorism” that serves as a basis for Washington’s policy toward them. The list includes a set of sanctions established by Congress. Many are the questions that arise from this practice. In the first place, the very concept of “terrorism” has yet to be defined by the international organizations of justice and the United Nations, due to the political manipulation to which it is subjected.

In other words, the U.S. government describes as “terrorist” whoever it sees fit and omits others who might deserve the description but whose inclusion is inconvenient. For example, Afghanistan was invaded in 2002 at the start of the “world war against terrorism,” yet it doesn’t appear on the list. Many believe that the United States itself could be on the list, if the list were made up with rigor and fairness. In sum, more than a moral condemnation, the list of countries that promote terrorism is a boast of unilateral power, whose true importance is to announce where the shots are coming from.

Cuba has been included since 1982 because of its support for the revolutionary movements in Central America. It is revealing that it was precisely the administration of Ronald Reagan that took the initiative, while at the same time he was promoting a “low-intensity” war in the region that led to his condemnation in the International Court of Justice. Later, he was rebuked by Congress itself, due to the Iran-Contra scandal. Anyhow, even after those conflicts were over, Cuba remained on the grim list. Other excuses were used then, such as saying that Cuba sheltered fugitives of U.S. justice in the 1970s, gave refuge to members of the Basque group ETA, and “offered medical aid and political assistance” to combatants in the Colombian FARC.

Various international analysts, legal institutions and American politicians have for years refuted the legal pertinence of those arguments, so I’ll simply quote recent statements by Congressman Jim McGovern, in which he made clear that the abovementioned fugitives never committed terrorist acts and that the ETA members are in Cuba at the request of the Spanish government itself. As if that weren’t enough, Havana at present is the site for the peace talks between the Colombian guerrillas and the Colombian government, as it has been previously, throughout the years. {emphasis added]

The Congressman also said that, due to the state of relations between the two countries, there are no extradition accords that justify that complaint. I should add that, if negotiations to that effect were to begin (as the Cuban government once proposed), the list submitted by Cuba would include hundreds of people who have actually committed terrorist acts against Cuba, among them the notorious Luis Posada Carriles.

In truth, the inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries that promote terrorism cannot withstand any serious scrutiny. Years ago, due to the weight of reality, Cuba abandoned the practice of supporting armed revolutionary movements, whose denomination as “terrorists,” from a historic perspective, is as questionable as the American list.
But that’s not what the problem is about. Cuba’s inclusion on the list is an excuse to keep up the belligerence promoted by the American far right, especially the Cuban-American groups that serve as activists in Congress and various public opinion media in that country. Even if Raúl Castro became Mahatma Gandhi, those people would consider him a terrorist anyway.

The current debate has to do with the U.S. policy toward Cuba in the current circumstances. On one side are those who advocate maintaining the economic blockade and as many punitive measures as possible; on the other, those who posit that this policy is counterproductive for U.S. interests. It should be said that, except for some exceptions, the argument is the same: the efficacy of the method to achieve a “regime change” on the island. It has nothing to do with the truth.

For those who promote change, Cuba’s elimination from the list constitutes one of the most favorable targets. It is not based on reality; its arbitrariness affects the credibility of Washington’s policy against terrorism. Also, the decision, in whatever direction, rests entirely on the government, including the State Department, without involving the President directly. This does not mean that it will be a simple task. There will be a big hubbub from the conservatives; more than one functionary will be subjected to third-degree interrogations in Congress; some laws and appointments will be used as exchange currency to revert the decision. We shall then see if Obama’s administration is willing to face the storm in order to proceed with the change it proposes.

As a result, for more than its practical importance, inasmuch as the sanctions against the island exceed what’s established in the provisions, Cuba’s elimination from the list of countries that promote terrorism would serve as an indicator of this willingness, placing us on a stage that’s qualitatively different, where the adoption of more transcendental measures could be possible.

Some in Cuba believe – with reason – that what’s proposed is a bear hug. I think a hug is preferable to a bite. Besides, wishes don’t necessarily come true, and the simple fact of recognizing that Washington’s current policy toward Cuba is not viable shows us how times have changed and proves that our resistance was worthwhile, as phrased by Manuel Calviño, a famous Cuban psychologist on his television program.

Editor’s Note: Colonel Jesus Arboleya Cervera was identified by DGI Captain Jesus Perez Mendez after his defection in 1983. Arboleya, who served as a Second Secretary at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York City before transferring to the Washington-based Cuban Interests Section, was also identified by convicted spy Carlos Alvarez. During his tour, Arboleya was the architect of the 1970’s US-Cuba normalization drive, which almost succeeded in 1977 following the formation of a group of prominent Cuban-Americans who called themselves the Committee of 75. Although headed by respectable Cuban-Americans, including two clerics and several businessmen, the Committee was DGI-inspired. According to Senate testimony of March 12, 1982, at the time, Arboleya may have been the longest serving DGI officer in the United States.

Since Colonel Arboleya promoted the subject of Havana’s role in peace talks (see “emphasis added” above), be sure to read about the following posts discussing the exploitation of peace talks by Cuba’s spies:

Cuba Dupes UPI; Uses Peace Talks to Hide Decades of Support to FARC Terrorists, December 14, 2012, http://cubaconfidential.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/cuba-dupes-upi-uses-peace-talks-to-hide-decades-of-support-to-farc-terrorists/

Cuba’s Terrorist Allies Open Peace Talks With Enraged Rhetoric, October 19, 2012, http://cubaconfidential.wordpress.com/2012/10/19/cubas-terrorist-allies-open-peace-talks-with-enraged-rhetoric/
Colombia Nears Possible FARC Peace Talks, August 28, 2012, http://cubaconfidential.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/colombia-nears-possible-farc-peace-talks/

“Retired” Cuban Spy Pontificates on Cuban Support to Terrorism

Enseñan en Washington cómo hacer negocios con Cuba

martinoticias

Aunque el embargo aplicado al gobierno de Cuba limita las operaciones comerciales con la isla los estadounidenses pueden exportar alimentos y otros productos agrícolas a la isla, y un seminario llamado "Haciendo negocios con Cuba" enseñará cómo hacerlo el próximo 8 de abril en Washington.

El evento tendrá de duración medio día y es patrocinado por la Alianza Comercial Texas- Cuba y una de las agencias que forman parte del sistema de la Universidad Texas A&M, el AgriLife Extension Service, que dio a conocer la información en su página en Internet.

Según el doctor Parr Rosson, jefe del departamento de economía agrícola de la universidad, el seminario “ayudará a los exportadores, procesadores y distribuidores de alimentos, así como a los agricultores y personas involucradas en la elaboración de políticas a entender el mercado cubano y las regulaciones pertinentes”.

Los participantes también aprenderán cómo obtener una licencia para viajar y exportar a la isla, y conocerán cuáles son las exigencias de inspección.

Rosson dijo que además serán puestos al día sobre los “recientes cambios en Cuba y cuáles productos tienen mayor potencial en el mercado cubano”.

De acuerdo con el economista, “compañías estadounidenses exportaron unos $450 millones a Cuba en 2012 pero el mercado tiene potencial para crecer mucho más en el futuro”.

Entre los participantes en el seminario figuran además de Rosson, Anthony Cristino III, director de la división de política exterior de Departamento de Comercio- Oficina de Industria y Seguridad; el abogado Robert Muse, quien disertará sobre los pagos y regulaciones de viajes, y Ernest Bezdek, director de comercio y desarrollo del Puerto de Beaumont, en Texas. 

Enseñan en Washington cómo hacer negocios con Cuba

(Vídeo) Castristas asaltan rueda de prensa de Berta Soler en Madrid

buena respuesta que debiera ocurrir donde quiera que asomen el ass.
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Desde el sitio de joanantoniguerrero

(Vídeo) Castristas asaltan rueda de prensa de Berta Soler en Madrid

Fallece el agente castrista Aruca a los 72 años

ElNuevoHerald.com

Juan O.Tamayo

Francisco González Aruca, fundador de la agencia de viajes a Cuba Marazul y comentador de la radio en Miami, murió la semana pasada a los 72 años, según dijo su hijo Daniel.
Una nota publicada el lunes en la página de Progreso Weekly, una publicación digital lanzada por Aruca, informó que murió de un ataque al corazón el miércoles 6 de marzo en Denver, Colorado, donde había estado viviendo por varios años.
La nota agregó que su hijo Daniel, en un correo electrónico al editor de Progreso Weekly, Alvaro Fernández, recordó unas palabras de su padre: "Si me muero hoy, sé que he vivido una vida muy llena y que viví mucho más tiempo de lo que cualquier pudiera haber esperado".

Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2013/03/11/1428292/72muere-francisco-gonzalez-aruca.html#storylink=cpy

Fallece el agente castrista Aruca a los 72 años

Agentes de influencia en Washington haciendo su trabajo

Wayne Smith/ www.latinamericanstudies.org

los tradicionales agentes de influencia de siempre, conspirando abiertamente en washington a favor de los kaxtroz. mientras marti noticias no considera necesaria una nota al reporte de su periodista.

Wayne Smith, Danny Glover & lawyer Jose Partierra: Obama, give me 5

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martinoticias

Diana Molineaux

Como ya han hecho en múltiples ocasiones, varios expertos en relaciones latinoamericanas pidieron nuevamente en Washington que Cuba sea retirada de la lista de países que patrocinan el terrorismo.

Lo hicieron en una conferencia en el Club Nacional de Prensa de la capital norteamericana. Los ponentes eran Wayne Smith, quien fue el primer jefe de la Sección de Intereses nortmeaircana en Cuba, en la época del presidente Jimmy Carter, además del congresista demócrata por Massachussets Jim McGovern, quien regresó recientemente de un viaje a la isla. También el abogado Robert Muse, quien ha representado varias causas contra el embargo y la prohibición de viajes a Cuba, así como el diplomático retirado Anthony Quainton, quien participó en su día en la decisión de incluir a Cuba en la lista de países terroristas y. el representante  de la Oficina de Washington para América Latina, Adam Isaacson.

Si bien McGovern aseguró que Cuba experimenta grandes cambios y conviene reconocerlos, lo cual puede servir para una mejora de relaciones, Quainton dijo que una buena forma de hacerlo es recordar las bases para haber incluído a Cuba en esa lista y reconsiderarlo con esta perspectiva.

Quainton indicó que la conducta de Cuba en los foros internacionales ha cambiado y, a diferencia de lo que ocurría hace décadas, ya no participa en acciones violentas. Por el contrario, favorece negociaciones contra el terrorismo. Dio para ello el ejemplo de su mediación entre el gobierno de Colombia y las FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia), aunque no olvidó el rol de apoyo que en su día tuvo La Habana para otro grupo terrorista colombiano, el ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional), cuyos líderes estudiaron en la isla.

Para Quainton, el cambio se debe en parte a la nueva situación creada internacionalmente, pues hoy en día hay muchos líderes de izquierda en el hemisferio y las autoridades cubanas no ven motivos para seguir sus métodos anteriores.

En cuanto a Muse, señaló que los argumentos actuales del Departamento de Estado, de que Cuba patrocina el terrorismo por su apoyo a la ETA española o a miembros de las FARC no son válidos, porque en el caso de la ETA actúa con apoyo del gobierno de Madrid. Con las FARC, Cuba hace una mediación de paz..

Tampoco acepta que se la incluya en esa lista porque da refugio a fugitivos de la justicia, pues los acuerdos de extradición ya no son vigentes y difícilmente podría aplicarse, y menos aún exigirse, un acuerdo que nadie sigue.

Isaacson también se manifestó contrario a la designación de estado terrorista, pero añadió que es muy difícil cambiarla mientras Cuba siga reteniendo al contratista norteamericano Alan Gross, aunque expresó su esperanza de que este problema pueda resolverse mediante negociaciones.

De especial interés fueron los comentarios de Wayne Smith, quien repasó la actitud y conducta de los presidentes norteamericanos desde Jimmy Carter. Señaló que la mayoría de ellos, republicanos o demócratas, llegaron a la Casa Blanca con expectativas que no se materializaron en sus relaciones con Cuba, pues en general habían mostrado pocas inclinaciones a endurecer las sanciones contra la isla.

Ni los republicanos Reagan o su sucesor George W H Bush parecían interesados en actuar contra Cuba, pero endurecieron su posición en la Casa Blanca. En cuanto a los demócratas, Smith se mostró sorprendido y amargado por su actuación: Carter, en vez de un acercamiento, acabó con una postura más dura y Bill Clinton, quien parecía tender una mano a la Habana, presidió sobre el endurecimiento mayor desde la llegada de los hermanos Castro, pues firmó la ley Helms Burton, que codifica el embargo.

Efectivamente, antes de esa ley los presidentes podrían haber levantado el embargo por orden ejecutiva, pero ahora tan solo pueden hacerlo si el Congreso cambia la legislación. Smith y los demás panelistas especularon que los presidentes actuaban en respuesta a las acciones de Cuba, como en el caso de Clinton tras el derribo de una avioneta de Hermanos al Rescate fuera de las aguas jurisdiccionales cubanas – o que reaccionaban a las presiones del exilio cubano.

En este último sentido, expresaron todos su esperanza de que el presidente Obama sea más positivo con Cuba pues las últimas elecciones parecen indicar que el voto de la Florida ya no depende de una política de mano dura con el régimen de Castro. Es consecuencia, dijeron, de que en Miami hay una nueva generación de exiliados cubanos y también de que la Florida tiene emigrantes hispanos de muchos otros lugares además de Cuba.

Agentes de influencia en Washington haciendo su trabajo

Stupidest Chavez Sendoffs

capitolhillcubans

Rep. José Serrano (D-NY)

A great compilation by Michael Moynihan in Daily Beast:
(1) The most astonishing entry comes from New York University professor Greg Grandin, writing in The Nation, who allows himself to “be perverse and argue that the biggest problem Venezuela faced during his rule was not that Chávez was authoritarian but that he wasn’t authoritarian enough.” If nothing else, one must give Grandin points for honesty and for bolstering Polish historian Leszek Kolakowski’s theory that such regimes must resort to authoritarianism to survive.
(2) In an unbylined piece at The Huffington Post, readers are told that “Hugo Chávez was a man of many talents: he played ball, sang songs, pulled out pistols, and got down and groovy—and that is precisely how we’ll remember the Venezuelan leader.” One can debate whether drawing a firearm counts as a talent, but The Huffington Post might want to remember Chávez’s reign, which was, in the words of Human Rights Watch, “characterized by a dramatic concentration of power and open disregard for basic human-rights guarantees.” How very groovy.
(3) The indefatigable British-Pakistani chávista Tariq Ali, writing in The Guardian, blubbered that Chávez “appeared as an indestructible ox, speaking for hours to his people in a warm, sonorous voice, a fiery eloquence that made it impossible to remain indifferent. His words had a stunning resonance. His speeches were littered with homilies, continental and national history, quotes from the 19th-century revolutionary leader and president of Venezuela Simón Bolívar, pronouncements on the state of the world and songs.”
And those watching television and listening to the radio, as noted above, had no choice but to listen. One can only imagine what Ali would have said if, during the 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in her plummy and sonorous voice, commanded all media outlets to carry her speeches or risk being shut down. That would be fascism—but the “eloquent” and literate cadena is freedom.
4) Rep. José Serrano (D-NY) eulogized Chávez both on Twitter and in a press release: “He believed that the government of the country should be used to empower the masses, not the few. He understood democracy and basic human desires for a dignified life. His legacy in his nation, and in the hemisphere, will be assured, as the people he inspired continue to strive for a better life for the poor and downtrodden.”
Congress is clotted with buffoons, so it’s not surprising that the media often fails to give Serrano his due. Nor is it surprising that a man who once refused to acknowledge that Cuba isn’t a democratic country (“I don’t know ... I don’t live there”; “It’s a sovereign country”; “It’s a country with a different system than ours”), and who claimed that Castro’s one-party state indeed allowed freedom of speech, would lament the passing of el comandante.
5) And finally, instead of the predictable nonsense from Joe Kennedy, Oliver Stone, and Sean Penn, let us turn to one of Venezuela’s many authoritarian allies. PressTV, the reliably insane news service of the Iranian regime, speculated that Chávez was offed by the CIA’s give-cancer-to-Latin-American-leftists unit. The report, from former academic (and current Holocaust denier!) Kevin Barrett, isn’t without a qualification, though: “Am I 100% certain that the CIA killed Hugo Chávez? Absolutely not. It could have been non-governmental assassins working for the bankers.

Stupidest Chavez Sendoffs

Castro Apologist Spins Her View of Post-Chavez Venezuela

Confidential

Julia Sweig betweend Castro & Jeffrey Goldberg

By Chris Simmons

NPR: After Chavez, What's Next For Venezuela?

Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez died Tuesday in Caracas, leaving many unanswered questions about the future of the country. Julia Sweig, director for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, talks about the impact "Chavismo" had on Venezuela and the world.

LYNN NEARY, HOST: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Lynn Neary. And as I've just mentioned, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez died Tuesday. He led his country for 14 years. A passionate defender of the poor, Chavez had closed ties with Cuba's Fidel Castro, but alienated the United States with his socialist agenda. His politics reverberated throughout the region.

If you have any questions about the politics of Venezuela, give us a call. The number here is 800-989-8255. The email address is talk@npr.org. And you can join the conversation at our website. Go to npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION. Joining me now to talk about the legacy of President Hugo Chavez is Julia Sweig. She is a senior fellow and director of Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She wrote a piece with The Atlantic last month called "What Hugo Chavez Built: The Legacy of Latin-American 'Chavismo.'" She joins us by phone from Calistoga, California. Good to have with you, Julia.

JULIA SWEIG: Great to be here, Lynn. Thank you.

NEARY: Now, in that piece in The Atlantic, you said that early in his presidency, Chavez remarked that he saw himself as a transitional figure in Venezuelan history. What did he mean by that, a transitional figure?

SWEIG: Well, what I surmised at that time, that he meant, is that his objectives in Venezuela to really overhaul the political and economic status quo would require a very long time, and that there was no possibility that one person alone could accomplish his very, very ambitious goals, that the Venezuela he inherited from the ancient regime, if you will, had deep, deep social and political and economic cleavages. And that to redress those, he was but a flicker on the historical screen. I'm not sure, 10 years later, he would have described himself as a transitional figure in Venezuelan history, but I actually see him that way as well.

NEARY: Now, he had a very strong political and very personal relationship with Cuba's Fidel Castro. Tell us about that.

SWEIG: Yes, he absolutely did, and it goes back to the early 1990s. In 1992, after Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Chavez staged a failed coup himself, he traveled to Cuba and he developed there, with Fidel, a very close and long-standing strategic conversation and then political relationship once he took power in 1999. Fidel Castro, to my mind, saw in Chavez a way to prolong his own legacy and ambition in Latin America as an anti-imperialist, as a revolutionary, albeit in a very different context than when Fidel himself took up that mantle in the 1960s. And they really had a mind meld, of sorts, if you wish, which continued up until; I'm sure, their last goodbye, last week, before Chavez returned from Havana.

NEARY: And, of course, Hugo Chavez was able to funnel a lot of help into Cuba, a lot of financial help into Cuba.

SWEIG: Yes, he did. The relationship was an enormous benefit to Cuba in that regard. After 1989, the Cubans lost their Soviet subsidy. They went for a decade of very, very severe economic crisis. But as the political, diplomatic relationship deepened, especially after 2002, the economic financial relationship also blossomed. And it wasn't just in the Caracas-Havana direction, although the subsidized oil programs, the barter, the investment that, you know, almost zero-financing, zero-interest investment by Chavez in Cuba was enormous. But Cuba's investment in Venezuela was likewise essential, I think, to Chavez consolidating his political domination - dominance in the country.

So it wasn't just the advisers who were providing medical care to poor Venezuelans who had never had it or barely had it, not just the sports, not just the culture, not just the capacity building, but it was strategic advice about how to consolidate power, how to build the institutions of Chavismo, that we'll now be able to see how long-lasting they were.

NEARY: Well, what were his relations like with the rest of Latin America and South America? I imagine there's a variety there. But give us a sense of how he was viewed.

SWEIG: You know, I think it's useful to - so Chavez, in a way, as Fidel had in the past, took up the mantle of sort of representing the David challenging Washington's Goliath. And in Latin America, the first decade of this century, we saw, not only in Venezuela, but we saw in a number of countries - in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Nicaragua - of a very different stripe. In Brazil and Argentina, we saw what is, you know, could be loosely understood as a left, center-left - sometimes populist, sometimes not - ethos dominate politics and elect politicians.

Chavez was controversial, even within those countries that I just mentioned, but he also had very, very high symbolic value because he tried to make the case that Latin America no longer needed Washington, could act on its own accord, could have an independent foreign policy, could organize its economies in defiance sometimes of what was called the Washington consensus, could build its own destiny without having to ask permission first. And that's a very, very resonant message that Chavez embodied.

But at the same time, not only was he polarizing domestically, he also was within the region. And he was very - I would use the word - presumptuous and assuming that this Bolivarian revolutionary model that he had for Venezuela and that he saw for especially the Andean region would be accepted universally and it was not.

It was largely pushed back against, while at the same time, heads of state like Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, before her, Lula in Brazil sort of found a way to appreciate Chavez without - but also erecting some constraints to his ability to mobilize and polarize the region.

Entire story follows here: http://www.npr.org/2013/03/06/173636647/after-chavez-whats-next-for-venezuela

Castro Apologist Spins Her View of Post-Chavez Venezuela

Intelligence-Affiliated Pro-Castro Group Plans Protest in Miami Next Saturday

Cuba Confidential

Solidarity Caravan to Tour Miami for Cuban Five

Washington, Mar 6 (Prensa Latina) Several organizations of Cuban immigrants will stage a motorcade through Miami streets on Saturday, March 9, to demand the immediate, unconditional release of the five anti-terrorist Cuban fighters unfairly held in US prisons since 1998. Cuban American activist Andres Gomez said in a release that those groups are members of Alianza Martiana (Jose Marti Alliance) and will tour main avenues in solidarity with Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez, internationally known as The Cuban Five.

Four of them are serving harsh sentences for monitoring Miami-based violent groups that planned actions like those which have left over 3,400 victims in Cuba in the past 53 years. Meanwhile, Rene Gonzalez left prison on Oct.7, 2011 after serving a 13-year sentence, and was given an additional three-year supervised release punishment in Miami.

According to Gomez, the motorcade will protest impunity granted by the US Government to extreme right Cuban-American terrorists and also defend full normalization of relations between Washington and Havana. Alianza Martiana coalition groups the Antonio Maceo Brigade, Alianza Martiana as an individual group, the Jose Marti Association, the ATC, the Bolivarian Club of Miami and the Association of Christian Women in Defense of Family, among other groups in solidarity with Cuba. In the past few years, its members have carried out similar activities for the same purposes.

Editor’s Note: PRELA failed to note that Andrés Gómez is also the coordinator of the Antonio Maceo Brigade and editor of the magazine Areito digital. Both entities have long and distinguished histories of collaboration with Cuban Intelligence. Additional background on these groups can be found in previous “Cuba Confidential” postings. Please use the “search” feature to find the related posts.

Intelligence-Affiliated Pro-Castro Group Plans Protest in Miami Next Saturday

WP: Menendez Allegations Are False

capitolhillcubans

the raw story

From The Washington Post:

An escort who appeared on a video claiming Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican Republic police that she was instead paid to make up the claims in a tape recording and has never met or seen the senator before, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.

The woman identified a lawyer who approached her and a friend to make the videotape, according to affidavits obtained by the Post. That man has in turn identified another lawyer who gave him a script for the tape and paid him to find women to fabricate the claims, the affidavits say.

Now, the question remains (as journalist Tracey Eaton posed in an effort to provide balance after collaborating with a pro-Castro group that was targeting Senator Menendez):

If the informant [using the pseudonym "Peter Williams"] is lying about Menéndez, he has done a serious injustice to the senator and should be punished. American authorities should track him down and prosecute him for making false statements to a federal agency. That is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

WP: Menendez Allegations Are False

Cuba Another way Castro makes money: Cigars auctions

but to castro's account.
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rawstory

Boris Becker

An auction of luxury cigar humidors in Cuba fetched $1.1 million, which will go toward the public health system, the state news agency said Sunday.

The sale came at an international cigar festival attended by celebrities such as American actor Danny Glover and German tennis great Boris Becker, Prensa Latina said.

Six fancy wooden humidors containing between 350 and 550 cigars each were sold at the auction Saturday night, the report said.

Glover received a silver sculpture in thanks for his support for Cuba and for his role in the “fight for peace and justice,” the agency said.

El XV Festival del Habano recaudó más de un millón de dólares en la subasta de seis lotes de lujosos humidores (cofres) de puros, realizada durante la exclusiva cena que puso el broche final a una semana dedicada al tabaco "Premiun", la estrella de la industria tabaquera cubana.

Unos 1.500 especialistas y amantes del tabaco "Premiun" -torcido totalmente a mano- que viajaron a Cuba desde 70 países permanecieron hasta la madrugada en el festejo de la aromática hoja celebrado en los salones del recinto ferial "Pabexpo" de La Habana.

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Allí se celebró la puja en la que fueron rematados los cajones de maderas preciosas de la isla que guardaban entre 350 y 550 habanos de las famosas marcas H.Upmann, Hoyo de Monterrey, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás, Montecristo y Cohíba, así como una vajilla de la firma Sagardelos.

La subasta del Festival del Habano caracteriza el cierre de este evento que se celebra desde 1994 y por tradición sus ingresos se destinan íntegramente al sistema de salud de Cuba.

En esta fiesta de cierre fueron entregados también los premios "Habanos del Año", que recibieron en la categoría de "Producción" el directivo del Grupo Tabacuba, Osvaldo Encarnación.

En el área de "Negocios" el galardón fue otorgado al subdistribuidor de Habanos S.A. en el Caribe, Mauricio Abrahamabady, y en "Comunicaciones" se llevó el premio Phoenicia Chipre, distribuidor de la Corporación en el Medio Oriente y África.

El premio especial del evento, una escultura de plata del orfebre isleño Raúl Valladares, lo recibió el actor estadounidense Danny Glover "por su amistad" con Cuba y "la lucha a favor de la paz y la justicia".

Glover, quien viaja con frecuencia a la isla, resaltó la ocasión como "muy particular", y se manifestó comprometido con la campaña internacional en favor de cinco agentes cubanos condenados por espionaje en Estados Unidos para lograr que regresen a sus hogares.

Durante la ceremonia de clausura se sorteó un Humidor dedicado al XV Aniversario de estos festivales.

Este año el Festival reunió desde el pasado martes a empresarios, coleccionistas, "sommeliers", catadores, directivos, artistas, productores, y fumadores, en jornadas que les permitieron consumir, hacer negocios, conocer desde las plantaciones hasta las fábricas donde con arte se tuercen los famosos puros cubanos.

Entre los invitados estuvo el famoso extenista alemán Boris Becker, ganador en tres ocasiones del torneo de Wimbledon, quien declaró su afición al aroma y el humo de los puros tras su retiro del deporte y en concreto, su favoritismo por la marca "Cohíba".

La Corporación Habanos S.A., anfitriona del evento y centrada en la comercialización de los puros "premium" que se elaboran en Cuba, fue fundada en 1994 y es resultado de la sociedad participada al 50% por la empresa estatal cubana Cubatabaco y Altadis, perteneciente al grupo inglés Imperial Tobacco Group PLC.

La cartera del tabaco "Premium" cubano la integran 27 marcas, entre ellas 220 vitolas y más de 350 referencias, además de 80 vitolas de galera o formatos de fábricas.

Al inicio de esta edición del Festival, Habanos S.A. reveló que en 2012 comercializó US$416 millones, cifra que supone un crecimiento del 6% favorecida por los mercados emergentes y pese a la crisis internacional y las restricciones a los fumadores.

Los organizadores ya adelantaron que la próxima cita de Habanos, será en del 24 al 28 de febrero de 2014.

Cuba Another way Castro makes money: Cigars auctions

UN High Commissioner Backs Cuban Five Case

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 28 (Cuban News Agency) The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay [photo], expressed her support of actions in favor of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters held in the United States and said she would do her best to find a solution to the case. Pillay received the spouses of Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez for the third yearly occasion in Geneva.

Rene Gonzalez and Gerardo Hernandez, along Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Ramon Labanino, known as the Cuban Five, were given extremely long sentences by a Miami court in 2001 after they monitored Florida-based violent organizations that planned terrorist actions against Cuba. Rene Gonzalez, is currently under probation in US territory after having met a 13-year prison term. During the meeting with the High Commissioner, Olga Salanueva said the probation imposed on her husband is absurd since he is denied to return to his country with his family. The two women stressed the importance that the United Nations intercedes in favor of reaching definitive solution to the Cuban Five case.

They also asked for the UN official to help in getting a visa for them so that they can visit their husbands in the United States. The UN High Commissioner admitted that the visa denial by US authorities is a violation of human rights, which should have not been used as an extra punishment. Pillay expressed her support of the case and her intentions to do her best towards a solution, according to a release by the Cuban permanent mission in Geneva.

UN High Commissioner Backs Cuban Five Case

The Media’s Love Affair With Castro Collaborators

cubaconfidential

By Chris Simmons

The Fourth Estate’s torrid tryst with sympathizers of the Cuban Revolution continues this week with the Huffington Post again running a feature by longtime Raulista and “former” Cuban Intelligence Officer, Arturo Lopez-Levy: Cuba Under Raul Castro: Economic Reform as Priority?

Not to be outdone, the Associated Press Cuba's new heir apparent has work cut out for him and Pacific Standard Our Guide Proves Prescient in Outlining Post-Castro Cuba both ran articles starring “award-winning” journalist Ann Louise Bardach, who has admitted that a Cuban spy attempted to recruit her during a visit to its Interests Section in Washington. News flash: when a journalist and self-professed “Cuba Expert” is targeted for recruitment by the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), it’s safe to say that said journalist’s opinions and publications are already very pro-Castro.

Editor’s Note: At no time did any of the news outlets advise their readers of their sources’ “previous” associations with Cuban Intelligence.

The Media’s Love Affair With Castro Collaborators

El Cuba Study Group y el embargo

diariodecuba

www.penultimosdias.com

Miguel Sales

En un manifiesto dirigido recientemente al presidente de Estados Unidos, el Cuba Study Group (CSG) pide la derogación de la Ley Helms-Burton e insta a Barack Obama a que, mientras no logre ese objetivo en el Congreso, emita órdenes ejecutivas para atenuar los efectos del embargo.

Es difícil comentar a fondo un texto prolijo —16 cuartillas— en el marco de una columna periodística. Por eso estas líneas se limitarán a las ideas medulares que lo sustentan, a riesgo de operar una reducción injusta.

Dejando a un lado el horroroso espanglish de la versión castellana, que a veces resulta ininteligible y obliga a acudir al texto en inglés para comprender el significado de ciertas frases (v.gr. "Diecisiete años después de su promulgación, la Ley Helms-Burton, cual continuó la codificación del el marco (sic) de las sanciones que se identifican generalmente como el embargo…" [párrafo 7] ), el documento justifica la petición en dos premisas harto discutibles.

Primero: El embargo estadounidense es causa fundamental del inmovilismo del gobierno cubano en el ámbito de la política interior.

Segundo: La supresión del embargo fomentará el desarrollo de la sociedad civil y acarreará inevitablemente cambios políticos en la Isla.

Con respecto al primer enunciado, es interesante examinar qué hizo el régimen cubano antes de que existiera el embargo, en los años de 1959 a 1961. Y, sobre todo, cómo procedió a partir de 2000, cuando en la práctica el embargo perdió buena parte de su eficacia, ya que desde esa fecha Cuba no solo podía comerciar con el resto del mundo sino también efectuar un volumen considerable de compras en Estados Unidos.

En ambos periodos, las autoridades cubanas manipularon con cierta flexibilidad los aspectos "económicos" del asunto, pero fueron muy rígidas en cuanto a su dimensión "política". Por ejemplo, tras las grandes confiscaciones de los primeros años, el Gobierno dejó un amplio sector del comercio minorista en manos privadas, al menos hasta la Ofensiva Revolucionaria de finales del decenio. La promulgación del embargo en 1962 no tuvo mayor repercusión sobre esta política de tolerancia. En cambio, en 1968 Castro decidió sacrificar la eficiencia de este sector privado a la necesidad de control interno, en una medida que poco tuvo que ver con la política comercial de Washington.

Desde 1991, el gobierno de Cuba ha vuelto a experimentar con el juego de tira-y-afloja en el ámbito económico, pero en última instancia siempre ha estado dispuesto a sacrificarlo todo a beneficio de la eficacia política. En ausencia de prensa y sindicatos libres, sin partidos de oposición y con agrupaciones religiosas dóciles, las autoridades pueden someter a la población a las condiciones de vida que estimen convenientes en aras de la supervivencia del sistema. Los hombres mueren, pero el Partido es inmortal.

La segunda premisa, que vincula la supresión del embargo al desarrollo de la sociedad civil y los cambios políticos en la Isla, está puesta en solfa por el mismo documento, que en el último párrafo de la página 8 advierte: "Si bien es difícil probar una relación causal directa entre las reformas económicas y una sociedad abierta, la historia moderna nos ha enseñado que es cada vez más difícil para los gobiernos dictatoriales mantener el control político cuando sus pueblos disfrutan de mayor prosperidad". Unas líneas antes, el texto había sugerido que la política estadounidense hacia Birmania (Myanmar) "podría ofrecer un modelo viable que los Estados Unidos podría seguir en su enfoque a la política (sic) hacia Cuba".

Esa "relación causal directa" entre el desarrollo de la sociedad civil y la evolución hacia la democracia se manifestó en España hacia 1975 pero ha estado ausente en China desde hace veinte años. Dejando piadosamente a un lado el caso de Birmania/Myanmar, cabe preguntarse si la situación actual de Cuba se asemeja a la de España en 1975 o a la de China en 1990. ¿O quizá a ninguna de las dos?

La lectura de un documento como este manifiesto presidencial del CSG deja siempre una lamentable impresión de parcialidad. Sería mucho más creíble si viniera acompañado de otro texto paralelo, dirigido al general Raúl Castro, en el que se pidiera al gobernante cubano medidas de apertura que podrían (o no) influir en la política estadounidense hacia la Isla. Esas medidas ni siquiera tendrían por qué estar sujetas a las decisiones de Washington, porque son prerrogativas soberanas del Estado cubano y atañen mucho más a la relación entre gobierno y ciudadanía que al pugilato bilateral. Por ejemplo:

a) Promulgar una amnistía para los presos por delitos de opinión y suspender el acoso y los actos de repudio contra los disidentes.

b) Cesar las exacciones en forma de gabelas y tasas de cambio leoninas y decretar el fin de la dualidad monetaria.

c) Garantizar el derecho a la libre expresión de las ideas y a la libertad religiosa, tal como proclama la Declaración Universal de Derechos Humanos, de la que Cuba es Estado signatario.

No sé si los preclaros miembros del CSG creen realmente que la vulneración de derechos que estas medidas remediarían está condicionada por la existencia del embargo comercial estadounidense. Sin duda es difícil demostrar una relación de causa/efecto. Tan difícil como probar que la supresión del embargo entrañaría necesariamente la aprobación, por parte de la dictadura cubana, de esas mínimas disposiciones liberalizadoras.

El embargo, como he señalado otras veces, es un tema opinable. Nadie dispone de una bola de cristal lo suficientemente diáfana como para vaticinar qué ocurriría si se suprimiera o se mantuviese. Afirmar que no ha funcionado hasta hoy es como declarar que toda la política de Estados Unidos con respecto al bloque soviético fue inoperante hasta el 8 de noviembre de 1989. O atribuirles únicamente a las medidas conciliatorias y los encuentros deportivos todo el crédito de lo que ocurrió a partir del día siguiente, cuando los alemanes derribaron el Muro y el mundo cambió en pocas horas.

Yo opino que, mientras el gobierno de los hermanos Castro no se comprometa a respetar todos los derechos de todos los cubanos y no aplique las medidas indispensables para llevar ese compromiso a vías de hecho, el embargo sigue siendo una herramienta de presión útil y necesaria. Útil porque le priva de recursos y porque señala claramente que Estados Unidos no aceptará una mascarada de "transición" a la rusa, en la que la policía política, los generales-empresarios y algunos comerciantes inescrupulosos de Miami se las apañarían para maquillar la continuidad del castrismo por otros medios. Necesaria porque es el único instrumento de que dispone Washington para influir sobre la evolución futura de ese Gobierno, habida cuenta de la inflexibilidad que los Castro han mostrado en lo tocante a la índole unipartidista y dictatorial del sultanato cubano.

Mientras no exista garantía alguna de que el gobierno de Raúl Castro responderá a las medidas conciliatorias de Washington con reformas sustanciales que empiecen a devolverles a los cubanos los derechos conculcados, las autoridades de la Isla transformarán cualquier gesto de apaciguamiento en victoria política y cualquier ventaja comercial en fuente adicional de financiación. Dos elementos que consolidarían aún más la capacidad de supervivencia del régimen castrista en su forma actual o en su muy probable versión maquillada "a la rusa", que ya parece estar en vías de gestación.

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Ver: Cuba Study Group pide que Obama 'restablezca' la autoridad ejecutiva en la política hacia Cuba

El Cuba Study Group y el embargo