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CUBA POLITICS SECTION - Havana Journal
WAYNE S. SMITH | CounterPunch.org
Cuba will not be a priority issue for the new U.S. administration, either in terms of economic interests or security concerns. It will face far more urgent problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in tensions between Pakistan and India, and between Israel and Hamas – not to mention the challenge of how to turn around the U.S. economy. But as pointed out in the Brookings report and by a number of other analyses, moving toward a more sensible approach toward Cuba will be one of the quickest and easiest ways of signaling change…
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By Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas | Coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement
I live in Havana , Cuba , in a modest neighborhood called Cerro. When the first democratically-elected government was installed in Chile , the first Chilean Christian Democrats visited our country. They dared to contact us, we who from the inside were, and still are, engaged in the peaceful struggle for democracy and freedom in Cuba.
They brought us a message of hope. After living for 17 years under military rule, the Chilean people began to walk peacefully down the path of democracy and respect for human rights.…
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GWYNNE DYER | CanberraTimes.com.au
I have learned one thing from my various visits to Cuba over the years, and that is not to predict the demise of the regime. I did that sometimes, if only to offer a bit of hope to various despairing individuals who thought that a visiting foreigner might know more about their future than they did themselves.
But the brothers Castro are still there, ever more moth-eaten (in Raul’s case, almost mummified), and they have just celebrated the 50th anniversary of their revolution.
Nevertheless, change may be lurking around the corner at last, for Barack Obama…
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AFP
Cubans will be permitted to build their own homes and do so using private funds, President Raul Castro announced on Sunday, in the latest reforms to back off the hardline communism of the past five decades.
Home construction in Cuba primarily has been left to the government, but demand has outstripped supply and a dire lack of housing has greatly frustrated the island’s 11 million inhabitants.
Raul Castro, 77 years old, who took over the reins of power from his older brother Fidel Castro last February, said the policy change would allow the quick construction of hundreds of thousands…
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Tracey Eaton | Along the Malecon
Fidel Castro’s 16 words
Fidel Castro signed his last Reflection, as his essays are called, at 6:12 p.m. on Dec. 15. The column appeared in Granma, the Communist Party newspaper, and was entitled, “The unjustifiable destruction of the environment.”
The next words attributed to Fidel came at 7 p.m. on Dec. 31. The message was brief:
With the 50th anniversary of the triumph just a few hours away, I congratulate our heroic people.
Imagine that: Just 16 words (17 in the English translation) from the man who is said to have spoken more words…
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Raul Castro: Today, the Revolution is Stronger than Ever
SPEECH MADE BY ARMY GENERAL RAUL CASTRO RUZ, PRESIDENT OF THE STATE COUNCIL AND THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF CUBA, AT THE COMMEMORATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION. SANTIAGO DE CUBA, JANUARY 1ST, 2009, “YEAR OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REVOLUTIONARY TRUMPH.”
Men and women from Santiago;
People from Oriente;
Combatants of the Ejército Rebelde, of the underground struggle and of every combat in defense of the Revolution throughout these 50 years;
Compatriots;
In a day like this, our first thoughts are for those who fell in…
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Daniel Bruno Sanz | Huffington Post
Here are the last two paragraphs of this article An Opportunity for Bill Richardson to Shine Once Again from the Huffington Post:
Long ago, American foreign policy towards Cuba was hijacked by special interest groups concentrated in Miami. Now that the winds of change are blowing in Washington, Bill Richardson has the perfect opportunity to invite Cuban economic czar Carlos Lage to Washington and inform him that change has come to policies that punish American businesses while creating the perfect scapegoat for economic mismanagement in Cuba. With regime change in Washington imminent,…
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Rob Sequin | Havana Journal
Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton are scheduled to visit Trinidad and Tobago on April 17 - 19, 2009 for the fifth Summit of the Americas to be held at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain Trinidad. Summit Coordinator Hector Morales says The April 2009 Summit of the Americas will offer President-elect Barack Obama a unique opportunity in his administration that will signal America’s commitment to Latin America.
President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez and President of Bolivia Evo Morales are also expected to attend the Summit.
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Press release by Church World Service
Global humanitarian agency Church World Service and a group of leading U.S. Christian organizations and denominations are joining the mounting chorus of voices calling on President-elect Obama to change this country’s longstanding, restrictive policy toward Cuba. The group is pressing most immediately to end longstanding U.S. restrictions on the ability of all Americans to travel to Cuba. Ending the restrictions on religious travel is especially important to
national and regional church institutions.
In a letter sent today to Obama, Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director and CEO of Church World Service…
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Reuters | Reporting by David Morgan with additional reporting by Jane Sutton in Miami, Editing by Howard Goller
The Pentagon is working on a proposal to shut the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that would be available to President-elect Barack Obama once he takes office, a defense official said on Thursday.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked his staff to come up with a plan to address the thorny issue of how to close the prison in southeast Cuba that Obama has pledged to shutter after he officially enters the White House on Jan. 20.
Guantanamo has about…
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