CUBA POLITICS SECTION - Havana Journal > Castro's Cuba
I have to admit I was extremely disappointed with the selection of Vice Presidents under Raul Castro. It gave the me and the world a very strong impression that Cuban politics would remain the same since Raul surrounded himself with comrades from La Revolucion.
I have remained skeptical about change in Cuba (as we all should) but I must admit that I am surprised by the rapid fire announcements of new or eased policies in Cuba since Raul became President. All the reforms listed below have been announced in the past 30 days. I have to admit I…
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(original title: Cuba’s Media Contemplates Changes) | By Circles Robinson*
Cuba’s journalists are gearing up for a major congress on July 3-5 that could reshape what Cubans see on TV screens, in newspapers and on the radio, as well as the way the island reaches out to the world.
For the last several years, an intense debate sponsored by the Cuban Journalists Association (UPEC) has raged among reporters, editors and the Communist Party as to what steps would improve the quality of Cuban print and broadcast journalism.
Then, at the insistence of acting…
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(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) By Antonio Martinez.
It seems that Fidel Castro currently writes only for foreigners and the relative handful of Cubans with Internet access, as the communist island’s official media - there are no independent outlets - have neither published nor reported on the erstwhile leader’s latest opinion columns, known as “Reflections.”
Those articles have appeared on the government-run Cubadebate Web site and Cuban officials have alerted foreign correspondents to their presence there, but they no longer appear in the Granma and Juventud Rebelde morning editions like they had over the previous…
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By Jeff Franks | Reuters
Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has raised his public profile in recent days, met on Tuesday with a Chinese official and told him he spends his days gathering information and analyzing policy for Cuba’s leadership, state-run media reported.
After almost two years behind the scenes due to health problems, Castro has re-emerged in the past week with several high-level meetings and a spate of newspaper columns, including a biting blast at what he called the “enormous hypocrisy” of the European Union.
Cuban television said Castro and China’s top…
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An ex-intelligence officer seeking free travel rights for Cubans has said his petition was rejected and denounced what he called the “increase in totalitarian repression” under President Raul Castro.
Pedro Anibal Riera, also a former diplomat, said in a statement Tuesday that Cuba’s National Assembly, by failing to take action in the required 60-day period since his April request, has rejected his reform effort. In the Americas’ only one-party communist state, Riera’s plan seeks reforms, including allowing Cubans to enter and leave the country freely; ending confiscation of property of those leaving Cuba…
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Prensa Latina
Cuban National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon called Friday for the first general session in 2008 of this body, called Peoples’ Power.
The 163 deputies elected in January took their positions in February, and this seventh legislature is slated until 2013.
The call issued by Alarcon and published by mass media is supported in attributions conferred to his post included in the 1976 Republic Constitution’s article 81 paragraph b.
According to the text, legislators are expected to meet within two weeks at 10:00 local time in the Havana’s International Conference Center.…
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Reuters
Fidel Castro met on Thursday with Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez in the third known meeting this week for the 81-year-old former Cuban leader who has been recovering following surgery almost two years ago.
Vazquez, who also is an oncologist, told reporters Castro looked “very good, in very good spirits, very good intellectually” during their two-hour, 20 minute session in an undisclosed location in the Cuban capital.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro talks during a meeting with his brother Cuban President Raul Castro and Venezuela’s President Hugo…
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The European Union on Thursday agreed to lift its diplomatic sanctions against Cuba but imposed tough conditions on the communist island to maintain sanction-free relations, officials said.
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the bloc felt it had to encourage changes in Cuba after Raul Castro took over as the head of the country’s government from his ailing brother Fidel.
“There will be very clear language also on what the Cubans still have to do ... releasing prisoners, really working on human rights questions,” she told reporters at an EU summit. “There will be…
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By Robert Windrem, NBC News Producer
U.S. intelligence officials are analyzing newly released video of Cuban leader Fidel Castro for clues about his health and political viability, NBC News has learned.
The CIA has a medical intelligence unit that has long tracked the health of Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul, now the country’s president. But the CIA’s political analysts are equally interested in the new video, released Tuesday, since it also shows the two brothers interacting. Raul Castro succeeded his brother in February. Fidel Castro had last been seen a month earlier, meeting with…
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This photo made from Cubavision shows Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, right meeting with former Cuban President Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba on Tuesday June 17, 2008. Cuban television showed images Tuesday of Fidel Castro chatting in a garden with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the first images of the ailing revolutionary broadcast in six months. (AP Photo/Cubavision via AP Television News)
In this image made Tuesday, June 17, 2008 from Cubavision, Fidel Castro, center, talks with Cuban President Raul Castro, right, and Venezuelan President Hugo…
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