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CUBA POLITICS SECTION - Havana Journal > Humanitarian
BY WILFREDO CANCIO ISLA | El Nuevo Herald
The Cuban government has denied exit permits to about 30 Cuban college students who had been offered U.S. government-funded scholarships for academic programs at American academic institutions.
Not only did the students lose the chance to attend classes for free in the United States, but some were accused of ideologically losing their way and were expelled from their colleges in Cuba. Those who were members of the Communist Youth Union were booted out, several students said.
``I’ve been told that I have been expelled from the university and that I have a…
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By WILL WEISSERT | AP
Cuba delivered a formal protest Friday to diplomats from five European Union embassies who visited the home of a jailed dissident.
The Ministry of Foreign Relations summoned the diplomats from Sweden, Great Britain, Hungary, Poland and Germany to denounce the visit, according to two of the officials.
Staffers at foreign embassies often have contacts with the families of jailed opposition activists, sometimes drawing rebukes from Cuba which sees the visits as meddling in its internal affairs. The government views the dissidents as “mercenaries” funded by countries such as the United States that are trying to…
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The International Press Institute called Tuesday for the “immediate release” of the 22 journalists jailed in Cuba and warned of the risk of downplaying the importance of the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and the press.
The Vienna-based IPI noted in a statement that the U.N. Human Rights Council recently praised Cuba for making progress in promoting rights related to nutrition, education and health, but not freedom of expression.
“Various national delegations, including those of Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Chile, Italy and Slovakia, expressed concern about Cuba’s violation of the right to freedom of expression…
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France 24
Foreigners are welcome in Cuba, as long as they stick to the beaches and don’t meddle with local politics. A young French student learnt this the hard way, when she was forcibly deported from the island after she befriended local political dissidents.
Marie-Bérengère Ruet, a graduate student in the Parisian Institute of Political Science (Sciences-Po), spent two months in Cuba last spring to gather material for her thesis on Cuban opposition and resistance groups. During her stay, she met with, interviewed and befriended several opposition activists, considered as dangerous delinquents by the Cuban authorities. Their crime? Filtering…
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Latin American Herald Tribune
Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday demanded the immediate release of Cuban photojournalist Maria Nelida Lopez Baez, who is being held at an unknown location on the communist-ruled island.
The journalist faces possible persecution for “pre-criminal social danger,” the Paris-based organization, known as RSF, said in a statement.
“The regime once again feels the need to censor and crack down on dissidents and journalists,” RSF said. “This helps to explain why it was so contemptuous about the recent decision, obtained thanks to the efforts of other Latin American countries, to let Cuba back into the Organization of…
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The U.S. and Cuba have agreed to resume migration and postal talks, according to a State Department official who briefed reporters.
Diplomats from both countries met in Washington yesterday and agreed to resume talks that have been suspended for six years on legal and illegal migration from Cuba to the U.S. The two officials also agreed to discuss the resumption of direct mail service, which hasn’t existed for decades.
The U.S. and Cuba have not had full diplomatic ties in the aftermath of the 1959 communist revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Raul Castro formally succeeded his brother…
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Rob Sequin | Havana Journal (user name Publisher - See my comments in bold below. Too many comments to post at the end.)
AFP
Cuban bloggers are fighting a cyberwar with the government to give their own version of reality on the communist island, from hotels and using memory sticks and laptops obtained from abroad.
Bloggers with “alternative” agendas say it is becoming harder to evade official censorship, although they have managed to multiply in the past three years in a country where Internet access is limited.
Havana accuses them of being on the payroll of Washington and other governments…
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By ELLIOT WILSON | Barrons
An outspoken dissident argues that lifting the longstanding U.S. trade embargo would quickly undermine the Castro brothers’ power.
A proud, upright figure, Oscar Espinosa Chepe was a young guerrilla leader in Fidel Castro’s army when the rebels came out of the mountains and seized power from the corrupt Fulgencio Batista 50 years ago this January. Twice he rose high in the government, but twice he also challenged official dogma and fell from grace. Now he is a pro-American economist in Havana, living in the shadowlands of the dissident community and telling his life story.
In…
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Reuters
Cuba would have to meet minimum standards on human rights and democracy before Canada supported any reintegration of Havana into the Organization of American States, a Canadian spokesman said on Wednesday.
Several Latin American countries, including Brazil, have said Cuba should be allowed to rejoin the 35-member OAS. It was suspended in 1962 because the OAS judged Cuba’s communist system to be incompatible with the group’s principles.
“Cuba’s return, or eventual return, if they’re willing, will obviously depend on Cuba’s will to address hemispheric norms of participation, including representative democracy and respect for human rights,” Canadian spokesman Dimitri…
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(Publisher note: This article was submitted by one of the authors, Matt Lawrence, who is a member of the Havana Journal. The management of Havana Journal Inc. has approved of the posting as a courtesy to one of its members. However, all opinions and statements are those of the author and not of the management of Havana Journal Inc.)
March 30, 2009
By Wes Vernon
April is “Cuba month” for the Obama administration.
The Observer, the Sunday edition of the UK’s left-wing Guardian, approvingly tells its readers that the Obama White House “has moved to ease some travel and…
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