N E W S

KEN LIVINGSTONE, MAYOR OF LONDON
• Every U.S. administration has failed to understand the Cuban Revolution
February 2, 2007
In an interview with the CubaSí magazine, Livingstone explains why he went to Cuba in November 2006, why the attacks on his visit are unfounded and offers his opinion of Fidel Castro 

• Girl who fell four stories is doing fine
February 2, 2007
MATANZAS.— Mélani Mantilla Gómez was born twice in just 11 months of life. This little girl from the city of Cárdenas in Matanzas province accidentally fell from the balcony of a fourth-floor apartment building, approximately 12 meters high — and she’s alive and well!

• CHAVEZ IN HAVANA AGAIN
There’s Fidel, on his feet, in one piece!
January 31, 2007
WITH emotion and joy, the Cuban people saw footage of the encounter between Bolivarian leader Hugo Chávez and President Fidel Castro on Monday January 29, broadcast on Tuesday the 30th on Cuban television’s “Informative Roundtable” program.

• Recognition for Cuba in Cotopaxi
Carlos Lage, vice president of the Council of State of Cuba, and the delegation that attended Rafael Correa’s investiture welcomed in localities that have benefited from the Cuban programs.
January 17, 2007
“THIS program is for poor people,” said César Umajinga, governor of the province of Cotopaxi, when asked about the results of the “I Can Do It!” program, through which the number of illiterate people in this mountainous area of 352,000 inhabitants has reduced considerably.

• Statement from the Committee of Families of Victims of the Cuban Airliner Sabotage
The USA must try Posada as a terrorist
January 17, 2007
WITH stupor and indignation, we have learned that the United States Justice Department has indicted notorious terrorist Luis Clemente Faustino Posada Carriles on seven charges, solely for having lied to immigration authorities when he applied for citizenship.

• GAOGATE
And where are the millions?
January 10, 2007
ADOLFO Franco, the official who administrates the Latin American funds for USAID on behalf of the godfathers of the Cuban-American mafia, has managed to almost completely conceal the whereabouts of $65.4 million donated by this federal fund throughout the last decade.

• José Ramón Machado Ventura heads Cuban delegation to the investiture of Daniel Ortega
January 10, 2007
JOSE Ramón Machado Ventura, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and vice president of the Council of State, is heading the Cuban delegation to the investiture of Daniel Ortega as president of Nicaragua, which takes place today in Managua.

• STATEMENT from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
January 10, 2007
Another U.S. government theft of Cuban funds frozen in that country
THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs has learned that on November 27 in the United States, Cuban funds were stolen for the fourth time from money illegally frozen in U.S. banks after the triumph of the Revolution, under the so-called “Regulations for the Control of Cuban Assets,” passed on July 8, 1963, establishing, among other steps, the freezing of Cuban assets in the United States as part of the illegal and cruel policy of blockade against Cuba.

• Bush’s policies shame Americans
January 8, 2007
FERVENTLY embracing a cause that she took up after her son’s death, pacifist Cindy Sheehan affirmed in Cuba that the atrocities committed by the government of George W. Bush in the world is shameful for many Americans.  “The war against terrorism has begun in my country and has spread to others, condemning more than 600,000 Iraqis to death and killing more than 3,000 U.S. soldiers (in Iraq) and many Afghans,” she said, criticizing Washington’s crusade.

• The new wonders of the world
January 5, 2007
OF the seven wonders of the ancient world, six have ceased to exist for some time now as a result of erosion, natural phenomenon and human barbarity. Of the monuments honored with this title 200 years before our time, we have lost the Alexandria Lighthouse, the Temple of Artemis, the statue of Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Only the pyramids of Giza in Egypt are still surviving.  Swiss Bernard Weber – aviator, explorer, museum curator and film director – has organized a worldwide vote via the Internet to bring these marvels up to date. The new wonders will have an advantage over their predecessors: the existence of UNESCO and Cultural Heritage...

• Raúl meets with Pananamian President Martín Torrijos
January 4, 2007
GENERAL of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, met last night with Martín Torrijos Espino, president of the Republic of Panama, who has been in our country on a working visit since January 2. During the meeting, which took place in the cordial and friendly atmosphere that characterizes Cuban-Panamanian relations, they discussed the development of bilateral links between the two countries, particularly the progress of Operation Miracle in the sister nation. With the cooperation of our country an Ophthalmological Center is to open shortly in the Panamanian province of Veraguas.

• To deal with the drought
Lage inaugurates second Cuban factory of hydraulic pipes
January 4, 2007
HAVANA.— Carlos Lage Dávila, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, inaugurated Hidroplast, the second Cuban high-density hydraulic pipe factory, on January 3. The likewise Cuban vice president explained that the industry will contribute to the country’s waterworks projects and particularly to water conservation.  The modern plant is located in the town of Wajay, in the Boyeros municipality; the first to open in the country is operating in the province of Ciego de Avila, and a third should be completed by the end of June in Holguín. All of these facilities will complete the production capacity required nationally.

• Cuba with lowest Latin American infant mortality rate
January 3, 2007
IN 2006, Cuba achieved the lowest infant mortality rate in its history with a figure of 5.3 per 1,000 live births; a figure that confirms us as the leading country in Latin America with respect to such an important indicator. The aforementioned figure places the island in the top 30 nations throughout the world whose children have a greater probability of life from the moment they are born until they celebrate their first birthdays. In the general panorama of the Americas, only Canada has a lower rate than Cuba.

• President of the Republic of Panama begins visit to Cuba
January 3, 2007
YESTERDAY afternoon, January 2, His Excellency Mr. Martín Torrijos Espino, president of the Republic of Panama, arrived in Havana on a working visit. He is accompanied by a group of his collaborators. This is the fourth visit to Cuba by President Torrijos since he assumed the presidency in 2004. His last stay in our country was in September 2006, on the occasion of the successful celebration of the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement.

•  Raúl transmits Fidel’s congratulations on the success of the NAM Summit
December 29, 2006
FIRST Vice President Raúl Castro has transmitted congratulations from President Fidel Castro to everyone who contributed to the success of the 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Havana from September 11-16.

•  Solidarity with the Cuban Five redoubled
December 28, 2006
MOSCOW, Dec. 27.— The Russia-Cuba Friendship Association is redoubling its effort to free the five Cuban anti-terrorists unjustly imprisoned in the United States, Prensa Latina reports. At a meeting of that organization’s leadership board, its president, Vadim Sayuchev, noted that activism increased throughout Russia during the most recent events organized worldwide in solidarity René González, Gerardo Hernández, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero. “A few days from the 48th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, all of us are concerned about opening up the path to truth and justice, so that these men can be freed,” he added.

•  Fiesta for the homeland
December 28, 2006
BEGINNING Friday, all of Cuba will be celebrating another anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, and will do so enjoying the excellence of all types of artistic performances. As is now customary, the José Martí Anti-imperialist Tribunal will be one of the main venues, for three days of performances. For Dec. 29, the guests are David Alvarez y Juego de manos, and David Blanco and his band; on the 30th they will be Azúcar Band and Azúcar Negra. On Jan.1, Pedrito Calvo y la Nueva Justicia will take the stage, along with Los Papines, Eduardo Sosa, Yunior Navarrete, Rochy Ameneiro, Moncada, Pancho Amat y el Cabildo del Son, Osdalgia and her band, and Los Van Van. The show begins at 9 p.m. every night.

• Statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Oscar Arias: Vain, mediocre and obsessed with being a star
December 27, 2006
THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba has learned with profound indignation of the most recent statements against our country and President Fidel Castro pronounced by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. They are not the first and surely will not be the last. This time, in a disrespectful and completely unethical way, he compared Fidel to deceased Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. He also referred to the current situation of Latin America, where...

• Energy Revolution in Cuba
December 26, 2006
NUEVA GERONA.—The works involved in the final stage of mounting the Eolian Park installed on the Isle of Youth to generate electricity via a more economical alternative as part of the Energy Revolution were commended by Yadira García Vera, minister of basic industry, during a tour of the area, some 40 kilometers from this city.

• Clinics staffed by Cuban doctors popular throughout Venezuela
December 22, 2006
VALENCIA, Venezuela—“Barrio Adentro is the best thing that happened to this country,” said Wilson Salazar, a construction worker here. He was referring to Into the Barrio, a government-sponsored program that has brought some 20,000 volunteer Cuban doctors to this country offering quality health care free of charge to working-class districts and rural areas where people have had no access to medical services.

• Cuban Parliament begins Ordinary Session today
December 22, 2006
AFTER two working sessions of the parliamentary commissions, today sees the start of the Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People's Power, whose agenda is centered on the country’s progress in 2006 and approval of economic and social plans for 2007. Talking to the members of the parliamentary Economic Affairs Commission, Yadira García, minister of basic industry, noted that a high percentage of Cuban families are up to date with payments for household electrical appliances given out en masse as part of the Energy Revolution underway in the country.

• Cuban University Student Federation congress ends
December 20, 2006
HAVANA, December 20 (PL) .— The 7th Congress of the Federation of University Students (FEU) ends today with a plenary session, elections for the National Secretariat and the approval of new statutes and regulations for the organization.

• Cuban Parliament goes into session today
December 20, 2006
VERY valuable material, which describes the resistance of the Cuban people, is how Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power (Parliament), described the documentary Bloqueo: La Guerra contra Cuba (Blockade: the War against Cuba), by Argentine directors Daniel D’Saloms and Carolina Silvestre, shown to deputies yesterday, December 19 as part of the preparations for the new ordinary session of Parliament.

• Deputies acknowledge skills and insufficiencies of the Housing Program
December 19, 2006
FROM September 2005 to this past November, the execution of the current Housing Program in Cuba recorded costs of 292 million in hard currency solely in terms of materials, fuel and domestic transportation, which made it possible to complete some 110,000 homes this year.

• Mural of the Granma unveiled in presence of Raúl
December 19, 2006
EL arca de la libertad (The Ark of Freedom) mural, painted by 15 Cuban artists convened by the eminent painter and sculptor Alexis Leyva Machado (Kcho) has been unveiled in the presence of General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

• U.S. Congressional delegation concludes visit to Cuba
December 18, 2006
A delegation from the United States House of Representatives, led by Republican Congressman Jeff Flake and included Democrats William Delahunt, Jane Harman, Jim McGovern, Hilda Solís, Gregory Meeks and Lincoln Davis, as well as Republicans Jo Ann Emerson, Jerry Moran and Michael Conaway visited our country from December 15 to 17. Congressional aides and other prominent individuals from the United States were also part of the delegation.

• Cuban deputies to be informed on housing situation today
December 18, 2006
HAVANA, December 18 (PL).—A plenary session of deputies to the National Assembly of People's Power is to receive a report this Monday on the progress of the house building program. This meeting is the first in a week of activities by this legislative body, which ends Friday with its ordinary period of sessions.

• President Bachelet receives Cuban deputy foreign minister
December 15, 2006
SANTIAGO DE CHILE.—President Michelle Bachelet received Alejandro Gómez, Cuban deputy minister of foreign affairs, with whom she reviewed the positive state of bilateral relations and exchanged views on Latin America.

• Eighth change of power in UN
December 14, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 14 — Former South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon is to be sworn in today as the eighth UN secretary general in a ceremony that will also pay tribute to Kofi Annan for his 10 years in that post. The veteran Ghanaian diplomat is to be replaced by the South Korean Ban on the first day of the new year, amidst expectations regarding the new projections of the international institution after the change in leadership. Ban, whose country was created on territory occupied by U.S. troops under the banner of the UN during the war on the Korean Peninsula, has expressed his gratitude for that, and has said that he “feels at home” at the UN headquarters in New York.

• The dance of the millions for the counterrevolution in Cuba
December 14, 2006
ON November 15, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the arm of the United States Congress that investigates how the federal government and its agencies administer the federal budget and assesses the degree of effectiveness with which they implement their functions and programs, published an extensive 63-page report titled “Foreign Assistance: U.S. Democracy Assistance for Cuba Needs Better Management and Oversight.” After a painstaking review of the millions allocated by the United States government to promote subversion in our country...

• Dominican parliament wishes Fidel a speedy recovery
December 13, 2006
SANTO DOMINGO.— The Chamber of Deputies of the Dominican Congress has passed a resolution congratulating Cuban President Fidel Castro for his 80th birthday and wishing him a rapid return to good health.

• Democratic Korea decorates President Fidel Castro
December 12, 2006
THE Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea has awarded President Fidel Castro with the Golden Medal (Hammer and Sickle) and the First Class Order of the National Flag. The decorations were received yesterday by Esteban Lazo, vice president of the Council of State and member of the Political Bureau of the (Communist) Party, from Pak Tong Chun, ambassador of that sister country.

• PARLATINO passes resolutions supporting the Cuban Five, Puerto Rico and Operation Miracle
December 11, 2006
THE 22nd Ordinary Assembly of the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO), which met recently in Sao Paulo, Brazil, passed a resolution supporting freedom for the Cuban Five, the anti-terrorist fighters unjustly locked up in U.S. prisons for more than eight years.

• Cuban Churches qualify position of Czech Ecumenical Council as anti-Christian
December 8, 2006
THE Cuban ecclesiastical authorities met in the Pastoral Forum of the Cuban Episcopal Cathedral in Havana in order to respond to provocative and offensive statements to the Cuban government and the Cuban Council of Churches by Jitka Klubaloba, general secretary of the Ecumenical Council of Churches of the Czech Republic, and signed a statement condemning her utterances. Participating in the meeting were Dr Reinerio Arce, rector of the Matanzas Evangelical Seminary; Raúl Suárez, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center;

• Raúl leads event commemorating the Battle of Ideas
December 7, 2006
CARDENAS.— The extraordinary reach and transformational power of revolutionary ideas put into practice in recent years with Fidel’s encouragement, were channeled on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at an event here with the presence of Raúl Castro, second secretary of the Party. The General of the Army and minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) presided over the celebration of the 7th anniversary of the Battle of Ideas, a process born in the heat of the struggle by our people for the return of young Elián González to his homeland, and which now shows significant progress, fundamentally in the social and cultural spheres. 

• Chávez and Lula favor more regional integration
December 7, 2006
BRASILIA, Dec. 7 (PL) —. Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (Venezuela) are set to hold important talks today regarding joint projects. This is the first meeting between the two statesmen after having been reelected on October 29 and December 3, respectively. Both are committed to their electorates, which despite the differences in language and national characteristics, have a common point: they advocate regional integration.
 
• Spying on Cuba and Venezuela: a relic from the Reagan era
December 6, 2006
HE infiltrated the Noriega government in Panama whilst the U.S. invasion was being prepared; he advised Duhalde in Argentina when the country was heading towards economic disaster; he confesses to being a buddy of Lyndon LaRouche, the controversial ultra right-wing U.S. politician: the new “chief spy” whom Bush has appointed against Cuba and Venezuela is a genuine relic from the Reagan regime, in which he was a privileged advisor.

• Message from Fidel to Chávez
December 5, 2006
President Fidel Castro sends message of congratulations to his colleague Hugo Chávez on his victory in Venezuela’s presidential elections, which he won with more than 61% of the votes.

• Raúl receives deputy prime minister of Laos
December 5, 2006
MINISTER of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz yesterday received at the MINFAR headquarters Army Corps General Douangchay Phichit, member of the Political Bureau of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, deputy prime minister and minister of defense of that country.

• Raúl receives Angolan Defense Minister
December 4, 2006
THIS Sunday at the headquarters of the MINFAR, General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), received General Kundy Paihama, minister of defense and member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Liberation Movement of Angola. In the atmosphere of friendship and mutual respect that characterizes relations between the two countries, the leaders exchanged thoughts on the longstanding and historic relations between the Cuban and Angolan people, cemented by the blood and sweat shed on African soil by countless sons and daughters of both nations in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid.

• Chávez won!
He dedicates victory to Fidel and the Cuban people
December 4, 2006
CARACAS, December 3.— The vote count confirmed what the surveys, analysts and gigantic popular rallies had foretold: Hugo Chávez will continue to be president of Venezuela for the next six years.  According to the first bulletin of the National Electoral Council (CNE), when more than two-thirds of ballots had been counted (78.31%), the Bolivarian leader had a wide and irreversible lead over the other 13 candidates.

• Haitian President René Préval in Cuba. Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega expected
December 1, 2006
His Excellency Mr. René Préval, president of the sister Republic of Haiti, arrived in our country yesterday to take part in the tribute organized by the Guayasamín Foundation and to celebrate the 80th birthday of our President Fidel Castro Ruz.

• Closing event of the Guayasamín Foundation’s tribute to Fidel on his 80th birthday: today: Karl Marx Theater
December 1, 2006
CUBAVISION, the Canal Educativo, Cubavisión International, Radio Rebelde and Radio Habana Cuba are to transmit live at 5:00 p.m. from the Karl Marx Theater the closing event for the tributes of the Guayasamín Foundation for the 80th birthday of President Fidel Castro Ruz.
• All Voices Together, a tribute to Fidel Castro
December 1, 2006
HAVANA, December 1.—Cuban musicians and others from diverse latitudes came together for the All Voices Together concert with which the Oswaldo Guayasamín Foundation paid and artistic tribute to President Fidel Castro for his 80th birthday. The concert took place last night at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribunal by Havana’s Malecón, an open-air venue filled by thousands of people, with the music irradiating its own poetry, its song to reason, justice and beauty.
• Political event, military review and march of the combative people: December 2
November 30, 2006
THE presence of 300,000 of the capital’s residents in the name of all Cubans in the archipelago before the historic leadership of the Revolution and the monument to José Martí, Cuba’s national hero, at the culmination of the political event and the military review on December 2 will be an irrefutable expression of the unity of the Communist Party, the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the people, Pedro Sáez Montejo, member of the Political Bureau and first secretary of the Party in the City of Havana, affirmed to this daily.

• Silvio decorated with Replica of the Granma
November 30, 2006
SILVIO Rodríguez, the emblematic representative of the Nueva Trova Movement and a composer able to sow dreams, love and rebelliousness in his songs, yesterday received the Replica of the Granma Yacht from the hands of General of the Army Raúl Castro, as a tribute on the 60th birthday of the singer-songwriter, “soldier of ideas,” from the Cuban people and their Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR).

• Fidel’s homeland is not only Cuba, but the planet Earth
November 30, 2006
FOR Argentine Hebe de Bonafini, one of the emblematic Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, “he is the greatest, wisest, most integral and sincere man whom I have ever met,” while the popular Italian communicator Gianni Mina worked it out: “The collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe began 17 years ago, and Cuba, under the leadership of the Comandante, is still on its feet and moving forwards.” And from the south of Our America, the words of the venerable Volodia Teitelboim made themselves felt: “Fidel’s homeland is not only Cuba, but the planet Earth.”

• Message from President Fidel Castro to participants in the celebrations for his 80th birthday
November 29, 2006
Dear compatriots and dear friends from all over the world:
During this time, I have worked intensely to guarantee in our country the objectives of the Proclamation of the 31st of July.
Now we find ourselves facing an adversary who has led the United States into a disaster of such magnitude, that it is almost certain that the U.S. people themselves will not allow him to conclude his presidential mandate.

• You don’t have a duty to be anywhere, Fidel: your duty to humanity is to look after yourself and go on living…
November 29, 2006
Dear brother and sister followers of Fidel:
Fidel’s transparency has made us clearly understand reality. But what he would most want is that we continue going forward.
- Message in the voice of Oswaldo Guayasamín

• San Gerónimo de La Habana Higher Institute opens today
November 28, 2006
THIS afternoon, Tuesday, in the historic district of Havana, on the same site where the first Cuban university was located, the San Gerónimo de La Habana Higher Institute – a new institution of higher learning attached to the 200-year-old University of Havana – is to be inaugurated.

• Guayasamín Foundation begins tribute to Fidel Castro
November 28, 2006
The Cubavisión and Cubavisión Internacional television networks and will broadcast today at 9 p.m. (EST) from the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, the opening of the Guayasamí Foundation Tribute to Cuban President Fidel Castro for his 80th birthday and a gala welcoming event by Cuban artists for participants in this historic tribute, which is to include prominent individuals and friends from 80 nations.

• International Colloquium
Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel
November 28, 2006
The International Colloquium “Memory and Future: Cuba and Fidel,” organized by the Oswaldo Guayasamín Foundation to honor the leader of the Cuban Revolution on his 80th birthday, is to begin Wednesday, November 29 at the International Convention Center in Havana, with more than 1,800 prominent individuals from 80 nations.

• Cuba donates four ophthalmological centers  to Honduras
November 24, 2006
TEGUCIGALPA,  (NOTIMEX). — The Cuban government has announced its donation to Honduras of four centers for ophthalmological attention, with the goal of providing specialized care to population groups that lack access to this service.

• Granting Posada Carriles citizenship would be unlawful
November 22, 2006
STRENGTHENING international cooperation in the fight against corruption, drug trafficking, terrorism and illegal trafficking in persons was the demand of more than 200 delegates from more than 20 countries at the 8th International Criminal Sciences Conference in Havana, where Juan Escalona Reguera, attorney general of Cuba, denounced the unlawful legal maneuvers used to try to obtain U.S. citizenship to the self-confessed assassin Luis Posada Carriles.

• Cuba criticizes Security Council for failure to act regarding Israel
November 22, 2006
CUBA’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Rodrigo Malmierca, described as “unacceptable” the failure of the UN Security Council to take action as Israel flagrantly violates that body’s resolutions.

• Alarcón meets with Martín Torrijos
November 21, 2006
Ricardo Alarcón, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power in Cuba, who is on an official two-day visit to Panama, met with President Martín Torrijos, and Foreign Minister and First Vice President Samuel Lewis as part of his official activities, which included a visit to the National Assembly and a tour of the sub-regional offices of the Latin American Parliament.

• Almost half a million patients benefit from Operation Miracle
November 20, 2006
Almost half a million patients from 28 countries have already felt the benefits of Operation Miracle, which has returned or preserved their sight as a result of free operations to low-income people.

• The FBI should be investigated
November 17, 2006
BY failing to act after receiving information from businessman Antonio Álvarez, who exposed Posada Carriles as he was directing the 1997 attacks in Havana, “by not acting on this information, the FBI becomes, then, another entity to add to the list of those directly and indirectly responsible for terrorism-related activities and as such should be investigated, denounced and exposed for the all world to see.”

• EDITORIAL in the LOS ANGELES TIMES newspaper
Bring the Cuban terrorist to justice
November 17, 2006
November 15, 2006
IT IS TIME TO BRING Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to justice. Dithering on the part of the U.S. is leaving the nation open to charges of hypocrisy in the war on terror — specifically, to the charge that some forms of terrorism are more acceptable than others.

• Preparations for tribute to Fidel, full speed ahead
November 17, 2006
MORE than 1,000 prominent individuals representing 64 countries and every continent plan to be in Cuba from November 28 to early December to celebrate Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday, in what will be “a gift from the heart of the passion, affection and respect that people all over the world” have for the Revolution’s leader, affirmed Alfredo Vera, member of the Guayasamín Foundation and organizer of the event, on Nov. 17. Very close ties of friendship and mutual admiration united the Cuban president and the exceptional Ecuadorian painter Oswaldo Guayasamín;

• President of Zanzibar thanks Cuba for cooperation
November 16, 2006
HAVANA, November 15. — Amani Abeid Karume, president of Zanzibar, expressed thanks in this city for the cooperation provided by Cuba in that semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, particularly in the area of public health.

• President of Zanzibar begins visit
November 15, 2006
HIS Excellency Mr. Amani Abeid Karume, president of Zanzibar, a semiautonomous territory of Tanzania, and president of the Revolutionary Council of that country, began an official visit to our country today at the invitation of the Cuban government.

• Hugo Chávez inaugurates International Book Fair, dedicated to Cuba
November 10, 2006
CARACAS — President Hugo Chávez inaugurated the 2nd Venezuelan International Book Fair (FILVEN), where Cuba is the guest country of honor, on November 2, at an event where the first books produced by the Cultural Fund of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) were launched.

• The economic war unleashed by the United States against Cuba qualifies as an act of genocide
November 9, 2006
Madame President:
Ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly:
For the 15th consecutive time, Cuba is presenting to the General Assembly a resolution entitled, “The necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”

• For The 15th Consecutive Time
UN condemns U.S. blockade against Cuba
November 9, 2006
NEW YORK.— On November 8, the United Nations General Assembly, for the 15th consecutive time and by overwhelming majority, passed a resolution condemning the U.S. blockade against Cuba and demanding that it be lifted.

• RESULTS OF THE VOTE ON THE RESOLUTION AGAINST THE BLOCKADE
Total number of countries: 192
For: 183
Against: 4
Abstentions: 1
Absent from the vote: 4 (Nicaragua, Ivory Coast, Iraq and El Salvador)

• Cuban-Qatari joint venture to construct hotel on the island
November 8, 2006
LAST night, the signing of significant agreements between the Republic of Cuba and the State of Qatar took place at the end of the 3rd Session of the Joint Commission for Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation which took place in Havana between November 6 and 7, strengthening the bonds of friendship that have been forged by the two countries for more than 17 years.

• Ortega confirmed as president of Nicaragua
November 8, 2006
MANAGUA, November 7 — Daniel Ortega was confirmed here as president-elect of Nicaragua after 91.48% of the ballots had been counted by the Electoral Supreme Court (CSE).

• Message From Fidel To Daniel Ortega
November 8, 2006
Havana, November 7, 2006
“Year of the Energy Revolution in Cuba”
Dear Daniel:
The magnificent Sandinista victory fills our people with joy and at the same time fills the terrorist and genocidal government of the United States with ignominy. That is why both you and the heroic people of Nicaragua deserve our warmest congratulations.

• Guayasamín Foundation confirms tribute to Fidel for his 80th birthday
November 8, 2006
THE Guayasamín Foundation confirmed in an announcement in Havana that it is organizing the celebration of Fidel Castro’s 80th birthday, previously scheduled for August 13 and postponed due to the Cuban president’s health.

• UNESCO awards 2006 literacy prize to Cuba
November 5, 2006
PARIS, Nov. 3 — The 2006 Rey Sejong UNESCO Literacy Prize was awarded today to Cuba’s Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute (IPLAC) in an official ceremony at the UN agency’s headquarters, PL reported.

• Visit to a lawless prison
Legal parody in Guantánamo
November 3, 2006
IN Guantánamo, iguanas have more rights than the detainees in the gulag of our time. Being the protected species that they are, you have to drive at less than 40 kilometers per hour along the roads of the U.S. base in Cuba to avoid running over them.

• FIHAV 2006
Cuba wins 12 gold medals
November 3, 2006
THE Havana Trade Fair will continue to be an expression of the sustainable growth of the Cuban economy, said Abraham Maciques, president of the FIHAV 2006 Organizing Committee during the award ceremony for the event’s 24th edition.
 
• Fewer Cubans being born
November 2, 2006
WITHOUT figuring among the economic and social problems that affect the daily lives of the Cuban people, an aging population constitutes one of most worrying phenomenon of current Cuban society.

• THE BLOCKADE AGAINST CUBA
An instrument for violating the spirit and the letter of U.S. law
November 2, 2006
THE liquor company Bacardi was accused for the second time this year of using its corporate resources to influence U.S. politics.

• Cuban parliamentary president in Russia
November 2, 2006
MOSCOW, November 1— Ricardo Alarcón, Cuba’s parliamentary president, arrived in Russia from Minsk to begin an official four-day visit.  Alarcón was received at Moscow’s Sheremetievo Airport by Vitali Sebastionov, president of the Friends of Cuba parliamentary group in the State Duma, and other members of the Chamber, according to Prensa Latina.

• Fidel congratulates Lula
November 1, 2006
On the morning of October 30, the Cuban president sent the following message of congratulations to Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.
Dear Lula, I never had the slightest doubt that a victory on your part would be the best possible outcome for Latin America and Brazil. For that reason, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate you on your success.

• Fidel refutes stories on his state of health
“I am progressing as anticipated”
October 30, 2006
PRESIDENT Fidel Castro has personally refuted stories reporting a supposed worsening of his state of health and has affirmed that he is progressing as anticipated after his operation.

• Havana Trade Fair opens today
October 30, 2006
THE 24th Havana Trade Fair (FIHAV 2006) opens today with displays from more than 40 countries in an exhibition space of close to 11,000 square meters. This space is exceeds by some 2,000 square meters that used in last year’s edition, as event organizers confirmed.

• UN agencies censure U.S. blockade of Cuba
October 27, 2006
UNITED NATIONS (PL).—At least 20 UN agencies have condemned the U.S. blockade of Cuba as "a unilateral policy" that is blocking economic and social cooperation with the island, according to an official report by the secretary general published October 27.

• Europe should prepare for the 2nd discovery – that of the Americas in turmoil
"There was a lot of distortion regarding Fidel’s illness"
October 27, 2006
RICARDO Alarcón de Quesada, president of Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power since 1993, laughs when he recalls the afternoon when they announced to the world Fidel Castro’s illness and hospitalization. "Now he’s quite well; that’s the truth," he says.

• Ophthalmological center donated by Cuba opens in Mexico
October 27, 2006
MEXICO (PL).— Lázaro Cárdenas Batel, governor of the Mexican state of Michoacán, has inaugurated an ophthalmological unit donated by Cuba within the city’s general hospital, at which from yesterday (October 26), thousands of people will have the opportunity to be treated free of charge.

• CREW files amended FEC complaint against Bacardi USA and Martínez and Nelson for Senate
October 26, 2006
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today filed an amended complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that Bacardi U.S.A. used corporate resources to organize a fundraising event for Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) on September 30, 2005.

• Vice president of Guatemala begins official visit
October 26, 2006
GUATEMALAN Vice President  Eduardo Stein Barillas, today initiated an official visit to our country in response to an invitation from the Cuban government. He is accompanied by a large governmental and business delegation.

• Fidel gives camera to boy humiliated by the blockade
October 26, 2006
RAYSEL Sosa González received a digital camera on Wednesday night (Oct. 25), sent by President Fidel Castro, the daily Juventud Rebelde reported.

• Atlanta Court requests more information
October 26, 2006
THE 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, has requested more information from the defense and the prosecution in the case of the five anti-terrorist Cubans unjustly imprisoned in that country.

• Guatemalan vice president leads official delegation to Cuba
October 25, 2006
GUATEMALA (PL).— Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein is traveling to Cuba on Wednesday October 25, leading a high-level delegation with the goal of expanding and intensifying bilateral relations in a number of fields.

• The Five multiply
October 24, 2006
WITH the creation of new Free the Five committees in Japan and Sri Lanka for the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly imprisoned in the United States, the campaign for their liberation is expanding throughout the world.

• Holy Ghost Victory for the GOP in November?
October 21, 2006
The polls all point to a Democratic sweep in November. The news pours in about pedophile Republicans and Team Bush contempt for their fundamentalist bedmates. Iraq implodes. Deficits soar.

• Massive march in Madrid to support the Five
October 21, 2006
Madrid, October 21.— A massive march took place today throughout the main streets of Madrid calling for the immediate release of the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, currently imprisoned in the United Status, according to PL.

• NIKON: image of the blockade
October 20, 2006
Ana Auki: Could you describe exactly what happened?On June 5, World Environment Day, the award ceremony took place for the winners of the 15th International Children’s Painting Competition on the environment, considered the most important contest of its kind in the world.

• March in Madrid Saturday 21 for the release of the Five
October 18, 2006
MADRID, October 18.—The Spanish State Committee for the Release of the Five Cubans imprisoned in the United States announced today that everything is ready for the grand march on Saturday 21 to demand the liberation of those anti-terrorist combatants, PL notes.

• Miami FBI destroyed Posada’s file in 2003
October 17, 2006
ALL the original documents in Luis Posada Carriles’ file conserved for years in the Miami FBI safe were destroyed in 2003 on the orders of both Héctor Pesquera, then the FBI capo, and the U.S. attorney for South Florida, while the Panamanian legal authorities were trying to collect evidence of the terrorist’s criminal past with a view to his trial in that country.

• Cuba exposes U.S. radio-television aggression at the UN
October 17, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, October 16.—Cuba has denounced here the growing U.S. radio-television aggression against the island, to which Washington assigned $37 million this year. Ileana Núñez, acting Cuban ambassador to the UN, approached the subject in a speech during the 4th Commission of the General Assembly dealing with issues related to information.

• U.S. exerts strong pressure in the UN against Venezuela’s candidacy
October 17, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, October 16.—After 10 consecutive votes without Guatemala or Venezuela obtaining the majority required, the UN General Assembly postponed until Tuesday the election of new members of the Security Council, AFP informs.

• Alarcón: no coincidence that Posada chose Miami
October 17, 2006
ALL the evidence against Luis Posada Carriles y Orlando Bosch in the case of the mid-flight explosion of the Cubana Aviation airliner "is solely in the possession of the U.S. government and it never presented it to the courts that examined this case in Venezuela," charged Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban Parliament, on announcing new Solidarity Days with the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters currently imprisoned in the United States.

• Noboa and Correa to second electoral round in Ecuador
October 16, 2006
QUITO, October 15.—The second round in Ecuador is forecast to be a close-fought battle between two candidates with totally distinct positions: millionaire Alvaro Noboa and the left-wing economist Rafael Correa, said political analysts today.

• U.S. begins dirty war on Venezuela in the UN
October 16, 2006
CARACAS — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on October 15 that the United States “has activated a whole dirty war operation” against his country to prevent it from obtaining a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security council in the vote scheduled for today, October 16.

• Statement from the Non-Aligned Movement on the nuclear test in the PDRK
October 14, 2006
1. The Coordination Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement has expressed its concern at, while acknowledging the complexities derived from the nuclear test in the Korean Peninsula , which underscores the need to work even more vigorously to achieve the Movement’s disarmament objectives, including the elimination of nuclear weapons.

• Forum discusses extraterritorial nature of blockade
October 13, 2006
THE company Dresser Rand Group Inc, based in New York, which manufactures turbines and compressors for the energy industry, announced that it faces sanctions from the U.S. government because of the business that its subsidiary in Brazil does with the Cuban-Canadian joint Moa Níquel S.A, which is why those operations were brought to a halt in July 2005.

• Declaration from the International Relations Committee of the National Assembly
October 12, 2006
FOR 47 years the United States has systematically and uninterruptedly applied a ferocious blockade on Cuba; in fact a real economic war designed to plunge the Cuban people in hunger and desperation and whose objective, since the initial moment, has always been the overthrow of the Cuban Revolution.

• Group created to intensify blockade of Cuba
October 11, 2006
MIAMI, October 10.—A group composed of various U.S. government agencies is to supervise adherence to the blockade imposed on Cuba by that country, which will strongly pursue those who violate it, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the south Florida district.

• "Enough of papers: the Cuban Five must be freed!"
October 11, 2006
AS a show of solidarity with the five Cubans imprisoned in the United States for combating terrorism, a meeting was held between British MPs and families of the Five at the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples in Havana.

• European Cuba solidarity conference begins in Istanbul
October 10, 2006
ISTANBUL, Oct. 6 (PL) A European Cuba Solidarity Conference today called for stronger ties between friends of that Caribbean country to counter aggressive U.S. policies against the island nation.

• New York Times emphasizes that Posada is a dilemma for the U.S.
October 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, October 8.—The case of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles is a dilemma for the Bush government , given that the criminal was a CIA and U.S. army officer, The New York Times highlights today.

• The struggle will continue until justice is done
October 7, 2006
THE United States government never stopped, not for one day, sheltering the murderers and helping them to evade justice. They are trying to avoid a trial, because they are afraid that the government’s relationship to the terrorists will come to light, affirmed Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power, during the political event commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Barbados crime.

• Cuba condemns multimillion weapons spending
October 5, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, October 4.—Cuba stated here today that with barely 10% of current military spending in the world the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) agreed in the 2000 UN Summit could be achieved.

•  CIA responsibility in the Barbados crime
October 5, 2006
IT was 1967. The counterrevolution in Cuba had been crushed. The JM-Wave CIA station in Miami gradually began limiting its dirty war operations against Cuba after long years of crime and aggression.

• U.S. has cost more than $86 billion
October 4, 2006
THE Cuban economy has lost approximately $4.186 billion this year as a consequence of the intensification of the blockade imposed by the United States, confirmed First Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.

• Fidel continuing to recover, affirms Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque
October 4, 2006
“We shall defeat the U.S. blockade and we shall achieve a future of peace and hope for Cuba,” affirmed Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, speaking to residents in the Luyanó Moderno People’s Council in San Miguel del Padron, Havana, in what was the first of more than 1,000 neighborhood debates conceived as part of the national reflection event against the blockade and Bush’s annexationist plan.

• U.S. has multiplied million-dollar losses to the Cuban economy
October 3, 2006
THE Cuban economy has lost approximately $4.186 billion this year as a consequence of the intensification of the blockade imposed by the United States, confirmed First Deputy Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.

• NAM protests at arbitrariness in the Security Council
October 3, 2006
UNITED NATIONS.—Cuba has protested at the application of “an arbitrary and selective interpretation” that prevented the island from addressing the Security Council as president of the Non-Aligned Movement, it was announced this Monday at UN headquarters, PL reports.

• Thousands in Milan call for release of the Five
October 3, 2006
THOUSANDS of people gathered in Milan as part of international events for the release of the five Cubans imprisoned in U.S. jails for combating terrorism.

• That is justice in the USA
September 29, 2006
WHILE five Cubans who infiltrated terrorist groups in Miami received sentences totaling five life terms plus 67 years in prison, two of the largest drug traffickers on the continent, brothers Miguel and Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, have just struck a deal with the U.S. government for sentences of 30 years in jail.

Raúl and Fradkov hold official talks
September 29, 2006
GENERAL of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers, and His Excellency Mikhail Efimovich Fradkov, Russian prime minister, led their respective delegations in official talks at the Palace of the Revolution on September 28.

• Cuba and Russia sign cooperation agreements
September 28, 2006
RAUL Castro Ruz, first vice president of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba and Mikhail Efimovich Fradkov, prime minister of the Russian Federation, presided over the signing of agreements between the two countries after finalizing official talks.

• Back from Miami to see his mother
September 28, 2006
MIAMI.—A 14-year-old boy from Miami used his father’s credit card to fly to Cuba by himself, the U.S. NBC chain announced on September 25. Alredo Díaz, a Cuban American, said that his son, who has his name, left his school and then abandoned U.S. territory.

• Plan Bush against Cuba
Children’s stories for adults
September 28, 2006
THE policies of the U.S. government for children in the context of the expedite desire of defeating the Cuban Revolution resemble the stories of Cinderella or The Sleeping Beauty, impregnated with fairies, fantasies and hallucinations.

• Never before
September 28, 2006
MIAMI.— Last September 23, in Washington D.C. two memorable events took place in the development of a campaign for the release of our five compatriots unjustly imprisoned in the United States for fighting terrorism: Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René.

• Russian prime minister on visit to Cuba
September 28, 2006
Mikhail Efimovich Fradkov, president of the Russian Federation, arrived in Havana yesterday on an official visit that extends until the 29th. Fradkov and the important delegation accompanying him were received by Carlos Lage Dávila, vice president of the Councils of state and Ministers, and Eumelio Caballero, deputy minister of foreign affairs.

• Russian Prime Minister begins official visit
September 27, 2006
AT the invitation of the Cuban government, Mikhail Efimovich Fradkov, President of the Russian Federation, arrived in Havana today, September 27.

• NAM CONDEMNS ARREST OF VENEZUELAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Unacceptable U.S. violation of its obligations as UN host
September 27, 2006
CUBA, as president of the Non-Aligned Movement, has issued that agency’s “most vigorous protest” in response to the arrest in New York of Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro, which it called a “coarse provocation, which could be repeated against any member of our Movement.”

• U.S. government refuses entry visa to Cuban minister of public health
September 26, 2006
THE U.S. government has refused an entry visa for the second year running to José Ramón Balaguer Cabrera, Cuba’s minister of health, who was to participate in a meeting from September 25 to 29 of the Directors Board of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), the institution’s highest body, which meets once a year with participation by the health ministers of member nations. Cuba has always been represented at these meetings by its health minister...

• Another extension for ruling on release of Posada Carriles
September 26, 2006
EL PASO, Texas (USA), September 25.—The U.S. government has obtained a further extension to submit its objections to the recommendation by a federal magistrate to release terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, held since 2005 in an immigration detention center in this southern U.S. city.

• PARLACEN speaks out for the five Cuban heroes
September 26, 2006
A motion calling for the release of the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in the United States has been presented by Julio Palacios, president of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), in the legislative summit that ends in Montevideo today.

• Shouts of Freedom for the Five shake the streets of Washington
September 25, 2006
"WE have participated in a historic event," expressed participants of the march that covered more than three kilometers of downtown Washington this Saturday, in support of the cause of the five Cubans who have been imprisoned in the United States for eight years for fighting terrorism.

• Civil organizations to petition White House for the release of the Five
September 22, 2006
WASHINGTON.—Civil organizations are to demonstrate tomorrow Saturday outside the White House for the release of the five Cubans incarcerated in the United States for combating terrorism.

• Solidarity in New York with Cuban delegation
September 22, 2006
NEW YORK, September 21—The Cuban delegation participating in the 61st Session of the UN General Assembly, led by Vice President of the Council of State Esteban Lazo Hernández, was warmly received with messages of solidarity in an enthusiastic public welcome in the historically Black community of Harlem.

• Indonesia will never forget the heroic deeds of the Cuban doctors
September 22, 2006
“WE have witnessed their professional ability, dedication and their great affection for other human beings.

• NEWLY DECLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS, 30 YEARS LATER
Kissinger could have prevented Letelier’s assassination
September 21, 2006
UNITED States government officials could have prevented the assassination of Orlando Letelier, but inexplicably, they did not, according to documents declassified on September 20 by the National Security Archive.

• Americans, Italians and Czechs for justice for the Five
September 21, 2006
FROM the United States comes heartening news from the solidarity committees set up to support the five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters, whose members are to march on the White House and in many other U.S. cities in condemnation of the injustice being committed against those prisoners.

• Ecuador’s president inaugurates monument to Eloy Alfaro
September 21, 2006
WITH this ceremony, we have sealed a new act of everlasting friendship between Cuba and Ecuador,” affirmed Dr. Alfredo Palacio González, president of that South American nation, during the inauguration of a monument to Ecuadorian national hero Eloy Alfaro on Avenue G, a central street in Havana.

• Intense program for Cuban delegation at United Nations
September 20, 2006
UNITED NATIONS.— Esteban Lazo, vice president of the Cuban Council of State, participated yesterday in the inauguration of the 61st session of the UN General Assembly where he met with presidents and delegation leaders.

• The fraudulent and deceitful sale of Havana Club by Bacardi in the U.S.
September 20, 2006
CUBA has condemned the recent decision by the Bacardi firm to begin marketing a rum produced in Puerto Rico, under the Havana Club label, as "a fraudulent and deceitful action for consumers who have traditionally identified the trademark as a rum produced in Cuba and nowhere else."

• Official Cuban delegation arrives to attend UN Assembly
September 19, 2006
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 19 (PL) Esteban Lazo, vice president of the Cuban Council of State, has arrived in New York as head of his country’s delegation that is participating, from today, in the UN General Assembly discussions.

• The Cuban leader is walking and followed the Summit
Fidel, a second call
September 18, 2006
FIRST there was a phone call at six in the morning, which I just heard of three hours later. And then came the second call.

• Maturity achieved by NAM key to success of 14th Summit
September 17, 2006
THE 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit was closed this Sunday at 1:05 am and, as Cuban First Vice President Raúl Castro stated in his final comments, its results were fruit of the collective work of its participants and an example of the maturity the NAM has achieved during its 45 years of existence.

• Fidel receives prime minister of Malaysia
September 17, 2006
YESTERDAY afternoon Fidel Castro received His Excellency Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, prime minister of Malaysia, with whom he had a fraternal one-hour meeting.

• Dominicans demand an end to the injustice against the Five
September 15, 2006
SANTO DOMINGO.—The Dominican Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the National Committee to Free the Five Cubans imprisoned in the United States for combating terrorism, demanded their immediate release here today.

• Solidarity cooperation among landlocked nations
September 15, 2006
WITH a declaration that proposes integration in solidarity and multilateral cooperation for developing trade alternatives that are more expedient and less costly, the first Summit of Presidents of Landlocked Developing Nations concluded yesterday, September 14.

• Foreign ministers adopt principle NAM guidelines
September 15, 2006
THIS Thursday, the foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) defined for the approval of their heads of state a group of principles that are to guide the movement’s activities from now on.

• Fidel is more alive than ever
September 15, 2006
“I found him almost ready to play baseball. Fidel is more alive than ever, while imperialism is in evident decline,” affirmed Hugo Chávez, president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in a brief encounter with the press minutes before entering a G-15 Summit session.

• Raúl meets with Presidents of South Africa and Mali
September 15, 2006
FIRST Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers, General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz, met in the afternoon of yesterday with His Excellency Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa.
 
• Fidel receives Argentine deputy and intellectual Miguel Bonasso
September 14, 2006
AT the close of this edition, on September 13, President Fidel Castro Ruz received Miguel Bonasso, the president of the Commission on Natural Resources and the Environment of the Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Argentina, who traveled to Cuba as a personal representative of his country’s president to the Group of 15, which met in the context of the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

• “I can speak in a very loud voice if I want to”
September 14, 2006
“He was wearing a wine-colored robe and matching pajamas, and fortunately, it was the Fidel of always. Slimmer, true, but not as much as he had appeared to be in recent photos. ‘I lost 41 pounds — he reminded me—, but I’m gaining my weight back.

• Fidel out of bed
September 13, 2006
FIDEL is no longer confined to his bed, and is becoming active again, according to comments on September 12 by General of the Army Raúl Castro, who was visibly enthusiastic about the rapid improvement in his brother’s health as he left a ceremony where the Benito Juárez International Prize was given to the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in the United States.

• Posada could be freed
September 13, 2006
Ricardo Alarcón, speaking at the ceremony where the Benito Juárez Prize was awarded to the Five, announced that on September 11, Norbert Garney, a U.S. federal magistrate, recommended the release of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles from an immigration detention center in Texas.

• World event for Freedom for the Five underway
September 12, 2006
THE world event demanding the release of the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly imprisoned in the United States gets underway today, Tuesday, with the presentation of the Benito Juárez International Prize to their family members.

• We shall work for an inclusive and representative Movement
September 12, 2006
Speech by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque at the inauguration of the 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit, September 11, 2006, Havana

• Cuban-American terrorists negotiate with prosecutors
September 12, 2006
CUBAN-American terrorists Santiago Alvarez and Osvaldo Mitat pleaded guilty yesterday, September 11, in Fort Lauderdale, to charges of illegal weapons possession, after suddenly negotiating a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid a risky jury trial outside the mafia sanctuary of Miami.

• President of Laos arrives
September 11, 2006
HIS Excellency Mr Choummaluy Sayasone, president of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, who is heading that country’s delegation to the 14th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit (September 11-16), arrived in the capital last night.

• The arrests of the five patriots was a conspiracy between the FBI and the Miami mafia
September 11, 2006
OVER the last eight years, more and more evidence has appeared proving that what occurred on that Saturday, September 12, 1998 in Miami had more to do with a conspiracy between Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and the anti-Cuban terrorist mafia, than with protecting the national security of the United States.

• NON-ALIGNED SUMMIT
Fidel recovering satisfactorily and will head the Cuban delegation
September 10, 2006
PRESIDENT Fidel Castro is to preside over the Cuban delegation to the 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit and will receive various dignitaries, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, affirmed Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque before close to 1,000 foreign and...

• Cuba and India sign contract for oil prospecting
September 10, 2006
THE Cuban oil enterprise CUPET and the Indian company ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) signed today Sunday a production contract for the prospecting and exploitation of that hydrocarbon in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico, PL reports.

• Miami Herald journalists paid to circulate anti-Cuba propaganda fired
September 8, 2006
PABLO Alfonso and Wilfredo Cancio Isla, two of The Miami Herald’s most recalcitrant journalists, have been fired in the wake of a scandal involving them with federal government payments to appear on Radio and TV Martí and transmit anti-Cuba information.

• Ready for the Summit
September 8, 2006
ONCE again, Havana will be welcoming the Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), for which more than 100 countries have confirmed their presence, and heads of state and government and other high-ranking officials are announcing their arrivals in this capital, which is putting the final touches to preparations for the momentous event.

• Why is travel to Cuba barred?
September 7, 2006
(Letter to the editor of the online edition of HernandoToday.com, of Brooksville, Florida, USA)
Why is travel to Cuba barred? If we are truly free Americans, why can't we go to Cuba? My whole life pretty much we can't go, but in earlier times we could.

• Lesson for Lieberman and Co.
September 7, 2006
Friends,
Let the resounding defeat of Senator Joe Lieberman send a cold shiver down the spine of every Democrat who supported the invasion of Iraq and who continues to support, in any way, this senseless, immoral, unwinnable war.

• Cuban medical brigade returns from helping Indonesia
September 7, 2006
THE Cuban medical brigade that provided aid for three months in Indonesia after an earthquake devastated that Asian nation has now returned home, to be welcomed by Health Minister José Ramón Balaguer.

• ALARCON TALKS ABOUT THE FIVE ON MSNBC
Even the judge complained!
September 7, 2006
"HOW could they pretend that it was possible to bring together an objective and impartial jury in Miami when even the judge complained of inappropriate behavior?" asked Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban Parliament in an interview granted to the U.S. TV channel MSNBC.

• Evo visits Fidel
September 7, 2006
IN a touching and humane gesture of solidarity, Bolivian President Evo Morales Ayma arrived in Havana in the morning of September 6 to visit Fidel.

• NON-ALIGNED COUNTRIES
The urgently needed road of the South
September 6, 2006
FUTURE generations will inevitably view with shock the 21st century, whose early years were profoundly marked by the most brutal, hegemonic, racist and fundamentalist of empires, with the aim of imposing a geopolitical strategy targeting human life so as to make it clear who commands and who must obey in the planet reconstructed to its taste.

• March called in support of the Five in U.S.A
September 6, 2006
"Freedom for the Cuban Five" is the slogan for the giant march on the White House on September 23 in support of the Cuban anti-terrorist fighters imprisoned in the United States since September 12, 1998.

• Important parallel meetings during NAM Summit in Cuba
September 5, 2006
TWO important parallel meetings are to take place in this capital in the framework of the upcoming 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit (NAM).

• “I note an evident improvement in the patient” Chávez
September 4, 2006
“MY brother, good grief, what a joy! Thanks a million!” exclaimed Fidel while stretching out his arms to Hugo Chávez, who apologized for “getting him up.”

• Majority of NAM members confirm attendance at 14th Summit
September 4, 2006
MOST of the 116 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement have confirmed their attendance at the organization’s 14th Summit, which takes place in Havana from September 11 to 16.

• Non-aligned countries propose to change world order
September 1, 2006
THE Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which will hold its 14th Summit soon in the Cuban capital, is defending a plan of action capable of guiding its efforts to transform the unjust international order.

• James Petras wishes Fidel a speedy recovery
September 1, 2006
THE U.S. plans against Cuba have a chapter that is secret because its contents violate international law, writer James Petras said today. He also expressed his wishes for a speedy recovery for President Fidel Castro.

• Cubans in the United States
August 31, 2006
WASHINGTON D.C—Some1, 448,684 of us Cubans live in the United States according to a 2004 study by the U.S. Census Bureau titled “American Community Survey”.

• Venezuela and Syria sign cooperation agreements
August 31, 2006
DAMASCUS.— The governments of Venezuela and Syria signed 12 juridical cooperation instruments as part of President Hugo Chávez’ official visit to this Arab country. The signing of the documents took place at the Palace of the People (seat of Syria’s government) after an expanded bilateral meeting between the Venezuelan head of state and Syrian President Bachar al Assad, also attended by their respective working teams.

• Díaz-Balart confides that he feels respect and affection for terrorists
August 31, 2006
THE panelists on yesterday’s TV “Informative Roundtable” confirmed that Congressman Lincoln Díaz-Balart confided to a Miami television station that he has profound respect and affection for terrorist individuals and their families such as Alvarez and Mitat, arrested for trafficking weapons, and that he and the two other Congress members of Cuban origin are making secret moves to have them released.

• Protest in Miami against travel restrictions to Cuba
August 28, 2006
WASHINGTON (PL)— Dozens of Cubans protested against restrictions on travel to Cuba imposed by the government of President George W. Bush in his zeal to destroy the Cuban Revolution, reported the Nuevo Herald on Sunday.

• Louis Farrakhan sends letter to Fidel
August 25, 2006
Commandante Fidel Castro
Leader of the Cuban Revolution
As-Salaam Alaikum. (Peace Be Unto You)
Dear Commandante Castro,
On behalf of my family, the members of the Nation of Islam and myself, we pray that Allah (God) will grant you a full and speedy recovery that you may resume your duty to the people of Cuba and the world.

• Injustice against the Five and impunity for terrorism
August 23, 2006
GERARDO, Ramón, René, Fernando and Antonio are still behind bars in the United States, three of them in maximum security prisons, and all of them subjected to the hateful revenge of those in Washington who have made them the target of reprisals against the Cuban Revolution.
- MIAMI 5

• Medical graduates: 1,593 from 26 countries
August 23, 2006
IF a system for training doctors en masse like the one implemented by the Cubans is not adopted, the future of the peoples is uncertain, because between epidemics and social marginalization the health of the poor of the planet is constantly threatened.

• Terrorist conspiracies could help case of the Five
August 22, 2006
THE most recent revelations about conspiracies by anti-Cuban counterrevolutionary groups in the United States could help the case of the Cuban Five, according to a U.S. newspaper, the Los Angeles Times.
- MIAMI 5

• More than 500 journalists apply to cover NAM Summit
August 21, 2006
UP until this Saturday more than 500 Cuban and foreign journalists have applied for accreditation to cover the 14th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), from September 11 through 16 in Havana. José Luis Ponce, director of the International Press Center, told the National Information Agency (AIN) that this total could increase in the next few days.

• Brazilian lawyers study lawsuit to free the Five
August 18, 2006
BRASILIA, August 18 (PL).— Efforts to free the five Cuban heroes imprisoned in the United States acquired fresh impetus today with support from the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) of the Brazilian Order of Attorneys (OAB).
- MIAMI 5

• Cuban Parliament calls for redoubling the struggle to free the Five
August 17, 2006
THE International Relations Commission of the National Assembly of People’s Power of the Republic of Cuba has condemned the decision adopted by the Atlanta Court of Appeals against the five Cubans who remain imprisoned in the United States for fighting against terrorism.

• Cuba presents draft final declaration of the NAM Summit
August 16, 2006
CUBA has presented the Coordination Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) with a draft final declaration to be discussed at the 14th Summit of this body in September.

• EMIGRATION
Contemporary plague?
August 16, 2006
IT is highly possible that the British, French, or Belgians do not consider as immigrants the enormous contingents of their ancestors that went to other lands as officials of their governments or as go-getters of all types. But they were. They settled in those distant territories, depriving the native inhabitants of authority and riches.

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