Posts from — July 2007

Mexico’s La Jornada covers the economic debate under Raúl Castro’s governance:

“Under the provisional mandate of Raúl Castro, initiated almost a year ago, the Cuban Government deflected criticism over the scarcity of aliments, bureaucracy and inefficiency, while opening an economic debate coinciding with emergent discussions in other mediums causing a torrent of ideas over the future of the island.

The crux of opinions emerging from different sources such as Parliament, the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), academic and artistic sectors has occupied formal spaces, publications, e-mail, and web sites which include initiatives to revise and reform the function of the country’s socialist system even though preserving its base.”

Full text in Spanish, click here.

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From Granma:

First Vice President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raul Castro Ruz, will make the main speech at the celebration for the day of national rebellion on Thursday, July 26, to take place at 7:30 am at the Major General Ignacio Agramonte Revolution Square, in the eastern Cuban province of Camaguey.

The celebration commemorates the 54^th anniversary of the attacks on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes barracks by revolutionary forces that intended to overthrow Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship at the time.

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From Foreign Policy’s Passport blog:

As long as we keep seeing him in athletic gear — sort of the Latin American version of a retiree’s leisure suit — he is signaling that he will not retake the helm.” -Julia Sweig, Latin America expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, as quoted by Esteban Israel of Reuters.

And here I was thinking that he’s been sweatin’ to the oldies all this time. But seriously, why not just say, “I will not retake the helm” and be done with it?

The answer, according to expert tea-leaf reader Brian Latell, may be that Fidel is being sidelined by economic reformers allied with his brother Raul, and doesn’t want to retire for good. July 26 is the anniversary of Fidel’s last public appearance (TV doesn’t count), and he could don his old duds once again, Latell speculates:

“Fidel and his ally Venezuelan president Chavez have recently made references to Fidel again donning his trademark olive green uniform. Since last July Fidel has only been seen in athletic clothes, and would never appear at a public event in such attire. In mid June Chavez told reporters during a visit to Havana that “Fidel has his uniform there and he looks out of the corner of his eye” at it. Perhaps learning first hand of Fidel’s intentions, he added, “I think we are approaching the hour when he will wear his military uniform again.”

On the other hand, Latell writes, Fidel may choose the occasion to officially announce his retirement. No more signaling with tracksuits. Stay tuned.

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Venezuela, Cuba’s closest political and economic ally, is growing alarmingly closer to a unitary party system.

The BBC reports:

“Plans to form a single political party in Venezuela have taken a step forward with the first activists’ meetings. Six million people have signed up to become members of the President’s United Socialist Party. Critics worry about the threat to plurality, but organisers say it will give ordinary Venezuelans more chance to shape the future of the country…Hugo Chavez is changing that by creating one united party, which he says will be constructed from the bottom up. Six million people have volunteered to become activists. They have been formed into battalions. More than 1,000 of these have now met for the first time…But Mr Chavez says the battalions will be centres of debate which will drive the socialist revolution.”

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I came across this great site via the authoritative Coming Anarchy which has hosted a series of articles (published every Monday) on the strategic importance of Oceania. The Strategist affords excellent insight on the Pacific and a host of international topics, and is published by a New Zealander, who was a former government official, now working as a consultant. He holds degrees in strategic studies, history, and geology. Worked and travelled in Oceania including Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Australia and New Zealand.

Give this site a visit, you will not be disappointed.

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The Madrid based Strategic Studies Group (SSG), which conducts research and produces analysis on international security and defense issues, has published an article by Soeren Kern who is SSG’s Senior Fellow for Transatlantic Relations about Spain’s current state of foreign policy toward Cuba:

“Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his political spin doctors have been especially busy this summer. Indeed, they have been making furious rounds on the national television talk show circuit, trying to explain to an increasingly skeptical Spanish public just why the Socialist government’s “progressive” foreign policy of coddling third world despots has turned Spain into one of the most marginalized countries in the European Union.

Foreign Policy Setbacks
The latest setback to Spanish foreign policy occurred on June 21, when the European Parliament, taking an unexpected break from measuring the curvature of imported bananas, approved a new resolution about human rights in Cuba. Firmly squashing efforts by Spain to de-link political dialogue with Cuba from the issue of human rights on the island, the European Parliament reiterated that it: “Considers it extremely important that any strengthening of political and economic relations – including development aid – between the EU and the Cuban authorities, which might derive from a comprehensive and open political dialogue, be linked to concrete and verifiable improvements of the human rights conditions of all Cuban citizens, starting with the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.”

H/T: La Nueva Cuba

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