Viewing from July 2008

Cuba resumes national highway construction

Campaign News | Monday, 28 July 2008

After nearly two decades, Cuba is ready to resume the construction of the national highway with plans to complete three lanes in a 60 km stretch between the central provinces of Villa Clara and Sancti Spiritus by next year.Ernesto Capdet Wert, director of Villa Clara's Highway Administration Center, said authorities ... read more

Cuban five send message on occasion of July 26

Campaign News | Friday, 25 July 2008

Rene Gonzalez, one of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters in US jails sent a message on the occasion of July 26 celebrations in Cuba, on behalf of his comrades in jail Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez. The Cuban News Agency reproduces the full text of the ... read more

US denies visas to wives of Five, again

Campaign News | Thursday, 24 July 2008

For the ninth time, the US Interests Section has denied an entry visa to Olga Salanueva, the wife of Rene Gonzalez, one of the five anti-terrorist Cuban fighters unfairly held in US prisons.On July 16, Salanueva was summoned to the US office along with Adriana Perez, the wife of Gerardo ... read more

Bolivia on track to irradicate illiteracy

Campaign News | Thursday, 24 July 2008

Bolivian President Evo Morales highlights advances of literacy campaignBolivian President Evo Morales spoke about his government's commitment to make Bolivia a country free of illiteracy in 2008, which he said they are on course to meet thanks to the help offered by Cuba and Venezuela.During an activity held in La ... read more

LGBT campaign launched on Havana beach

Campaign News | Wednesday, 23 July 2008

Several hundred LGBT people and their friends gathered at the Mi Cayito section of Guanabo beach east of Havana to celebrate newfound pride and launch the "Together with You" (Junto a Tí) campaign. "Together with You" is a grassroots initiative to prevent AIDS among men that have sex with men ... read more

Hold lifted on Cuba democracy funds

Campaign News | Wednesday, 23 July 2008

BY FRANCES ROBLES for the Miami HeraldThe chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday lifted the hold he had placed on the U.S. Agency for International Development's $45 million Cuba democracy program, saying steps are being taken to address corruption and misspending.The Miami Herald reported Monday that Rep. ... read more

Cuba democracy groups facing audits after reports of faud

Campaign News | Wednesday, 23 July 2008

By Christopher Lee for The Washington PostThe U.S. Agency for International Development will begin conducting financial reviews of about a dozen Cuba democracy groups that receive federal money to answer concerns in Congress about possible fraud totaling at least $500,000.The reviews follow the agency's suspension of a grant to the ... read more

Funding for free Cuba is frozen

Campaign News | Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Money destined for Cuba democracy programs has been frozen following charges of massive fraud.Congress has put the U.S. Agency for International Development's $45 million Cuba program's 2008 funding on hold, following a series of troubling audits and cases of massive fraud, The Miami Herald has learned.In a quest to get ... read more

FAO General Director praises Cuba’s work in favor of food production

Campaign News | Tuesday, 22 July 2008

The General Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf, praised on Monday a program of actions developed by Cuba in order to increase food production.After a tour of the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine, the UN representative spoke to reporters and referred to the significance ... read more

Record year for university graduates

Campaign News | Monday, 21 July 2008

Nearly 900,000 university students have graduated in Cuba since the 1959 triumph of the Revolution, said Deputy Minister Higher Education Juan Jose Cabello, during a meeting in the central province of Cienfuegos.Cabello, who presided over the graduation ceremony of the Carlos Rafael Rodriguez University of Cienfuegos, said numbers greatly increased ... read more

CSC Lloyds Bank Briefing - June 2008

Campaign News | Saturday, 19 July 2008

United States' extra-territorial legislation and the effects upon UK based companies .................................................. Lloyds TSB, Hilton Hotels & Barclays Bank - United States' extra-territorial legislation and the effects upon UK based companies .................................................. Lloyds TSB Bank have written to their business customers who deal with Cuba ordering them to stop trading with Cuban firms or take ... read more

Cuban government to distribute idle land

Campaign News | Friday, 18 July 2008

In a further effort to increase national food production and to reduce imports, the Cuban government announced the distribution of idle land to farmers and cooperatives throughout the island.A decree published Friday in the Granma newspaper states that landless people will be granted up to 13.42 hectares in usufruct for ... read more

Retired US Colonel demands visas for wives of Miami Five

Campaign News | Thursday, 17 July 2008

Message from Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired) Larry Wilkerson demanding the granting of visas to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva"If there is any kindness in anyone in the current U.S. leadership, indeed, if there is any recognition of the dignity of the individual human being, then there must be a recognition ... read more

Miami Five Defense Lawyers Ask Court to Reconsider Case

Campaign News | Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Defense lawyers will introduce to the Ninth Circuit of the Court of Appeal of Atlanta a document requesting to reconsider the case of the five Cuban antiterrorists imprisoned in the US this coming July 24th.Roberto Gonzalez, a member of the defense team told the press on Wednesday that when the ... read more

Cuban government protects families from oil price rise

Campaign News | Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Government subsidies on electricity consumption have protected Cuban families from the damage of world oil prices rises.Granma newspaper explains today that the residential sector of the island consumes 46.1 percent of the electricity produced by the National Electro-energetic System.In spite of the continuous rise of energy production costs resulting from ... read more

World personalities demand Cuban Five’s right to family visits

Campaign News | Wednesday, 16 July 2008

The International Committee of Solidarity with five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters unjustly imprisoned in the United States urged on Tuesday the US State Department to grant visas toAdriana Perez and Olga Salanueva, wives of Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez - two of the Cuban Five, as these five men are internationallyknown.During ... read more

Praise for Bolivian health brigades

Campaign News | Tuesday, 15 July 2008

The work of Cuban health professionals in Bolivia continues to have outstanding results, according to a communiqué released by the Cuban embassy in this South American nation.According to Prensa Latina news agency, the document notes that in little over two years of cooperation, the Cuban doctors have offered more than ... read more

US official release computers for Cuba

Campaign News | Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Responding to constant pressure from communities all across the US, US officials returned to the members of the 19th US-Cuba Pastors for Peace caravan 32 computers that had been seized on 3 July.A report by the organization says caravanistas hand-carried the computers across the International Bridge from Hidalgo, Texas into ... read more

Extradition process for Posada Carriles continues in Panama

Campaign News | Tuesday, 15 July 2008

An extradition order against Luis Posada Carriles and three other Cuban-born terrorists continues to be processedin Panama as the petition was presented before the First District Prosecutor's Office of the Circuit of that country.The fifth special penal judge, Hilda Bonilla de Vidal, in charge of the case, explained that she ... read more

Posada may face extradition to Panama

Campaign News | Thursday, 3 July 2008

Ex-CIA operative may face extraditionLuis Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative hailed as a hero in Miami and reviled as a terrorist in Cuba and Venezuela, could face extradition to Panama.Panama's Supreme Court said Tuesday it had overturned presidential pardons for 180 people, including Posada Carriles and four associates.Panamanian courts ... read more

Sunday Herald on Lloyds withdrawal from Cuba

Campaign News | Wednesday, 2 July 2008

Joanna Blythman writes in the Sunday Herald on US interferenceNo cigar as banks cut off CubaIT SEEMS that our banks are doing the United States's dirty work these days. Lloyds TSB and Barclays have been telling British customers who have financial dealings with Cuba to take their business elsewhere. Why? ... read more

US border patrol seize computers

Campaign News | Tuesday, 1 July 2008

Pastors for Peace Caravan stopped at US - Mexico borderComputers destined for Cuba seized by Border Patrol - Take Action Now!The Pastors for Peace Caravan, which challenges the US blockade of Cuba on an annual basis, was stopped at the US-Mexico border on Thursday 3 July. As always, the Pastors ... read more

LGBT TUC Cuba motion

Campaign News | Tuesday, 1 July 2008

The annual TUC Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Conference (LGBT) heard speakers from the Fire Brigades Union who tabled a motion calling on conference “to acknowledge the achievements of the Cuban revolution and note that 2009 will be the 50th anniversary of the revolution. The motion was passed overwhelmingly and ... read more