Viewing from March 2008

US pours more funds into anti-Castro groups

Campaign News | Monday, 31 March 2008

US changes Cuba-group funding policyWASHINGTON,(UPI) - The White House is retooling its policy on funding groups promoting democracy in Cuba by offering more grants to international groups, officials said.The decision to offer funds to groups outside the traditional anti-Castro organizations in Miami and Washington follows last week's resignation of former ... read more

UK government lobbied over blockade

Campaign News | Sunday, 30 March 2008

In March, a delegation met with Gareth Thomas MP to discuss the US blockade of Cuba and extraterritorial effects upon UK companies. Mr Thomas is the Government Minister with responsibility in this area at the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. (BERR) The delegation included Ian Gibson MP, Graham Goddard, Deputy ... read more

Packed fringes at union conferences

Campaign News | Saturday, 29 March 2008

Trade Unionists urged to defend Cuban revolution at Spring fringesThe Cuba Solidarity Campaign has run four successful fringes at union conferences across the country this Spring.Teachers’ union NASUWT affiliated to CSC at the end of 2006, and the campaign’s first ever fringe as an affiliated organisation was a passionate event.Jerry ... read more

Gala commemorates Cuito Cuanavale

Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 March 2008

Cuban President Raul Castro on Monday presided over a gala to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the victory in Cuito Cuanavale of Cuban, Angolan and Namibian troops against the forces ofthe Apartheid regime of South Africa.During the gala, held at the Universal Hall of the Armed Forces Ministryin Havana, Division ... read more

Deep-freeze on Cuba could be thawing

Campaign News | Monday, 24 March 2008

from the People's Weekly World NewspaperDo 50 years of U.S. intransigence toward Cuba mean we are stuck in a political ice age on the issue, immune from change, or is that era already ending?President George Bush seems blind to trickles of change that are starting to appear. At a media ... read more

UK Unions push for warmer EU ties with Cuba

Campaign News | Friday, 21 March 2008

By Kevin McCandless, CNSNews.com CorrespondentLondon (CNSNews.com) - Drawing on ties that go back decades, British trade unions have called on their government to help expand Europe's relations with the Cuban government.In letters sent to the British Foreign Office and released to the media, the heads of more than 20 unions ... read more

Turning point at Cuito Cuanavale

Campaign News | Thursday, 20 March 2008

Ronnie Kasrils, Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, When Jorge Risquet, one of Fidel Castro's shrewdest and most trusted colleagues, addressed the seventh congress of the South African Communist Party, hosted in Cuba in April 1989, he was greeted with the resounding salutation "Viva Cuito Cuanavale!"For the South African delegates, many from military duty ... read more

CSC responds to Cuba critics' letter

Campaign News | Tuesday, 18 March 2008

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign has produced the following response to a letter in the Guardian (18.2.08) signed by seven writers and the President of English PEN calling for the release of Cuban journalists.This letter contains several factual inaccuracies:1. The letter refers to “approximately 90 critics of Castro’s regime” being arrested ... read more

Medical brigade arrives in East Timor

Campaign News | Wednesday, 12 March 2008

A medical brigade of 190 Cuban doctors arrived in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste to proceed with the bilateral collaboration agreement of that country and Cuba.Cuban ambassador Ramon Hernandez Vazquez and other diplomatic officials welcomed the group at the Nicolau Lobato international airport.The Cuban health professionals will join their ... read more

UNESCO withdraws sponsorship of Reporters sans Frontières

Campaign News | Wednesday, 12 March 2008

PARIS, March 12 (PL).- The United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) withdrew its sponsorship today from the French group Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), on the occasion of "Internet Freedom Day."Diplomatic sources from UNESCO told Prensa Latina that the agency made the decision due to the repeated demonstration ... read more

Vigil outside US Embassy for the Five

Campaign News | Monday, 10 March 2008

A high level delegation will hand in a petition to the US Embassy today calling for visitation rights for wives of five Cuban nationals, imprisoned for ten years in the US for defending their country against terrorist attacks.The petition, with over 10,000 names, including MPs, nine Nobel Laureates, and personalities ... read more

EU commissioner wants Cuba sanctions abolished

Campaign News | Sunday, 9 March 2008

HAVANA (Reuters) - The European Union's top development aid official left Cuba on Sunday convinced that EU diplomatic sanctions against the communist island should be dropped after Fidel Castro's retirement, his main aide said.EU Aid Commissioner Louis Michel visited Havana to gauge the political climate following the replacement of the ... read more

Central America could purchase Cuban pharmaceuticals

Campaign News | Sunday, 9 March 2008

Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom announced that Mexico and other Central American countries are considering the purchase of Cuban pharmaceuticals, due to their low cost.During a press conference in Guatemala City on uesday, Colom said that at the initiative of his Panamanian counterpart Martin Torrijos the countries making up the Central ... read more

Pastors for Peace Caravan stopped

Campaign News | Friday, 7 March 2008

Computers seizedAn alert from the A.N.S.W.E.R. CoalitionPastors for Peace Caravan stopped at U.S.-Mexico borderComputers destined for Cuba seized by Border PatrolTake Action Now!Pastors for Peace Caravans have been taking supplies and solidarity to Cuba since 1992. This year's Caravan is dedicated to the freedom of the Cuban Five. We urge ... read more

Sergio Corrieri, President of ICAP dies

Campaign News | Tuesday, 4 March 2008

Sergio Corrieri Hernandez, renowned stage and screen actor and President of the Cuban Institute for the Friendship with the Peoples died on 1st March 2008Sergio was perhaps best known in the UK for his starring role as the intellectual who remains in Cuba after the Revolution in the legendary 1968 ... read more

US shuts down Cuba travel sites

Campaign News | Tuesday, 4 March 2008

by Adam Liptak for The New York TimesSteve Marshall is an English travel agent. He lives in Spain, and he sellstrips to Europeans who want to go to sunny places, including Cuba. InOctober, about 80 of his Web sites stopped working, thanks to the UnitedStates government.The sites, in English, French ... read more