Viewing from March 2009
Bill to allow travel to Cuba has a better shot
News from Cuba | Tuesday, 31 March 2009
A group of senators and other supporters unveiled a bill Tuesday to lift the 47-year-old travel ban to Cuba.Senators who support lifting travel restrictions to Cuba say it will help improve U.S. relations with the country. Proponents of lifting the ban have been trying for years but lacked the votes ... read more
US Vice President: no plans to scrap blockade
News from Cuba | Tuesday, 31 March 2009
By Eduardo Gallardo for the associated PressVINA DEL MAR, Chile (AP) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday that the United States is not planning to lift its trade embargo on Cuba.Biden, who was in the Chilean resort city of Vina del Mar for a summit of center-left leaders ... read more
Teaching union fringe first for CSC
Campaign News | Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Association of Teachers and Lecturers hear from Cuban guests at annual conferenceCSC held its first ever fringe meeting at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) union conference in Liverpool on Tuesday 7 April. The ATL has 160,000 members in the education sector and delegates heard about Cuba’s achievements in ... read more
New campaign launch - 'Wish you were here'
Campaign News | Thursday, 26 March 2009
Time for a UK ministerial visit to CubaThe new ‘Wish you were here’campaign targets the British government and calls for a high level ministerial visit to Cuba to improve relations between our two countries.We want thousands of action cards to be sent to the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, calling on ... read more
Amnesty launch new appeal on behalf of Miami 5
Campaign News | Thursday, 26 March 2009
Write to the US government todayAmnesty International have just launched a new letter writing campaign targeting the US Secretary of State, and Department of Homeland Security. It calls for the US to grant entry visas to Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva to visit their husbands, Gerardo Hernandez and Rene Gonzalez, ... read more
Restoring ties with Cuba after 50 years
News from Cuba | Thursday, 26 March 2009
by Marcus Papadopoulos for Tribune magazineTHE only two Central American states that do not have diplomatic relations with Cuba announced last week their decision to restore ties with the communist island. El Salvador and Costa Rica severed ties with Havana in 1959 and 1961 respectively after the Cuban revolution in ... read more
Obama and Cuba - Real Change or Minor Tweaks?
News from Cuba | Wednesday, 25 March 2009
By Rober Sandels for CounterpunchIs it too early to consider President Barrack Obama the eleventh president to not get it? Is it too early to pronounce his Cuba policy a failure? Some think so because of the timid reforms he signed into law March 11. Others are expecting major policy ... read more
Largest ever number of Supreme Court briefs submitted on behalf of the Miami 5
Campaign News | Tuesday, 24 March 2009
UK input significant in worldwide pressure urging the US Supreme Court to review the convictions of the FiveAs part of a worldwide effort for justice for the Miami Five 129 MPs, MSPs, MEPs and other prominent political and legal figures have added their names to an appeal to the US ... read more
Houses of Parliament - Women in Cuba Public Meeting
Campaign News | Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Federation of Cuban Women public meeting in parliamentCommittee Room 10, Houses of ParliamentTuesday 31 March 2009Doors 6.30pm, Start 7pmOther Events As Cuba celebrates 50 years of its Revolution this tour offers a chance to see what this has meant for women in the country.with special guests from Cuba:Carolina Amador Pérez, ... read more
Miami 5 appeal to the US Supreme Court
Campaign News | Friday, 20 March 2009
On January 30, 2009 legal team of the Cuban Five filed writ of certiorari with the US Supreme Court, asking the Court to examine the case.Defense lawyers argued the petition with the legal conflicts created by the Eleventh Circuit's rulings, demonstrate the urgent need for this Court's intervention.The Eleventh Circuit's ... read more
Lift blockade, Tories William Hague urges Obama
News from Cuba | Friday, 20 March 2009
From the Times OnlineThe Conservative leadership has called on President Obama to lift the half-century-old American blockade of Cuba, in an attempt to pressure the Communist regime to change its ways.William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, became the first senior British politician to visit Cuba for many years this week, ... read more
Cuba and EU discuss further cooperation
News from Cuba | Friday, 20 March 2009
Experts from Cuba and the European Union (EU) began a forum on 19 March to discuss further cooperation.The forum, organized by the Cuban Exterior Commerce and Foreign Investment Ministry, mainly focused on food security, researches, development, commerce, renewable energies, climate change and reduction of catastrophes.EU commissioner for Development and Humanitarian ... read more
El Salvador to resume diplomatic relations
News from Cuba | Thursday, 19 March 2009
From the Latin American Herald TribuneEl Salvador’s leftist president-elect said on Wednesday that his administration will restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, suspended in 1959 after the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.Mauricio Funes made the announcement at a press conference hours before he was due to meet in San ... read more
Brazil president calls for end to blockade
Campaign News | Tuesday, 17 March 2009
By Michael Astor for Associated PressBrazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday called on the United States to end its economic embargo of Cuba, saying it makes no sense in the 21st Century.Speaking at a Wall Street Journal-sponsored investment forum in New York, Silva also pointed to El ... read more
Cubans celebrate US trade restriction reversal
News from Cuba | Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Cubans celebrated on Wednesday after the US Congress passed a Bill that would ease some travel and trade restrictions against the socialist country.The Bill includes provisions making it easier to sell agricultural and medical goods to Cuba.It undoes some Bush administration rules that toughened the 47-year-old US blockade against Cuba, ... read more
Obama will use spring summit to bring Cuba in from the cold
Campaign News | Sunday, 8 March 2009
by Rory Carroll, Guardian Latin America correspondent, The ObserverUS companies are queuing up as the president moves to ease restrictions on travel and trade, raising hopes of warmer relations and an end to the embargo argues Rory Carroll of the Guardian.President Barack Obama is poised to offer an olive branch ... read more
Prejudice in Cuba 'still a big problem'
Campaign News | Saturday, 7 March 2009
Morning Star report from LGBT TUC conferenceThere are still significant challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Cuba, leading gay Cuban activist Dr Alberto Roque has told delegates to the LGBT conference.Dr Roque, who works for the Cuban sexual diversity project CENESEX, said that, while it is ... read more
Cuba Announces Government Restructuring
Campaign News | Tuesday, 3 March 2009
The Cuban Council of State released an official statement Monday informing of recent changes in the government.These follow President Raul Castro's remarks during the constituent session of the Cuban parliament on February 24, 2008, on the necessity to create a more compact and functional structure of government and a better ... read more
Senate Battle Over Cuba Provisions Heating Up
Campaign News | Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Senators sympathetic to Florida Republican Mel Martinez’ hard-line positions on Cuba signaled Monday they will join him in trying to block efforts to let Cuban-Americans visit relatives on the island more frequently and ease some trade restrictions with Cuba.But it remained uncertain today whether the group will have the numbers ... read more
Speculation following ministerial changes
Campaign News | Tuesday, 3 March 2009
By Patricia Grogg for the Inter Press ServiceWhile the staff of the cabinet ministries set to undergo major reforms are gearing themselves for what lies ahead, the people of Cuba, from academics to pensioners, are speculating about the extent of the recently announced changes and hoping they will bring improvements ... read more
Showdown on Cuba policy not over yet
Campaign News | Tuesday, 3 March 2009
From the Miami HeraldFacing strong opposition from lawmakers with large Cuban-American constituencies, the Obama administration pledged -- in writing -- that changes to U.S.-Cuba policy tucked into the giant 2009 spending bill will have no teeth.The promise worked: Lawmakers Tuesday night approved the $410 billion spending bill, which included the ... read more
