Viewing from August 2007

Banks braced for fines

Campaign News | Wednesday, 29 August 2007

By Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington for the Financial TimesWhen regulators in 2005 slapped ABN Amro with an $80m (€59m, £40m) penalty for violations of US sanctions against Libya and Iran, it sent seismic waves through the international banking system.The reverberations are still being felt today.People close to several European banks ... read more

Cuba Will Not Participate in Upcoming World Boxing Championships

Campaign News | Wednesday, 29 August 2007

Havana, August 29 (acn) The Cuban Boxing Federation announced that the island will not participate in the upcoming World Championships of the sports scheduled for October 21st to November 3rd in Chicago, United States.In a note published on Wednesday by the Granma news daily, the Cuban Boxing Federation explains that ... read more

Miami Five - Geoff Bottoms reports from Atlanta

Campaign News | Monday, 27 August 2007

EYE-WITNESS REPORTJUSTICE ON TRIAL IN ATLANTA - LATEST STAGE IN THE APPEAL OF THE MIAMI FIVE -EYE-WITNESS REPORT FROM GEOFF BOTTOMS“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Those words of Martin Luther King, the celebrated black civil rights activist assassinated in 1968, would explain the impressive presence of progressive ... read more

New Barclays Campaign launched - take action here

Campaign News | Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Protest against Barclays discrimation todayBarclays bank has closed the London bank accounts of two Cuban organisations in order to comply with illegal US blockade legislation against Cuba.Such action is illegal under British law and discriminates against Cuba. CSC is calling on the British government to act now against such measures.Please ... read more

Report from Miami 5 hearing in Atlanta

Campaign News | Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Father Geoff Bottoms reports back from the court for CSCDefense lawyers presented their arguments this week in the latest stage of the appeal for the Miami Five who have now spent almost nine years in US prisons.The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals held an oral hearing in the Elbert P. ... read more

Obama Calls for Easing Cuba Embargo

Campaign News | Tuesday, 21 August 2007

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press WriterMIAMI (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is leaping into the long-running Cuba debate by calling for the U.S. to ease restrictions for Cuban-Americans who want to visit the island or send money home.Obama's campaign said Monday that, if elected, the Illinois senator would ... read more

Cuban spies appeal for US retrial

Campaign News | Monday, 20 August 2007

By Michael Voss, BBC News, HavanaA US federal appeals court in Atlanta is due to reconsider whether there are grounds for a retrial of five Cubans convicted of spying for Havana.They were arrested in 1998 and found guilty in a Miami court on charges including using false identities and conspiracy ... read more

Strong Rains, Floods in East Cuba

Campaign News | Monday, 20 August 2007

Havana, Aug 20 (Prensa Latina) Strong swells provoked by the powerful Hurricane Dean passing near the southern Jamaican coast cause Monday heavy rains and floods in eastern Cuba.Moving west in the Caribbean Sea, Dean continues intensifying and could increase in the coming hours to become a category-5 hurricane, the highest ... read more

BBC interview with National Assembly president

Campaign News | Friday, 17 August 2007

Cuba awaits news on Castro's return, By Michael Voss, BBC News, HavanaListen to the interview at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6949734.stmCuba's electoral process formally got under way this week - at a time when Cubans are increasingly beginning to wonder how permanent Fidel Castro's absence from power will be.It is two months since pictures of ... read more

Castro: Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent checks

Campaign News | Friday, 17 August 2007

By Anthony BoadleHAVANA (Reuters) - The United States pays Cuba $4,085 a month in rent for the controversial Guantanamo naval base, but Cuba has only once cashed a check in almost half a century and then only by mistake, Fidel Castro wrote in an essay published on Friday.The ailing Cuban ... read more

Travelocity fined $183,000 for booking trips to Cuba

Campaign News | Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Travelocity claimed it booked more than 1,000 Cuba vacations by accident, resulting in an expensive lesson in global commerce and the U.S. embargo on travel to Cuba.BY DOUGLAS HANKSDid the Roaming Gnome book a flight to Havana?Travelocity was fined nearly $183,000 for booking roughly 1,400 Cuba trips between 1998 and ... read more

Low-key celebrations in Cuba as Castro turns 81

Campaign News | Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Agence France-PresseHAVANA -- A brief fireworks display marked subdued public celebrations Monday for Cuban leader Fidel Castro's 81st birthday as the ailing president stayed out of public view."It is the people's tribute to Fidel," actress and radio host Gliselda Farinas told AFP after five minutes of fireworks early on Monday ... read more

Still time for your MP to oppose US blockade measures

Campaign News | Wednesday, 8 August 2007

151 MPs sign anti-blockade motionA total of 151 MPs from across the political spectrum have already signed EDM 1408 - a motion opposing attempts to impose the US blockade of Cuba on firms operating in the UK.But the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC) wants to see more politicians putting their name ... read more

New York Times posts its first Miami Five report

Campaign News | Sunday, 5 August 2007

Fate of 5 in U.S. Prisons Weighs on Cubans’ MindsBy JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr, New York TimesIn Cuba, they call them “the five.” Their faces are plastered on walls and billboards everywhere. Merely being a relative of the five grants celebrity status. Even children know them by their first names ... read more