Cuba protests inclusion on list for tougher airline screening

Cuba is protesting its addition to a list of 14 nations that will be forced to undergo tougher security screening for flights heading to the US.

The island nation has never been connected to al Qaeda, but it has been added to a list of 14 nations whose passengers have been designated for tougher security checks before boarding flights to the US.

Director of the Cuban Foreign Ministry in North America, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, said that the nation categorically rejects the new hostile action by the United States against Cuba.

She described the new security controls as discriminatory and selective and has lodged a protest with US diplomats on the island, and that the Swiss Embassy in Washington delivered a similar complaint to the state department.

The two nations have been at odds soon after Fidel Castro assumed power in 1959, and the US has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for 47 years.

Cuba has remained on the State Department’s list of sponsors of terrorism since the 1980s, even though it always maintained its inclusion had more to do with the US’s antagonistic policy towards the communist-governed state than evidence that it supports terrorism.

However, State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley said Cuba deserved to be included on the list, as it is believed that it is a prudent step to their assessment of the current threat to US interests and particularly the aviation system around the world.

Travellers from the 14 countries included in the list for extra screening must undergo full-body pat-downs and their carry-on luggage checked. The other countries are: Iran, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen. Iran, Syria and Sudan are on the terror sponsor list with Cuba. Cuba is the only country of the 14 that is not predominantly Muslim.

Source:fly.co.uk/

Angry Cuba demands removal from U.S. terrorism list

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba angrily rejected on Friday U.S. accusations that it supports terrorist groups and demanded its removal from a U.S. list of "state sponsors of terrorism."

In the communist-led island's latest public criticism of the Obama administration, Cuba's government issued a statement disputing U.S. charges that it backs Basque and Colombian groups engaged in terrorist activities and that it illegally harbors fugitives from U.S. justice.

Cuba demanded its "immediate exclusion" from the U.S. terrorism list, calling it an "unjust, arbitrary and politically motivated designation that contradicts the exemplary conduct of our country in confronting terrorism."

It accused the United States of harboring "hundreds of criminals, murderers and terrorists" it said had acted against the Cuban government since Fidel Castro took power in a 1959 revolution. Fidel Castro, 83, handed over the Cuban presidency to his younger brother Raul Castro, 78, in early 2008.

Cuba has long chafed at being on the U.S. "state sponsors of terrorism" list, where it was placed in 1982 during the administration of President Ronald Reagan.

But its latest reaction signaled growing anger and frustration in Havana with U.S. President Barack Obama, who had raised expectations for an improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations when he said early in his administration last year that he wanted to "recast" long-hostile ties.

Cuba reacted angrily earlier this week when Washington said U.S.-bound air passengers from 14 nations including Cuba would receive extra security checks, including a pat-down search.

The new measures followed the botched bombing attempt of a Northwest Airlines flight into Detroit on Christmas Day by a Nigerian believed to be an operative for al Qaeda.

The 14 countries include the four on the State Department's terrorism list - Cuba, Iran, Syria and Sudan -- and 10 "countries of interest": Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen.

On Tuesday, the Cuban government summoned the United States' top diplomat in Havana to protest its presence on the list, which it called a "hostile action" aimed at justifying the U.S. trade embargo imposed against the island since 1962.

MUTUAL ACCUSATIONS

Obama has slightly eased the embargo by lifting curbs on Cuban-American travel and on sending of remittances to Cuba and he has initiated talks on migration and postal service.

But in recent weeks, Cuban leaders have bitterly criticized Obama for failing to do more to change U.S. policy toward Cuba, including refusing to take Cuba off the terrorism list.

Obama has said Cuba must improve human rights and release political prisoners if it wants relations with the U.S. to move forward, but Cuban leaders say these are internal matters.

The U.S. has justified Cuba's characterization as a state sponsor of terrorism on grounds that it harbors members of ETA, the Basque separatist movement in Spain, and supports violent Colombian leftist rebels.

Cuba said a small number of ETA members had lived in Cuba for years under an accord with the Spanish government and that they had conducted no terrorist activity while on the island.

It said it had been requested by all sides in Colombia to take part in a formal peace process there and had done so, with Cuba at times serving as host for negotiations.

Washington also accused Cuba of providing refuge for airline hijackers and U.S. criminals seeking to escape prosecution for crimes including murder of police officers.

Cuba countered that the hijackers had been tried in Cuban courts and served jail sentences. The accused criminals, it said, were receiving "political asylum on the island as "fighters for North American civil rights."

Source:reuters.com/

Noel Arguelles Gets $7 Million plus

HAVANA TIMES, Jan. 8 - While the bidding war continues to try and sign Cuban lefty Aroldis Chapman, a lesser known exile, Noel Arguelles, also a southpaw, has signed a five year major league contract with the Kansas City Royals for US $7 million, plus $2 million in further incentives.

Arguelles was the star left handed pitcher on Cuba’s 2007 18-and-under team. He reportedly has a 94 MPH fastball as well as a curveball and good change-up.

Like Chapman, Arguelles -who turns 20 next week- will need to improve on his control to reach potential in the highly demanding US Major Leagues.

Arguelles is expected to begin the 2010 baseball season in the Class A minor leagues.

He abandoned his Cuban team to pursue a professional career after winning the gold medal game at the July 2008 Junior World Championships in Canada.

Meanwhile the bidding war for Chapman, 21 and known for his up-to-102 MPH fastball, continues with several MLB teams still in the race including the Los Angeles Angels, who have budding star Kendry Morales of Cuba and a friend of Chapman on first base.

The Cuban press does not report on the island’s nationals who abandon their country’s amateur teams to play professional sports in foreign countries.

Source:havanatimes.org/

Cuba Protests Its Inclusion on US List of Terrorist Countries

WASHINGTON.— The Cuban Interest Section in Washington protested the inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries that, according to the United States, promote terrorism, reported EFE.

The spokesman of this office, Alberto Gonzalez, said that his country has complied, is complying and will continue to comply with the applicable international safety measures regarding terrorism," and said that the Cuban people "does not recognize the moral authority of the US government to certify the inclusion of Cuba and the Cuban people on such a list."

Gonzalez pointed out that "the Cuban territory has never been used to organize, fund or carry out terrorist attacks against the United States or any other country," and suggested that this new attack on the island was political.

"Cuba is rather a victim of terrorism and violence," he said, and noted that the perpetrators of those attacks against Cuba, such as Luis Posada Carriles, live freely in the United States and are not being prosec

Source:periodico26.cu/

Yemenis Comprise Half of Prisoners Held at Guantanamo Bay

President Barack Obama this week announced the suspenion of future transfers of prisoners to Yemen from a U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb a U.S. airliner December 25 reportedly was trained in Yemen.

U.S. officials say at least two of the prisoners once held here at Guantanamo Bay are now leading al-Qaida efforts in Yemen. About 90 detainees, nearly half of those remaining, are from Yemen.

But after the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner, allegedly by a man trained in Yemen, the U.S. is reconsidering its release policy. President Obama says America will suspend future detainee transfers to Yemen. Republican Senator John McCain, on a visit to Iraq, applauded the president's actions. "Others who have left Guantanamo and gone to Yemen have not only gone back to the fight, but have also been suicide bombers and leaders. This has got to stop," McCain said.

The move complicates the president's timetable to close the prison by January 22. But he claims it won't affect the goal. "Make no mistake, we will close Guantanamo prison," he said.

"Now Obama is sailing into a very strong head wind politically." said Peter Beinart of the New American Foundation who says the president's move assures him public support, but at the prisoners' expense.

"Whenever people become more afraid, there's an attack or a threatened attack and lots of people were fanning fear on TV, the balance between civil liberties and security shifts away from civil liberties, particularly when it's not the civil liberties of Americans, but of non- Americans who most Americans don't identify with," Beinart said. He recommends sending the remaining Guantanamo detainees to maximum security prisons in America, rather than returning them to their countries.

James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation warns a return of prisoners to their homelands would require more work. "It has to be much more close supervision of them once they are released," he said.

But right now, the U.S. has little confidence that Yemen can offer that type of supervision, with the president calling the country unsettled. Yemen is rocked by civil war in the north and possible succession in the south. Detainee tracking would add to the list of obstacles the country faces

Source:voanews.com/

Cuba will continue working to improve communication services

HAVANA, Cuba (AIN) -- Cuba will continue searching for technological, security and financial solutions to increase telecommunication services provided to the population.

Granma newspaper featured an article on Thursday about projections made by Communications and Information Technologies Ministry’s officials in that area.

According to Granma, last December alone, the international connectivity in the country was increased by 10 percent, in spite of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba and the ongoing world crisis.

The article explains that because Washington’s blockade bans Cuban access to underwater Internet cables, the island is forced to use satellite connection, which is slower. However a group of strategies is underway in the country to increase the efficiency of voice and date transmission.

At present the internet connection speed in the island is 209 megabits per second for outgoing transmission and of 379 for incoming transmission. This speed does not meet the development need of the information technology sector of the country, the article reads.

Ramon Linares Torres, first deputy communications minister, said because of the technological and financial limitations of the country, Cuba will continue to give priority to the use of new technologies for social purposes, including internet connection.

Linares explained that internet services are subsidized for universities and studies, cultural and scientific centers, among other institutions that are also prioritized.

He noted that after the fiber optic cable that will link the island with Venezuela is online, the communications quality will be boosted.

However, he pointed out, this does not necessarily means that the Internet services will be expanded, as the island will still have to pay high prices to international networks and make important investments in the telecommunications infrastructure of the country

Source:caribbeannetnews.com/

St. Lucia Favors Links with Cuba

The fundamental objective of this visit is to strengthen and increase links between St. Lucia and Cuba, and intensify such a necessary relationship between Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean, said Prime Minister Stephenson King, on his arrival at José Martí International Airport. His visit is in response to an official invitation from President Raúl Castro Ruz.

Prime Minister Stephenson King, on his arrival at José Martí International AirportAfter being received by Deputy Foreign Minister Rogelio Sierra, the visitor made a brief statement to the press, in which he expressed his gratitude for the support offered to St. Lucia by the Cuban government and people.

"St. Lucia is one of the member countries of CARICOM which, to a large extent, has benefited from Cuba’s goodwill and support through cooperation," he said. "For many years now, we have been considerably aided in terms of education, healthcare, and agriculture," and evidence of that are the 50 cooperative workers currently working in this sister nation. The premier also expressed his will to "continue exploring these opportunities and possibilities for the mutual benefit of the two countries."

He referred to attempts over the years to keep the island isolated and expressed his desire to further strengthen the links with Havana as brothers and sisters of the Caribbean region.

Source:ahora.cu/

Cuba Calls US Screening Rules "Anti-Terrorist Paranoia

HAVANA (AFP)--Cuba's official newspaper Gramma said Monday that the new U.S. rules tightening security checks for airline passengers traveling from or through 14 countries, including Cuba, were the result of "anti-terrorist paranoia."

"As part of its anti-terrorist paranoia," the United States strengthened security measures at its airports and has imposed "tighter checks" on passengers from 14 countries, including Cuba and others it accuses of "supporting terrorism," the Communist Party's daily said.

"These desperate guidelines affect all airlines, U.S. or otherwise," Gramma added, noting they went into effect Monday.

The U.S. Transport Security Administration said the new measures would include random "enhanced" checks on all international passengers flying into U.S. airports, as well as compulsory stricter checks on those coming from or via 14 nations.

The countries targeted by the new measures include Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, all U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism. It will also apply to passengers traveling from or via Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and Nigeria.

The New York Times and Washington Post quoted government officials as saying the other four countries were Algeria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

There are no regular flights between Cuba and the U.S., but four daily charter flights connect Havana with three U.S. cities, including Miami, Florida, where more than one million Cuban exiles and emigres reside.

The charter flights were increased to eight a day in late December, after U.S. President Barack Obama earlier in the year lifted some travel and remittance restrictions to Cuba.

Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and imposed an economic boycott on the island.

Both governments recently resumed negotiations on migration and postal exchange issues, but efforts to end the boycott are stymied by U.S. insistence that Cuba should change, while Havana suggests the U.S. do the same.

Source:wsj.com/

Cuba's Santeria priests foresee turmoil in 2010

HAVANA — Cuba's high priests of the Afro-American Santeria religion announced their visions for 2010 Saturday, predicting big social changes and internal conflicts that should be handled with "sincere dialogue" and mutual respect.

"We can reach all we aspire to, but we can also destroy it all. The possibilities in 2010 are greater than last year's. It all rests in our hands," babalawo -- Santeria priest -- Lazaro Cuesta said on presenting his group's "The Letter of the Year" report.

Put together by some 1,000 babalawos in the country, the annual predictions for Cuba and the world include "coup d'etats," "sudden changes in political systems," "betrayal and usurpation" among top government officials, as well as falling farm and livestock production, and the "breakup of agreements... wars and military interventions."

As antidotes to these problems, the babalawos recommend "sincere dialogue," respect for "the decisions of the majority and the opinion of the minorities," and "new reforms" in the political, economic and social orders.

While they make no specific references to Cuba's government, the predictions seem to point to the aging Cuban leadership of President Raul Castro, 78, and his ailing brother and Communist Party head Fidel Castro, 83.


The soothsayers recommended people heed the saying, "the young palm trees grow taller and thicker than the old ones," which Babalawo Victor Betancourt interpreted as meaning: "making an overhaul, which is what's needed at the moment and is not taking place."

The babalawos also forecast "serious environmental pollution problems" on a global scale and "rising sea levels."

And regarding human health, they warned about an increase in cerebral-vascular diseases and in problems of the eyes, lungs and bones.

Santeria was brought to Cuba by African slaves and has many followers among the island's 11 million people.

"We're not critics, We're spiritual counselors," said Betancourt about his brotherhood.

Source:AFP

Black activists launch rare attack on Cuba about racism

Reporting from Atlanta - President Obama has loosened travel restrictions to Cuba. His critics accuse him of harboring socialist sentiments. And he is, of course, a member of the African American intelligentsia -- a group that has tended, for the last half-century, to have a soft spot for the Cuban revolution.

It sounds like the perfect atmosphere for the love affair between black American liberals and the regime of the Castros to fully flourish.

Except that it's not.

A group of 60 African American artists and thinkers have launched a rare -- and some say unprecedented -- attack on Cuba's human rights record, with a particular focus on the treatment of black political dissidents.

In a statement issued in November, luminaries including Princeton professor Cornel West, actress Ruby Dee and director Melvin Van Peebles criticized the Communist government for its "increased violations of civil and human rights for those black activists in Cuba who dare raise their voices against the island's racial system."

The statement, "Acting on Our Conscience," was denounced by the Cuban government.

It was a far cry from those heady moments in 1960 and 1995 when Fidel Castro visited Harlem, receiving on both occasions a kind of hero's welcome as liberator of the oppressed.

Over the decades, many black intellectuals have spoken favorably about the regime's ability to bring better healthcare and education to some of the island's poorest residents. A number of prominent figures, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and actor Danny Glover, have visited the island.

What has changed, some of the statement's signers say, is a heightened understanding outside Cuba of the plight of the island's large black population, which remains increasingly marginalized economically and underrepresented in the highest echelons of government.

But Obama may also be a factor. Suddenly, Cuba's great enemy -- long denounced as hopelessly racist by the Castros -- has a black president, one who has toned down the U.S. rhetoric toward Cuba.

Some observers say that Obama's rise has created a space for American liberals to take issue with Cuban policies.

Before Obama, "no human rights groups, which largely come from the left, wanted to be seen as lackeys for George W. Bush," said Christopher Sabatini, senior director of policy for the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. The "Conscience" statement comes as Havana and Washington continue to battle for the hearts and minds of citizens throughout Latin America.

In recent years, voters in some countries, such as Venezuela and Bolivia, have elected left-leaning governments that evince, to varying degrees, goals and rhetoric of the Cuban revolution. At the same time, questions of race have taken a larger role in public discourse as the region moves away from right-wing authoritarianism.

Sabatini said it was likely that Castro and his brother, Raul, who permanently took over as president in 2008, might think that Obama posed a threat to their moral standing -- and thus their persuasive power -- in the region.

Meanwhile, Obama has also had an effect on the Cuban streets, said Carlos Moore, a left-wing Afro-Cuban scholar and Castro critic.

With Obama's election, "it's not that black Cubans became pro-U.S. or pro-Washington, but they said, 'A black man can become elected head of state in a country that we were always told was racist -- but here we are with [a majority] and we cannot come into power,' " said Moore, a Brazilian resident who supported, but did not sign, the Americans' statement.

The CIA World Factbook says that blacks are 35% of the Cuban population, but many observers say that figure is probably above 60%. (The discrepancies arise from the way the Cuban government counts and classifies race.) The ratio of people of color has grown since the Castros took power, as wealthier whites fled for Miami and elsewhere.

The remittances whites sent to families on the island have widened the income gap between Cuba's blacks and whites, said Mark Sawyer, a UCLA political science professor and Cuba expert who signed the document. So has a preference for hiring whites in a tourist industry that has become more important with the collapse of the government-regulated economy, he said.

The Castro government has long treated racism as an issue solved by the revolution, which promised equality for all. But despite the Castros' early and overt denunciation of racism, it continues to be a pernicious presence in Cuban daily life. Sawyer offered one example, noting that kinky black hair is commonly referred to as pelo malo, or "bad hair."

However, Sabatini said, civil rights-style groups have been cropping up on the island to address racial issues. A number of black Cubans have also been at the forefront of the broader social movements critical of the government.

The "Conscience" statement called for the release of one black activist in particular, Darsi Ferrer, a physician who the group contends is a political prisoner. The Miami-based anti-communist group Plantados said Ferrer was arrested last year on trumped-up charges of illegally possessing a few bags of concrete, and is awaiting trial in prison.

Sawyer and other signers of the statement said they acknowledged the advances the revolution brought to black Cubans. But they also believe the issue is more complicated.

"Racism in Cuba has been sort of under the radar screen for, what, 50 years? And many of us who have supported the revolution and the gains it has made have kind of kept quite about it," said Ron Walters, a political scientist and campaign manager for Jackson's 1980s presidential bids.

Black activists were long silent, Walters said, because they were worried that "those people who were opposed to the Cuban revolution, such as white Cubans in Miami and their organizations, would take advantage of it."

The Castros' Miami critics have indeed taken notice. In an interview, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) called the statement "critically important" for highlighting the "lie and the myth" of the egalitarian promises of the Communist government.

To others on the right, the statement was a farce that only betrayed the black left's fundamentally flawed thinking about the Castro government.

Source:LAtimes.com

Tiger Woods to be played by Cuba Gooding Jr, on the ice today at Staples Center, Los Angeles

January 2, 2010 -- The Tiger Woods role may well be the Cuba Gooding Jr. birthday-present-of-the-decade. The Academy Award-winning actor (for Jerry Maguire) turned 42 today, taking to the ice to play hockey at Staples Center following the Los Angeles Kings-Washington Capitals game.

Gooding Jr. laced his skates for charity in "Face-Off for Hope", alongside David Boreanaz and Michael Vartan and against hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille.

While the celebrity game's results aren't in, as of this writing, today's big news about Gooding is more about golf than it is about hockey anyway. The Hindustan Times just reported that Cuba Gooding Jr. allegedly was picked to play Tiger Woods in an upcoming biopic.

To what depth Gooding Jr. will need to dig in order to act as Tiger Woods is definitely up in the air. So is when this seasoned actor will take on the challenging part that sees super athlete Tiger Woods spiral downhill faster than an X-Games snowboarder.

My query at this point is: Can Cuba Gooding Jr. golf, and, if so, where does he like to play? Just sayin'.

More on Cuba Gooding Jr. and the Tiger Woods project as details unfold. Ditto the results of today's playoff between the actor and the hockey great Luc Robitaille taking place right now at Los Angeles's Staples Center.

Meanwhile, Happy Birthday Cuba Gooding, Jr. Have a good time playing on the ice and otherwise celebrating your big day in L.A.

Source:examiner.com/