Cuba: Cubans applaud U.S. bill easing trade, travel

[Dionne]

wyq614.....tell us about the criteria involved when you were picked to study in Cuba? Did you apply for schooling in Cuba or were you hand picked? What are your living quarters like? How is it that you can get online when so many Cubans cannot?

[wyq614]

wyq614.....tell us about the criteria involved when you were picked to study in Cuba? Did you apply for schooling in Cuba or were you hand picked? What are your living quarters like? How is it that you can get online when so many Cubans cannot?

The criterias were
- Good students whose rank is at the front according to the record of your scores.
- The candidate wishes to go there, if you are a top student but you wish to go to another country or stay in China, our university won't impose you to study in Cuba.

This is an education project that is settled by a contract of education cooperation between China and Cuba so we were hand picked.
We don't have to pay the tuition nor for the acommodation and food.

We live in an apartment inside our campus in Villa Panamericana, Cojimar in the Municipality of the East Havana. We're divided into 5 groups according to our Spanish level (the result of the "diagnostic work", an examination we took in our 3rd day in Cuba), each class has a Spanish teacher and a guide (guía).

Our Spanish teacher is named Anabel González, a white, top graduate from The University of Havana, our guía is Lesvi Moya, a mulatta that is in charge of our daily life affairs and activities. Our director is Olga Ofelia Gómez, beautiful mulatta, has experience of studying in Italy.

We are required absolute presence of classes and educative activities (e.g. visiting museums), if you don't feel like to, Lesvi will call you at any time.

Our room is small and of bad ventilation, we have an old-style air-conditioner and a television. We can have a bath in our restroom but by the time I write now the shower is still broken and no one has ever solved the problem. We have hot water for bathing, but unfortunately the girls don't, because they live in the 4th floor and we, 3rd. The hot water cannot be lifted on the 4th floor until now.

We enjoy free medical care, but fairly bad eficiency, sometimes when you are sick you find the doctors absent. You have to, sometimes, ask a guide to apply a medical consult for you.

We don't bother to wash clothes ourselves, we have free laundry, and the barbers' won't charge either.

We can enjoy unstable Internet access with special proxy for us with Brazilian wireless signal (even our IP address is from Sao Paolo, Brazil), the speed is bad and is, my professors said that the strength of the signal is somehow depended on weather conditions, we'll have bad signal when it's mostly cloudy or raining.

Other questions about my life in Cuba?

[JonathanBelles]

As a Chinese student, have you met resistance from the locals?

[Dionne]

wyq614.....thanks for the reply/info.

I find it fascinating that your in Cuba studying. My daughter spent a semester in Russia as an exchange student. Like you, she qualified and was given the option to travel overseas.

My next questions.....how many languages to you speak fluently? Are you there as part of an International Affairs study program?

[wyq614]

As a Chinese student, have you met resistance from the locals?

Not really, there's firm friendship between the Cubans and the Chinese, something I can perceive here in Cuba. The driver of our school bus could easily tell me that he has 5 girlfriends despite that I only talked to him for 15 minutes.

to Dionne:

I can speak English, Spanish and a little French and greet persons in German, because of the similarity, sometimes I can understand some Portuguese. Among us there are four students studying as part of International Affairs Program and later may enter the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but I'm not one of the four.

[HURAKAN]

Clinton says Obama wants to lift travel bans on Cuba
Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:55pm GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday the incoming Obama administration wanted to lift travel restrictions on families wishing to visit relatives in Cuba and urged Havana to make its own concessions.

Speaking at her Senate confirmation hearing, Clinton said she hoped the Cuban government would look at freeing political prisoners and open up the economy.

"The president-elect (Barack Obama) is committed to lifting the family travel restrictions and the remittance restrictions. He believes ... that Cuban-Americans are the best ambassadors for democracy, freedom and a free market economy," she said.

Obama has said previously he favours relaxing restrictions on travel and cash remittances.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming, editing by David Alexander)

_________________________________________________________________________

The wind is shifting in many ways. Fidel Castro is almost (or already) dead and Raúl Castro is not far behind. Raúl has shown interest in negotiations with the US and after their presence is history, Cuba will be a more open country. There is no other figure in Cuban politics at this moment that can easily substitute the monumental figures that Fidel and Raúl represent.

My parents and grandparents are happy, like many other Cubans in the US with this news. My dad wants to visit my grandparents and my grandparents from my mom side want to see my aunt.

[Dionne]

WOW!!!! I didn't see that one coming.......this is one of the anticipated changes that would have never made my list.

Peculiar travel suggestions are dance lessons from God.

[HURAKAN]

South Florida police talk about post-Fidel events
By LIZA GROSS AND FRANCES ROBLES



Police officials from across Miami-Dade, hoping to discuss possible post-Fidel Castro events locally, on Wednesday met with Democracy Now, the Cuban exile group headed by Ramon Saul Sanchez.

The meeting was not spurred by specific intelligence but just to keep a dialogue open as reports circulate about Castro's health. Mostly, the talks centered on expected street celebrations and dealing with an influx of refugees, police said.

''Basically we're doing everything we can. We're talking to our federal and local partners, though we have no intelligence that say anything is any different,'' said Miami Police spokesman Delrish Moss.

The heightened attention on Cuba comes at a time when Cuba watchers from as far as Spain remained on alert, reacting to widely circulating but vague reports that Castro's health had taken a serious turn for the worse.

While recognizing that this kind of speculation happens periodically -- most recently in August 2007 -- those who deal with Washington on a regular basis say authorities aren't taking it lightly.

''High sources in Washington are saying that reliable sources have said that he has taken gravely ill,'' said University of Miami's Andy Gomez, who serves as an advisor to the U.S. Task Force on Cuba, an arm of the Brookings Institution think tank comprised of academics and former diplomats. ``They are monitoring this very closely, including looking for additional movements of security and troops. So far, none of this has happened.''

Castro's continued absence from public view, an unusually long break from published essays, failure to schedule private chats with recent visiting presidents and veiled remarks by Venezuelan ally Hugo Chávez has elevated the unconfirmed reports of the Cuban leader's pending death.

El Pais newspaper in Spain reported Wednesday that there were apparent movements at the Cuban Armed Forces Friday after Castro suffered a ''possible'' heart attack. Another Spain-based web site, Cubaecuentro.com, reported that his condition was ``irreversible.''

Officials from the State Department acknowledged that they were aware of the reports on Castro's health but denied they were monitoring troop activities on the island.

The White House issued a statement Tuesday by President George W. Bush to the Cuban people, which also appeared to serve as a message for President-elect Barack Obama, who has said he would ease travel restrictions to the island.

''As much of the world celebrates the dawning of a new year, Cuba marks 50 years of one of the cruelest dictatorships this hemisphere has witnessed,'' Bush stated. ``As long as there are people who fight for liberty, the United States will stand with them and speak out for those whose voices have been temporarily silenced.

''All Cubans have the right to be treated with dignity so that they can rise as high as their talents and hard work will take them,'' the statement said. ``This is the standard my administration and past administrations -- regardless of political affiliation -- have expected from the Cuban government as the condition for improved relations.''

Government sources in Cuba have said that Castro remained in control as recently as October, even making calls and barking orders to high-level officials. Sources on the island this week said Castro's recent absence was because he was exhibiting memory loss and incoherence.

It's been a month since Castro wrote a fresh newspaper column, known as Reflections, and almost two since his last published picture. No images were released of his November meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, he was a no-show at the Jan. 1 celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution, and did not host recent visits by two Latin American presidents.

His last ''Reflection'' was published in Cuban newspapers on Dec. 15. And the last published picture, showing him glad-handing Chinese President Hu Jintao, was released Nov. 18. There also were no photos of his meeting with Argentine writer Stella Calloni in early December, although she reported that he looked recovered and alert.

Panamanian President Martín Torrijos did not meet with Castro when he traveled to Cuba Jan. 3. And the Cuban leader did not write a column on Torrijos' visit. Instead, the Cuban government website posted a 1976 speech Castro gave in honor of Torrijos' father, Omar. Likewise, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador returned home last week saying he was unable to meet with Castro and didn't know the state of his health.

But the most disquieting comments came from Chávez, who during a weekly address Sunday said Castro would never return to public life and added that he would live on beyond physical life.

As rumors swept through the Cuban American community in South Florida, one exile leader said they appeared to be more serious than similar reports in the recent past.

''I believe Fidel Castro is finally in his final days of life,'' said Ernesto Díaz, secretary general of Alpha 66, one of the oldest anti-Castro militant organizations. ``In a not too distant future, he will cease to exist.''

''Chávez's statements that Castro will no longer make public appearences and the fact Castro himself has not written one of his periodic articles in a while are signs that all may not be well with him,'' Díaz added.

But another prominent member of Miami's Cuban American community said he was not sure the vague reports were true.

Max Lesnik, a local radio commentator who often travels to Cuba and maintains high-level contacts there, said he talked to a high-ranking Cuban official by telephone on Monday and that the official -- a friend -- never raised the issue of Castro's health.

''We talked about many topics and not once did he make any reference to Castro or his health and I did not notice any tone of concern in his voice,'' Lesnik said. ``Nothing out of the ordinary.''

While acknowledging that Castro's prolonged absence is not business as usual, a veteran Cuba observer urged against jumping to dramatic conclusions.

''I would tend to think there is something here,'' said Jaime Suchlicki, director of the UM's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. ``Whether he is ill or getting better in a few days, who knows. But we will have to wait and see.

''He will die someday. Nobody is immortal. He is an 80-some-old man,'' Suchlicki added. ``When we see the military in force on the street and hear funeral music, then we'll know something has happened.''

Miami Herald staff writer David Ovalle, Alfonso Chardy and El Nuevo Herald staff writer Wilfredo Cancio Isla contributed to this report.

[HURAKAN]

Fidel contemplates his mortality



Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has urged his country's leadership not to be disturbed by his illness or his eventual death.

In his second online article in two days, Mr Castro again praised new US President Barack Obama.

But he added that he did not expect to be following world events by the end of Mr Obama's first term in four years.

There has been much speculation on the health of the 82-year-old, who had not written a column for five weeks.

Fidel Castro's second essay on http://www.cubadebate.cu in two days came after his brother, President Raul Castro, denied rumours that his health was worsening.

Mr Castro had not written any columns since 15 December, after averaging nine a month in 2008.

He has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006.

However, Argentina released photos of him meeting its visiting President, Cristina Fernandez, in Havana on Wednesday.

'Meditate calmly'

In his article published on Thursday, Mr Castro said Cuban leaders "shouldn't feel bound by my occasional [columns], my state of health or my death".

"I have had the rare privilege of observing events over such a long time. I receive information and meditate calmly on those events. I expect I won't enjoy that privilege in four years, when Obama's first presidential term has ended," he wrote.

He said he had written fewer columns recently so as not to "interfere or get in the way of the [Communist] Party or government comrades in the constant decisions they must make".

In his column on Wednesday, Mr Castro praised Mr Obama for his "honesty" but said he had many questions to answer.

Mr Castro, whose Cuban revolution has survived 10 US presidents, had warm words for America's new leader.

"I expressed that personally I had not the least doubt of the honesty with which Obama, the 11th president since 1 January, 1959, expressed his ideas, but in spite of his noble intentions there remained many questions to answer," he wrote.

Mr Obama has said he wants to meet Cuban leaders and improve US-Cuba relations. He has indicated he will ease restrictions on travel and remittances to Cuba but maintain the 46-year US trade embargo on the island.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 846670.stm

[wyq614]

On Thursday we took part in a lecture of Ricardo Alarcón, I appreciate his art of speech

[HURAKAN]

Cuba replaces top Cabinet ministers

47 minutes ago

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba abruptly replaced some of its most powerful and visible officials on Monday, including Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque.

The surprise shakeup, involving about 10 top officials, was announced at the end of the midday newscast by Cuba's supreme governing body, the Council of State.

Among others replaced is Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez.

Lage, 57, was one of five vice presidents below Raul Castro and had served as a de-facto prime minister. He was credited with helping save Cuba's economy by designing modest economic reforms after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Perez Roque, 43, was previously personal secretary to Fidel Castro and a former leader of the Communist Party youth organization. He had been foreign minister for almost a decade

[wyq614]

Don't know how to comment this event, but I think Cuba now need younger cadres in its central government. But what Raul has done was sacking those younger cadres in the cabinet or those who has background of Communist Youth League leadership. i don't know why.

[HURAKAN]

Cubans applaud U.S. bill easing trade, travel

Winds of change.

[gtalum]

It's time to drop the charade and end the embargo altogether. It's ridiculous that residents of an allegedly free country are forbidden to travel to a nation 90 miles away.

[wyq614]

Yes, see if I can meet some of you here in Cuba before the end of May.

[Dionne]

Yes, see if I can meet some of you here in Cuba before the end of May.

Seems like I read somewhere that our restrictions as American citizens visiting Cuba could be as long as a year away. I hope not.

[abajan]

...The driver of our school bus could easily tell me that he has 5 girlfriends...

And do they know about each other?

[Ed Mahmoud]

Once and future Soviet Union looks to base nuclear bombers in Cuba and Venezuela.


Cold War Part Deux, the Sequel.

[Nimbus]

Many Kennedy tapes were declassified in 2002 and some of the budget briefings when JFK was first informed by the CIA about what was going on were kind of humorous. These tapes used to download free but paying to listen is probably worth every nickel.

http://tinyurl.com/czjnq8

Here is an excerpt from tape number 65...

The President takes a particular interest in the press and
refugee reports which he believes is providing wrong information to the American public. The
news stories repeated the charge that the Russians were hiding offensive missiles in Cuban
caves. During the meeting. President Kennedy expresses his concern that the American people
are “bound to think it’s true” if it appears in the press, and there is a danger that this will
escalate the Cuban situation unnecessarily and could "produce a major crisis or possibly a war".

[vbhoutex]

Once and future Soviet Union looks to base nuclear bombers in Cuba and Venezuela.


Cold War Part Deux, the Sequel.

Why in the heck isn't the media all over this?