Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 10:06AM
Cuba Update 13 August, 2006
1.Granma newspaper: Fidel 'standing tall'
2.British Playwright: Respect Cuba
3.Miami Herald: US tweaks Cuba policy
4.This is not the end, says Cuban Five Defense Attorney
5.Silvio Rodriguez and Friends
1.Granma newspaper: Fidel 'standing tall'
Fidel Castro is 80 today. This report was published in the Granma daily newspaper, Havana, yesterday.
Standing Tall as a Caguairán. After visiting President Fidel Castro a few hours ago in order to quickly discuss some matters with him, a friend shared with Granma the good news that he had witnessed, and which he summed up with one phrase: "The Caguairán stood up."
In the eastern region of Cuba, where Fidel was born, Caguairán is the name given to a tree that has the hardest, most resistant wood. In the western part of the island, the tree is known as "quiebra hacha", or ax breaker, due its resistance.
The friend said he saw how after receiving physiotherapy the head of the Cuban Revolution walked around the room, and later, sitting in a rocking chair, conversed in a lively manner.
Like the emblematic Cuban tree, towering, tough, resistant, meant for long lasting endeavors, our friend saw the Commander, cheerful and upright, as if anticipating new victories, standing firm like the Caguairán.
2. British Playwright: Respect Cuba
12 August 2006, Havana, (Prensa Latina) British playwright Harold Pinter became the ninth Nobel prize-winner to express support for Cuba.
The 2005 literature Nobel laureate joined more than 9,200 Intellectuals from all over the world who have condemned threats from representatives of the George W. Bush administration on the need to interfere in Cuba s internal affairs.
The British poet and author called to prevent a new aggression against Cuba at all cost.
The intellectuals stance was taken after statements by White House Spokesman Tony Snow, who said that Washington is ready and anxious to grant humanitarian and economic aid, and any kind of assistance, to the Cuban people.
The declaration "The Sovereignty of Cuba Must Be Respected", released in Havana on Monday, was also signed by Nobel laureates Nadine Gordimer, Jose Saramago, Wole Soyinka, Dario Fo, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Rigoberta Menchu, Desmond Tutu and Zhores Alfiorov.
For a full text of the letter and more how to sign up to it:
3. Miami Herald: US tweaks Cuba policy
Change in immigration rules announced
12 August 2006
The Bush administration unveiled its much-anticipated new immigration policy toward Cuba on Friday, quickening backlogged family visas, offering Cuban doctors who defect abroad easier access to the United States and denying visas to human rights violators.
The government also pledged to alert exile families if relatives have been stopped at sea during interdiction operations -- often a major source of anguish for families who receive little or no information about loved ones held on Coast Guard cutters.
The measures, contained in two separate written statements issued in Washington by the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, are the first concrete steps by the U.S. government toward Cuba since Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to his brother, Raúl, on July 31.
Full story at:
4.This is not the end, says Cuban Five Defense Attorney
Leonard Weinglass, one of the defense lawyers of the Cuban Five, told a press conference
11 August 2006
BY JEAN-GUY ALLARD of Cuba´s Granma Daily Newspaper
"This is not the end of the case," stressed US attorney Leonard Weinglass Thursday, during a teleconference to comment on the decision of the Federal Court of Appeals in Atlanta that overturned the ruling issued exactly a year before by a three judge panel of that same court.
At that time, the judges unanimously acknowledged the hostile atmosphere that prevailed in Miami during the trial of the Cuban Five, ordered a retrial and revoked their sentences.
5. Silvio Rodriguez and Friends
An event in aid of The Music Fund for Cuba, London Barbican Centre, 22 September.
Details at:
Y en español:
All information taken from 'Cuba Update' - the news and information bulletin of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, UK. Reports in this bulletin are from various sources on the web and may contain opinions and phrasing that do not reflect the views of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign or Surrey County UNISON.
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