Circles Robinson, Author at Havana Times

Catalan Caravan Supports the Cuban Five

Freedom for the Cuban Five was the motive behind a car caravan conducted this past Sunday by members and supporters of the Spanish organization “Defensem Cuba” (Let’s defend Cuba). (21 photos)

Posada Carriles’ Trial Set for 2011

The trial of confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles will finally take place on January 11, 2011, according to a decision by a court in the city of El Paso, Texas, reported IPS. Posada, claimed by Venezuelan justice for the bombing of a commercial Cubana Airlines plane in 1976, should answer for migratory fraud and false testimony.

US Asks for Release of Agent Gross

The US government reiterated its request to the Cuban authorities for the release for humanitarian reasons of Alan Gross, a contractor from that country imprisoned on the island since December 3, according to statements to the press by Philip Crowley, U.S. Department of State spokesperson. Gross was distributing communication equipment when he was arrested and charged with carrying out espionage activities.

Cuba’s Commercial Exchange Plummets

Cuba reduced by close to half its commercial exchange with Canada in 2009 and to more than a third with Spain, Italy and Venezuela, revealed a report by the National Office of Statistics (ONE). According to the source, last year imports fell to eight billion dollars as compared to 14 billion in 2008.

US Catholic Church backs its Cuban counterpart

The U.S. Catholic Church offered its backing to Cuba’s Catholic Church in its efforts to improve the situation of political prisoners in the island, according to statements by Juan Molina, advisor to the Office for International Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference. The mediation begun last May 19 already resulted in the relocation of six inmates in their provinces of origin

Prisoner Transfers “First Step in Right Direction”

The European diplomats who spoke to IPS welcomed the first results of the talks between Cardinal Jaime Ortega and President Raul Castro, through which the Church aims to improve the situation of imprisoned dissidents, and to secure the eventual release of at least those prisoners who are ill.

Team Cuba Set for International Play

Recent announcements released by the Cuban Baseball Federation have been filled with both good and bad news for fans of the island national pastime.

Folk Singer Backs Prisoner Release

Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez backed the release of the political prisoners on the island and also demanded that the Cuban Five, imprisoned in the United States charged with espionage, be set free, reported IPS. He spoke at a press conference in New York, one of the stopovers of his tour of the United States. According to Rodríguez, the Washington-Havana conflict should end because it has caused “too much distress, too many absences, too much missing, too much sorrow.”

Posada Carriles to Get Trial Date Today

A court in El Paso, Texas, will decide today the date for the trial of confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is charged with lying to the U.S. immigration authorities when he entered the country undocumented in 2005, reported the Miami-based El Nuevo Herald. Moreover, Posada did not disclose his relationship with the 1997 attacks against hotels in Cuba, which caused the death of Italian Fabio di Celmo.

Exiled community wary of prisoners’ transfer

It is still too soon to celebrate the transfer of political prisoners in Cuba, affirmed the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), one of the most influential organizations of the Cuban exile in the United States. The moving of six inmates up to now would be a strategy of the government to “turn away the attention of international public opinion” from issues such as releases or the hunger strike by dissident Guillermo Fariñas, according to statements to the press by Omar López Montenegro, director of human rights of the CANF.