Several dozen anti-government opponents gathered Wednesday at the headquarters of the Ladies in White, a Cuban dissident group, in the capital, to hold a “symbolic wake” for Orlando Zapata, a political prisoner who died on the 85th day of a hunger strike. The official government website cubadebate.cu posted a statement by President Raúl Castro Wednesday, who regretted Zapata’s death, but denied the allegations that prisoners are mistreated in Cuba.
Read MoreCuban President Raul Castro expressed regrets Wednesday for the death of prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo on Tuesday. According to the official website, Cubadebate.cu, President Castro said that in Cuba “there are no tortured, there weren’t any tortured, and there wasn’t an execution. That happens at the [US] Guantanamo Naval Base.”
Read MoreVisiting President Lula da Silva met in Havana with his hosts Raul and Fidel Castro on Wednesday. The press photo was taken by the Brazilian presidency after Lula and Raul visited the port of Mariel, 30 miles west of Havana.
Read MoreCuban opposition member Orlando Zapata passed away in Havana’s Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital after 85 days of hunger strike, reported Elizardo Sánchez, president of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation. Zapata was considered a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.
Read MoreWithout specifying the date, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he will be traveling soon to Cuba to meet with former President Fidel Castro, out of the public eye since July 2006 for health problems.
Read MoreBrazil’s President Lula da Silva meets with Fidel Castro on Wednesday in Havana after arriving Tuesday from Cancun, Mexico for an official visit. The trip is Lula’s fourth to the island during his eight years in office.
Read MoreSantiago de Cuba defeated Las Tunas on Tuesday 6-5 to force do-or-die date for both teams on Wednesday for the last ticket to the 2009-2010 Cuban Baseball Playoffs. Norge Luis Vera pitched the final innings to get the victory.
Read MoreWhile the massive Cuban medical aid to Haiti —both before and after the January 12th earthquake— is continuously a topic of the Cuban media, in most of the international press it is a buried story.
Read More“I think we should reflect and we must listen to the youth,” said Silvio Rodriguez, adding, “a country without young people is destined to be a shadow, a ghost.”
Read MoreAround 50 imprisoned Cuban opposition members asked Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to intercede for them with his counterpart Raúl Castro when he meets with the latter next Wednesday in the Cuban capital, according to a letter released in this city. According to the dissidents, Lula, who is scheduled to arrive in Havana on Tuesday, could be “a magnificent interlocutor to get the Cuban government to decide to carry out the urgently needed economic, political and social reforms.
Read More