News

During his first trip abroad since taking office in February, Raul Castro told the press in Brazil that he was willing to free dozens of prisoners that Washington calls “dissidents” in return for the release of the Cuban Five, who have spent over 10 years in US prisons. “We’ll send them with their families and everything. Give us back our five heroes. That is a gesture on both parts,” said Mr. Castro.

President Raul Castro has offered to swap dozens of prisoners in Cuba that Washington calls “dissidents” for the Cuban Five, held in the United States, which Havana considers “heroes.” In his first concrete move to break the ice with the soon to be Obama administration, Castro said “Let’s do gesture for gesture,” reported the BBC from Brazil.

For a detailed story on what such a swap might mean for the US and Cuba read this 2007 article from HT editor Circles Robinson. http://circlesonline.blogspot.com/2007/03/cuba-us-perfect-prisoner-swap.html or http://www.cubanlibrariessolidaritygroup.org.uk/articles.asp?ID=338

Latin American leaders meeting Wednesday in Brazil have issued a special declaration demanding the United States drop its nearly half century blockade against Cuba. Cuban President Raul Castro, on his first trip abroad since taking office in February, thanked the Presidents and top officials of 33 countries from Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean for their support.

Cuba does not expect “big change” when Barack Obama takes office on January 20, said Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban parliament, in statements to Mexico’s La Jornada newspaper. Alarcon said dialogue with the Obama administration would be possible if it shows an inclination for multilateralism and adopts a more modest and peaceful approach, reported IPS.

The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) made a request to President-elect Barack Obama to eliminate restrictions on US citizens wanting to travel to Cuba. The letter notes: “ASTA believes Americans would best be served by an elimination of current restrictions on travel to Cuba.” Under the existing travel ban, US citizens face stiff punishment if they visit Cuba without difficult to obtain special permission from the Treasury Dept.

The Latin American and Caribbean Summit on Integration and Development is still underway in Brazil, but one of the side results so far of having 33 heads of state gathered in the same place is that several important leaders have said they want to visit Cuba in 2009. These include Ecuador’s Rafael Correa, Mexico’s Felipe Calderon and Crisitina Fernandez of Argentina.

Cuba’s President Raul Castro repeated Monday his willingness to hold talks with US President-elect Barack Obama to try and improve US-Cuban relations. The Cuban leader had made an initial overture in an interview by Sean Penn shortly before Obama was elected. Numerous US business groups are calling for a new Congress and administration to drop the travel ban on US citizens wanting to visit Cuba and to allow for normalized trade between the two neighboring countries. Obama takes office on January 20, 2009.

After wrapping up his 3-day visit to Venezuela, Cuban President Raul Castro arrived Monday afternoon in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil to attend the First Latin America and Caribbean Summit for Integration and Development. The trip is Castro’s first abroad since he took office in February 2008.

The Summit, which begins Tuesday, is seen as an attempt to discuss major world problems -the food, financial, energy and climate change crises- in a regional setting without the overbearing presence of either the United States or Europe.

While in Venezuela, Castro and his delegation signed new accords valued at US $2 billion. Venezuela is Cuba’s leading trade partner. The wide-ranging agreements include projects in agriculture, education, health and sports in Venezuela with Cuban assistance, and joint ventures to help Cuba increase its oil-refining capacity and telecommunications.

The governments of Cuba and Venezuela signed 137 development projects and 36 new programs valued at more than two billion USD, reported IPS on Monday. The agreements include joint ventures in the oil and gas sectors and the establishment of software plants in both countries.

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo thanked Cuba on Sunday for its backing for that South American country’s healthcare system. He spoke at the inauguration ceremony of the expansion of accommodations for patients at the Operation Miracle vision restoring eye surgery program in the department (state) of Itapúa. “It is not often that Paraguay recognizes the great solidarity of the Cuban government and people, and we do so without blushing, we do so with our heart,” said Lugo.