Obama hails 'new chapter' in US-Cuba ties

[Hindustani78]

Cuba has released some of 53 ''political'' prisoners: US | Zee News
Wednesday, January 7, 2015 - 00:53

Washington: Cuba has freed some of 53 people the United States regards as political prisoners as agreed under last month`s US-Cuban rapprochement and Washington wants to see the rest released soon, the US State Department said on Tuesday.

"They have already released some of the prisoners, we would like to see this completed in the near future," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, saying she would not provide a specific number.

The release of all 53, however, is not a pre-condition for holding talks on migration and on the eventual normalisation of relations between the United States and Cuba that are scheduled to take place later this month, the spokeswoman said.

Psaki said she was unable to say exactly when those talks, to be led by Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson on the U.S. side, would take place, adding "we hope to have that locked down in the coming days."

On Monday, Psaki had said she was unable to say whether any of the 53 had yet been freed. Their promised release was part of U.S. President Barack Obama`s Dec. 17 announcement that he planned to normalise relations with Cuba after decades of hostile relations with the island.

 

[Hindustani78]

Cuba dissidents say 36 activists freed as part of deal with U.S.| Reuters
By Daniel Wallis and Nelson Acosta

HAVANA Fri Jan 9, 2015 3:05pm EST

(Reuters) - One of Cuba's most prominent dissident groups said on Friday that 36 opposition activists, including a popular hip-hop artist, have been freed in the last two days as part of a deal to improve relations between Cuba and the United States.

The dissident Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) said 29 of its members were among those released, and that most had been warned by the communist government they would be sent back to prison if they continued their opposition activities.

"Our freed prisoners are committed to continue fighting for the democratic Cuba which we all want," UNPACU's leader Jose Daniel Ferrer said in a statement.

"The UNPACU activists have left prison with more energy, force and motivation than they had when they were jailed."

Cuba's commitment to free 53 prisoners was a key part of the historic deal announced on Dec. 17 under which the Cuban and U.S. governments agreed to renew diplomatic relations after more than 50 years of hostilities.

Almost all of those freed so far appear on an informal list of political prisoners drawn up several months ago by dissidents, but it is not known if they were all on the list of 53 that the United States negotiated with Cuba.

Details about who will be freed have been withheld by both governments, providing ammunition for U.S. opponents of the detente, who have complained that President Barack Obama has not pushed Cuba hard enough on human rights and that the government in Havana was not living up to its side of the bargain.

The White House hailed the releases.

"The United States welcomes the substantial and ongoing releases of prisoners in Cuba," senior White House official Ben Rhodes said on Twitter on Friday.

"So good to see people reunited with their families."

'VERY GOOD NEWS'

Elizardo Sanchez, founder of the dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which monitors detentions, said the releases to date were "very good news," but that activists remained concerned about those still behind bars.

"We don't know what the future holds for those former Cuban government officials and senior ex-military people, as well the Cuban-Americans who are still in prison," Sanchez told Reuters.

Several Cuban exiles from Miami are in Cuban prisons serving sentences of up to 30 years on terrorism-related charges after they attempted to infiltrate the island with weapons. They are believed to be in custody still and it is not clear if Washington argued for their release, or for the freedom of Cubans jailed for passing secrets to the United States.

Sanchez highlighted the cases of former high-ranking Cuban government official Miguel Alvarez and his wife, Mercedes Arce, a noted academic, who were jailed in 2012 for undisclosed crimes against the state.

Alvarez was sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Arce was given a 15-year term, sources close to their families said.

Sanchez said he was also concerned for peaceful protesters who remained behind bars, as well as the many "common Cubans" he said had been jailed on a pretext by the government and whose rights had been trampled.

Leading dissidents have complained that the U.S. government kept them in the dark over which cases it was pushing for.

Most of those released over the last two days were accused of offenses such as resisting arrest and threatening police officers, and had been given shorter sentences of two to five years.

The hip-hop artist Angel Yunier Remon, known as "The Critic", was serving the longest prison term, eight years.

Remon was arrested in 2013 after painting "Down With The Dictatorship!" on the street outside his home in the eastern city of Bayamo. He staged several hunger strikes while behind bars, and said unsanitary prison conditions caused him to contract cholera.

"I'm so happy to be back with my family, my children, and my wife," Remon told Reuters by telephone from Bayamo on Friday morning, adding that he had no plans to give up working for the opposition.

"Our country is still a dictatorship," he said. "We're going to keep battling for an independent and truly free Cuba."

Opposition groups say most of those released over the last couple of days were set free on the condition that they report regularly to the authorities.

Cuba's government does not comment on police actions involving detentions, and it has said nothing about this week's releases. It says there are no political prisoners in Cuba and typically describes dissidents as U.S.-paid "mercenaries."

The top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson, is due to visit Havana on Jan. 21-22 for talks with Cuban officials on the normalization of diplomatic ties and migration issues.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis and Nelson Acosta; Additional reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by David Adams, Kieran Murray and Gunna Dickson)

 

[Hindustani78]

BBC News - US and Cuba meet for high-level talks as part of thaw

The US and Cuba are holding their highest-level talks in decades in the Cuban capital, Havana.

The talks are part of a thaw in relations between the two rivals announced last month in simultaneous speeches by US President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.

They come only hours after Mr Obama urged Congress to seize the chance to end the US trade embargo against Cuba.

The talks will focus on migration and restoring full diplomatic ties.

'New era'
The US delegation is led by Roberta Jacobson, the top US diplomat for Latin America. The last time someone of her level of seniority visited Cuba was 35 years ago.

BBC correspondent Barbara Plett Usher says the meetings feel like the beginning of a new era in relations between the two nations.

The US will be asking for an end to current restrictions on its diplomats so it can upgrade its interest section in Havana to a full embassy, she adds.

 

[Hindustani78]

US senators introduce bill to lift Cuba embargo - The Economic Times

By Reuters | 13 Feb, 2015, 12.54AM IST

WASHINGTON: A group of Democratic and Republican US senators introduced a bill on Thursday seeking to lift the half-century-old trade embargo against Cuba, nearly two months after President Barack Obama announced moves toward normalizing relations with the Communist-ruled island nation.

The legislation seeks to repeal provisions of previous laws that prevent Americans from doing business with Cuba, but does not repeal portions of laws addressing human rights or property claims against Cuba's government, the measure's sponsors said.

US lawmakers who back more normal relations with Cuba are preparing a series of bills seeking to ease US restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba.


A bill aimed at ending legal restrictions on Americans' travel to Cuba was introduced last month.

The bills will face some strong opposition in Congress, but supporters said they wanted to at least generate debate on US-Cuba policy. Even if the standalone measures fail in the Senate and House of Representatives, they may be included later this year as provisions of larger appropriations bills.


Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar is the lead sponsor of the bill unveiled on Thursday. The bill's co-sponsors include Republican Senators Jeff Flake and Mike Enzi, as well as Democrats Patrick Leahy, Richard Durbin and Debbie Stabenow.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/us-cuba-restore-direct-phone-link/article6985834.ece
Updated: March 12, 2015 12:49 IST

Cuba's state-run Etecsa said that it has re-established direct connection between the two countries, initially for international calls.
Cuba and the U.S. have restored direct telephone communications which were cut off in 1999.

The state-run Telecommunications Company of Cuba (Etecsa) said on Wednesday that it has re-established direct connection between the two countries, initially for international calls, Xinhua reported on Thursday.

“Restoring direct telephone communication between the U.S. and Cuba helps improve the installations and quality of the communication between the people of the two nations,” Etecsa said in a statement.

Due to the U.S. trade embargo, phone calls between the two countries had to be routed through third countries, making it more expensive and affecting quality.

As part of the rapprochement, the U.S. relaxed some restrictions on doing business with Cuba, especially allowing U.S. telecom firms to sell their services to Cuba.

Almost 2 million Cuban expatriates and their descendants live in the U.S.

 

[Hindustani78]

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to visit Cuba this month - The Economic Times
By AFP | 15 Mar, 2015, 01.11AM IST

BRUSSELS: EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini will visit Cuba on March 23-24 in a bid to advance negotiations with the Communist island state, the first such trip by a top EU diplomat, officials said Saturday.

The visit "comes at a crucial time" for talks between the two sides and the "European Union is keen to see how we can take the relationship forward with strong momentum," a statement from Mogherini's office said.

 

[Hindustani78]

US, Cuba hold highest-level meeting after 1959
Panama City, April 10, 2015 (IANS)

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez held a highest-level meeting in Panama City after a period of 56 years.

The last high-level meeting took place in 1959, when Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro met then US Vice President Richard Nixon, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

Thursday's meeting came ahead of a historic encounter between US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro on the sidelines of the upcoming the seventh Organisation of American States (OAS) Summit, scheduled to begin here on Friday.

According to sources, the US State Department has completed review of Cuba's current status and recommended that the White House should remove Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List.

But the measure will not take effect immediately because the White House has to submit the report to Congress for a 45-day review.

The US first put Cuba's name on list of states sponsoring terrorism in 1982.
Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced in mid-December last year they would work to normalise ties.

Ever since, three rounds of talks on restoring diplomatic ties and re-opening embassies have been held.

 

[denel]

You can smoke anything anywhere nowadays.

The farthest I went is smoking a pipe. Maybe I'll invite cigar to on grad day.

Ramon Allones? Best one?

Cohibas.
Been to cuba three times. great place. Lots of good friends there.

It is neither logical nor moral to have lucrative trading relations with Vietnam and China and then to deny the same to Cuba on human rights grounds. I believe even Miami Cubans now understood this.

Just politics my friend. US should have been taken for genocide that saw over a million vietnamese killed by carpet bombing, agent orange etc. yet they have the gaul to push cuba. I say to Fidel kudos for pointing the finger.
You have to go to cuba and it is not what is told in the media. People are one of the most friendliest i have met. For us it was even more given our 30year conflict with them in Angola. Like one cuban doctor friend said, before we fought with AKs now we fight with medicine. My hats off to them.
Life is not easy but I can tell you i never saw litter, everything is organized and people will help one another. I travelled extensively through the island. Remarkable people.
Once US comes in, we will see all the good aspects of the revolution gone. but i guess times do change.
Dont forget they had over 2500 medical personnel during the earthquake in Pakistan. No other country provided for so much in terms of putting people where it mattered... See in West africa, the teams of doctors who are there are in wide majority Cubans.

BBC News - US and Cuba meet for high-level talks as part of thaw

.

Great to see cocotaxi!!! again.

Not surprised you chose Cuba. It is also destination for US high school seniors. I knew many people who went there for few days. For drug use obviously. And some other things went down between girls and boys.

Listen, beware of any such activity; it will land you up with 20yrs in prison any harder stuff they put you on an island penal colony. Dont even think of it.
The worst thing a high school kid can do is smoke a cigar. Right from airport there are sniffer dogs and secret police. this is not a regular caribean or south american country where narcotics are available. You want to test the waters then be prepared to swim witht he sharks.

Cuba Protects America’s Most Wanted

Cuba Protects America’s Most Wanted - The Daily Beast

And the point being... US backed all the south american dictators and supported their atrocities in the name of freedom.

 

[Hindustani78]

US, Cuba re-establish diplomatic ties after 54 years of enmity
Washington, Jul 20, 2015, (PTI):

The United States and Cuba today re-established diplomatic relationship after a gap of more than five decades, burying enmity between the Cold War foes.

In presence of hundreds of people, for the first time since 1961, the Cuban flag was raised at its embassy premises in Washington.

The flag was also placed at the main lobby of the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

Similarly, the US flag was raised at the US Interests Section in Havana, officially making it the American Embassy.

"The US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Cuba later this summer to celebrate the re-opening of US Embassy in Havana and raise the US flag," the US Embassy in Havana said in its first official media release.

Kerry was scheduled to meet his Cuban counterpart in Washington later in the day.
However, Senator Robert Menendez in a statement expressed deep concern with ongoing human rights violations in Cuba.

"Diplomatic relations with the US are a privilege and must be earned, yet the Cuban government refuses to make any substantial changes to uphold democratic principles and human rights since the December 17th announcement," Menendez said.

"With the opening of the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC, the Obama administration continues to validate the Castro regime's brutal behaviour, doubling down on a one-sided deal that was not able to guarantee full staffing and freedom of movement for all diplomats required for a fully functioning embassy in Havana," he said.

"There may be a flag raising over the embassy of a dictatorship, but the real goal is a flag raising where the Cuban people are free, have their human rights respected and where we do not accept dictatorial conditions on our embassy and its people," Menendez said.

 

[Steve781]

Cuba might well become another Babylon like Tiajuana.

 

[Gibbs]

Soon Cuba is going to be another Tiajuana, a favoured destination for young men looking for booze, drugs, hookers and other cheap thrills.

Been so for a while now

 

[Hindustani78]

Interfax news
November 16, 2016
13:54
Kamaz to supply Cuba with more than 2,400 trucks