February 14, 2007

FIDEL DOES NOT TALK TO RAUL

      Havana – At a recent Book Fair, in La Cabaña fortress, Raúl Castro gathered with writers and artists who are in favor with the regime but have recently been protesting for the appointment of Stalinist officers who were in their case during the years ’60 and ’70. Apparently, this was done in an effort to rectify the bad flavor generated by such nominations. It was surprising that at the end of the activity, the designated successor ironically expressed that Fidel was calling everyone but him, something that raises uncertainty within the population about the real heal condition of their Commander in Chief.

LAWYER INTIMIDATED

      Havana – The activist lawyer Juan Carlos González Leiva, President of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights, informed, through a telephone call abroad, that his family and collaborators, as well as himself, have been harassed by security and paramilitary agents. These agents proceed to intervene with every person who enters or leaves the lawyer’s home, threatening them. Other members of the organization in different places have also been threatened and intimidated. The lawyer had been in jail during 26 months, accused of manifesting, along with other members of the Foundation, in favor of an independent journalist attacked by the State Security forces.

POSTHUMOUS PUBLICATION

      Havana – At the Book Fair, it was also announced they were going to publish works by writers in exile, who had been previously censored. Among the writers whose works will be published, were Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Reinaldo Arenas, Leví Marrero and Gastón Baquero, all of them deceased. This continues the practice followed with other writers and artists who died in the island or in exile, such as Lecuona, Lezama Lima, Virgilio Piñera and others. Whose works were published excluding any critical references to the government.

WHY CHAVEZ?

      Havana – Cubans are furious and complain that they are not periodically informed on the seriousness or recovery of Fidel Castro. In the several months of his ailment, almost all information has been given by Castro himself, along with Hugo Chávez. People are asking why the designated leaders do not inform on Fidel’s health condition, as if only a foreign mandatory was allowed to speak about him, something which creates a feeling of internal and external discrepancies within the regime’s top brass.