U.S. Grants Visa to Mariela Castro but Denies Visit by Cuban Academics

Denial of visas: “arbitrary, shameful and cowardly”

The Obama administration granted a visa this week to the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro but rejected visas for nearly a dozen other Cubans to attend an academic conference in California, angering both conservative Cuban American leaders and American scholars seeking to improve U.S.-Cuban academic ties.

Mariela Castro, 50, an advocate for gay rights and a niece of former President  Fidel Castro, will be allowed to travel to San Francisco for a meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, and she will later visit New York, administration officials and several American scholars confirmed Thursday.


Among American scholars who specialize in Latin America, the decision to deny visas to other prominent Cubans invited to the conference — including several who visited the United States last year — aroused forceful criticism.

“This is arbitrary, shameful and cowardly,” said Philip Brenner, a professor and Cuba expert at American University. “Many of these people are prominent scholars who have a history of advocating improved relations with the United States. All of them have received visas in the past. Why are they now suddenly being turned down on the grounds that they are a potential danger to the United States?”
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Ted Piccone, an official in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program, said he was mystified by the administration’s criteria in choosing which Cubans may visit the United States. Brookings is hosting a Cuban historian and Communist Party member, Eusebio Leal, at an event in the District on Friday.

“I find it baffling. I wish I knew what their thinking was,” Piccone said. He noted that among the Cubans denied visas was Carlos Alzugaray, a former ambassador to the European Union, who was invited to a meeting at Brookings next week. Another barred figure was Rafael Hernandez, a scholar who has taught at Harvard and Columbia universities.

A copy of one visa denial letter, issued last week and obtained by The Washington Post, stated that Soraya Castro Marino, who directs a study institute in Havana and was a visiting scholar at Harvard in 2010, was found ineligible this time because her presence would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.” All rejected applicants reportedly received the same letter.

Mariela Castro, who directs Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education in Havana, has become a prominent advocate for gay rights. Although detractors see her as a mouthpiece for the government, others see her in a more favorable light.

“She is a champion for human rights. She is not a critic of the regime, but she is an outspoken critic of its policies,” Brenner said.

The secrecy of the visa process and the apparent contradictions in how applicants are judged make the system vulnerable to charges of political manipulation

State Department officials said they would process the remaining Cuban visa applications in the next several days.

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Cuban defense minister, Julio Casas Regueiro, dies at age 75

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Julio Casas Regueiro, Cuba’s Minister of Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) died of a cardiac arrest in Havana on Saturday, 3 September. He was 75 years old. He was cremated according to his wishes and his remains will be transfered to the Mausoleum of the Frank País Second Eastern Front in the Sierra Maestra where he will receive military honors. The government has declared a 3-day period of mourning.

A veteran of the revolution, Casas Requiero was trained as an accountant but joined Fidel Castro’s troops in the 1950s. With the triumph of the revolution, he occupied many different posts in the Armed Forces including Chief of the Eastern Army and Chief of military economic activities.

In 2008, when Raúl Castro took over as President from his brother, Casas Requiero replaced him as the Minister of FAR. He was also member of the National Assembly of the People’s Power and Vice-president of the Council of State.

Casas Regueiro is replaced by his first deputy, General Leopoldo Cita Frias.

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Sixth Congress meets as 50th Anniversary of Bay of Pigs invasion marked

Raul Castro,  presenting the central report,  during the opening session of the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC)

Raul highlighted the fact that the inauguration of the Congress was taking place coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Revolution by its Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, on April 16, 1961, during a ceremony to pay tribute to those killed the day before during the bombings of Cuban air bases, which was the prelude to the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs mercenary invasion.

The Cuban leader noted that the military and people’s parade held earlier on Saturday at the Revolution Square, dedicated to the young generations, was eloquent proof of the fortitude of the Revolution to follow the example of the heroic Cuban revolutionary fighters of Bay of Pigs.

In this regard, he added that next May 1, on the occasion of the International Workers Day, “we will do likewise throughout the country to show the unity of Cubans in defense of their independence and national sovereignty, which as proven by history, can only be conquered through Socialism.”

Raul said that the Congress brings together 1,000 delegates representing nearly 800,000 PCC members affiliated to over 61,000 party cells.

 “But, this Congress really started on November 9 last year, with the release of the Draft Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution, a subject that, as previously indicated, will be at the center of the debates of this meeting that is regarded with great expectations by our people,” he stated.

The Cuba president explained that, from December 2010 to February of this year, 8,913,838 people participated in more than 163 thousand meetings held by the different organizations and that over three million people offered their contributions in the discussion of the Guidelines.

 “The data collected from the results of the discussions become a formidable working tool for the government and Party leadership at all levels, like a popular referendum, given the depth, scope and pace of the changes we must introduce,” Raul said.

He added that “in a truly extensive democratic exercise, the people freely stated their views, clarified their doubts, proposed amendments, expressed their dissatisfactions and discrepancies, and suggested that we work toward the solution of other problems not included in the document.”

In this regard, he pointed out that every opinion, without exception, was incorporated to the analysis, which helped to enhance the Draft submitted to the consideration of the delegates to the Congress.

 “The principle that guided this process was that the validity of a proposal would not depend on the number of opinions expressed about it.

This is shown by the fact that several guidelines were either modified or removed based on the opinion of only one person or a small number of them,” the Cuban leader noted.

Raul described the Guidelines as an expression of the people’s will to update the Economic and Social Model in order to secure the continuity and irreversibility of Socialism as well as the economic development of the country and the improvement of the living standard of the people combined with the indispensable formation of ethical and political values.

> Congress  Session Gallery
> Bay of Pigs Anniversary Parade Gallery

Cuba and Venezuela re-launch bilateral Integral Cooperation Agreement

Raúl and Hugo during the event at Havana’s International Conference Center

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Presidents Raúl Castro Ruz and Hugo Chávez Frías, of Cuba and Venezuela, respectively, re-launched this Monday the bilateral Integral Cooperation Agreement for 2010-2020, following the successful development of that accord during the last decade, which has contributed notably to the socioeconomic advance of both countries.

After confirming that both nations are directing their efforts to economic union under a new kind of relationship, which should continue to grow, Raúl took advantage of the opportunity to convene the Communist Party and all the Cuban people to take part in the planning process for the 6th Congress of Cuban communists, scheduled for the second half of April, 2011, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs victory and the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution.

During the event at Havana’s International Conference Center, President Raúl Castro also presented Chávez with a copy of Economic and Social Policy Development Project, which will be discussed at the Congress.
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Venezuelan Workers to March

in Support of Socialist Model

In response, the Venezuelan president thanked him for the honor and highlighted the great significance of Fidel, the Cuban Revolution and their resistance to imperialism.

Also present at the event were the Venezuelan delegation and Cuban leaders of the Communist Party, government, representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Union of Young Communists and the mass organizations.

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Cuban Religious Leader Attends Lucius Walker’s Wake

"We think the US blockade of Cuba is against the Holy Scriptures. We dare to say that what Cuba needs the most is our solidarity to break the blockade,"

The funeral of Baptist pastor Lucius Walker took place on September 17, at the Convent Avennue Baptist Church, in Manhattan, New York. Organized by his family, the memorial service was attended by noted religious leaders and American graduates of Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine.

Cuban Presbyterian Pastor Miriam Ofelia, who is also the head of the World Council of Churches for Latin America and the Caribbean and deputy to the Cuban parliament, attended the ceremony on behalf of the Cuban people, who so much loved and admired Walker.

Other Cuban religious leaders were unable to attend the ceremony because their visa applications to enter the United States were granted too late or denied. Such is the case of Reverend Raul Suarez, head of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center; Episcopal Pastor Pablo Oden Marichal, who is also the executive secretary of the Cuban Council of Churches, and Baptist Pastor Estela Hernandez, head of the Pastors for Peace Distribution Commission.

Comrades Fidel Castro and Raul Castro sent wreaths to the brave and faithful friend of Cuba.

Walker, who for died on September 7, was the executive director of the Pastors for Peace Interreligious Foundation for the Organization of the Community, an organization he directed since its foundation in 1967.

He was also the founder and promoter of the Cuba-USA Friendship Caravans, known in Cuba as the Pastors for Peace Caravans, which in 1992 began challenging the US blockade of Cuba by travelling to the island carrying humanitarian aid. "We think the US blockade of Cuba is against the Holy Scriptures. We dare to say that what Cuba needs the most is our solidarity to break the blockade," said Walker once.

> Adios to Lucius Walker Jr. in Harlem

> Lucius Walker is in the Hearts of the Cuban People
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Cuba marks 50th Anniversary of Women’s Organization

President Raúl Castro presided over a cultural-political gala to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Women’s Federation (FMC) on Monday at the Universal Hall of the Ministry of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana.

Also present was the FMC’s General Secretary, Yolanda Ferrer, who reiterated the Cuban women’s decision to unconditionally support the Revolution and to continue fighting for women’s equality and full social integration.

The gala also served to pay tribute to late Vilma Espin, founder and former president of the FMC.
 
The First Vice President of the councils of State and Ministers, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, congratulated all Cuban women on the occasion of this anniversary and praised the FMC’s decisive contribution to the national process of transformation.

He noted that women account for 46.7% of the labor force in the state civil sector and also 65.1% of the professional and technical labor force.

“We have to continue fighting discrimination against women and for their full integration into society. It is a common battle for women and men in which the FMC will always have the support of the Cuban Communist Party,” he added.

The gala closed with a concert by the Camerata Romeu, an all-women musical group founded 15 years ago by Zenaida Romeu, the first woman who graduated from the Higher Institute of Arts as an orchestra director.

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More Coverage

> Raúl presides over 50th anniversary of the Federation of Cuban Women
> Message to the Members of the Federation of Cuban Women
> Federation of Cuban Women: Half a Century of Being Loyal to the Revolution
> Cuban Children and Youth Recognize Importance of Women