By: Teo A. Babun, Jr.
Cuba-Caribbean Development Co., Ltd.
A Division of T. Babun Group, Inc.
All rights reserved
1993
1 January Castro delivers speech at Revolutionary Square in Havana. (December 31)
2 January It is reported that the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 2,565 Cuban refugees from rafts and small boats during 1992.
6 January Carlos Alberto Montaner, leader of the Democratic Platform, a moderate Cuban opposition group, meets with Russian Foreign MinisterAndrey Kozyrev in Moscow.
6 January More rationing of eggs and sugar, resulting from transport problems, imposed on Havana consumer.
11 January A group of 14 Cubans on a fishing trip hijack a boat to Florida.
12 January Cuban Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon during a two day visit to Madrid, Spain for an Ibero-American Summit accuses the U.S. of waging a hostile campaign against his country.
14 January Compliance with Torricelli Bill to be pnished in Mexico; Mexican Foreign Secretary, Fernando Solana Morales says that Mexico does not accept the legality of the Torricelli law.
14 January Warren Christopher expresses support for the tightening the trade embargo on Cuba.
14 January Cuba is among the 120 nations who sign the Chemical Weapons Convention in Paris banning the use, production and stockpilig of the chemical arms. Cuban Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon later in an interview with Prospuesta, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Argentina, comments on the importance of the agreement because it “offers the basis for discussion in a new and unknown situation: the absence of an opponent to the U.S. and its overwhelming worldwide hegemony.”
16 January Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly protests Cuban government’s repression of opposition groups recalling the U.N. resolution condemning human right in Cuba.
17 January 30 Cuban students arrive in Miami to request political asylum after months of waiting in Moscow.
18 January Cuba to hold oil exploration tender in February. Reuters reports that the Cuban state oil company Cubapetroleo (CUPET) said in a statement that the tender inviting bids would be officially presented in Calgary and London on February 10 and 17 respectively.
18 January It is reported from Miami that a grand jury is to hear testimony that could lead to Raul Castro’s indictment on drug charges.
18 January Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo announces the creation of “Cambio Cubano”, an exile group advocating peaceful change in Cuba, cultural exchanges, U.S. tourist travel to Cuban and supporting the Inter-American Dialogue’s report on Cuba.
19 January U.N. sponsored Regional Human Rights Conference begins in San Jose, Costa Rica. The official delegation represented exclusively by government officials while human rights activists in Cuba, who received invitations from the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights, are prevented by government authorities from participating in the event.
20 January News sources report that the Clinton administration is reconsidering Mario Baeza’a appointment (replacing Bernard Aronson) due to opposition from Cuban-exile community.
23 January The Chinese ambassador to Cuba says the Chinese government is ready to increase the level of friendly diplomatic relations and economic dealings with Cuba.
24 January Italian businessman Luciano Benetton in Cuba to inaugurate the first in series of eight outlets planned for the country’s principle tourist resorts.
24 January Cuban parliament nominates 589 deputies that will make up new parliament (elections for 24 February)
24 January Cuban court jails five U.S. residents (four of Cuban origin) on drug trafficking charges.
25 January Iraqi parliament energy commission visits Cuba as part of a Latin American tour.
26 January The Cuban government introduces new labor system in its sugar in an effort to increase yields.
27 January Jamaican Foreign Minister Davis Coore arrives in Cuba to sign agreements on anti-drug trafficking, tourism and technical cooperation. On the Jan 28 the two governments sign cooperation agreements on science, technology and tourism and draft a cooperation agreement on drug trafficking.
27 January 145 Chernobyl victims arrive in Cuba for treatment.
31 January Granma International interview with Ernesto Melendez, president of State Committee for Economics Cooperation, on constitutional amendments strengthening guarantees for foreign investments.
3 February Experts on Latin America debate U.S. policy toward Cuba in Congress.
4 February Havana’s electrical company announces that power outages will be increased in the Cuban capital to 8 hours daily.
5 February Mexican businessmen and government consider Cuba ideal investment spot; Representatives of Mexican Business Council on International Affairs discuss guarantees that “real possibilities exist for increasing the quantity and possibility of the flows of economic integration, finance, industry, technology and markets”.
6 February In Lusaka, in a meeting with Cuban Vice Foreign Minister Fernando Ramirez, Zambian president Fred Chiluba praises Cuba’s stance on the Non aligned Movement and ties with Cuba (economic, medical assistance).
8 February South African Communist party delegation headed by its Secretary General Chris Hani visits Cuba.
8 February In Mexico City, polls show Mexican opposition to U.S. pressure on Cuba to bring about change on the island.
8 February Cuba-Ukraine raw sugar deal; the first consingment of raw sugar (100,000 tons) delivered for refinement into lump sugar.
10 February Cuban opens blocks to oil exploration in international bidding, Calgary, Alberta.
10 February Independent trade union in Cuba, Cuban
Workers’ Trade Union (USTC) announces arrest of its leader Rafael Gutierrez.
11 February Cuban government launches campaign against
“blank ballots” for February 24 elections; bans advertising, politicking.
11 February Prensa Latina, Mexico City says the British
economic publication Euromoney will a hold two-day seminar on investing in Cuba
the first week of April.
13 February Cuba Internacional magazine reports that
the Cuban armed forces are being seriously affected by the fuel shortage.
15 February Cuba buys Thai raw sugar for delivery to
China and other Asian clients to make up for shortfalls in the contracted Cuban
sugar, Cubazucar, the state sugar company, announces.
16 February Cuba and Colombia sign cooperation
agreements on sports.
16 February Members of the U.S. Congress Rep. Lincoln
Diaz-Balart and Sen. Connie Mack, among others, introduce concurrent resolution
calling on the U.S. to seek a mandatory
international embargo of Cuba in the U.N.
Security Council under Chapter
VII of the U.N. Charter.
16 February Cuban sugar production goal set at seven
million tons.
16 February BBCSWB reports (Radio Havana 2-5) Cuba is
reconstructing its judicial system to ease the way for joint ventures and
foreign investment. The government is
currently preparing several regulations that will provide businessmen with
access to diverse customs opportunities.
Cuba already has private warehouses where businessmen can store goods
without having any taxes levied on them, it is reported.
16 February BBCSWB
reports that Cubapetroleo is formalizing oil exploration contracts eith
Canada’s North Energy Ltd, the French companies Total and European Oil, the
Swedish company Taurus, and others.
17 February Cuba and Brazil sign a bilateral agreement
on civil aviation.
19 February Officials from Cupet, the Cuban state oil
company, meet with potential oil investors in London.
21 February Foreign Ministers of Cuba and Iran say the
two countries plan to increase economic cooperation, including reciprocal trade
in sugar and oil.
21 February In a letter of appeal entitled “To the
People of Cuba” published in Juventud Rebelde,
Castro backs all officials candidates,
including himself, in one-party general elections on Wednesday.
22 February The vice-president of the State Committee
for Economic Collaboration says Cuba is
ready to cooperate with foreign investors in sugar refining, but is not opening
up its sugar mills to private overseas investment.
23 February Notimex reports that a Cuban-Mexican Textile
Company, International Textile
Corporation, is starting to operate in Cuba.
23 February Cuban provincial and legislative elections.
24 February The head of the Cuban delegation to the 49th
session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Jose Perez Novoa, said
that a report on human rights in Cuba was unfair and that information was
manipulated.
24 February Moscow News reports that Carlos Alberto
Montaner, president of Cuba’s Liberal Union, which unites several parties of
democratic orientation in opposition to the Castro regime,
was at a meeting in the Moscow headquarters
of the Social Democratic Party of Russia.
He replied to a number of
questions put by Moscow News correspondent concerning the Cuban economy and Cuba’s economic ties with
Russia.
25 February Americas Watch report on human rights in
Cuba, “Perfecting’ the System of Control, Human Rights Violations in Castro’s
34th Year.”
25 February In an interview with Radio Havana Cuba,
Carlos Lage, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, evaluates
various aspects of the Cuban economic strategy. (BBCSWB carries)
25 February Cellular phone system inaugurated in Cuba
through joint venture Cuban-Mexican Cubacell Enterprise.
26 February Czech Republic says it will maintain frozen
diplomatic relations with Cuba.
27 February The National Electoral Commission in Cuba
reports that 95 percent of the valid votes were cast for a complete list of
candidates in show of support for the Cuban’s people unity.
1 March Prensa Latina reports that North
Korea signed trade and economic cooperation accords with Cuba that include a
$75 million credit to build hydroelectric power stations (on the Toa and Duaba
rivers in eastern Cuba). North Korea
will also supply spare parts and equipment for the cuban sugar industry.
2 March Special Rapporteur Carl-Johan Groth
denounces human rights violations in Cuba and the legitimacy of the Feb. 24
elections at the U.N. Human Rights
Commission in Geneva.
2 March It is reported that the water supply
in Havana is affected by the lack of electricity.
2 March Alexander Watson is named by
President Clinton as U.S. assistant secretary of state fro Interamerican
Affairs.
3 March The Council of State in Cuba sets the date of March 15 for
the establishment of newly elected assemblies.
3 March It is reported that shortages of
power at thee of Cuba’s power stations caused a sharp increase in electricity
cuts throughout the island.
4 March Fidel Castro’s interview with Diane
Sawyer aired in the U.S. on ABC’s primetime in which he says he might consider
stepping down in five years.
5 March Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcon says
that Cuba does not intend to create a mixed economy through privatization but
it needs foreign investment to contribute capital, technology and export
markets.
5 March Reuters reports that Venezuelan and
Russian officials say they will sign a framework agreement (Wed. 3-3) that
would allow the two nations to resume a triangular agreement to provide oil to
Cuba.
5 March UPI reports that 85 oil companies
participated in two recent Cuban government forums on expanding operations in
the communist nation.
6 March Fidel Castro meets with Zimbabwe Home
Affairs Minister.
7 March Continental forum on Cuba opens with
the theme “Women in the Nineties:
Realities and Challenges.”
9 March Cuban television producer Ivan Estevez
Cabrera asks for political asylum in Miami.
9 March The Miami Herald publisher David
Lawrence, Jr. to receive Scipps Howard Foundation 1992 award (foundation’s National Journalism Awards)
for his defense of the First Amendment when faced with opposition to an
editorial that cautioned against tightening the economic embargo against Cuba.
10 March UNHRC in Geneva adopts resolution L-37
on Cuba (27 in favor, 10 against, 16 abstentions) for “continued violations of
fundamental human rights and individual liberties.”
10 March Cuba and Algeria sign five year shipping
agreement covering freight, passenger
traffic and loading arrangements in the tow countries’ ports.
10 March BBCSWB reports that Ukranian president
Leonid Kravchuk urges development of relions with Cuba.
11 March European Parliament press release on
human rights in Cuba asking that Cuban authorities allow international human
rights organizations in the country and that Cuba hold genuine elections.
12 March Storm deals blow to Cuban economy.
15 March Fidel Castro is reconfirmed as president
of the ruling Council of State at a National Assembly session…other reshuffling
changes; Ricardo Alarcon to head Cuba’s parliament.
15 March UNITA accuses Angolan government of receiving assistance from Cuba, Israel,
Brazil, India and Russia for its war against UNITA.
16 March Cuban and Vietnamese ministers open
week-long talks aimed at establishing economic cooperation through the exchange
of joint research, technical and scientific information and experts and
expertise in various agricultural fields of interest to both countries.
16 March Castro is featured in Benetton add in
the French Communist Party newspaper L’Humanite.
17 March Four Nobel peace laureates call on Cuban
government to end political repression and open up its prisons for
inspection. (Former Costa Rican
president Oscar Arias, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Betty Williams
and Mairead Maguire, Both Irish).
17 March In Tallahassee, Florida, a bill
preventing state investments in U.S. companies or foreign subsidiaries doing
business in Cuba passes in the Senate.
18 March In Budapest, Hungarian parliamentarians
meet with Madrid-based Cuban Liberal Federation headed by Carlos Alberto Montaner.
18 March Cuban leader Fidel Castro reaffirms
that his country is willing to improve relations with the Unites States in a
letter to group of U.S. students.
18 March Second secretary of the Cuban embassy
in Ecuador, Carlos Valdes, requests political asylum at U.S. embassy in Quito.
22 March A delegation of 36 Brazilian businessmen
begin talks in Havana on possible joint ventures and other investment deals
(including citrus processing plants, joint production of sugar cane harvesters
and creation of Brazil-Cuba shipping line).
They represent 22 companies from seven states of Brazil.
23 March Cuban state media announces that Vietnam
is to supply Cuba with 100,000 tons of rice annually under a new agreement
lasting until April 1995, after prior meeting Fidel Castro and Vietnamese
Minister of Agriculture and Food
Industry.
24 March UNITA claims that thousands of Cuban
soldiers are in Namibia in transit for Angola to fight with the MPLA.
24 March The Red cross appeals for funds to
provide food and shelter for flood victims in Havana.
24 March 24,000 tons of raw sugar arrives to
Lithuania from Cuba.
25 March Secretary of State Christopher responds
to question posed by Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) on Cuba in testimony before
House Appropriations Subcommittee.
25 March Jesus Perez Othon, vice minister of
base industries says eighty-five foreign firms, including 48 oil companies,
expressed interest in Cuban oil exploration.
25 March Dominica’s prime Minister Eugenia
Charles speaking to IPS says that the Caribbean Community should reach out and
strengthen relations with Cuba even in the face of U.S. disapproval…Caribbean
community (CARICOM) Secretary General Edwin Carrington says the Cuba-CARICOM
commission would meet soon.
29 March Residents and officials in Havana say
egg supplies have dried up in the city.
29 March Several hundred soldiers belonging to
the last brigade of the former Soviet Union leave Cuba in line with previous
accords.
30 March Communist Youth Leader Roberto Robaina
Gonzalez named Foreign Minister.
30 March Former Soviet president Mikhail
Gorbachev in Ottawa, Canada calls for the U.S. to lift embargo against Cuba.
30 March Following a Cuban vote against (along
with Iraq and the Sudan), the New York-based Human Rights Watch receives formal
status as a non-governmental organization (NGO) affiliated with the United
Nations. Cuba opposed the application
saying that the organization was politically motivated. Cuba, however, votes in favor of granting
“roster status” to the Brussels-based International Lesbian and Gay
Association.
2 April Fidel Castro speaks on the
appointment of Robeto Robiana as Foreign Minister.
6 April Polish news agency PAP reports that
a delegation of Polish businessmen headed by the Trade and Industry Chamber
signed a letter of intent with the Cuban Chamber of commerce boosting trade
exchanges between the two countries.
6 April Foreign Minister Ricardo Cabrisas
states, at a news conference in Havana with officials and businessmen from the
Caribbean that Cuba wants to increase economic links wit the region.
7 April Rio Group Foreign Ministers meeting
in Santa Cruz, Bolivia ends with rejection of Torricelli law.
8 April Miami Herald reports that the U.S.
Attorneys office drafted indictment of 15 Cuban officials on narcotrafficking
charges, including Raul Castro.
8 April Roberto Robaina as Foreign
Minister holds first press conference with foreign journalists reaffirming the
struggle against the U.S. embargo and stating that the detrimental report on
the Cuban economy released by the Cuban American National Foundation in the
U.S. was “false and contradictory.”
8 April In Beijing, Chinese vice premier
and foreign minister Qian Qichen meets with Cuban cultural delegation led by
Armanso Hart Davalos, the minister of culture.
9 April Television in Havana is rationed
due to electricity shortages.
10 April During the course of the Foreign
Ministers meeting of the Rio Group, the Foreign Minister of Costa Rica, Bernd
Niehaus, in a radio interview urges Cuba to carry out democratic changes in
Cuba.
12 April The Miami Herald reports on the
Prague-based International Journalist Association (founded decades ago to unite
communist controlled journalist organizations). Protest of the lack of freedom
of expression and “aggressive political climate” in Cuba following the firing
of journalists from the Cuban Journalists union after they signed a public
letter asking for democratic changes in Cuba.
13 April The Cuban Minister of Basic Industry
Marcos Portal, says business deals with French, Swedish and Canadian oil
companies are underway for oil exploration.
13 April A Cuban PCC delegation headed by
Armando Hart Davalos visits Pyongyang to meet with President Kim-II Sung.
14 April Fidel Castro meets with former
Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley to speak about Caribbean tourism and
relations between Cuba and U.S.
14 April Carlos Martinez Salsamendi is named
the new president of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce.
15 April The leaders of five dissident groups
in Cuba address a letter to President Clinton calling for an end to the U.S.
embargo on Cuba. Human rights activist
Elizardo Sanchez Santacruz, Socailist Democrat Rolando Pratts, labor leader
Vladimir Roca, civil rights activist Francisco Chaviano and political rights
defender Lazaro Perea signed the letter.
15 April Cuba and Iran sign cooperation
agreement increasing bilateral trade in sugar and oil. Cuba is also to build sugar mills in Iran
and Cuban medical personnel will be sent to work in Iran.
15 April Cuban media reports (Radio Progreso)
that a contingent of Cuban doctors will be going to Zambia under a contract
that provides for Zambia’s economic compensation to Cuba for these services.
15 |April A study by the International Business
Chronicle (IBC) reports that Latin American and European businessmen are
confident about their investments in Cuba.
16 April The united Nations World Food
Program promises to give Cuba emergency food aid worth $2.3 million to help
victims of a tropical storm that swept the island in March.
19 April Ukraine ships to Cuba a cargo of
300t of industrial goods and foodstuffs for humanitarian aid.
20 April Interview with Cuban Minister of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces, Raul Castro in the Mexican newspaper “El Sol de
Mexico.” Castro says that the collapse
of the Soviet Union brought significant cuts in arms supplies and that the army
is now too large for Cuba’s beleaguered economy.
22 April A resolution (HconRes 38) calling
for an international embargo against Cuba is approved by the House Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemispheric Affairs which calls for the U.S. to
seek the embargo under Chapter VII of the United Naitons Charter.
23 April The Cuban Deputy Minister for
hygiene and epidemiology at the Cuban Public Health Ministry, Hector Terry, is
removed from his post following outbreak of “optical neuritis”
and is replaced by Abelardo Ramirez, Deputy
Minister for Medical assistance.
25 April Flotillas begin to arrive in Cuba
with humanitarian aid.
26 April Russian Deputy Foreign Minister
Grigory Mamedov receives Cuban ambassador to Russia Raul Montenegro Guaspa.
28 April Trade agreement between Argentina’s
Rio Negro Province and Cuba signed.
29 April Vice President Al Gore in Miami; in
meeting with The Miami Herald’s editorial board says the United States is
“turning up the volume” on radio and television broadcasts aimed at Cuba.
1 May Workers in Cuba protest the U.|S.
embargo.
4 May In Tripoli joint Arab Libyan and
Cuban joint talks on economic and social cooperation being attended by Ernesto
Melendez, the minister of state for economic cooperation in Cuba.
5 May It is reported that Cuba withdraws its doctors from
Zambia’s Western Province following threats against them by guerillas of Jonas
Savimbi’s Angolan rebel movement.
7 May It is reported that Cuba dissidents
seeking to March through Havana following a May Day mass clashed with police
and pro-government activists. A
spokesman for illegal Democratic Labor Confederation of Cuba said the demonstrators
were attacked by the special bigades of the communist regime to thwart
anti-government rallies.
7 May El Nuevo Herald reports on
Congressman Charles Rangel’s (Democrat-N.Y.) presenting a bill to congress to
lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba; Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart vehemently
responds.
8 May Fidel Castro meets with U.S. human rights activists
including former General Ramsey Clark, Pulitzer winning author Alice Walker and
leader of the American Indian Movement Dennis Banks to thank them for delivering
$75,000 worth of medical supplies donated by U.S. citizens.
8 May Cuban Vice-Minister of Public Health Jorge Antelo is
quoted as having said that 29,959 cases of “optical neuritis” had been reported
since the end of 1992.
10 May french Communist Party leader
Georges Marchais visits Cuba.
10 May It is reported by Agence France
Presse from a Spanish sorce in Havana that spain granted a 40 million dollar
low interest loan to Cuba to buy food.
11 May Cuban media reports that Communist
Party obtained 40,000 new members in 1992; 50% of the new members were under 34
years old and 7,000 were from professional and intellectual sectors.
12 May Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto
Robaina says Cuba wants to resume relaitons with the U.S. but would insist on the
closure of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo.
15 May Ranking
officers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Cuban
Revolutionary Armed Forces led by Claro Orlanso Almaguel Vidal, chief of the
logistics department of the Cuban Armed Forces, confer on exchange and
cooperation in logistics work of the two armies in Beijing.
16 May A group of doctors including eye
specialists and nutritionists (mostly U.S. doctors) arrive in Havana on a visit
coordinated by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to help Cuban
authorities track down the mysterious causes of a nerve disease that disrupts
the eyesight in particular.
17 May It is reported that Cuban sugar
deliveries to China are experiencing a major delay and it is unlikely a contract
to supply 700,000 tons this year will be completed.
17 May Senior staff officials from Cuba and
Russia, Vice President Lionel Soto and Viktor Ivanov, head of Russia’s State
Committee fro the Petrochemical Industry, meet in Havana to discuss bilateral
trade and economic relations and on May 23 sign a memorandum outlining joint
trade, production and investment initiatives in sugar, oil, machine parts and
fertilizers.
17 May A Cuban court hands down suspended
jail sentences to two dissidents who staged an anti-government demonstration on
May 1, Paula Valiente Hernandez, leader or Mother’s for Dignity, a recently
formed association of mothers of political prisoners and Juan Guarino Martinez,
head of the Confederation of Democratic Workers of Cuba, a group deeking trade
union reforms. Both organizations are
not recognized by the government.
20 May Legislation prohibiting Florida
state investment in companies that do business with Cuba is signed into law by
Gov. Lawton Chiles in Miami during a meeting of the Cuban American National
Foundation.
22 May The Canadian federal government
considers wether to partially lift a 15-year-old ban on bilateral aid to Cuba, following appeal from the Castro
government for humanitarian relief.
23 May I is reported that Cuban dissident
poet Maria Cruz Varela was released from prison six months early for good
behavior. According to some, her
deteriorating health was also a factor.
Cruz Varela, a member of the small dissident group called Criterio
Alternativo ( Alternative Criteria), was jailed in November 1991 on charges of
holding illegal meetings, printing clandestine documents and defaming state
institutions. Her case drew srtong
criticism for the Cuban government from international human rights groups, the
U.S., the European Community and other western nations.
23 May Nine armed Cubans are arrested by
federal agents on their way to the Florida keys to attack military targets and
help provoke a rebellion against Fidel Castro.
25 May Florida International University led
study of Cube focusing on U.S. options, The Cuban Transition Project, to be
unveiled in a close door session in Washington. The project id to be funded by the State Department an brings
together 15 scholars from U.S., Canada and Central America. It is directed by Lisandro Perez who heads
FIU’s Cuban Research Institute.
28 May Granma publishes interview granted by
Politburo member Carlos Lage to Mexican newspaper El Sol.
28 May Vietnam donates 11,000 tons of rice
to Cuba.
1 June The United Nations appeals for $40
million worth of funds to help Cuba cope with mysterious epidemic that has
stricken 33,000 people. The money is to
be used for hospital supplies, laboratory equipment and support programs meant to
control the spread of optical neuritis.
2 June Cuban
Deputy Health Minister Julian Alvarez says Cuba’s eye epidemic hisease has
affected 38,500 people.
3 June It is reported that an Italian
journalist working in Cuba, Maria Gioa Minuti, correspondent for the left-wing
Rome daily Paesa Sera was admitted to a hospital in Havana apparently suffering
the mysterious nervous disease diagnosed as “sub-acute neuropathy.” This would be the first known of a foreigner
affected by the epidemic.
3 June Union Electrica, the state-run
electricity company in Cuba announces it plans to shut down the island’s
biggest power-generating plant for maintenance, causing severe interruptions to
electricity supplies for six days.
Rotating power cuts are to be expected to increase to eight hours or
more daily from previous schedule of three hours daily.
3 June Jose Luis Pujol, a Cuban dissident
arrested in March 1992 for “disrespect,” is granted a conditional early release
from prison. Also froming part of the
Concentracion Democratica Cubana (Cuban
Democratic Convergence), he is the second dissident, following Maria Cruz
Varela, to have been released early from prison in less than two weeks.
6 June National Assembly of the People’s
Power-ANNP session begins; energy problem to be discussed (June 28).
7 June Sugar prices on the international
market are reported as rising a result of Cuba’s force major declaration
announcing that it was unable to meet its contract because of severe storms
that hit island destroying sugar crops.
7 June It is reported that Cuba granted
an early prison release to a third dissident(within two weeks), Marco Antonio
Abad Flamand, a filmmaker who was convicted in November 1991 on charges of
“enemy propaganda” and “direspect” toward Castro. Foreign diplomats in Havana sponsored conference human rights
scheduled to take place in Vienna June 14-25.
7 June The French-based press freedom
watchdog group, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) cities Cuba, among other Latin
American countries (Guatemala, Peru and Haiti), as one of the worst offenders
of freedom of opinion and expression.
9 June Carlos Lage during his visit to
Chile was received by Chilean president Patricio Aylwin.
9 June At an OAS
general Assembly meeting being held in Managua, Nicaragua, Costa Rican Foreign
Minister Berndt Niehaus calls on the OAS to re-incorporate Cuba.
10 June Roberto Robaina press conference in
Havana saying Cuba should not be singled out by the West as a human rights
transgressor and calling for a broader definition of basic human rights. However, the discussion of human rights in
televised debate is viewed as a seemingly softer stand on human rights. Vladimir Roca, a known dissident who leads
the illegal Socialist Democratic group is quoted as saying regarding the
government “they have at least admitted that human rights exist…”
10 June It is reported that Cuba is showing
signs of a softer line on dissidents:
The parents of Orestes Lorenzo were allowed to leave the country; The son of Roberto Luque Escalona (one of
the signatories of the May 1991 Declaration of Cuban Intellectuals calling for
the release of prisoners of conscience and free election) was allowed to leave
Cuba; Rolando Prats, a member of the dissidents Corriente Socialista
Democratica, travelled to Cuba to deliver a series of talks on the current
situation in Cuba.
12 June The U.S. Supreme Court rules
unanimously that the Constitution protects the right to sacrifice animals in
religious services, effectively banning Florida laws which Justices say
targeted Santeria.
14 June Over 43,000 cases of optic neuritis
reported in Cuba.
14 June Cuba joins
the Caribbean Broadcasting Union’s CBU daily satellite news exchange
“CaribVision” on a three month trial basis.
15 June Cuba announces that it has cut the
size of its military because of desperate economic circumstances.
15 June The president of Cuba’s State
Committee for Economic Cooperation, Ernesto Melendez, expresses willingness on
the part of the Cuban government to discuss U.S. claims for payment on
properties nationalized by Cuba in the part of broader talks on normalizing
relations.
15 June Lieutenant General Valery Kotin, head
of the group of Russian military specialists in Cuba says Russia and Cuba plan
to extend military cooperation.
16 June The departure of motorized infantry
brigade from Cuba represents the last Soviet combat forces to leave Cuba.
16 June Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto
Robaina delivers a hard line speech at the World Conference on Human Rights in
Vienna attacking the “manipulation” of the human rights issue by a small group
of countries.
16 June Cuba opposes the U.N. Security Council Involvement over Haiti
saying “This does not, however, prevent a categorical repudiation of the
adoption of measures concerning the internal situation of Haiti by the Security
Council, whose primary responsibility…is the maintenance of international peace
and security, a context which does not embrace the situation prevailing in
Haiti.”
16 June The U.S. House approves three
amendments to its foreign aid authorization bill designed to increase economic
and political pressure against the government of Fidel Castro. The first two are aimed at Russia: The
first, a measure sponsored by Rep. Robert Torricelli seeks to end Russian subsides
or concessional aid to Cuba and would disqualify for U.S. aid any country that
provides assistance or is engaged in “nonmarket–based trade” with Cuba; The
second, an amendment proposed by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, noted that any
efforts by the former Soviet states to make the still-incomplete nuclear
facility at Cienfuegos, Cuba operational, “will have serious impact on U.S.
assistance.” The third, a provision by
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart, urges the President to seek a mandatory international
embargo against the Castro government through the United Nations.
16 June British executives, part of a
delegation sponsored by Britain’s Caribbean Trade Advisory Group (CARITAG)
spend time in Cuba meeting with officials to discuss investment opportunities
in tourism, oil, agriculture, mining and the pharmaceutical industry.
16 June On the question of compensation for
expropriated properties, the U.S. State Department responds that it has seen no
concrete proposals put forth by the Cuban government through diplomatic
channels.
20June The official newspaper of Cuba’s
Union of Young Communists, Juventud Rebelde says that Cuba’s severe economic
crisis has resulted in prostitution and inequality in living standards in
commentary by columnist Soledad Cruz.
21 June Roberto Raobaina with his counterpart
Qian Quichen in China; bilateral relations are to increase between Cuba and
China.
21 June The House subcommittee on Commerce,
Justice, State and Judiciary votesto eliminate all funding for Radio and TV
Marti.
21 June The Cuban government announces there
will be no mass rally to celebrate July 26 due to economic difficulties.
23 June Leading Cuban dissident Elizardo
Sanchez Santa Cruz is granted permission by Cuban communist authorities to
travel abroad to Europe and meet with officials and political leaders in
Spain.
24 June House Appropriations committee
restores partial funding for Radio Marti but fails to restore any funds for TV
Marti.
25 June Cuban Russian officials reportedly
sign an “extremely important” agreement in Havana to “broaden the ties of
cooperation.”
25 June Germany and Cuba sign memorandum
committing themselves to future talks on economic cooperation on agreements
signed before German unification (one of which regards nickel extraction and
refining in eastern Cuba).
26 June It is reported that the Cuban
government will allow select categories of Cubans to open private hard currency
accounts in the central bank for the first time in an apparent move to attract
more hard currency.
27 June Nearly 4 million Cuban civilians belonging
to the Territorial Troop Militias, producton and Defense Brigades and other
militias engage with the Cuban armed forces in military training exercises
designed to prepare the nation for possible foreign attack.
29 June U.S. delegation of retired military
officers and defense experts led by Wayne Smith (Washington’s Senior diplomat
in Havana from 1979 to 1982) visits Cuba at the invitation of the Cuban Armed
Forces Ministry to discuss ways of easing tensions between the U.S. and Cuban
armed forces; Returning from Cuba on July 2, Smith says delegation’s
discussions with Cuban officials offer evidence that Cuba is seeking to reduce
its active military by 30-40 percent over the next few years, to sign a nuclear
proliferation pact with other Latin American powers and to allow virtually
unregulated international inspection of its stalled Cienfuegos nuclear plant.
2 July Cuban government seizes two U.S.
registered boats in Cuban territorial waters, allegedly trying to take people
back the U.S., fatally shooting three people on the boat and wounding
several. Four Cuban-Americans remain
detained in Cuba pending investigation of the case by local authorities.
4 July President Clinton issues an
executive order implementing the Cuban Democracy Act signed July 4, 1993.
6 July Vietnamese
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet visits with Fidel Castro in Havana.
7 July Following talks in Moscow between
deputy prime ministers Alexander Shokhin of Russia and Lionel Soto of Cuba,
Russia agrees to provide Cuba with $380 million in credits, $50 million of
which to be used to conserve uncompleted nuclear power plant until new
investors are found.
7 July Calling
it a violation of the U.S. embargo, officials say the Clinton administration plans to shut down an
operation that permits Cuban exiles to make telephone calls to Cuba through an
800 number in Canada.
8 July The Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
approves a cooperative agreement with Cuba after consenting to a request by the
Cuban government to delete language in the accord referring to improved human
rights and democracy. The agreement
creates a joint commission to explore areas for technical cooperation in
tourism, agriculture, biotechnology and other areas.
8 July Paula
Valiente, president of the Mothers for Dignity Association, a Cuban opposition
group, is arrested in Havana.
9 July About
250 Democrats, mostly Miami Cuban exiles, announce the creation of Democrats
for Democracy in Cuba, a national organization that seeks to influence their
political party.
14 July Euromoney
Cuba Conference is held in Cancun and Havana.
15 July The
Cuban government announces the decision to allow Cubans ro legally possess
foreign currency.
15 july Fidel
Castro speaks at the third Ibero-American Summit in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.
16 July Final Ibero-American Summit
documents calls for an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
21 July Mario Chanes de Armas, the
longest-held political prisoner in Cuba arrives in Miami.
21 July In
the Havana, representatives of around 100 left-wing parties and movements of
Latin America and the Caribbean take part in a conference of the San Paulo
Forum.
26 July Washington
Post editorial :”New Look at the Cuba Embargo.”
26 July Fidel Castro, speaking in Santiago
de Cuba on the occasion of Moncada, declares he will neither cling to
ideological dogma nor rush ahead with “mad” reforms but outlines practical
measures to pull the island out of economic decline: opening up more of Cuba’s economy to foreign investment and removing
a ban on Cubans owning convertible currency.
The last move was eagerly awaited by many Cubans.
27 July Under a bill introduced in the
House of Representatives by lawmakers, the “Free and Independent Cuba
Assistance Act of 1993,” the United States would Provide economic aid to a
post-Castro Cuba, financial, educational and humanitarian, to support a
transition government that excludes Fidel and Raul Castro and their
subordinates, releases political prisoners and organizes internationally
supervised elections.
29 July Kim-II
Sung, leader of North Korea, receives party and military delegation led by
Jorge Lescano Perez, first secretary of the Havana city committee of the
Communist Party of Cuba to commemorate 40th anniversary of Moncada.
30 July Guatemala
Nobell Peace Prize laureate and Campaigner for Indian rights, Rigoberto Menchu,
begins five-day visit to communist-ruled
Cuba.
31 July Jose
Machado Ventura, vice president of the Council of State and member of the
Politburo of the communist party, urges officials to get tougher on economic
crimes by imposing severe penalties, a move to crack down on the booming black
market while Cuba loosens its state controlled economy.
31 July Juan
Escalona, former Justice Minister and former head of the National Assembly, is
sworn in as Cuba’s prosecutor general.
31 July Fidel Castro greets in Havana 270
members of Pastor for Peace.
2 August Fidel Castro’s comments on wanting to
develop more joint ventures in Cuba appear in a special edition of the El Nacional newspaper of Caracas published to
celebrate its 50th anniversary.
2 August Fidel Castro accepts invitation from
Jaime Paz Zamora, the outgoing president of Bolivia, to attend the swearing-in
of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada.
3 August Cuban First Vice-Minister of Foreign
Affairs Fernando Ramirez Estenoz says that Clinton administration, although
maintains the same policy toward Cuba as previous U.S. governments, has toned
down the aggressive level of its language.
4 August Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Inter-American Affair, Robert Gelbard, tells the House of Affairs Foreign
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs that the U.S. is preparing to expand
telecommunications services to Cuba. He
says the Clinton administration is not easing its policy on Cuba and discloses
that the U.S. government had rejected an application by United Airlines to
increase service from Havana to Miami.
4 August Cuba appoints four new ministers to
spearhead economic reform: Alfredo
Jordan Morales (replacing Carlos Perez Leon), Nelson Torres Perez (replacing
Juan Herrera Machado), G. Silvano Colas Sanchez (replacing Manuel Castilla
Rabaasa) and Jose Luis Rodriguez Garcia (replacing Rodrigo Garcia Leon) to head
agriculture, sugar, communications and finance. This represents the most important shake-up of the top economic
posts in several years.
5 August Union Electrica, the national power
company in Cuba, says the shortage of fuel is forcing it to sharply increase
already scheduled power outages in all Cuba’s fourteen provinces.
6 August It is reported that former Spanish
economy minister Carlos Solchaga visited Cuba (the week prior) at the request
of Felipe Gonzalez to offer the Cuban government advice on how to revamp the
Cuban economy. Now leader of the ruling
Socialist Party, Solchaga said the rip was to “analyze the economic reforms
announced by Fidel Castro on July 26.”
He concluded that Cuba needed a “bold economic opening.”
6 August Fidel Castro in Bolivia for the
swearing in of Bolivia’s new president; he is interviewed by Television
Nacional, La Paz during his visit and at a meeting with university professors
and students in the amphitheater of the Greater University of San Andres,
Castro advocates Latin American unity in a “unipolar” world.
6 August President Clinton meets with former
Cuban political prisoner Mario Chanes de Armas.
8August According to sources from the
Ministry of Basic Industry and the Cuba Petroleo State Enterprise, 10 contracts
were signed so far with specialized corporations for the exploration of new oil
fields and increasing production in already existing ones.
9 August Fidel Castro arrives in Columbia for a
surprise two-day visit for private talks with President Cesar Gaviria on
possible economic and political reforms in Cuba. During the visit, leading European an Latin American politicians,
including Nicaraguan Vice President Virgilio Godoy Reyes, call on Castro ro
resign and hold free elections in two advertisements in the newspapers El
Tiempo and El Espectador.
10 August The Canadian federal government lifts a
15-year-old ban on bilateral aid to Cuba, representing a major departure in
policy. The move follows appeals from
Cuba for humanitarian relief and comes amid increasingly dire reports of food
shortages and economic hardship.
Official development assistance to Cuba was cancelled in 1978 under the
Trudeau government which blamed Cuba’s aggressive military involvement in
Angola and continued heavy commitment to domestic and overseas military
expenditure.
13 August Decree Law No. 140 is issued by the
Cuban Council of State, formally legalized the possession of foreign currency
in Cuba.
18 August Cuban Ukrainian officials meet in Kiev
to analyze relations.
19 August In a letter addresses to members of the
Western Hemisphere subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, the
13-member CARICOM say they wish to have Cuba “reintegrated into the hemispheric
and international communities” and have no intention of changing relations with
Havana. This in response criticism on
the part of U.S. congressmen about a proposed CARICOM-Cuba joint commission.
21 August A new exile lobbying group that supports
negotiations with Fidel Castro, the Cuban Committee for Democracy, is formed to
Challenge the powerful, haardline Cuban American Foundation.
22 August Dozens of anti-Castro protesters rallied
outside the Mexican embassy in Washington, D.C. to protest that government’s
deportation of eight Cuban refugees who fled Cuba in a shrimp boat. Marchers included members of the Valladares
Foundation and the AFL-CIO.
22 August The Latin American Parliament in
Montevideo, Uruguay, denounces the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
23 August The Cuban Communist Party newspaper
Granma announces that shortages of paper and ink are forcing it to reduce the
number of pages printed daily.
25 August Anticipating chaos, three Cuban-American
organizations outlined plans for a massive airlift of food to Cuba once Fidel
Casto falls: the groups are Brother to
the Rescue, the Cuban-American Veterans Association and the Alliance of Young
Cubans The initiative is called
Operation PAL for bread, love and liberty in Spanish “pan, amor y libertad.”
25 August In an interview with the Spanish news
agency EFE, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, president of the Cuban National
Assembly of the People’s Government, in Montevideo to attend a meeting of the
Executive Board of the Latin American Parliament, says the Cuban regime was
forced to survive the collapse of the Soviet bloc.
25 August Granma reports that Italian company I
Viagli del Ventaglio (El Viaje del Abanico) has signed a contract with CUBATUR
for Cayo Guilermo.
27 August AFP reports that street protests and
vandalism are on the rise in Havana occurring during blackout periods.
27 August Joutel Resources Ltd., a Canadian mining
company, announces a historic accord with the Cuba government to prospect for
minerals.
27 August The AFL-CIO reports that Rafael
Gutierrez, president of the Cuban Workers’ Trade Union (USTC) was freed from
jail on August 23, where he had been held without formal charges since February
6. The labor leader was arrested to
advising Cubans to boycott the one-slate elections held last February. AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland described
Gutierrez’s release as a very positive development, but criticized the Castro
regime for putting him on trial for exercising free speech, a basic human right
established in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
28 August Cuba awards medals to departing Russian
General in charge of Moscow’s military contingent in Havana, General Valeri
Kotin.
29 August Authorities in Cuba urges CDR Committee
for the Defense of the Revolution, neighborhood citizen’s block committees, to
act against the sharp increase in vandalism and crime. Jorge Lescano Perez, Communist party chief
for Havana, says touhger measures were being introduced to “halt delinquency
and support revolutionaries in defense of their society.”
30 August During a visit to WDC to meet with
president Clinton the leaders of five Caribbean nations, members of CARICOM
expressed their decision to continue dealing with Cuba when pressed on the
issue. Jamaican prime Minister P.J.
patterson says that dealing wit Cuba was a “purely practical matter and not an
endorsement of that country’s policies.”
Other heads of state who visited the U.S. were from the Bahamas,
Barbados, Trinidad, Tobago and Guyana.
31 August On the eve of the beginning of the new
school year in Cuba, the Cuban Education Ministry officially says that “no
school will be closed, no child or youth will be without education.” This announcement follows appeals to Cuban
families and state institutions and to Europe and Latin America to donate
pencils, books and other equipment to keep the school system running.
1 September Granma reports on negotiations for the
manufacture of microbuses with the Spanish company INCASAL.
1 September The U.S. grants entry to eight Cubans that
were shipwrecked off the Caribbean coast of Cuba. They arrive in Miami the following day with a grand welcome.
4 September Granma reports that 23 youths wee detained
in connection with street violence in which a 17-year old was killed; the
report represents the first official account of a series of disturbances
occurring in Cuba.
6 September In an interview with Reuters, Roberto
Robaina says that Cuba’s political and economic reforms will be cautious and
that Cuba is seeking to build a “new model” to adapt to collapse of trade and
ties with the former communist countries…strong state presence in strategic
areas of the economy, increased foreign investment and limited, small-scale
private enterprise in selected trades and crafts.
6 September More than 150 representatives of non
governmental organizations in Europe, Canada and the U.S., begin a “Congress for
Cooperation with Cuba” to promote financial support for development projects in
the country.
8 September Communist authorities in Cuba vow to wage
an all-out offensive against crime and internal unrest.
8 September Jordan announces that it will sign an
economic cooperation agreement with Cuba to strengthen economic ties.
8 September Florida Republican Reps. Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln Diaz-Balart denounce talk of a possible immigration
pact between Cuba and United States.
8 September Granma comes out with editorial on higher
rates of crime in Cuba and the need to take measures to avoid this.
9 September Cuba legalizes certain types of privated
enterprise by allowing Cubans towork for themselves instead of the
government. Decree Law 141 outlines
what is permitted setting down a list of 117 jobs and occupations.
9 September Cuba replaces Alcibiades Hidalgo with
Fernando Ramirez Estenoz as ambassador to the United Nations.
14 September Cuba’s Roman Catholic Church harshly
criticizes the government in a 17-page statement by the Cuban Bishops
Conference attacking the lack of personal freedom, the monopoly on power,
excessive control by state security and other aspects of the poetical system in
Cuba.
15 September Cuba’s National Institute of Tourism (INTUR)
sign an agreement with the Spanish hotel chain Kawama Caribbean Hotels (KWA)
for management of the capital’s Habana Rivera and Kawama and Punta Blanca
villas in Varadero.
15 September Venezuelan Foreign Minister Fernando Ochoa
begins two days of talks in Havana with Cuban officials on investment
opportunities of Venezuelan companies.
15 September In another step toward a mi