2 January Fidel Castro delivers 35th anniversary speech at Santiago de Cuba.

2 January Oscar Arias opinion piece appearing in The San Diego Tribune (from El Nuevo Herald) calls for he democratization of Cuba, freedom for dissidents and elections. Arias is the former president of Costa Rica awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for initiating negotiations that led to a Central American peace agreement.

3 January It is reported that Republic Goldfields, Inc. and Caribgold Resources Inc., both companies of Toronto, Canada, will engage in mineral exploration activities in Cuba.

4 January A Cuban plane carrying foreign tourists on a flight from Cuba to Jamaica land at Grand Cayman Island and the pilot and four crewmembers defect.

5 January #9; Forty Cubans sail to Grand Cayman island and ask for political asylum.

5 January It is reported that the Cuban Health Ministry officially announced that the infant mortality rate fell to 9.4 per thousand lives in 1993, placing Cuba among the 23 nations of the world (which include Japan, Sweden, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Britain, France, Belgium and others) whose infant mortality rate is below 10 deaths per thousand live births.

6 January Roberto Robaina leaves for a trip to five African countries: Ghana, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. Shortly departing for the trip in a news conference, Robaina says that 1994 offered no special prospects for change in Cuba's relationship with the United States.

6 January #9; Fidel Castro receives at the Palace of the Revolution 110 US professionals including professors, economists, lawyers, journalists, doctors and others, who came to Cuba on a trip sponsored by the Cuban Studies Center of New York in coordination with the Cuban Institute of Friendship with Peoples, (ICAP).

7 January #9; It is reported that the Revolutionary Armed Forces, FAR, of Cuba are focusing on resource savings and economic efficiency...and that their participation in economic activities geared mainly towards increasing food production is being reinforced.

7-9 January The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the University of Miami North-South Center and the Florida International University Latin American and Caribbean Center sponsor the 1994 Miami Congressional Workshop to address key inter- American issues that will face the US Congress in 1994. In the session on Cuba, debate centers between Congressman Bill Richardson (D-NM) and Congressman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) over the need to continue the US embargo as the most effective way to force change in Cuba.

8 January #9; It is reported that the Cuban Committee for Democracy, which opposes "punitive economic measures" by the United States and other countries against Cuba, has retained Fleishman-Hillman Inc. for media and government relations work. Led by Marcelino Miyares, the organization was founded in August and consists of "progressive" Cuban- American academics and professionals.

9 January #9; The Clinton administration sends out invitations to 33 heads of state from throughout the Americas. A top administration official says Fidel Castro was not on the list saying that "we wanted to underscore the benefits of democracy, so we are limiting it to democratically elected heads of state." The summit's goals include shoring up the region's democratic governments and expanding trade links between the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America.

9 January #9; Roberto Robaina in Geneva meets with the Chancellor of the Swiss Confederation, Jakob Kellenberger, who raises the human rights issue and suggests that Cuba begin a dialogue to this effect with foreign countries.

10 January Nova Scotia Premier John Savage leads a delegation of representatives 17 from firms to Cuba with the purpose of discussing trade.

11 January Pedro Ross, secretary-general of the Cuban Workers Federation, CTC, in a television program "Open Agenda" announces that over three million union members would participate in a consultation process called "the parliament of labor centers." The process of popular debate on the serious economic-financial situation in the country was recommended by the National Assembly of People's Government session in December. Ross later adds that it is necessary to give political tenor to workers' assemblies to enable workers to discuss how to improve Cuba's economy and put the country's domestic finances in order.

11 January Granma article on AIDS entitled "Irresponsible Sexual Conduct is Suicidal" says 988 people are HIV-positive to date in Cuba.

11 January Cuba's Ministry of Public Health announces that the government would relax its policy regarding individuals identified as carriers of the AIDS virus and allow those persons who show sufficient signs of social responsibility to live freely in society, effectively discontinuing the controversial quarantine policy.

14 January In interview in Radio Rebelde's "Straight Talk," Ricardo Alarcon emphasizes the benefits of the process of consultation with workers that is going on in Cuba.

15 January Pope John Paul II in his annual "state of the world" address, says that the people of Cuba were suffering material difficulties caused by both internal and external factors and that Cuba should not be left isolated.

20 January Cuba is admitted to the Caribbean Hotel Association, CHA, by a majority" of the group's 33 national hotel association members.

22 January Rene del Pozo, spokesman for a dissident group, is beaten by a group of men as he rides his bicycle in Havana, according to Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Conciliation.

23 January The Cuban communist youth weekly newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, publishes an unusually frank report on prostitution in Havana, tackling a sensitive issue that officials prefer not to dwell on. The article discusses how women and men are selling sex to tourists.

23 January Militant Cuban exile Fulgencio Chavez who belonged to an anti-Castro paramilitary group, Commandos of Internal Resistance, is gunned down at his home in Hialeah, Florida.

25 January Carlos Lage, Communist Party official in charge of the Cuban economy, issues a call for a "roundup of black market traders" who try to operate under the cover of government authorization for small private enterprises.

26 January Miami representatives of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights issue a report that says that Cuban security officials are arresting many workers who abandon government jobs to seek better salaries under the catch-all charge of "dangerous," part of a campaign by government to neutralize political dissent. Luis Zu¤iga, president of the Miami-based Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, adds that more than 25,000 persons were charged with "dangerousness" in the past few months.

26 January Cuba's Casa de las Americas announces Latin American literature prizes: Mexico, Dante Medina, short story category, "Como perder amigos"; Chile, Lorenzo Aillapan Cayuelo, indigenous literature category, "Poemas"; Cuba, Sindo Pacheco, literature for young people prize, "Maria Virginia esta de vacaciones"; and Bahamas, Marion Bethel, Caribbean literature award, "Guanahani, My Love."

26 January During his tour to European capitals to drum up support for closer economic relations with Cuba, including the eventual conclusion of a cooperation pact with the EC, Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly, is told that the European Community will not strengthen ties with Cuba until there ares signs of economic and political reform in the country. European Parliament ministers also stressed that any future EC/Cuba pact must include a "conditionality clause" on respect for human rights, as was the case in every agreement drawn up with Latin America.

27 January The Caribbean News Agency quoting diplomatic sources reports that Cuba plans to open an embassy in Barbados in early April. It would be the third diplomatic mission in the 13-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) joining embassies in Guyana and Jamaica.

27 January Chile's Banco de Estado grants the Banco Nacional de Cuba a US $10 million credit line to help finance Cuban purchases of foodstuffs.

27 January Official sources in Brasilia say that the Cuban government will repay part of its $10 million debt to Brazil with medicines produced on the island.

28 January The "Fourth Latin and Caribbean Meeting for Solidarity, Sovereignty and Self-Determination and the Lives of Our Peoples" of leftist and progressive groups from around Latin America ends in Havana after four days; free-market economic reforms are criticized; Fidel Castro rejects "neoliberalism" and blasts the United States for planning to host a summit of Latin American nations and not inviting Cuba.

28 January A Russian-Cuban trade and economic association, Roscuba, to promote trade is set up at a meeting at the Russian Ministry for Cooperation with CIS states.

30 January Cuba launches a new weekly Opciones aimed primarily at foreigners involved in business on the island or interested in investment. Priced at one dollar, the paper is to be sold at tourist centers and will contain advertisements, unlike papers for Cuban readers.

31 January It is learned from a Sino-Cuban conference on medical and biological sciences being held in Beijing that Cuba and China will strengthen their cooperation in medical equipment, medical and biological products.

1 February The US State Department annual human rights report charges Cuba of remaining a systematic violator of human rights.

1 February Following protests from the US-based Cuban exile community, the government of Barbados backtracks on its decision to return a Cuban swimmer to his homeland, Celestino David Rodriguez Perez, after two countries express interest in granting him asylum.

2 February Cuba's official party newspaper, Granma, says that membership in the ruling Communist Party (by 50,000) and its youth wing the Union of Young Communists (by 88,000), rose significantly in 1993 and added that this was an "important sign of vitality."

3 February Attorneys for three Cuban American pro-dialogue groups file a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to prevent the proposed merger of companies (Spanish Radio Network and Heftel Broadcasting) that control two of Miami's largest Spanish-language radio stations (Radio Mambi and La Cubanisima, respectively) saying that the merger would violate federal anti- monopoly radio rules and stifle the freedom of expression.

4 February A visit by a 30-member delegation of French businessmen from diverse sectors begins in Cuba for commercial accord talks with Cuban businessmen.

6 February The International Bank of Commerce, BICSA, becomes Cuba's second commercial institution (after the 10-year-old International Financial Bank). BICSA's president, Jose Vaz, says the bank's creation was "in response to a national policy to multiply banking activity, so as to strengthen and develop it" and that its target clients are commercial and industrial institutions.

7 February Congressman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, calls for an end to the 32-year-old embargo on Cuba, only four days after President Clinton announced a similar move on Vietnam.

7 February Daniel Azpillaga Lombard, a well-known Cuban dissident once jailed for staging a protest in front of state security headquarters in Havana and leader of the Solidarity and Peace Pacifist Movement, arrives in Miami in exile with his brother Tomas, his wife, Yamilet Hernandez, leader of the Women's Movement for Solidarity and Democracy, and his two young children.

8-10 February #9; It is reported that during his visit to Brazil, Carlos Lage met with several high level officials including President Itamar Franco, Finance Minister Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Foreign Minister Celso Amorim. Lage also met with media mogul and right-winger Roberto Marinho, owner of TV Globo network and supporter of past military regimes, underlining the Cuban government's willingness to develop business ties. Lage also travels to Venezuela to meet with meet with President Rafael Caldera to analyze bilateral issues and to Colombia to meet with President Cesar Gaviria to "further dialogue and the exploration of possibilities to increase economic, commercial and political ties that began when diplomatic relations were resumed in October."

8 February Israel's chief rabbi Yisrael Lau meets with Fidel Castro in Havana and says that Fidel Castro "is a great friend of the Jewish people." His mission was to encourage Jews on the island to keep up the Jewish faith. Upon the rabbi's return to Israel, Castro sends a personal message to Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin promising to approve any request from Israel to permit an individual jew or jewish family to emigrate for family unification.

8 February A 21-year-old Cuban windsurfer, Eugenio Maderal Roman, reaches Marathon after a 110-mile crossing

.9 February The Miami Herald reports that a videotape reportedly found among slain drug lord Pablo Escobar's personal files details alleged contacts between the Medellin Cartel and Cuban army chief Raul Castro to arrange the smuggling of cocaine through Cuba to the United States.

9 February Richard Lobo, the former president and general manager of WTVJ-Channel 4, is named by President Clinton to head the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

9 February The Cuban tobacco enterprise, Cubatabaco, and the Spanish firm, Tabacalera, sign a cooperation agreement in Havana aimed at guaranteeing the supply of Havana cigars to the Spanish market.

11 February Hundreds of hopeful Cubans approach the US Interests Section in Havana acting on a rumor that Washington was giving visas to anyone who wanted to come to the United States. This results in clashes with the Cuban police.

12 February "Fresa y Chocolate" (Strawberry and Chocolate), an acclaimed new Cuban film by Tomas Gutierrez Alea which takes on the taboo subject of homosexuality in Cuba, makes its international debut at the Berlin Film Festival. The film wins the special Juror's Award.

13 February In a Juventud Rebelde article, the Cuban government blames the CIA and Cuban-American exile groups for the weekend disturbance.

13 February Canada quietly expels two senior Cuban diplomats for spying, Vice Consul Orlando Brito Pestana and Consul Adelfo Martin.

14 February Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina calls for a meeting of exile groups "who retain strong ties to the island" to be held in Havana April 22-24. Robaina says the meeting will be dedicated to "methods that can be adopted to normalize ties of emigrants to the country, the institutions and the families...This meeting has nothing to do with counterrevolutionaries and will not take into account the opinions of their ringleaders." The conference is to limit itself to Cuban immigration, exile family visits and cultural exchanges and only those sympathetic to the regime are to attend

14 February It is reported that Cuba and Colombia have signed a major health cooperation agreement, covering joint work in public health, R&D for essential and generic medicines, vaccines and related products and staff training.

15 February Belgium's ambassador to Havana, Paul Vermeirsch, asks that seven Cubans who took refuge in his residence and requested political asylum be allowed to leave without facing arrest after being refused permission to leave the country.

15 February The economic ministry in Spain announces that nearly 1,500 Spaniards will be compensated for property that was expropriated by the Cuban government following the 1959 revolution; The Spanish government will pay out 5.3 billion pesetas($37.6 million) in indemnity over the next three months and Cuba will repay Spain with a combination of cash and goods under the terms of a treaty worked out in 1990.

16 February A report by United Nations Human Rights Special Investigator, Carl-Johan Groth, says the Cuban government is systematically violating human rights including the right of free expression--Groth also says that Cuba should not be isolated and that the human rights situation would improve if the US would end the trade embargo.

17 February Fidel Castro sends a thank-you cable to Saddam Hussein in reply to congratulation cables sent to Cuba for the 35th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

17 February The Labor Research Institute of Cuba officially reports that 141,637 Cubans are currently self- employed in the country six months after Decree 141 was enacted allowing forms of this activity.

18 February In Mexico City at a news conference during a special session of the OAS General Assembly to discuss poverty and development in Latin America and the Caribbean, US Ambassador to the OAS, Harriet Babbit, says the US will maintain the US embargo against Cuba until Fidel Castro's government makes democratic change on the island.

21 February An official of the Cuban Institute of Cinematic Arts and Industry (ICAIC), Daniel Longres, requests asylum in Gerona, Spain.

21 February Radio Reloj reports that the company Cuba Export has gained the exclusive right to sell and distribute in Cuba and the Caribbean products made or marketed by Spanish firms that make up the Consortium of Spanish Manufacturers (Consorcio de Fabricantes Espanoles, Cofesa).

22 February The Florida-based group Cuban-American Professionals and Entrepreneurs in Havana for a meeting with officials to discuss business prospects in Cuba in the absence of the US economic embargo. The visit ends with a statement on the part of the group rejecting the US trade embargo.

24 February Cuban-American organizations rally in Washington to show their support for maintaining the US embargo against Cuba.

24 February The AFL-CIO issues a comment objecting to the US administration's opening toward Vietnam, the possible continuation of MFN status for China and pressure to end the US embargo on Cuba: "...the AFL-CIO reiterates its support of a continued economic embargo and the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, allowing humanitarian aid to Cuba, but restricting commercial investments that would only serve to bolster the dictatorship...any loosening of the embargo should be tied to specific steps taken toward allowing greater freedom to Cubans in general, and workers in particular..."

24 February Ileana de la Guardia, daughter of Cuban Colonel Antonio de la Guardia, executed in 1989 after he was convicted of drug smuggling, arrives in Geneva to testify before the annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission to make an appeal on behalf of her uncle, former General Patricio de la Guardia, who is serving a 30-year sentence in the same case.

24 February The Colombian Mines and Energy Minister Guido Nule Amin announces that Colombia will sell Cuba between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels of crude oil a day, amounting to one-third of Cuba's daily oil consumption.

27 February Leading Cuban dissident Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo accepts the Cuban government's invitation to attend the April 22-24 conference in Havana. March In the March issue of Vanity Fair magazine, Fidel Castro says he has no plans to retire.

1 March Mexican Foreign Minister Manuel Tello and Canadian Foreign Minister Andre Ouellet call for a rapprochement between the US and Cuba.

1 March Pastors for Peace, a coalition of North American religious groups, announces in Mexico City that its third and largest convoy of humanitarian aid for Cuba will soon begin rolling from Canada and the United States in defiance of the US trade embargo.

1 March Internationally renowned Cuban poet, Eliseo Diego, dies in his sleep, in Mexico City.

2 March Alina Fernandez Revuelta says to reporters in Geneva that the only human right assured in Cuba is the freedom from slavery.

2 March Jose Perez Novoa, Cuba's ambassador to Geneva, releases a "secret US document" to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in which American officials from the US interest section Havana admitted they were having trouble finding Cuban refugee applicants who could prove political persecution.

3 March Finance Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez says that due to higher prices for such key exports as sugar and nickel and an increase in tourist arrivals, the nation's depressed economy should improve in 1994.

6 March Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina leaves for Asian tour to six countries: Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, India, Myanmar and Vietnam.

8 March The Cuban government says that it signed tentative agreements with three US telecommunications

companies (LDDS, MCI and WilTel) that may pave the way for greatly expanded phone service between the United States and Cuba.

8 March At the 50th Annual Session of the U.N. Commission of Human Rights in Geneva, Russian envoy and head of the Russian delegation, Sergei Kovalev, says "We are disappointed by the lack of progress in ensuring human rights in Cuba. We call on the Cuban authorities to ensure democratic rights and freedoms and establish cooperation with the Commission's Special Rapporteur."

9 March #9; The United Nations Human Rights Commission formally condemns the human rights situation, criticizes the Cuban government for not cooperating with its investigation, calls to extend the mandate of the Special Investigator for Cuba for another year and for Cuba to allow him to visit the country. The resolution is introduced by Chief American Delegate Geraldine Ferraro: "The government of Cuba continues to deny its people the fundamental rights described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including freedom of association, assembly, expression, religion and a free press. Cuban life is dominated by the government's heavy hand at every level." The resolution is passed by 24-9 (including Russia) with 20 abstentions.

10 March It is reported that President Clinton has chosen Miami to host a year-end "Summit of the Americas" with democratically elected heads of state from throughout Latin America. The invitation list will not include Fidel Castro or Haiti's military regime.

12 March About 250 volunteers led by the US group Pastors for Peace arrive in Havana to organize the arrival of 144 tons of humanitarian aid.

12 March Pedro Ross Leal, leader of the governmental Central Organization of Trade Unions, CTC, reports on results of the so-called Workers' Parliaments (meetings being held throughout Cuba in places of employment) and admits that the problem of economic inefficiency was aggravating the island's critical situation.

14 March Colombia's ambassador in Havana, Amb. Ricardo Santamaria, announces that several officials will be visiting Cuba to sign economic agreements: Foreign Trade Minister Juan Manuel Santos will sign an agreement on trade; Agriculture Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo will sign an accord on exchange of technology and technical assistance in the farm sector; joint commissions on education, science and economy will meet; and Foreign Minister Noemi Sanin will visit Havana.

15 March Visiting Czech Foreign Minister Josef Zieleniec meets with Carlos Alberto Montaner in Madrid and assures him of the Czech Republic's sympathy for the Cuban people's effort to establish democracy in Cuba.

17 March The House Ways and Means Trade and Select Revenue Measures subcommittees hold a hearing on the "Free Trade with Cuba Act" (HR 2229) sponsored by Charles Rangel (D-NY). The bill would open up trade channels, eliminate restrictions on travel and communications and restore the foreign tax credit with respect to Cuba.

19 March Cuban television reports that the text for the creation of the Association of Caribbean State (to include Cuba) was concluded following a meeting in Kingston, Jamaica. The document "establishes the foundations and norms that will govern the new organization for the purpose of integration."

19 March #9; OAS Secretary-General Joao Baena Soares says that Cuba's readmission to the OAS "must be considered."

20 March The Cuban government approves a new law whereby stiff fines will be imposed on people authorized for self-employment who violate official regulations.

21 March It is reported as final that the famed ballerina Alicia Alonso will not be appearing at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles because of delays in obtaining a US visa.

22 March #9; Juan Maria Rendon, chairman of the state-owned Colombian Petroleum Enterprise (Ecopetrol) says that negotiations for the sale of petroleum to Cuba is being stalled because of the Havana government's inability to guarantee payment.

24 March #9; The Miami Herald publishes open letter from Joel Duenas Martinez, currently serving a four-year sentence at Cinco y Medio Prison in Pinar del Rio, Cuba for "spreading enemy propaganda." The letter is addressed to the Rev. Lucius Walker, director of the Minneapolis-based ecumenical group Pastors for Peace, and seriously criticizes speech he made that was published in Granma. The author also attacks that group's humanitarian mission to Cuba calling it a "course political campaign to perpetuate Fidel Castro's grip on power."

24 March The House Foreign Affairs Western Hemispheric Affairs subcommittee hears testimony on the "Free and Independent Cuba Assistance Act of 1993." The legislation (HR 2758), introduced by Rep. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), outlines a series of incentives aimed at encouraging Cuba to make a transition to democratic government.

29 March A Cuban dissident, Rodolfo Gonzalez, who provided information Radio Marti with information via telephone, goes on trial in Havana charged with supplying enemy propaganda. Two weeks later he is sentenced to seven years in jail.

31 March A three-month study of Radio and TV Marti carried out by an independent panel at the request of congress is concluded.

31 March #9; Mark A. Entwistle, the Canadian ambassador to Cuba, states that his country's businessmen would increase their investments in Cuba and that commerce was the most active sector in the relations between the two nations.

1 April The Cuban government announces that the traditional May 1 Workers Day parade is cancelled and that workers would celebrate the holiday by bringing in the sugar harvest and working in orchards and vegetable fields. This marks the first time the parade is skipped since Fidel Castro took power and is considered an indication of the extent of fuel shortage problem in the country.

1 April #9; Economic cooperation agreements are signed with between China and Cuba. These include China's willingness to supply Cuba with food and medicine in exchange for sugar.

1 April #9; Mexican Amb. Carlos Tellos confirms an accord between the Cuban government and the Mexican enterprise Mexpetrol for oil refining at the Cienfuegos fuel refinery.

3 April Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina sets off on Latin American tour to take him to Uruguay, Peru, Argentina and Paraguay.

7 April It is reported that faced with a growing black market and an increase in crime, the Cuban government has launched a crackdown against prostitution and illicit business activity. The operation, called "Giron 94," is aimed at rounding up black marketeers and illegal street vendors. So- called rapid action brigades, pro-government civilian groups, were activated to help in the campaign against crime.

10 April #9; Iran and Cuba sign an agreement on scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.

10 April Roberto Robaina piece in the Miami Herald on "The Nation and Emigration" conference to take place in Havana; response by Carlos Alberto Montaner.

12 April #9; Cuba and Grenada resume diplomatic relations.

13 April #9; Cuba's Ministry of Basic Industries says that nearly 60 percent of the island's electrical generating capacity was out of service because of breakdowns or required maintenance work.

15 April #9; Cuba and Colombia sign economic cooperation agreements.

18 April #9; Leaders from several U.S. and international firms announce the creation of a U.S.-Cuba Business Council headed by Otto Reich, a former State Department and Agency for International Development official. Reich states that "the Council will provide a voice for the collective interests of corporate members on U.S.-Cuba economic development, trade and investment issues during, and after, this critical period of impending transition on the island."

19 April #9; Leaders of eight dissident groups write to Fidel Castro asking amnesty for political prisoners and the legalization of all nongovernmental organizations that ask for recognition. Among the signatories were Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation; Vladimiro Roca of the Socialist Current; and Francisco Chaviano of the National Commission for Civil Rights.

22 April #9; Amid severe economic crisis, Cuba seeks to streamline its bulky state structure by scrapping a series of state committees and creating several new ministries including one for the economy. The shake-up is part of the disbanding of a system which had mirrored communist-ruled Cuba's old economic links with the Soviet Union.

22 April Havana hosts the "Nation and Emigration" conference with Cuban exiles.

25 April #9; The President of Zambia, Fred Chiluba, makes an official visit to Cuba.

1 May #9; Cuba's National Assembly begins a special session to debate the next steps in the economic reform process. Finance Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez suggests a wide range of possible reform measures aimed at cutting the state budget deficit and reducing excess money in circulation.

2 May Fidel Castro at a special session of parliament vows a crackdown on black market activities by saying that the government will confiscate all property illegally acquired by black marketeers. A decree to that effect is issued on May 5. The National Assembly also approves more belt-tightening measures for the Cuban people: guidelines for new taxes; the end of some consumer subsidies; the imposition of fees for events now free; price hikes for gasoline, alcohol and cigarettes; a new dollar- linked currency; and some kind of freeze on savings accounts.

3 May Colombian Foreign Minister Noemi Sanin ends a two-day visit to Cuba after talks with Fidel Castro and other Cuban officials. Discussions range over bilateral ties, regional issues and Cuba's current process of economic reform.

5 May #9; Fidel Castro addresses the United Nations Global Conference on Sustainable Development of Small- Island Nations being held in Bridgetown, Barbados. He accuses the rich nations of worsening the problems of poor countries through apathy and greed and calls for a redistribution of wealth.

7 May Francisco Chaviano, a leading advocate for rafters who was compiling a list of Cubans who disappeared at sea, is arrested.

8 May A Cubana airlines flight bound for Nassau is diverted to Miami by its pilot, Basilio Garcia Breto.

10 May #9; Fidel Castro attends the presidential inauguration of Nelson Mandela in South Africa.

10 May #9; The Cuban government announces plans to impose tighter controls on sales of medicines, including aspirin and other basic remedies.

11 May #9; Cuban poet and dissident Maria Elena Cruz Varela travels to the U.S. to receive the 1992 Freedom Award by the Liberal International in Washington, D.C.

11 May Cuba formally establishes diplomatic ties with the new government of South Africa.

17 May #9; Prensa Latina news agency reports that Cuban physicists are designing a 3 to 6 MW research nuclear reactor to be operational by the turn of the century.

19 May #9; The French Bulk Export of Tobacco Company and Cubatabaco sign an accord for the sale of 6 million cigars by the end of 1994.

20 May Fidel Castro, speaking to delegates at the close of Cuba's annual tourism convention, says Cuba wants to present a clean, healthy image to foreign visitors free of drugs, gambling and prostitution.

20 May #9; Authorities in Cuba say that more than 5,000 people were evacuated from their homes in parts of eastern Cuba because of floods caused by heavy rains.

20 May #9; The Financial Times reports that the first visit by a British minister, Mr. Patrick McLoughlin, parliamentary under-secretary of state for trade and technology, to Cuba since the 1970s is being planned for September. The paper signals a warming of relations between the U.K. and the government of Fidel Castro and the growing interest of British companies over investment prospects on the island. Ricardo Alarcon's upcoming visit to Britain to meet with foreign office minister David Heathcoat-Amory is also mentioned

20 May Members of the U.S. House Agricultural subcommittee discuss the issue of U.S. trade with Cuba.

23 May In downtown Chicago, members of the Cuba Coalition, a group working to break the U.S. embargo against Cuba, demonstrate against the administration's policy.

23 May #9; The Cuban government announces sharp increases in the price of cigarettes and cigars, alcoholic beverages, gasoline and gasoil, electric power, postal and telegraphic service and non-urban transportation to take effect on June 1.

24 May #9; Cuba's Foreign Ministry, pursuing a policy of making as much contact as possible with the rest of the world, appoints its first spokesman, Miguel Alfonso, to hold regular meetings with the foreign press. A new office within the foreign ministry is also established to continue the contact with Cuban emigrants residing abroad that initiated from the nation and emigration conference in April.

28 May 114 asylum-seeking Cubans break into the residential complex of the Belgium ambassador and occupy the grounds, the largest invasion of a diplomatic mission in Havana since 10,000 Cubans rushed to the Peruvian embassy in 1980 and set off a chain reaction that led to the Mariel boatlift.

30 May French fashion designer and businessman visits Havana to make contact with Cuban leaders and look at possibilities for future business with the island.

30 May Two Canadian oil companies, Sherritt Inc. unit Canada Northwest Energy Ltd. and Talisman unit Fortuna Petroleum Inc., announce an oil discovery offshore Cuba.

30 May #9; Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban parliament, concluding a five-day visit to the United Kingdom, highlights the British policy of continuing and developing ties with Cuba and of disagreement with the U.S. embargo.

31 May #9; It is reported that the Cuban government has begun to confiscate property from blackmarketeers following a law that was put into effect early May designed to crack down on blackmarket operations.

1 June Cuba and Brazil agree on a way for Cuba to start paying back part of nearly $40 million debt through the export of Cuban medicines to Brazil.

2 June #9; Cuban acting Foreign Minister Isabel Allende meets a Belgian delegation, consisting of Ambassador Paul Vermeirsch and Belgian government special envoy Willy Verriest, to discuss "the situation created by the illegal occupation of the Belgian ambassador's residence." One conclusion reached at the talks was "that both sides favor a solution in which those people illegally occupying the building vacate it and obey all legal procedures for travelling abroad."

4 June #9; The Latin American Economic System, SELA, calls for an end to all commercial embargoes in the region, explicitly citing the case of Cuba. At the organization's 20th council in Mexico City, representatives of the SELA member-states "rejected the implementation of unilateral measures that affect the free development of world trade and violate the principles of international law."

6 June Cuba's trade union newspaper, Trabajadores, says that state subsidies to workers' canteens would disappear in the upcoming month, part of the effort to restore order to the country's finances.

6 June #9; Cuba opens an embassy in Qatar.

7 June #9; Several nations, including Brazil and Canada, call for an end to Cuba's political and economic isolation at the 24th general assembly of the OAS being held in Belem, Brazil.

8 June #9; It is reported that a quarter of Cuba's defense industry will be directed in 1994 to producing consumer goods or go into state-run civilian companies, in an attempt by the armed forces to cut costs and contribute to the country's economic recovery.

8 June #9; Several press reports indicate that Canada may soon lift its 16-year-old ban on aid to Cuba.

9 June Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) reiterates his call to lift the U.S. embargo against Cuba (Free Trade with Cuba Act, HR 2229). He is joined by representatives from over 40 organizations who gathered in Washington D.C. for National Public Education Day on Cuba who ask for the same.

9 June #9; At the OAS assembly in the Belem, Brazil, the foreign minister of Costa Rica, Fernando Naranjo, urges OAS to open discussions on the question of cuba saying that the organization "can no longer ignore the cuban case."

13 June #9; Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari travels to Havana to launch a major initiative to boost Mexican business in Cuba. Salinas announces that a Mexican investment company, Grupo Domos International SA, has signed a deal to overhaul Cuba's telephone system.

13 June #9; Twenty-one Cubans seeking asylum smash a truck through the iron gates of the German embassy in Havana.

14 June #9; Fidel Castro attends the fourth Ibero-American summit in Cartagena, Colombia.

16 June #9; In Moscow, Cuba and Russia sign the bylaws of the international association Roscuba, an institution created to foster cooperation in the fields of production, finance and scientific-technical investigation.

20 June The Canadian minister state for Latin American Affairs visits Cuba, Christine Stewart; Canada restores aid programs to Cuba after 16 years, saying the move was related to a desire to move beyond the Cold War era.

21 June "The Economist" conference sponsored by the British magazine takes place in Havana. Trade Minister Ricardo Cabrisas and other Cuban officials join nearly 200 members of the business communities in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. Addressing the conference, Cabrisas says that Latin America became Cuba's main commercial partner in 1994.

22 June #9; Former Spanish economy minister Carlos Solchaga, who has been advising Cuba on its current process of economic change, says that Cuba needs to give more space to enterprise and the market.

23 June #9; It is announced that human rights activists Elizardo Sanchez, Jesus Yanes Pelletier and Vladimiro Rocas were arrested in Cuba.

29 June #9; Government-backed Mexican presidential candidate Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de Leon says that Cuba should be invited to the hemispheric summit to be held in Miami in December, and that he will seek to improve relations with the island if elected president.

29 June #9; Cuba's Vice-President of the Council of Ministers, Lionel Soto, visits the Ukraine to meet with President Leonid Kravchuk.

29 June The European Union pledges an $11 million plus package of humanitarian aid for Cuba.

30 June #9; Foreign Ministry spokesman Miguel Alonso says that Cuba would be present as a full member of the Association of Caribbean States--ACS.

1 July #9; Cuba increases the price of gasoline by nearly four times.

1 July The Cuban government says that nearly 177 Cubans have died of AIDS since the disease was first reported in the mid 1980s and that Cuba has now a total of 1,046 people diagnosed as HIV positive.

3 July #9; Cuba announces that it has stiffened laws against economic crimes and illegal demonstrations. The measure (enacted as Decree 150 amending Law No. 62 of 1987), part of a broad reform of the penal code, comes amid a crackdown on what the communist government sees as abuses of economic reforms that have legalized more than 100 types of small-scale private business.

5 July #9; The newspaper Granma publishes an article on the proposed introduction of a tax system for Cubans, suggested as the next move in Cuba's current process of economic reform.

9 July The newspaper Granma announces that local Communist Party leaders in three eastern provinces of Cuba are to be replaced, Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba and Holguin.

10 July #9; The Palm Beach Post reports that a new political party, the Cuban Party of Democratic Renewal, was formed in Cuba by Jorge Alaya.

10 July In Havana on a three-day visit to Cuba, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, says that Fidel Castro is considering signing the Latin American Treaty banning nuclear arms, the Tlatelolco Treaty.

12 July #9; Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina calls the US policy of housing Haitian refugees at Guantanamo Bay a "dishonest policy."

12 July #9; Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina announces to local and foreign reporters that Fidel Castro has received an invitation to the August 7th inauguration of Colombian President Ernesto Samper.

13 July #9; In Baghdad, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein meets with Alvares Campres, member of the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee.

13 July #9; A tugboat stolen from Havana by would-be emigrants sinks after collision with a Cuban government vessel trying to intercept it on its course to Florida. Over forty Cubans drown. The Cuban government insists that the collision was an accident. This version is contested by the United States, and in Cuba, by the Roman Catholic Church. Days later, on July 18, President Clinton calls the incident an example of Cuban authorities' "brutality." On July 22, the Dole-Mack amendment is unanimously adopted in the Senate condemning the sinking of the boat by the government of Cuba.

14 July #9; Spain's state-owned air carrier Iberia is negotiating to create a jointly-owned airline with Cuba's Cubana de Aviacion, a senior source at the Spanish company tells United Press International.

17 July #9; Walter Cronkite piece in the Outlook section of the Washington Post on lifting the Cuba press ban.

19 July #9; Cuban health authorities investigate the outbreak of a disease of the nervous system, Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has killed four people in Havana

24 July #9; The Association of Caribbean States is formed.

26 July #9; Deputy president Raul Castro devotes party of his key speech to denouncing Washington for meddling in Cuban affairs.

31 July #9; Prensa Latina reports that self-employment is rising on the island: more than 160,000 Cubans now work for themselves instead of the state, taking advantage of economic reforms enacted less than a year ago.

2 August The Cuban government says that nearly 400 people, who have taken advantage of the state's economic opening, were charged with economic crimes.

4 August A police officer is killed in a third Havana Bay- Regla ferry hijack.

5 August #9; Crowds gather at port area of Havana, drawn by news of ferry boat hijackings, and later turn on police throwing stones and smashing windows. Authorities say 35 were injured and 300 were detained in the worst unrest in decades. Fidel Castro blames the clashes on Washington and warns Cuba he will stop putting obstacles in the way of Cubans trying to leave by boat if Washington does not change its immigration policy. The United States says it will not allow a repeat of the Mariel boatlift in 1980.

August #9; Cuba's National Assembly approves a new tax law that will introduce personal taxes on the communist- ruled Caribbean island for the first time in three decades. The bill, introduced by Fidel Castro, states that "as an inalienable, general principle, all income, including salaries, will be subject to taxes proportional to their amount."

7 August #9; Hundreds of Cubans rally in Havana's Revolution Square to pay homage to policeman killed in August 4 hijacking and to express support for the government.

7 August #9; Fidel Castro attends the inauguration of the new Colombian President Ernesto Samper Pizano in Bogota.

8 August #9; Cuban Navy Lt. Robert Aguilar Reyes is killed in the hijack of a naval vessel from the port of Mariel.

10 August #9; AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland presents the George Meany Human Rights Award to Cuban former political prisoner Mario Chanes de Armas who suffered 30 years of incarceration under the Castro regime.

10 August #9; The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce's Cuba Committee publishes an updated version of the "Trade Impact of a Free Cuba Report" originally released in 1991.

11 August Castro, in a press conference, accuses the United States of cynicism for doubting a man was killed in hijacking, reiterates his charge that U.S. immigration policy on Cubans is to blame for illegal exits and calls again for measures to change it.

14 August #9; More than 700 Cubans chant "we're leaving" from the port of Mariel demanding to be taken to the United States.

16 August The U.S. Coast Guard reports 272 Cubans on rafts and small boats picked up and helped to reach Florida on August 15, the highest total for a day since the Mariel boatlift.

17 August #9; The U.S. Coast Guard says 339 Cubans were picked up on August 16, and 537 on August 17.

18 August Florida governor Lawton Chiles says the state cannot cope with the surge of Cubans arriving and asks President Clinton to declare an immigration emergency.

18 August #9; Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina begins a tour of the five Latin American states of Ecuador, Panama, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil.

19 August The Clinton administration, hoping to avert a new Caribbean exodus, announces that Cuban refugees will be detained indefinitely.

20 August #9; President Clinton follows up with additional measures: a bar on cash remittances to Cubans by their relatives in the United States; new limits on charter flights between Cuba and the United States; increased and amplified international broadcasts to Cuba; and greater focus human rights abuses in Cuba in the United Nations and other international organizations.

23 August The Clinton administration decides to encourage legal Cuban immigration by loosening immigration rules to make it easier for Cubans who apply in Havana to move legally to the United States.

23 August #9; The Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Mr Peter Tarnoff, says the plight of the boat people made a resumption of talks with the Castro regime on the immigration issue desirable.

23 August The U.S. government says it plans to move illegal Cuban immigrants not only to Guantanamo but also to the Turks and Caicos Islands for processing

24 August #9; The U.S Coast Guard says it picked up a record 2,548 Cuban refugees at sea on Monday, August 23, the largest daily number in a growing flood of Cuban boatpeople trying to reach the United States.

24 August At a White House news briefing, Defense Secretary William Perry, Undersecretary of State Peter Tarnoff and Attorney General Janet Reno outline a bleak future for Cubans who risk their lives at sea by stressing that they will not be allowed into the U.S. unless they apply through legal means inside Cuba. Perry announces the dramatic expansion of detention camps at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba to house up to 40,000 refugees and Tarnoff says that the U.S. has no plans to negotiate with Cuba.

24 August Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations, Fernando Ramirez, says that Havana is willing to hold comprehensive talks with the United States on all issues. He blames the exodus on the 32-year-old embargo on Cuba.

24 August In a speech carried by state radio and television, Fidel Castro indicates that he will not try to stop the exodus of Cuban boat people trying to reach the U.S. He unveils a series of instructions to the Cuban coast guard, notably ordering "maximum easing" of their activities concerning illegal emigration from the country

26 August #9; The Treasury Department issues regulations restricting remittances to Cuba and travel between the U.S. and Cuba.

26 August #9; Cuba and Peru re-established economic and commercial ties in an agreement signed in Havana.

27 August The Clinton administration announces that it would hold mid-level talks with Cuba on immigration matters in the hope of defusing the refugee crisis. Fidel Castro strongly continues to insist that the problems that have surfaced during the prior few weeks cannot be met with strictly formal migratory solutions.

28 August #9; U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher calls on Cuban leader Fidel Castro to undertake moves toward democracy which would include free elections: "If he moves toward democracy in a tangible, significant way, we'll respond in a carefully calibrated way" says Christopher said on the CBS television program "Face the Nation."

28 August Cuban Catholic bishops today request "respectful and sincere" dialogue between Cuba and the United States, as well as one within Cuban society, in an effort to "seek the common good, which is the supreme law."

29 August Cuban media broadcast Fidel Castro's additional instructions to the Interior Ministry to be relayed to the Border Guard and national security forces with regard to forbidding the departure of people intending to emigrate in home-made and unsafe vessels with children or teenagers aboard: a) that the measure should be applied on land, specifically through persuasion, using force only as an exceptional measure, and without employing firearms; b) that in the case of boats already at sea, the warnings should be repeated, and persuasive efforts should be made...without trying either to take the boats by physical means, or to employ any force or violence, in an effort to avoid accidents; c) and that under these circumstances, the Border Guard should limit its patrol to the area within the 12-mile Cuban jurisdiction limit, to provide help if necessary.

29 August #9; Cuba announces its decision to sign the Tlatelolco Treaty banning nuclear weapons but warns about the harassment and the blockade policy on the island by the United States.

31 August #9; Twenty-eight Cubans walk accross vast minefields to reach the U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo. Three of them become injured by exploding mines.

31 August A study prepared for the Pentagon by RAND, the research organization, says that Fidel may opt for war with the United States if he is backed into a corner. The report, entitled "Storm Warnings for Cuba," said that Castro, perhaps Latin America's most influential leader of the 20th century, was unlikely to accept a forced resignation because it would tarnish his place in history.

31 August #9; Several Latin American and Caribbean nations express willingness to shelter Cuban refugees, led by Panama's offer to take up to 10,000 and Honduras'announcement that it would accept up to 5,000.

1 September The United States and Cuba begin talks that Washington wants confined to stemming the uncontrolled tide of Cubans trying to reach Florida on flimsy rafts. Havana seeks to broaden negotiations to include the issue of the U.S. embargo against Cuba which it blames for hardships spurring the exodus of thousands of its people.

1 September Venezuela and Cuba sign several scientific and technical cooperation agreements related health, biotechnology, planning, industry, agriculture and finance.

4 September The government of Ernesto Perez Balladares of the Republic of Panama announces its formal decision to receive 10,000 Cubans who were rescued from the sea and sets its conditions with the United States. The refugees arrive in Panama from Guantanamo two days later.

6 September Cuban negotiators, at U.S.-Cuba talks at the United Nations, reduce demands to 28,000 U.S. visas (from 100,000) but requests that Washington lift its recent ban on cash remittances to Cuba.

7 September Britain's trade and technology minister, Ian Taylor, leaves for Cuba as the first British minister to visit the communist state for almost 20 years, the timing of the trip, in view of the refugee exodus from Cuba and the strain on U.S.-Cuba relations, is said to be coincidental.

7 September Spain's foreign minister, Javier Solana, during a visit by Roberto Robaina, calls for wide ranging political and economic reforms in Cuba and urges Cuban President Fidel Castro to take up a dialogue with the dissidents.

7-8September #9; In Madrid, Roberto Robaina meets with leaders of the Cuban opposition in exile, Ramon Cernuda, the Cuban Human Rights Committee, Alfredo Duran, Cuban Committee for Demcracy and Eloy Gutierrez Menoyo, Cambio Cubano. All three factions oppose the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

8 September A pre-publication release of an article to appear in an upcoming edition of the New York Review of Books, written by Peter Kornbluh at the National Security Archive and James Blight of the Center for Foreign Policy Development, show secret U.S.- Cuba negotiations by Henry Kissinger in the 1970s

9 September After seven days of talks in New York, Cuba and the United States reach agreement on stopping the mass Cuban exodus toward the United States. Among other points, Cuba agrees to take effective measures to prevent unsafe departures and the U.S. commits to authorizing and facilitating additional lawful migration to the United States

9 September The Cuban government calls for a suspension of trips by all citizens in the country interested in travelling to the United States by their own means without following legal procedures.

10 September The Rio Group Summit of 14 Latin American and Caribbean nations calls for a "constructive dialogue" to reestablish normal relations between Cuba and the rest of the hemisphere and for a "peaceful and pluralist transition" in Cuba.

12 September A Cuban refugee is killed at the U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo when he tries to jump from a hill to the beach below and lands on rocks.

14 September A French group, Devexport, which specializes in the supply of machinery for industry and agriculture, has signs a countertrade agreement with the Cuban Foreign Trade Ministry to supply equipment worth FF50 million to the Cuban sugar industry.

14 September During the visit of Britain's Trade and Technology Minister Ian Taylor to Cuba, Cuba and Britain initial an investment promotion and protection accord that both countries say will give a boost business between British companies and the communist-ruled country.

17 September In a step away from the highly centralized Communist system that has defined its economy for more than three decades, Cuba announces that it will allow all farmers to sell part of their produce on the open market.

19 September Decree No. 191 of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers establishes the farmers' market to encourage food production.

20 September Mexico announces a $200 million joint venture deal with Castro's government to help it overcome a severe shortage of crude oil. The accord between Mexpetrol, a Mexican consortium of state and private firms including state oil firm Pemex, and Cuban state oil firm Cupet involves the construction and operation of Cuba's Cienfuegos refinery.

21 September Former President Jimmy Carter calls for discussions between the United States and Cuba to start the communist nation down the road to democratic reform.

22 September The U.S. Coast Guard operation that started in August and rescued tens of thousands of Cuban refugees seeking to reach Florida by sea officially ends.

22 September Cuban media reports on a new system of incentives for health-care workers in hospitals, nursing homes and institutions for the handicapped that will come into effect in October in an effort to improve the quality of health care. The plan allows for salary adjustments to cover double shifts for nurses and for overtime for staff providing quality care. The Public Health Ministry is to implement the new measures.

26 September Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari calls for dialogue between the United States and Cuba to put an end to the "long-standing hemispheric differences between the United States and Cuba, within a framework of full respect for the sovereignty and the right to self-determination of the Cuban people."

27 September The Cuban Textile Union and an Israeli business group sign a joint venture agreement to create the World Textile Corporation S.A.

29 September AT&T announces that it will begin offering long distance collect calls from the Haitian and Cuban refugee camps at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

3 October The State Department gives the green light for five U.S. long-distance companies that want to begin telephone service to Cuba. The companies are Sprint, MCI, IDB, Wiltel International and LDDS Communications.

3 October Cuba's Commercial Caribbean Nickel Co. and Australia's Western Mining Corp. sign a letter of intent to conduct a comprehensive nickel project.

4 October The Cuban government says that it will reduce subsidies for state farms and that by 1996 they will have to be profitable or close.

6 October #9; Prensa Latina reports that Cuba and the United States will resume talks on emigration on October 24 in Havana. The talks will focus on the verification of compliance with the emigration agreement signed in New York on September 9.

7 October A new decree in Cuba allows both government and private vehicles to carry products to newly created farmers' markets. Resolution 178 of 1994 regulates the renting of freight vehicles to carry merchandise to be sold at the farmers'markets. The document states that the salesmen can use any type of vehicle to transport their cargo, be it their own, rented, a privately-owned vehicle or a vehicle contracted by state transport enterprises or any other enterprise. State enterprises and others enterprises that transport may also rent. Those in the private sector dedicated to transporting cargo on motorized vehicles who have an operating license may also contract their services to transport agricultural products and livestock.

11 October Israel rejects Cuba's offer for meetings between officials of the two states because of the U.S. position on Cuba and because Havana has refused to support cancelling the Zionism equals racism resolution at the United Nations.

12 October The U.S. State Department says it will hold a visa lottery for Cubans under an expanded immigration agreement with Havana aimed at stopping the exodus of boat people. The lottery plan will determine who is allowed to legally immigrate under the plan, which calls for a minimum of 20,000 Cubans to be granted US visas.

14 October The formation of the Argentine-Cuban Chamber of Commerce (CACC), which seeks to foster cultural and scientific exchanges among other things, is announced.

15 October A British firm, BETA Funds International, launches its first investment management company in Cuba, Havana Assets Management with a target of raising $ 50 million ( pounds 32 million) to invest in private projects, as Cuba moves rapidly away from its old command economy.

15 October The vice president of Cuba's National Assembly, Jaime Crombet, says that Cuba's sugar cane industry will need five years to recover from a downturn and to return to its previous production levels.

18 October The Clinton administration releases $ 48,000 in a frozen bank account of a San Francisco-based coalition, the Freedom to Travel Campaign, that sponsored recent trips to Cuba in defiance of the U.S. embargo. The U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control said this action does not represent a change in policy and that it came after the coalition submitted sworn statements that the funds were not controlled by Cuban interests and would not be used for unlicensed travel to Cuba.

24 October Cuba and the United States renew immigration talks in Havana. The talks are to officially verify the application of the agreement signed in New York on September 9 which ended the largest wave of Cuban immigration since the 1980 Mariel boatlift brought 125,000 Cubans to US shores. Dennis Hays, director of the State Department's office of Cuban affairs, heads the U.S. delegation.

24 October A group of prominent Cuban-American lawyers sue the United States government on behalf of the 32,000 Cuban rafters being detained in Guantanamo Naval Base and Panama. The lawyers request that the detainees be allowed to apply for admission into the United States as refugees. The following day, a federal judge blocks the United States from returning 23 Cuban refugees to their homeland, intervening just one minute before a military plane was to leave with them for Havana

.26 October At the United Nations General Assembly, a resolution aimed at ending the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba is adopted by a vote of 101-2 with 48 abstentions.

26 October The Cuban government adopts Decree 192 creating an industrial and craft items market wherein the sale prices of products will be freely determined between buyers and sellers. The new form of marketing will operate on the basis of economic and financial self-management.

30 October Cuba opens doors to possible foreign investment in its strategic sugar production sector. Carlos Lage says that "no productive sector of the economy will be excluded from investment of foreign capital" at the opening of the annual Havana trade fair.

30 October Pope John Paul II names 30 new cardinals among whom the Archbishop of Havana, Jaime Ortega.

31 October U.S. District Judge C. Clyde Atkins rules that Cubans being detained by the U.S. Government in Guantanamo have a right to counsel and continues the ban on repatriation flights of refugees to Cuba.

1 November In an interview with Business-Tass, Russia's minister of foreign economic relations, Oleg Davydov, says that Russia has suspended oil supplies to Cuba because Cuba no longer has enough crude sugar to carry out its obligations.

2 November Officials of the Cuban embassy in Moscow say that reports about Russia stopping the delivery of oil to Cuba in exchange for Cuban sugar were unfounded and that Moscow had not officially notified them of the cancellation of a bilateral trade protocol.

2 November Three Cuban-Americans are arrested and charged with attempted arson after federal and local authorities are tipped off about the planned firebombing of a warehouse which was owned by the Alliance of Workers of the Cuban Community and being used to store humanitarian goods bound for the Cuba.

4 November A ruling by a U.S. appeals court allows the U.S. government to repatriate willing Cuban detainees.

4 November The Russian government instructs the Foreign Economic Relations Ministry to ensure the fulfillment of the intergovernmental protocol on turnover and payments with Cuba for 1994 which provides for the implementation of an oil-sugar barter deal.

5 November Spain and Cuba sign an economic cooperation agreement which calls for reciprocal promotion and protection of investments.

5 November Cuba and Argentina sign a financial cooperation agreement which will allow for an exchange in experiences, job training in auditing and accounting of public and mixed capital enterprises.

6 November Cuba's central bank president, Hector Rodriguez Llompart, says a proposed new convertible peso that has been on the drawing boards for months will become Cuba's sole national currency. Rodriguez tells the weekly business newspaper Opciones in an interview that the aims of the proposed convertible peso included restoring Cuba's sovereignty over its currency and helping resolve various "practical and technical" problems related to hard currency purchases and sales on the island.

7 November Thirty-nine Cubans flee the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

7 November Cuban and Spanish officials meet in Havana for a two-day meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation

8 November Colombia and Cuba sign a trade agreement increasing its exports to the island.

.9 November Peugeot of France opens its first auto showroom in Havana after an absence from Cuba of nearly two decades.

9 November The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service- INS announces a Special Cuban Migration Program that will give any Cuban in Cuba, including those who do not have direct family ties in the United States, an opportunity to apply for legal migration. The program is part of the United States government's effort to fulfill its commitment under the September 9th US-Cuba Migration Agreement to admit a minimum of 20,000 legal migrants this year.

9 November Radio Reloj reports that the French company Peugeot has opened an office in Havana.

10 November Cuban Foreign Ministry spokesman, Miguel Alonso, announces that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jose Ayala Lazo will Cuba November 15-19.14 NovemberA U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity says the United States may grant asylum to Cuban children held at the refugee camp in Guantanamo Bay. The special parole process would apply to children 17 and under, who number between 2,700 and 3,000 at the naval base in southeastern Cuba.

15 November Human Rights Watch issues a report which affirms that the Cuban-American community in Miami remains intolerant of different opinions. The stance the human rights group took in an earlier 1992 report is reiterated in the 1994 report entitled "Dangerous Dialogue Revisited: Threats to Freedom of Expression in Miami's Exile Community": "The overall climate for free expression remains essentially unchanged in Miami. Only a narrow range of speech is acceptable, and views that go beyond these boundaries may be dangerous to the speaker." The organization charged it had documented dozens of threats and attacks in Florida against members of Miami's Cuban exile community who attended a government-hosted conference in Havana.

16 November A private group advocating stricter immigration measures, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, files a lawsuit challenging the immigration agreement reached between the United States and Cuba in September. The suit charges that the Clinton administration exceeded its legal authority to admit Cuban immigrants and abused its power to circumvent limits set by Congress.

16 November The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Jose Ayala Laso, meets separately in Havana with a group of Cuban dissidents and with Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina.

16 November The official Communist Party newspaper Granma publishes instructions for applying for one of the 20,000 visas to be issued annually under the agreement signed by the United States and Cuba on September 9. The information is printed at the request of Washington.

16 November It is reported that a Norwegian diplomat who helped lead secret Middle East peace talks last year, Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Egeland, has met with Cuban officials in Havana and Cuban exiles in Miami. However, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry denies that Norway is attempting to open a back- door channel between Cuban sides, as it did with Israeli and PLO leaders.

16 November Russia has agrees to resume oil supplies to Cuba in exchange for a promise of sugar shipments from Cuba.

18 November Fidel Castro meets with Jose Ayala Lasso, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. The U.N. envoy requests the Cuban government look into several political prisoner cases and reports that he received assurances that some of the detainees would be released "very soon." He also urges the Cuban government to ratify international conventions against torture and allow civil, economic, social and political rights. Ayala Laso describes his visit as being the "beginning of a dialogue oriented toward obtaining concrete ways to secure effective results in promoting and protecting human rights." However, political activists in Cuba say they were dismayed that Ayala Lasso failed to hold high-profile meetings with them instead of government officials.

18 November National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon visits Washington. He is the most-senior Cuban official to visit Washington in 35 years.

18 November Prensa Latina, the official Cuban news agency, and the U.S.-based NBC sign an agreement which establishes media ties after more than 30 years of isolation. Prensa Latina director Pedro Margolles says the accord entails the daily exchange of news items between the Cuban agency and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), which will permit both organizations to broaden their coverage of world events.

18 November Cuba and Bolivia agree to collaborate on 33 projects covering several areas. The programs will involve education, culture, sports, tourism, the environment, science and technology, agriculture and fishing, and other sectors.

18 November President Fidel Castro and a senior Vatican envoy in Havana, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, discuss Pope John Paul II's ideas about the role of the Catholic church in tackling social problems, especially helping the poor.

22 November Fidel Castro addresses the World Conference on Solidarity with Cuba being held in Havana.

24 November Radio Havana Cuba reports that Jose Luis Rodriguez, Cuban finance and prices minister, has said the first positive signs of a financial and monetary recovery in the country could be seen after several years of negative indicators.

24 November Venezuela and Cuba have agree to reinforce cooperation to prevent and fight drug trafficking with measures that include exchanging intelligence information on the subject. This occurs in Caracas at the second session of the Venezuelan-Cuban Commission for Cooperation to Prevent and Fight the Illegal Traffic of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances.

25 November Six telephone companies establish telephone links with Cuba and direct-dial service to the island goes into operation after 30 years. Among the companies are AT&T, MCI and Sprint.

26 November Pope John Paul II installs the first Cuban cardinal since Fidel Castro is in power, Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino.

27 November Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Bratinka arrives in Havana to discuss bilateral and economic relations with Cuba. It is the first visit by a Czech government official in five years.

29 November An oil exploration contract between the British- Borneo oil company and Cupet is signed.

2 December In Mexico City for the inauguration ceremonies, Fidel Castro meets with President Ernesto Zedillo.

9 December A Cuban radio journalist Carlos Santana Ojeda, who hosts a talk show on the government-run radio station Radio Rebelde, requests political asylum upon arriving in the United States to cover the Summit of the Americas. He says he no longer wanted to toe the party line.

11 December The three-day Summit of the Americas wraps up in Miami with all the thirty-four heads of state who participated agreeing that Cuba should become a democracy.

11 December A crowd of several thousand Cubans fill Havana's cathedral and outside to hear the country's newly appointed Roman Catholic cardinal, Jaime Ortega, celebrate mass.

13 December The U.N.'s committee on humanitarian affairs criticizes Cuba's human rights record in a resolution that "regrets profoundly" the violation of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. The committee, which has a representative from every nation, passed the non-binding resolution by a vote of 62-22 with 64 abstentions.

15 December Cuba's Foreign Ministry says that Cuba and the United States will be holding fresh talks beginning January 18 on progress in implementing the immigration accord they reached in September.

18 December A poll released by The Miami Herald newspaper and CHAD/Gallup, the Costa Rican affiliate of the Gallup polling organization, reveals that many Cubans are deeply concerned about the country's economic problems and blame them on a U.S. embargo and that the majority of Cubans believe the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power yielded more successes than failures; Carlos Denton, co-owner of CHAD/Gallup, says he believed the respondents' attitude toward the U.S. embargo was strongly linked to years of Cuban government propaganda. The poll was conducted in November by 14 Central Americans who canvassed 1,002 Cubans in 75 percent of the country.

18 December It is reported that Fidel Castro is expected to pay his first visit to China in 1995.

20 December A U.N. Economic Commission on Latin America report released in Santiago, Chile says the Cuban economy appears to be showing signs of recovery in some industries, tourism, mining and construction, after shrinking by more than 40 percent in the last three years. But the report says Cuba posted no real growth in its overall economy and that sugar and agriculture both showed new declines in 1994.

20 December Cuba launches a new currency called the "convertible peso" which despite its name cannot be exchanged for the standard Cuban peso but will circulate like other hard currencies. The new money is to replace the "currency certificates," coupons and vouchers which come in a variety of colors and denominations which have been allowed for payment in some special circumstances for the past few years. The new money is part of the overhaul of Cuba's financial system.

23 December Madrid's leading daily, El Pais, reports that Carlos Lage, who chairs Cuba's State Finance Committee and is in charge of liberalizing Cuba's economy, met secretly in Madrid with the head of the International Monetary Fund, Michel Camdessus. The two discussed ground rules for possible loans to Cuba and the island's progress on opening up its impoverished centrally planned economy.

24 December Administration officials say the Clinton administration is planning to authorize Cuba to open one or more news bureaus in the United States and will clear the way for U.S. news organizations to establish offices on the island nation.