Posted on 12/31/2003 1:27:20 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
With many of his most vocal critics silenced or in prison and island's tourism industry on the mend, 77-year-old President Fidel Castro had much to celebrate on the eve of the anniversary of the revolution that brought him to power 45 years ago on New Year's Day 1959.
The bearded, one-time guerrilla leader now shows his age, but still has the stamina to give a speech lasting eight hours, as he did at a parliamentary session earlier this month.
A major address by Castro was considered likely over the next few days, although nothing had been announced by Wednesday. Numerous concerts and other cultural gatherings were scheduled around the island on Thursday and Friday, both official holidays.
But while Castro's government trumpeted its economic turnaround, political opponents complained that they are more oppressed than ever.
"If we wanted to classify 2003 we could say, without doubt, it has been a year of repression," anti-Castro activist Claudia Marquez wrote for the Miami-based web site Cubanet.
"Not only against dissidence and the independent press, but against the populace in general," added Marquez, wife of imprisoned dissident Osvaldo Alfonso.
More than two generations have passed since Castro and his fellow rebels marched down from Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains to celebrate the hurried departure of U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Bastista from the island on Jan. 1, 1959.
Today, Castro is the world's longest serving head of government and president of one of only four surviving Socialist systems and one that is unique in the Western Hemisphere. His leadership over this Caribbean country of 11.2 million people remains unchallenged.
There were gleeful predictions in the United States a decade ago that Cuba's Socialist system would collapse after the Soviet Union broke up and withdrew its aid and trade.
But Castro's Communists have survived and in 2003 the country prospered with an economic growth of 2.6 per cent, much higher than the average of 1.5 per cent for all of Latin America and the Caribbean.
United, we struggle. United, we triumph, read the 45th anniversary posters around Havana that feature a historic photograph of Castro and fellow rebel leader Camilo Cienfuegos back in January 1959.
But while Castro's Communist government celebrates its survival and exhorts its people to unity, a potent dissident movement still bubbles beneath the surface - even after the roundup that jailed 75 independent journalists, opposition party leaders and other activists in March.
Many Cubans, including 73-year-old Mauro Sampera, publicly support Castro's government.
"For the new year, my hope is for health and that the revolutionary process continues," said Sampera, a retired teacher selling used books Wednesday in Old Havana. "Without the revolution, my four children would not have gone to university."
But there is an increasing sense that not everyone agrees.
"My wishes for the new year? We Cubans have a lot of wishes for the new year. But we cannot talk about them here in public," said a younger bookseller who declined to give his name.
Oswaldo Paya, probably Cuba's best known dissident, remains free and continues to push for deep changes in Cuba's centralized political and economic systems.
In mid-December, Paya called for a national dialogue, providing a detailed document he says could be used as a guide for a democratic transition.
The government publicly ignored that document, just as it earlier shelved Paya's Varela Project, an effort that delivered to the Cuban parliament more than 25,000 voter signatures seeking an initiative on rights such as freedom of speech and assembly.
Many of the 75 dissidents sentenced to prison terms of six to 28 years were Varela Project volunteers, accused of being mercenaries working with U.S. diplomats to undermine the Castro government - charges they denied.
Human rights groups around the globe and democratic leaders condemned the spring crackdown, as well as the firing-squad executions of three men who tried to hijack a passenger ferry to the United States.
U.S. President George W. Bush used the crackdown as a reason for further tightening long-standing restrictions on American trade with and travel to the island.
But Cuba continues to thumb its nose at Washington and has opened its arms to American farmers, buying hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. agricultural goods under an exception to trade sanctions that were first imposed in 1960 by then-president Dwight Eisenhower.
That means that this year, Cubans will be ringing in the new year with meals comprised largely of American-produced food: chicken, beans, rice and holiday apples and pears.
Communist officials say that over two years they have contracted to buy more than $500 million US in American farm goods, even as Bush heads into an election year promising allies in Miami's Cuban exile community that he will further tighten the screws on the island's economy.
FLEE WHILE YOU STILL CAN . . . .
Same deal as Pinochet and Allende. It's strictly a Right/Left thing. They're totally consistent.
You would have to hold a gun to my head to get me to listen for 8 hours...
. "Without the revolution, my four children would not have gone to university."
Hey, do you suppose that if we had a revolution here, I could get my kids to go to college?
Give the Cuban people (and most of the rest of the world) a real reason to celebrate. Die you evil bastard. Just hurry up and die!
Pro Castro Slants....
his most vocal critics silenced [strength]
revolution that brought him to power [strength]
one-time guerrilla leader [progressive-change]
has the stamina [strength]
at a parliamentary session [fairness-representative]
Castro and his fellow rebels marched [unity]
concerts and other cultural gatherings [normalcy-acceptance]
longest serving head of [endurance]
His leadership [ unity-approval]
country prospered [success]
continues to thumb its nose [defiance]
ringing in the new year with meals [???]
And Concerning the Opposition [dissidents]...
opponents complained [weakness]
U.S.-backed dictator [evil]
movement still bubbles [ dirty-tawdry]
even after the roundup [frustration]
gleeful predictions [childish-weak-unsound]
And Finally the last sentence...
Communist officials say that over two years they have contracted to buy more than $500 million US in American farm goods, even as Bush heads into an election year promising allies in Miami's Cuban exile community that he will further tighten the screws on the island's economy.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Anita Snow, news editor for Mexico and Central America for The Associated Press, has been named chief of the AP's new Havana bureau.
Permission to reopen the bureau, closed since the AP was expelled in 1969, was granted last week by the Cuban Foreign Ministry. Her appointment was announced Tuesday by AP President Louis D. Boccardi.
Snow has been among AP reporters making periodic reporting trips to Cuba in the absence of resident status and has made five visits this year alone. She was involved in planning the news cooperative's coverage of Pope John Paul II's visit to the island in January and was among AP staffers who covered the papal tour.
Snow, 39, has been based in Mexico City for five years, the last nine months as news editor. In her current job, she has directed AP's coverage of the destruction caused by Hurricane Mitch across Central America. As a reporter, she has covered such major Latin American stories as the return of Haiti's exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; the papal visit to Central America; the Zapatista rebellion in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and the siege at the Japanese embassy in Peru.
Snow joined the AP in 1988 in Mexico City, where she helped cover the presidential elections that brought Carlos Salinas de Gortari to power.
The following year, she moved to the Los Angeles bureau. Among the stories she covered there was the Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California.
In 1990 Snow transferred to AP headquarters in New York, where she worked on the General Desk, the AP's national editing desk, and on the International Desk.
Snow has a bachelor's degree in communications from California State University, Fullerton, and a master's degree in Latin American and Caribbean studies from New York University.
Before joining the AP, she worked for seven years as a metro reporter for The Orange County (Calif.) Register and went to Mexico on a fellowship from the Inter-American Press Association.
AP-NY-11-18-98 0156EST
Copyright 1998 The Associated Press
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