Moontown

Ferrer, a medical doctor, has been jailed at the Valle Grande prison, west of the capital, Havana. He is well known for his reports on the state of the Cuban health system and the plight of political prisoners.
Ferrer, head of the Juan Bruno Zayas centre, was officially arrested for attempting to illegally acquire building materials for his house in Havana which is in a poor state of repair. He and his wife, Yusnaymi Jorge Soca, were prevented from leaving their home for 12 hours on 9 July the day they planned a peaceful march in the capital dubbed “The journey of a lifetime”.

Several activists were arrested a few hours before the start of the demonstration.

“The completely absurd reasons given for Ferrer’s arrest will obviously not fool anyone. It is a new ploy to silence a dissident voice and a particularly important one,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “There are worrying signs, that against a background of a fresh crackdown, his transfer to jail could mean the start of a prolonged period of imprisonment”, the organisation added.

An upsurge in short-term detentions and summonses by State Security has become the chief method of cracking down on dissidents, since the July 2006 handover of power by Fidel Castro to his brother, Raúl.

Independent journalist Ileana Pérez Nápoles was held by the political police in Las Tunas, eastern Cuba, on 11 July at a march in tribute to victims of reprisals in an operation by the coast guard. Agents of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) took independent journalist David Águila Montero to the internal security department on 15 July. During questioning they seized his USB memory stick and copies of the US daily “Nuevo Herald” and “The Dissident Review“.

With 24 journalists in jail, including Reporters Without Borders’ correspondent Ricardo González Alfonso, founder of “De Cuba” magazine, Cuba is the world’s third biggest prison for the profession, after Iran and China.

Linea Turistica Aerotuy charter service arrives in Barbados from Caracas.

The 46-seater ATR-42 aircraft arrived on Thursday July 23, via Margarita Island, after departing Caracas at 5:30 a.m. The twice weekly service will also leave Barbados on Sundays at 9:30 p.m. Then from August 1 until December the schedule will be adjusted with flights arriving on Mondays and Thursdays.

Speaking on the new service, the airline’s president stated, “This was a dream for a long time. I’ve known Barbados for a long time and I have been with the company for 20 years and we have been waiting for the right airplanes in order to start this service. We bought the planes last year and completed the certification and acquired the permits this year to bring us to this point. We are delighted to be able to make a positive contribution to both destinations and the chance to enhance our offering to the world by working together.”

Venezuelan Ambassador, Juan Carlos Valdez Gonzales (left), and the Embassy’s second secretary - press and culture, Nelly Lourdes Matute (right), greeting Venezuelan historian, Carmen Bohorquez, on the tarmac, following the inaugural flight of the Linea Turistica Aerotuy charter service to Barbados on Thursday July 23, 2009.

Marquez added that in order to make the service more desirable to the curious South American traveller, starting Thursday July 30, they will be offering a morning and evening flight on both days between Barbados and Porlamar, Margarita Island’s commercial centre, with day tours of Barbados in cooperation with their local general sales agents (GSA), West Indies International Tours (WIIT).

“We’re very pleased that the charter has started as it holds potential to bring visitors from Venezuela and from other connecting gateways such as Argentina and other South American countries.” stated Christian-Clarke on the new service.

The BTA began building anticipation among key media trade partners in Venezuela around the service as early as March 2009 when Christian-Clarke hosted a team from Venezuela including journalists, travel agents and tour operators who were all given a comprehensive tour of Barbados’ accommodation, golf, heritage and culinary product.

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) — Cubans are not likely to hear much encouraging news about their economy or the state of US-Cuba relations when President Raul Castro gives his main speech of the year on Sunday amid difficult times on the communist-led island.

Last year, many Cubans thought Castro might use the annual July 26 address, which marks the anniversary of the start of the Cuban revolution, to announce economic reforms.

But he warned them instead to get used to “not receiving only good news.”

A cuban worker looks at a picture of Cuban President Raul Castro and leader Fidel Castro, in Havana. The Cuban Communist Party chose to celebrate the 56th Anniversary of the assault on the Moncada barracks next July. AFP PHOTO

Since then, the economic news has gotten steadily worse and thoughts of reform have diminished as Castro has eschewed big changes in favor of trying to make more productive the state-run economy put in place by older brother Fidel Castro.

Cubans had hoped long-bitter US-Cuba relations might improve quickly under US President Barack Obama, but so far progress has been mostly limited to a partial rollback by Obama of some of the Bush administration’s most hardline policies.

The US president is maintaining demands that Cuba must improve its human and political rights before the 47-year-old US trade embargo on the island can be relaxed further.

When Castro takes the stage in the eastern city of Holguin on Sunday, his address marking the July 26, 1953, rebel attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba will probably sound familiar, Cuba expert Paolo Spadoni said.

“I think his speech will be in line with the one given last year, stressing again the need to tighten the belt because of the precarious economic conditions,” said Spadoni, a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University’s Center for Inter-American Policy and Research.

Many inside and outside Cuba thought Raul Castro would open up the island’s economy after he replaced his aging, ailing brother as president in February 2008 and quickly decreed that Cubans could buy cell phones and computers and use previously off-limits tourist hotels.

But his only major reform has been in agriculture, where he has decentralized decision-making and put more land in private hands.

“It is clear by now that heightened expectations were largely unmet,” Spadoni said. “Right now we are not talking of moving toward the Chinese (economic) model or making major changes toward liberalization,” he said.

Cuba’s fragile economy has been battered by the global economic crisis and three hurricanes last year, the effects of which have left the government with little operating cash.

It has resorted to belt-tightening measures such as scheduled power blackouts to conserve energy, reductions in public transport, selected factory shutdowns, cuts in spending and the freezing of foreign business bank accounts.

The latter proved so counterproductive that the policy was partially reversed.

After 50 years of austerity, the latest economic hardships have left many Cubans frustrated with Raul Castro.

“So far he has not made one change that raises us up, just the reverse. He has made changes but I still don’t see any benefit,” said maintenance worker Daria Marquez. “I would like for him to be more liberal.”

While many Cubans still express faith in their leaders, others say their hopes for better lives lie with Obama and his stated desire to normalize US-Cuba relations.

Obama has eased the longstanding US trade embargo against Cuba by removing limits on family travel and remittances to the island imposed by President George W. Bush, and has restarted talks on items of common interest like immigration.

But Cuba’s leaders have made clear in public statements they are disappointed that Obama is not willing to dismantle more of the embargo without political concessions by Havana, which both Castros have said are not in the cards.

“There seems to be a genuine anger that the Obama administration has not attempted something more in reversing Cuba policy. I seemed to note an almost escalating irritation,” said Washington attorney Robert Muse, who specializes in Cuba issues.

Despite “promises of change by the new US government, the reality today is that the illegal blockade imposed almost five decades ago against Cuba is still being implemented,” Raul Castro said last week on a visit to Egypt.

Marquez said she would like Castro to tell Cubans in no uncertain terms that he wants peace with the United States and is ready to talk with Obama with “an open mind and without conditions or obstacles.”

“But that’s dreaming, no?” she added.

-Anna Ramdass

FIFA Vice President and Opposition MP Jack Warner is on a mission to get United States President Barack Obama to return to this country to address the nation’s youths.

Warner is currently in New York, but is expected to fly to Washington for a meeting with Obama at the White House on Monday.

Obama requested the meeting, which was originally scheduled for November, with Warner, to discuss the United States hosting a future FIFA World Cup tournament.

Warner told the Express in a telephone interview yesterday that Obama’s personal request to meet with him highlights the importance of football, and his recognition of the part he (Warner) has to play with respect to the World Cup. He said, however, that there would certainly be more than the topic of football on the agenda when he sits down with the President.

Asked if he would invite Obama to return to Trinidad as his guest, Warner responded, “Most definitely! I did the same with Mr (Nelson) Mandela.”

In 2004, former South African president and renowned freedom fighter Nelson Mandela visited this country as a guest of Warner. Mandela had accepted Warner’s invitation in his efforts to secure South Africa bid to secure hosting of the 2010 World Cup.

Obama, together with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, visited this country in April for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. However, the public was not afforded the opportunity to see him in person, or to hear him speak outside of his address at the Summit.

Warner said he intends to change this. He said he would like to see Obama inspire the youth of Trinidad and Tobago and address thousands gathered at three sporting venues-the Dwight Yorke Stadium, the Manny Ramjohn Stadium and the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

Asked if he would also seek Obama’s advice on the current internal battle in the UNC between himself and Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, Warner said, “I don’t need Obama to help me with the UNC. In fact, I would be embarrassed to even raise that issue, I will deal with the UNC on my own.”

Juhel Browne jbrowne@trinidadexpress.com

Colonial Life Insurance Co Ltd (CLICO) chairman Shafeek Sultan-Khan yesterday convinced the Cabinet that the cash-strapped insurance company has been responsibly managing the millions of taxpayers’ dollars it received in financial assistance.

Khan, CLICO’s chief executive officer, Claude Musaib-Ali, and other board members delivered a presentation to the Cabinet so the company could formalise a commitment it made in the Government’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with its parent company, CL Financial, to provide an initial $1.3 billion bail out.

After the presentation, the Cabinet decided to formalise the commitment to CLICO during a special meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.

In an interview with the Express last evening, Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira said while the Government did not agree to any additional funding for CLICO, its presentation was vital to any future assistance it could end up receiving from the State.

“The board made presentation to the Cabinet to give us a sense of what they had accomplished thus far, where were they going and what would be the outlook going forward, and that was to ensure that when the Government made any further commitment and any fiscal, any further injection, that we are comfortable that this was a situation that was, you know, presenting itself in a very positive sense,” she said.

The Cabinet made the decision although Central Bank Governor Ewart Williams is still awaiting the results of a forensic audit of the company’s operations and that of CL Financial subsidiary CLICO Investment Bank (CIB).

Nunez-Tesheira maintained the Government’s position that CLICO’s collapse posed a systemic risk to the nation’s entire financial system and it had to intervene to protect its policy holders and investors. “It was important that CLICO come to the Cabinet, make a presentation and satisfy the Cabinet on the issues of what was the money being used for, how the money has been spent and what was the intention moving forward. Those questions were answered in a very rigorous way and I think the Cabinet was satisfied,” Nunez-Tesheira said. She referred all other questions on the matter to CLICO and Williams.

Trinidad Express

Ariti Jankie South Bureau

More vegetables are on the market this week, bringing prices down.

Tomatoes have dropped from $10 to $8 over the past two weeks. At roadside stalls this weekend, vendors were offering “four (pounds) for $20″. Cucumber prices fell from $5 to $3 a pound, and at some places as low as $2. Melongene went from $5 to $3 a pound, and caraille dropped to $2.50 from $4 a pound.

Market experts said lettuce prices remained high and pumpkin prices increased, with fewer on the market as a result of the hot weather experienced over the past few months.

“We should see a reduction in pumpkin prices in the next few months with more rainfall,” market observer Farouk Shah said. He said the supply of sweet potato and cassava remained steady over the past few months and prices will continue to remain low.

Central farmers said continued low prices will depend on the rains and the floods it usually caused.

“A lot of crops have been planted and bumper harvest will depend on the weather conditions,” one farmer said.