Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Odds and ends

  • Generacion Y, Yoani Sanchez’ blog written from Havana, was reported yesterday by Yoani to have been blocked to readers trying to gain access from inside Cuba. This morning, the Spanish newspaper ABC reported that the site was blocked, then “a slow access” was permitted. A friend in Havana said the same to me late yesterday.

  • There were rumors that changes in Cuban migration regulations – such as the end of a requirement for the tarjeta blanca exit permit for Cubans wishing to travel abroad – would be announced at a meeting last week in Havana between Cuban government officials and a group of Cubans living abroad. Didn’t happen. The meeting turned out to be a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Antonio Maceo brigades and a discussion of common strategies on political issues such as the U.S. embargo and the cause of Los Cinco. Granma published a concluding statement from the group, expressing its “commitment” to the “work of the Revolution,” its support for the results of the recent “free and transparent elections” in Cuba, and its view that U.S. policy is the “greatest obstacle” to “the normalization of ties between the nation and its emigration.” As for Cuban restrictions on citizen travel, the group seemed to allude to this issue by expressing “our confidence that measures will continue to be applied as circumstances permit, without affecting the security of the country.” Freedom to travel, it would seem, is an unalienable right when it comes to U.S. law, and a privilege to be accorded as “circumstances permit” when it comes to Cuban law. “You will always be our Comandante,” they said in a separate message to Fidel, also published in Granma.

  • Stop the presses: The Washington Times cites former U.S. and Cuban intelligence officials saying that Cuba will continue to gather intelligence in the United States, probably has “at least one intelligence officer” under diplomatic cover at its UN and Washington missions, and will continue to keep an eye on Miami. “They always wanted to know about those that dictated U.S. policy on Cuba,” the former Cuban official said.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tsk, tsk, tsk - the fellows working the missions in the U.S. had better keep their eyes open. Should we find them - there will be trouble. Some of us will make sure of that.

Anonymous said...

I'm in Havana and the Generacion Y site seems to be working OK. Its a little slower but still loads up in 2 mins. Could be due to all the recent attention. I don't think they would make it "slower" they would just block it like other sites they don't like.

Anonymous said...

Potro Salvaje was also blocked within the last week - although they are now back up.

Unknown said...

But today at noon a group of cuban's blogers shutdown the Granma's web site for a few minutes
http://cubaindependiente.blogspot.com/2008/03/tumbado-el-granma-on-line.html

Anonymous said...

The height of gall for this regime. They do even claim a fig leaf of cover when it comes to spying. They come right out and say it. "We will continue to spy on you."
Can anyone have any doubts about these guys and the type of people with are dealing with here?

Phil Peters said...

Anon, those are former Cuban officials speaking in that article. But hopefully, we're snooping on them too, don't you think?