Ra

Cuban
Radar                                                                            Read Spanish Version

Raúl
Castro will visit Brazil

A
service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau

The
Brazilian government confirmed, on November 11, that Cuban President
Raúl Castro will visit that country in December.

During
his recent journey to Cuba, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, of
Brazil, invited his Cuban colleague to attend the Latin America and
Caribbean Summit at Costa de Sauipe scheduled for December 17.

Cuban
media published the news, but the government did not confirm the
trip. Neither has it done so now. But the news in Brazil came from
official sources. It would be Raúl Castro’s first official
visit abroad since he became president.

Paloma
worsens housing crisis   

Hurricane
Paloma, which sliced through Cuba November 8 causing destruction in
the eastern provinces of Camaguey and Las Tunas, helped increase
Cuba’s housing deficit — estimated to be about a half million
homes.

In
the municipality of Consolación del Sur, Paloma affected 9,889
homes, 1,353 which were totally destroyed. There has been no official
announcement about homes wrecked by Paloma in the rest of the
territory.

Before
Paloma struck, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike lashed Cuba causing the
destruction of 63,000 homes.

Despite
the intensity of the hurricanes — at times Ike’s winds hovered at
340 kilometers an hour, or more than 200 miles per hour — the
fragility of the destroyed homes was obvious. Many were of
rudimentary constructions made of boards and zinc or palm leaf covers
— and in the best of cases asbestos cement roofing.

Cuban
president Raúl Castro visited hurricane victims, many
presently being housed at the University of Camagüey City, and
according to the Granma
daily (November 11, 2008), "assured them that in spite of the
country’s complex situation their needs would be tended to."
Castro stressed that the country wants to substitute the rickety
housing with better homes in a period of "two to three years."

According
to a Monday, Nov. 12, report, also from Granma,
the initial first estimate of $5 billion in lossess has been hiked to
more $10 billion, which include damages caused by Paloma.

EU
could increase aid to Cuba

A
declaration by the European Commission (EC) underscores the
efficiency of Cuban authorities in the protection of the population
from hurricanes, and mentioned the evacuation of close to 1.2 million
people that were in an endangered region. The declaration mentions
the steps taken by the Cuban Civil Defense before Hurricane Paloma
struck on November 8.

"Certainly
many lives have been saved," European Commissioner for
Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said in Brussels. This
agency of the European Union has stated that it is willing to offer
more aid if Cuba requests it.

An
EU technical commission will arrive in Cuba next week to study
jointly, with Cuban authorities, the most urgent needs.

Gold
found in Villa Clara

In
a recent declaration, Armando García, operations head of
Geominera, a mining company in the central province of Villa Clara,
stated that work will soon start mining gold in the Falcón
Municipality.

The
work is a project funded by ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for the
Americas), a program of economic integration pioneered by Venezuela
and Cuba, which also counts as its members Nicaragua, Bolivia and the
Caribbean island of Dominica.

A
more open future

José
Blanco, number two person of the Spanish Socialist Worker Party, upon
finishing his visit to Cuba said that he is confident there will be a
"more open future, a future of change," for the island.

During
his stay in Havana, Blanco met with Spanish businessmen who reside in
Cuba and also with the First Vice President of the Councils of State
and Ministers José Ramón Machado Ventura. Blanco also
conversed with Havana’s archbishop, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino,
and both agreed on the need for reforms and apertures.

Regarding
his encounters with government officials, Blanco said that he
believed that "the conversations, taking into account the
profound disagreements that we have, have been frank enough as to
consider them positive."