Cuba eases travel restrictions on well-known dissidents

• 25 February 2016
 
• From the sectionLatin America & Caribbean

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionMartha Beatriz Roque is one of the dissidents who has been granted a trip abroad. She says she will go and visit the US to see family

The Cuban government has eased travel restrictions for some of the country's best-known dissidents.

Activists said seven members of a group known as the Black Spring were told they would be allowed to make one journey abroad for good behaviour.

One of the seven, Marta Beatriz Roque, said she believed the move was a concession ahead of next month's visit to Cuba by President Obama.

The US government has been pressing for more freedom for Cuban dissidents.

"It appears to be some kind of gift they want to present to Obama, but in reality it is nothing concrete because when we come back we will return to legal limbo," said Martha Beatriz Roque.

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Analysis - Will Grant, BBC News, Havana

The decision to grant seven of the most high profile dissidents the right to travel, albeit for a single trip, serves several purposes.

First it gives the Cuban government a recent example of fairer treatment of dissident leaders on the island. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly to the Castro government, the dissidents may choose to stay in the United States, removing them from the debate inside Cuba altogether.

While human rights organisations generally welcome any easing of the restrictions on the group, some of the dissidents themselves have voiced scepticism at the move.

The thorny question of human rights in Cuba will inevitably be back in the spotlight of the world's media soon during President Obama's trip.

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75 people were arrested in the Spring of 2003 during a crackdown on opposition activists.

Most were freed about five years ago on the condition that they moved abroad.

But eleven dissidents refused the terms of the amnesty and have remained in Cuba, though they have be allowed to serve their sentences outside of prison.

President Obama has said his trip to Havana on 21 and 22 March is aimed at pushing the Cuban government to improve conditions for its people.

In Washington, a White House spokesman welcomed the decision to let the dissidents travel outside Cuba.

When the thaw began in Cuba and the US's relations in December 2014, the Cuban government released 53 people considered by Washington as political prisoners.

But, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (an independent human rights organisation considered illegal by the Cuban government), Cuba has resumed detentions.

The Commission says on average more than 700 people were detained temporarily each month in 2015.

Haiti chooses interim president

• 14 February 2016
 
• From the sectionLatin America & Caribbean

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionJocelerme Privert is the current head of Haiti's National Assembly

Haiti's parliament has chosen an interim president a week after Michel Martelly stepped down, leaving the country without a head of state.

The new leader, Jocelerme Privert, was elected at a marathon session of the national assembly that continued into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mr Privert is the current head of the assembly.

He will serve as president for up to four months while Haiti holds a new presidential poll.

A run-off vote in January was cancelled because of violence and instability and earlier this month a man believed to be a former soldier was beaten to death by a mob during continuing anti-government protests.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is still struggling to recover from ahuge earthquake in 2010.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionRiot police were out in the capital on Sunday

In a speech before he was elected, Mr Privert vowed to "foster confidence" across society, ensure stability and hold the much-delayed run-off vote "as soon as possible".

The election will now be held on 24 April, with a new president due to be sworn in on 14 May.

The last-minute deal aims to prevent the country from plunging into an immediate power vacuum.

Speaking before he stepped down, Mr Martelly said his biggest regret was that January's presidential election had been postponed.

Mr Martelly is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election but has thrown his weight behind Jovenel Moise, a banana exporter who won the first round of the presidential election in November.

But the result was contested by the opposition challenger, Jude Celestin.

He accused the electoral authorities of favouring Mr Moise and threatened to pull out of the run-off vote.

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionHaiti has seen violent unrest over the election

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Q&A: Bolivia referendum

• 24 February 2016
 
• From the sectionLatin America & Caribbean

Image copyrightAFP

Bolivians voted in a referendum on 21 February to decide whether to allow President Evo Morales to seek another term in office.

What were the proposed changes?

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionBolivians were asked whether they agreed with a change to Article 168 of the constitution

Bolivians were asked to vote on a change to the country's constitution. Presently, the president and vice-president are limited to two consecutive five-year terms.

Mr Morales, who has been in power since 2006, and his supporters wanted him to be able to run for another term.

What was the outcome?

Image copyrightAP

Image captionThose opposed to the changes narrowly won

With almost all the votes counted, the "No" camp had a narrow but irreversible lead over those favouring another term for Mr Morales.

This means the constitutional ban on serving more than two consecutive five-year terms remains in place.

How come Mr Morales is currently serving a third term?

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionMr Morales was re-elected in 2014 with 61% of the votes

Despite the constitutional ban on serving more than two consecutive terms, President Evo Morales was allowed to run for a third term in 2014.

The constitutional court argued that the ban did not apply to Mr Morales' initial term because it had taken place before the new constitution came into effect.

What will happen now?

Image copyrightAP

Image captionThere is still widespread support for Mr Morales

Mr Morales will now not be able to stand in presidential elections in 2019.

But he is expected to continue serving out the remainder of his term, which ends in 2020.

When provisional results suggested a win for the "No" campaign, Mr Morales said that "the fight will continue" and his administration would follow through with its plans.

Critics within his party hope he will start training up a potential successor, while opposition politicians see it as a chance to challenge the governing parties.

What has been the reaction?

Image copyrightEPA

Image captionMr Morales said before the final results were published that "the fight will continue"

Mr Morales said he had "lost a battle, but not the war".

There were celebrations in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, an opposition stronghold.

Many opposition politicians and some within Mr Morales's party said the outcome was a victory for democracy.

Former President Carlos Mesa said it showed that "no one is indispensable".

Samuel Doria Medina, who lost three times to Mr Morales in presidential elections said that Bolivia had won.

"They [the government] called this referendum and the people told them 'no'," he tweeted.

Why did the 'No' vote win?

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionAllegations of influence peddling, which Mr Morales rejected, hurt the president's approval ratings

Mr Morales won the presidential election with 61% of the vote last year.

There is still widespread support for Mr Morales and his economic programme but many felt a change to the constitution was a step too far.

Some within the ranks of his own party also felt it was time for new, younger politicians to be given a chance to run.

The president's approval ratings were also hurt by recent allegations that he used his influence to favour a Chinese construction firm which employs his former girlfriend.

Mr Morales rejected the allegations and said he had nothing to hide. He ordered an investigation into how the contracts were awarded.

Bolivia's Morales admits loss in referendum on term limits

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35651063

Bolivia's President Evo Morales has accepted defeat in a referendum which aimed to change the constitution to allow him to run for another term.

Mr Morales said he had "lost a small battle, but not the war".

With 99.7% of the votes counted, 51.3% of voters had rejected the proposal, while 48.7% had voted for it. 

Evo Morales has been in power since 2006 and his current term, his third, runs out in 2020.

• Bolivia's referendum: All you need to know
• Profile: Evo Morales
• Leaders' reluctance to give up power

'Dirty war'

"The struggle does not end here, just because the 'no' has won," President Morales said.

He also spoke about a "dirty war" which he said had been conducted against him in the run-up to the referendum.

The president's approval ratings had fallen after recent allegations that he used his influence to favour a Chinese construction firm which employs his former girlfriend.

Mr Morales has rejected the allegations and has ordered an investigation into how the contracts were awarded.

"We respect the results, it is part of democracy," he said. 

Mr Morales had said on Tuesday that he wanted to wait until the full election results were announced to comment. 

Exit polls had given the "no" campaign a wide lead after polls closed on Sunday, but that lead dwindled to 2.6 percentage points as results came in from rural areas, where support for Mr Morales is strongest.

Mr Morales is the longest-serving Bolivian president since the Andean country gained independence from Spain in 1825.

But many voters said they felt changing the constitution to allow Mr Morales to serve beyond the 19 consecutive years in office he will reach at the end of his term would go too far.