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.

Venezuela opposition names Henry Ramos Allup assembly head

Venezuelan opposition lawmakers have chosen a veteran politician as the new head of the country's legislative body.

Henry Ramos Allup, 72, will be the first opposition politician to lead the National Assembly in 16 years following a landslide victory in legislative elections on 6 December.

Mr Ramos said he would ensure the assembly would act "as an autonomous power."

The newly elected lawmakers will take up their seats on Tuesday.

Mr Ramos Allup was chosen by opposition lawmakers in a secret ballot with 69 votes out of 111 cast, defeating 46-year-old Julio Borges of the Justice First party.

He is expected to be formally confirmed in the post when the lawmakers take up their seats.

Seasoned politician

Mr Ramos Allup is the secretary general of the social-democratic Democratic Action party, which has long been opposing the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor in office, Hugo Chavez.

The government says Mr Ramos Allup is a member of Venezuela's "old guard". His Democratic Action was one of two parties that alternated in power for four decades before President Hugo Chavez was elected president in 1998.               

But his supporters say the 72-year-old has the experience and political savvy to turn the National Assembly into a counterbalance to President Maduro's executive branch.

Mr Ramos Allup said the MUD opposition coalition, which won a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, would show Venezuelans "a more democratic way forward".

Known for his sometimes confrontational style, he struck a surprisingly conciliatory note after his election.

"We represent an alternative. We are not going to be anti-establishment, rather an autonomous legislative power," he said.

"We ask people to watch us, to demand more of us, and keep an eye on what we do to make sure we honour our commitment," he added.

Nevertheless, the first session of the assembly is expected to be tense after the opposition coalition said all of its 112 members would take up their seats even though three have been suspended by the Supreme Court pending investigations into alleged voting irregularities.

Tension is also expected to be high around the National Assembly building, as both the opposition and the governing Socialists have called on their supporters to converge on the building.

Argentina: Menem sentenced to jail for embezzlement

2 December 2015

Carlos Menem was the son of Syrian immigrants who settled in the western province of La Rioja                

A federal court in Argentina has sentenced former President Carlos Menem to four-and-a-half years in jail for embezzlement.

Mr Menem, 85, enjoys immunity as a senator and is unlikely to be arrested.
He was sentenced two years ago for involvement in an arms trafficking scheme but did not serve time in jail.
His finance minister during the Argentine economic boom of the 1990s, Domingo Cavallo, has also been found guilty of embezzlement.
Mr Cavallo was sentenced to three years and three months.

He will remain free at least until March, when the court will announce further details of the sentence.

Illegal overpayments scheme

The two men devised a scheme to make overpayments to high-ranking intelligence officers, the court said.

Domingo Cavallo (right) was economy minister between 1991 and 1996    

            

They kept a share of the illegal payments for themselves, the judges ruled.
Mr Menem was previously sentenced to seven years in jail in 2013 for his role in a scheme to smuggle weapons and ammunitions to Ecuador and Croatia.
He is also being tried for allegedly obstructing the investigations into a huge bomb attack against a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in 1994.
The attack killed 85 people and injured more than 300.
Mr Menem was president of Argentina between 1989 and 1999.
His lawyers said he could not attend Tuesday's hearing for health reasons.

Cuba reinstates controls on doctors travelling abroad

1 December 2015

Image copyright AFP

Image caption Cuba says its much-praised healthcare system is facing shortages of doctors in key specialities

Cuba has reinstated restrictions on doctors leaving the island to work in the United States and other countries.

Doctors will now have to apply for a special permit before going abroad.
Cuba's health services have been "seriously affected" by the large number of doctors who have moved abroad since controls were eased in 2013, the authorities said.
Cuba also criticised a US policy it said encouraged doctors and other health workers to leave their posts.
Under the 2006 Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, Cuban medical personnel sent by Cuba's government to study or work in a third country are allowed to enter the US.
Cuba said the programme was an attempt by the US to drain it of medical professionals.
"It must be recalled that the United States government has historically used its migratory policy as a weapon against the Revolution, and has, for political reasons, encouraged emigration from Cuba," says a government statement published in the official newspaper, Granma.
The US and communist Cuba restored relations earlier this year after more than 50 years of hostilities, but the US trade embargo remains in place.
A huge number of qualified health professionals have left Cuba over the past two years.
Most of them try to reach the United States, which has a special immigration policy for Cuban citizens, known as "wet-foot, dry-foot".               
It allows Cubans who reach the US by land to apply for residency while those who are intercepted at sea are turned back.
The policy has led to a rise in Cubans trying to make their way to the US through Latin America by land.
Some 3,000 Cubans migrants are currently stranded on the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, after the latter closed its border.
Nicaragua, which has close ties with the Cuban government, has refused to let the migrants travel north through its country,
Cuba said it was trying to find a solution to the problem by maintaining "contact with the countries involved in the search for a rapid, adequate solution".
Since Raul Castro took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2008, his main policy has been to ease strict economic and travel restrictions in place for decades.
In September, Havana announced it would welcome back doctors who deserted while working abroad on programmes sponsored by the island's communist government.
Doctors would be offered their jobs back and incur no punishment or loss of status.
The Cuban government says it has some 50,000 health workers engaged in health projects in 68 countries. Half of them are doctors.
Critics say the highly-trained professionals are underpaid, while the Cuban government charges other countries for the service and makes significant profits.

Another two Brazil dams 'at risk of collapsing'

Brazilian mining company Samarco says two dams it uses to hold waste water from iron production are damaged and at risk of collapsing.

One of the company's reservoirs burst earlier this month, flooding dozens of homes in the south-eastern state of Minas Gerais.

Eleven people were killed and 12 are missing presumed dead.

Emergency work to try to avoid another breach will begin immediately and will last up to 90 days, the company said.

The company initially said that two of its dams - Fundao and Germano - had burst on 5 November.

But it has now clarified that only the Fundao reservoir collapsed.

Germano and another nearby dam, Santarem, are still standing but are at risk, said Samarco's Infrastructure Director Kleber Terra.

'First instalment'

Samarco is owned by by mining giants Vale, from Brazil, and Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton.

It agreed on Monday to pay the Brazilian government 1bn reais (£170m; $260m) compensation.

The money will be used to cover the initial clean-up and to offer some compensation to the victims and their families.

But the amount agreed is relatively small, prosecutors said.

It will be considered "only as a first instalment" to be paid by the company, state prosecutor Carlos Eduardo Ferreira Pinto told O Estado de Minas newspaper.

The Fundao dam breach caused rivers of mud to descend on nearby villages. Bento Rodrigues was totally destroyed. More than 500 people lost their homes there.

Last week, Brazilian environmental agency Ibama fined Samarco 250m reais.

Ibama described the dam burst as "the worst mining accident in Brazil's history".

US still isolated at UN General Assembly over Cuba embargo

The United Nations General Assembly has almost unanimously voted to condemn the US embargo on Cuba, in the first such resolution since US-Cuban diplomatic ties were restored earlier this year. 

The motion won more support than it has done in the past, with 191 members of the 193-member body voting in favour.

Only the US and Israel opposed the resolution, which is non-binding.

The US had earlier said it may abstain if the resolution's language differed significantly from previous ones.

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has voted in favour of the resolution condemning the US embargo on Cuba for every year since 1992.

Last year, the US and Israel voted against the resolution, while three countries abstained.

In July, the US and Cuba reopened embassies in each other's capitals and restored full diplomatic ties.

Relations had been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo on Cuba.

US President Barack Obama last month told UNGA he expected the US Congress to ultimately lift the embargo.

However, the move is opposed by the Republicans, who control Congress.

Image copyrightAP

Image captionAccording to the BBC's Will Grant in Havana, there had been speculation that the US might abstain from the UN vote this year, thereby isolating the US Congress in the eyes of the world - and pressurising them to lift the embargo.

However, the US deputy ambassador to the UN, Ronald Godard, said shortly before the vote that the US would not abstain, as the Cubans had not sufficiently changed the language of the motion.

"We find it unfortunate that despite our demonstrated bilateral progress the Cuban government has chosen to introduce a resolution that is nearly identical to those tabled in years past," he said.

"Nevertheless, the United States will not be bound by a history of mistrust."

Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told the assembly that the "lifting of the blockade" would "give some meaning" to the progress achieved recently, and "set the pace towards normalisation".

The resolution welcomes the renewed ties and recognises Mr Obama's "expressed will" to end the embargo.

Our correspondent says the vote is unlikely to derail the process of normalisation between the US and Cuba on its own. 

He says Mr Obama still wants to see the embargo lifted, and behind the scenes, the Castro government has appreciated his support in that endeavour.

Venezuela ex-prosecutor speaks out on Lopez 'sham trial'

A former Venezuelan prosecutor has accused the government of jailing an opposition leader "because they feared his leadership".

Franklin Nieves, who prosecuted Leopoldo Lopez, was speaking on CNN in Miami after leaving Venezuela.

He said that Mr Lopez was innocent and the evidence against him was false.

Mr Lopez, who led anti-government protests last year, was sentenced in September to almost 14 years in jail for inciting violence.

'Wrongly convicted'

Mr Nieves left Venezuela last week and is reportedly seeking asylum in the United States. 

Venezuelan Attorney-General Luisa Ortega sacked Mr Nieves on Monday for actions "contrary to his oath of office".

Image copyrightReuters

Image caption

On Tuesday, Mr Nieves told Spanish-language news channel CNN en Espanol that "Leopoldo [Lopez] is innocent".

"They jailed him because they fear his leadership," he told CNN's Fernando del Rincon on the programme Conclusiones. 

Asked if Mr Lopez should be free, the former prosecutor said: "Yes, indeed, because after examining each and every piece of evidence it was shown that this person had at no point made even a single call to violence."

Mr Nieves said that video footage taken from protests at which Mr Lopez spoke showed him "always calling on his supporters to remain calm".

Image copyrightAP

Image caption

Mr Lopez handed himself in to the authorities on 18 February amid mass anti-government protests in which 43 people - from both sides of the political divide - were killed.

He has always denied inciting violence and his supporters say he is a political prisoner. 

'Pressure and fear'

Asked why he had not spoken out before Mr Lopez was sentenced to 13 years and nine months in prison, Mr Nieves said that he had remained silent "out of fear and because of the pressure exerted by each one of our bosses on prosecutors working at the national level".

He then explained that the pressure filtered down from President Nicolas Maduro and National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello through the attorney-general to individual line managers who got prosecutors to act "on the whims" of the authorities.

Image copyrightReuters

Image caption

Mr Nieves went on to allege that he was instructed to arrest Mr Lopez to "take him out of the political game" and that the order came from President Maduro.

He also alleged that the police report on which Mr Lopez's arrest order was based was "fictitious and invented" and that the witnesses in the case were "false" as they had been told to testify in a certain manner.

Mr Nieves also alleged that the case of Mr Lopez was not unique. 

"There are innumerable cases in which people were investigated and innocent people detained," he told Mr del Rincon. 

On Monday, Ms Ortega dismissed Mr Nieves' allegations, saying that "at the state prosecutors' office we don't pressure anyone".

She added that Mr Nieves had given in to "pressures from foreign and domestic elements" although she did not specify what pressures those were.

Rio 2016: 30% cutback on Games budget to avoid overspend

Rio 2016: 30% cutback on Games budget to avoid overspend

Rio 2016: 30% cutback on Games budget to avoid overspend

By Wyre Davies

South America correspondent

 

The organisers of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games are making cutbacks of up to 30% to avoid going over the £2.38bn (US$3.6bn) budget.

Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada said the Brazilian public would not tolerate an overspend.

"The days of lavish spending are over," said Andrada. "We need to be creative in the way we find these savings."

Events across 50 Olympic and Paralympic sports featuring about 15,000 athletes will not be affected.

The BBC understands a crisis meeting has been held in the past few days.

The organising committee's budget is privately financed, with separate budgets for stadiums and infrastructure, but the Brazilian government would have to meet the cost of any overspend.

Ticket sales have been slow with only two million of the five million available sold so far.

"People get upset about luxury and excess, we have to tighten our belts," added Andrada.

At the Confederations Cup held in Brazil in 2013, fans protested angrily at the amount of money spent - about £2.57bn ($4bn) on staging the 2014 World Cup.

What will be affected?

Opening ceremony - approximately three and a half hours long - budget cut. Now estimated to be 10% of the cost of that of London 2012

All promotional videos must now be made in-house

Online lottery for tickets scrapped and all on open sale with the option to pay by instalments

More tents and fewer structures at Olympic events

Infrastructure at test events scaled back

Volunteer programme, which includes English lessons for participants, likely to be cut from 70,000 to 60,000

 

Guatemala mudslide area declared uninhabitable

Guatemala mudslide area declared uninhabitable

Guatemalan officials have declared a neighbourhood which was buried in a mudslide uninhabitable.

More than 160 people died when the mudslide tore through homes in Santa Catarina Pinula on Thursday.

Emergency workers are still excavating the area but have given up hope of finding any survivors.

It is not yet clear what will happen to the survivors and whether the state will offer them help to relocate to safer ground.

Perilous location

Guatemala's National Disaster Reduction Commission (Conred) says it had warned as early as 2009 that the neighbourhood of El Cambray 2, which lies 16km (10 miles) east of Guatemala City, was at risk.

The middle-class neighbourhood was built at the bottom of a steep hillside next to a river.

Bulldozers move land in Cambray 2 on 5 October, 2015.Image copyrightAP

Image caption

Heavy machinery is being used to dig through tonnes of mud

Conred said its most recent warning came in November 2014, when it alerted local authorities to the fact that the river was eroding the base of the hill, making the hillside very unstable.

However, residents said they had not been made aware of the risks.

A spokesman for the local authorities in El Cambray 2 said what had happened was "a natural disaster, like an earthquake or a volcanic eruption, which can't be foreseen".

He also said that residents had been told of the Conred report, "but had decided to stay put for a variety of reasons".

Tonnes of earth

Heavy rains had soaked the earth causing it to come crashing down on the houses below late on Thursday, when most residents were asleep.

One-hundred-and-sixty-one people have been confirmed dead and 300 are still missing.

People rest as they wait for the remains of their relatives outside a morgue in Santa Catarina Pinula on 5 October, 2015.Image copyrightReuters

Image caption

Exhausted relatives have been waiting in front of the town's morgue for the bodies of their loved ones to be identified

Forensic workers rest outside a morgue in Santa Catarina Pinula, on 5 October, 2015.Image copyrightReuters

Image caption

Forensic workers have been drafted in to help with the identification process

Another 230 people are staying in shelters.

President Alejandro Maldonado on Monday declared three days of national mourning.

He also said that he was determined to find all those buried under the mud: "We're not going to stop until we finish this job."

However, conditions at the site of the landslide worsened on Monday.

Conred officials said they had detected cracks in the hilltop through which water was seeping, heightening the risk of further mudslides.

Missing ship: El Faro confirmed to have sunk off Bahamas

Missing ship: El Faro confirmed to have sunk off Bahamas

The lost cargo ship El Faro sank in Bahamian waters after sailing into the path of Hurricane Joaquin, according to the US Coast Guard.
The 224m (735ft) vessel and its crew of 33 have been missing since issuing a distress call on Thursday.
The coast guard says an "unidentifiable body" has been found but a search remains underway.
On Sunday, search planes found debris including life jackets, containers and oil in the water.
It was this find that led rescuers to the conclusion that the ship had sunk.
Along with the body, an empty, heavily damaged life boat has also been found.
"We are still looking for survivors or any signs of life," US Coast Guard Capt Mark Fedor said, but adding the crew faced "challenging conditions to survive".
The coast guard says it has searched 70,000 sq nautical miles attempting to find the crew of 28 Americans and five Poles.
The ship, which was travelling from Florida to Puerto Rico, was taking on water before it sank according to the distress call.
Its owners, Tote Maritime, say the ship lost power after its engines broke down.
Satellite picture of Hurricane JoaquinImage copyrightREUTERS/NOAA
Image caption
Hurricane Joaquin from space
Tote Maritime, said two vessels it dispatched to the scene had found a container "which appears to be from the El Faro".
The company has also defended its decision to allow the ship to sail so close to a hurricane.
In a statement it said the crew were "equipped to handle situations such as changing weather."
Joaquin brought heavy rains to the Bahamas, damaging a number of houses. The weakened storm has since hit Bermuda.

California enacts right-to-die law for terminally ill

California enacts right-to-die law for terminally ill

California has joined four other US states that allow terminally ill patients to legally end their lives with a doctor's supervision.
State Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on Monday.
The bill was partly inspired by the case of a terminally ill California woman who moved to Oregon to end her life.
At least two dozen states introduced aid-in-dying legislation this year, but none has become law.
The right-to-die movement gained support in California after Brittany Maynard, a cancer patient who lived in the state, moved to Oregon to legally end her life.
Her family including her mother, Debbie Ziegler, spoke in support of the bill.
Religious groups had opposed the bill, saying assisted suicide was against God's will. The Catholic Church had urged Governor Brown to veto it.
Advocates for people with disabilities also worried that terminally ill patients could be pressured into choosing death.
'Would be a comfort'
Governor Brown, a Catholic who once studied to become a priest, had taken weeks to decide whether to sign the bill.
"In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in face of my own death," Governor Brown said.
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Media caption
California has become the fifth American state to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives legally
"I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating pain. I am certain, however, that it would be a comfort to be able to consider the option afforded by this bill."
The law stipulates that two doctors must approve the use of the life-ending drugs and two witnesses must be present when the drugs are administered.
The patient also must be physically capable of taking the drugs themselves.
Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana already have similar laws in place.