Yoani Sanchez may be a dissident in Cuba, but she agrees U.S. embargo must go

Vinod Sreeharsha – McClatchy, 02/21/2013

Yoani Sanchez may be the world’s best known Cuban dissident. Her blog and Twitter feed criticizing the Cuban government have won her followers and plaudits throughout the United States and Europe, and her first trip outside of Cuba was widely anticipated after the government of Raul Castro liberalized travel rules.

What perhaps wasn’t anticipated was just how controversial that trip would become.

When she arrived at airports in the Brazilian cities of Recife and Salvador earlier this week, she was jeered by leftists carrying signs accusing her of being “financed by the CIA” and being an “anti-Cuban mercenary.”

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Brazil’s Cuban connection

Eduardo J. Gomez – America’s Quarterly, 01/18/2013

Brazil is once again seeking to enhance its international profile. But this time, rather than engaging in close partnerships with its fellow BRICS club members—Russia, India, China, and South Africa—Brazil is collaborating with a smaller nation: Cuba.

Since assuming office in 2011, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has worked closely with Cuban President Raúl Castro to strengthen their partnership in the hopes of further bolstering Brazil’s economic advantages and regional influence. She is achieving this by providing financial and technical assistance to help restructure Cuba’s economy while at the same time advancing Brazil’s economic interests through strategic investments in port infrastructure. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’ quickly deteriorating health has created incentives for Dilma to fortify her ties with Castro, gradually replacing Venezuela—Cuba’s biggest benefactor—as Cuba’s most important ally in the region.

But instead of bullying Cuba into following Brazil’s lead, Dilma is also gaining something in return for her citizens: technical assistance from Cuba to address educational illiteracy, a long-time developmental challenge for Brazil. In so doing, Cuba benefits by displaying its impressive success in education reform, while highlighting its potential to be an amicable partner in hemispheric affairs.

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No final statement at Americas summit: Brazil

AFP, 04/15/2012

Leaders of the Americas pose for the 2012 Summit of the Americas official photo (AFP, Eitan Abramovich)

Leaders attending the Americas summit here Sunday will not issue a final statement because of disagreement over whether Cuba should be included in future summits, a Brazilian diplomat said.

“It is what happened at the previous summit in Trinidad in 2009. There will be a final statement signed only by the president of Colombia (the host country),” said the diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

US President Barack Obama was under intense Latin American pressure at the summit in this northern Colombian city to let Cuba attend future hemispheric meetings.

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Brazil’s Rousseff meets with Fidel Castro in Cuba

Jeff Franks – Reuters, 02/01/2012

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff met with Fidel Castro, the revolutionary hero of her youth, and held talks with his younger brother, President Raul Castro, on Tuesday in a visit to strengthen financial ties with communist-led Cuba.

She toured the port of Mariel near Havana where a Brazilian company is leading a massive renovation and chided the United States for its controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

Cuba released few details about the visit and did not allow coverage by the international media, but state-run television said the two governments signed agreements on Cuban food purchases from Brazil, the Mariel project and Cuba’s biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industry.

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Brazil’s president flexes clout in Cuba trip

John Lyons and Jose de Cordoba – WSJ, 01/31/2012

Cuban President Raúl Castro, left, and his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, review the honor guard at Revolution Palace in Havana on Tuesday. Press Pool

President Dilma Rousseff offered closer economic cooperation to Cuba during a visit to the communist island on Tuesday, marking Brazil’s highest-profile bid to transform its growing economic might into diplomatic leadership in Latin America.

Brazil’s state development bank is financing a $680 million rehabilitation of Cuba’s port at Mariel. Work on the port is being managed by the Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht SA, which may also provide support for Cuba’s sugar industry, Brazilian officials have said.

Ms. Rousseff’s closer engagement of Cuba—she is visiting the island before a trip to the White House— is the latest example of Brazil’s strategy to expand its regional influence by offering subsidized loans to poorer nations. In recent years, Brazil has disbursed tens of billions of dollars around Latin America, and as far away as Africa.

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Brazil prez: Blogger’s travel for Cuba to decide

Peter Orsi – AP/Newsday, 01/31/2012

Photo credit: AP | Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Jose Marti monument in Havana, Cuba, Tuesday Jan. 31, 2012. Rousseff is in Cuba for a visit emphasizing economic cooperation. In the background is an iron sculpture of Cuba's revolutionary hero Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano)

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseffsaid Tuesday that her country acted properly in granting an entry visa to Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, but that it’s an internal matter for Cuba as to whether Sanchez is allowed to leave the island.

Rousseff also demurred when asked whether she had any concerns about the island’s human rights record, saying it’s not her place to judge.

“He who throws the first stone has a roof made of glass. We in Brazil have ours,” Rousseff told Brazilian journalists accompanying her on a tour of Cuba and Haiti. The news conference was not open to foreign media based in Cuba, but her office posted audio of the encounter online.

Rousseff spoke on a day with a packed, trade-oriented agenda, including a tour of a port expansion project at Mariel financed with the help of hundreds of millions of dollars from her country.

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Brazil leader arrives in Cuba to talk trade, ties

Jeff Franks – Reuters, 01/30/2012

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff waves during an official visit to Cuba after arriving at Havana's Jose Marti airport January 30, 2012. REUTERS/Enrique de la Osa

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff arrived in Havana on Monday for a two-day visit focused on trade, but nagged by Cuba’s ever-present human rights issues.

She was scheduled to tour the port of Mariel near Havana, where Brazil is helping finance an $800 million renovation by Brazilian engineering giant Odebrecht; witness the signing of new trade agreements with the Communist island; and meet with President Raul Castro and possibly his older brother Fidel Castro.

Rousseff was greeted at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, then driven away without addressing reporters.

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Brazilian leader under pressure on rights ahead of Cuba trip

Vinod Sreeharsha – McClatchy Newspapers, 01/28/2012

Dilma Rousseff arrives in Cuba on Monday on her first visit there as Brazil’s president, and she’s facing pressure to take a stronger and more public stance on human rights violations that continue under the Cuban government.

Rousseff meets with Raul Castro on Tuesday.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, a government critic, sought to meet Rousseff. She tried to compare herself to Brazil’s leader back when Rousseff was a young Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured by Brazil’s military dictatorship.

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Brazilian leader under pressure on rights ahead of Cuba trip

Vinod Sreeharsa – McClatchy/Miami Herald, 01/28/2012

Dilma Rousseff arrives in Cuba on Monday on her first visit there as Brazil’s president, and she’s facing pressure to take a stronger and more public stance on human rights violations that continue under the Cuban government.

Rousseff meets with Raul Castro on Tuesday.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, a government critic, sought to meet Rousseff. She tried to compare herself to Brazil’s leader back when Rousseff was a young Marxist guerrilla jailed and tortured by Brazil’s military dictatorship.

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Brazil’s Foreign Minister in Cuba to prepare for President Rousseff’s visit

Prensa Latina/NNN/Bernama, 01/18/2012

Brazil’s Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota has concluded talks on Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff’s visit lto Cuba.

Partiota said that President Rousseff will shortly travel to Havana, her first visit abroad after beginning her second year in office.

The president is also interested in learning about the updating of the Cuban economic model, as the transformation process started in the country with the 6th Congress of the Communist Party, Patriota said.

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