Todavía no ha pasado la tormenta

Thank you for your e-mails and for waiting for my return, your words were very encouraging. Believe it has been hard to stay away. I know that there are better blogs that you can visit and read, and I am humbled by your support and comments. I am not still at the point where I can come back to this on a regular basis; however, I will make an effort to continue as time permits disseminating the truth about Cuba to the ignorant world.

Thank you...and ABAJO CASTRO! ¡Que se muera ya!

Amigos and visitors

I am going to be pretty busy attending to the business that keeps my kids in college. Therefore, for the next few days things are going to be quiet around here. Please take this opportunity to visit the excellent blogs on the right margin of this page. We shall return soon!

Cuba blames the US for lack of Internet

But it is clearly the regime that uses censorship to keep Cubans from the INTERNET. Read about Cuban official Juan Fernandez (appointed by el cafe Annan to an UN internet working group) squirm when challanged by an expert Internet engineer.

Cuba: We're forced to 'finance' the Internet

By Declan McCullagh
Story last modified Thu Nov 02 06:27:42 PST 2006

ATHENS, Greece--A Cuba government official told a United Nations summit here that the U.S. government was to blame for the poor Internet access that its citizens endure.

Juan Fernandez, a government official in the Cuba's Commission of Electronic Commerce, on Wednesday assailed the U.S. government's economic embargo and argued that, as a result, poorer countries are "financing" the Internet. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Fernandez to a high-level working group two years ago.

Fernandez's only problem was that a longtime Internet engineer and researcher was present and challenged those claims. Bill Woodcock, research director of the nonprofit Packet Clearing House who has set up Internet exchange points in Latin America and other developing nations, replied by saying that the Cuban government's problems stem from its own telecommunications monopoly and its official censorship policies.

A report published last month by the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group says "it is forbidden to buy any computer equipment without express permission from the authorities," and spyware "installed in all Internet cafes automatically detects banned content." U.S. law exempts telecommunications equipment and service from the trade embargo (click here for PDF).

Read on for excerpts from the U.N. Internet Governance Forum's official transcript of the exchange during the plenary session.

Read the interchange [here].

Happy cows?

The California Advisory Milk Board has a hilarious campaign to promote California cheese. You can actually view the TV commercials at www.realcaliforniacheese.com. The catch phrase is that “happy cows come from California,” thus the great cheese. Not to be outdone the state of Vermont wants it cows to be happy as well, but not in Vermont.

The 76 Vermont Holstein and Jersey heifers arrived at the Niña Bonita farm outside Havana last August. So far, Cuban officials are pleased with the cows' performance and their offspring. They say the cows are in good health and are continuing to adapt to Cuba's hot and humid climate.

The oddest thing about this story is not that the US is Cuba’s largest supplier of food stuff and pharmaceuticals in spite of the “horrible” blockade, but the request made by Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

The head of the Catholic Church in Cuba is considering acquiring a small number of cows as well.

"The new seminary we're building now is interested to have cows for the seminarians," said Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who stopped by Wright's booth at the fair.

Future child molesting priests need their calcium. How is it that the Cardinal can get his cows, and the everyday Juan Cuban cannot?