by the El Reportero’s news service
Guillermo Fariña
In May 23 a hunger striking journalist, Guillermo Fariñas, told several international news organizations that the Cuban government had agreed with the Roman Catholic (RC) Church a stepped process to deal with the island’s imprisoned dissidents whereby authorities would begin today (May 24) to transfer sick prisoners to hospitals and gradually re-locate others to facilities in their home provinces.
It suits the embattled Havana government to utilize the RC church to diffuse some of the internal tension on the island and deflect U.S.- and European Union-led pressure.
The question is whether President Raúl Castro views this as anything other than a one-time ‘gesture’. Certainly, the established dissident community, led by the likes of Marta Beatriz Roque and Elizardo Sánchez, remains fairly sceptical about his motives. The government may calculate that it can split the small dissident community by meeting some politically risk-free demands, like making a gesture on the issue of the prisoners.
Peru resumes oil auctions two years after corruption scandal
Peru reopened oil auctions this week, two years after the government was rocked by serious corruption allegations in the bidding process.
(Latin News, Pravda, and M&C news contributed to this report.)
