Cuba and the U.S. Empire by Jane Franklin

Author:Jane Franklin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 2016-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

1987

JanuaryCuban American José Sorzano moves from his position as president of the Cuban American National Foundation to a job in the Reagan Administration as director of Latin American Affairs for the National Security Council.

JanuaryA group of Cuban Interior Ministry officials attempt their first drug trafficking operation only to have their speedboats captured by the U.S. Coast Guard. These drug operations end in scandal and the executions of four government officials in 1989. The smuggling evidently began after Cuban exile Reinaldo Ruiz, who left Cuba in 1962, suggested last year to his cousin in the Interior Ministry, Captain Miguel Ruiz Poo, that they collaborate in a drug deal. The smugglers operate through the Interior Ministry’s “Department MC,” established to bypass the U.S. embargo by acquiring products otherwise unavailable.

January 23-26Ovidio Díaz, president of Panama’s National Assembly, heads a delegation of Panamanian legislators to Cuba. Their meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Ricardo Alarcón is primarily concerned with the Contadora peace process. Díaz tells a Granma reporter that a peaceful settlement of the conflicts in Central America is vital to Panama in order to avoid a pretext that could be used by the U.S. government to undermine the Torrijos-Carter agreements on handing over possession of the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2,000.

January 29Curtis Kamman, head of the U.S. Interests Section, meets with President Castro before leaving his post in Havana. Castro tells Kamman, “We have come to the conclusion that, regarding the Interests Section, political matters are not what most interest the U.S. government. . . . The U.S. government’s main interest in the Interests Section and its top priority is information, intelligence, and if you want, I will be even more precise: espionage.”

January 30Thirty-nine FMLN war-wounded arrive in Cuba for medical treatment. Commander Nidia Díaz, who arrived in 1985 and is still recovering from her wounds, officially welcomes them.

FebruarySenator Claiborne Pell, the new chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, favors normalization of relations with Cuba.

February 1John Mike Joyce, second in command at the U.S. Interests Section, becomes acting chief as Curtis Kamman departs.

February 13The State Department denies visas to Cuban artists Rebeca Chávez and Senal Paz, invited to New York for three months by the Center for Cuban Studies under the terms of a Ford Foundation grant.

March 5Eight White House participants in the 1962 Missile Crisis meet in Florida with scholars of the period for a four-day conference to share information. This all-American meeting leads to a series of conferences with Soviet and Cuban participation.

March 11The UN Human Rights Commission rejects by a vote of 19 to 18 with 6 abstentions a U.S. resolution condemning Cuba for alleged human rights violations. One of the U.S. delegates is Armando Valladares, granted U.S. citizenship by President Reagan so that he could be an official representative.

March 21U.S. officials announce plans for the largest military maneuvers yet in the Caribbean and Central America, including a simulated evacuation of Guantánamo Naval Base. The main goal of Solid Shield ‘87 is to practice response to a Honduran call for assistance against an invasion by Nicaragua.

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