Ceremonial EU-CELAC summit could still bring big gains

An EU summit with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States is intended to revitalize trade. Though few real results are expected, the political gesture is important. Barbara Wesel reports from Brussels.

Deutsche Welle, 11 June 2015

After Tuesday's meeting in Brussels between the European Union and the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, appeared together before the press. The Cuban foreign minister stressed that a cooperation agreement between the European Union and his country would hold many opportunities for both sides. He said he was very pleased with the negotiations, which would hopefully lead to a signed agreement in the future. Beyond that, Parrilla invited Steinmeier to Havana so that he could experience Cuban hospitality firsthand.

Bruno Rodrgiuez Parrilla (left) invites
Steinmeier to Havana to experience
Cuban hospitality

Steinmeier accepted and found the friendliest of words: In light of the numerous crises around the world, cooperation with Cuba is a sign of hope. The European Union wants to be - and must be - present in Latin America. However, the projected signing date of the agreement, which is to contain a section on human rights dialogue, is still unclear. Cooperation with Cuba was put on hold in 2003, following a wave of repression against dissidents.

The high-level summit in Brussels is a political gesture to signal the EU's interest in Latin America, says Susanne Gratius of FRIDE, a Madrid-based think tank that studies European foreign policy. And those contacts have become more important since China initiated a similar forum in order to undertake its own negotiations with Latin America. After all, the cultural and historical connections between Europe and the Americas, especially with Spain, remain deep. But in the face of billions in investments from China, European Union has to consider what it can really offer Latin America. Gratius suggests "Soft Power": EU countries should strengthen political and cultural dialogue, she says, and "they should spread their norms and values." Admittedly, they don't have much leverage to increase the acceptance of such offerings. Since Latin America has moved on from being a developmental partner, Europe's "political influence" in the region has waned.

The European Union is already heeding the call for more "cultural diplomacy." A concurrent academic summit in Brussels has brought together university presidents and educational ministers from Europe and the Americas to discuss research exchanges, for example. There, the EU unveiled an expansion of the Erasmus exchange program for young academics, thus offering new destinations for adventurous students. A meeting between labor organizers from both continents and an event with civil services representatives under the aegis of Federica Mogherini, the European Union's top diplomat, have already taken place. Incidentally, she has often said that Europe needs to reach out to Latin America in the way that it does the United States.

From left to right: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Chilean President
Michele Bachelet and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Improve trade relations

EU leaders want to get economic relations up and running again. The EU already has preferential trade agreements with 26 of CELAC's 33 member states. Nevertheless, further progress could prove tedious. Negotiations for a trade deal with the Mercosur group - consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay - have been dragging on for 20 years.

In an interview with DW, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff promised that her country would "do everything possible, and everything impossible" to make sure that negotiations finally lead to a deal. The president added that an agreement is of existential importance to Brazil. However, optimism that a deal might soon be struck is decidedly muted in Brussels.

"One should organize more thematically specific meetings, and discuss concrete problems like migration or drugs, rather than putting on big summits," FRIDE's Gratius said. There is no denying that the interests of individual CELAC states vary greatly. What does Honduras have to do with Brazil? What do Caribbean states have to do with South American ones? That is why there is no chance to export the European integration model to Latin America: CELAC will never be more than an institutional umbrella, a loose geographic confederation of states with very different concerns and problems. Above all, the Brussels summit is about the "political visibility" of Latin America.

One of the small events taking place on the periphery of the summit is the elevation to international organization status of the Hamburg-based European Union-Latin America and Caribbean Foundation, which supports relationships between civil societies. EU-LAC President Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a former European commissioner for external relations, said the bloc should make relations with Latin America a priority: "We are 61 nations. How much could we get done if we worked in unison?" The Austrian politician knows full well how difficult it is to achieve such consensus from experience. And dialogue partners are woefully absent in some crisis situations. Recently, Ferrero-Waldner told the newspaper Die Presse that "the situation in Venezuela is very unsettling." That situation could worsen yet - first in the form of awful skirmishes, and then civil war. In light of that threat, the only thing that Europe can do is attempt to start a dialogue with Venezuela's government, if that is still possible.

Sieren’s China: Beijing takes the plunge in Latin America

China’s generous investment in Latin America, including key infrastructure projects, is a geo-political chess game, but it is also high-risk, writes DW columnist Frank Sieren.

Deutsche Welle, 2 Feb 2015

In geo-political terms, the world's most significant infrastructure project can currently be found in Nicaragua. To the tune of $50 billion, the Chinese began work last December on a new canal linking the Pacific and the Atlantic. 280 kilometers long and 30 meters deep, The Nicaragua Canal will be able to accomodate ships too large for the Panama Canal, thereby bringing an end to its100-year long monopoly.

El Gran Canal is a prime example of how Beijing skillfully navigates the world stage. It uses favorable credit terms to win politically valuable contracts and major infrastructure projects that bring with them a supply of resources such as oil and natural gas, as well as foodstuffs such as corn.

The new waterway is only one of many ambitious projects that China is currently rolling out on the US doorstep. Earlier this year, Beijing hosted the first summit of the 33 countries that make up the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). Despite the many landmark decisions made at the meeting, it was largely ignored by the western media.

Further investments planned

DW columnist Frank Sieren

Chinese President Xi Jinping, for example, pledged to ringfence a further $250 billion for China's partners over the next 10 years. But there's no such thing as a free lunch. In the past, Beijing approved loans in return for raw materials.

The January summit underscored a development that has been underway for a few years; namely, that China's role in Central and South America is defined less by the country's thirst for resources and more by an overall push for influence. Beijng is no longer satisfied merely with buying oil. The lion's share of its investment has been earmarked for infrastructure in the CELAC countries in a move designed to boost trade relations.

On a visit to Latin America last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping inked deals as though they were going out of fashion. Argentina got new rail projects; 29 contracts were signed in Cuba, including one for a new port, while China has now signed over 300 agreements with cooperation partner número uno, Venezuela, a country that has received loans worth over $40 billion in the last four years. Beijing is now eyeing not only Latin America's raw materials but increasingly, its markets, too.

Knocking the US off the top spot

As always, trade is no one-way street. 25 percent of Chile's exports already make their way across the Pacific; 15 percent of Brazil's and Uruguay's, while 8 percent of Colombia's and Argentina's total exports go to China. Trade volume is 20 times higher than it was at the start of the 21st century. China is now the main trade partner of Brazil, Chile and Peru, and the second main trade partner for Argentina.

It seems obvious that President Xi is aiming to replace the US as the region's trade partner, reducing its influence in the process as an added bonus. It's a goal he will most likely achieve.

Washington is hardly able to top China's generous financial injections. But it can comfort itself with the knowledge that China's strategy is a risky one. After all, the faltering economies of Latin America are failing to recover as efficiently as Beijing would like.

Other foreign investors are taking their money out of these unstable emerging economies. Inflation is rampant in Brazil, the region's largest economy. The economies of Argentina and Venezuela shrunk in the last quarters. If these markets don't get back on track, the flurry of Chinese investment could start to tail off fast. But after the recent summit in Beijing, the aforementioned countries can breathe a sigh of relief – at least for now. Beijing hasn't lost its patience yet. But it's setting higher prices for its geopolitical gains. These, however, shouldn't be underestimated.

DW columnist Frank Sieren has lived in Beijing for 20 years.

Related Article:

"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Text-Version)

" .... South America and the New Energy

South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.

There's a shift happening on this planet.. ...."

Cuban leader demands end to US embargo to renew ties

Yahoo – AFP, Maria Isabel Sanchez, 28 Jan 2015

A handout picture released by Costa Rica's presidency shows Cuban President Raul 

Castro delivering a speech during the inauguration of the III CELAC Summit 2015,

 20 km northwest of San Jose, on January 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Roberto Sanchez)

Belen (Costa Rica) (AFP) - Cuban President Raul Castro laid out the conditions to normalize relations with Washington here Wednesday, demanding an end to the embargo, the return of Guantanamo and Havana's removal from a terror list.

Castro issued his demands a week after the highest-ranking US delegation to Havana in 35 years and Cuban officials held landmark talks aimed at reopening embassies and renewing ties that broke off in 1961.

Cuba has long blamed the embargo for the communist island's economic woes, with billboards in the country equating the decades-old economic sanctions as a "genocide."

"The main problem has not been resolved: the economic, commercial and financial blockade, which causes huge human and economic damage and is a violation of international rights," Castro said.

"The establishment of diplomatic relations is the beginning of a process toward the normalization of bilateral relations, but this won't be possible as long as the blockade exists," he said.

Speaking at a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Costa Rica, Castro said that the road to ending the embargo would be "long and hard."

US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Roberta S.

 Jacobson (3-L) and Director of North America Department of Cuba's Foreign 

Ministry, Josefina Vidal (3-R), participate in closed-door talks in Havana, on 

January 22, 2015 (AFP Photo/Adalberto Roque)

US President Barack Obama called on Congress last week to put an end to the embargo, which was imposed in 1962 and has been a major source of tension between the Cold War-era rivals since then.

Earlier this month, Obama used his executive powers to ease travel and trade restrictions with Havana, putting a dent on the embargo.

But Castro said that the US leader should do more.

"He could use with resolve his broad executive powers to substantially change the scope of the blockade, even without the Congress decision," he said.

'Profound differences' remain

Castro and Obama simultaneously announced on December 17 their intention to end half a century of animosity and normalize ties that broke off in 1961.

Some US lawmakers have voiced concern about the rapprochement, especially those of Cuban-American origin, who say Obama conceded too much to Castro without securing guarantees of political change on the island.

"Some forces in the United States will try to abort this process that has started," Castro warned.

After last week's talks, US and Cuban officials said their meeting had been productive and cordial but that "profound differences" remain and that the road to normalization would be complex.

US flags are seen on a bici-taxi 

near the capitol in Havana on

January 23, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Yamil Lage)

The United States has invited Cuba to hold another round of talks in the coming weeks in Washington.

In his speech in Belen, Costa Rica, Castro said that Havana also wants to be removed from a US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, which has blocked Cuba's access to financial institution.

In addition, he demand the return of Guantanamo Bay, where the US navy has a base being used to jail terrorism suspects.

Another Cuban demand is changes to US policies that allows Cubans to stay in the United States if they step foot on US soil and gives them fast-track access to permanent residency.

Cuba says the US migration policies have caused an exodus and brain drain over the years.

Castro said his delegation outlined the conditions to US officials during last week's historic meeting, and that more talks will take place to deal with these issues.

"We shared with the US president our willingness to advance toward the normalization of bilateral relations once diplomatic relations are restored, which implies taking mutual measures to improve the atmosphere between both countries," he said.

Chinese leader woos Latin America with deals

Yahoo - AFP,  Laurent Thomet

China's President Xi Jinping (L) is welcomed by his Brazilian counterpart Dilma

Rousseff at Planalto Palace on July 17, 2014 in Brasilia (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)

Brasilia (Brazil) (AFP) - China's president pressed a charm offensive with Latin America on Thursday, signing deals with Brazil, meeting regional leaders and proposing a $20 billion infrastructure fund that highlights Beijing's growing interests in the region.

President Xi Jinping was greeted with a military honor guard in Brasilia by President Dilma Rousseff before overseeing the signing of a raft of agreements during a state visit.

Xi then met behind-closed doors with a dozen Latin American and Caribbean leaders, including Cuba's communist President Raul Castro.

China's President Xi Jinping (L) chats

 with Cuba's President Raul Castro at

 Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, on July 17,

2014 (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

After the summit, Rousseff said China proposed the creation of a $20 billion fund to finance infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

He also offered a credit line of up to $10 billion to nations of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

In addition, a Chinese-Latin American cooperation fund of $5 billion would be set up for investments.

Brazil-China deals

Earlier, Rousseff and Xi oversaw the signing of several agreements between the two emerging powers.

Chinese companies agreed to buy 60 Brazilian Embraer E190 passenger airplanes worth a total of $3.2 billion.

The two countries also reached agreements to cooperate in railway projects and shipping that could facilitate Brazilian exports to resource-hungry China.

The Asian giant's import-export bank will loan $5 billion over three years to Brazilian mining powerhouse Vale so that the company, which ships iron ore to China, can buy or rent vessels.

The two nations signed a cooperation agreement for railway projects, with Brazil hoping China will help build tracks linking the continent-sized South American country to Peru's Pacific coast.

Xi and Rousseff, whose nations marked 40 years of diplomatic relations, also launched the Portuguese-language version of China's Baidu Internet search engine.

"Our relations, which represent a truly strategic partnership, are developing at an unprecedented speed in diverse areas of cooperation," Rousseff said.

Xi said China aims to "strengthen our strategy to create an even more prosperous future for our nations."

 Alternative to US

Xi arrived in Brazil this week for a summit of the BRICS group of emerging powers -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- and South American presidents.

The visit is Xi's second to Latin America since taking office last year, when he toured Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad and Tobago.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (4-L, first row) poses with leaders of the

 CELAC group of Latin American and Caribbean states, in Brasilia, on July 17,

 2014 (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)

This week, the BRICS agreed to launch a New Development Bank to fund infrastructure projects in developing nations and an emergency reserve, drawing praise from Latin American presidents who see them as alternatives to Western-dominated financial institutions.

"We welcome this commitment to a new international order that is just and equitable," Castro said in written remarks.

Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro hailed the "relations of mutual respect between a world giant like China and Latin America."

With the visit, Xi is presenting China as an alternative to the United States in the region, analysts say.

"China is an option that matches with the leftist political sympathy that it has with some countries in the region," said Rubens Figueiredo, foreign relations professor at Sao Paulo University.

China's massive purchases of commodities and exports of manufactured goods to the region have boosted its two-way trade with Latin America to a total of $261.6 billion last year, according to official figures.

After Brazil, Xi will head to Argentina, a key source of soybeans for China, before visiting oil-supplier Venezuela and communist ally Cuba.

Despite China's growing investments in the region, it will be hard for Beijing to dislodge the United States in Latin America, said Yun Sun, East Asia expert at the Washington-based Stimson Center think-tank.

"US-Latin America long-standing, traditional ties will not be easily affected by the Chinese political and economic engagements, which are more recent and less comprehensive than US-Latin American relations," she told AFP.

A meeting held by Chinese President Xi Jinping with Brazilian President

 Dilma Rousseff and other leaders of the CELAC group of Latin American

and Caribbean states in Brasilia, on July 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)

Related Article:

With NDB established, Beijing turns to new bank for Asia

Venezuela breaks relations with Panama: Maduro

Google – AFP, 5 March 2014

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (C) and first lady Cilia Flores

 greets supporters before a military parade in Caracas on March 5,

2014 (AFP, Juan Barreto)

Caracas — Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday his government was breaking diplomatic relations with Panama after the country proposed a meeting of North and Latin American nations over protests in Caracas.

During a ceremony marking the anniversary of Hugo Chavez's death, Maduro said he decided to "break political and diplomatic relations" with Panama after it requested talks at the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS).

Latin America, Caribbean proclaim 'zone of peace'

Google – AFP, 29 January 2014

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (2-L) and Colombian Foreign

 Minister Maria Angela Holguin (L) attend the Second Summit of the Community

 of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), on January 29, 2014 in Havana

(AFP, Adalberto Roque)

Havana — Regional leaders declared a "zone of peace" in Latin America and the Caribbean Wednesday at a summit in Havana that also showcased Cuba's emergence from international isolation.

"I solemnly proclaim Latin America and the Caribbean as a 'zone of peace,'" Cuban President Raul Castro told representatives of 33 countries, not including the United States and Canada, which were not invited.

As part of the proclamation, the region's leaders pledged not to resort to force for the resolution of conflicts among them.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa (L)

 attends the Second Summit of the

Community of Latin American and

Caribbean States (CELAC), on January 29,

2014 in Havana (AFP, Adalberto Roque)

Although largely spared wars over the past century, border disputes abound in the region and many countries have suffered civil wars and bloody insurgencies fueled by Cold War rivalries.

Among the heads of state and government attending the summit were the presidents of Chile, Sebastian Pinera, and Peru's Ollanta Humala, whose countries this week received a World Court ruling on a longstanding maritime boundary dispute.

They were expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit for the first time since the ruling in the Hague.

The two-day summit was to close Wednesday with a "declaration of Havana" affirming the region's "unity within diversity."

"The creation of a common political space is of primordial importance to advance our objective of peace and respect among nations, in order to overcome natural barriers and those imposed on us," said Castro.

Cuba's communist regime received numerous expressions of solidarity during the summit and the final communique was expected to condemn the more than 50-year-old US trade embargo on the island.

Among those in attendance were the secretary general of the Organization of American States, a Washington-based regional security group that expelled Cuba in 1962 but reinstated it in 2009. Also taking part was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Castro has taken strides to open Cuba's Soviet-style state-controlled economy, but the regime brooks no political opposition.

Cuban rights groups reported more than 100 dissidents were taken in for questioning to prevent their meeting during the summit.

Unlike previous international gatherings in Havana, none of the presidents attending the summit sought to meet with dissidents, although the Costa Rican embassy received a visit from a delegation led by a prominent dissident, Elizardo Sanchez.

Ban on Tuesday said he raised the problem of "arbitrary arrests" with Castro.

Cuba also used the summit to pay homage to the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who was a driving force behind the Community of Caribbean and Latin American States. Castro is to turn over the rotating presidency of the group to Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla.

Related Articles:

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Dozens of dissidents arrested in Cuba as major summit looms

 "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“.... South America and the New Energy 

South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.. Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) ‘…”

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

Dozens of dissidents arrested in Cuba as major summit looms

Google – AFP, Carlos Batista (AFP), 27 January 2014

A man works during preparations at the complex where the CELAC

summit will be held, in Havana on January 18, 2014 (AFP/File, Yamil Lage)

Havana — Dozens of dissidents have been detained in a "wave of political repression" ahead of a major international summit in Cuba, activists said Sunday.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit hosting heads of state from across the region provides opportunities for dissidents in the Americas' only one-party Communist-ruled state to try to raise their profiles, and seek world leaders' ears.

"The government is carrying out a wave of political repression ahead of the summit" in Havana that ends Wednesday, warned dissident Elizardo Sanchez.

One dissident who planned to attend an event on the summit's sidelines, Jose Daniel Ferrer, was arrested Friday after meeting with European diplomats, Sanchez said.

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas on 

July 3, 2013 during a ceremony to receive

 the 2010 Sakharov prize in Strasbourg

(AFP/File, Frederick Florin)

"As of now, he is technically missing. No one knows where he is," said Sanchez, who heads the outlawed Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Dissident Guillermo Farinas said he has been placed under house arrest to keep him from taking part in an opposition forum on the summit sidelines.

"Today is the third day they won't let me go out," Farinas told AFP by telephone from his home in Santa Clara, 280 kilometers (174 miles) east of Havana.

"There is a police operative who stays a block away from my house during the day but is in front of it at night," he said.

Farinas, who was awarded the European parliament's Sakharov prize in 2010, is a veteran of hunger strikes seeking political opening on the communist-ruled island.

The 52-year-old psychologist said he had planned to take part in a "democratic forum about international relations and human rights" that Cuban dissidents have called for Tuesday in Havana.

The meeting is timed to coincide with the opening of the two-day CELAC summit. The organization counts 33 members.

And the higher-profile dissident group Ladies in White, made up of political prisoners' relatives, said that as many as 100 of its members have been arrested to keep them from taking part in the dissident forum.

The Ladies in White, who won the 2005 Sakharov prize, were out on the streets in Havana marching as they do each week.

Police strength had been boosted discreetly but 56 of the group's members marched on Fifth Avenue, calling for political opening after mass.

"More than 100 members of the Ladies in White have been called in by the police since Friday, taken to police stations," said Ladies in White leader Berta Soler.

"They have been threatened, warned by the force of repression, State Security, that today Sunday, they should not be here on Fifth Avenue.

"The people who are not here (marching), are all being detained," she added.

The Ladies in White are the only group whose demonstrations are approved by the government. President Raul Castro, 82, agreed to the arrangement in 2010 with mediation from the Roman Catholic church.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gets a haircut at a barber

shop in Old Havana, Cuba (AFP)

Related Article:

Cuba hosts 1st summit of regional bloc without US, Canada, since death of key backer Chavez

Fidel Castro makes surprise appearance in Cuba

Google - AFP, Rigoberto Diaz (AFP), 4 February 2013

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro talks to the media after casting his

vote in in Havana on February 3, 2013 (AIN/AFP)

HAVANA — Stooped and using a cane, Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has taken the country by surprise by turning out to vote in legislative elections, after a three-month absence from public view.

The 86-year-old Castro cast his ballot at a school in Havana's El Vedado neighborhood on Sunday, engaging in an animated give-and-take with reporters at the polling station and voters for more than an hour.

The elections were to choose 612 members of the National Assembly as well as deputies of local legislatures, with the number of candidates equal to the number of available seats, so Castro easily stole the show.

His rare public appearances often have served to tamp down rumors about his own health, but Castro used this occasion to talk about improvements in the health of his good friend and ally Hugo Chavez, who is convalescing in Cuba.

Fidel Castro (bottom R) speaks to Cubans

 at a polling station in Havana on February 3,

2013 (AIN/AFP, Marcelino Vazquez Hernandez)

The Venezuelan president is "much better, recovering," Castro said of the 58-year-old Chavez, who himself has not been seen or heard from since December 10, when he traveled to Havana for his fourth round of cancer surgery.

"It has been a tough struggle but he has been improving," Castro said in comments carried by the official Granma newspaper, adding: "We have to cure him. Chavez is very important for his country and for Latin America."

Castro said he gets daily reports on the health of Chavez, whose survival is also crucial to Cuba, which depends on Venezuela for cut-rate oil and trade as well as international political support.

Castro, who turned over the country's leadership to his brother Raul in 2006 after he fell ill, also took the opportunity to throw darts at the United States, his adversary of more than half a century.

"I am convinced that Cubans are really a revolutionary people," said Castro, who came to power in a 1959 revolution.

"I don't have to prove it. History has already proven it. And 50 years of the US blockade have not been -- nor will it be -- able to defeat us."

The United States slapped a commercial, economic, and financial embargo against Cuba in October 1960 after Castro's revolutionary government nationalized the properties of United States citizens and corporations.

It was broadened to become a near-total embargo in 1962 as Cuba's alliance with the Soviet bloc became apparent.

Images shown on Cuban TV as well as pictures in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde showed a slightly stooped Castro with a cane. He wore a dark shirt and a bomber jacket.

In his comments, the revolutionary leader also praised the creation of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), whose presidency Cuba formally assumed last week at a summit in Santiago, Chile.

Set up in Caracas in December 2011 at the behest of Chavez, CELAC groups all nations from across the Americas except the United States and Canada.

The Cuban chairmanship of the group marked Havana's full regional reintegration and was seen as a major diplomatic coup for Communist-ruled Cuba.

"This was a step forward which we owe to the efforts of many people, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez," Castro said.

Fidel Castro (L) arrives to vote at a 

\polling station in Havana on February 3,

2013  (AIN/AFP, Marcelino Vazquez

Hernandez)

Castro had not been seen in public since October 21, when he accompanied Elias Jaua, who is now Venezuela's foreign minister, to the Hotel Nacional.

The Cuban leader's long absences from public view have fueled rumors that his health has worsened, that he was dead or on his death bed.

He turned over the Cuban presidency to his brother Raul in 2008 two years after falling seriously ill and undergoing intestinal surgery.

Since then, he has kept his hand in by writing frequent editorials, publishing books about the revolution, and welcoming a few international leaders in private events.

On Thursday, according to state media reports, he hosted former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.

About 8.5 million Cubans took part in the polls that featured no opposition candidates. Authorities billed the event as a celebration of Cuban democracy, "which is different" from those in other countries.

But Cuban dissidents blasted the vote.

"What strange elections, in which there is no choice and all the candidates think the same," wrote dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez. "It's an electoral farce."