Daily Headlines: March 4, 2009

* U.S.: Labor Secretary Hilda Solis made her first public appearance five days after being confirmed and assured a crowd of Miami union supporters that "there's a new sheriff in town."

* Cuba: Raul Castro sacked Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and vice president Carlos Lage because they were seduced by the “honey of power” according to ex-dictator Fidel Castro.

* Venezuela: State-run oil company PDVSA will slash production costs by 40% partly due to the low price of crude oil.

* Argentina: The nation’s government and farmers reached a deal that may hopefully avoid repeating the crippling strikes of 2008.

Image- miamiherald.com (“Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis spoke at a community meeting Monday evening at Greater Bethel AME Church in the Overtown neighborhood of Miami.
MARICE COHN BAND / MIAMI HERALD.”)
Online Sources- Voice of America, Bloomberg, Reuters, MSNBC, Xinhua

Castro shakes up Cuban cabinet

Cuban president Raul Castro fired ten members of his cabinet on Monday in a move that he cited would make the government “leaner and more responsive.”

Among those who were let go were leading officials including Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque and vice president Carlos Lage. Most of the sacked officials will be replaced senior ministry bureaucrats; for instance, chief diplomat Perez Roque will be replaced by a deputy- Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.

Several of the ministers who were let go had been highly loyal to previous president Fidel Castro and might have had their own aspirations for the presidency. The timing of the move is interesting as it comes at a time of a potential thawing in U.S.-Cuba relations.

According to several anonymous “academics” interviewed by IPS, the cabinet reshuffling will not lead to significant changes in Cuba. (Ed. – it would've been very helpful to know who these sources are):

Academics who spoke to IPS do not see, however, major novelties in the shakeup, nor do they believe it will bring about the hoped-for changes in the economic sphere. "Perhaps it is early to express an opinion, but for now I just see more of the same," said one, who asked to remain anonymous…

Another academic, who also asked not to be identified, said institutional structures should be simplified at all levels, "to ensure that productive enterprises or units have the necessary autonomy."

Image- CBS News
Online Sources- IPS, The Latin Americanist, BBC News, AP, Al Jazeera English, Reuters

Cuba to U.S.: Return Gitmo to us

According to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, the island’s government wants the return of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo. Perez Roque’s comments were made nearly a week after U.S. president Barack Obama ordered the base’s jail to be closed within a year:

Perez Roque said that U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to close within a year the "war on terror" prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay was positive but insufficient.

Cuba expects that Obama's decision to close down the Guantanamo prison camp "is followed by the decision to close down the base and return that territory to the Cubans," a base that the United States "really does not need for its security and defense," Perez Roque said.

In addition, Perez Roque announced the planned visit of the U.N. special investigator on torture to visit Cuba and said that Cuba will soon sign the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Forced Disappearance.

The U.S. has permanently leased the land at Guantanamo for over a century and the contract can only be broken with expressed written consent from the U.S. and Cuban governments.

Meanwhile, Cuban President Raul Castro is visiting Moscow and meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

Image- CBS News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Earthtimes, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Reuters, Calgary Herald

L. da Silva: South-South Summit in Salvador

Just weeks after the emergency UNASUR meeting held in Chile (which, by definition, excluded US participation), plans are underway for another meeting in Bahia, Brazil in mid-December.

Brazilian Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, told press this week that the meeting can be seen as another key step towards regional integration, which he deems "necessary," adding that international crises such as those underway "demand integrated solutions."

Other leaders are less coy about the promise for integration. Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque called the summit a chance for the region to "speak with its own voice," and sees it as the start of a longer "process toward unity, integration and cooperation among the Latin American and Caribbean countries."

While the topics of the summit purport to be large and wide-ranging, what is clear is that the summit will be infused with an urgent spirit based primarily on the external and international crises on money, energy, and food.

Particularly interesting is the enthusiasm that foreign leaders have shown for the summit to be held in Brazil, and for the leadership that Lula is showing in the region. As Lula faces the nearing of the end of his mandate, the question of his legacy may well be on his mind.

Also of interest--to me, anyhow--is that a google news search (English, all dates) of "summit" + "Brazil" + "December" yields only news sources from Cuba, China, Brazil (and one random one from Italy).

Sources: IPS News, Granma, Xinhua News Service, Bloggings by Boz