Jewelry Boxes on Display in Old Havana

Palestinian nacre (mother-of-pearl) jewelry boxes, given by former Cuban President Fidel Castro, are on display at the Arab House in Havana on 22 May 2008.

A 'Babel' of temples, prayer rooms and domestic altars of Catholics, Evangelicals, Greek or Russian Orthodoxs, Jews, Muslims, Yorubas and Congos coexist in a strip of 4 square km of Old Havana.

Something like these jewelry boxes, being found in a collection in Cuba is actually not surprising, while I do not know exactly how these boxes came to be in Cuba.

Nevertheless, it is well known, that dignitaries throughout history have always thought that the beauty and craftsmanship that was only found in Palestine was considered a great prize to own and to give as gifts; it was considered a great honor to receive such a gift.

Many items from tapestries, to pillow covers, even camels or Christians symbols made out of olive wood, can be found under the same instance as these boxes.

As for the camel, I happen to own one, I found it in a store in the United States and what was interesting is I bought it for little money, because the own did not know what it was or where it had came from. When I explained, what the camel was and where it came from, they where overwhelmed.

Raul Castro Named Cuban President

24 February 2008

Raul Castro has been named the new president of Cuba by the country's national assembly, succeeding Fidel Castro, his ailing brother.

Raul, 76, who has led a caretaker administration since Fidel suffered ill health 19 months ago, was selected in a meeting of the 614-member assembly on Sunday. Story

'Exhausted' Castro Rebuts US Candidates

24 February, 2008

Havana: Three days after stepping down as Cuban leader, Fidel Castro was back in the fray on Friday rebutting US presidential hopefuls who called for political change in Cuba.

Castro said he was 'exhausted' by the 'days of tension' leading up to his retirement after 49 years in power and needed a holiday, but could not keep silent over the reactions in the US to his departure announcement on Tuesday.

Castro said in an article that the reactions to his retirement, including calls for 'liberty' in Cuba, forced him to 'open fire' again on his ideological enemies.

'I enjoyed seeing the embarrassing position of all the presidential candidates in the United States,' he wrote in a column published by the Communist Party daily Granma.

'One by one, they felt obliged to proclaim their immediate demands of Cuba so as not to risking losing a single vote,' Castro said. ''Change, change, change!'' they cried in chorus. I agree, 'change!' but in the United States,' he wrote.

Republican front-runner John McCain took another shot at Castro on Friday, stating bluntly that he hoped the leftist Cuban firebrand would die soon. 'I hope he has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon,' McCain, who favours tightened sanctions against Castro's government, told a town-hall style meeting in Indianapolis.

Castro, 81, has not appeared in public since undergoing stomach surgery and handing power temporarily to his brother Raul in July 2006. Cuba's rubber-stamp National Assembly is expected to name Raul Castro as Cuba's new leader today.

Fidel Castro, the most enduring political leader of the last century, turned Cuba into a one-party state and Soviet ally on the doorstep of the United States after seizing power in an armed revolution in 1959. He survived the Cold War, CIA assassination attempts and what he calls the US "blockade" during 10 administrations.

US policy

US President George W. Bush has tightened the 45-year trade embargo and has rejected easing sanctions or restrictions on travel to Cuba without a transition to democracy.

On Tuesday in Rwanda, Bush said Castro's departure should kick off a period of democratic change in Cuba. McCain said on Tuesday that Washington must keep sanctions on Cuba in place until it allows free elections and releases political prisoners.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama suggested they might lift the trade embargo if Castro's successor moves toward democracy.

Fidel Castro resigns as Cuban President

19 February 2007

"The international community should work with the Cuban people to begin to build institutions that are necessary for democracy," Bush told reporters during a visit to Rwanda.

Madrid-Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's President and commander in chief.

Castro's brother Raul is his designated successor.

In a statement published on the Web site of the Communist Party's Granma newspaper, he said: "To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament. I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept the position of president of council of state and commander-in-chief."

Castro has not been seen in public for 19 months since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006.

Born into a wealthy landowning family, he turned to Marxism because of the poverty he saw around him in Cuba.

He came to international prominence in 1959 when, along with Che Guevara, he led the uprising which overthrew the corrupt government of President Fulgencio Batista, who had turned Cuba into a decadent playground for America's rich.

Promising to give the land back to the people, he received the backing of the former Soviet Union, driving a wedge between Cuba and the US that has never been removed.

In April 1961 the US tried to topple the Castro government by recruiting a private army of Cuban exiles to invade the island.

At the Bay of Pigs, Cuban troops repulsed the invaders, killing many and capturing 1,000.

As money flowed from the Kremlin the Caribbean island became a cold war battleground.

But it was not just cash that headed west to Cuba from the former Soviet Union.

The CIA tried to assassinate him on many occasions - one plan involved filling his much-loved cigars with explosives.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1992 meant the financial plug was pulled on Castro.

He did however bring about real change in Cuba with free health care for all and one of the highest literacy rates in the world.

And his ability to needle the Americans has never diminished.

Castro Looking Alert in New Video

This image from a broadcast on Cuban television station Cubavision, shows Cuban leader Fidel Castro speaking at an unidentified location Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. Castro looked alert and healthier in a surprise video aired on state television Friday, the first images released of the ailing 81-year-old Cuban leader in more than three months. (AP Photo/Cubavision via AP Television News)

22 September 2007

By WILL WEISSERT

HAVANA (AP) — Looking alert in his first video aired in three months, Cuban leader Fidel Castro responded to rumors of his death with a simple answer: "Well, here I am."

During an hour-long interview taped and aired on Cuban television Friday, the ailing 81-year-old revolutionary also said he thought the U.S. would go to war with Iran and he lamented the high costs of military operations in Iraq.

In the video, Castro appeared pale and stayed seated the entire time. He spoke slowly and softly and didn't always look the interviewer in the eye. But he appeared to be thinking clearly.

Mocking rumors of his death that have circulated in Miami and elsewhere in the U.S., he said "they say 'I was dying' and 'if I die' and 'I will die the day after tomorrow' or something."

"Nobody knows the day they are going to die," said Castro, who was forced to cede power to his younger brother Raul in July 2006 following emergency intestinal surgery. He has not appeared in public since.

Early in the interview, Castro often trailed off mid-sentence, and needed some prompting by the interviewer. He had bags under his eyes, sunken cheeks and his thin gray beard looked as wispy as ever. But he appeared to get stronger and more comfortable as time passed.

The video's release came as a surprise. Cuban officials broke into regularly scheduled programming only minutes before the video was broadcast to announce that a "conversation" with Castro would be shown. They said the interview was taped Friday.

Backing up the assertion, Castro mentioned recent prices of oil and the value of the euro against the dollar. He also discussed an essay he signed that was published in state media on Wednesday.

"Yesterday the euro was at US$1.41. Oil I think about US$84 a barrel," Castro said.

He also held up a copy of the new book by former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World." At one point he quoted from it, reading excerpted passages in very large type instead of using the book itself.

The Cuban leader wore a red, blue and white jumpsuit with "F. Castro" in small block letters.

"They criticize me" for wearing the tracksuit, Castro joked. But he said he was "not looking for anything elegant."

Castro's condition and exact ailment are state secrets, though he wrote in one of his many essays that he had undergone multiple surgeries, at least one of which went poorly. He is recovering in an undisclosed location.

For months, official photographs and videos were released to show Castro's recovery, but no new images had surfaced since he appeared in an interview on Cuban television June 5.

Arnaldo Fuster, who watched the Castro interview with his wife and children in his old Havana home, said he thought the Cuban leader looked better in the latest video.

"He's whole. He's better, I think, than ever," Fuster said. "He's old, but he's whole. His memory is normal, he looks normal."

But in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood, people greeted the Castro video with a mixture of skepticism and disappointment. Some doubted the tape was made on Friday.

"Could be six months ago. Could be one year ago," said Cuban-born Victoria Martinez, 76, of Hollywood, Fla., who called the leader's talk "incoherent."

Although there are frequent rumors of Castro's demise, they had reached a fever pitch in Miami last month after the leader's 81st birthday came without any news.

Earlier Friday, Vice President Carlos Lage told reporters that the essays Castro has signed every few days since late March are evidence that his health is strong.

"Fidel continues to recuperate. It's a productive recuperation as we can see in the press," said Lage, apparently referring to the publication in state newspapers of Castro's "Reflections of the Commander in Chief."

In Venezuela, ally President Hugo Chavez started a speech with an announcement that Castro was speaking on Cuban state television. "A long life to Fidel and the Cuban revolution," he shouted.

Earlier while traveling in Brazil, Chavez said Castro was "close to death" but underwent several operations and has regained weight.

Castro had "three operations, and he's 81, imagine that. They changed almost all the blood with transfusions. Fidel is alive because he is Fidel," Chavez said.