Cuban president Raúl Castro Ruz led a subdued celebration on Jan. 1 for the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. The ceremony took place in the eastern city of Santiago, where Castro's brother, former president Fidel Castro, declared victory over dictator Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. Raúl Castro reminded his listeners of his brother's warning on Nov. 19, 2005 that the US could never destroy Cuba's political system but Cubans themselves could. Raúl Castro said that to avoid this, future leaders must not "become soft with the siren songs of the enemy" and must "remain conscious that, in its essence, [the enemy] will never cease to be aggressive, domineering and treacherous."

On Dec. 10 a Haitian court sentenced journalist Joseph Guyler Delva to one month in prison for alleged defamation and public insults against former senator Rudolph Boulos. Delva and his lawyer were not present at the trial, since it had been postponed several times. As of Dec. 18 Delva was free pending an appeal. On Dec. 15 he wrote that over the previous three weeks he had received a number of death threats, including two that mentioned Boulos' name.

In an interview this month with the left-leaning Mexican daily La Jornada, Cuban National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcón said that Cuba isn't counting on a major shift in US policy towards Cuba when Barack Obama becomes US president on Jan. 20. Alarcón, who lived in New York 1966-1978 as Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, noted that "many of my friends...people of what was the American New Left in other times" had wept at Obama's victory celebration in Chicago on Nov. 4. "I understood their hope," he told reporter Blanche Petrich, but "I know that we can't expect a big turning point with respect to Cuba."

Haiti marked the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' 60th anniversary with an official ceremony organized by the United Nations at the Foundation for Knowledge and Liberty (FOKAL), a nongovernmental organization formerly headed by Prime Minster Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis. The event included the screening of a film, "The Dream of Water," as the opening of a human rights film festival. The Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (PODH) also organized activities to celebrate the anniversary. (AlterPresse, Dec. 10)

Puerto Rico's conservative New Progressive Party (PNP) gained easily over the centrist Popular Democratic Party (PPD) in elections on Nov. 4, with PNP gubernatorial candidate Luis Fortuno winning 52.8% of the vote to 41.3% for the PPD candidate, current governor Anibal Acevedo Vila. Rogelio Figueroa of Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico (PPR), a new party with an environmental orientation, got 2.8% of the vote, while Edwin Irizarry of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) followed with 2%. The PNP won 60 of the 78 seats in the legislature, and the PPD won the remaining 18. The PNP won 48 mayorships to 30 for the PPD.

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Oct. 29 to condemn the US embargo on trade with Cuba that has been in effect since 1962. This is 17th time the group has supported a nonbinding resolution against the embargo. The vote was 185-3 with one abstention, a slight change from last year's 184-4 vote. The US, Israel and Palau voted against the resolution; the Marshall Islands, which voted with the US in 2007, joined Micronesia in abstaining. Albania, which was absent in 2007, backed this year's resolution. (Prensa Latina, Cuba, Oct. 29)

On Oct. 28 former Haitian right-wing paramilitary leader Emmanuel ("Toto") Constant was given a 12 to 37 year prison sentence for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme in New York state. Justice Abraham Gerges of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn said schemes like the one by Constant and his associates "played a role" in "the nationwide economic meltdown and the foreclosure crisis." In asking for leniency Constant said he worked for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Haiti from December 1991 to December 1994. (New York Times, Oct. 29; Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Oct. 28)

About a dozen people reportedly died of starvation in the Baie d'Orange communal section in Belle-Anse in Haiti's Southeast department towards the end of October. Local authorities say malnutrition is a major problem in the area, which was hit by a series of storms two months ago; people are also suffering from dysentery, fevers and skin diseases. Apparently food relief failed to reach Baie d'Orange until recently because of the area's isolation, which was worsened by the storms. (AlterPresse, Oct. 30)