Analysts see award to Fariñas as fourth setback in a week to the Castro regime

Analysts see award to Fariñas as fourth setback in a week to the Castro
regime

A prestigious human rights prize awarded to dissident Guillermo Fariñas
on Thursday was the fourth admonition to the Cuban government this week
that its reforms are not enough, Cuba watchers said Thursday.
(fot5) Fariñas, 48, a psychologist and independent journalist whose
135-day hunger strike earlier this year put him near death, was awarded
the Sakharov prize and more than $60,000 by the European Parliament.
The Raúl Castro government had no immediate comment on Fariñas' prize,
but Cuba watchers noted that it was the latest in a string of setbacks
that Havana suffered just this week:
• President Barack Obama declared that Cuba has not changed enough to
merit U.S. gestures.
• Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, often criticized as
too friendly to Havana, was replaced.
• The European Union was reported unlikely to end a policy that ties
assistance to Cuba's human rights record.
"These are four messages to Cuba that it's not doing enough, that it
needs a more defined policy of change," dissident Havana economist Oscar
Espinosa Chepe told El Nuevo Herald.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/21/1885570/dissidents-prize-another-cuba.html

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