Cuba said Wednesday it has launched a probe into how hundreds of thousands of customer mobile phone numbers fell into the hands of a U.S. government programme that used them to secretly set up a mobile-based, Twitter-like social network on the island.

An Associated Press investigation revealed last week that the US Agency for International Development programme (USAID) used the data to build a subscriber base for the platform, dubbed ZunZuneo, with the idea that it could be used to stir unrest.

Cuba considers such USAID programmes to be subversive attempts to topple its Communist-run government. Officials told reporters that state telecom company ETECSA had not provided the data to any international operator or entity, and the information was obtained illegally.

"ETECSA wanted to stress in the statement that its user database has not been released to any operator for privacy issues, nor to an agency or to anyone other than within the company itself," said Daniel Ramos, head of security operations for ETECSA.

He did not give details on the probe's progress or any measures that may be taken.

"We condemn the use of this database, which the company did not agree to. And of course, we do not know how this database could have fallen into the hands of the ZunZuneo platform and others already mentioned," he said.

Ramos said ETECSA detected bulk messages being sent through ZunZuneo starting in September 2009 during a mass concert by Colombian singer Juanes, and again in early 2010.

The company complained to 200 operators that had messaging agreements with ETECSA, and threatened to sever relationships if it continued.

Nonetheless ZunZuneo continued to operate until 2012 and built a base of tens of thousands of users before abruptly disappearing.

And until the recent AP investigation, ETECSA had no idea the messages were anything other than unwanted spam, ETECSA officials said.

Some lawmakers in Washington have expressed support for ZunZuneo since AP's original disclosure.

At a House Foreign Affairs hearing on Wednesday, congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican, said the network was a US-led democracy effort in Cuba which was "transparent" and "one of the most scrutinised programmes in our foreign aid portfolio."

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - Recent

1. Vehicles driving down street in Havana

2. Street scene in Havana, man looking at smart phone in the foreground

3. Various of people on their phones

AP TELEVISION

Washington, DC - Recent

4. Pan of documents relating to the ZunZuneo network, a text messaging-based social network in Cuba

POOL

Washington, DC - 9 April 2014

5. Wide shot of House Foreign Affairs Committee

6. Mid of USAID (US Agency for International Development) Administrator Rajiv Shah in front of the committee

7. Wide side shot of committee

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Republican Congresswoman, Florida:

"Contrary to what the media have reported, democracy programmes for Cuba are transparent. They are open. The Cuba Democracy programme with its 20-million-dollar price tag, in fact is one of the most scrutinised programmes in our foreign aid portfolio. The real question here is why does the press and some in our congressional family demonise these programmes?"

AP TELEVISION

Washington, DC - March 2014

9. Exterior shots of the USAID headquarters

10. Flag outside the USAID headquarters

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - 9 April 2014

11. Wide shot of news conference with managers of Cuba Communications Company

12. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Daniel Ramos, Head of Security, Cuban State Telecom ETECSA:

"ETECSA (Cuba's state-owned telecom company) wanted to stress in the statement that its user database has not been released to any operator for privacy issues, nor to an agency or to anyone other than within the company itself. We condemn the use of this database, which the company did not agree to. And of course, we do not know how this database could have fallen into the hands of the ZunZuneo platform and others already mentioned."

13. Wide of news conference

14. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Daniel Ramos, Head of Security, Cuban State Telecom ETECSA:

"the text messaging service is very cheap, insignificant. We even have agreements with operators where the text messaging service is not charged, so I do not see how that money could have been able to reach ETECSA."

15. Cutaway of cameras

16. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Daniel Ramos, Head of Security, Cuban State Telecom ETECSA:

"ETECSA continues to develop its services, but this depends on the level of investments that we make from the economic point of view. And of course, our goal is to prevent anyone from inventing a service for our users. The idea is that the company provides all the possible services to prevent these things from happening."

17. Wide of news conference ending

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus008191

The White House is denying that a program by USAID to set up a "twitter-like" service in Cuba is a covert program.

At the White House daily briefing, Jay Carney said the program run by USAID was a development program designed to help foster democracy in Cuba.

He indicated that the budget for the program had been examined by the General Accounting Office and found to be within guidelines for "development" projects.

Carney says the President does support efforts to expand communications in Cuba.

AP TELEVISION

Washington 3 April 3, 2014

1. SOUNDBITE: Jay Carney, White House Press Spokesman:

"We've seen the story by the AP this morning. The program referred to by the Associated Press was a development program, run by the United States Agency for International Development. And that program was completed in 2012. As you know, USAID is a development agency, not an intelligence agency. Suggestions that this was a covert program are wrong. Congress funds democracy programming for Cuba to help empower Cubans to access more information and to strengthen civil society. This appropriations are public, unlike covert action. The money invested has been debated in Congress. In addition, GAO reviewed this program in detail in 2013 and found that it was conducted in accordance with US law and under appropriate oversight controls. In implementing programs in non-permissive environments, of course the government has taken steps to be discrete. That's how you protect the practitioners and the public. This is not unique to Cuba. More details about the program are available at USAID, and I think that veterans of this briefing room know that when I say a program like this is not covert, and then I talk about it, that's how you know it's not covert."

The White House is denying that a program by USAID to set up a "twitter-like" service in Cuba is a covert program.

At the White House daily briefing, Jay Carney said the program run by USAID was a development program designed to help foster democracy in Cuba.

He indicated that the budget for the program had been examined by the General Accounting Office and found to be within guidelines for "development" projects.

Carney also aid the President does support efforts to expand communications in Cuba.

AP TELEVISION

Washington 3 April 3, 2014

1. SOUNDBITE: Jay Carney, White House Press Spokesman:

"We've seen the story by the AP this morning. The program referred to by the Associated Press was a development program, run by the United States Agency for International Development. And that program was completed in 2012. As you know, USAID is a development agency, not an intelligence agency. Suggestions that this was a covert program are wrong. Congress funds democracy programming for Cuba to help empower Cubans to access more information and to strengthen civil society. This appropriations are public, unlike covert action. The money invested has been debated in Congress. In addition, GAO reviewed this program in detail in 2013 and found that it was conducted in accordance with US law and under appropriate oversight controls. In implementing programs in non-permissive environments, of course the government has taken steps to be discrete. That's how you protect the practitioners and the public. This is not unique to Cuba. More details about the program are available at USAID, and I think that veterans of this briefing room know that when I say a program like this is not covert, and then I talk about it, that's how you know it's not covert."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked the U.S. Agency for International Development on Thursday to turn over all its records about the Obama administration's Twitter-like social media program it secretly built in Cuba.

The request included all copies of any messages that the U.S. government or its contractors transmitted to subscribers in Cuba, who never were told about Washington's role in the primitive, text message-based network that was meant to undermine Cuba's communist government.

Congressional hearings this week scrutinized the Obama administration's social media program, known as ZunZuneo when it publicly launched in 2010, and whether USAID should be running such an intelligence-like operation instead of spy outfits like the CIA.

"USAID programs are as of notified designed to promote open accessed information, facilitate communication," said Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator. "Any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by USAID but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy."

Menendez, who made the request without a committee vote, said the review will consider whether USAID's pro-democracy programs in Cuba were consistent with those run in other foreign countries, and whether USAID should operate what it has since acknowledged was a "discreet" program.

Menendez said earlier Thursday that USAID's Cuban program was not "in any way a cockamamie idea." His comments took direct aim at Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who earlier this week criticized the USAID program in similar terms _ marking a rare departure from the Senate's staid tradition of decorum among lawmakers.

"It is dumb, dumb and even dumber to go ahead and suggest that there can be freedom, and we should seek Internet freedom globally, but somehow the people of Cuba don't deserve the same freedom," Menendez said. Leahy last week called the secret program "dumb, dumb, dumb."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

1. Wide of hearing hall from far end

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Chairman Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey:

"I think it is dumb, dumb, and even dumber to go ahead and suggest that there can be freedom and we should seek freedom of international access and freedom of expression globally but that somehow the people of Cuba don't deserve the same freedom."

3. Wide of people talking in the hall

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

"The other argument I've heard is that this is a covert program but in fact this program was reviewed by the general accounting office right."

VOICE UP Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; "Correct"

"And they made no suggestions for changes. They had no criticisms of how the money was being administered.

SOUNBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator:

"They actually complimented USAID on improvement management oversight of the program.

SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida:

"There was no intelligence program, there was no spying on the Cuban government used in this program"

VOICE UP Rajiv Shah, USAID administrator; "no"

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

5. Close of Shah listening

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

6. SOUNBITE (English) Rajiv Shah, USAID president:

"USAID programs are as of notified designed to promote open accessed information, facilitate communication. Any programs that have further purposes are not implemented by USAID but rather by other parts of the state department or the national endowment for democracy."

AP TELEVISION

Washington - 10 April, 2014

7. Close of Senator Jeff Flake

POOL

Washington - 10 April, 2014

8. SOUNBITE (English) Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona:

"specifically with this one I do have issues. Not with the fact that we have programs like this going but the fact that they're conducted by USAID."

9. Wide of of people leaving hearing

HEADLINE: Death threats for latin singing star

CAPTION: The business manager of Latin pop singer Juanes said the "Peace Without Borders" concert will go on as planned in Havana despite threatening messages the singer received recently on his Twitter account. (Aug. 21)

[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]

Latin singing star Juanes (Wahn-Ess) says he fears for his safety as well as his family. [Notes:broll og jauness]

That's according to a police report he filed in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lives. [Notes:video of police report from winton]

And it's all over a concert he has planned for next month.

It's in Cuba -- and that has led to threatening messages on Juanes' Twitter account.

He says one message read "I hate what you are saying but you will die for defending your right to say it."

Some Cuban-Americans in Miami have criticized the event, saying that it endorses the Communist-led government of Fidel and Raul Castro.

[Notes:SOT Manny Diaz - in spanish - nat pop up in spanish]

This record shop manager says he's opposed to the Havana concert but thinks some Cuban extremists are overreacting.

Police in Key Biscayne, Florida are providing the pop-star with extra security here at the singer's home....

[Notes:Charles Press, chief, Key Biscayne Police Dept]

[Notes:"I reached out to Juanes' manager. Spoke with him briefly about the situation, and from that moment on realized we had something going on here.]

Juanes -- a 17-time Latin Grammy winner, who is from Colombia, is known for his social activism.

Event promoters insist the Havana concert will have no ideological overtones.

Juanes admits he considered canceling the show -- but his spokesman says the show will go on.

Costa Rica's government has asked Washington to explain why it devised a secret 'Cuban Twitter' social media network from inside the Central American nation's borders.

Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla confirmed on Thursday that she approved a diplomatic note her government sent to the US Embassy in San Jose asking about the social media network.

"The appropriate (diplomatic) note was sent to make our position known and from our point of view there is nothing more to add," Chinchilla told reporters at a government event in San Jose.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) created ZunZuneo to stir political unrest in Cuba, but its users were unaware it was backed by the US government.

In early April, the Associated Press reported that ZunZuneo's development team initially operated out of Central America.

A USAID manager supervised the work of US contractor Creative Associates International from an office in the capital San Jose.

The US government has denied that the program was secret or that it had a political agenda.

Documents obtained by the AP show that contractors working on ZunZuneo went to extensive lengths to hide its ties to the US, using foreign companies and computer servers paid for via a bank account in the Cayman Islands.

They did so after acquiring more than 400,000 mobile phone numbers from Cuba's state-run telecommunications provider.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica President speaking at an event of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration

2. Mid of Chinchilla speaking

3. Wide of event

4. Chinchilla speaking

5. Chinchilla leaving event and stopping to greet someone

6. Chinchilla talking to media, with Costa Rica Communications Minister Carlos Roverssi to her right (with yellow tie)

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Laura Chinchilla, Costa Rica President:

"The appropriate (diplomatic) note was sent (to the US Embassy in Costa Rica) to make our position known and from our point of view there is nothing more to add."

8. Roverssi listening to Chinchilla as she talks to media

9. Close of Roverssi

10. Roverssi listening to Chinchilla as she talks to media

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Carlos Roverssi, Costa Rica Minister of Communication:

"Look, when we learned through the AP (about social media network ZunZuneo), which was the (news agency) that brought this information to light, we officially requested that the government of the United States clarify the facts, as they have been reported. The government of the republic (Costa Rica) was unaware of the issue (meaning ZunZuneo's existence), the issue came about in 2008 and we are waiting for the response from the government of the United States."

12. Roverssi leaving event

Cuban dissidents, along with their relatives and supporters, said on Friday that the island's government had this week freed at least 38 people on a US list of imprisoned opposition members.

US officials said after weeks of virtual silence that those released were on the list of 53.

Ben Rhodes, the deputy US national security adviser who negotiated the releases as part of a broader detente with Cuba, said on Twitter: "The United States welcomes the substantial and ongoing releases of prisoners in Cuba - so good to see people reunited with their families."

One of the dissidents released was Miguel Alberto Ulloa, who spoke to The Associated Press on Friday.

"For many years President (Raul) Castro has kept it (Cuba) practically out of touch from the rest of the world," he said.

"One of the things (US President Barack) Obama said is that something could occur (referring to improved diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US) but only as long as there is democracy and freedom of expression, something that still doesn't exist in Cuba," he added.

A Miami-based Cuba-American group has said three other dissidents on the list were freed last month, for a total of 41 to be let go.

Wilberto Parada, another of the dissidents released this week, said: "I do what I do for my own moral beliefs, I am not an agent of the United States. I am a free man, I have my own thoughts, I am in Cuba and I am a Cuban."

AP TELEVISION

Havana, Cuba - 9 January, 2015

1. Hand-painted message on water tank at the home of released Cuban dissident Miguel Alberto Ulloa reading (Spanish) "Change"

2. Hand-painted message on water tank reading (English) "USA-Cuba"

3. Ulloa and his relatives (Ulloa is wearing a red T-shirt and carrying his son) walking next to water tank

4. Close of Ulloa's release papers; Ulloa is pointing to text reading (Spanish) "Cause of release: Probation"

5. Ulloa sitting on the sofa with his wife Tailadys Perez their son

6. Ulloa's relatives watching as he talks to reporters

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Miguel Alberto Ulloa, released political prisoner:

"For many years President (Raul) Castro has kept it (Cuba) practically out of touch from the rest of the world. One of the things (US President Barack) Obama said is that something could occur (referring to improved diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US) but only as long as there is democracy and freedom of expression, something that still doesn't exist in Cuba."

8. Ulloa's relatives listening to interview

9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Maribel Ginal, mother of released political prisoner Miguel Alberto Ulloa:

"I think they (government authorities) should respect the agreements (between Cuba and the US), and that it could benefit those who think like this (referring to dissidents), and for more freedom of expression."

10. People and traffic on Havana street

11. Various of released political prisoner Wilberto Parada hugging wife and son inside their home

12. Handwritten message on wall inside living room reading (Spanish) "Jehovah is my shepherd. I shall lack nothing."

13. Parada seen reflected in mirror, handwritten message on wall reading (Spanish) "Jehovah is with me like a mighty giant"

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Wilberto Parada, released political prisoner:

"I do what I do for my own moral beliefs, I am not an agent of the United States. I am a free man, I have my own thoughts, I am in Cuba and I am a Cuban."

15. Cutaway of Parada and family

16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yudisnel Rodriguez, Wilberto Parada's wife:

"This was terrible, what we have gone through. All the suffering and injustice hurts a lot. The injustice hurts quite a lot."

17. Parada standing with wife and son on street

18. Parada greeting neighbours

19. Cuban flag draped from balcony

20. Wide of Cuban street

Two US senators expressed optimism on Tuesday that Cuba will free imprisoned American government contractor Alan Gross.

Senators Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, and Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, said they met with Gross for about two hours during a trip that included meetings with Cuban officials.

Gross was detained in December 2009 while working to set up unauthorised Internet networks for the island's Jewish community while he was on a contract with the US Agency for International Development, a government entity.

Havana considers such programmes to be an affront to its sovereignty and sentenced him to 15 years for crimes against the state.

Flake also cited as cause for optimism a report by The Associated Press on Monday that USAID is preparing internal rules that would effectively end risky undercover work in hostile countries.

The new policy follows an investigation by The AP this year into work by the development agency, which set up a Twitter-like social network in Cuba and secretly sought to recruit a new generation of dissidents on the island while hiding ties to the US government.

USAID has denied the Cuba programmes constituted covert action.

Cuba has said repeatedly it wants to negotiate with the US over the fate of Gross as well as three Cuban agents who are imprisoned in the US on charges including espionage.

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 11 November 2014

1. US Senators Republican Jeff Flake (left, striped tie) and Democrat Tom Udall (right, pink tie) walking into news briefing

2. Cameraman filming

3. Flake and Udall taking seats for news conference

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Jeff Flake, Republican from Arizona:

"I do feel we're closer there. One because of what Alan Gross has said himself, this is going to end one way or another. We've gone on five years, I think any benefit that the Cuban government may have seen, has to have evaporated by now in that regard. But there's also some other things that have been changing over the past little while, the programme that brought Alan Gross here, and similar programs that have been run by USAID, there's been a realisation there, and a statement that there won't be covert programmes run out of AID any more, and that's a good thing."

5. Cameraman filming

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Senator Tom Udall, Democrat from New Mexico:

"The important thing for you to know about our visit with him is that he really wants to go home."

7. Various of Flake and Udall after briefing

One of the convicted spies known as the "Cuban Five" will be released from a US prison on next Thursday.

U.S. officials say Fernando Gonzalez will be immediately handed to immigration authorities upon his release for the start of deportation proceedings

Rene Gonzalez, no relation, was the first of the Cuban Five to go free in 2011. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, he said he hopes his comrade will soon join him in Cuba in his new role as the public face of Cuba's campaign to demand the release of the other three agents.

"I don't know how he (Fernando Gonzalez) will feel when he comes. Probably he'll need some rest, but I hope to see him at my side in this battle," Rene Gonzalez said.

"I think he will be a good reinforcement," Rene Gonzalez added.

The "Cuban Five" is the nickname for the intelligence agents in the employ of Fidel Castro who were arrested in the United States in 1998 and given terms ranging from 15 years to consecutive life sentences on charges including conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents.

A federal appeals court upheld their convictions but voided three of their sentences, including Fernando Gonzalez's, after finding they had gathered no "top secret" information.

When he was released in 2011, Rene Gonzalez was ordered to remain in the United States for more than a year.

In 2013, Rene Gonzalez finally returned to his country of allegiance, if not birth, after a US judge allowed him to renounce his US citizenship and cut short three years' supervised release.

Gonzalez is no longer just an anonymous husband and father of two.

Today his and the other agents' faces grace billboards across Cuba, where they are lionised as heroes for their clandestine monitoring of militant anti-Castro exiles.

In addition to the Cuban agents still behind bars, a major sticking point in U.S-Cuba relations is Cuba's imprisonment of a U.S. government subcontractor.

Alan Gross is serving a 15-year sentence for crimes against the state after he was caught bringing sensitive communications equipment into the country.

Rene Gonzalez said that US President Barack Obama needs to know that resolving these two issues is key to mending relations between the two countries.

"The message for him (Obama) is for him to change his relationship with Cuba. Everyone knows that within that relationship change are the two cases: the case of (Alan) Gross and the (Cuban) Five. It's no secret," Rene Gonzalez said.

Rene Gonzalez was born in 1956 in Chicago to Cuban immigrants who were sympathetic to Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution and returned to the island in the 1960s.

In the decades that followed, Soviet aid allowed Cuba to redistribute wealth across society and subsidised things like food, services, education and health care.

Today, the statist and orthodox Marxist Cuba that Rene Gonzalez left has undergone significant change, even if the Communist Party is the only one allowed and there's still little tolerance for open dissent.

87-year-old Fidel Castro is retired and largely out of the public eye.

Younger brother Raul Castro has embarked on a plan to remake the country's model by permitting some private economic activity, though key sectors remain firmly in the hands of the state.

"We have had to make concessions to the market that I don't like, above all in conditions that create certain inequalities among people that make the most vulnerable live in a precarious state we didn't know before," Rene Gonzalez said.

Rene Gonzalez said he has some good memories of his time in the United States, though he takes a dim view what he considers a political system where money is all that matters and of those in Florida's Cuban exile community who call him a traitor and a spy.

"I like the people, the people in Miami, with the exception of that segment that has poisoned the politics of the city," Gonzalez said.

"The regular people are kind. In Miami I enjoyed the Latin American cultural diversity, and I miss that too," he added.

AP TELEVISION

1. Mid of a billboard showing pictures of the so-called 'Cuban Five' reading (Spanish) "End Injustice!" and passer-by wearing T-shirt with picture of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara

2. Wide of 23rd Street in Havana with 'Cuban Five' billboard in the background reading (Spanish) "End Injustice - Freedom Now"

3. Close of billboard with the image of Fernando Gonzalez, convicted Cuba spy serving time in a US prison

4. Mid of Rene Gonzalez, one of the so-called 'Cuban Five', in his office using computer

5. Reverse of same

6. Various of Gonzalez's Twitter page

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Cuba Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"I don't know how he (referring to Fernando Gonzalez) will feel when he comes. Probably he'll need some rest, but I hope to see him at my side in this battle. I think he will be a good reinforcement. He is a brilliant person and very committed to the Revolution and the process we are constructing."

8. Zoom in to Fernando Gonzalez face on a street billboard

9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"The message for him (US President Barack Obama) is for him to change his relationship with Cuba. No matter how. Everyone knows that within that relationship change are the two cases: the case of (Alan) Gross and the (Cuban) Five. It's no secret."

10. Mid people outside farmers' market with 'Cuban Five' sign

11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"We have had to make concessions to the market (referring to Cuban economic reforms) that I don't like, above all in conditions that create certain inequalities among people that make the most vulnerable live in a precarious state that we didn't know before."

12. Wide of woman walking in front of 'Cuban Five' sign

13. Close up of sign reading (Spanish) "They will return!" showing picture of the 'Cuban Five'

14. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"I am pleased that we have made a diagnosis of the Cuban reality and are trying to adapt it to new circumstances without losing our compass and what we want."

15. Zoom out 'Cuban Five' billboard with people and cars passing

16. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Rene Gonzalez, Convicted Spy and 'Cuban Five' member:

"I like the people, the people in Miami, with the exception of that segment that has poisoned the politics of the city. The regular people are kind. In Miami it wasn't any different. In Miami I enjoyed the Latin American cultural diversity, I liked that, and I miss that too."

17. Wide of traffic passing in front of 'Cuban Five' billboard

In the two-and-a-half months since Cuba allowed its citizens internet access via cellphones, the fast-charging changes are subtle but palpable as Cubans drag what was once of the world's least-connected countries into the digital age.

In the first 40 days since Dec. 6, when people could start buying internet access packages for 3G service, 1.8 million Cubans - out of a population of 11 million - purchased the services, and a government report last week said that about 6.4 million residents are users of internet and social networks.

A group of young people launched Sube, a ride-sharing app for clients to hail aging American sedans on the streets of Havana.

"Sometimes we would be in the street waiting and we would think, where are all the taxis? Now you can call them using the application", said Claudia Cuevas, 26, a university professor and fellow member of the Sube team.

Previously, nearly all Cubans could use their mobile phones only to get their state-run email accounts unless they connected to the internet at a limited number of government-sponsored Wi-Fi spots.

Government officials and foreign businesspeople could use their mobiles to access the 3G network in recent years, though not always reliably.

The history of the internet in Cuba has been rife with tensions and suspicions since it began in the 1990s.

Cuba accused Washington of blocking its access to the fiber optical cables near the island, forcing it to use an expensive and slow satellite service.

It was only in 2011 that it got access to a submarine cable with the help of Venezuela.

And it wasn't until 2015 that the general population gained access through the opening of Wi-Fi points in hundreds of parks.

Critics of Cuba's communist government said it resisted giving its citizens free access to the internet because it feared a free inflow of information, while its supporters noted that it was fighting efforts by Washington to undermine its government and revolution.

Julio Aguirre Lusson, 25, a DJ who has a YouTube channel called TecnoLike, says he has noticed the impact.

Aguirre said, however, that there are still many limitations from both outside and inside Cuba.

For example, there are obstacles facing local developers who want to enter their products in places like Google Play Store.

And in Cuba, developers face a paralysis in the delivery of operating licences so they can work within a legal framework.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel opened a Twitter account prior to December and recently ordered all his ministers and senior leaders to do the same.

Diaz-Canel, who is an engineer by profession, has repeated the importance of the internet in general and said authorities are working on websites and platforms to provide government services, such as requesting a birth certificate, knowing the status of a file or computerising government forms that are still filled out by hand.

Havana - 18 February 2019

1. Close of smartphone ride-sharing app 'Sube', which works similarly to Uber, being used

2. Claudia Cuevas, part of team that created Sube, using cellphone to order a taxi

3. Close of Cuevas on her phone

4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Claudia Cuevas, Sube app designer:

"Sometimes we would be in the street waiting and we would think, where are all the taxis? Now you can call them using the application, not calling them directly but you can publicise your trip and any taxi available can respond to your request."

5. Various of Cuevas getting into taxi, taxi journey

Havana - 20 February 2019

6. Various of Julio Aguirre Lusson, a DJ and YouTuber, editing a video

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Julio Aguirre Lusson, DJ and YouTuber :

"The challenges are trying to achieve the best communication (reach) possible, with businesses outside (of Cuba) as well local, in order to create a purely Cuban project, that is a project created here for the world and for Cuba."

Havana - 19 February 2019

8. Various of Cubans using their cellphones

9. Screenshot showing Twitter account of Miguel Diaz Canel, President of Cuba, with the slogan (Spanish): "60 years of fighting, resistance and creativity"

10. People walking in busy street

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini met with Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Sunday during her trip to Cuba for the Cuba-European Union Joint Council in Havana.

Rodríguez said via Twitter said that the work of the joint committee has shown that "there are more elements that unite us than those that separate us," adding "we will continue to work with respect, trust, transparency and cooperation."

Cuba is in a delicate economic situation with little growth and its main partner in Latin America, Venezuela, is facing political and financial tensions.

Mogherini's visit to Cuba comes at a time when US President Donald Trump's administration has toughened sanctions against the island nation.  

The first Cuba-EU Joint Council took place in Belgium on 15 May 2018.

Havana – 8 September 2019

1. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez shaking hands, posing for photo, leaving

2. Various Mogherini and Rodríguez during meeting

3. European flag flying

4. Exterior of Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs building

5. Cuban flag flying

AP TELEVISION

++16:9++

1. Wide of Cuban President Raul Castro arriving at Mass

2. Various of religious students singing, waving flags

3. Various of Pope Benedict XVI arriving at Mass

POOL

++4:3++

4. Wide Revolution Square

5. Pan crowd at Mass

6. Mid members of clergy

7. Pan of church official taking Bible to Pope

8. Close Pope Benedict XVI holding up Bible

9. Mid Raul Castro observing Mass

10. UPSOUND: (Spanish) Pope Benedict XVI (cuts to various shots):

"On the other hand there are those who wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves up in 'their truth' and try to impose it on others."

11. Wide Revolution Square

12. Various Pope performing Mass

AP TELEVISION

++16:9++

13. Wide crowd on Revolutionary Square, with Che Guevara monument in background

14. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Vox pop, Name not given:

"I hope there are some changes because when John Paul II came there were favourable changes for religion and for the people. I hope Benedict also brings good changes."

15. Zoom out Hector Maseda standing in doorway of his home

16. Medium picture of Ladies in White founder and Maseda's deceased wife, Laura Pollan on wall

17. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hector Maseda, Dissident:

"We think there is not going to be because of the different official declarations from the Vatican via various sources and from the ecclesiastical authorities here in Cuba, confirm the same. It's a shame because the Holy Father will not leave with a true vision of what is happening here in Cuba."

18. Medium Maseda reading about Papal visit in newspaper

STORYLINE

Pope Benedict XVI demanded greater freedom for the Catholic Church in Cuba during Mass before hundreds of thousands of people Wednesday in the shrine of the island's communist revolution, denouncing "fanaticism" that tries to impose its truth on others.

Benedict's unusually politicized homily was a not-so-subtle jab at Cuba's government before a vast crowd in Revolution Plaza, but he also used plain language to urge an end to Cuba's isolation, a reference to the 50-year U.S. economic embargo and the inability of 11 American presidents and brothers Fidel and Raul Castro to forge peace.

With the country's leadership listening from front-row seats, Benedict issued his strongest denunciation of religious intolerance yet in Cuba, referring to the Biblical account of how people persecuted by the Babylonian king "preferred to face death by fire rather than betray their conscience and their faith."

He said people find freedom when they seek the truth that Christianity offers.

"On the other hand there are those who wrongly interpret this search for the truth, leading them to irrationality and fanaticism; they close themselves up in 'their truth' and try to impose it on others," he said from the altar in the shadow of Cuba's revolution hero Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Benedict didn't cite the government by name, but later he urged Cuban authorities to let the church more freely preach its message and educate its young in the faith in schools and universities.

"It must be said with joy that in Cuba steps have been taken to enable the church to carry out her essential mission of expressing her faith openly and publicly," he said. "Nonetheless this must continue forward" for the good of Cuban society.

The remarks came before Benedict's eagerly anticipated meeting with Fidel Castro, confirmed last night by the revolutionary leader himself.

Cubans waving flags and banners large and small filled Revolution Plaza for the morning Mass, shielding themselves from the blistering sun with umbrellas as Benedict passed by in his white popemobile. President Raul Castro and leading Cabinet officials wore white, formal guayabera shirts, and Raul later climbed the steps to the altar and shook Benedict's hand.

"Viva Cuba! Viva el Papa!" the announcers shouted.

The Mass filled Havana's Revolutionary Square with Cubans, some holding signs or wearing T-shirts or other items with religious messages.

"I hope there are some changes because when John Paul II came there were favorable changes for religion and for the people. I hope Benedict also brings good changes," said Clara Garcia.

But others suggested they were here because they were told to attend by their employers in a country where mass shows of support for Fidel have long been a mainstay of his half-century revolution. The plaza holds 600,000 people and appeared nearly full, though many drifted off after registering their presence with teachers and employers.

Ahead of the Mass, dissident blogs and Twitter accounts carried allegations that members of the Ladies in White opposition group had been prevented from attending, and that some opposition leaders were detained, reports that were reiterated by Amnesty International.

Dissident Hector Maseda said he has not been able to speak to any of the Ladies in White for the last three days. He showed visitors his home and cell phones, which were both out of service.

Maseda lamented there would no meeting between the Pope and dissidents saying the Vatican will not have a clear picture of Cuba's Human Rights situation.

"We think there is not going to be because of the different official declarations from the Vatican via various sources and from the ecclesiastical authorities here in Cuba, confirm the same. It's a shame because the Holy Father will not leave with a true vision of what is happening here in Cuba."

The Ladies were allowed to march peacefully the day before the Pope arrived, but dozens were arrested in a similar march the week before.

During a nearly hour-long meeting Tuesday with Raul Castro - twice the normal length of papal audiences with heads of state - Benedict asked that the government declare a holiday for Good Friday, when Catholics commemorate the death of Christ.

The request, like so much of this trip, was a follow-up of sorts to Cuba's decision to declare Christmas a national holiday in honour of John Paul's 1998 visit. Cubans hadn't had Christmas off for nearly 30 years.

The government didn't give an immediate response.

Cuba announced on Thursday it's expanding Internet access by adding Wi-Fi capacity to dozens of state-run Internet centres and more than halving the cost that users pay for an hour online.

The announcement is the first significant expansion of the internet on the island since the United States and Cuba agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations in December.

Thirty-five government computer centres around the country will have Wi-Fi starting next month, and the price of one hour online would drop to 2 US dollars from 4.50 US dollars now, the Communist government said.

That price remains unaffordable for most Cubans but the change would represent a significant improvement in access for many people.

Home Internet remains illegal for most of the Cuban population and online access at offices with Internet is highly limited and controlled.

AP TELEVISION

Havana - 18 June 2015

1. Cubans surfing the internet at Wi-Fi (wireless internet) hotspot, Cuban flag painted on wall

2. Close of people using mobile phones

3. Various of Cubans gathered at Wi-Fi hotspot

4. Close of laptop

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Eliecer Mesa, Cuban student:

"The internet is a network, a worldwide computing system, and it's good that we have access to everything the internet represents, so we can communicate with the whole world."

6. Young women surfing the internet

7. Close of tablet

8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yoan Llannes, Havana resident:

"The first thing they need to improve now is the (internet) service. The download speed is a little slow sometimes and you spend the 4.50 (US dollars, referring to the price of one hour online) very quickly when you connect to pages like Facebook or Twitter. The prices should keep going down."

9. Close of mobile phone

10. People walking on street near Wi-Fi hotspot

11. Cars passing by street, people waiting to cross

(Location - Havana)

Desde que el gobierno de Cuba permitió en diciembre pasado a sus ciudadanos el acceso a Internet a través de teléfonos móviles, los cambios son sutiles pero palpables en uno de los países menos conectados del mundo.

Un grupo de jóvenes lanzó "Sube", una aplicación para conectar a clientes con taxistas, en un país donde el transporte es bastante deficitario.

SOUNDBITE (Español) Claudia Cuevas, Miembro del equipo de Sube:

"A veces uno estaba esperando en una calle y decía ¿ pero dónde están los taxis?, se están desviando, ya los puedes llamar desde la aplicación".

La historia de Internet en Cuba ha estado llena de tensiones y sospechas desde que comenzó en la década de 1990.

La isla culpó al bloqueo aplicado por EEUU por no tener acceso a una fibra óptica.

Recién en 2011 Cuba tuvo acceso a un cable submarino con la ayuda de Venezuela.

Cuatro años después en 2015, la población en general obtuvo acceso a Internet en puntos Wi-Fi en cientos de parques y el año pasado se autorizó la instalación en las casas y después se abrió a la telefonía móvil.

Según Julio Aguirre Lusson, un DJ de 25 años que tiene un canal en YouTube el acceso a Internet en la isla todavía tiene limitaciones desde fuera como desde dentro de Cuba.

SOUNDBITE (Español) Julio Aguirre Lusson, DJ y YouTuber:

"Los desafíos son esos tratar de lograr la mejor comunicación posible, con empresas tanto de afuera como de adentro, para crear proyecto cubano, netamente cubano".

El presidente cubano Miguel Díaz-Canel abrió una cuenta de Twitter antes de diciembre y ha repetido la importancia de Internet en general para todo el país.

Anne Marie Garcia, Associated Press

=============== SOURCE ================

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of exterior of exhibition centre Pabellon Cuba where Cuban bloggers gathered for meeting

2. Sign on wall, reading: "Cuba", man walking by

3. Pan of bloggers at computers inside venue

4. Close of hand typing on keyboard, tilt up to monitor screen showing "Twitter" social networking website homepage

5. Wide of bloggers around table in front of computers

6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alejandro Cruz, Cuban blogger:

"It's very difficult to separate Cuba from politics, anything you do, any joke by a friend can be interpreted as political. It's really part of life, the life we have been chosen to lead, but it doesn't scare me at all."

7. Mid of Cruz at computer with blogging website on screen, zoom in to screen

8. Mid of another blogger at computer

9. Top shot of another blogger at computer with photographer next to him

STORYLINE:

Cuban bloggers and Twitter users gathered in Havana on Friday marking World Social Forum Day, a nod to the growing clout of social media in societies around the world.

About two dozen Cuban bloggers met at an exhibition centre in the capital to exchange views, make connections and tap into the web, courtesy of the Cuban Government.

It's a courtesy few other Cubans share, only slightly less than three percent of the island's 12 (m) million residents have access to the internet, and most of those only get their access through heavily controlled and monitored work place computer stations.

That's according to the Cuban government's own statistics.

A much heralded broadband cable connection inaugurated February 9 of this year caused some excitement amongst Cubans anxious to get access to the web, but so far the government has declined to make it broadly available.

Some persistent social media adherents, like blogger Alejandro Cruz, use social media to talk to others on the island, and around the world, about Cuba's popular culture and music scene.

There are other more controversial ones, like Yoanni Sanchez, who writes a highly political blog about life on the island.

Cruz says that's not what he is after but acknowledges the political minefield he sometimes has to navigate when posting on the Internet.

"It's very difficult to separate Cuba from politics, anything you do, any joke by a friend can be interpreted as political. It's really part of life, the life we have been chosen to lead....but it doesn't scare me at all," he says.

According to Akamai Technologies Inc., Cuba has the second lowest Internet penetration of any country in the world, just behind the tiny 374 square-kilometre island nation of Mayotte off the coast of Africa, with less than 200,000 people.

SHOTLIST

AP TELEVISION

1. Yoani Sanchez, dissident Cuban blogger and her husband Reinaldo Escobar, seated inside Jose Marti International Airport

2. Wide of Sanchez sitting in airport with her husband

3. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, dissident blogger:

"I hope this trip is not my last trip. It is the most anxious one and the one I've been waiting for the longest, but I hope it's not my last."

4. Close up of Sanchez showing her passport to cameras

5. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, dissident blogger:

"What is clear about this new stage is that I plan to remain in Cuba and will work from here. I will work as a journalist and with every passing day I will get up in the morning behaving as a freer person and the government of my country will have to accept that."

6. Close up Sanchez showing passport

7. Pan of Sanchez greeting someone and then walking over to check-in desks

8. Sanchez checking in

9. Pan of Sanchez walking towards immigration desks

10. Tilt up of Sanchez going through immigration

11. Close up immigration sign

12. Sanchez waves and passes through immigration

13. Wide exterior Jose Marti International Airport

STORYLINE

Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez left Havana on Sunday, setting out on a 3-month dozen-nation world tour after a new law eased travel restrictions on islanders last month.

Cuban authorities issued Sanchez a new passport in accordance with a recently passed law which simplifies entry and exit procedures by removing bureaucratic obstacles for those who wish to travel off the island.

Sanchez has gained international fame - and raised the ire of island authorities - with her descriptions of daily life in Cuba on her blog Generation Y, and she also writes for Spanish newspaper El Pais.

At Jose Marti International Airport, Sanchez said that she was anxious about the trip and she hoped it wouldn't be her last.

Sanchez says Cuba has denied her permission to travel about 20 times in recent years.

But the exit permit requirement ended with the government's travel reform in January, and Cubans now only need a passport to leave the country.

"I will work as a journalist and with every passing day I will get up in the morning behaving as a freer person and the government of my country will have to accept that," she said before checking in for her flight to Brazil, the first stop on her trip.

The tour includes several stops in the United States, with appearances at universities in New York and other academic programs, visits to Google and Twitter offices and time with family in Florida.

She'll also travel to the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, with potential trips to Argentina and Chile in the works.

The Cuban government considers the island's small community of dissidents to be dangerous counter-revolutionaries bent on undermining its sovereignty.

Time magazine listed Sanchez as one of the world's most influential people back in 2008 for her internet blog Generation Y.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide shot of US endurance swimmer Diana Nyad arriving at seashore

2. Mid of media

3. Mid of Nyad raising arms into air, public cheering

4. Wide of Nyad''s team boats

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Diana Nyad, US endurance swimmer:

"I feel in better shape at 62 than I was at 28 which was the first time I tried this, 28 years old. I''m not as fast as I was then and I''m a little fatter, but that''s ok."

6. Cutaway of boats

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Diana Nyad, US endurance swimmer:

"I''m prepared and even saying that though, how many times do you get to do something this big an adventure? How many times do you get to feel this alive and awake and alive and all those people feel it too, and my best friend."

8. Wide of boat and military personnel

9. Mid of Nyad jumping into water shouting (English) "Courage!"

10. Mid of Nyad swimming

11. Mid of Nyad swimming, followed by boat and kayak

12. Zoom out of Nyad swimming toward horizon surrounded by boat, kayaks and jet ski

STORYLINE

US endurance swimmer Diana Nyad began her second attempt in as many months to traverse the 103 miles (165 kilometres) of sea between Cuba and Florida, waving goodbye to well-wishers on Friday before jumping feet first into the still water at a Havana marina, then stroking toward the horizon.

The 62-year-old woman from Los Angeles hoped to break her own world record for open-water swimming without a shark cage that she set in 1979 when she stroked from the Bahamas to Florida.

Her last attempt at the Cuba-to-Florida crossing failed on August 9 due to a crippling asthma attack that forced her gasping from the water after 29 hours.

Nyad insisted that this time around she was ready to brave the choppy seas, schools of jellyfish and overcome exhaustion to accomplish her lifelong dream.

"I feel in better shape at 62 than I was at 28 which was the first time I tried this," Nyad said.

"I''m not as fast as I was then and I''m a little fatter, but that''s ok," she added.

As darkness fell, about an hour and a half into the swim, Nyad''s team sent a Twitter message that she was "going strong."

Just before she set off from Hemingway Marina on Friday evening, assistants smeared grease on her shoulders to prevent chafing during the planned 60-hour journey.

She pumped her fists in the air as her support team blew horns and cheered from waiting boats.

Her schedule called for to reach Florida early Monday morning.

Without a cage for protection, Nyad is relying on special equipment that surrounds her with an electric current imperceptible to humans but strong enough to keep most sharks at bay.

Kayakers also are paddling alongside to gently prod away any that make it through.

For the length of the crossing, Nyad will not be allowed to touch the boat if the record is to count.

Nor can her team physically aid her other than to pass her food, medicine, a new swimsuit and so on.

Nyad first tried to cross the Florida Straits as a 28-year-old back in 1978, when she swam inside a steel shark cage for about 42 hours before ending the attempt.

Now 62, after celebrating her birthday on August 22, she has said she hopes to inspire people to lead active lives into their golden years.

She also has called the swim symbolic for increasing understanding between the United States and Cuba, two nations torn by five decades of animosity and mistrust.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide interior of airport with media and blogger Yoani Sanchez's friends and family waiting

2. Mid of family and friends waiting

3. Zoom out of Sanchez coming out of airport customs

4. Mid of Sanchez hugging her son Teo Escobar, husband Reinaldo Escobar, and her mother

5. Close of friends hugging and kissing Sanchez while others clap

6. Mid of Sanchez walking out of airport

7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yoani Sanchez, Cuban Dissident Blogger:

"Thank you very much for coming. It has been a marvellous trip, really. I am very tired because not only has it been more than 100 days, but also a long and marvellous trip. It is a trip that will change my life in many ways because it has been a humane trip, a journalistic trip, civic, and technological. I am now here with many projects."

8. Mid of Sanchez and family leaving airport

9. Zoom in exterior of Havana International airport

STORYLINE

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez returned on Thursday to her island homeland that officially considers her a traitor, concluding a more than three-month globe-trotting tour that cemented her status as the most internationally recognisable face of Cuba's small dissident community.

Sanchez emerged from the airport in the evening, hugged her husband and son and greeted about a dozen relatives and friends.

"It has been a marvellous trip," she told reporters gathered at the terminal.

"A trip that is going to change my life in many ways ... and I have returned with lots of projects," Sanchez added.

Pleading exhaustion after a trans-oceanic flight capping a journey that lasted more than 100 days, she asked for time alone with family and said she would speak more of her future plans after resting.

Sanchez has been on the road since 17 February when she took advantage of a new reform ending a long time requirement that all Cubans obtain permission to travel abroad.

Under the old rules, government critics who are branded as "counter-revolutionary" sellouts and the paid stooges of foreign interests were routinely denied exit visas.

Sanchez visited more than a dozen countries in Europe and the Americas and gave speeches criticising President Raul Castro's Communist-led government.

She also met with human rights activists and foreign lawmakers, and cultivated relationships with journalists at leading Western newspapers.

In the process, she picked up more than 100,000 new Twitter followers to top the half-million mark.

She is less well-known at home, however.

Of 20 Cubans surveyed informally by The Associated Press this week in Havana, just seven said they had heard her name, and several of those were unclear on exactly who she was.

Only three were aware of her global tour.

Her challenge now is to try to change that.

Sanchez has said a main goal of the trip was to prepare herself to launch an independent online newspaper in Cuba, something will surely rankle local authorities.

The government, for its part, will be closely scrutinised abroad for how it treats her.

At the same time, by allowing her to travel it has undercut accusations from foreign capitals and human rights groups that it essentially held its citizens hostage through the now-scrapped exit visa requirement.

Analysts say Sanchez's rising international fame likely insulates her physically from arrest.

She has told people close to her she expects to be the target of less detention but more propaganda offensives by the government and its allies.

SHOTLIST

FILE: November 2010

1. Mid of Yoani Sanchez, Cuban blogger, at home on her laptop

2. Pan of Sanchez walking in front of Old Capitol building

January 31, 2013

3. Zoom into Sanchez's Twitter page on computer screen with picture of her newly issued passport

4. Mid of Angel Moya, Cuban dissident, on balcony at home

5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Angel Moya, Cuban Dissident:

"This is an immigration law that gives the government the right to decide and determine who comes and goes into the country. Therefore, I wasn't surprised. What's more, this negation on behalf of the regime serves to show that they violate the accords reached in 2009 between the Catholic Church and the government of Spain and the regime itself."

6. Pull out from official Gazette containing immigration law

FILE: December 2012

7. Wide of march by Ladies in White protest group, including Berta Soler, wife of Moya, at front on right of screen holding flowers

8. Mid of Ladies in White lined up and chanting: (Spanish) "Laura Pollan lives!" (Pollan is the late founder of the group), Soler is second from left in line

STORYLINE

Two Cuban dissidents who applied for passports to go overseas under recently enacted travel reforms reported mixed results this week, as one former prisoner was turned down while a prominent blogger excitedly tweeted a photo of her brand new, bright blue travel document.

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez posted a photo on Wednesday of her passport on her Twitter page.

By her own account Sanchez has on some 20 occasions been rejected for the much-detested exit visa that for decades was required of all islanders seeking to go abroad.

Analysts have called such controls arbitrary and humiliating, though authorities long insisted they were necessary to prevent brain drain.

That requirement ended 14 January when a new law took effect scrapping the permit known as the "white card," which Cuba routinely denied to those it considers "counter-revolutionaries" in the pay of foreign interests and bent on undermining the communist government.

But the case of Angel Moya, who was locked up for years in connection with his political activities, indicates that Cuba intends to exercise a legal clause by which it retains the right to restrict some citizens' right to travel.

Moya, one of 75 other anti-government activists imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown on dissent, said he went to file paperwork and the 50 US dollars' application fee to request a passport, but a clerk turned him down.

"This is an immigration law that gives the government the right to decide and determine who comes and goes into the country. Therefore, I wasn't surprised," he said on Thursday.

"What's more, this negation on behalf of the regime serves to show that they violate the accords reached in 2009 between the Catholic Church and the government of Spain and the regime itself," he added.

Moya said an office clerk at the passport office showed him her computer screen and the file did not contain a specific reason why he was not allowed to apply for the travel document.

But the travel law contains language reserving the right to withhold passports for reasons of national interest and for people with pending legal cases, and he's sure that's affecting his situation.

Moya's release from prison was conditional and technically he's still serving a 20-year sentence for treason that expires in 2023.

The rest of the former prisoners from the 2003 crackdown, like a number of other dissidents with legal issues, presumably could be in the same boat.

Moya's wife Berta Soler, a leader of the Ladies in White protest group, said as far as she knows she's still scheduled to pick up her passport on 8 February.

Government officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Havana usually avoids mentioning the dissidents at all except to accuse them of being traitorous "mercenaries."

SHOTLIST

1. Wide of Old Capitol building in Havana, with road and traffic in the foreground

2. Mid newspaper vendor leaving post office

3. Vendor arranging papers

4. Zoom in to Granma newspaper headline reading: (Spanish) "Article from Fidel and Photos"

5. Mid of man buying newspaper at kiosk

6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Gustavo Figueredo, Havana Resident:

"He looks like a young man. Everyday he's younger and he will be young eternally."

7. Zoom in man reading Granma

8. Mid of man reading newspaper

9. Zoom in newspaper photos with caption reading: (Spanish) "Castro is dying"

10. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Orlando Vasquez, Havana Resident:

"They like to think he's already dead. We still have Fidel for a while!"

11. Close up Granma newspaper with photos of Fidel Castro

STORYLINE

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said he doesn't even suffer from a headache in an article he published in state-media Monday criticising those who spread rumours he was on his death bed.

The article, ironically titled "Fidel is Dying," is accompanied by photos taken by son Alex Castro that show the revolutionary icon standing near some trees wearing a checked shirt and cowboy hat, including one in which he is seen reading Friday's copy of the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

Castro is leaning against a cane in the photos and he looks every bit his 86 years, but his eyes are sharp and his expression determined as he gestures with his left hand.

"I don't even remember what a headache feels like," Castro claims in the article, adding that he was releasing the photos to show "how dishonest" the rumourmongers have been.

Cubans reacted with a mix of support and cynicism.

"He looks like a young man. Everyday he's younger and he will be young eternally," said Gustavo Figueredo, a 69-year-old Havana resident.

"They like to think he's already dead. We still have Fidel for a while," said Orlando Vasquez, a smiling 70-year-old retiree from Havana.

Castro's article was published on the state-run Cubadebate Web site early Monday, and in virtually all other state-media later in the day.

It is the latest evidence the former Cuban president is alive and seemingly well after more than a week of intense speculation he was seriously ill.

Twitter and other social media sites have been abuzz with claims of Castro's demise.

On Sunday, a visiting former Venezuelan vice president released a photo of a meeting he said he had the previous day with Castro, and a hotel manager also present for part of the meeting claimed Castro's health was "magnificent."

In the article Monday, Castro says he has been dealing with disinformation about Cuba since the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.

He criticised Western media he said are in the pocket of the rich, and singled out Spain's ABC newspaper for publishing comments by a Venezuelan doctor who claimed to have information that Castro had suffered a stroke and had weeks to live.

Castro has been out of the public eye since March, when he received visiting Pope Benedict XVI.

He also stopped writing his once constant opinion pieces, called "Reflections," the last of which was published in June.

Former Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua said he met with Castro for five hours and showed The Associated Press photos of the encounter, quashing persistent rumours that the former Cuban leader was on his deathbed or had suffered a massive stroke.

Jaua also confirmed that Castro personally accompanied him to the Hotel Nacional after their encounter Saturday, in which they talked about politics, history, culture and tourism.

In the article Monday, Castro explains that he chose to stop the opinion pieces of his own accord, not because he was too sick to continue them.

"I stopped publishing Reflections because it was really not my role to take up pages in our press which are needed for other work the country requires," he wrote.

Castro stepped down in 2006 following a severe illness, handing power to his brother Raul.