LATEBREAKING NEWS: Leonardo Bruzon, the imprisoned Cuban activist and
librarian now on a hunger strike, whose case was featured in a recent Urgent
Action appeal by Amnesty International, has been transferred to a military
hospital.   His weight has reportedly dropped to about 32 kilograms.  Please
help to save his life by writing to Cuban officials, as outlined in the
Amnesty appeal posted on our website: (www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org).

In other news:

BOOK BUST IN HAVANA: MARX NOW A PERSONA NON GRATA?

NEW YORK, February 28, 2003 (The Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Groucho Marx
once said: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog
it's too dark to read."  As it turns out, the same goes for the inside of a
book-filled shipping container confiscated in Havana.  On February 28 the
Cuban government confirmed the blocking of a shipment of 5,000 books sent by
the U.S. government to the island's growing independent library movement.
Among the seized books were writings by Martin Luther King, John Steinbeck
and Groucho Marx's "Memoirs of a Mangy Lover...."

CUBAN BOOK SEIZURE FUROR CONTINUES

NEW YORK, March 9, 2003 (The Friends of Cuban Libraries) - There has been no
decrease in the Cuban government's embarrassment over its seizure last month
of 5,000 books intended as donations for the island's independent library
movement.  Pat Schroeder, the president of the Association of American
Publishers, has weighed in with a condemnation of the Cuban regime's efforts
to suppress intellectual freedom....  Noting that among the intercepted books
was Groucho Marx's "Memoirs of a Mangy Lover," Ms. Schroeder stated: "I guess
the official line in Cuba is "Karl sí, Groucho no!"

These and other articles can be read in the "RECENT NEWS" section of our
website: (WWW.FRIENDSOFCUBANLIBRARIES.ORG).

Sincerely,

The Friends of Cuban Libraries
(www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org)