(27 Jan 2012) SHOTLIST
Havana, Cuba - 27 January, 2012
1. Wide of Old Capitol building with classic car passing
2. Mid traffic of private taxis on street
3. Tilt down from sign reading (Spanish) "Private Business Workers" to market
4. Mid of caf� exterior
Havana, Cuba - 12 January, 2012
5. Wide of Cuban President Raul Castro and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Zoom in to mid
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Raul Castro, President of Cuba:
"The Conference is moving along, but you shouldn't have so many illusions or elevated expectations for this Conference. The Congress is what is definite. The Conference is an internal mechanism of the Party."
Havana, Cuba - 27 January 2012
7. Mid exterior pizzeria
8. Mid privately owned bicycle taxis
9. Mid pirated DVD vendors
Havana, Cuba - 19 January, 2012
10. Mid of activist Mariela Castro at press conference
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mariela Castro, Gay Rights Activist and President's Daughter:
"We are in the midst of deep changes in Cuban society, a series of priorities that have been demanded by the population have been dealt with accordingly. They have been balancing attention to different needs. I don't think we will have to wait much longer. These are the demands coming from Cuban society."
Havana, Cuba - 27 January 2012
12. Mid people walking in street
13. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jose Manuel Leon, 71, Engineer:
"For me, the changes in policy at the Party's Conference are theoretical, hypothetical, and in reality there are no real changes. In reality there are no changes. I'm referring to improvements in people's quality of life. In that, I do not think there will be changes."
14. Various of woman reading newspaper
15. Close of newspaper headline reading (Spanish) "Party Conference begins Tomorrow"
STORYLINE
Cuba's Communist Party will hold its first party conference this weekend with an expected 800 delegates in attendance presided over by President Raul Castro.
The conference comes after the party's Congress approved new laws last April designed to breathe life into the island's ailing economy.
The reforms created a flurry of activity, but in reality have done little to improve the economic woes of the country.
This weekend's two-day Conference will be held January 28th and 29th behind closed doors and will probably deal mostly with internal party politics.
While many of the island's inhabitants were perhaps hoping the Conference would bring more much-needed social reforms like the right to travel freely and changes in the family code allowing for same-sex marriages, it is unlikely these issues will be resolved in an internal party meeting.
During last April's Communist Party Congress, two issues arose that are likely among the most important ones to be discussed at the upcoming Conference: the lack of youth in the Party's leadership and limiting presidential terms to two five-year mandates.
Changes in the law or constitution can only be done by the Cuban National Assembly.
President Castro himself said recently that people's expectations for the Conference weren't realistic.
"The Conference is moving along, but you shouldn't have so many illusions about the Conference or elevated expectations. The Congress is what is definite. The Conference is an internal mechanism of the Party," Castro told reporters at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport as he bade farewell to Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was in Cuba on an official visit.
The President's daughter, Mariela Castro, a prominent gay rights activist, has been pushing hard for changes in Cuba's Family Code. She hopes the issue will be brought up at the Conference.
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