On December 18, 2006, a private U.S. commercial television station in Florida began broadcasting some TV Marti programs on a daily basis. The Office of Cuba Broadcasting of the Broadcasting Board of Governors also contracted with a commercial radio station in Miami to broadcast some Radio Marti programming. On December 12, 2006, independent Cuban journalist Guillermo Fariñas Hernández received the 2006 Cyber Dissident award from the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders. Fariñas went on a seven-month hunger strike in 2006, demanding broader Internet access for Cubans. On December 6, 2006, the Cuban government released dissident Hector Palacios from prison for health reason. Palacios, who had been sentenced to 25 years in prison, was part of the group of 75 arrested in March 2003. Of the 75, 16 have been released for health reasons. Some 300 political prisoners in all remain jailed in Cuba. In a December 2, 2006, speech, Raúl reiterated an offer to negotiate with the United States, as long as it respected Cuba's independence and as long as the results were based on "equality, reciprocity, non-interference, and mutual respect." On November 15, 2006, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report examining U.S. democracy assistance for Cuba from 1996-2005 and concluded that the U.S. program had significant problems and needed better management and oversight. On August 23, 2006, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon reiterated a U.S. offer to Cuba, first articulated by President Bush in May 2002, that the Administration was willing to work with Congress to lift U.S. economic sanctions if Cuba were to begin a political opening and a transition to democracy. On August 18, 2006, in an interview published in the Cuban daily Granma on August 18, 2006, Raúl Castro asserted that Cuba has "always been disposed to normalize relations on an equal plane," but he also expressed strong opposition to current U.S. policy toward Cuba, which he described as "arrogant and interventionist." On August 18, 2006, U.S. Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte announced the establishment of the position of Mission Manager for Cuba and Venezuela responsible for integrating collection and analysis on the two countries across the Intelligence Community. On August 13, 2006, Fidel's 80 th birthday, Cuba's newspaper Juventud Rebelde published the first photographs of Castro since his surgery, along with a message from Castro indicating that his recovery would not be short. On August 4, 2006, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a statement broadcast on Radio and TV Marti, encouraged "the Cuban people to work at home for positive change" and reiterated U.S. support. On August 3, 2006, President Bush issued a statement that "the United States is absolutely committed to supporting the Cuban people's aspiration for democracy and freedom." The President urged "the Cuban people to work for democratic change" and pledged U.S. support to the Cuban people in their effort to build a transitional government in Cuba. On July 31, 2006, Cuban President Fidel Castro provisionally ceded political power to his brother Raúl for several weeks in order to recover from intestinal surgery. As a result, Raúl Castro became First Secretary of the Communist Party, Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), and President of the Council of State and Government. On July 27, 2006, the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere held a hearing on the new report on the Committee for Assistance to a Free Cuba. On July 26, 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the FY2007 Transportation/Treasury appropriations bill, H.R. 5576 ( S.Rept. 109-293 , with a provision (Section 846) that would prevent Treasury Department funds from being used to implement tightened restrictions on financing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba that were issued in February 2005. The provision is identical to one in the House version of the bill approved on June 14, 2006. On July 10, 2006, the inter-agency Commission for Assistance to Free Cuba issued its second report making recommendations to hasten political change in Cuba toward a democratic transition, including the provision of $80 million over two years for a variety of Cuba democracy projects. The Commission report received a mixed response from Cuba's dissident community. The full report is available at http://www.cafc.gov/rpt/ . (For further information, see section below on the " July 2006 Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba Report .") On June 29, 2006, the House passed H.R. 5672 , the FY2007 Science, State, Justice, Commerce and Related Agencies appropriations bill, that would fund Cuba broadcasting under the International Broadcasting Operations account. The report to the bill ( H.Rept. 109-520 ) recommends $36.102 million for Cuba broadcasting, including $2.7 million to improve transmission capabilities via aerostat for broadcasting TV Marti. The Administration requested $36.279 for Cuba broadcasting (For further information, see " Radio and TV Marti " below). On June 22, 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of, H.R. 5384 ( S.Rept. 109-266 ), the FY2007 Agriculture appropriations bill, which contains a provision (Section 755) liberalizing travel to Cuba related to the sale of agricultural and medical goods. (Also see sections below on " Agricultural Exports " and " Travel and Private Humanitarian Assistance Restrictions .") On June 14, 2006, the House approved by voice vote H.Amdt. 1049 (Moran, Kansas) to the FY2007 Transportation/Treasury appropriations bill, H.R. 5576 , that would prevent Treasury Department funds from being used to implement tightened restrictions on financing for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba that were issued in February 2005. The House also rejected two amendments that would have eased economic sanctions on Cuba: H.Amdt. 1050 (Rangel), defeated by a vote of 183-245, which would have prohibited funds from implementing the overall embargo, and H.Amdt. 1051 (Lee), defeated by a vote of 187-236, which would have prohibited funs from being used to implement the Administration's June 2004 tightened restriction on educational travel to Cuba. Another amendment, H.Amdt. 1032 (Flake), which would have prohibited the use of funds to amend regulations relating to travel for religious activities in Cuba, was withdrawn from consideration. On June 12, 2006, the State Department asserted the Cuban government had cut off electricity to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana beginning on June 5, 2006, as part of a campaign of harassment of U.S. diplomats. The mission was running on generators, but electricity was restored on June 13, 2006. On May 25, 2006, the Senate approved S.Res. 469 (Lieberman) by unanimous consent, which condemned the April 25, 2006, beating of Cuban dissident Martha Beatriz Roque. On March 14, 2006, the Bahamas released two Cuban dentists from a detention center into U.S. custody, whereupon they immediately traveled to the United States. The two had been held in the detention center for 10 months after being picked up at sea in Bahamian waters. The dentists had received U.S. visas while in Cuba, but the Cuban government had denied them exit visas. Several Members of Congress had sought the release of the two Cubans. On February 3, 2006, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) asked Starwood Hotels, the U.S. owner of the Sheraton Maria Isabel hotel in Mexico City, to expel a Cuban delegation that was meeting with U.S. oil executives at a privately-sponsored U.S.-Cuba energy conference. The hotel complied, but Mexican officials indicated that it could face fines under Mexican legislation that permits the government to fine any company in Mexico that complies with U.S. legislation governing economic sanctions imposed on Cuba. (Ultimately, Mexico announced on March 24, 2006, that it was fining the hotel $112,000.) U.S. economic sanctions prohibit financial transactions with Cuba, and this applies to U.S. companies and their subsidiaries anywhere in the world. While these prohibitions extend to the provision of services to Cuban nationals, this appears to be the first time that OFAC has used its authority to block retail services such as a hotel stay from Cuban nationals outside of the United States. On January 23, 2006, OFAC suspended a South Florida travel agency, La Estrella de Cuba, from booking travel to Cuba. The agency reportedly was one of the largest licensed travel agencies, booking some 300 to 500 passengers monthly. On January 20, 2006, OFAC issued a license to Major League Baseball allowing a Cuban team to participate in the World Baseball Classic tournament in the United States in March 2006. In mid-December 2005, OFAC had denied a license for Cuba's participation, reportedly because the Cuban government could have benefitted financially, but the license ultimately approved assures that any proceeds earned by the Cuban team would go to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. On January 9, 2006, the U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 15 Cuban migrants that had landed on a piling of an old bridge in the Florida Keys that does not connect to land. The case prompted some Members to call for a review of the "wet foot/dry foot" policy regarding Cuban migrants. On February 28, 2006, a U.S. federal judge in Miami ordered that the U.S. government make arrangements for the 15 Cubans to be brought back to the United States.