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BY DIANA MARRERO S ometimes, the 69-year-old retiree has noth- ing but eggs and rice to put on his family's table for days on end. He and his wife accept the dull menu as one of the many hardships they must endure on a retiree’s meager pension in Cuba. But the man’s stepdaughter, a 36-year-old woman with Down’s Syndrome, often does not understand why she can’t have fried chicken or a pork chop instead. “The economy is going up, they say,” obser ved the man, who, like others inter viewed for this story, did not want his name published. “What economy?” If life is complicated for the average Cuban these days, it is even more so for the island’s senior citizens. Forced to retire at age 60, the wiry, old man struggles to get by on 134 pesos a month, or about $5. The sum is less than half of what most Cubans earn in a month. Like many other Cuban retirees, he has had to keep working in the island’s black market. With a car and some gas, he supplements his paltry wages with a makeshift taxi service that could fetch him a hefty $60 fine, lead to the seizure of his car or even land him in jail. With the advent of Cuba’s communist revolu- tion, those coming of age welcomed promises that the government would take care of them in their golden years. But as Cuba’s economy con- tinues to falter and prices for basic staples rise, the elderly are finding they can’t solely rely on the government to meet all their needs. Instead, they are turning — at great risk — to the black market to make ends meet. “There was a day before the special period when those pensions were adequate,” said Philip Peters, a Cuba expert at the Lexington Institute, a think tank based in Arlington, Va. “Once the economy changed, it became neces- BY ANA RADELAT P rodded by agricultural interests, lawmak- ers have made their first attempt to roll back President Bush’s new restrictions on trade to Cuba, but have already been checkmat- ed by embargo supporters. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) tried to attach an amendment to a supplemental spending bill that would have reversed a recent regulation requiring Cuba to pay for its U.S. food purchas- es in cash before they’re shipped to the island. Chambliss’ amendment, identical to a free- standing bill he introduced Mar. 16 and to a companion House bill introduced by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), would allow Cuba to pay for food shipments once they reached the docks in Havana. That was the most common arrange- ment before the new regulation. In mid-April, Chambliss introduced his amendment to a Senate version of an $81 billion spending bill that would pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as provide U.S. aid to South Asian tsunami victims. The amendment was expected to pass in the Senate, where majorities have consistently voted to ease sanctions on Cuba. But Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), an embargo supporter, prevented the amendment from com- ing to a vote, saying the Chambliss amendment was not germaine to the supplemental spending bill. Ensign won the procedural fight, and the attempt to make it easier for U.S. farmers to sell to the Castro regime was quashed. But the effort to win Senate approval for the amendment is just the first salvo in this year’s expected congressional battles over Cuba. The most ambitious bill regarding Cuba was introduced in February by Sens. Larry Craig (R-ID), Max Baucus (D-MT) and 18 other farm- state senators. The Agricultural Export Facilitation Act, as it’s known, would allow Cuba to pay for ship- ments on deliver y and authorize direct transfers In the News New kid on the block 30 entities form US-Cuba Trade Associa- tion to fight the embargo...............Page 3 PDVSA to drill for oil Castro, Chávez sign a raft of shipping, fin- ancial and trade accords ...............Page 4 Sweet home Alabama Port city of Mobile to host National Sum- mit on Cuba next month ...............Page 4 $9.00 a month Fidel boosts Cuba’s monthly minimum wage from 100 to 225 pesos .........Page 6 Plastic unwelcome Ontario-based Cash2Cuba.com stops ac- cepting U.S. credit cards ..............Page 6 Newsmakers Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, in an ex- clusive interview with CubaNews, tells us about her recent trip to Cuba .......Page 8 Sugar disaster Cuba’s record-low sugar harvest to yield only 1.3m tons this year ..............Page 10 Business briefs CEO helps Cuba fight computer viruses; Meliá to open 22nd hotel ............Page 12 FAR into the future Domingo Amuchastegui ponders the role of Cuba’s Revolutionar y Armed Forces in a post-Castro world .....................Page 14 www.cubanews.com Vol. 13, No. 5 May 2005 See Congress, page 2 See Elderly, page 7 CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly by Luxner News Inc. © 2005. All rights reserved. Subscriptions: $429/year. For subscription or edito- rial inquiries, call us at (301) 365-1745, send a fax to (301) 365-1829 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Congress fires opening salvo in bid to reverse Bush crackdown on Cuba trade For older Cubans squeezed out of tight job market, life is a constant struggle
16

In the News Congress fires opening salvo in bid to reverse ... · their golden years. But as Cuba’s economy con-tinues to falter and prices for basic staples rise, the elderly are

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Page 1: In the News Congress fires opening salvo in bid to reverse ... · their golden years. But as Cuba’s economy con-tinues to falter and prices for basic staples rise, the elderly are

BY DIANA MARRERO

Sometimes, the 69-year-old retiree has noth-ing but eggs and rice to put on his family'stable for days on end.

He and his wife accept the dull menu as oneof the many hardships they must endure on aretiree’s meager pension in Cuba. But the man’sstepdaughter, a 36-year-old woman with Down’sSyndrome, often does not understand why shecan’t have fried chicken or a pork chop instead.

“The economy is going up, they say,”observed the man, who, like others interviewedfor this story, did not want his name published.“What economy?”

If life is complicated for the average Cubanthese days, it is even more so for the island’ssenior citizens.

Forced to retire at age 60, the wiry, old manstruggles to get by on 134 pesos a month, orabout $5. The sum is less than half of what mostCubans earn in a month.

Like many other Cuban retirees, he has hadto keep working in the island’s black market.With a car and some gas, he supplements hispaltry wages with a makeshift taxi service thatcould fetch him a hefty $60 fine, lead to theseizure of his car or even land him in jail.

With the advent of Cuba’s communist revolu-tion, those coming of age welcomed promisesthat the government would take care of them intheir golden years. But as Cuba’s economy con-tinues to falter and prices for basic staples rise,the elderly are finding they can’t solely rely onthe government to meet all their needs. Instead,they are turning — at great risk — to the blackmarket to make ends meet.

“There was a day before the special periodwhen those pensions were adequate,” saidPhilip Peters, a Cuba expert at the LexingtonInstitute, a think tank based in Arlington, Va.“Once the economy changed, it became neces-

BY ANA RADELAT

Prodded by agricultural interests, lawmak-ers have made their first attempt to rollback President Bush’s new restrictions on

trade to Cuba, but have already been checkmat-ed by embargo supporters.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) tried to attachan amendment to a supplemental spending billthat would have reversed a recent regulationrequiring Cuba to pay for its U.S. food purchas-es in cash before they’re shipped to the island.

Chambliss’ amendment, identical to a free-standing bill he introduced Mar. 16 and to acompanion House bill introduced by Rep. JoAnn Emerson (R-MO), would allow Cuba to payfor food shipments once they reached the docksin Havana. That was the most common arrange-ment before the new regulation.

In mid-April, Chambliss introduced hisamendment to a Senate version of an $81 billionspending bill that would pay for the wars inAfghanistan and Iraq, as well as provide U.S. aid

to South Asian tsunami victims.The amendment was expected to pass in the

Senate, where majorities have consistentlyvoted to ease sanctions on Cuba.

But Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), an embargosupporter, prevented the amendment from com-ing to a vote, saying the Chambliss amendmentwas not germaine to the supplemental spendingbill. Ensign won the procedural fight, and theattempt to make it easier for U.S. farmers to sellto the Castro regime was quashed.

But the effort to win Senate approval for theamendment is just the first salvo in this year’sexpected congressional battles over Cuba.

The most ambitious bill regarding Cuba wasintroduced in February by Sens. Larry Craig(R-ID), Max Baucus (D-MT) and 18 other farm-state senators.

The Agricultural Export Facilitation Act, asit’s known, would allow Cuba to pay for ship-ments on delivery and authorize direct transfers

In the News

New kid on the block30 entities form US-Cuba Trade Associa-tion to fight the embargo...............Page 3

PDVSA to drill for oilCastro, Chávez sign a raft of shipping, fin-ancial and trade accords ...............Page 4

Sweet home AlabamaPort city of Mobile to host National Sum-mit on Cuba next month ...............Page 4

$9.00 a monthFidel boosts Cuba’s monthly minimumwage from 100 to 225 pesos .........Page 6

Plastic unwelcomeOntario-based Cash2Cuba.com stops ac-cepting U.S. credit cards ..............Page 6

NewsmakersLouisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, in an ex-clusive interview with CubaNews, tells usabout her recent trip to Cuba .......Page 8

Sugar disasterCuba’s record-low sugar harvest to yieldonly 1.3m tons this year ..............Page 10

Business briefsCEO helps Cuba fight computer viruses;Meliá to open 22nd hotel ............Page 12

FAR into the futureDomingo Amuchastegui ponders the roleof Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces ina post-Castro world .....................Page 14

www.cubanews.com

Vol. 13, No. 5 May 2005

See Congress, page 2

See Elderly, page 7

CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthlyby Luxner News Inc. © 2005. All rights reserved.Subscriptions: $429/year. For subscription or edito-rial inquiries, call us at (301) 365-1745, send a fax to(301) 365-1829 or e-mail us at [email protected].

Congress fires opening salvo in bid toreverse Bush crackdown on Cuba trade

For older Cubans squeezed out of tightjob market, life is a constant struggle

Page 2: In the News Congress fires opening salvo in bid to reverse ... · their golden years. But as Cuba’s economy con-tinues to falter and prices for basic staples rise, the elderly are

2 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

Congress — FROM PAGE 1

from Cuban financial institutions to Americanbanks to facilitate sales.

“With our farmers and processors facingdifficult times, and some shippers and portsrelying heavily on Cuban trade, it is perplex-ing that bureaucrats, still stuck in a Cold Warmentality, continue to try and curb one-wayexport markets,” said Craig.

His legislation would also ease visa restric-tions on Cuban government officials whowish to travel to the United States to negotiatefarm sales, and also make it easier forAmerican farmers to get U.S. permission totravel to Cuba.

In addition, the legislation would repeal aU.S. law that gave Bacardi, a company ownedby Cuban exiles, the edge in a trademark fightwith Havana Club Holdings, a joint venturebetween the Cuban government and Frenchliquor giant Pernod Ricard.

There was an attempt to introduce theCraig bill to the Senate’s supplemental spend-ing bill. But its backers were persuaded thatthe Chambliss amendment — being moremodest in scope — would have a greaterchance of passing. Now supporters for easingtrade restrictions on Cuba are scrambling fora new strategy.

“At this point, we’re just trying to figure outwhat our next step is,” Chris Garza, a lobbyist

for the American Farm Bureau Federation,told CubaNews.

The most likely move is to try to attach thelegislation to one of the 13 spending bills thatwould fund the federal government next year,and which are supposed to be passed by theOct. 1 start of the new fiscal year, Garza said.

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) seems to beweighing whether to hold a long-scheduledhearing on Craig’s bill in the Senate ForeignRelations Committee, which Lugar chairs.That would give the bill publicity and helpshore up support for the legislation.

But a spokesman for the Foreign RelationsCommittee said Lugar hadn’t made a decisionyet. Lugar opposes unilateral sanctions buthas largely kept out of the dispute over Cuba.

A bill that’s likely to get another vote in theHouse this year is the perennial legislationsponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) whichwould lift restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba.

“I believe the political winds are right foraction on this issue this year,” Flake said. Acompanion bill has been introduced in theSenate by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY).

GOP leaders are likely to keep the Flakelegislation from being considered in theHouse or Senate unless its sponsors attach itto another bill.

For the last several years, Flake has suc-ceeded in attaching legislation barring en-forcement of the embargo’s travel regulationsto the Treasury Department budget bill. That

bill funds Treasury’s Office of Foreign AssetsControl, which enforces the Cuba embargo.And last year, the Senate for the first time fol-lowed suit.

But GOP leaders stripped the travel provi-sion from the final bill sent to Bush, whoseadministration had been otherwise threaten-ing a veto.

Embargo supporters have also introducedlegislation this year.

Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and LincolnDíaz-Balart, Florida Republicans who areboth Cuban exiles, sponsored a bill making itan ethical violation for a senator or Housemember to enter into an agreement to easesanctions with a representative of any nationon the State Department’s terrorist list, whichof course includes Cuba.

But farm state lawmakers continue to trav-el to Cuba to seek trade opportunities fortheir constituents.

For example, Rep. Bennie Thompson (R-MS) is taking a delegation of Mississippi far-mers and businessmen to Cuba next month.The delegation may also include representa-tives of the ports of Gulfport and Vicksburg.

Thompson hopes to boost Mississippi’strade with Cuba, but he said the new regula-tions forcing Cuba to pay for U.S. foodexports before they’re delivered won’t help.

“That little quirk in the law has made itmore difficult,” he said. �

Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey)Allen Boyd (D-Florida)Dan Burton (R-Indiana)Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Florida)Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Florida)Eliot Engel (D-New York)Tom Feeney (R-Florida)Luís Fortuño (R-Puerto Rico)Steve King (R-Iowa)Connie Mack (R-Florida)Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina)Kendrick Meek (D-Florida)Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey)Frank Patton (D-New Jersey)Mike Pence (R-Indiana)Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida)Christopher Small (R-New Jersey)Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Florida)

Here’s a list of members of the CongressionalDemocratic Caucus, formed to promote poli-cy aimed at ending Cuba’s communist regimeand speeding its transition to democracy.

Democracy for Cuba

IN THE SENATE:

IN THE HOUSE:

George Allen (R-Virginia)Jim Bunning (R-Kentucky)John Ensign (R-Nevada)Joseph Lieberman (D-Connecticut)Mel Martínez (R-Florida)Bill Nelson (D-Florida)David Vitter (R-Louisiana)

Lawmakers form pro-embargo caucus

Agroup of 25 lawmakers opposed to lift-ing the embargo have formed the Con-gressional Cuba Democracy Caucus —

a move aimed at weakening both the Castroregime and efforts in Washington to ease theban against U.S. travel to Cuba.

Sen. Mel Martínez (R-FL), the first Cuban-American member of the Senate, along withthree Cuban-American House members —Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Díaz-Balartand Lincoln Díaz-Balart, all Florida Republi-cans — decided to form the group shortlyafter Martinez’s election last November.

“We felt it was time, and it was needed tofocus on not just talking about one issue oranother, but a proactive set of measures thatwill bring about the democratic changes, thefreedom, the observance of human rights thatpeople in Cuba have been denied for so longand that they so richly deserve,” said Martí-nez, the first Cuban-American in the Senate.

A 10-point agenda faxed to CubaNews listsseveral priorities for the Cuban DemocracyCaucus, including the following:

■ supporting current U.S. law behind theembargo and fighting new legislation thatwould allow U.S. tourists to visit and spendmoney in Cuba.

■ insisting that U.S. interests be allowed tolobby Havana as much as Washington allowslobbying by the Cuban government.

■ demanding accountability for crimescommitted by the Cuban government againstU.S. citizens, such as the shootdown of the

Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, whichresulted in four U.S. civilian deaths.

■ protecting U.S. taxpayers “from provid-ing U.S. subsidies and export insurance to theCastro regime.”

The group also says it wants to “strengthenthe flow of uncensored information to theCuban people” via Radio and TV Martí.

“It’s a clear sign that momentum has shift-ed and now there is an offense,” lobbyistMauricio Claver-Clarone of the conservativeCuba Democracy Advocates, told the MiamiHerald. “Enough is enough. These groupsthat are getting together on the other side [toloosen the embargo], it’s pretty extreme. Youcan see that their movement is in decay.”

Camila Ruíz of the Miami-based CubanAmerican National Foundation says she hasbeen working for a year to create the caucus.

Debbie Wasserman-Shultz (D-FL) said shewas asked by Cuban-American lawmakers tojoin the caucus and agreed because she want-ed to support the cause for a free Cuba.

“Making sure that there is ultimately a freeand democratic Cuba is not only important toCuban-Americans and people of Hispanicdescent, but to all Americans who care aboutdemocracy, who care about standing in soli-darity with our brothers and sisters in othercountries who are trying desperately to freethemselves,” she said. �

Details: Yanik Fenton-Espinosa, Office ofRep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, 8525 NW 53rd Terr.#102, Miami, FL 33166. Tel: (786) 845-0714.

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LOBBYING

May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 3

US-Cuba Trade Association established to fight embargoBY LARRY LUXNER

Pledging to “protect current trade withCuba, expand and increase the potentialfor future business” and work toward

full normalization of bilateral trade relations,nearly 40 entities have established the US-Cuba Trade Association in Washington.

Formation of the USCTA — a nonprofit 501(c)(6) corporation — comes only a fewmonths after the resignation of John Kavulichas president of a rival group, the New York-based US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

The fate of that organization, which wasfounded in 1993, is unclear in the wake ofKavulich’s departure (see CubaNews, March2005, page 3).

Charter members of the new USCTA in-clude Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Cater-pillar Arthur Savage & Sons and other compa-nies currently involved in exporting to Cuba.

The group also includes a number of stateagencies and organizations like the NationalForeign Trade Council (NFTC), Port of Gal-veston, USA Rice Federation, North DakotaFarm Bureau, Virginia Department of Agri-culture and the Louisiana Department ofEconomic Development.

“We have formed this association becauseof the desire of our members not only to keeptrade with Cuba running smoothly, but also tomove forward to expand trade and travelopportunities with Cuba,” said the group’spresident, Kirby Jones.

Jones told CubaNews that members will beinvited to Havana at the end of June for meet-ings with government officials. Further downthe road, they’ll also receive a weekly digestof news articles.

Corporate membership in USCTA is either$1,000 or $1,500 a year, depending on annualsales, while stategovernment agen-cies can join for$750, other tradeassociations pay$500 and nonprofitgroups pay $300.

That comparesto annual dues ofbetween $2,000and $9,000 for theUS-Cuba Tradeand EconomicCouncil, which foryears had offeredits members a newsletter, Economic Eye onCuba, that now appears to have folded.

Unlike Kavulich’s group, which never tooka public position on the embargo and wascareful to distance itself from the Cuban gov-ernment, the USCTA makes no bones aboutits opposition to current U.S. policy.

In a press release, Jones said his associa-tion was formed in response to a ruling by theU.S. Treasury Department’s Office of For-eign Assets Control that require U.S. firms toreceive cash in advance from Cuba before

shipping food to Cuba under the Trade Sanc-tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act.

“This action has already disrupted anddirectly hurt the smooth trade which in threeyears produced over $1.2 billion in sales byAmerican firms,” said Jones, a Washington-based Cuba consultant who was recently pro-filed by CubaNews (see our December 2004issue, page 8).

The new group’s board of directors is head-ed by Bill Reinsch, president of the NFTC aswell as the USA*Engage coalition (see relatedstory below). According to Reinsch, “Cuba isthe poster child for ineffective sanctions, andthe embargo ought to be removed.”

USCTA SUPPORTS CRAIG BILL

The USCTA has thrown its support behinda Senate bill known as the Agricultural ExportFacilitation Act of 2005, sponsored by Sen.Larry Craig (R-ID), Max Baucus (D-MT) and28 other co-sponsors. A similar bill in theHouse is being sponsored by Rep. JerryMoran (R-KS).(

The USCTA’s board of advisors, chaired byformer assistant secretary of state William D.Rogers, includes David Rockefeller; formerU.S. trade representative Carla Hills; formersecretary of defense Frank Carlucci; formerCIA director James Schlesinger; A.W. Clau-sen, former CEO of BankAmerica and presi-dent of the World Bank; Silvia Wilhelm of theMiami-based Cuban-American Commissionfor Family Rights; Dr. Julius Richmond, for-mer U.S. surgeon-general, and 20 otherprominent Americans “who reflect the broadnational support among different sectors fornormalized trade with Cuba.”

In explaining his decision to join theUSCTA board, Carlucci said he believes that“normalizing commercial relations with Cubais in our own national interest and would like-ly bring better results than the 45-year-oldunilateral embargo.”

Added Rogers: “We have seen the positiveresults of engagement with China andVietnam. It is essential that the U.S. take thelead now in expanding relations with ourstrategically important neighbor, Cuba.

“This association is an important steptoward building more robust private-sectorcommercial ties with the Cubans — a vitalprecondition to a more normal relationshipbetween our country and theirs.”

Jones said the USCTA will establish anational database of companies interested intrade with Cuba, set up an e-mail alert systemto mobilize support for Congressional initia-tives, provide members with a monthlynewsletter and organize seminars and confer-ences to educate the U.S. business communi-ty about doing business with Cuba. �

Details: Kirby Jones, USCTA, 2300 M StreetNW, Suite #800, Washington, DC 20037. Tel:(202) 530-5236. Fax: (202) 530-5235. E-mail:[email protected]. URL: www.uscuba.org.

USCTA founder Kirby Jones

Shrinking travel revenues lead to ATRIP’s demise

The National Foreign Trade Counciland its affiliated coalition, USA*En-gage, is scaling back efforts to lobby

for an end to the Cuba embargo.Jody Frisch, who was hired by USA*En-

gage in 2002 to lead Cuba issues on a full-time basis, said she’s leaving the organiza-tion this month to explore other options.

“I was hired by USA*Engage two and ahalf years ago to work specifically on Cuba.But it was always a difficult thing to do,” saidFrisch, who later helped form an alliance be-tween USA*Engage and the Association ofTravel Related Industry Professionals tolobby for a lifting of the travel ban.

But now, ATRIP has ceased to exist — avictim of tough new White House policiesthat have succeeded in dramatically cuttingCuban-American travel to the island.

“The issue really has more to do withATRIP than USA*Engage,” said Frisch, aformer Hollywood entertainment executivewho got involved with Cuba during the EliánGonzález affair.

ATRIP had around a dozen members in-cluding ABC Charters and Marazul Char-ters, both based in Miami, and Los Angeles-

based Cuba Travel Services.“When we formed the alliance, ATRIP

members were predominantly charter oper-ators, but ATRIP suffered from the restric-tions that Bush enacted a year ago, whichaffected Cuban-American travel,” she said.

“As a result, all the charter operators tooktremendous financial hits, and when traveldropped substantially because of those re-strictions, those operators no longer had thebudget they once had to put the moneybehind legislative efforts and do the thingsthat ATRIP was supposed to be doing. Andwithout ATRIP’s contribution to the alliance,USA*Engage couldn’t really afford to sup-port a Cuba-specific program.”

The organization, which is supported byover 300 companies, originally formed itsalliance with ATRIP because of its long-standing opposition to unilateral sanctions.

“However, the membership of USA*En-gage cares as much about sanctions againstIran, if not more so, than Cuba,” she said.

“USA*Engage will continue to supportopening trade and travel to Cuba, but it willbe very difficult, especially in this politicalenvironment.”

– LARRY LUXNER

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BY OUR HAVANA CORRESPONDENT

Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., the Vene-zuelan state petroleum giant, says it’llprospect for, pump and refine oil from

Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico.The announcement was made Apr. 26 by

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who alsosaid PDVSA will open an office in Havana.

Such news couldn’t have come at a bettertime for Fidel Castro, an ally of Chávez who isalready receiving some 90,000 barrels ofVenezuelan oil a day under preferential terms— up from 53,000 barrels a day in years past.

According to a PDVSA press release, theCaracas-based conglomerate said it will workwith Cuba “in prospecting and production [onnew wells located in territorial waters] as wellas in refining and marketing.”

In addition, PDVSA was to launch withCuban state firm Cupet a lubricants plant, andbuild a facility for storing residual petroche-micals — 600,000 barrels a day — in the cityof Matanzas, as well as an oil port.

Wire reports say PDVSA also will take partin the reopening of the oil refinery and termi-nal in Cienfuegos, on Cuba’s southern-central

FOREIGN TRADE

4 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

Venezuela’s PDVSA to search for oil off Cuba’s Gulf coastcoast, a facility built with Soviet technology in1990 but which has long since ground to a haltdue to its high energy consumption.

Plans also call for oil storage facilities inCuba and Jamaica, and commercialization inTrinidad & Tobago, as well as refining capaci-ties in all three countries.

“The strategic location of PDVSA Cuba, inHavana, will make it possible to launch otherbusinesses and projects critical to the prog-ress of Petrocaribe,” the PDVSA statement ad-ded, referring to a Venezuelan regional busi-ness and oil-diplomacy initiative.

With its oil-burning plants, Cuba has had torely on Venezuelan imports, while its owncrude, which is high in sulfur, requires refiner-ies to be cleaned constantly.

PDVSA and Cupet also inked several agree-ments, one of which is confidentiality in thedevelopment of joint ventures. This is to pre-vent executives of either country from pub-licly discussing the volume and dollar value oftrade between Cuba and Venezuela.

Yet another accord provides for technologytransfer between PDVSA and Cupet.

The PDVSA announcement was only one of

49 commercial and financial agreementssigned in Havana by the two presidents, bothof which have reasserted their goal of inte-gration under the Bolivarian Alternative forthe Americas (ALBA in Spanish).

Separately, Francisco Soberón, president ofCuba’s Central Bank, and Rafael Quiero, pres-ident of Banco Industrial de Venezuela,signed an accord creating Banco Industrial deVenezuela-Cuba S.A. Its objective: to operateas a financial intermediary in hard currency.

In explaining the bank’s purpose, Quierotold reporters that Banco Exterior de Cubaintends to open a similar office in Caracas.

Venezuela and Cuba will also build a jointshipyard in the western Venezuelan state ofZulia. It is to be used for repairing naval shipsand the construction of small navy ships,Infrastructure Minister Ramón CarrizalezRengifo said in a statement.

Memos of understanding were also signedbetween both countries to create a companythat would develop the Venezuelan steelindustry, and another one aimed at collectingscrap iron and non-ferrous scrap metal.

Castro said the island would import $412million worth of Venezuelan products thisyear. The products — free of customs dutiesor tariffs — range from canned sardines, pud-ding and marmalades to 150 tons of chocolate-drink mix and 93 tons of condensed milk.Cuba will also buy Venezuelan-made workclothes, including 400,000 pairs of boots.

Other items to be traded between the twocountries include food products, shoes, appar-el, toys, furniture, tires, linen goods, householdappliances, fabrics, PVC tubing, aluminum andconstruction material. �

Mobile, Ala., to host Jun. 10-11 ‘summit’ on Cuba

Mobile, Ala., will play host to the 2005National Summit on Cuba, an eventexpected to attract hundreds of bus-

iness leaders, politicians and others eagerto do business with the island nation.

The summit, set for Jun. 10-11, will focuson how southern states and ports can bene-fit from expanded trade ties with Cuba.

“We are excited about hosting this year’sNational Summit because Cuba is of tre-mendous and increasing interest to Ala-bama and the American South,” said MobileMayor Michael Dow in a prepared text. “Wecannot ignore the needs of 12 million Cubancitizens only 90 miles from our nation’sshores and the growing Cuba trade marketthat is being captured by other nations.”

Conference organizers acknowledge thatthe impetus for this event is Louisiana Gov.Kathleen Blanco’s recent trip to Cuba (seeour exclusive interview with Blanco, page 8).

Michael Olivier, who as Louisiana’s sec-retary of economic development accompa-nied Blanco to Cuba, will be one of severalguest speakers in Mobile. Other speakersinclude Alabama Secretary of AgricultureRon Sparks and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ).

“Our objective is to create a forum for anintelligent and balanced discussion of thestate of U.S.-Cuba relations,” said LissaWeinmann, director of programs on Cubaand the Americas at the World Policy Inst-itute, a New York-based nonprofit, nonparti-

san think tank. “We’re hoping to educatepeople on the breadth of the issue, particu-larly as it relates to the Gulf Coast region.”

Weinmann, whose institute has held sim-ilar Cuba summits in Washington, Miamiand Tampa, said she chose Mobile afterbeing recruited by Dow, whose office is co-sponsoring the event; other co-sponsorsinclude the Alabama State Port Authority,the Gulf Coast Regional Chamber Coalition,the Port of Corpus Christi and Tampa ship-ping firm A.R. Savage & Sons.

Mobile has deep cultural and economicties to Cuba dating back to the city’s found-ing in 1702. In 1993, Mobile became the firstU.S. city to establish formal relations withCuba through formation of Societé Mobile-La Habana, a sister cities organization.

“Cuba has a lot of trade potential and allthe ports are vying for it,” Dow told theMobile Register. “Our having the conventionhere in Mobile will be significant. It willshow that we are competitive.”

Added Jimmy Lyons, executive directorof the Alabama State Docks: “People will bewatching this and what happens here allover the country. A lot of Alabama compa-nies are positioned well to do some busi-ness in Cuba. For the port and for the state,I think it’s a big issue.”

Details: John Loggia, National Summit onCuba, World Policy Institute, New York. Tel:(212) 229-5808. E-mail: [email protected]. URL: www.nationalsummitoncuba.org.

LUXNER PHOTO SITE REVAMPEDLuxner News Inc., which publishes this

newsletter, is proud to announce the re-design of its global stock photo website.

Visitors to www.luxner.com will find asleek new look, a completely revampeduser interface and easy access to over10,000 color images from 72 countries inLatin America, Caribbean, Africa, MiddleEast and Europe.

The site boasts extensive coverage ofCuba, with nearly 900 pictures taken in 11of the island’s 14 provinces.

The site is an ideal resource for compa-nies needing photographs to illustrate bro-chures, annual reports or presentations.

Use our searchable database to findexactly what you need. We offer qualityphotos at competitive rates and can e-mail high-resolution scans or have CDsovernighted to our clients in most cases.

Details: Luxner News Inc., 10454 Parth-enon Ct., Bethesda, MD 20817. Tel: (301)365-1745. E-mail: [email protected].

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May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 5

“The United States must have zero tolerance for terrorists. This is just astrue in Iraq, Israel or the United States. It’s one of many reasons why Luís Po-sada Carriles, an anti-Castro militant with a long history of violence, shouldn’tbe granted refuge here. Granting him asylum would violate U.S. asylum stan-dards and damage our international standing in the war against terrorism.”

— The Miami Herald, in an Apr. 21 editorial.

“At this moment, Venezuela is only acting on behalf of Cuba. They haven’tcared about him for 20 years. Now they are asking for him because Castrowants him.”

— Santiago Alvarez, Luís Posada’s benefactor in South Florida, telling the MiamiHerald that Posada should not be extradited to Venezuela because he has alreadybeen tried and acquitted there twice in connection with a 1976 airline bombing.

“This declassified dossier is a record of Luís Posada’s career in violence. Inthis day and age, the U.S. cannot wage a war on international terrorism on onehand and allow someone with this kind of record to live here on the other.”

— Peter Kornbluh, director of the National Security Archive’s Cuba Documenta-tion Project, commenting on secret FBI and CIA documents released May 10.

“Instead of helping them get out [of prison], it could make their lives moredifficult [and] lead to a new wave of repression by the government.”

— Beatríz Pedroso, wife of Julio César Galvez Rodríguez, who is serving a 15-yearsentence, commenting on the planned May 20 Assembly to Promote Civil Society

being promoted by Cuban economist and dissident Marta Beatríz Roque.

“They practice a fascist military doctrine and proclaim their right to attackanyone when they please, using their powerful military machine, without anyjustification ... The Fourth Reich will be defeated. The 21st century will seethe final defeat of fascism.”

— Ricardo Alarcón, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, using a May 9 speechmarking the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat to attack U.S. policy.

“The little fool thinks he has the right to interfere here.”— Fidel Castro, in a verbal assault against Chile’s José Miguel Insulza, the

Organization of American States’ new secretary-general. In a May 5 speech,Castro called Insulza “the new figurehead of the United States in the region.”

“The administration’s transition plan for Cuba is nothing more than theusual pandering to a strident minority. We cannot credibly urge freedom forothers if we don’t even respect our own citizens’ most fundamental right totravel wherever they want.”

— Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), in a Washington speech blasting the Bush administration’s hardline stance against Cuba.

“Five years ago, I returned to my dad. When I saw him, I became veryhappy. I could hug him, I could see my little brother. That was the happiestday of my life.”

— Elián González, now 11, reading from a speech Apr. 22 marking the fifthanniversary of the Miami raid which enabled him to return to Cuba.

“We will make the final determination on the eve of May 20th.”— Alfredo Mesa, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation,which has received official U.S. permission to send delegates to Cuba for a dissi-

dent meeting on May 20. It’s unclear if CANF members will actually attend.

“I have fulfilled my duty as a citizen and as a soldier. All I ask is to beallowed to fulfill my duty as a father.”— Sgt. Carlos Lazo, a Cuban-American reserve officer serving in Iraq, telling mem-

bers of Congress why he should be able to visit his sons in Cuba.

In their own words …FLORIDA MEASURE TO LIMIT TRAVEL TO CUBA DIES

A move to curb travel from Florida to Cubafell apart in the state Senate when committeemembers said they don’t want to stop anyonefrom visiting a sick or dying relative, the SouthFlorida Sun-Sentinel reported Apr. 26.

The plan, championed by Rep. David Rivera(R-Miami), was designed to stop Floridiansfrom traveling to and helping the economy ofterrorist nations, mainly Cuba. It would havestripped Cuban exiles of any state and federalbenefits if they returned home within threeyears of arriving in Florida, and called for stifffees on charter flights to the island nation.

“You’d be able to travel to a terrorist country,just not do it on the taxpayer’s dime,” saidRivera, a vocal supporter of President Bush’stough restrictions on travel and gift parcels toCuba announced last May.

But members of the Senate Commerce andConsumer Services Committee wondered whythey should stop someone from visiting family.

“Why punish the families versus the Cubangovernment?” asked Sen. Ron Klein (D-DelrayBeach). “What if you have an elderly grand-mother ... or a sick relative?”

They questioned the plan’s constitutionality,and whether a state has the right to stop anyAmerican from traveling to a foreign country.

Rivera admitted no other state has tried thetactic but said, “Post 9-11 we’re living in a differ-ent world and states find themselves in a sup-porting role to the federal government.”

Still, the pitch died in a 2-to-5 vote.

CUBA ACTIVIST AL FOX TO RUN FOR CONGRESS

Albert A. Fox Jr., founder of the Washington-based Alliance for Responsible Cuba PolicyFoundation, plans to run for Congress.

Fox, profiled several years ago by this newslet-ter (CubaNews, March 2003, page 8), says he’lljoin the Democratic primary for the seat nowheld by Florida Rep. Jim Davis, who’s runningfor governor.

According to the Tampa Tribune, “Fox, whohas many Washington contacts, said he plans toraise $750,000 to $1 million, and has one key en-dorsement — retired Marine Lt. General Michael“Rifle” DeLong, a member of his foundation’sboard and former deputy to Gen. Tommy Franks.

Fox, 60, was born and raised in Tampa’s pre-dominantly Cuban district of Ybor City, and hastraveled to Cuba over 30 times. His alliance advo-cates closer diplomatic ties with Cuba and an endto the embargo.

That’s made him an enemy of many Cubanexiles including potential opponent RalphFernández of Tampa, who is also consideringentering the race.

Fox told fellow Democratic challengers KathyCastor, Scott Farrell, Les Miller and MikeSteinberg that he hopes for a campaign with “aconstructive and positive dialogue.”

Details: Al Fox, Alliance for Responsible CubaPolicy Foundation, 700 12th St. NW, Suite #1100,Washington, DC 20005. Tel: (202) 624-3330.Fax: (202) 624-3331. E-mail: [email protected].

POLITICAL BRIEFS

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6 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

ECONOMY

Minimum wage increases from 100 to 225 pesos a monthBY OUR HAVANA CORRESPONDENT

For the first time in a decade, Cuba’s min-imum wage is going up — and morethan 1.7 million Cubans stand to benefit

from the generous increase.President Fidel Castro announced that the

hike, effective May 1, more than doubles theminimum wage from 100 pesos ($4.00) amonth to 225 pesos ($9.00) a month.

The moves comes only a week after Castroraised monthly pensions to as high as 150pesos — some had been as low as 40-60 pesosa month. Over a million retirees and pension-ers are to benefit from the measures, mean-ing that between wages and pensions, aboutone in four Cubans will see more money intheir pockets.

The move particularly benefits Cubans whoearn the lowest salaries on the island, includ-ing farm laborers, plumbers, carpenters andothers. Even though 225 pesos still won’tcover food, clothing, energy and telephonebills, it will certainly make a difference to peo-ple who already enjoy free education andhealth-care, in addition to low or no rent.

Castro said the initiatives will represent anoutlay of 2.25 billion pesos ($90 million) moreevery year with an average monthly increaseof 52 pesos per person. The budget deficit,however, is expected to stay at or under 3% ofGDP, considered a manageable figure.

The average Cuban worker earns 300pesos a month, or the equivalent of about $12.Salary figures can be misleading in Cuba,however, where most citizens pay no rent,education and health care are free, and thegovernment offers heavily subsidized basicservices such as utilities and transportation.

According to the Cuban leader, the extra

expenses will be reimbursed by the sales ofhousehold appliances like pressure cookers,electric stoves, refrigerators, fans and otherChinese and Venezuelan goods that alreadyfill warehouses in and outside Havana.

Cuba is expected to import $200 millionworth of goods from Venezuela alone thisyear, part of a far-reaching accord betweenthe two countries that also includes the sup-ply of 90,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil a day atpreferential prices.

NO MORE ‘APAGONES,’ SAYS FIDEL

Castro has also announced the end ofblackouts and energy shortages for next year,although power has still its ups and downs.He called for an energy strategy based on effi-ciency to prevent the wasting of electricity inthe face of oil price hikes.

“We are going to have fewer power cuts,”he promised, saying newer appliances woulduse less energy. The Cuban leader — display-ing two U.S.-made Frigidaire andWestinghouse fridges from the 1950s that arestill in use in Cuba and an equally antiquatedfan to show how noisy it was — recalled that20% of the electricity generated is lost intransmission and distribution.

The island has already purchased modernequipment for the production of wire and thenecessary raw material to produce insulation.

“We will carry out an intense work on thisregard and a total revision of existing net-works,” said Castro, who also announced thepurchase of a huge number of energy-savinglight bulbs and fluorescent lamps to substi-tute incandescent light bulbs that would becollected in exchange for the energy-savingones and later destroyed.

Castro has expressed confidence about

Cuba’s economic recovery in recent months,based on increased earnings from tourismand nickel exports.

In another piece of good news, Cuba —severely squeezed for hard currency sincethe fall of the Soviet Union — managed toboost its foreign reserves by $1.48 billion in2004 as it achieved its first current accountsurplus since 1993.

Reuters reported that the boost of nearly$1.5 billion, all in hard currency, last yeardwarfed the net $107 million rise shown byCentral Bank figures for the 1993-2003 period,when Cuba had been plunged into economiccrisis by the loss of support from Moscow.

The leap in hard currency on hand appearsto provide a cushion as the island nation faceschallenges including a stif fer U.S. tradeembargo and a rise in the world prices of itsleading import items, food and oil.

Last year, Cuba achieved its first currentaccount surplus since 1993, of $176 million,and posted a $1 billion increase in its capitalaccount, according to the government report.

The current account balance of payments isthe broadest measure of a country’s foreigntransactions, encompassing trade in goodsand services, and so-called “invisibles” likeremittances and money transfers.

Castro boasted in February that the Cubaneconomy was strengthening and the countrywas “rising again like a phoenix” from theashes of post-Soviet meltdown.

Analysts quoted by Reuters said that, whilethe foreign account surpluses were goodnews, Cuba — hurt in recent years by hurri-canes, drought and a tightened U.S. embargo— would need years to return to the lifestyleof the 1980s and catch up on debt payments toforeign governments, banks and suppliers. �

Cash2Cuba.com stops accepting U.S. credit cards for Cuba remittances

Cuban-American exiles who wire their relatives money throughCash2Cuba.com, one of several Canadian-based online remit-tance services that handle wire transfers to Cuba, were sur-

prised last month to find out that Cash2Cuba has stopped acceptingU.S. credit cards.

In recent years, Cash2Cuba and its main rivals, Transcard and Dua-les (both based in Canada) have hyped their ability to process creditcards — including those issued by U.S. banks — as an advantage overU.S. remittance giants like Western Union and MoneyGram. Due tothe embargo, the latter two may not forward funds directly to Cubafrom U.S. credit-card holders.

Enzo Ruberto, president of ICC Corp., which owns Cash2Cuba, wasunavailable for comment. However, a customer service rep whoanswered the phone at Cash2Cuba’s toll-free number noted that thewebsite has not accepted U.S. credit cards for the past two months. Headded that in the interim, U.S. customers must send internationalmoney orders to ICC’s headquarters in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

When asked if the new policy had drastically cut into business withthe United States, the customer service rep answered, “not really.”

Some observers blame this new trend on the Bush administration’sefforts to discourage business between Americans and foreign-based

online ventures that provide Cuba services.Earlier this year, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control

banned U.S. nationals from doing business with Tour & MarketingInternational Ltd., a British Virgin Islands-based firm run by Britishentrepreneur Steve Marshall and best known for its Cuban tourismwebsite GoCubaPlus.com (see CubaNews, January 2005, page 11).

So far, the other Canada-based money transfer operations haven’tchanged their tactics, though the fear of U.S. pressure on these firmsseems to have had a chilling effect.

When we asked Henry Martínez, president of Duales Inc., whetherhis company planned to bar online transactions with U.S. credit-cardholders, all he would say was “no comment.”

It’s apparent that OFAC’s actions against Tour & Marketing arecausing other international online operations with Cuba-related busi-ness to take a lower profile. One Canadian businessman who askednot to be named told CubaNews that earlier this year, the U.S. gov-ernment put pressure on Canadian clearinghouse InternetSecure todiscontinue processing transactions that covered Cuba-bound funds.

No executive from InternetSecure was available for comment —perhaps with good reason.

– VITO ECHEVARRÍA

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said a 62-year old Havana man whose pensionamounts to less than $10 a month.

His business is a simple one. He has afriend who sells him 100 plastic bags for 50pesos, or about $2. The man steals them froma Havana factory where he works. The retireecan sell each bag for one peso on the street,doubling his investment.

The bags are highly coveted by Cubans,because most shops on the island don’t haveany to give their customers. People who don’tbring their own bags when they shop buyonly what they can carry in their hands.

The 62-year-old said he usually sells about30 to 40 bags a day near a busy vegetablestand blocks from Havana’s seaside Malecón.But it’s risky business. If he gets caught, hecould face a 1,500-peso fine, about $60, andhave all his bags taken away. Lately, his friendhas not had any bags to sell him.

Standing outside the market where he usu-ally sells his wares, he dreams of starting amore lucrative business but he doesn’t havethe cash. With nothing else to do, he’s visitinga 41-year-old niece who works at the market.

“It’s getting very bad,” he said, taking a pufffrom a cigar. “This is not easy. �

neighborhood, balancing himself with an armbrace while holding a stack of newspaperswith his one free hand.

He earns his living by selling the papers atfive times their cover price, which amounts toless than a nickel a copy. He won’t talk abouthow he manages to get his hands on thepapers, which should be sold at newsstandsfor 20 centavos, less than a penny. The papersoften sell out before the last person in line canpurchase one.

“You have to go into business to survive,”

sary to have hard-currency income.”Although the government offers free med-

ical care to all of its citizens, many drugs aresimply not available in Cuba or accessibleonly at exorbitant prices.

The cost of food and other goods makesbasic survival difficult for most Cubans, eventhose who earn an average wage.

The revaluation of the Cuban peso againstthe new peso convertible which has replaced

Elderly — FROM PAGE 1

May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 7

the U.S. dollar is an attempt by the Cubangovernment to bridge the gap between thosewho live solely on pesos and those withaccess to hard currency.

Meanwhile, the island’s ranks of retire-ment-age citizens is only poised to grow. ACuban baby born today can expect to live 76years, one of Latin America’s highest lifeexpectancies. Low birth rates also mean thatCuba’s population, much like the UnitedStates, is becoming grayer every year.

The Cuban government imposes a manda-tory retirement age for most of its citizens —60 for men, 55 for women — to make room foryounger workers in this tight job market.

“This show how the Cuban economy can-not absorb people,” said Jaime Suchlicki, dir-ector of the University of Miami’s Institute forCuban and Cuban-American Studies. “It cre-ates a horrible situation for older workers.”

Some workers, however, are retiring evenearlier, knowing they can make more moneyon the streets than in a typical state job.

A middle-age newspaper vendor whowakes up early every morning to hawkCuba’s official newspapers on the streets sayshe used to work for the government at anewsstand until he realized he could makemore money on his own.

Known to his most loyal customers as“Jesús el cojo” (Jesus the gimp), he limps alonga busy stretch of road in Havana’s Vedado

Diana Marrero is a Phillips Foundation jour-nalism fellow in Washington. She has previous-ly worked as a reporter for the South FloridaSun-Sentinel and the Florida Times-Union.

EDUCATION BRIEFSLOYOLA PULLS THE PLUG ON ITS CUBA PROGRAM

Bowing to criticism that it could get suckedinto the battle between Washington andHavana, Chicago’s Loyola University has sus-pended a U.S. government-funded program toprovide English-language courses to adults ina poor Havana neighborhood, the ChicagoTribune reported May 5.

Since 1999, students at the Jesuit schoolhave paid their own expenses to teach Englishfor two weeks during the summer at aCatholic community center in Cuba.

But last fall, Loyola decided to continue thecourses thanks to a $425,000 grant from theU.S. Agency for International Development.

Cuban authorities denounce any U.S. gov-ernment-funded program as an effort to un-dermine their government, and Cubans whoparticipate are subject to a prison sentence.

Loyola spokeswoman Maeve Kiley said theuniversity informed faculty and students inApril that its Cuba program was suspended “atthe request of our Cuban partners.”

“Loyola’s recent reception of grant money insupport of this program from USAID has gen-erated considerable criticism,” Kiley wrote inan e-mail to the Tribune. “Loyola is sensitiveto these concerns as well as to the needs ofour partners in Cuba.”

Rev. Charles Currie, president of the Associ-ation of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, aWashington group representing 28 schoolsincluding Loyola, said he agreed with Loyola’sdecision even if it meant ending a programthat provided a valuable skill to Cubans.

“Clearly it would be helpful that people inCuba learn to speak English but without apolitical agenda in mind,” he said. “The morethat a political agenda intrudes, the more com-promised the good effort becomes.”

UM LIBRARY INHERITS BATISTA COLLECTION

The University of Miami’s Cuban HeritageCollection has received the Fulgencio BatistaZaldivar Collection, consisting of thousands ofdocuments — correspondence, memorabilia,photographs, and books — owned by the for-mer Cuban dictator.

This “invaluable part of Cuban history,” asUM calls it, was donated by Batista’s widowand his children. It contains documents datingfrom 1958, the year before Batista was over-thrown by Fidel Castro, to 1973, when he diedin Marbella, Spain.

The materials include an unfinished autobi-ography, original manuscripts and correspon-dence with Cuban government and militaryofficials prior to 1959, as well as letters fromCuban political and literary figures and for-eign dignitaries.

The Cuban Heritage Collection, at UM’sOtto G. Richter Library, is the largest reposi-tory of Cuba-related historical and literarymanuscripts, personal papers, maps, postersand photographs in existence outside Cuba.

Details: Barbara Gutiérrez, Cuban HeritageCollection, UM. Tel: (305) 284-5500. URL:www.library.miami.edu/umcuban/cuban.html.

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8 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

NEWSMAKERS

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco seeks closer Cuba ties

CubaNews editor and publisher Larry Luxner interviews Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco in Baton Rouge.

DE

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BY LARRY LUXNER

In March, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blancobecame the fourth governor — and thefirst one from a southern state — to visit

Cuba since the 1959 revolution and meet withFidel Castro. Her three-day trip was widelysupported by those who favor an end to U.S.travel and trade restrictions, and condemnedby Cuban-American groups that maintain ahard line against the Castro regime.

On May 10, CubaNews interviewed Blanco,a Democrat, for about half an hour at heroffice on the 4th floor of the Louisiana statecapitol in Baton Rouge. Here are excerptsfrom that exclusive interview:

Q: Gov. Blanco, what were the mostsignificant achievements resulting fromyour trip to Cuba?

A: “Our goal was to establish stronger tradeopportunities for Louisiana products. Weknew that it was important to have presencein order to do that. Our most importantaccomplishment was to sign agreements for$15 million worth of Louisiana farm and fiberproducts to be purchased by the Cuban gov-ernment. We don’t have too many pharma-ceutical products, although we are a shippingport, and a great deal of what’s being shippedto Cuba leaves from the port of New Orleans.”

Q: How important can trade with Cubabe as long as this trade is limited only toexports of U.S. food commodities, andnot imports of Cuban goods?

A: “We are simply doing whatever our fede-ral government allows. As these ruleschange, then we may see more opportunities.Even if they don’t change, we still have a veryvibrant farm economy. Throughout my publiccareer, I have been to a number of countriesaround the world. I think it’s very imporantthat the state of Louisiana be actively involvedin seeking opportunities for our businesses.”

Q: Compared to the rest of Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean, how significant isthe “Cuba potential” for Louisiana?

A: “Because business was not allowed inthe past, I think Cuba offers us tremendoussales opportunities. The port of New Orleansand Louisiana used to count Cuba as one of itsmajor trading partners. When the embargowas declared, that was a loss to our farmers.

“We would like to reclaim our prominencein their marketplace. Our farmers are the peo-ple I care about deeply, and its hard to findopportunities for farmers, especially since thefederal government controls so much in afarmer’s life.”

Q. How significant is the fact that youare the first governor of a southern stateto not only travel to Cuba but meet withFidel Castro since the revolution?

A: “I never really thought about it. But I’mcertainly not waiting around for any othergovernors to do our economic development.

Louisiana’s economy has been stagnating fora number of years. We’re losing job opportu-nities. Our chemical corridor was sufferingdramatically from the high price of naturalgas. The oil and gas industry was one of ourmost promising industries, and we’ve lost ourmomentum. There’s still a lot of nervousnessin this state.”

Q: What was it like to meet Castro?A: “It was not my intention, and I certainly

respect the feelings and attitudes of Cuban-Americans who objected to that. I understandwhat they’ve been through. On the otherhans, there were other voices who were pure-ly political — and those I live with every day.If it wasn’t Cuba, they’d find something else toscream about.”

Q: Given the political fallout, why didyou decide to meet Castro in the end?

A: “I receive a lot of people here, and Iknow that as a head of state myself, if I don’treach out to visitors sometimes, it makesthem feel awkward.”

Q: How much time did you spend withhim?

A: “About two and a half hours. As we wereparting, he told us he wished we could havespent more time in Cuba.”

Q: What were your overall impressionsof Havana?

A: “You can see the city’s former grandeur.Beautiful buildings are in a state of deteriora-tion. There’s a big need for investment, andthey simply don’t have the financial where-withal. Cuba is a beautiful country with a lotof good people who are poised to see somerenewed vigor. I know people here in the U.S.who would would like the freedom to be ableto return Cuba to its once-glorious years.”

Q: Could you explain why no meetingswere arranged between yourself and pro-minent dissidents like Oswaldo Payá,even though several dissidents hadhoped to meet with you?

A: “I was not on a political mission, and wewere trying to not get embroiled in politics.When the invitation did come to us [from

Castro], we made it clear that we would not betalking politics. It would just be business.”

Q: Do you think the embargo againstCuba should be unilaterally lifted as longas Castro remains in power?

A: “I don’t see politics allowing that. I don’tsee the embargo being lifted unilaterally fora long time, but I think easing into it wouldbe very smart, and those Cuban-Americanswho care so deeply about Cuba’s futurewould benefit in the long run.”

Q. What would you say to Cuban-Amer-icans who feel betrayed by your trip?

A: “That’s an extreme reaction. I have hadlarge numbers of Cuban-Americans come upto say ‘thank you, we needed you to do that.’It’s been amazing. Every week, someone likethat comes up to me. I feel that if communica-tions aren’t opened up early, it will be far moredifficult later on.”

Q: Were you asked by the Cuban gov-ernment at any time to sign a statementurging for an end to the embargo?

A: “We did not make a political trip, andwe’re not going to lobby. My role is to build astrong economy for Louisiana. My state hasalways been behind the curve, and so I havedecided to erase all excuses for failure.”

Q: Do you have any regrets about hav-ing gone to Cuba?

A: “Not at all. In the long run, this will bebeneficial.” �

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May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 9

BY LARRY LUXNER

From Alabama to Vermont, state govern-ments are enthusiastically sendingtrade missions down to Havana, eager

to do business with the Castro regime despiteopposition from the Bush administration.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who visit-ed Cuba in mid-March, returned with a com-

“Louisiana’s economy has been stagnating for a number of years.We’re losing job opportunities ... My state has always been behindthe curve, and so I have decided to erase all excuses for failure.”

— LOUISIANA GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO

mitment from Cuban purchasing agencyAlimport to buy $15 million worth of Louisi-ana food and timber products.

Likewise, North Dakota officials say Cubahas signed a contract to buy 5,000 metric tonsof dry peas for immediate delivery — a dealworth nearly $1 million for the state.

Eric Bartsch, executive director of theNorth Dakota Dry Pea and Lentil Association,says that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“The biggest thing out of that meeting wastheir commitment to buy 20,000 metric tons

in the next 18 months,” Bartsch told theMinot Daily News. “It’s a deal similar to lastfall, and it’s an intent to buy, but now exportcompanies can start negotiating for sales.”

Cuba purchased 20,000 tons of NorthDakota peas last year. The country has pur-chased $5.5 million worth of North Dakotadry peas and beans in the past five years.

Greg Johnson, president of Premier PulsesInternational Inc. in Minot, said the initial5,000-ton sale will be green peas.

Future shipments may be yellow or greenpeas or both, depending on an agreed-uponprice prior to shipment.

Pedro Alvarez, chief of the Cuban food pur-chasing agency Alimport, told the delegationhis entity would pursue contracts with NorthDakota companies for sunflowers, beef, maltbarley, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, potatoesand other commodities.

NEW ORLEANS — Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s recent trip to Havanawas a moral outrage, charges one of Louisiana’s most promi-nent Cuban-Americans.

George Fowler III, a New Orleans attorney and vice-president of theMiami-based Cuban American National Foundation, told CubaNewsthat the trip accomplished little in the way of business while angeringmuch of Louisiana’s Hispanic population.

“There are many reasons why the governor of Louisiana shouldn’tgo to Cuba. The first is that the State Department lists Castro’s Cubaas a terrorist nation, much like Syria and other enemies of our coun-try. In every speech, Castro speaks against the United States.”

Fowler, 54, was interviewed on the 30th floor of a skyscraper over-looking downtown New Orleans and the Mississippi River. His corneroffice is decorated with U.S. and Cuban flags, photos of himself shak-ing hands with President George Bush Sr., and a framed letter ofthanks from the late CANF founder, Jorge Mas Canosa.

Those mementoes should leave little doubt where Fowler stands onthe issue of doing business with Fidel Castro.

“By going to Cuba, you condone the regime and the atrocities,” hesaid. “You don’t go visit a terrorist in the middle of a war on terrorism,particularly a deadbeat who has no money.”

The Havana-born attorney, who fled with his family to the UnitedStates at the age of 9, today runs one of the nation’s largest maritimelaw firms. Several years ago, Fowler helped organize a protest at thePort of New Orleans, from where the first U.S. food shipment was sentto Cuba under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export EnhancementAct of 2000, also known as TSRA.

Fowler said he first got wind of Blanco’s Cuba plans after Michael

Olivier became Louisiana’s secretary of economic development.“I was one of the hosts of an event at the World Trade Center, dur-

ing which Olivier indicated that [Gov. Blanco] would go to Cuba. So Isaid, ‘you and I need to talk.’ That got a big laugh.”

Fowler said he contacted the head of the Louisiana DemocraticParty as well as Blanco’s office, warning her that the trip would be “aterrible idea.” He said this view was shared by the vast majority ofLouisiana’s 10,000-strong Cuban exile community, and certainly byCANF’s 500 or so supporters throughout the state.

In addition, Fowler said the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce— which is composed mostly of Mexican and Central American busi-nessmen — came out strongly against the trip.

“I don’t want to insult anybody, and I’m sure this governor meantwell, but I tried to dissuade her from going,” he told CubaNews. “I gaveher a list of dissidents and urged her to see them. [Oswaldo] Payáwent to the U.S. Interests Section to meet her, but she snubbed him.”

Fowler says he can’t understand why Blanco agreed to have lobsterwith Fidel, especially when the potential payoff for Louisiana — atleast in the short run — appears to be so insignificant.

“You don’t go to a foreign country to pick up a $15 million deal overan 18-month period,” he complained. “I know Cuban-Americans whodo that much business in a month.”

Fowler claims that by traveling to Cuba in the first place, Blancoaccepted the notion that she’d probably end up meeting Fidel Castro.

“She didn’t think she would have to, which is indicative of a lack ofknowledge of Cuba,” he said. “It’s sheer ignorance. How could you goto Cuba as a governor and not meet with Castro?”

– LARRY LUXNER

CANF LEADER CALLS GOVERNOR’S LUNCH WITH FIDEL A BIG BLUNDER

“We generated some sales and spent a con-siderable amount of time on other products,"said Johnson. “That includes flax, wheat,some mustard and beef genetics.”

North Dakota is the No. 1 dry-pea produc-er in the United States, with 315,322 acres ofpeas under cultivation.

Alimport has also signed a general promiseto buy food — mainly apples, milk powder,mayonnaise and livestock — from Vermont.

The agreement, signed earlier this monthby Alvarez and Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, didnot specify any quantities or dollar amounts.

Jeffords, an independent who plans to re-tire this year, said he’d do all he can to lift theembargo and “promote closer relations be-tween our peoples and our two governments.”

On the last day of the 5-day congressionaltrip, Jeffords, his wife Liz and some top aideswere granted an audience with Fidel Castro.

According to the Burlington Free-Press, thesenator told the old revolutionary that Castrohad caused the anti-communist Republicanpolitician big problems over the years be-cause his wife had been a strident Castro sup-porter during her high-school years.

Castro motioned to Mrs. Jeffords and toldher “come right here and sit next to me.”After that, Castro repeatedly told the senatorhe should listen more to his wife.

“Liz was the real focus after that,” Jeffordstold the newspaper, clearly amused by it all. “Iwas just some guy in the room.” �

State governments rush to sign trade deals with CubaUS-CUBA TRADE

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10 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

COMMODITIES

decade earlier. These desperate measureswere an attempt to boost the sector’s efficien-cy and competitiveness by consolidating thescarce resources in the best-performing millsand the most productive lands.

Fifteen years ago, nearly half of Cuba’s cul-tivated lands were devoted to sugar produc-tion, and with total output of 7.5 to 8.0 milliontons it remained the mainstay of the conomyuntil the Soviet collapse in the early 1990s.

This year, by contrast, only 525,000 hec-

duction costs, poor investment policies,declining agricultural yields, chronic manage-ment problems, soaring energy prices, fallingrevenues and the collapse of the infrastruc-ture itself (mills, harvesters and even roads).

This outcome becomes more disappointingwhen considering that world market priceshave risen from 6.33¢ per lb in the first sixmonths of 2004 to 8.82¢/lb in January-April2005, a 39% jump. For several weeks this year,prices exceeded 10¢/lb.

BY ARMANDO PORTELA

Cuba’s goal of achieving a shorter, moreefficient and more rewarding efficientand more rewarding sugar harvest this

year has vanished.The island’s prolonged drought dealt a final

blow to the ailing sugar industry, which thisseason yielded only 1.3 million metric tons —the worst harvest since 1908, when only900,000 tons were produced.

Instead of benefitting from much higherworld market prices for sugar that prevailedthis year — almost 40% higher than in 2004 —Cuba will see its export earning from sugarslashed by over half.

After two consecutive years of what is de-scribed as the worst drought on record, withonly 40% of normal rainfall over much of theisland (see CubaNews, December 2004, pagexx), sugarcane yields dropped dramaticallynationwide. The worst impact has been inCuba's central and eastern regions, whichaccount for roughly 75% of the island’s totalsugar output.

According to the scarce official mediareports, sugarcane fields have been ruined bydrought, they’re suffering from low density,the cane itself is small and thin, and worst ofall, the new shoots for future harvests arebadly damaged. When compared to the previ-ous harvest, this year’s agricultural yieldshave plunged 30% or more in eastern Cuba.

Assuming last year’s average yield of 33tons of sugarcane per hectare (39,000 arrobasper caballería using traditional Cuban measu-ring standards), with 2.53 million tons ofsugar produced from 700,000 hectares of sug-arcane, this time yields could be as low as 23tons/hectare (27,000 arrobas/caballería)from 525,000 hectares harvested.

That would be the lowest yield since 1991,when Cuba lost its Soviet sugar subsidies —and probably the lowest in modern history.

Cuban sources have insisted in the pastthat to break even with costs, fields shouldyield no less than 42 tons/hectare (50,000arrobas per caballería) of sugarcane. Theysay the is-land is capable of sustaining a mini-mum sugarcane yield of 77.3 tons/hectare(91,500 arrobas/caballería).

According to the experts, Cuba’s millsmust perform at a minimum 80% capacity, andno less than 11% of sugar ought to be extract-ed from all grinded cane. These goldenparameters however, have been well beyondthe reach of the industry for at least 15 years.

Pursuing these minimum performancerequirements, authorities began gradually totrim the sector after 1996, when over 150 ofthe then-existing 161 mills went into grinding.

In 2002 the government finally downsizedthe sector, shutting half the island’s mills.That left only 84 still operating. By then, Cubahad only 700,000 hectares planted with sugar-cane, down from 1.76 million hectares a

tares, mostly state land, went to harvest, feed-ing 56 of the 84 survivng mills — only to bearone of the worst harvests in a century.

Now it’s glaringly evident that the 2002downsizing of the sector failed to accomplishits goal of boosting efficiency and competi-tiveness. Cuba spared only the most efficientsugar mills for this harvest, trying to avoidthe nightmare of expensive breakdowns inthe middle of the grinding season — raisingserious doubts about the industry’s future.

“This country will never live off of sugaragain. That belongs to the era of slavery,”Fidel Castro said in early March. “This coun-try’s means of support [the sugar industry] isnow its source of ruin.”

According to Castro, the government allo-cated to the sugar sector 293,000 tons of fuelthis season. That’s equivalent to 2.14 millionbarrels worth $90-110 million at current mar-ket prices — three times as much fuel as whatwas allocated to the Ministry of Transportover the same time period.

It would, however, be unfair to blame thedisappointing outcome only on bad weather.Other factors have been undermining the sec-tor for decades, well before the rains began tofail. These include the burden of high pro-

At prevailing commodity prices from Jan-uary through April, this year’s sugar harvestis worth only $253 million. The market valueof exportable stocks (after excluding 700,000tons for domestic consumption) is a far cryfrom the $4 billion worth of sugar exportedannually during the 1980s.

On May 10, the London-based InternationalSugar Organization boosted its forecast of theworld sugar deficit in 2005, meaning priceswill stay high this year, but noted that stock-piles will cover the deficit without any “tight-ness in export supply to the world market.”

The same ISO report warns that global out-put will be enough to meet growing demandin the next two years, after an strong recoveryof India’s production and “some industryrevival” in Thailand, Pakistan and Cuba.

If the island fails to significantly raise itsoutput in the near future, Cuba’s sugar sectorcould once again be facing record-low har-vests in 2006 and 2007. �

Meager 2005 sugar harvest to yield only 1.3 million tons

8

6

4

2

0

15.0

13.0

11.0

9.0

7.0

5.01990 1995 2000 2005

ANNUAL PRODUCTIONin million tons

MONTHLY MARKET PRICEIn cents per pound

CUBA’S SUGAR OUTPUT AND MARKET PRICES

Source: Cuba’s statistical yearbooks, Barchart.com

Miami-based cartographer and freelancewriter Armando Portela has a Ph.D. in geogra-phy from the Soviet Academy of Sciences. He hascovered commodities for CubaNews since 1993.

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May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 11

cigars account for 70% of all cigars smoked inthe world, without counting the United States,where the embargo prohibits the import ofthis or any other product from the island.

Despite the money-making potential of thetobacco industry, Cuba has joined many othercountries around the world in adopting meas-ures to combat smoking. Around 30% ofCuba’s 11 million inhabitants are smokers.

Smoking in air-conditioned or enclosedpublic spaces like offices, meeting halls, the-atres, cinemas, and medical, educational andsports facilities has been banned since Febru-

BY PATRICIA GROGG

While Cuba has joined most of the restof the world in adopting anti-smokingmeasures, Cuban scientists say they

have also developed a new, less harmful vari-ety of tobacco to lessen the ill effects of thishabit, reports Inter Press Service.

In Cuba, home of renowned cigars, smok-ing is responsible for a third of all deaths fromcancer, which in turn is the second leadingcause of death after heart disease.

While the government of Fidel Castro, him-self a former smoker, launched a major cam-paign early this year aimed at encouragingCubans to quit, the new “safer” tobacco ismeant to lessen the harm caused to thosewho refuse to “butt out.”

The recently developed strain of tobacco,called IT-2004, was created through tradition-al cross-breeding methods and has a lower tarand nicotine content. It will be used to pro-duce cigarettes for the domestic market.

According to the state-run TobaccoResearch Institute (IIT), the new variety oftobacco is also better able to withstanddrought, as well as being more resistant topests and disease. It also boasts a yield of upto three tons per hectare.

Cuban experts say the cancer-causingpotential of cigarettes does not depend solelyon the type of tobacco used, but also the wayin which the tobacco plants are grown, interms of the distance between seeds whenplanted and the processes followed for irriga-tion, fertilization and other procedures. Theway the tobacco leaves are processed afterpicking also plays a role.

They also stress that Cuban tobacco isgrown through strictly traditional methods,with absolutely no genetic modifications ofany kind. This holds true whether the tobac-co is used to make cigarettes for domesticconsumption or cigars for the lucrative inter-national market.

The distinctive flavor and aroma of Cubancigars result from a large number of genes,which would make any attempts to improvethe tobacco through genetic engineeringboth complex and risky.

Moreover, most of the cigars exported byCuba are sold in European countries, wherethe use of genetically modified organisms isgenerally frowned upon.

Researchers at the ITT have also developedvarieties of tobacco that are more resistant totobacco blue mold, a particularly destructivedisease whose airborne spores can travel dis-tances of up to 5,000 kms. These are now theonly varieties of tobacco grown on the 39,000hectares of land devoted to this crop in Cuba.

To protect their crops from insects andother pests, tobacco farmers use biologicalagents like Bacillus thuringiensis, along withchemical products.

The tobacco industry brings Cuba roughly$300 million in revenues annually. Cuban

ary as a result of a ministerial resolution. Busdrivers and food service workers are also pro-hibited from smoking on the job.

All cigarette vending machines have beenremoved, while it is illegal to sell cigarettes tominors or in stores, restaurants or other busi-nesses located within 100 meters of schools.

“I still smoke like I always have, but now Igo out into the hall, because I don’t want to bereprimanded. Before, I used to smoke in theclassroom,” said university professor ManuelGarcía, who has smoked for almost 30 of his55 years.

In addition to a general warning that smok-ing is harmful to one’s health, Cuban ciga-rette packages now contain information ontar, nicotine and carbon monoxide content.

Cuban cigarettes have been labeled withgeneral warnings about the health hazards ofsmoking since the 1970s. But anti-smokingefforts have been stepped up considerablyafter Cuba signed, last May, the World HealthOrganization (WHO) Framework Conventionon Tobacco Control, which entered into forcethis past February.

The convention addresses such aspects ascigarette advertising, tobacco industry spon-sorship, warning labels, pricing, taxation, con-traband and second-hand smoke. �

TOBACCO

Cuba says it’s found a ‘safer’ cigarette

Patricia Grogg is a reporter for Inter PressService, a Rome-based independent news agency.

AGRICULTURE BRIEFSDROUGHT-STRICKEN FARMERS TO GET RELIEF

Cuban farmers belonging to 500 coopera-tives will receive a special credit of 50 millionpesos from the government to alleviate dam-ages caused by a prolonged drought, accord-ing to the Communist Party daily Granma.

The credit will be provided by the NationalBank of Cuba and guaranteed by the state.Terms allow for a 3-year period of repayment,flexible with periodic analyses of clients inorder to gauge their repayment possibilities.

Orlando Lugo Fonte, president of the Natio-nal Association of Small Farmers, said cooper-atives grow 93% of Cuba’s tobacco, 82% of itsbeans, 75% of its corn, 65% of its cocoa, 62% ofits coffee, 60% of its fresh vegetables and 56%of the island’s root vegetables.

For rural communities in the eastern pro-vince of Las Tunas — one of those mostaffected by the drought — the state is helpingwith the construction of 560 water wells.

DRY SPELL THREATENS AQUACULTURE SECTOR

The lack of rainfall in eastern Camagüeyprovince is threatening local aquaculture,despite production of 1,504 tons of freshwaterfish in the first three months of 2005.

This production growth is due to a loweringof water levels in reservoirs, which made fishconcentrate in a reduced water space, saidlocal aquaculture expert Aldo Sánchez.

In 2004, local production reached 5,500 tonsof freshwater fish, an impossible figure forthis year. Experts say that even if reservoirsrecover their water levels during the currentrainy season, aquaculture production won’treturn to their previous levels before 2007.

FLA. CATTLEMAN TO SHIP 500 ANIMALS TO CUBA

Florida rancher J. Parke Wright IV says he’snegotiating to supply 500 head of cattle toCuban state agency Alimport, together withthe Holstein Association USA Inc., for a totalprice of around $1 million.

Of the 500, about 100 animals will comefrom Vermont, 100 from Maine and the restfrom other states. Wright told CubaNews thata 3-man delegation from Cuba is coming inlate May or early June to inspect the livestock.

“The visas were approved in a timely fash-ion. That’s the good news for dairy cattle,” hetold us in a phone interview from Naples, Fla.“But for beef cattle, it’s bad news.”

That’s because of a disease called bluetongue. Wright said he recently rounded up150 head of Florida beef cattle for export toCuba, but could only ship 22 because the resttested positive for blue tongue.

“They did not meet the test requirementsunder the U.S. and Cuban protocol,” he said.“Animals in the South test positive for bluetongue, but they don’t really have it.”

Complicating the problem, Wright toldCubaNews, is the fact that “the U.S. StateDepartment would not let our USDA special-ists go to Cuba to meet one day [with Cubanofficials] and have a discussion to resolve theblue tongue issue. It’s an unnecessary test.”

Havana produce vendor smokes on the job.

LAR

RY

LUX

NE

R

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TOURISM, NICKEL REVENUES SPUR FX EARNINGS

Driven by unusually high nickel prices andcobalt prices, exports reached $2.2 billion,compared with a little less than $1.7 billion in2003, according to Reuters, quoting officialfigures. Service exports grew by close to $500million, nearing the $3.7 billion mark.

Local economists estimate that nickelexports, the country’s largest, generated $800million last year. They said tourism had con-tinued to grow, with gross revenues of $2.3billion in 2004, and there was increased rev-enue from the sale of services by doctors,teachers and sports trainers to Venezuela.

Higher volumes and prices of Cuba’s twomost significant imports — oil and food —drove goods imports up by $600 million tonearly $5.3 billion, while service imports wererelatively stable at around $750 million.

Money transfers in and out of Cuba showeda $300 million surplus, the report said.

Family remittances and other money trans-fers into the island came to $1.1 billion, anearly $200 million jump over 2003, but thesources of the increase were unclear becauseCuba does not publish remittance figures.

Profit remittances by foreign companies,interest and other external payments alsoincreased, by $150 million, to $800 million.

Much of the capital account surplus of $1.3billion was due to an influx of dollars last Nov-ember when the U.S. currency was replacedas legal tender by a local equivalent, calledthe convertible peso, a foreign banker said.

Cubans were given three weeks to ex-change their hoarded U.S. currency before a10% levy on it went into effect. They flocked tostate-run banks and exchange houses to handover an estimated $700 million to $800 million,the banker said.

CUBA UNVEILS NEW GEOGRAPHY WEBSITE

The Cuban government has inaugurated anew website with key geographic features,say Tania Delgado, executive secretary forCuba’s Special Data Compilation Program.

The site, at www.iderc.co.cu, was devel-oped by Infraestructura de Datos Espacialesde la República de Cuba (IDERC), and pro-vides unique access to domestic geographicdata collected by different sources in situ, aswell as imaging supplied by satellite observa-tion and maps at different scales.

The site is available for consultation to gov-ernment institutions, educators and others. Italso provides a wealth of population and otherdata from the National Office of Statistics’2002 yearbook.

Details: Tania Delgado, IDERC, Havana.E-mail: [email protected].

CHINESE FIRM TO BUILD BUSES IN CUBA

Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. Ltd., China’sNo. 1 large-and-medium-sized bus producer,plans to build assembly plants in foreign coun-tries to boost its exports.

The company, based in central China’sHenan province, is in talks with partners from

BUSINESS BRIEFS Cuba, Iran, Vienam, Indonesia, Egypt, Zim-babwe and Ghana to build plants, said XuWeidong, Yutong’s marketing and sales direc-tor, in an Apr. 30 interview with China Daily.

The Shanghai-listed firm has begun export-ing 400 buses worth 240 million yuan ($29million) to Cuba, including 200 units to beassembled by vehicle maker Tranbuss inCuba with components shipped from China.

Yutong’s exports to Cuba will total 1,000buses this year, said Xu, noting that his com-pany is negotiating with Tranbuss to build ajoint-venture factory with annual productioncapacity of 1,500 buses.

Pedro Cruza, Cuban commercial counselorto China, told reporters “we will need morebuses as well as trucks and cars from China.Vehicle businesses will be an important partof growing trade between the two countries.”

NICKEL OUTPUT VIRTUALLY STAGNANT

Cuba’s 2004 production of unrefined nickelplus cobalt was actually little changed from2003’s level, despite a government report fourmonths ago that said output increased sub-stantially, Reuters reported Apr. 21.

Economy and Planning Minister José LuísRodríguez said in December that 2004 outputrose 7.5% over 2003’s production of 71,700metric tons. Cuba is one of the world’s largestnickel producers and supplies 10% of theworld’s cobalt, according to the Basic IndustryMinistry.

“The initial report [on 2004 production] wasa bit optimistic, more the plan than the reality.Preliminary data now show there was littlechange in production last year,” a mid-level

government official told Reuters this week.The official, who wasn’t identified, said 2004

output was around 72,000 tons of mainly nick-el sinter and sulfides, with plans to reach77,000 tons this year. Unrefined nickel pluscobalt had consolidated its position as Cuba’slargest export over sugar even before highprices led to an estimated $800 million to $1billion in revenue last year.

Cuba’s National Minerals Resource Centerreported that eastern Holguin province, wherethe industry is located, had around a third ofthe world’s known reserves.

The joint-venture Pedro Sotto Alba plant op-erated by state-owned Cubaniquel and Toron-to-based Sherritt International Corp. accountsfor 33,000 tons of annual output which isshipped to the venture’s Canadian refinery.

Cubaniquel operates two older plants inHolguin, exporting the product mainly toEurope and China.

SABZALI OFF THE HOOK — FINALLY

The U.S. government has withdrawn allcharges against Canadian businessman JamesSabzali, and will no longer seek to deport himfrom his adopted home in Philadelphia.

The Communist Party daily Granma report-ed Apr. 29 that at one point, Sabzali had facedlife imprisonment and over $19 million in finesfor having sold water purification supplies toCuban hospitals.

The problem was that Sabzali, a Canadiancitizen, was conducting business inside Can-ada for most of his alleged violations of theTrading With the Enemy Act. On the otherhand, the Canadian Extraterritorial Measures

12 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

Russian expert helps Cuba fight computer viruses

Whoever saw him in the lobby of Ha-vana’s Hotel Nacional could havetaken him for a yuppie — one of

those young successful executives dressedin Armani suits, flying down to Cuba look-ing for a good deal.

Eugene Kaspersky, however, belongs to anew breed of entrepreneurs who speak interms of bits and bytes.

In a few years, this Russian informationtechnology expert with long hair combedback into a ponytail has become a majorsoftware developer. He’s also a hunterwhose prey roams the planet and whosetarget practice field is the World Wide Web.

Kaspersky was once a student of cryptog-raphy in Moscow. He later founded andbecame chief developer of Kaspersky Labs,a company with 500 employees and distrib-utors on four continents. But that hardlyexplains what he was doing in Cuba.

“I have come to Havana to host the firstmeeting of the Latin American partners ofKaspersky Labs, where experts from Mexi-co, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Colombiaare taking part in technical, marketing andtraining sessions, as well as roundtable dis-cussions,” he told CubaNews.

One of Kaspersky’s main Caribbean part-

ners is the Cuban state entity Segurmatica.José Bidot, director of Segurmatica, hadpreviously founded a Latin American lab tofight computer viruses, in a project spon-sored jointly by the Cuban government andUNESCO.

During the first two months of 2005, saidKaspersky, virus attacks against PCs dou-bled compared to the same period of 2004.Almost all these attacks came from abroad,he said. The only solution is to keep oninvestigating ways to protect oneself.

No operating system at present is totallysecure. Neither are the networks, sincethey were designed before the advent ofhackers. The next step in this field willprobably extend to intelligent phones andany appliance working with a distance com-mand or functioning like a computer.

Kaspersky says Cuba’s efforts to developa software industry are wise, given thatsoftware production does not pollute theenvironment and requires low inputs. Italso helps that Cuba now has a computerscience university with thousands of ambi-tious students.

This, and the fact that the Cuban govern-ment is pouring resources in this direction,bodes well for the island’s IT future.

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May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 13so rooms operated by the 17 internationalchains present on the island.

During the first four months of 2005, some227,796 of the 721,818 tourists who visitedCuba — nearly 32% of the total — stayed at aMeliá hotel.

Gabriel García, director of sales and market-ing for Sol Meliá Cuba, told Prensa Latinathat so far this year, revenues are up 15% over2004 figures, surpassing $100 million with anaverage price of $77.38 per stay.

Last year, Sol Meliá’s Cuban properties en-joyed average occupancy rate of 83.76%, withthe largest numbers of tourists coming fromCanada, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Italy,France, Russia and Argentina.

García said that in 2004, Meliá received 36%of the 2,048,572 people who visited Cuba, gen-erating sales of $256 million — 19% higherthan 2003 revenues.

“Our business strategy puts us among theleading entities in Cuban tourism develop-ment,” he said, noting that “we have the firmconviction that Cuba will soon become theprincipal tourist destination in the Caribbean.”

PERNOD SUES MATUSALEM OVER ‘CUBAN’ RUM

French drinks giant Pernod Ricard, whichhas long battled the Bacardi empire in courtover use of the “Havana Club” trademark, isnow taking on another legal battle.

This one is against Matusalem, a Miami-based company that sells “Cuban” rum.

The Economist, in its Apr. 16 edition, saysPernod Ricard claims in its suit that HavanaClub is “the only authentically Cuban spirit.”The company is seeking damages from Matu-salem for “falsely” claiming Cuban origin.

“Like all disputes involving Cuba, this one issteeped in politics and history,” writes themagazine. “A company named Matusalem wasfounded in Santiago de Cuba in 1873. It pro-duced Cuba’s top añejo, or aged dark rum.

The Alvarez family fled Cuba after FidelCastro’s 1959 revolution. They started makingrum in the Bahamas using the formula smug-gled out of Cuba, but struggled to build thebrand globally. Meanwhile, Cuba began mak-ing its own version of the Matusalem brand.

Alvarez eventually shifted production to theDominican Republic and relaunched thebrand. It now produces almost two millionbottles a year; its Gran Reserva, a 15-yearaged dark rum, has proved a hit with connois-seurs in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.

“That may be what has alarmed Pernod,”says The Economist, noting that last year itpersuaded the U.S. Patent Office to throw outa trademark challenge brought by Bacardi, aspirits firm now based in Bermuda and themaker of the world’s biggest-selling rum.

Rather than its trademark rights, Pernodcontests Matusalem’s slogan, “The Spirit ofCuba,” emblazoned across the bottle. The fineprint explains that the product is made in theDominican Republic.

Says the magazine: “Nobody can disputeMatusalem’s Cuban past. But given the storethat French winemakers set by terroir, thecountry’s courts may well decide that onlyCuba can make Cuban rum.”

Act simultaneously prohibited him from coop-erating with the U.S. embargo. That raisedthe question: could the United States overridelaw inside another sovereign nation?

“Canadians have always had good relation-ships with Cubans,” said Sabzali, 46. “I wasCanadian, I was in business for myself, andCuba was an opportunity. So I went and didbusiness with them.”

Nor were his co-defendants, the U.S.-basedBro-Tech Corp., and its chief officers Stefanand Donald Brodie.

According to Granma, the U.S. governmentseized not only Sabzali’s passport, but alsothose of his wife and two young children —and even the deed to his house. An electronicbracelet on Sabzali’s ankle, the feds kept con-stant watch over his location. A trip 10 milesfrom his house would set off alarms and dis-patch federal agents to his precise location.

Sabzali apparently refused to testify againsthis co-defendants.

“I was convicted not for what I did, but forwhat I didn’t do. I was supposed to inform theU.S. authorities that some of its citizens wereviolating U.S. law. What I pleaded guilty towas knowing that something was happeningthat was against U.S. law and not alerting theU.S. authorities that this was happening. Butconducting business with Cuba from Canadaremains perfectly legal.”

SPAIN, CUBA SIGN AVIATION ACCORD

Spanish and Cuban authorities have signeda civil aeronautics agreement aimed at boost-ing bilateral cooperation.

The pact, signed May 2 by Spain’s develop-ment minister, Magdalena Alvarez and Roge-lio Acevedo, chief of Cuba’s Civil AeronauticsInstitute, increases to 19 the number of sched-uled weekly flights between the two countries.

U.K. TRAVEL AGENCY CANCELS BOOKINGS

Hundreds of British vacationers had theirtravel plans wrecked after Ebookers cancelledall its bookings to Cuba, reports The Observer.

Ebookers also owns Travelbag, Flightbook-ers and Bridge the World, all of which havecanceled every holiday or flight booking theyhold to Cuba. The group was bought by U.S.conglomerate Cendant in February, and hasdecided it now must comply with the U.S.travel ban against Cuba.

“It seems utterly ridiculous,” said one travel-er whose trip to Cuba was cancelled. “TheIberia plane we were booked on is still flyingto Cuba, but we’re now having to re-book withanother company. Ebookers didn’t give anyexplanation — they just said it was somethingto do with their new owners.”

In a statement, Ebookers said it had actedquickly as soon as the position regardingCuba “became clear.” The company is refund-ing its customers, offering a £100 voucher and“considering all appropriate options for allevi-ating the inconvenience.”

Lawyers at the Association of British TravelAgents have decided this is a case of forcemajeure, an unforeseen circumstance beyondthe company’s control, even though somebookings were taken after the takeover. In

such cases, the travel firm is not liable to paycompensation.

Other agents with U.S. parents are similarlyunable to sell trips to Cuba, although somegive out mixed messages. Travelocity.co.uk,owned by Travelocity.com, last week listedseveral package holidays to Cuba, but whenan Observer reporter called to ask why, thosepackages were rapidly taken off the site.

ITALIAN AIRLINE OPENS HAVANA OFFICE

Italy’s Blue Panorama Airlines will expandits presence in Cuba with the opening of theDistal Caribe travel agency, located inside theHotel Habana Libre.

Franco Pecci, president of the airline, saidhe was confident in Cuba as a destination,due to the growth of the Cuban tourist sector.

Blue Panorama, which started bringingtourists to Cuba in 1994 as part of a joint ven-ture with state-owned Cubana, accounts for70% of all air traffic from Italy to Cuba. Peccisaid that at present, his company operates 10weekly flights to Havana, Santiago de Cubaand Holguín, as well as to keys off the north-ern Cuban coast.

Last year, Blue Panorama brought 103,000Italian visitors to the island, using five Boeing737-400 planes and two Boeing 767-300ER air-craft seating 274 passengers each.

QATARI, CUBAN OFFICIALS IN ENERGY TALKS

Top officials of the Persian Gulf state ofQatar visited Cuba, with energy cooperationthe focus of their three days of talks.

The Qatari delegation was led by SheikhAbdullah Bin Hamad al-Attiyah, second vice-president of Qatar’s Council of Ministers.

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad binKhalifa al-Thani, visited Havana in 2000, andFidel Castro visited Qatar two years later.That resulted in the establishment ofembassies in each others’ capitals.

Al-Attiyah, who is also Qatar’s minister ofenergy and industry, visited the headquartersof Cuban oil enterprise Cubapetróleo (Cupet)in Old Havana, where he was briefed on vari-ous projects by Basic Industry MinisterYadira García and Cupet’s general director,Fidel Rivero Prieto.

The tiny emirate ranks as the world’s 3rd-largest natural gas producer, after SaudiArabia and Iran.

Details: Ali Saad al-Kharji, Embassy ofQatar, Apartado 698, Hotel Neptuno, LaHabana. Tel: +53 7 833-3564. Fax: +53 7 73-4700. E-mail: [email protected].

MELIÁ TO INAUGURATE HOTEL NO. 22

Spain’s Grupo Sol Meliá has announced theopening of its 22nd hotel property in Cuba.The Meliá Las Dunas, to be inaugurated inearly 2006, is located in Cayo Santa María, asmall island off the province of Villa Clara.

Amaury Escalona, chief of promotion forMeliá’s Cuba division, said that the chaininaugurated its first Cuban property, the 649-room Sol Palmeras, in Varadero. Today, Meliáoperates 8,479 rooms in 21 hotels.

That represents 21% of Cuba’s 41,296 hotelrooms, and a whopping 45% of the 19,000 or

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14 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

DEFENSE

BY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI

No other institution in Cuba reflects bet-ter the fundamental changes that havetaken place — and continue to take

place — within the existing power structurethan Cuba’s Fuerzas Armadas Revoluciona-rias (Revolutionary Armed Forces, known byits Spanish acronym, FAR).

While over the next five to 10 years theolder generation of Cuban leaders will be his-tory, the current system will tend to remainvery much as it is today. Yet entirely new gen-erations of officers will have completed agradual takeover of all the key positions andechelons of Cuba’s military institutions andtheir central political role.

It will be up for them to continue the re-design of the Cuban system along the lines ofsocial-democratic experiences, in which eco-nomic reform will dominate their concernsand actions. Only after such reforms pay offin the form of economic and social results,will political reforms aimed at a pluralisticscenario be given serious consideration.

The new faces — lieutenants and captainswho served in Angola and Ethiopia — will becrucial in the unfolding of such trends.

Similar patterns can already be found with-in the Cuban government and the PartidoComunista de Cuba (PCC), where new play-ers will ultimately be the interlocutors andkey actors in any future development in Cubaand in connection to the U.S.-Cuba conflict.

These new generations, their background,interests, credentials, expectations and incli-nations are of the utmost importance, yet aregenerally ignored or bypassed by most Cubanscholars in the United States.

INTRODUCTION

The main goal of this presentation is aimedat sorting out such questions and providing adifferent approach to this issue.

Usually, when we approach the Cubandebate the scope of political actors is general-ly limited to Fidel Castro and his younger

brother, Raúl. Partially true in the past, nowa-days it is an increasingly misleading approachnot only because of very obvious age andhealth considerations, but also because ittends to ignore completely the fact that mostof the old Cuban leadership has either passedaway or retired.

New generations are already in control ofmuch of the existing power structure and itsinstitutions, becoming key players in the poli-cy and decision-making processes.

This is especially true of the FAR, Cuba’smost important and influential institution.

Within five to 10 years, many of Cuba’sremaining revolutionaries, known as históri-cos, will be dead. By that time, the question ofwho is really in command will be even morecritical than it is today.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS

Any approach, negotiation or action —even war — will be difficult without knowingthe key players. For a better understanding ofthis issue, this author offers the followingbasic assumptions:

1. The existing power structure will not fall,collapse or implode under the effective lead-ership of either Fidel or Raúl.

2. The existing power structure will not fall,collapse nor implode immediately after thedeath of Fidel and Raúl.

3. Scenarios frequently discussed, likemass opposition demonstrations, riots, violentuprisings or a military coup d’etat are not like-ly to take place.

4. The scenario of an internal split or vio-lent scramble for power among different fac-tions is even less likely to emerge at an earlystage after the death of both Cuban leaders.

5. Most Cubans will take a wait-and-see atti-tude after the death of Fidel and Raúl.

During that period, the new generations inpower will have an opportunity to move aheadwith an expanded version of reforms that willeventually meet many of the economic andsocial expectations of vast sectors of Cuban

What’s next for Cuba’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias?society, together with a considerable amountof political tolerance.

Political pluralism and more democraticarrangements will be more likely to takeplace at a later stage.

The fundamental reasons for these assump-tions are the following:

1. Most Cubans will not accept violent civilconflict because there is a deeply entrenchedbelief that such a conflict would lead todestructive consequences, even those entail-ing strong racial and regional overtones.

2. Many Cubans fear that such a conflictwould bring about various forms of U.S. inter-vention, including military intervention, thatwould aggravate the levels of confrontationand destruction

3. Cubans have high expectations that theirmaterial welfare will significantly improve in apost-Castro era. That will determine Cuba’sultimate choice between wait-and-see and thedevastating scenario of violent civil conflict.

4. Fully aware of such assumptions, togeth-er with the highly influential understanding ofthe lessons from Tienanmen Square and itsaftermath, Cuba’s new leaders will do theirutmost to strengthen political unity and out-reach to the population in their quest foracceptance and legitimacy. This will makeconsensus-building and cohesiveness keyattributes of the new generations in power.

A NEW GENERATION

Since the early 1990s, the trend we are dis-cussing today began to unfold quite rapidly.At the time, most scholars were concernedmainly with comparative studies of Cuba andEastern European nations and the imminentdownfall of the Cuban regime.

Among the few exceptions was FloridaInternational University’s Cuban ResearchInstitute, which began highlighting someinteresting manifestations of the rejuvenationof several civilian Cuban institutions, especial-ly its National Assembly.

Providing a very different comparative per-spective — closer to Cuban developments —

ACuban military delegation visited North Korea in early Mayand held talks with North Korean officials on boosting friendlyrelations and issues of mutual concern, according to Pyong-

yang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, quoting KCNA in a May 6 dis-

patch from Seoul, said the two sides held military discussions but didnot provide further information, except for the names of the chief del-egates to the talks. KCNA said North Korea was represented by Gen.Ri Myong-su, while Cuba’s delegation was led by Lt. Gen. LeonardoAndouo Valdes, vice-chief of its general staff and director of the oper-ations department.

In 1986, Pyongyang and Havana signed a friendship treaty havesince maintained military ties, but details of their military cooperationremain unclear, though experts say such cooperation remains at a

“symbolic level” without substantial military aid to each other.Kim Tae-woo, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for

Defense Analyses, said the two allies didn’t pursue military exchangesseriously, noting that Washington would have taken issue if substan-tial military cooperation were to pose a threat to U.S. security.

In 2001, however, the KCNA reported that North Korea had pro-vided Cuba with various kinds of support, including military aid, dur-ing the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. North Korea has also dispatchedmilitary advisory groups and provided military aid to some Africancountries, including Angola and Zimbabwe.

Earlier this year, the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban andCuban-American Studies published a lengthy paper outlining Cuba’sincreasing military cooperation with the North Korean regime (seeCubaNews, January 2005, page 15).

Cuban military delegation holds talks with North Korean counterparts

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May 2005 ❖ CubaNews 15was the approach of academic Edward Gon-zalez, who studied the Mexican and Chineseexperiences. But these were few and isolated.

At the level of Cuba’s FAR, the mid-1990sbrought substantial evidence that somethingentirely different was in the making. Scores ofgenerals with strong credentials as históricoswere forced to retire, and a few were trans-ferred to civilian positions.

Between 1992 and 1998, three generals intheir early to mid 40s were promoted. Thereplacement of Division Gen. Ulises Rosalesdel Toro by Brig. Gen. Alvaro López Miera aschief of staff, was a real landmark.

The latter was just a colonel in the early1990s and just a member of the PCC’s CentralCommittee. To appoint López Miera, who wasonly 14 years old in 1959, as chief of staffmeant bypassing a lot of generals in terms ofrank, seniority and historical credentials.

A similar pattern was followed when Brig.Gen. Rubén Martínez, chief of the Air Forceand Air Defense (DAAFAR), was replaced byrecently promoted Brig. Gen. Pedro Mendi-ondo Gómez. In 1996, the FAR held a militaryparade to mark its 40th anniversary. Thatparade was under the command of Brig. Gen.Rafael Hernández Delgado, a general muchyounger than López Miera.

RISE OF THE ‘CAMILITOS’

More recently, the entire Political Directo-rate of the General Staff has been under thecommand of two brigadier-generals: CarrilloGómez and Méndez de la Fe. Neither men aremembers of the PCC’s Central Committee. Inthe early 1970s, they were simply camilitos(students at pre-cadet schools known asEscuelas Militares Camilo Cienfuegos, thename of a famous guerrilla commander).

Almost a decade after the 1996 parade, onApr. 10 of this year, during the military cele-brations held at the II Frente Oriental FrankPaís, the front led by Raúl Castro during theguerrilla days) the same patterns were seen:no históricos, but rather camilitos who werenow division generals or brigadier-generalsas young as Brig. Gen. Rafael Borjas Ortega.

At the level of the Ministry of Interior(MININT), the case is very similar. Already,several directorates like the IntelligenceDirectorate and Border Guards Directorateare in the hands of either generals who werenot even 10 years old in the mid-1960s.

Even younger colonels are now runningtraffic, police patrols and other divisions, orare currently second-in-command to severalkey directorates such as the RevolutionaryNational Police (PNR) and the Department ofPublic Security (Seguridad Pública).

The case is much the same within the gov-ernment and the PCC. At the Politburo levelare members like Carlos Lage, Abel Prieto,Yadira García, Roberto Robaina (already oust-ed from any position of leadership), JuanCarlos Robinson, Pedro Sáez, Jorge LuísSierra and Miguel Díaz-Canel, all of whom arebetween 44 and 54 years old.

At the provincial level, the first secretariesare 44 to 51 years old, and at the national gov-ernment level, ministers are largely in their

Former Cuban intelligence officer DomingoAmuchastegui has lived in Miami since 1994,and is a regular contributor to CubaNews. Amu-chastegui presented this paper last month to theNational War College in Washington.

late 40s or early 50s.Out of the 14,946 delegates chosen in the

2002-03 municipal elections, 6,652 were youn-ger than 40, and 4,847 were between 41 and 50.That is, more than two-thirds are young or rel-atively young.

Another perspective is that of race. Thisissue began to be publicly discussed in themid-1980s, during the III Party Congress.Fidel Castro was then, and continues to be

extremely reluctant to discuss the matter inpublic; he has only spoken about it two orthree times.

Paraphrasing José Martí, Castro keepsemphasizing that the notion of humanity goesbeyond that of black or white; that intrinsicqualities are the ones to be judged, not thecolor of one’s skin.

Raúl Castro has taken an entirely differentapproach, repeatedly raising the issue at Partycongresses as well as in public and privatemeetings. In this, he is very much supportedby Carlos Lage. According to both men, socialmobility, progress and opportunities are stillunfairly distributed among racial lines; theproblem does exist and demands permanentimprovement and supervision.

OVERSEAS EXPERIENCE HELPS

Today, the one institution in which blacksand mestizos are best represented is the FAR.More blacks and mestizos have been promot-ed to higher military ranks (majors, colonels,and generals) in the last 15 years than everbefore. A detailed observation of militarygames and maneuvers, recruitment, gradua-tions, and military celebrations during the past12 months confirms this trend.

These new leaders mostly come from familyenvironments with strong revolutionary com-mitments and everlasting loyalties, includingsystematic exposure to official ideology andearly political involvement.

In general, their educational standards,scores and performance as students are wellabove average.

Although membership in the PCC and theUnion of Communist Youth (UJC) are impor-tant references, these things are not requiredfor promotion from lieutenant to major. Keepin mind that only 50% of the military are mem-bers of either the PCC or the UJC.

From the military standpoint, most of themare recently graduated lieutenants and cap-tains who served in Angola and Ethiopia, dur-

ing Cuba’s various African national liberationcampaigns. Some have also served in Nica-ragua, Yemen, Syria, Vietnam and Iraq. Upuntil the mid-1980s, many of them had studiedin the former Soviet Union, particularly pilots,tank commanders, political officers, intelli-gence and counter-intelligence officials.

Until the year 2015 or so, Cuba’s militaryleadership will consist of a body of officerswith ample combat experience.

Since the early 1990s, training in China andVietnam has been intensified. Visits to Chinahave played an important role in boostingCuba’s military industries and the experien-ces linked to perfeccionamiento empresarial.

Many such officers have gained consider-able field experience from wars in Vietnam,Lebanon, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, the Gulf Warand the Balkan conflict. The amount of powerthey hold has multiplied in the last 15 years.

Three years ago, Raúl Castro stated the fol-lowing, which continues to hold true today:

“The men and women who in future yearswill hold the main responsibilities in mattersof defense, as in every other sphere of thiscountry, including the top leadership of thenation, are not about to arrive. They arealready among us.

“In the case of FAR, there are alreadycamilitos who are generals or colonels leadingimportant combat units, and in the majority ofthe key positions of every staff.”

Their political influence has grown consid-erably as they reach higher positions, whichallow them through the army council’s delib-erations and the policy reports coming out ofCODEN (Colegio de Defensa Nacional) tovoice their views, concerns and recommenda-tions directly to Cuba’s top political leaders.

CONCLUSIONS

1. The sustained obsession of perceivingCuba’s power structure around two dominantbut fading figures — Fidel and Raúl Castro —limits the ability to understand the far-reach-ing consequences of having new generationsin power. These new elites have very differentbackgrounds and characteristics which theUnited States will have to deal with over thenext two decades.

2. These new elites are, indeed, a uniqueexperience. Such a phenomenon cannot befound either in the experiences of EasternEurope or the former Soviet Union, or amongthe Miami-based exile organizations andCuba’s own dissident movement.

3. These new elites — military and civilian— will be the ones in charge of Cuba’s destinyafter the death of both leaders.

They will be the ones fostering and imple-menting the reforms and changes that willfinally reshape Cuba, first in its economic andsocial domains; later on, in its political life,guided by the key notions of unity, cohesive-ness, stability and continuity. �

Cuba’s future military leaders?

LAR

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LUX

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16 CubaNews ❖ May 2005

CARIBBEAN UPDATEYou already know what’s going in Cuba,

thanks to CubaNews. Now find out what’shappening in the rest of this diverse andfast-growing region.

Subscribe to Caribbean UPDATE, amonthly newsletter founded in 1985. Cor-porate and government executives, as wellas scholars and journalists, depend on thispublication for its insightful, timely cover-age of the 30-plus nations and territories ofthe Caribbean and Central America.

When you receive your first issue, youhave two options: (a) pay the accompany-ing invoice and your subscription will beprocessed; (b) if you’re not satisfied, justwrite “cancel” on the invoice and return it.There is no further obligation on your part.

The cost of a subscription to CaribbeanUPDATE is $267 per year. A special rate of$134 is available to academics, non-profitorganizations and additional subscriptionsmailed to the same address.

To order, contact Caribbean UPDATE at116 Myrtle Ave., Millburn, NJ 07041, call usat (973) 376-2314, visit our new website atwww.caribbeanupdate.org or send ane-mail to [email protected]. We acceptVisa, MasterCard and American Express.

If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know!

Fax details to CubaNews at (301) 365-1829 or send an e-mail to [email protected].

May 7-Aug. 12: “Cuba: The Natural Beauty.” Clyde Butcher’s large-format photo exhibit

on Cuba, Big Cypress Gallery, Florida Everglades. Details: Big Cypress Gallery, 52388

Tamiami Trail, Ochopee, FL 33943. Tel: (239) 695-2428. URL: www.clydebutcher.com.

May 12-14: Caribbean Tourism Exchange, Renaissance Jaragua Hotel & Casino, Santo

Domingo. Details: Bolsa Turística del Caribe, Ave. 27 de Febrero, esq. Avenida Winston

Churchill, Edif. Plaza Central, #A-204, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Tel: (809)

412-2979. Fax: (809) 412-2082. E-mail: [email protected]. URL: www.btc.com.do.

May 25-Jun. 24: Intensive Program of Cuban Studies, University of Miami. Objective

of program “is to introduce university students from throughout the U.S. to the history,

culture and politics of Cuba.” Local field trips included. Details: University of Miami

School of Continuing Studies. Tel: (305) 284-3183. URL: www.miami.edu/miamisemester.

Jun. 4: International Forum on Cuba’s Transition to Democracy, sponsored by Univer-

sity of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies. Key speakers include

former heads of state Eduardo Frei of Chile, Luís Alberto Lacalle of Uruguay and Mart

Laar of Estonia. By invitation only. Details: ICCAS, University of Miami, PO Box 248174,

Coral Gables, FL 33124-3010. Tel: (305) 284-2822. URL: http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/

Jun. 10-11: National Summit on Cuba, Mobile, Ala. Experts to discuss benefits of Cuba

trade for Gulf Coast region. Speakers to include Alabama Secretary of Agriculture Ron

Sparks; Michael Olivier, Louisiana’s secretary of economic development; Rep. Jeff Flake

(R-AZ) and others. Cost: $100. Details: John Loggia, World Policy Institute, New York. Tel:

(212) 229-5808. E-mail: [email protected]. URL: www.nationalsummitoncuba.org.

Jul. 3-10: 5th Int’l Convention for Environment and Development, Havana. Themes

include environmental business management, tourism, hydraulic resource management

and coastal ecosystem management. Cost: $1,900 from Cancún. Details: JoJo White,

Global Exchange, San Francisco. Tel: (800) 497-1994. E-mail: [email protected].

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Editor & Publisher■ LARRY LUXNER ■

Washington correspondent■ ANA RADELAT ■

Political analyst■ DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI ■

Feature writers■ VITO ECHEVARRÍA ■

■ SANTIAGO FITTIPALDI■ DIANA MARRERO ■

Cartographer■ ARMANDO H. PORTELA ■

Graphic designer■ JESSICA MUDJITABA ■