Cuba News articles from July 2000

Cuba News archives from July 2000

Unfavorable commodity prices, poor tourism numbers call economic predictions into doubt.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Officials stand by earlier forecasts The combined impact of high world oil prices and continued weakness in sugar markets hurt the Cuban economy in the first half of the year and appear likely to continue to be a drag on growth through the...

Powerful interests lining up to defeat sales of food and medicine to Cuba.
July 1, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Senators from the right and left are preparing to try to derail an unprecedented House Republican deal that would allow food and agricultural sales to Fidel Castro's government for the first time in 38 years. The deal, which...

National Assembly to meet this month.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- The National Assembly was scheduled to meet July 12 to address a number of pending pieces of business, including the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court, approval of the Fishing Ministry annual report and other questions. There...

Major e-commerce developer sells as another investor seeks bigger share of market.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- British real estate entrepreneur Stephen Marshall continues to move into the Cuban electronic commerce sector. According to Marshall, earlier this Spring, he signed an agreement with the Cuban state-owned company Copextel and its...

Cuba-NIC controls who can be a dot.com in Cuba.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- It may not be Network Solution, the multi-billion dollar US corporation that dominates the awarding of Internet domain names, but Cuba's equivalent, Centro Cubano de Informacion de Red (Cuba-NIC) has seen very rapid growth in the...

Cuban phone system said to be 40% digital after latest upgrade.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Cuban officials say the installation of new telephone exchanges in Pinar del Rio province of a new telephone exchange brings the percentage of Cuban phone lines that are digital up to 40%. The new exchange added just over 13,000...

Spanish company to work in water, energy.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Spanish company Unago plans to invest $70 million to rehabilitate a number of water-related facilities in health care, sugar and light industry. The company is expected to focus its investments on projects that will reduce water...

US-Cuban migration talks put on hold.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Because the Elian Gonzalez situation had not been resolved, Cuba canceled migration talks with the United States scheduled for the end of June. Cuban Interests Section head Fernando Ramirez said the delay was not a protest...

Soberon says banking system is working as Havana intends.(Francisco Soberon, bank president)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- The Central Bank's efforts to revamp the country's banking system are beginning to bear fruit as liquidity is down and the number and quality of services offered is increasing, according to bank president Francisco Soberon. ...

Insurance company payments to agriculture rose in 1999.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Payments in 1999 by state insurance concern Empresa del Seguro Estatal Nacional (ESEN) grew by 30% to $118 million as a result of droughts and other problems. All but $9 million was paid to the agricultural sector. The other payments...

Tourist arrivals grow but more slowly than anticipated.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Cuban officials say the number of tourists arriving in Cuba this year through May showed a 6% rise compared to the year before. Tourism Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz said the figures showed that growth continues to be strong in Cuba's...

Treasury Dept. says number of US visitors to Cuba is rising.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... The number of visitors to Cuba from the United States is rising quickly, according to information from the US Treasury and Cuban officials say the official numbers tell only part of the story. Treasury Department figures show that in 1999,...

New fish processing plants enter service.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- As part of the government's efforts to revive the fishing industry, officials say that companies owned by the Fishing Ministry have built 27 fish processing plants around the country during the last five years. Most of the...

New distillery producing sugar derivatives opens this month.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Cuban-Spanish Joint venture Alfic SA has begun test runs at a $10 million distillery in Cienfuegos province. The facility is said to be Cuba's most modern alcohol production facility. The project is part of a growing effort by the...

HRL sales said to exceed target.(Havana Rum and Liquors)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Havana Rum and Liquors, the state company that markets most Cuban rums and other liquors inside Cuba had sales of more $20.7 million in 1999, according to company president Sergio Valdes. For this year, the company expects sales of...

Sugar officials promise reforms to boost industry performance.
July 1, 2000... The low prices that have dominated world sugar markets over the past couple of years, and are expected to remain for at least a year or two, appear to have prompted the government to enact some significant reforms intended to bring costs down....

Sugar cane planting falls behind schedule due to lack of rain.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Cuban officials say that the spring planting of new sugar cane fields had fallen behind schedule at the end of June due to dry weather. The government had set a target of planting about 15,000 caballerias (497,400 acres) by the end of...

Congress rejects effort to review Cuba policy.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Congress in June rejected a plan that would have forced President Bill Clinton to appoint a board to review US-Cuba policy after several supporters backed away from the effort because they feared it would imperil a massive defense...

Elian flies to Cuba after US courts refuse to grant further delays.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... WASHINGTON -- Elian Gonzalez's Miami relatives ran out of legal options when the Supreme Court removed the last obstacle to Elian Gonzalez's return to Cuba. Just hours before a lower court stay was about to expire on June 28, Justice...

New Investments may lead to increase in cement production.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Cuban officials say a Spanish company plans to build a $150 million cement plant near the city of Santiago de Cuba. The company, Ibersuiza, is expected to provide the capital for the project. Cuban partner swill provide the land,...

Lumber production begins to start to rise.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Reforestation projects and small amounts of new investment in the lumber industry are expected to boost production from 48 million cubic meters in 1999 to as much as 120 million cubic meters by 2005, say industry officials. Although...

EU to take US to WTO over Havana Club trademark.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... The European Union has asked the World Trade Organization to settle a dispute with the United States over the use of the Havana Club trademark. The EU is fighting a 1998 US law that strips trademark protection from Cuban products that are...

US, Cuban Olympic committees sign accord.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... The U.S and Cuban Olympic Committees have signed a broad agreement to cooperate in a number of areas. It is the first formal agreement between the two national Olympic bodies since the 1959 revolution. The accord was signed in Havana by...

Cuba, Caricom sign trade deal.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Cuba and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) have signed a commercial agreement intended to increase trade between the island and neighboring islands in the region. The agreement includes a list of products on which import duties will be...

COMMODITY EXPORT MARKETS.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Sugar Driven by healthier world demand and reduced exports from major suppliers, spot and futures sugar prices stayed above 8 [cts.]/lb in June, and even rose breaking above 9 [cts.] /lb barrier at the end of the month. Spot prices...

FACTS AND STATISTICS ON HEALTH CARE.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Number of cases of meningitis B in 1990 449 Number of cases of meningitis B in 1999 70 Number of cases of tuberculosis in 1990 546 Number of cases of tuberculosis in 1999 ...

Fidelismo.(Fidel Castro, President of Cuba)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... A monthly report on Cuba's maximum leader Political Exchange of the Month "The contribution that we can make... is that Cuba passes through a political normalization, that is, that it becomes a democracy and that it becomes a market,...

Former CIA agent goes on-line with tourism site.(Philip Agee)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... Former U.S. CIA operative Philip Agee has opened an on-line travel agency that he says is supposed to cater to US citizens that want to run the embargo and visit Cuba. The site, www.cubalinda.com, offers a variety of travel services...

Cuba awards first quality prize.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA-- Cuban cellular telephone company Cubacel and consulting group Empresa de Proyectos y Consultoria EMPAI 8 of de Matanzas province are then recipients of the first annual National Quality Prize. The prize, awarded by the Economy and...

RUMOR OF THE DAY.(electric utilities, Cuba)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2000... HAVANA -- Cuban officials have become major believers in natural-gas fired power projects. Sources say state power company Union Electrica is planning to install gas-fired generating units at the 330MW Antonio Guiteras thermal plant near...