CubaNews articles from April 2003

CubaNews archives from April 2003

Plight of 650 `detainees' at Guantanamo sparks debate over future of naval base.
April 1, 2003... Welcome to Camp Delta," said U.S. Army Col. Adolph McQueen, as he cheerfully greeted two reporters at the outer gates of the prison camp housing 650 unhappy captives of America's war on terrorism. The bright blue waters of the Caribbean...

Senate creates Cuba Working Group as Castro crackdown endangers relations.(possible senatorial revision of trade policies, travel regulations)
April 1, 2003... Ten U.S. lawmakers have formed a Senate Working Group on Cuba, vowing to "examine U.S. policies, including trade and travel restrictions"--just as relations between the two countries hit their lowest point in years. In a Mar. 24 letter to...

The new lineup: Cuba's 31-member counsil of state.
April 1, 2003... EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: President: Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Council of Ministers, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) First...

OFAC revises regulations on remittances, travel to Cuba. (Politics).(Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control )
April 1, 2003... The White House has barred Americans from visiting Cuba on people-to-people educational tours that have made up a big chunk of legal travel to the island. The changes, announced Mar. 24 by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets...

Online rivals seek slice of remittance market. (Politics).(competition between funds-transfer providers )
April 1, 2003... An estimated $800 million in remittances are sent annually by Cuban-Americans to their families and friends in Cuba. Getting that money to the island has spawned a lucrative business in itself. For a long time, independent services like...

EU opens office, hints at Cotonou support. (Potical Briefs).(European Union's office in Havana)(Cuba's inclusion in Cotonou Agreement for trade and economic assistance )
April 1, 2003... The European Union has inaugurated its office in Havana with vague assurances that it would study Cuba's petition to join the EU's Cotonou Agreement, which offers trade benefits and economic assistance to 78 developing nations. Preliminary...

New tolerance toward Catholic church. (Political Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... In late February, Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino commemorated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Felix Varela with a pastoral letter. The letter, reproduced in The Miami Herald, contained ample criticism of the Cuban government and its...

Tokyo seeks Castro's help on North Korea. (Political Briefs).(Cuban head-of-state Fidel Castro's mediation in disarmament of North Korea )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Japanese leaders apparently asked Fidel Castro to help mediate the current crisis with North Korea during the Cuban president's recent tour of the Far East. According to press reports, Castro promised Japan--one of Cuba's largest trading...

In their own words ...(quotations )
April 1, 2003... "Cuba can easily do without [the U.S. Interests Section]. The Swiss officials who represented U.S. interests for many years did an excellent job, and did not engage in espionage or organize subversion." --Fidel Castro, denouncing U.S....

A glimpse into how Cuba's fresh-produce system works. (Small Business).
April 1, 2003... Never mind Cuba's claims to socialism. Its fresh-produce marketing system is capitalist to the core. Like merchant wholesalers in any other country, Cuban entrepreneurs called jefes de mercancia (merchandising chiefs) locate supplies of...

Noriega nominated for Reich's old job. (Small Business).(Roger Francisco Noriega nominated to head State Department's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... On Mar. 25, the White House formally nominated Roger Francisco Noriega to head the State Department's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Noriega, 44, is currently the U.S. representative to the Organization of American States. A...

For sale: CANF `Embassy'. (Small Business).(Cuban American National Foundation)(sale of facilities in Washington D.C, )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... WASHINGTON--The Cuban American National Foundation's self-styled "Embassy for a Free Cuba," inaugurated with much fanfare just two years ago, is on the block. Dennis Hays, the CANF's executive vice-president, said the historic buildings...

Delahunt co-chairs House efforts to revise Cuba policy. (Newsmakers).(United States Representative Bill Delahunt)(Entrevista)
April 1, 2003... Back in his college days, liberal Bill Delahunt ran the Vermont Students for Kennedy campaign. Across the country in Arizona, conservative Jeff Flake headed the Barry Goldwater Institute. Both men went on to become respected members of...

Saddam & Fidel: an unpleasant marriage of convenience. (International Relations).(relations between Cuba, Iraq)
April 1, 2003... With the American-led war against Iraq dominating world headlines, this is as good a time as any to study the complex relationship between two men who share little else than their hatred for the United States: Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein....

Venezuelan envoy defends oil sales to Cuba. (International Relations).(ambassador Bernardo Alvarez )(Entrevista)
April 1, 2003... WASHINGTON--Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's new ambassador to the United States, says his nation's oil trade with Cuba shouldn't worry Washington in the least. In 2002, Venezuela ranked as the island's No. 1 trading partner, with nearly all...

Delays, inefficiencies hint at dismal 2003 sugar harvest. (Commodities).
April 1, 2003... The way Cuba's 2003 sugar harvest is struggling, the government's unofficial 2.7 million-ton target already seems unrealistic, and the industry will need to work overtime to reach even two million tons. As the harvest neared its peak,...

Alimport buys frozen seafood from California export firm. (Commodities).
April 1, 2003... Imitation crab meat from China, octopus from Vietnam and smoked salmon from California could soon end up on restaurant tables across Havana--thanks to the first seafood shipment from a U.S. company to Cuba since the 1959 revolution. City...

Brazil's Petrobras may resume oil search. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Brazilian oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) is interested in resuming oil exploration and production activities in Cuba, reports Dow Jones Newswires. Marcia Munoz, a spokeswoman for the Cuban Embassy in Brasilia, said Petrobras has...

Cubana, Air Europa sign cooperation pact. (Business Briefs).(airlines )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... State-run Cubana de Aviacion and Spain's Air Europa airlines have signed an agreement that combines the services of both companies, guaranteeing weekly flights between the two countries. Under the deal signed by Ramon Valdivia Acosta, president...

Fighting corruption in Post-Castro Cuba. (Business Briefs).(report by University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... The University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS) has issued a 46-page report on a subject usually linked to the pre-Castro, rather than the post-Castro, era: corruption. The study, entitled A...

Metal exports up 33%, says ministry. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Cuba's steel and metal-extraction industry reported exports of $81.5 million in 2002, a 33% jump over 2001 figures, according to official data quoted by Spanish news agency EFE. This year, the industry will sell $100 million worth of...

Cargo service to link Cuba, Bahamas. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... A cargo vessel will provide freight service between the Bahamas and Cuba for the first time in more than 40 years. The 500-ton Hydra I, which carries up to 18 40-foot containers and four 20-foot containers at a time, began plying the waters...

MCI nearly doubles cost of calls to Cuba. (Business Briefs).(telephone service rates )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Due to increases in costs, MCI is boosting its calling rate to Cuba from 56 cents to $1.07 effective Apr. 1. The long-distance company had no immediate explanation for the astronomical increase, which appeared on customers' long-distance bills...

Havana Club now 54th in worldwide sales. (Business Briefs).(rum )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Cuba's Havana Club now ranks 54th among Impact Databank's top 100 premium distilled spirits brands worldwide--right behind Finlandia vodka and just ahead of Fernet Stock bitters. In 2002, Havana Club, a joint venture between the Cuban...

Leisure Canada names new CFO. (Business Briefs).(chief financial officer Mark Katsumata )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Leisure Canada Inc, which hopes to develop at least three luxury resorts in Cuba, named Mark Katsumata its new chief financial officer. Katsumata, formerly LCI's controller, is now responsible for managing the Vancouver-based company's...

Authorities threaten to close Chinatown. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... The Cuban government's current crackdown against drug dealers, porn producers and all kinds of peddlers, hawkers, private taxis and other unauthorized activities now threatens to do away with an important symbol: Havana's Chinatown. In...

Santa Clara Airport to receive jumbo jets. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Abel Santamaria International Airport, located in the central province of Santa Clara, has enlarged its runway to 3,000 meters, allowing the airport to receive large jumbo jets for the first time ever. The Cuban government reports the...

Factory boosts production of iodine salt. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... The Guantanamo Salt Factory in Caimanera will produce 85,000 tons of sodium chloride for the domestic market this year. The factory--located only a few miles north of the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay--employs 320 workers, mostly women...

Government gives Caudal high marks. (Business Briefs).(Grupo Caudal S.A.)(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Grupo Caudal S.A., a group of state-owned companies whose interests include insurance, reinsurance and financial services, announced that despite economic adversity last year, it has "met its commitments to the State Treasury ($9.9 million) and...

BICSA opens branch in Santa Clara. (Business Briefs).(Banco Internacional de Comercio)(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Banco Internacional de Comercio (BICSA) opened a branch in Santa Clara--its fifth in Cuba--with an eye to expanding its services to domestic and foreign institutions. The new BICSA branch will serve clients in the provinces of Villa Clara,...

Habaguanex says occupancy up at hotels. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Habaguanex S.A., which owns 156 hotels, restaurants and other establishments in Old Havana, says that in the first half of March, its overall occupancy rate reached 92%, compared to 86% in February and 85% in January. The agency, founded...

Dollar-store sales to jump 20%. (Business Briefs).(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Sales at Cuba's domestic hard-currency shops are expected to reach $160 million this year, a 20% increase over 2002 figures. Cuba's light industry also expects to sell $340 million worth of products to state institutions, in addition to $40...

Sherritt bargains for better tax rate in Cuba.(Sherritt International Corp. )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Canada's Sherritt International will spend $110 million to develop its oil and gas holdings in Cuba this year while it negotiates with the Castro government over the way its business is taxed, said company officials. According to Sherritt,...

Camaguey, Cuba's largest province, is an industry leader. (Geography).
April 1, 2003... This is the 9th in a series of monthly articles on Cuba's 14 provinces by geographer Armando H. Portela, who has a Ph.D. in geography from the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Camaguey is Cuba's largest province, covering 14.4% of the island's...

New hope for Nuevitas?(economic development of port and surrounding areas )(Articulo breve)
April 1, 2003... Nuevitas is the only large harbor and industrial hub along Cuba's northern coast between Matanzas and Nipe. As such, Nuevitas would serve as an excellent port for trading with the United States--as it was before 1961--once the trade embargo is...

Calendar of events.(Calendario)
April 1, 2003... 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 larry@luxner.com. Apr. 4-13: "Cuba at the Crossroads" Reality tour to Havana and provinces....