CubaNews articles from December 2004

CubaNews archives from December 2004

New OFAC rulings worry food exporters as U.S. sales to Alimport pass $1 billion.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)
December 1, 2004... The Bush administration is on the verge of issuing "clarifications" that might restrict the ability of U.S. companies to sell food to Cuba under the 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA). Coincidentally, or perhaps...

Castro's withdrawal of U.S. dollar could help Canadian money transfer services.
December 1, 2004... Now that the Cuban government has removed U.S. dollars from circulation, many Cuban-Americans are wondering how they're going to send money to their families on the island. Some are concerned whether they'll even be able to continue using U.S....

If you're flying to Cuba, change money before you go.
December 1, 2004... U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba should convert their U.S. currency into Canadian dollars, euros or some other stable foreign currency, advises Bob Guild, program director of Marazul Charters, a Miami-based company that takes about 7,000 people...

Dissident release to boost Cuba-EU ties.(European Union)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Thanks to prodding from Spain, the Castro government has released six prominent dissidents from long jail terms. The development coincides with a decision by the European Union to renew official contacts with Cuba for the first time in 17...

At national summit on Cuba, speakers push for change.
December 1, 2004... Business and political leaders who favor an end to the embargo against Cuba recently made their case in Tampa, against a backdrop of ever-increasing White House hostility toward the Castro regime. The National Summit on Cuba, held Oct. 8 at...

Smith urges Cuba's removal from blacklist.(Wayne Smith)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cuba should be stricken from the State Department's list of terrorist-sponsoring countries, argues Wayne Smith, an outspoken critic of U.S. policy toward Cuba. The issue was the focus of an Oct. 21 conference organized by the Center for...

North Korean top brass meets with Raul Castro.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro met with a North Korean military delegation headed by Vice Marshal King Yong Chun, a Havana radio station reported in late November. The broadcast said that in a "friendly atmosphere that characterizes...

RSF: Cuba second to last in press freedom.
December 1, 2004... Cuba ranks 166th among 167 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders (RSF) worldwide press freedom index. Only North Korea has a more tightly controlled press than Cuba, said the organization. In a press statement, RSF hailed the...

In their own words...(quotations)
December 1, 2004... "We have a solid base on which to deepen our relations, thanks to our many shared common politics. We both choose a socialist path to our development." --Chinese President Hu Jintao, appearing at a ceremony in Havana with Cuban President...

Hu's state visit results in 16 Cuban-Chinese agreements.
December 1, 2004... Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Cuba late last month--at the tail end of a twoweek Latin American tour--and left after pledging to "work with our Cuban comrades to create a bright future of friendship and cooperation." Hu and his host,...

Mexico: One more hurdle on the road to normal relations.
December 1, 2004... Mexican President Vicente Fox and his Partido de Accion Nacional (PAN) are opposing a Brazilian initiative that seeks dialogue between the eight-nation Grupo de Rio and the Cuban government. Fox's decision--which runs contrary to current...

Herzfeld Caribbean basin fund recovers from 2002 slump.
December 1, 2004... After nearly hitting bottom in 2002, when its price per share ended the year at $3.42, the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund has recouped its losses to reach $5.21 on Nov. 24. The fund's net asset value (NAV) per share has set a new high at...

Waheed to replace Maschmeyer as CEO of Sherritt.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Canada's Sherritt International Corp. said its president and chief executive, Dennis G. Maschmeyer, is stepping down after 40 years with the company. He's being replaced Jan. 1 by Jowdat Waheed, currently executive vice-president and chief...

Castro confidant Kirby Jones knows Cuba from A to Z.(Interview)
December 1, 2004... Washington consultant Kirby Jones has been fascinated with Cuba ever since his first trip there in 1974, when he interviewed Fidel Castro for 13 hours over a five-day period for CBS News. Thirty years later, Jones is still obsessed with...

Drought takes severe toll on Cuba's 2004-05 sugar crop.
December 1, 2004... Cuba is facing its worst drought in 55 years, an unwelcome event for the battered sugar industry that could prevent it from reaping the benefits of a much more buoyant world sugar market this year. For the last 18 months, rainfall...

U.S. boaters angry with turn of events.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... While a few people in South Florida's boating community remain cautiously optimistic about doing business with and sailing to Cuba during the next four years, most are angry and embittered. In the late 90s, pleasure-boat traffic to Cuba...

U.K. travel agents: Don't bring $$ to Cuba.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... British travel agents are warning their clients against taking U.S. dollars into Cuba, reports the London magazine Travel Weekly. In November, the Castro government outlawed the use of U.S. dollars on the island following tighter White...

Pullmantur Cruise ship calls on Havana.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Spain's Pullmantur Cruises has launched a new cruise route in the western Caribbean. Alfonso Lopez, the Madrid-based company's general director, said the ship, the Vacation Dream, will call Havana its home port and once a week will visit...

Cuba now no. 2 destination for Canadians.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cuba has replaced Mexico as the second most popular tourist destination for Canadian vacationers during the second trimester of this year, according to Statistics Canada. From April to June, 143,000 Canadians visited Cuba on vacation,...

Exchange bureau opens in Old Havana.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cuba's Central Bank has inaugurated an exchange bureau in Old Havana where tourists will be able to buy Cuban convertible pesos using Japanese yen, Venezuelan bolivares, Mexican pesos, as well as international currencies such as euros, British...

Louisiana to send big delegation to Cuba.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Louisiana's top economic development official will head to Cuba later this month, bringing representatives from state poultry, feed, fish products and cotton producers. Companies included on the Dec. 15 trip: Buras Mill & Feed Co. of...

Power cuts continue to plague Cubans.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Low energy supplies and equipment bread-owns that have forced some power plants to shut down could increase the number and frequency of blackouts around the island, warns Cuba's state-run Union Electrica. UE said that since Nov. 25,...

Russian bus maker wins Cuba contract.
December 1, 2004... Russia's leading bus manufacturer, Russkiye Avtobusy, has shipped 50 PAX-32053 buses to Cuba, reported the Russian news agency Prime-TASS. Cuba's Transport Ministry plans to use them as school buses, according to a company statement issued Nov....

Canada's focal updates Cuba website.(Canadian Foundation of the Americas)(www.cubasource.org)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The Canadian Foundation of the Americas (FOCAL) has announced a redesign of its Cuba site, (www.cubasource.org/index_e.asp). Cubasource is available in English and Spanish. According to policy analyst Cristina Warren, "it seeks to...

Phone network nears 100% digitalization.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cuba's telephone system is edging closer toward full digitalization in the island's 14 provincial capitals, with the recent completion of digital networks in Bayamo and Las Tunas. Juventud Rebelde newspaper says the two networks replace...

Israel's Habas owns 15% of Miramar Trade Center.(BM Group)
December 1, 2004... Those who follow Cuba's foreign investment scene have likely heard of the secretive Israeli-run BM Group and its investments in the island's thriving citrus sector, as well as its development of the Miramar Trade Center in suburban Havana. ...

Havana Club International has new boss.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... French drinks conglomerate Pernod Ricard has named Phillipe Coutin as director-general of Havana Club International S.A. Coutin, 39, is an agronomic engineer by training, and represented the company in Trinidad from 1995 to 1999. He...

Iran to build water, power plants in Cuba.(industrial projects )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Iran is to carry out two industrial projects to supply water and electricity to Cuba. The Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Norouz Kohzadi, manager of Iran's Export Development Bank, signed an agreement to that effect Nov. 21 with...

FIHAV results in seafood export deals.
December 1, 2004... Cuba's fishing industry closed several new business deals during the recent FIHAV trade fair in Havana. The contracts, worth more than $2 million, call for the export of live, fresh and cooked lobster, fish and crab. Havana trading firm...

Windmills to tower over Gitmo naval base.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... By next April, four enormous windmills will rise over the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay--a fusion of wind and diesel power producing 25 megawatts in what's being billed as "the world's largest hybrid power system." Dan Ingold, project...

OFAC drops suit against church members.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... The federal government has dropped its case against three Wisconsin residents who visited Cuba on a 1999 church mission without a license. "It's been looming over our heads for five years," Dollora Greene-Evans told the Milwaukee...

Habanos inaugurates cigar shop in Beijing.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Habanos S.A. has opened its first retail cigar shop in Beijing, reports Prensa Latina. The store, located in the lobby of the luxurious St. Regis Hotel, boasts a humidor room where regular customers can preserve their cigars in individual...

Cuba, Vietnam honor construction firm.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Cuban employees of the Ho Chi Minh Construction Group, set up in 1974 to help Vietnam carry out Cuba-funded projects, gathered at a ceremony in Havana on Nov. 27 to celebrate the group's 30th anniversary. Between 1973 and 1982, the Ho Chi...

U.K. delegation eyes Cuban offshore oil potential.
December 1, 2004... Lord Colin Moynihan, co-chairman of the UK-Cuba Initiative, led 40 business executives to Cuba in mid-November, marking the biggest British delegation of its kind ever to visit the island. Moynihan, who is the current shadow (Conservative...

In Cuba, very young messengers tow the Communist line.
December 1, 2004... At the tender age of 8, Lazaro Castro gave a fiery political speech to hundreds of thousands of people, then unexpectedly leaped off the stage and kissed Fidel Castro on the cheek. More than four years and dozens of speeches later, the...

UJC wraps up VIII Congress in Havana.(Union de Jovenes Comunistas)
December 1, 2004... Cuba's Union de Jovenes Comunistas (Union of Communist Youth, or UJC) has finally held its VIII Congress in Havana after nearly seven years. Some 1,200 delegates and 300 guests attended the Dec. 2-5 event, whose official slogan was "Un...

Y are these names so popular?(delegates names start with "Y")(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Looking at a list of the 1,700 delegates to the VIII Congress of the UJC, it's hard not to notice that more names start with "Y" than any other letter of the alphabet. In fact, according to the Havana newspaper Juventud Rebelde, no less...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
December 1, 2004... 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. Dec. 1-8: Humanitarian trip to Baracoa, Cuba. Visits to institutions for...