CubaNews articles from December 2007

CubaNews archives from December 2007

Cuba's foreign trade balance up by 44% as Alimport cuts purchases of U.S. food.(Alimentos Rio Zaza)(Nebraska)
December 1, 2007... Cuba's foreign trade balance will show improvement in 2007 for the first time in years, with exports up 44% through September and imports 3% higher. "We have a commercial balance of goods which is better than previous years," Foreign Trade...

5 ex-chiefs of USINT-Havana offer advice on how to avoid past mistakes in Cuba.
December 1, 2007... One hot, humid afternoon, shortly after arriving in Havana to run the U.S. Interests Section, Vicki Huddleston decided to take a drive along Quinta Avenida in her official air-conditioned black Ford Crown Victoria. "I saw a group of kids...

Noel aggravates housing shortage.
December 1, 2007... In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Noel, the number of houses destroyed or heavily damaged was appalling: 21,987, according to official sources. This disaster comes as Cuba's housing crisis and its accumulated deficits reach new heights. ...

Noel causes $500m in losses.(Tropical Storm Noel )
December 1, 2007... Tropical Storm Noel and its associated rains and flooding caused $500 million in damages throughout eastern Cuba, according to official sources quoted by Juventud Rebelde. The state-run newspaper said most of that damage, $305 million, was...

Cuba sends veteran diplomat Bolanos to Washington.
December 1, 2007... Dagoberto Rodriguez, longtime head of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, will be replaced in December by seasoned diplomat Jorge Bolanos. The Castro regime didn't give any reason for rotating the easygoing, straight-talking...

Lawyers appeal U.S. dismissal of Posada case.(Luis Posada Carriles)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Prosecutors have appealed a federal judge's decision to dismiss an immigration fraud case against suspected terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. On Nov. 5, prosecutors filed a 73-page appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New...

Un food official: Cuba is an example to follow.(UN food expert )(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... A top UN food expert has lavished praise on Cuba as a world model in feeding its population. AP reported that Jean Ziegler, who has been the United Nations' independent investigator on "the right to food" since 2000, spent 11 days in Cuba...

Cuba tight-lipped on baseball plans.
December 1, 2007... Cuba has received an invitation to play in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, but wouldn't say whether it plans to participate. Jose Ramon Fernandez, a Cuban vice-president and head of the island's Olympic Committee, told AP that officials...

"In their own words ...".
December 1, 2007... "Cuba faces an economic war and incessant hostile propaganda from the United States, but our people must be alert and strengthen fraternity and solidarity among the population while tirelessly battling any sign of corruption. The destiny and...

Toxic runoff contaminates Cuba's coastal ecosystems.
December 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As is the case with many other tropical countries, Cuba's coastlines are in bad shape. Since the Castro regime rarely releases any detailed, comprehensive information on the subject, it is extremely hard--if not...

Nickel plants back online.
December 1, 2007... Nickel production has begun to stabilize after weeks of torrential rains in eastern Holguin province spawned by Tropical Storm Noel (see page 3) in early November shut down open-pit mines and slowed output. The Rene Ramos Latour processing...

Fla. sugar king Pepe Fanjul dreams of post-Castro Cuba.
December 1, 2007... In 1994, investigative reporter Carl Hiaasen used the Cuban-born Fanjul brothers as the inspiration for the murderous sugar-baron Rojo brothers Wilbur and Joaquin in the novel Strip Tease (later turned into a movie starring Demi Moore). ...

Herzfeld plans to launch $300 million Cuba hedge fund.
December 1, 2007... For years, Tom Herzfeld has been known as the guru of closed-end funds. His Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, inaugurated in 1994, trades on Nasdaq under the CUBA ticker, and puts its investors' money into companies likely to benefit from an...

Brazil's Petrobras won't give up on Cuba.
December 1, 2007... Brazilian state-owned giant Petrobras is taking another look at deep-sea exploration in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazilian officials said Nov. 7. "Petrobras is interested in oil prospecting in Cuba," said Miguel Jorge, Brazil's...

Copa to step up Panama-Havana flights.(Copa Airlines Inc.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Panama's Copa Airlines will increase the frequency of flights to Cuba in 2008. Representatives of both nations signed a cooperation accord with paves the way for the new flights, beginning in May 2008. This accord will allow 500 additional...

Iran mulls J-V shipping line, oil exploration.
December 1, 2007... Tehran and Havana have agreed to establish a joint shipping line to boost Iranian-Latin American trade, Iran's finance minister announced Nov. 5. Iran's talks with Cuban officials have yielded positive results, Massoud Mir Kazemi said upon...

Embargo scares away U.K. oil prospectors.(MinMet PLC)(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Gold Oil PLC and Minmet PLC have agreed to cancel an agreement relating to oil and exploration interests in Cuba and Latin America to allow Minmet to pursue opportunities in the United States, the companies reported in statements picked up by...

Ciego de Avila gypsum plant to modernize.
December 1, 2007... The gypsum extraction plant and refinery located in Punta Alegre, in northern Ciego de Avila province, is being modernized with an eye towards increasing production. Despite its 30-year-old technology, some 250 tons of gypsum is processed...

Russia restructures post-soviet debt.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Russia's lower house of parliament on Nov. 16 ratified an intergovernmental agreement on restructuring Cuba's $166 million post-Soviet debt to Russia. Under the agreement, the debt will be restructured over a 10-year period, with a...

China, Cuba sign TV broadcast agreement.
December 1, 2007... China and Cuba signed an accord in early November to extend broadcasting of TV programs in their respective countries. The document was inked at the Cuban Embassy in Beijing by Grissel Perez, general director of Cubavision Internacional and...

Singapore, Cuba fight dengue fever.
December 1, 2007... Singapore and Cuba, both known for excellence in controlling dengue fever, have joined forces to work together on researching the scourge. The Straits Times of Singapore reported Sept. 15 that besides coming up with findings to help over...

Paper: going to the dentist is no picnic in Cuba.
December 1, 2007... Cuba's Juventud Rebelde has published a stinging criticism of the state of dentistry in Cuba. Reuters, reporting on the expose, said a team of reporters from the state-run newspaper fanned out to 22 dental clinics in various provinces only...

Cuba's Venezuela mission saves many lives.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Some 40,000 Cuban health specialists serving in Venezuela have saved more than 57,000 lives in Venezuela since the beginning of the Barrio Adentro mission in April 2003, claims government news agency ACN. Dr. Pablo Feal Canizares, deputy...

Progress reported in retinitis program ...(Disease/Disorder overview)
December 1, 2007... Thanks to the development of a national program for the early diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa in Cuba, treatments are more efficient and patients have been able to improve the quality of their life, reports program director Obel Garcia Baez....

... But Cuban eye-care falls short in Antigua.(Brief article)
December 1, 2007... Not everyone in the Caribbean is happy with Cuba's much-hyped eye program. On the small island of Antigua, residents are complaining that they've not been able to access the program for several months now. One would-be patient told the...

Blacklisted British online entrepreneur gives up on Cuba.
December 1, 2007... Since the mid-1990s, Stephen A. Marshall had been a fixture within Havana's expatriate community. The 38-year-old businessman, originally from Yorkshire, England, had come to Cuba to start up a venture dedicated to providing online travel...

Paper studies U.S., Cuban tourism cooperation.
December 1, 2007... An analysis of the potential relationship of U.S. and Cuban tourism interests by Sergei Khrushchev and two coauthors, published in the November 2007 issue of the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, suggests that the U.S....

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
December 1, 2007... If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know! Fax details to CubaNews at (301) 949-0065 or send e-mail to larry@cubanews.com. Nov. 27: "Rebuilding Cuba: The Critical Issues." Private seminar at Riviera...