CubaNews articles from February 2005

CubaNews archives from February 2005

Settlement of U.S. claims against Cuba unlikely as long as Fidel stays in power.
February 1, 2005... Roomfuls of files at a government storage facility in Suitland, Md., tell the story of the 5,911 certified U.S. property claims against Cuba--all of which are awaiting some political change in Havana that might settle a 45-year-old score. ...

Senate considers bipartisan bill aimed at promoting U.S. food exports to Cuba.(United States)
February 1, 2005... Washington lawmakers have introduced a bill to expand the sale of U.S. farm products to Cuba, and observers say it enjoys a reasonably good chance of passing. The Agricultural Products Export Facilitation Act of 2005--announced Feb. 9,...

Latin nations elect Cuba to crucial un human rights panel in Geneva.
February 1, 2005... The news came as a bomb to anti-Castro forces in Miami and policymakers in Washington: the members of GRULAC (Grupo de Latinamerica y el Caribe) at the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva had elected Cuba to the commission's "Working Group on...

Lexington Institute: Cuba's global strategy is paying off.
February 1, 2005... Rather than rely on expanded market-based reforms, Cuba has embarked on a series of long-term international economic initiatives geared toward strengthening the state economy and increasing trade, aid and investment. Several of these...

Cuba prepares for local 'elections'.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Cuba has started a countdown process for Apr. 17 elections to choose local authorities. According to Prensa Latina, electoral commissions in Cuba's 169 municipalities have been established ahead of elections for Municipality Assemblies--a...

Catholic magazine folds for lack of funding.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The alternative Catholic magazine Espacios, one of the few independent publications in Cuba's mostly state-run media market, is closing after eight years because it has run out of funding and local church support. Espacios had survived...

Sanchez: Cuba holds 294 political prisoners.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The number of political prisoners held in Cuba dropped slightly over the past six months to 294, a veteran rights activist reported Jan. 10. Elizardo Sanchez, who heads the Havana-based Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation,...

In their own words ...
February 1, 2005... "I hope I'm wrong... but if they make the mistake of attacking and invading this country, I recommend Mr. Bush had better launch 50 nuclear weapons and exterminate us all. We prefer to die in heaven than to survive in hell." --Fidel...

Cuban doctors bring health and hope to Paraguay's poor.
February 1, 2005... Cuban epidemiologist Gretza Sanchez Padron holds on tightly as the Land Rover she's riding in bounces along a dirt road south of Mariscal Estigarribia--the only town of any size in Paraguay's vast Chaco. Next to her is Mabel Lugo Santos, a...

Castro turns to Iran for economic, technical assistance.(Fidel Castro)
February 1, 2005... Iran, an oil-rich Islamic republic of 70 million, and impoverished, officially atheist Cuba have precious little in common--except that both have been branded "outposts of tyranny" by the new U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. On...

Expert refutes alleged Cuban-North Korean missile link.
February 1, 2005... In its January 2005 issue, CubaNews carried an analysis prepared by the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies entitled "Cuba, North Korea and Weapons of Mass Destruction." Essentially, the thrust of this...

Mauricio Tamargo: settling Cuba claims won't be easy.
February 1, 2005... It's been 40 years, and prominent Cuban-American attorney Mauricio Tamargo still can't forget the rats. Born in Havana, Tamargo was raised on a prosperous farm near Holguin that produced rice, corn, bananas and dairy cattle. In 1959,...

Cubans aid tsunami victims.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... A Cuban medical brigade comprising 16 doctors, two nurses, two hygiene technicians, three pharmacists and a power-plant engineer has been in Sri Lanka since early January, assisting victims of the recent killer tsunami. The group is...

Law firm hires ex-OFAC official to advise clients on Cuba.
February 1, 2005... With U.S. food exports to Cuba booming, agricultural companies worried about running afoul of confusing trade regulations are increasingly turning to a law firm that knows OFAC better than most. The Eren law firm, based in Washington,...

Judge slashes OFAC travel fine by 90%.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)
February 1, 2005... An administrative law judge has slashed by 90% a penalty imposed by OFAC against a Minnesota tourist who visited Cuba on a scuba-diving trip in early 1999. OFAC had originally sought a $7,530 penalty against Craig Ostrem for traveling to...

Japanese are coming back.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The number of Japanese tourists traveling to Cuba, which dropped sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, has started to recover--thanks mainly to the popularity of Cuban music in Japan. Kyodo News reports...

U.S. exporters win at Canada's expense.(United States)
February 1, 2005... The cheap U.S. dollar is hurting Cuba's economy by causing sharp increases in food prices worldwide. Were the world food economy simple--with Cuba earning high-value euros from tourism, converting them into cheaper dollars and then buying...

Cuba resumes Canadian beef imports.
February 1, 2005... Cuba will reopen its border to a wide range of Canadian beef products, the Canadian government announced Dec. 14, in a report carried by Nebraska's Midwest Messenger. Beef trade between the two countries was halted since last year's...

Calif. firm wins $22 million milk contract.
February 1, 2005... California-based DairyAmerica Inc. has won a $22 million contract to sell 10,000 tons of powdered milk to Cuba's state-run Alimport. The document was signed Feb. 3 by Alimport's president, Pedro Alvarez, and Keith Murfield, president of...

Cubans work on year-round animal feed.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Experts at Havana's Cuban Institute of Animal Science are developing a pasture to feed cattle year-round, even during the dry season. Known as CT-115, the new pasture comes from king grass, a plant widely used to feed cattle. Researchers...

RHC: cigar, honey industries back on track.
February 1, 2005... With the production of 180 million cigars in 2004, Cuba has recovered its traditional place in the cigar market, says Radio Havana Cuba. The largest exports last year included hand-rolled premium cigars, with significant foreign demand for...

World sugar prices to recover in 2005.
February 1, 2005... Sugar prices might show significant recovery this year following an increase in demand in India due to a reduction in areas devoted to sugarcane farming, according to analysts. That could spell welcome news for drought-stricken Cuba....

Jardines del Rey airport busier than ever.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Some 22 weekly flights are now arriving at Jardines del Rey International Airport in Ciego de Avila, according to Cuban state media. The airport expects to soon have 30 flights a week, arriving mainly from Canada, Great Britain, Germany,...

Eliminating GDP: something to hide?(gross domestic product)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Fidel Castro's recent move to disregard Gross Domestic Product--the world's standard measurement of economic growth--has confounded both economists and ordinary Cubans, reports Reuters. The move to declare GDP a "capitalist instrument" has...

Pebercan finishes tests on Seboruco well.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Only a month after Fidel Castro announced the discovery of light crude oil in the Santa Cruz field operated by Pebercan Inc., the Canadian company says it has more good news for investors. "The results of the Seboruco-103 well, whose...

S.C. has little to show for 2004 trade deal.(South Carolina)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Despite a much-publicized agreement signed last year for the Cuban government to buy $10 million in goods from South Carolina companies, little has been done since then to implement the deal. AP reports that three state officials, including...

Cuba adds red tape for potential foreign investors.
February 1, 2005... Foreign companies and individuals hoping to make small investments in Cuba have new bureaucratic hoops to jump through, under a government decree published Feb. 2 in Cuba's official business weekly, Opciones. Marc Frank of Reuters reports...

Brazil's Petrobras eyes offshore drilling.(Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras, now boosting energy cooperation in Cuba, could team up with Canada's Sherritt International or Spain's Repsol-YPF S.A. as it moves to explore two new prospecting zones off Cuba, the Brazilian ambassador here...

Chinese oil firm signs accord with Cupet.(China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., Cubapetroleo)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Chinese oil and gas conglomerate Sinopec Corp. has signed an accord with Cuba's state-run Cubapetroleo (Cupet) to jointly produce oil, reports the Communist daily Granma. "A joint production contract has been signed for one of the potential...

Photographer launches Cuba website.(David Stanley)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... The original author of Lonely Planet Cuba announces the launch of Cuba-Pictures.com, a 14-page collection of travel photos of Cuba. All 126 photos in this picture gallery are by David Stanley, who first visited Cuba in 1975. Over the next...

Louisiana governor plans visit to Cuba.(Kathleen Blanco)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco will lead a state delegation to Cuba next month "in an effort to win business for Louisiana ports and companies seeking to expand trade with the island nation," reports AP. A spokeswoman for Blanco said no...

Houses built of sugarcane byproducts.
February 1, 2005... The construction of 20 houses in 2004 with bagasse and cement boards is considered a significant milestone in the diversification of sugarcane byproducts, Cuban state media reported Jan. 26. "The country expects to build 700 houses with...

Cuba aims for 2.5 million tourists in 2005.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Cuba hopes to attract 2.5 million visitors this year, says Oscar Gonzalez, the country's deputy tourism minister. Gonzalez, attending a world tourism conference in Madrid, told reporters that Cuba's travel industry has leapfrogged ahead of...

ADM executive joins University of Illinois.(Archer Daniels Midland)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Tony DeLio, a former top official with commodities giant Archer Daniels Midland, has joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as associate vice-chancellor. "In my new role, I will be leading the university's efforts to develop...

No smoking? Think again.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Cuba's newly enacted ban on smoking in public places is proving hard to enforce. The law, enacted Feb. 1, is uncompromising: no smoking in enclosed public buildings; no cigarettes to be sold within 100 meters of schools, and all cigarette...

Etecsa: 90% of phone lines to be digitalized.(Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba S.A.)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... Cuba expects to complete digitalization of 90% of its telephone lines in 2005, says a top official of telecom monopoly Etecsa. Jose Antonio Fernandez, the company's executive manager, said that in 2004, Etecsa digitized 85% of all phone...

One final road trip for this veteran Cuba correspondent.(Tracey Eaton )
February 1, 2005... Exactly 38 miles from home, the Jeep Cherokee that I bought in Irving, Tex., coughed, sputtered and quit. With the Dallas Morning News reassigning me, I had told my editors I wanted to take one last road trip. Along the way, I'd write about...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... 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. Feb. 17: Shared Vision: Photos of Baracoa, Cuba, on exhibit at Jacksonville...