CubaNews articles from January 2004

CubaNews archives from January 2004

Cuban economy grew by 2.6% in 2003; tourism, nickel, oil are all bright spots.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... Cuba's GDP grew by a healthy 2.6% in 2003--far better than the Latin American and Caribbean average of 1.5%--thanks mainly to a strong recovery in the island's crucial tourist sector. The jump in tourism revenue more than compensated for a...

Cuba maintains trade links with Spain despite Fidel's angry tirade against EU.
January 1, 2004... Seven months ago, the 15-nation European Union--outraged at Fidel Castro's dissident crackdown and executions of three ferry hijackers--moved to curtail official visits to Cuba, limit cultural exchanges and invite Cuban dissidents to National...

Top U.S. business lobby welcomes Senate proposal to abolish Section 211.(U.S.-Cuba Trademark Protection Act )
January 1, 2004... The National Foreign Trade Council is praising a new bill in the Senate that aims to help U.S. companies protect trademarks registered in Cuba, while preventing Cuba from becoming a haven for counterfeiting and trademark encroachment. The...

What's behind free Cuba commission?(Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba )
January 1, 2004... When President Bush announced the creation of a Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba back in October, most experts and the media at large agreed that the real reason was his need for Cuban-American votes in the November 2004 presidential...

Miami firm fined $900,000 for faking Cuban cigars.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Miami-based Tabacalera Cubana Corp. has admitted selling knock-off versions of Cuba's famous Montecristo, H. Upmann and Romeo y Julieta cigars, but said it can't pay "even 1/1000th" of the $900,000 fine ordered by a Florida judge. "We've...

North-South Center's demise irks staffers.(Dante B. Fascell North-South Research Center)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The federal government has fired the staff of a prominent University of Miami think tank, leading its 12 employees to speculate that they had been let go for political reasons. "I still don't really understand the reason why this...

Report: Cuba no haven for believers.(State Department International Religious Freedom Report)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuba was once again singled out for harsh criticism--along with Burma, China, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam--in the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, issued Dec. 18, said that in general,...

Frente Amplio promises Uruguay-Cuba ties.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... If victorious in next year's elections, Uruguay's left-wing Frente Amplio (FA) coalition would re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba. The decision came in a unanimous vote at a party gathering last month, during which FA announced that...

Q&A: CubaNews talks to top Alarcon adviser Miguel Alvarez.(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Miguel Alvarez is an adviser on international and political affairs to Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly. From 1977 to 1983, Alvarez served at Cuba's mission to the United Nations in New York; since then, he's held various...

New state markets to offer lower prices.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuban authorities announced Nov. 21 that a network of state farmers' markets will soon open, with the objective of offering food to the population at lower prices than what is available at private markets where price is determined by the laws...

Cuba decides to suspend U.S. beef imports.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuba has suspended purchases of live animals from the United States in the wake of the recent mad-cow scare. "We have some outstanding contracts for sale, and we hope they can be executed after the epidemic is resolved," Pedro Alvarez,...

A decade later, UBPCS offer mixed results.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... Ten years ago, Cuba restructured its agricultural production, breaking up state farms and creating smaller cooperatives known as UBPCs (Unidades Basicas de Produccion Cooperativa). Under this system, farmers received private plots for their...

In their own words ...
January 1, 2004... "We do not want to break with the existing institutional order. We do not want to resort to violence. We do not want to see the process hijacked by mafias and vested interests." --Noted dissident Oswaldo Paya, who on Dec. 12 announced a...

New York's Center for Cuban studies fears for its future.
January 1, 2004... The Center for Cuban Studies (CCS), a New York-based think tank founded by a group of American liberals in 1972, says it'll have to find more creative ways of bringing U.S. citizens to Cuba, now that "people-to-people" travel licenses are...

Cuba's sugar industry in 2004.(Directory)
January 1, 2004... SUGAR MILLS REMAINING ACTIVE PINAR DEL RIO 1. Harlem 2. Treinta de Noviembre LA HABANA 3. Abraham Lincoln 4. Hector Molina 5. Gregorio Arlee Manalich 6. Boris L. Santa Coloma 7. Habana Libre ...

Sven Kuhn von Burgsdorff: EU's top envoy in Havana.
January 1, 2004... Last March, at the height of Cuba's honeymoon with the European Union, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque personally cut the ribbon at a ceremony to inaugurate the EU's new mission along Quinta Avenida in Havana's elegant Miramar district. ...

Opposition leaders skeptical of Paya's plans for a post-Castro government.
January 1, 2004... Opposition leaders reacted with cautious skepticism to a plan being promoted by noted dissident Oswaldo Paya calling on Cubans to help draw up a program for a transitional government and new constitution for the post-Castro era. Manuel...

Nickel prices jump sharply, boosting Cuba's bottom line.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... With growing world demand boosting nickel prices, the Cuban nickel industry--despite a 4.7% drop in output--enjoyed one of its best years ever in 2003. Guided by the U.S.-led economic recovery and increasing consumption of the metal by...

U.S. rice producers see huge potential for sales to Cuba.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... If current restrictions on trade were lifted, Cuba would buy up to 300,000 tons of U.S. rice annually, says Pedro Alvarez, chief of Cuban food purchasing agency Alimport. That would make the United States one of Cuba's top three suppliers...

Biennial art show a success, despite Dutch funding pullout.
January 1, 2004... The Cuban capital has lately witnessed a flurry of artistic activity, capped by the 8th Havana Biennial, which opened in November and runs through mid-January. The event features works by more than 100 artists from 45 countries including...

Statue honors Compay Segundo.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Havana's Hotel Nacional has a new attraction: a life-sized statue of beloved musician Compay Segundo, who died last July at the age of 95. The statue, created by sculptor Alberto Lescay and unveiled in the presence of 100 government...

Government seeks funding for the arts.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... Eleven state-owned companies affiliated with Cuba's Ministry of Culture generated 2002 revenues of $33.8 million and profits of more than $7 million. Income in national currency amounted to 216.5 million pesos, up from 89.1 million pesos in...

Cimex reports 2003 revenues of $1 billion.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
January 1, 2004... Following a corruption scandal last October that resulted in the arrest of several of its top executives, state-run Corporacion Cimex S.A. has closed 2003 with revenues of $1 billion, up 3% over 2002 figures. The announcement was made at a...

Thyssen Krupp invests in cement factories.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Germany's ThyssenKrupp AG is not only a customer for Cuban nickel exports, but is increasingly investing in the modernization of major cement factories across the island. These include a cement plant in Artemisa, in La Habana province, and the...

Alimport denies owing Parlamat money.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuban food purchasing agency Alimport says a claim by Italian conglomerate Parmalat that Cuba owes it tens of millions of dollars for powdered milk is false. "We do not have any debts outstanding with Parmalat," said Alimport President...

Doctors headed for Botswana, Zimbabwe.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuba's ambassador to Botswana, Ana Vilma Vallejera, said another contingent of Cuban doctors and medical personnel will be sent to that AIDS-stricken African nation. Most of the new arrivals will work in the city of Francistown, near the...

Caja Madrid offers financial data on CFH.(Corporacion Financiera Habana S.A. )(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Corporacion Financiera Habana S.A. (CFH) has chalked up pre-tax net earnings of $9.35 million since its establishment in 1998 through a joint venture between Spain's Caja Madrid savings bank and Cuba's Banco Popular de Ahorro. Caja Madrid...

Coral reefs win government protection.(National System of Protected Areas)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuba may include its coral reefs in the National System of Protected Areas, reports Prensa Latina. Cuba's coral reef barrier is located on 2,000 miles around its underwater platform, making it among the most extensive in the Caribbean. ...

UNC-Chapel Hill to send students to Cuba.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The University of North Carolina has teamed up with the University of Havana to allow students to study abroad in Cuba. Madge Hubbard, deputy director of UNC-Chapel Hill;s Study Abroad Office, will send eight students to the island the last...

Cuba signs various accords with Sudan.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The first Cuba-Sudan Joint Commission was concluded Nov. 14 with the signing of five bilateral agreements between the two nations. Yousif Suleiman Takana, Sudan's minister for international cooperation, said the meeting was "the beginning...

Etecsa creates site for telecom products.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cuba's state-run telephone monopoly, Etecsa, has established a new virtual site for online sales of products and services. The site offers telecom products which can be bought from Cuba or abroad. These include different kinds of...

Argentine J-V to make motorcycles in Cuba.(Juki S.A.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Juki S.A., a company owned by Argentine businessman Arturo Scalise, has won a bid to assemble Mondial motorcycles in Cuba. The vehicles will be purchased by various Cuban state tourism entities and could soon be circulating in Havana, Varadero...

Travel agents lobby to preserve embargo.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... A group of travel agents who support the U.S. embargo against Cuba have banded together to form Travel Agents for Cuba's Liberation (TACL). A "mission statement" on the group's website says TACL is composed of professional travel agents,...

Melia to manage Cuban-built hotel in China.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Spain's Grupo Sol Melia--which already has 21 hotels under management in Cuba--has agreed to manage a 685-room hotel being built in Shanghai by a binational venture called Cubana Shanghai S.A. Construction officially began in December, at a...

Port Manatee-Alimport pact generates heat in Miami.
January 1, 2004... Florida's Manatee County Port Authority has approved a memorandum of understanding between Port Manatee and Cuba--built only after port officials agreed to remove a 44-word sentence that encouraged the port to actively oppose the U.S. embargo...

From propaganda to PR: a guide to Cuba's mass media.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... Take a look at Cuba's changing mass media as it shifts from a traditional Soviet model to a more market-oriented approach. Cuba now has PR firms that help private companies advertise in both domestic and international markets. Magazines and...

Cruise-ship arrivals to rebound in 2004.(Industry Overview)
January 1, 2004... Cuban tourism officials hope their island will soon be attracting 100,000 cruiseship passengers a year, which is how many came in 2000--even without a lifting of the U.S. travel ban. In 2003, about 60,000 cruise-ship passengers came to Cuba...

Tikal jets begins Guatemala-Cuba service.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Tikal Jets has inaugurated the first nonstop service between Guatemala and Cuba using DC-9 aircraft, reports the newspaper Siglo 21. The Guatemala City-Havana flights, introduced Dec. 21, are being offered Mondays and Fridays at a...

After 40 years, Aeroflot adds second flight.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Russia's Aeroflot has added a second weekly Moscow-Havana flight in order to keep up with a growing number of Russian tourists and business executives visiting the island. Until now, Aeroflot had flown only once a week between Moscow and...

Malev to serve Varadero from Budapest.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Hungary's Malev Air Tours has added Cuba to its list of favored tourist destinations. The company's maiden flight arrived in Varadero last month, bringing 180 vacationers. The airline will operate once-a-week Budapest-Varadero service...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
January 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. Jan. 5-9, 12-16: "The Cuban Revolution: US-Cuban Relations." Course to be...