CubaNews articles from January 2006

CubaNews archives from January 2006

OFAC denies Cuba chance to participate in upcoming P.R. World Baseball Classic.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)(Puerto Rico)(controversy between OFAC and major baseball league)
January 1, 2006... It looks like Cuba--which boasts one of the world's best baseball teams--won't be playing after all at the World Baseball Classic, scheduled to take place Mar. 3-20 at baseball stadiums in Phoenix, Orlando, San Diego, Tokyo and San Juan, Puerto...

Maine officials hopeful after concluding $20 million export accord with Alimport.
January 1, 2006... Professional. Motivated. Knowledgeable. Hard bargainers. Friendly. Those are some of the adjectives a group of Maine agricultural producers used to describe trade officials they met during a recent trip to Cuba. Chlaudie Raessler says the...

With GOP in power, U.S.-Cuba relations won't improve in 2006.
January 1, 2006... With President Bush in the White House and both chambers of Congress controlled by the Republican Party--and Fidel Castro in his 47th year of rule in Havana--no one in Washington expects a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations this year. Bush's...

After Parmly speech, bilateral rhetoric hits new level of bitterness.(Bilateral ties slide down after controversy between Parmly and Castro)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Following months of relative calm on the U.S.-Cuba diplomatic front, the two nations are back to the caustic rhetoric that has often characterized their relationship since Fidel Castro took power in 1959, writes Gary Marx of the Chicago...

Declining population growth reshapes Cuba's 'pyramids'.
January 1, 2006... Over the last decade, CubaNews has reported extensively about the main trends in Cuba's demographics and its consequences. A shrinking birth rate, longer life expectancy and high emigration rates have kept the population nearly stagnant after...

We're moving to Florida!(Luxner News Inc., transferring its headquarters to South Florida)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Luxner News Inc., which publishes this newsletter, is temporarily transferring its headquarters to South Florida--the birthplace of CubaNews back in September 1993. So until further notice, please address all subscription requests, renewal...

More political prisoners in Cuban jails.
January 1, 2006... The number of Cubans jailed for political reasons increased to 333 last year, and new repression is likely in 2006 as discontent with the Castro regime grows, the island's main rights group said Jan. 11, in a report picked up by Reuters. ...

20 lawmakers urge Bush to extradite Posada.(George W. Bush)(Luis Posada)(Criminal procedure over luis posada by the lawmakers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Twenty members of Congress sent President Bush a letter Jan. 9 urging him to return accused terrorist Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela. Among the letter's signers: Sam Farr (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA),Jose Serrano (D-NY), Dennis Kucinich...

In their own words ...(Controversy between the leaders of Americans and Cubans)
January 1, 2006... "The Cuban regime does not represent the people, nor does it have any interest in bettering their lives. Rather, the regime is obsessed with self-preservation. The regime's hurling of angry and often violent groups against pro-democratic...

In Katrina's wake, Cuba no longer a priority for Louisiana.
January 1, 2006... Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco made headlines when she visited Havana last March and lunched with Fidel Castro. But since Aug. 29--the day Hurricane Katrina slammed into the U.S. Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans and much of southern...

Nebraska lawmaker: let Cuba pay for food imports with cigars.
January 1, 2006... A woman may be only a woman, but a good cigar could be an economic boost for Nebraska. That twist on the Rudyard Kipling poem is the reasoning behind a bill introduced Jan. 11 by State Sen. Pam Brown, reports the Omaha World-Herald. Under...

U.S. foodservice sector slow to export products to Cuba.
January 1, 2006... While dozens of American food and agribusiness firms are taking advantage of U.S. food sales to Cuba under the 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSRA), many others have refrained from pursuing such opportunities. The...

Success in medical devices is a tribute to Cuban ingenuity.
January 1, 2006... Necessity is the mother of invention--an axiom particularly evident in Cuba, where 1957 Chevys share the road with bicycles powered by washing-machine motors. It's known as inventando (inventing) --a seemingly indigenous trait that permeates...

Etecsa aims to have 1 million phone lines in service this year.
January 1, 2006... Cuba's Ministry of Information Technology and Communications says it wants to have one million phone lines in service by the end of this year. Ignacio Gonzalez Planas acknowledged that his ministry is a long way from meeting that ambitious...

National Assembly ends with a warning.
January 1, 2006... Cuba's National Assembly meeting in December --precedeed by a week of hearings by each of 10 permanent committees --took place amidst ominous rumblings. Since Nov. 17, Fidel Castro had made several speeches and presentations, suggesting...

Jamaica, Cuba cooperate on water issues.
January 1, 2006... The Jamaican government seeks to deepen ties with Cuba, particularly in the areas of water and housing development. Donald Buchanan, Jamaica's minister of water and housing, recently led a seven-member delegation to Cuba, following which he...

Caribbean single market goes into effect.
January 1, 2006... Caribbean leaders are welcoming the launch of a new free-trade zone aimed at allowing goods, services and skilled workers to move more easily throughout the region. Six nations--Jamaica, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad &...

Cuba's '06 sugar harvest unlikely to exceed 1 million tons.
January 1, 2006... On Jan. 6, Cuba kicked off the 2006 harvest with fewer mills than last year, along with a modest commitment to make enough sugar to cover domestic needs, and only a symbolic volume to fulfill international duties. Cuba hopes to produce 1.2...

Sugar layoffs may spell trouble ahead.
January 1, 2006... The downsizing of the sugar industry has put 8% of Cuba's workforce and 3% of the island's total population out of work. Regardless of the official pledge that every laid-off worker keeps his full salary and social benefits while going back to...

Brascuba: cigarette sales fell 4.6% in 2005.
January 1, 2006... Brascuba, a cigarette manufacturing joint venture between the Cuban government and Brazil's Souza Cruz S.A., said its 2005 domestic sales fell 4.6% compared to the year before. Sacha Ruffier, the venture's marketing director, told the...

Cuban oil, gas production drops 3.7%.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Cuba's combined oil and natural gas production fell by 3.7% in 2005, following a similar decline in 2004, according to Economy and Planning Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez. Oil production fell and gas output increased over last year's...

Venezuela to keep oil sales to Cuba steady.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... In related news, Venezuela plans to keep oil sales to Cuba steady at roughly 90,000 barrels a day this year because the island has discovered petroleum of its own. "We expect to keep that level of sales unchanged given that Cuba is...

Russian banks finance Ilyushin plane sale.
January 1, 2006... A syndicate of Russian state-owned banks has signed a deal with Cuba's Aviaimport Friday to provide a $94 million,10-year loan for the purchase of two long-range Russian Ilyushin-96-300 passenger planes, according to RIA Novosti. Following...

Amid rosy numbers, Cuba boosts budget by 32%.
January 1, 2006... The Cuban parliament has approved a 33.3 billion peso budget for 2006--a 32% jump over 2005 spending of 25.3 billion pesos and evidence that authorities are confident that the island's 15-year-long economic crisis is over, reports Reuters. ...

Grenada hopes to buy cement from Cuba.
January 1, 2006... Grenada is looking at the possibility of getting a shipment of cement from Cuba to help deal with the shortage now being experienced by the tiny Eastern Caribbean island. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, who said...

China lends Cuba $$ to buy Chinese goods.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... China has granted Cuba a line of credit worth 50 million yuan, about $6.2 million, as part of a pact signed during a visit by a senior Chinese Communist Party official, Cuba's state-run press reported Dec. 21. The line of credit will be...

Farmers welcome big U.S. wheat purchase.
January 1, 2006... Cuba's historic purchase of 500,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat in 2006 marks the move toward further normalization of grain trade between the two countries, says Louise Gartner, an analyst at Spectrum Commodities. "If Cuba is going to buy...

Cuba claims jobless rate of 1.9%.
January 1, 2006... Cuba's unemployment rate is 1.9%, one of the world's lowest, says the Communist Party mouthpiece Granma. The newspaper says "the government toils for its complete elimination based on the principle that all citizens play a role and have the...

U.S. food sales to Cuba reach $1.1 billion.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba came to $318 million in the first 11 months of 2005, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc. USCTEC, quoting U.S. Commerce Department figures, said that $318 million figure puts Cuba in...

Cuba expects 2.5 million visitors in 2006.
January 1, 2006... Cuba received 2.3 million tourists last year, a 12% jump over 2004 figures and 56.5% higher than tourist arrivals in 1996, when Cuba surpassed one million visitors for the first time, says the Ministry of Tourism. The increase took place...

Software catalogs medicinal plants.
January 1, 2006... A new software program centered around the medicinal use of plants has been created at the Center of Toxicology and Biomedicine in Santiago de Cuba. Specialists from the center worked together to create TOXO-Plant 1.0, a program that...

Vietnam awards Cuban firm highway bid.
January 1, 2006... Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Highway Project Management Unit has awarded a consulting contract for a section of a cross-country highway to Cuba's Quality Courier International, reports the Saigon Times Daily. Ngo Thinh Duc, deputy minister of...

Time to give Gitmo back to the Cubans.(Defense industry)
January 1, 2006... Congress is getting excited about the federal deficit, at last. It seems that tax cuts for the rich, heavy spending for military invasions and increasing Social Security costs finally rang a few bells in Washington. So here's a suggestion....

Castro encourages Pope to visit Cuba.
January 1, 2006... Fidel Castro wants Pope Benedict to visit Cuba, says Reuters, quoting Italian church official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa. Bertone, who visited Cuba in October, told the Italian business magazine Il Consulente Re that Castro told...

Santeria priests issue warnings for 2006.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2006... Babalao priests of the Afro-Cuban religion Santeria called on islanders Jan. 1 to be wary of diseases, broken agreements and corruption as they issued their much-anticipated predictions for the New Year. The Associated Press says that...

B'nai B'rith relief project brings hope to Cuba's 1,500 Jews.
January 1, 2006... The B'nai B'rith Cuban Jewish Relief Project, now 10 years old, has become one of the best-known U.S. religious humanitarian groups working in Cuba today. Its driving force is Stanley Cohen, who has been to Cuba 27 times since establishing...

Calendar of events.
January 1, 2006... If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know! Fax details to CubaNews at (301) 365-1829 or send e-mail to larry@cubanews.com. Feb. 2-4: U.S.-Cuba Energy Summit, Hotel Sheraton Maria Isabel, Mexico City....