CubaNews articles from March 2004

CubaNews archives from March 2004

Treasury announces Cuba crackdown; opponents smell election-year politics.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)
March 1, 2004... Early last month, the Treasury Department announced that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) would freeze the assets of Cuba-run travel companies and pursue civil and criminal action against U.S. citizens who do business with those...

DOC rules against piano donations to Cuban schools.(Send a Piana to Havana program)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The U.S. Department of Commerce has revoked the export license it has granted annually since 1995 to Send a Piana to Havana, a non-profit group that donates pianos to music schools in Cuba. The DOC's Bureau of Industry and Security told...

Cuba now ranks 35th in U.S. food purchases.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuba is now the 35th-largest market in the world for U.S. food exports, according to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. That's up from 50th in 2002 and 144th in 2000, says Council President John Kavulich. He said Cuba's...

Foreign firms that offer Cuba-related websites fear they'll be targeted next.
March 1, 2004... Given the number of online services that thrive on the Cuban exile community in South Florida and elsewhere, many in the e-commerce industry are wondering if the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will expand its...

New OFAC rules choke off legal U.S. travel to Cuba.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)(United States)
March 1, 2004... The Bush administration's crackdown on U.S. travel to Cuba has "reduced the number of non-Cuban-Americans visiting the island to a trickle," according to a Feb. 19 report by Reuters. Since last October, when President Bush issued a...

Lawyers for 'Miami 5' spies await crucial Mar. 10 hearing.
March 1, 2004... Attorneys for the "Miami Five"--a group of five Cuban nationals serving long jail sentences after they were convicted in 1998 of spying for the Castro regime--will argue at a Mar. 10 hearing in Miami for a retrial. The five men are Ramon...

Cuban cigar exports to recover in 2004 after difficult year.
March 1, 2004... BY OUR HAVANA CORRESPONDENT Cuban tobacco production has recovered from devastating damages left by two severe hurricanes in 2002, said Oscar Basulto, president of TabaCuba and co-chairman of Habanos S.A. Losses due to the 2002...

Foreign trade rose 13.2% in 2003; exports up 18%.(Cuba's trade deficit grows)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuba's foreign trade rose by 13.2% in 2003 after falling by more than $900 million the year before, as the foreign-exchange crisis forced the Castro government to slash imports by $694 million, while exports fell by $226 million. Official...

UN's Chanet to probe human rights in Cuba.(Christine Chanet appointed as special representative of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has appointed French magistrate Christine Chanet its special representative to report on Cuba's human rights situation. In a Jan. 27 statement, the UN said Chanet will announce her...

Florida lawmakers propose transition plan.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuban-American congressional leaders in Florida have unveiled their own plan for a transition to democracy in a post-Castro Cuba, in what The Miami Herald calls "a clear indication of the vision some exile leaders have for the island that they...

In their own words ...
March 1, 2004... "Cuba is for the most part, not at all a salient issue outside of [Miami]. It doesn't register politically outside of this city." --Jorge Dominguez, a Harvard University professor of government and Cuba expert, speaking Feb. 19 at Florida...

Little to show 18 months after hyped-up population census.(National Bureau of Statistics )
March 1, 2004... The findings of the "most important social research" in decades--as Cuba's official media dubbed the latest census--have vanished. Eighteen months after completing the well-publicized Census of Population and Housing in September 2002,...

Internet guru Steve Marshall seeks new Cuba ventures.
March 1, 2004... Stephen A. Marshall's business card is certainly eye-catching. "Four companies, same vision," boasts the bilingual tarjeta, which lists the names, e-mail addresses, websites and logos of four entities offering freezone services, Internet...

Despite difficulties, foreign agencies hire Cuban models.
March 1, 2004... During Cuba's economic opening in the early 1990s, a multitude of European publications fawned over the island's beautiful young women. Magazines began providing extensive coverage of the unspoiled beauties living not only in Havana, but in...

Cuban exiles will soon be able to visit without visas.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Effective Jun. 1, nearly all Cuban natives living outside Cuba will be able to visit the island of their birth without a visa, as long as they have a valid Cuban passport. The decision "constitutes a new signal of goodwill by the...

Army colonel is new tourism minister.(Manuel Marrero Cruz)
March 1, 2004... The Castro regime has dismissed career bureaucrat Ibrahim Ferradaz as Cuba's tourism minister and replaced him with a younger military officer, in what appears to be an effort to put the country's most lucrative industry under the control of...

Cuba's latest lure: Cienaga de Zapata.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuban state-tourism chain Horizontes Hoteles plans to boost adventure and risk attractions this year, with special emphasis on Cienaga de Zapata in southern Matanzas province. Cienaga de Zapata, one of the Western Hemisphere's most...

Canada still top source of visitors to Cuba.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuba is now the 8th most popular tourist destination in the Americas, up from 23rd a decade ago, according to Radio Havana Cuba. Canada sent the most visitors to Cuba during 2003--some 450,000 people--which represents a 30% jump over 2002...

Higher euro puts pressure on industry.(Cuban travel industry hit by high Euro)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Despite the impressive numbers, Cuba's tourism sector is under mounting pressure to lower its prices in Europe--the consequence of a weak dollar and an unusually strong euro. Cuba is the only Caribbean country that sells its tourism product...

Leisure Canada names new president.(Guy Chartier)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Leisure Canada Inc., which is planning four major hotel resorts in Cuba, has named Guy Chartier president and chief operating officer. Chartier, with over 20 years of experience in the travel industry, most recently served as president of...

Repsol YPF to begin drilling for gulf oil.(Spanish oil company)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Spanish oil major Repsol YPF will start exploring for oil off Cuba by April at the latest, Reuters reported Feb. 24. The Castro government has granted Repsol the right to explore five blocks in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Cuba. ...

Forbes says Castro is worth $150 million.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Fidel Castro has a personal fortune of $150 million, says Forbes magazine, up from $100 million in 1998. Although Castro wasn't among the 587 on the Forbes billionaire list, he did make it into a special list for kings and heads of state....

LA. Port seeks expanded trade with Cuba.(Louisiana's Port of Lake Charles)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Louisiana's Port of Lake Charles has decided to explore business opportunities with Cuba and lobby Congress to end trade restrictions against the Castro government. On Feb. 23, the Lake Charles Port Board approved a letter of intent with...

Foreign trade chief pushes centralization.(Cuba's forign minister Raul de la Nuez)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Raul de la Nuez, Cuba's foreign trade minister is defending the "recentralization" of trade, which involves--among other things--systematically reviewing the imports of all staterun companies and in some cases stripping them of import rights....

Cienfuegos Airport gets $750,000 facelift.(Jaime Gonzalez International Airport, Cuba)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A $750,000 expansion of Jaime Gonzalez International Airport in Cienfuegos has given the facility two new terminals, a VIP lounge, a clinic, a cafeteria and a modern waiting hall. Rogelio Acevedo, president of the Cuban Civil Aeronautics...

Russians offer Cuba chance to settle debt.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Putin government has presented Cuba with proposals to settle Cuba's debt with the former Soviet Union and its outstanding debt to Russia. According to Russia's Finance Ministry, Havana's debt to the USSR is denominated in transferable...

Havana Club rum ranks No. 50 on top 100 spirits list.(Havana Club)
March 1, 2004... Havana Club rum now ranks 50th on the Impact Databank list of the world's top 100 premium distilled spirit brands, up from 53rd last year. The index, published in Impact's Feb. 1 issue, shows that Havana Club sold 1.9 million nine-liter...

Cuba, Argentina negotiate debt relief.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuba is seeking agreements that would boost its trade with Argentina by 50%. During the last eight years, bilateral commerce reached $891.2 million, with a favorable balance of $752.4 million for Argentina. Foreign Minister Felipe...

Korda daughter sues RSF over image of Che.(Reporters sans Frontieres sued over unauthorized use of Che Guevera's portrait)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The daughter of famous Cuban photographer Alberto Korda is suing the French human rights group Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF) for 1.14 million euros. Diana Diaz Lopez, who lives in Cuba, contests RSF's unauthorized use of Korda's famous...

OFAC: editing Cuban manuscripts is illegal.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is warning publishers they could "face grave legal consequences for editing manuscripts" from any of the countries under U.S. sanctions, the New York Times reported Feb. 28. ...

Official jobless rate drops to 2.3%.(ministry of labor and social security reports)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuba's unemployment rate came to 2.3% in 2003, according to Alfredo Morales, the minister of labor and social security. Morales told Spanish news agency EFE that Cuba has over 4.6 million job positions, of which 128,122 were created last...

Orbis brings 'flying eye hospital' to Cuba.(Orbis International)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... ORBIS International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating avoidable blindness worldwide, on Feb. 23 began a hands-on medical skills exchange program in Cuba that will run until Mar. 19. The program will be conducted onboard...

Prensa Latina launches Website in English.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Prensa Latina, a news agency owned by the Cuban government, has inaugurated an English-language website designed to make available up-to-the-minute news to a potential market of over 3 billion people worldwide." Leonel Nodal,...

Cuba promotes 'ultra-frozen' lobster.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Cuba has begun production of "ultra-frozen" lobster, according to the country's Ministerio de la Industria Pesquera. It's part of an effort to boost seafood exports, reports the newspaper Trabajadores. Ultra-frozen means maintaining the...

Havana's El Aljibe, established in 1947, still draws crowds.
March 1, 2004... Sergio Garcia Macias runs one of Cuba's most popular eateries, featuring a 56-year-old secret recipe for roast chicken that has drawn the likes of Hollywood star Jack Nicholson and former President Jimmy Carter. In the capitalist world,...

The Cuban family; lonely planet's Cuba.(The Cuban Family: Custom and Change in an Era of Hardship)(Cuba )(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Rosemarie Skaine's new book, "The Cuban Family: Custom and Change in an Era of Hardship," explores how relationships of blood, marriage, sex, and residence work in each type of Cuban family, particularly as it is affected by Cuba's struggle to...

Bro-Tech fined $250,000 for Cuba deal.(Bro-Tech Corp.)
March 1, 2004... Nearly two years after they were convicted and then granted a new trial, a Pennsylvania company and two of its officials pleaded guilty yesterday to violating the U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba. Bro-Tech Corp. and its vice-president,...

Officials say urban agriculture a success.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Urban agriculture, a Cuban initiative begun in 1987, accounted for production last year of 3.7 million tons of fruits and vegetables. Officials of Cuba's Agriculture Ministry say they expect to see a 300,000-ton increase in the 2004 figures,...

RAPCO wins export contract for field peas.(Risk Assurance Programs Co.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... An Illinois-based agribusiness consulting firm and an international trader have agreed to export 15,000 tons of dry field peas to Cuba later this year. Risk Assurance Programs Co. (RAPCO) is now looking for Illinois farmers who want to...

Holguin to get modernized corn mill.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The eastern province of Holguin will soon have a state-of-the-art corn mill, after a nearly one-year upgrading process. The plant, which was used to process flour for over 20 years, was totally remodeled using technology supplied by the Italian...

Ciego de Avila to ship pineapples to Africa.(Bioplants Center to export invitro pineapple plants)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Experts from the Bioplants Center in central Ciego de Avila province are carrying out a broad research project, with an eye to exporting nearly one million in-vitro pineapple plants to Africa. The center sent 195,000 pineapple plants to...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
March 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. Mar. 4-13: "El Caballero de Paris," a poetic multimedia stage performance...