CubaNews articles from May 2003

CubaNews archives from May 2003

As relations worsen, Cuba vows to keep buying U.S. food--unless Bush says no.
May 1, 2003... Despite the sudden deterioration in bilateral relations, both Cuban officials and U.S. analysts predict that Havana will continue purchasing U.S. farm commodities. In a blistering speech Apr. 25, Cuban President Fidel Castro defended the...

Cuba reports healthy tourism revenues despite outrage over dissident arrests.
May 1, 2003... Fidel Castro is locking up dissidents and executing would-be hijackers like never before, but foreign tourists in search of sun, sand and sex seem oblivious to the political storm brewing across the Florida Straits. Officials in Varadero...

CPF board of directors resigns in protest.(Cuba Policy Foundation's disbanding over execution of dissidents in Cuba )
May 1, 2003... The Cuba Policy Foundation, a Washington-based lobby formed just over a year ago to get the trade embargo lifted, has disbanded itself in protest over the Castro regime's executions and dissident arrests. The CPF's executive director, Brian...

In memoriam: Bob Levine.(historian )(Obituario)
May 1, 2003... Well-known history professor and Cuba specialist Robert M. Levine died Apr. 1 at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital after a long battle against brain and liver cancer. During his lengthy academic career at the University of Miami, Levine...

New OFAC rules worry tour operators specializing in Cuba. (US-Cuba Relations).(Office of Foreign Assets Control)(travel restrictions to Cuba for non-Cuban Americans)
May 1, 2003... On Mar. 24, the Bush administration eliminated legal travel to Cuba for non-Cuban-Americans hoping to visit the island on "people-to-people" exchanges. As such, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control will no longer...

Poultry sales show promise, say exporters. (US-Cuba Relations).
May 1, 2003... Within the last year, commodities trader Boston Agrex has sold nearly $5 million worth of frozen chicken and turkey to Cuba, nearly all of it from Southeastern states. Larry Lieberman, president of Boston Agrex, said his $75 million...

Museum of State Security: Cuba's shrine to surveillance. (Special Report).
May 1, 2003... Considering the Cuban government's recent dissident crackdown and its growing obsession with national security, what better time than to visit Havana's Museo de Seguridad del Estado--Fidel Castro's showcase of espionage and intrigue. Known...

USAID pumps another $1 million into CTP.(United States Agency for International Development)(Cuba Transition Project )(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... The U.S. Agency for International Development will continue to fund the University of Miami's Cuba Transition Project, an academic program that conducts research on issues affecting Cuba's post-Castro transition to democracy. USAID...

Party names 2 women to key provincial posts.(Elizabeth Camara Baez, Lazara M. Lopez Acea)(Communist Party of Cuba )(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Two important changes have taken place within the Cuban Communist Party, despite the indefinite postponement of the Sixth Congress which was supposed to take place last year. The first secretary of the PCC from Isla de la Juventud, Roberto...

In their own words ...(politicians' comments on execution of dissidents in Cuba )
May 1, 2003... "The individuals arrested, prosecuted and sentenced in Cuba in recent days were not tried for being economists, journalists, human-rights activists or for expressing their opinion and dissent. They violated laws aimed to legitimately protect...

Default crisis leads bank to introduce CUC.(Central Bank of Cuba)(monetary exchange programme: pesos convertibles en unidad de cambio )(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... The chairman of Cuba's Central Bank, Francisco Soberon, has created a new means of payment known as the CUC (pesos convertibles en unidad de cambio) as a way of solving the growing default problem plaguing Cuba's ministries and state entities....

Trademark registration a lucrative business for Lex S.A. (Legal Affairs).
May 1, 2003... You won't find McDonald's, Blockbuster Video, Holiday Inn or Wal-Mart on the streets of Havana. But all these well-known U.S. companies--and thousands More--have registered their trademarks with the Cuban government in preparation for the day...

Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's top dissident, talks to CubaNews. (Newsmakers).(Entrevista)
May 1, 2003... It isn't hard to find Oswaldo Paya's house. Located along Calle Penon in Havana's crumbling Cerro district, it's the one under constant surveillance by the not-so-subtle secret police stationed just across the street. The agents, watching...

Atlanta seeks designation as gateway for flights to Havana. (Aviation).
May 1, 2003... Delta Air Lines and Georgia state officials are lobbying hard to have the U.S. government designate Atlanta as the fourth gateway city for direct flights to Cuba. Such designations are given not to specific carriers, but to cities. For...

California dealmaker sees big potential in Cuba. (Aviation).(businessman Gregory Estevane)(Global Strategies Trading LLC )(Entrevista)
May 1, 2003... SAN DIEGO -- A California trading firm is forging ahead with business negotiations in Cuba, despite new uncertainties triggered by Fidel Castro's crackdown on dissent. "The news is one thing and practical trading is another," said Gregory...

Gulf of Mexico ports vie for potential U.S.-Cuba food trade. (Shipping).
May 1, 2003... The Castro regime's crackdown on dissidents is likely to elicit strong reprisals from the Bush administration in coming months, but for Gulf of Mexico ports trading with Cuba, it's been business as usual. From Corpus Christi, Tex., to Port...

Spanish exports to Cuba drop 24% in 2002.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Spain's 2002 exports to Cuba came to 476.5 million euros, down 24.3% from 2001 and lower even than the 491 million euros worth of Spanish exports to Cuba in 1998, reports the Madrid-based newsletter CubaNegocios. Measured in euros, the...

Las Tunas metal plant to get Spanish funds.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... The Metallic Structure Plant in the eastern province of Las Tunas will get a $2 million investment from Spain, reports Cuban media. The money will help the factory, which is Cuba's main input supplier, upgrade its equipment--some of which...

Bermuda's used cars could end up in Cuba.(possible donation of used vehicles )(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Bermuda's transport minister, Ewart Brown, says he sees nothing wrong with sending the island's old buses, ferries and cars to Cuba. Brown's plan to donate 15 buses and sell three ferries and an undetermined amount of vehicles to the Cuban...

Welsh exporters seek business in Cuba.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Beef supplied by St. Merryn Foods of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, was the main entree at a recent dinner hosted by the British Embassy in Havana. The event, held in conjunction with the International Trade Centre and the Hull & Humber Chamber...

Christian group hopes to start magazine.(Iglesia Bautista de Buenavista)(periodical Luz y Verdad )(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Havana's Iglesia Bautista de Buenavista seeks assistance in starting a bimonthly, Spanish-language magazine to serve the evangelist community in Cuba, South Florida, Latin America and Spain. The magazine, initially 20 pages an issue, will...

Israel's Zim lines fined for Cuba trade.(Zim Israel Navigation Ltd. receives fine for trading with Cuba )
May 1, 2003... A Miami-based unit of Zim Israel Navigation Ltd. agreed to pay a $250,000 fine for doing business with Cuba, according to documents released Apr. 4 by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. In addition, the New York...

Maryland plans agriculture trade mission.
May 1, 2003... The goodwill ship Pride of Baltimore II will embark on a groundbreaking trade mission to Cuba. The Maryland Department of Agriculture is organizing the May 24-28 mission on behalf of state agriculture firms interested in exporting food to the...

Havana Club rum selling big in Italy.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Havana Club now accounts for 43% of all rum sales in Italy, compared to 24% for Bacardi, according to executives from the Italian firm Ramazzotti. The company, affiliated with French group Pernod Ricard, said six million 700-ml bottles of...

Mexico patches up relations with Cuba.
May 1, 2003... Two years after it began, the diplomatic war between Cuba and Mexico is over, according to senior officials in both countries interviewed by The Dallas Morning News. "The unannounced end of hostilities means a return to a century-old...

Cuban TV officials seek to expand reach.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Cuban officials and experts held negotiations last month with 400 Mexican cable TV operators in Veracruz, as part of efforts to expand Cuba's TV service throughout Latin America by way of Panamsat's PAS-9 satellite. Cubavision...

Cuba to bid on 2012 Olympic games.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Cuba's Olympic Committee has ratified its intention to bid for the 2012 Olympic Games. Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez, who is also president of the COC, says Cuba could organize the games in Havana "with austerity and efficiency,...

Honey production on the rise.(Cuba)(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... La Habana province produced 165 tons of honey during the first trimester of 2003, and has the potential of producing 275 tons this year, reports local media. Farms and cooperative workers supplied 14.5 tons of honey to the Cuban government...

Hialeah firm launches Rapidgram service.(Florida)(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... Florida-based Crone Inc. and a unit of Cuban phone monopoly Etecsa have introduced Rapidgram, a digital messenger service that carries letters, documents and photos from the United States to Cuba in 72 hours or less. Letters sent from the...

Sugar mill to be converted into museum.(Cuba)
May 1, 2003... Cuba's Manuel Martinez Prieto sugar mill, closed last year as part of an overall restructuring of the sugar industry, is slated to become a "sugar culture referral center." The mill, located with Havana's municipal limits, "will work as a...

Spain's Cluster wins trio of contracts.(business in Cuba)
May 1, 2003... Fernando Acosta, minister of Cuba's steel and mechanical industry, and the president of Cluster de Energia del Pais Vasco, Baltasar Errazti, have signed three commercial deals worth a total of 156 million euros, reported the Madrid-based...

Cuban restaurant opens in Shangai.(Articulo breve)
May 1, 2003... China's largest city now has its first Cuban restaurant. La Gloria Cubana--a joint venture between China's Shanshan group and Grupo Cubanacan S.A.--was recently inaugurated in the Pudong district of Shanghai. The establishment, the first...

Cuba says tobacco sector thriving once again.
May 1, 2003... The Cuban government says the tobacco infrastructure in Pinar del Rio province has recovered from the damage caused by Hurricanes Isidore and Lili last year. Over 11,000 tobacco curing houses have been rebuilt since the storms, whose heavy...

Villa Clara's economy depends on sugar, manufacturing. (Geography).(Cuba)
May 1, 2003... This is the 10th in a series of monthly articles on Cuba's 14 provinces by geographer Armando H. Portela, who has a Ph.D. in geography from the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Portela currently resides in Miami. Villa Clara is one of three...

Calendar of events.(business conferences in cuba)
May 1, 2003... 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. May 5-8: XXIII Tourism Convention Cuba, Plaza Americas Conference Center,...