CubaNews articles from November 2007

CubaNews archives from November 2007

UN votes 184-4 to condemn U.S. embargo as Bush speech urges more of the same.
November 1, 2007... For the 16th year in a row, the United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to condemn the U.S. embargo against Cuba. This year's tally was the most lopsided ever, with 184 countries supporting the Oct. 30 resolution and only...

Rising loonie makes it harder for Canada to compete with U.S. food exports to Cuba.
November 1, 2007... For years, Canada has treated Cuba as its quasi-exclusive market, taking advantage of the fact that U.S. companies couldn't trade with the Cuba because of the embargo. Even after 2000, when Washington amended the embargo to allow cash sales of...

Experts ponder the prospects for post-embargo trade.
November 1, 2007... Plenty of people are raving about the possibilities of doing business with Cuba post-embargo, but Dan O'Flaherty isn't one of them. O'Flaherty, vice-president of the National Foreign Trade Council, says that while his organization opposes...

Muse: unraveling embargo not so easy.
November 1, 2007... Washington attorney Robert Muse, who specializes in Cuba-related issues, predicts that even if the Democrats take back the White House in 2008 and retain control of Congress, any significant relaxation of the embargo would face a mountain of...

Powerful anti-Castro PAC courts freshman lawmakers.
November 1, 2007... A new political action committee's ambitious effort to influence Capitol Hill lawmakers on Cuba policy may have reached its goal. The U.S.-Cuba Democracy Political Action Committee, created in 2003 by Cuban-Americans who wanted Congress to...

Duran: exiles more likely to vote democratic in 2008.
November 1, 2007... Alfredo Duran, president of the Cuban Committee for Democracy, says it isn't your abuelita's South Florida anymore. According to Duran, 90% of Cuban exiles signing up to vote traditionally registered Republican. These days, new voters who...

Gitmo tent city could hold up to 45,000.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... The U.S. military has expanded plans for a popup tent city to shelter migrants in case of a Caribbean boat crisis, spending over $55 million to prepare a safe haven for up to 45,000 boat people, the Miami Herald is reporting. Since Fidel...

Bay of pigs painting Graces CIA headquarters.(United States. Central Intelligence Agency)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... The CIA has unveiled an oil painting depicting one of the few successes of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion: an aerial attack that took out some 900 of Castro's soldiers. The painting, paid for by Alabama's Compass Bank, was unveiled...

Cuba extradites fugitive to U.S. authorities.
November 1, 2007... Cuba handed over an American wanted for fraud and theft to U.S. authorities on Oct. 11, the third fugitive it has returned to the United States in one year, Reuters reported. John Bradley Egan was detained by Cuba at the end of June when...

In thier own words ...
November 1, 2007... "The operative word in our dealings with Cuba is not stability. The operative word is freedom. Now is the time to support democratic movements growing on the island. Now is the time to stand with the Cuban people." --President Bush, in an...

Diversification is key to Cuba's evolving foreign policy.
November 1, 2007... For some, Cuba's foreign policy is only about its alliance with Venezuela and China; others take note of the island's special ties with Iran and North Korea, which fits in well with the image of a rogue state aligning itself with the so-called...

Cuba and Venezuela edge ever closer.
November 1, 2007... Cuba and Venezuela have signed 21 economic accords aimed at strengthening cooperation--including plans to convert nickel waste into ferronickel, as well as a $1 billion petrochemical complex. Visiting President Hugo Chavez toured a...

Canada's awash in Cuban cigars, but they're not cheap.
November 1, 2007... From a distance, Toronto--with its New York-like skyline--may look and feel like an average American city. But one thing makes very clear to visitors that this is not the United States: the proliferation of "GoCuba.ca" travel billboards...

George McGovern fights for more rational Cuba policy.
November 1, 2007... In March 1963--four months after narrowly winning election as a junior senator from South Dakota--George McGovern stood up on the Senate floor and gave a speech entitled "Our Castro Fixation Versus the Alliance for Progress." In that...

IRI poll: most Cubans favor political change.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... A poll released Oct. 19 by the International Republican Institute shows that average Cubans overwhelmingly want the right to vote on Fidel Castro's successor. Paul Fagan, IRI's deputy director for Latin America, said the poll was conducted...

Patrick Symmes fleshes out Fidel's fellow 'dolorinos'.(Interview)
November 1, 2007... Travel writer Patrick Symmes, contributing editor for Harper's and Outside magazines, is busy these days promoting his new book. "The Boys From Dolores: Fidel Castro's Schoolmates From Revolution to Exile" (Pantheon Books; ISBN...

Cuba places its death penalty on hold.
November 1, 2007... Military tribunals that have recently tried serious cases of murder and kidnapping in Cuba have opted for life sentences or 30-year prison terms instead of the death penalty, which has not been applied in this country in more than four years....

Cuba helps ease Jamaican cement shortage.
November 1, 2007... Cuba has shipped 5,000 metric tons of cement to Jamaica in order to ease that island's current cement shortage. A team consisting of representatives from the Port Authority of Jamaica and other government entities visited Cuba in September...

Cuba helps St. Vincent with airport funds.
November 1, 2007... St. Vincent and the Grenadines is to begin construction this month on a new $179 million international airport, backed by financial assistance from Cuba and Venezuela. "Once President [Hugo] Chavez gets the heavy equipment here, as he has...

Manning opens T&T Trade office in Havana.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning has officially opened the Trinidad & Tobago Trade Facilitation Office (TTFO) in Havana--the first step in bringing the two Caribbean nations closer together. The office, opened in early September,...

DP World mulls $250m port at Mariel.
November 1, 2007... Dubai Ports World is studying plans to build a $250 million container terminal in the Cuban port of Mariel, Reuters reported Oct. 18, quoting unnamed business sources. "A deal is in the works. It is moving forward and they have signed...

FIHAV organizers expect 1,200 companies.
November 1, 2007... More than 1,200 companies from 50 countries have confirmed their participation in the 25th International Havana Trade Fair (FIHAV 2007), to take place Nov. 5-10. Abraham Maciques, president of the FIHAV Organizing Committee, renting of...

Regime touts Camaguey Milk production.
November 1, 2007... The government claims that an increase in milk production in the central province of Camaguey has saved Cuba over $4 million this year in powdered milk imports. Milk produced in Camaguey--whose dairies produce 300,000 liters a day--has...

Tourism Ministry launches hotel chain.
November 1, 2007... Cuba has launched Hoteles E--a lodging chain that'll eventually include 50 establishments throughout the island and represent a unique alternative to beach resorts. Spanish news agency EFE reports that the chain's first property was...

Iowa farm delegation sees 'Great Potential'.
November 1, 2007... A group of Iowans led by Bill Northey, the state's secretary of agriculture, spent five days in Cuba meeting with government officials and touring farms. Bob Bowman, former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, says there's great...

Creighton issues study on Cuba claims.
November 1, 2007... A six-member panel of scholars at Jesuit university in Nebraska is helping advise the U.S. government on what do with billions of dollars in claims filed by those whose assets were seized after Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. Omaha's...

Court rejects challenge to OFAC regs.(Office of Foreign Assets Control)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... A federal district court judge in Washington has rejected challenges by a professor and a student at Johns Hopkins University to changes made in 2004 by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations relating to academic...

'Special Period' was good for Cubans.
November 1, 2007... Cubans remember the 1990s as a time of dire crisis and hunger, but researchers have found that the resulting weight loss led to dramatically lower mortality rates from conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Reuters, in a Sept. 25...

Medical tourism on the rise.
November 1, 2007... More than 5,000 patients from 38 countries have received medical treatment in Cuba since September this year, at international clinics led by the government-run Cubanacan Tourism and Health Co. Calixto Noche, commercial manager of the...

Factory to produce eco-friendly sprays.(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Cuba has opened a factory to produce CFC-free aerosol sprays, as part of the country's efforts to reduce the emission of harmful substances into the environment. The plant, inaugurated Sept. 7 on the outskirts of Havana, will substitute...

Paper admits bus vandalism on the rise.
November 1, 2007... The incidence of bus vandalism is increasing rapidly, says an expose by the Communist Party newspaper Juventud Rebelde. The paper reported Sept. 22 that the new Chinese-built Yutong buses have become a target for youths seeking to steal...

U.S. intelligence unit hires new Cuba chief.(Office of the Director of National Intelligence appoints Timothy Langford)(Brief article)
November 1, 2007... Timothy Langford, a career CIA officer, has been appointed as the new Cuba and Venezuela mission manager for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence--a position that coordinates information-gathering for areas considered top...

Granma suffers from stagnation and environmental decay.
November 1, 2007... Granma is one of five provinces created in 1976 following the breakup of the old Oriente province. It is Cuba's 6th-largest province, covering 8,375 sq kms (3,235 sq miles), or 7.6% of the country's total land area. The territory combines...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
November 1, 2007... If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know! Fax details to CubaNews at (301) 949-0065 or send e-mail to larry@cubanews.com. Nov. 5-10: 25th International Havana Trade Fair (FIHAV 2007), Havana. More...