Big Hotels, Cruise Ships Grab Headlines As Cuba's Tourist Trade
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2003_02/CubaNews 2/4/03 10:02 AM Page 1 Vol. 11, No. 2 February 2003 www.cubanews.com In the News Congress likely to OK some provisions Famous dissident while rejecting major Cuba policy shift Oswaldo Payá has become Cuba’s best- BY ANA RADELAT The provision — buried in the section of the omnibus bill that would finance Treasury — known political activist ..................Page 3 s Congress struggles to finish work on a massive $390 billion omnibus spending says no funds may be paid to OFAC personnel A package, lawmakers in Washington seem for salaries or anything else unless it agreed, Nickel financing likely to jettison some legislation that would within 120 days of final passage of the bill, to Cubaniquel chief seeks money to boost ease the U.S. trade embargo while passing other adopt the following rules: ■ All license applications to OFAC must be con- island’s nickel exports ..................Page 4 Cuba-related provisions. At press time, the House of Representatives sidered approved if not resolved within 90 days was locked in a partisan battle over the mam- of receipt. Hard-currency beer moth bill — forcing the Senate to take the ■ All denials of license applications will be made Canada’s Labatt builds a $100m brewery unusual step of crafting the legislation that in writing. ■ Whenever OFAC denies a license for travel- just outside Havana .......................Page 7 would finance all government operations in 2003 except the Pentagon. related transactions, the agency must include in Among the hundreds of provisions in the Sen- its notification the statutory or regulatory basis Newsmakers ate bill is one seeking to reform the way the U.S. for the denial. ■ University of Miami’s Jaime Suchlicki has Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign The agency must also reveal whether that Assets Control (OFAC) issues travel licenses to denial is based on national security reasons and made a career out of predicting Cuba’s Cuba and other nations currently sanctioned by why, and must include the name, phone number future after Fidel Castro ...............Page 8 the United States. Such licenses are required for and e-mail address of an OFAC official author- American visitors who want to spend money on ized to discuss the denial with the applicant. Casa Bacardi travel to those countries. See Congress, page 2 Miami museum keeps flame burning for Cuban exile community ................Page 9 Big hotels, cruise ships grab headlines American appeal as Cuba’s tourist trade slowly recovers Despite the expense, Cuban shoppers ap- preciate U.S. food imports ..........Page 10 BY LARRY LUXNER government from vacationing in Cuba. ast month, two watershed events gave new The day Washington lifts its travel ban, Cuba’s Fruits and veggies hope to Cuba’s tourism industry, which tourism industry could be flooded with a million or more curious Americans in the first year End of U.S. embargo could trigger Cuban L had been suffering since Sept. 11, 2001. On New Year’s Day, the M/V Sunbird sailed alone. But for now, Cuban hotels and cruise-ship produce export boom .................Page 11 into Havana Bay with a record 1,414 passengers facilities are almost completely dependent on — the largest single load of cruise-ship passen- budget travelers from Europe and Canada. Business briefs gers ever to visit the island. The Sunbird’s arri- “Put things in perspective,” a Miami-based val came just a few weeks after the visit of anoth- cruise executive advised CubaNews. “At present, Cuban oil, gas output to rise 17% in 2003; er giant cruise ship, the A’Rosa Blu, carrying Cuba’s role in the cruise-ship industry is compa- Sherritt revamps power unit ......Page 12 over 900 passengers. rable to its role in the hotel business. It’s getting And on Jan. 21, Fidel Castro — flanked by top only bargain-seeking European tourists.” Provinces: Guantánamo tourism officials and TV cameras — inaugurated Last year, 1,683,716 visitors flocked to Cuba, the 944-room Hotel Playa Pesquero, now Cuba’s according to figures quoted in a Castro speech. Cuba’s poorest province is also home to biggest hotel. The $100 million, five-building That’s a slight drop from the 1,774,541 tourists sprawling U.S. naval base ...........Page 14 beachfront complex, located in the eastern who came in 2001, generating $1.8 billion in for- province of Holguín, is already filling up with vis- eign exchange for the troubled Cuban economy. CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly itors from Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Tourism officials, while releasing no income by Luxner News Inc. © 2003. All rights reserved. France, Italy and Switzerland. figures for 2002, said 1,500 new hotel rooms Subscriptions: $429/year. For subscription or edito- “Our friends from the north are not in this were constructed last year, bringing the total up rial inquiries, call toll-free (800) 365-1997, send a fax to 40,000; another 2,000 will be added in 2003. to (301) 365-1829 or e-mail us at [email protected]. list,” joked Castro, referring to Americans who, since 1963, have been prohibited by their own See Tourism, page 6 2003_02/CubaNews 2/4/03 10:02 AM Page 2 2 CubaNews ❖ February 2003 explanation,” Dorgan’s press secretary, Barry ment of involvement in drug trafficking, but Congress — FROM PAGE 1 Piatt, told CubaNews. Complaints about have never offered proof of such activities. Robert Muse, a Washington attorney who OFAC’s handling of Cuba licenses have risen Nevertheless, the money for joint interdic- specializes in Cuba matters, said the new reg- since George W. Bush was sworn in as presi- tion efforts comes with two provisos. Funds ulations would go a long way toward clearing dent in January 2001. wouldn’t become available if “Cuba does not up long-standing problems that license appli- Dennis Hays, executive vice-president of have in place appropriate procedures to pro- cants sometimes have with OFAC. the Cuban American National Foundation, tect against the loss of innocent life in the air The OFAC reform is the work of Sen. By- said he could live with the OFAC reforms, but and on the ground in connection with the ron Dorgan (D-ND), a member of the Senate not with another provision in the Senate’s interdiction of illegal drugs,” or if there’s evi- Appropriations Committee who has spear- omnibus bill that would earmark $3 million dence that Cuban officials really are involved headed efforts in the Senate to relax U.S. trav- for joint U.S.-Cuba counter-narcotics work. in drug trafficking. el restrictions to Cuba. The appropriation, in the section of the bill Congress approved $1 million last year for Dorgan’s initial amendment would have that would fund the State Department, allows joint interdiction, thanks to the efforts of Sen. affected only licenses for Cuba, but his col- mutual assistance in the interdiction of illicit Arlen Specter (R-PA), but it’s not clear leagues on the Appropriations Committee drugs being transported through Cuban air- whether the money has been spent. decided to broaden the amendment so that it space or over Cuban waters. The Senate approved the omnibus bill on would apply to all nations under sanction. “It’s like saying ‘let’s apportion $3 million to Jan. 15 and sent it to the House for considera- “There were lots of cases that have lan- coordinate with the Mafia on crime preven- tion. A final bill will be negotiated by Senate guished for a long time without resolution, tion,’” Hays told CubaNews. The CANF and and House appropriators before the middle of and others that were denied with little or no other exile groups accuse the Castro govern- February, but — because of stiff opposition from the White House — it’s not expected to include a few Cuba provisions approved by a CNP REPORT URGES ‘PRINCIPLED ENGAGEMENT’ WITH CUBA majority in the House last summer. One of those provisions would have entire- A bipartisan advisory group, which in- restrictive policy on travel licensing for U.S. ly denied OFAC the money to enforce Cuba cludes prominent members of Miami’s exile citizens and U.S. entry to Cuban citizens. travel restrictions. Another would have community, issued a report Jan. 23 asking “Both of these steps go in the wrong direc- allowed the Cuban government to seek credit the Bush administration, Congress and the tion,” says the report, which can be down- from U.S. banks to make food purchases, and President Fidel Castro to begin a “negotiat- loaded as a PDF file from the CNP website at a third would have lifted the $1,200 yearly cap ed normalization” process. http://www.cnponline.org. “They reduce on remittances Cuban-Americans may send The Cuba Policy Advisory Group is spon- the exchange of ideas between Americans their families on the island. sored by the Center for National Policy, a and Cubans and undermine the goal of House members say they’ll promote some Washington-based think tank that says it’s greater openness on the island.” of these measures again this year, but some of “committed to identifying national issues In addition to eliminating travel restric- them are now insisting that Cuba must first that require action for common purpose.” tions for U.S. citizens going to Cuba, CNP enact more economic and social reforms. While stopping short of demanding a total asked for a loosening of restrictions on That was the message of Rep. George end to the U.S. embargo, CNP did recom- Cubans wishing to travel on short-term visas Nethercutt (R-WA), a leader in the push to mend a few specific steps the United States to the United States, including senior Cuban ease Cuba sanctions, and others at a Jan.