U.S. Telecoms Eager to Break Into Cuba, but Much Will Depend on The

Vol. 17, No. 5 May 2009

www.cubanews.com

In the News U.S. hopes to resume migration talks as

Air charters booming Obama weighs new Cuba policy options New Cuba travel rules boost traffic for 7 BY ANA RADELAT The U.S. official said the Obama administra- Miami charter airlines ...... Page 6 he next change President Barack Obama tion is also “looking at a number of other op- will seek in U.S. policy toward Cuba is the tions,” but he said those policy changes are on 2 new gateways? T return of biannual talks that were discon- hold pending a positive Cuban response to tinued by President George W. Bush, a senior Obama’s steps to ease sanctions last month. Tampa and San Juan lobby for direct char- administration official has told CubaNews. The president lifted all restrictions on Cuban- ter flights to Cuba ...... Page 7 The hoped-for resumption of serious dialogue American travel and remittances, and opened would be sought from Havana without precon- the door for U.S. telecommunications compa- Newsmakers ditions, the official said, noting “we are interest- nies to provide Cuban citizens with new phone, ed in resuming talks on counter-narcotics and Internet and TV services (see story below). Washington immigration lawyer and Cuba migration, and that could be done pretty soon.” Now the administration is debating whether activist José Pertierra fights to put ‘terror- The meetings between top U.S. and Cuban to follow up by easing restrictions on Americans ist’ Luís Posada behind bars ...... Page 8 officials ended when Bush took office in 2001, who want to visit Cuba for cultural and educa- in response to pressure from embargo support- tional purposes. Bullish on food sales ers who warned they would lead to greater Ending travel restrictions within the United cooperation and possible rapprochement. States on Cuban diplomats in Washington and ITC sees huge potential for U.S. food ex- Conducted alternatively in New York and New York also is under consideration. ports to Cuba, but only if travel, financing Havana, the discussions were a product of mi- Since 1996, when the Cuban Air Force shot restrictions are eliminated ...... Page 10 gration agreements between President Clinton down two small, exile-piloted Brothers to the and Fidel Castro. Those accords were negotiat- Rescue planes, travel for Cuban diplomats has ed after the last rafter crisis brought thousands been restricted to a 25-mile radius of their mis- Party climbers of Cubans to the United States in 1994. See Obama, page 4 Cuba’s Communist Party names new leaders ahead of next Congress ....Page 11 U.S. telecoms eager to break into Cuba, Hot on Holguín Exile flights could pump cash into Frank but much will depend on the fine print País International Airport ...... Page 12 BY LARRY LUXNER That experience has proven useful for Escalona, 11,236,099 and falling uban-born Jorge Escalona is no stranger who for the past two years has advised U.S. to the island’s telecom industry — having telecom firms how to do business with Cuba. Cuba’s population shows slight drop for Cliterally grown up in the middle of it. “Last summer, Hillary Clinton came to Miami third year in a row ...... Page 14 “We were the first country in Latin America to and said that if elected president, she’d allow introduce the electromechanical switch. I know Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba, and let U.S. Saving the oceans this because my father installed that switch,” he companies upgrade telecommunications equip- told CubaNews recently. “It was one of the few ment,” he said. “It was a significant recognition Experts meet in D.C., urge joint US-Cuba places in Havana that had air-conditioning. of the role telecom could play in the improve- marine conservation effort ...... Page 16 When I was a kid, I used to go there on week- ment of relations between the two countries.” ends and read my comic books.” That’s why Escalona wasn’t too surprised A divided people Escalona’s dad was engineering director for when President Obama announced Apr. 13 that the Cuban American Telephone Co., then a sub- he’d let U.S. entities participate in fiberoptic and Survey shows Americans remain deeply sidiary of ITT. No wonder the young man grew satellite links to Cuba as well as license roaming polarized on embargo issue ...... Page 19 up with a passion for telephony — or that he agreements for cellphones on the island. ended up as a top executive with AT&T, broker- Radio and TV satellite firms may also soon CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly ing multimillion-dollar deals in the Virgin provide services directly to Cuban citizens. by Luxner News Inc. © 2009. All rights reserved. Islands, Puerto Rico and eventually Mexico. Yet the nation’s telecom giants — AT&T and Subscriptions: $429 for one year, $800 for two years. Part of his job involved making contractual Verizon among them — don’t have much to tell For editorial inquires, please call (301) 452-1105 CubaNews about this potential bonanza. or send an e-mail to: [email protected]. agreements with Cuba’s state phone monopoly, Etecsa, over international long-distance service. See Telecom, page 2 2 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 says 8,000 people signed up for service with willing to sell its shares to Telefónica. The two Telecom — FROM PAGE 1 its mobile subsidiary, Cubacel, within 10 days European telecom giants have been talking “At this point, we’re still reviewing what the of ownership restrictions being lifted — since December 2008, when Telecom report- changes would mean for business,” said Jon despite $60 activation fees and prices of 50-60 edly asked $780 million for its stake in Etecsa, Taylor, a spokesman for Sprint Nextel. “Until cents a minute for calls in a country where the and Telefónica countered with $500 million. we know a little more about what it actually average worker earns only $19 a month. Last year, Il Sole said Telecom Italia’s holdings in Cuba had dropped in value from $329 means, we’re not in a position to talk about it.” TELEFÓNICA EYES TELECOM’S 27% OF ETECSA Added Fletcher Cook, a spokesman for million in 2005 to $297 million in 2007. No fig- AT&T: “We’re looking at the proposals, but Etecsa also operates just over one million ures were readily available for 2008. beyond that, we don’t have any comment.” fixed lines, giving Cuba a fixed-line density of According to the Miami Herald, “industry Jon Gieselman, senior VP at DirecTV, told 11 per 100 inhabitants — quite low by region- observers suspect that a possible future relax- the Miami Herald:“We will look at any al standards. As for the Internet, Cuba has ation of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba change in U.S. policy very closely, and should just 11.6 users per 100 inhabitants, compared and the interest in Cuba’s telecommunica- a new market opportunity arise in Cuba, care- with 21 in Mexico and 73 in the United States. tions industry expressed by Mexican mag- fully consider our options.” Since Obama’s announcement, interest in nate Carlos Slim [owner of América Móvil] CubaNews couldn’t reach Verizon for com- Etecsa itself has intensified dramatically. have sharpened Telefónica’s appetite.” ment at all. Nor could we get a hold of Atlantic On Apr. 28, the Italian business newspaper Escalona said he doubts Etecsa will have Tele-Network Inc., a Massachusetts-based Il Sole 24 Ore reported that Spain’s Telefónica trouble meeting its objective of adding anoth- conglomerate with telecom holdings in Guy- had offered to buy Telecom Italia’s 27% inter- er 250,000 wireless subscribers in 2009 — ana, Bermuda, various New England states est in the Cuban phone monopoly. especially if it continues to slash activation and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Telecom hasn’t made as much money in fees and introduce more affordable handsets. Cuba as it expected, said the newspaper, citing Those goals will be further helped by the DIGICEL EAGER TO OPERATE IN CUBA TOO Spanish financial sources — which is why it’s Obama administration’s recent elimination of But David Hall, former CEO of Digicel Jamaica and now a private telecom consultant, said Obama’s new policy “fantastic” for College kids launch ‘Cells 4 Cuba’ phone drive both the United States and Cuba. “This is obviously the first step,” he told us group of Cuban-American college stu- into roaming agreements with the Cuban by phone from Kingston, Jamaica. “The next dents and young professionals are government. thing that needs to be done in order to bring Asending a steady stream of used cell- Washington will also allow U.S. citizens to down costs will be the laying of fiberoptic phones to Cuba in an effort to link people on pay these companies for services used by cable between Cuba and Miami.” the island to each other and to the world. residents of Cuba. According to Hall, who’s traveled to the The group, Raíces de Esperanza, hopes As of earlier this year, only 500,000 or so communist island several times, “Cuba is now that recent steps taken by President Obama cellphones were active in Cuba — translat- the 4th-most expensive country in the world to allow U.S. telecom firms to operate in ing into the lowest mobile penetration rate in to call from the States. That’s partly because Cuba could provide a boost to their nascent the Western Hemisphere. of the embargo, but also because all the mobile phone campaign. Raíces de Esperanza (Spanish for “roots of phone traffic is done by satellite. What you “We want to use cellphones as a conduit hope”) has been trying to spread the word need is to roll out fiber. Having to go all for more communication, expression and about Cells 4 Cuba through social network- around the world to get to Cuba is ridiculous.” ultimately empowerment,” said Veronica ing sites like Facebook and Twitter — and Hall said that Digicel — which in only eight Nur Valdes, a spokeswoman for the nonprof- through old-fashioned word of mouth. years has amassed six million subscribers in it organization, which now has around 2,500 Laura Rodríguez, a young PR professional 23 Caribbean and Central American countries members at 55 universities. “It’s a very low- who lives in the Washington area, collected — had always shown “huge interest in Cuba.” cost, high-impact initiative. Everyone has an seven used phones from her close relatives But the Irish-owned company always ran old cellphone in a drawer in their house.” to send to Cuba. into problems because the banks it usually Raíces de Esperanza began shipping the “These are things we don’t need anymore deals with refused to be involved with Cuba phones to Cuba after the Castro regime lift- that could help somebody else,” she said. for fear of running afoul of U.S. law. ed a ban on private mobile phone ownership Nicolas Jiménez, a senior at the University Nevertheless, Hall told us, “the opportuni- last year. It collected at least 200 phones dur- of Missouri, is organizing a cellphone drive ty there is fantastic, once the market has been ing a recent conference at the University of at his school through a Cuban-American stu- liberalized from the Cuban side. And second- Miami and hope to collect hundreds more. dent group affiliated with Raíces de ly, the embargo needs to be lifted so that The group’s innovative Cells 4 Cuba cam- Esperanza, which sends the phones to a American banks can be involved.” paign could gain even more traction if U.S. company that refurbishes them. Cuba’s low salaries would hardly be an ob- companies begin doing business in Cuba. If the phones will work in Cuba, the organ- stacle to Digicel, which since May 2006 has But it’s still unclear whether the regime ization ships them to the island. Phones that managed to rack up 2.2 million customers would even allow such an expansion by don’t work on the island are exchanged for (64% of the mobile market) in Haiti, the poor- American firms into territory that has been other phones or prepaid phone cards that est country in the Western Hemisphere. firmly in state hands until now. can be used to make free calls in Cuba. Thanks mainly to Digicel’s generous give- “I don’t know that the Cuban government “It’s a way to not just connect to Cubans aways and innovative marketing gimmicks, would outright allow that to happen,” said on the island,” said Jiménez, “but also to con- Haiti’s mobile penetration rate is now 26%. Antonio Jorge, a Cuba expert at Florida In- nect them to each other.” That’s the second-lowest in the Americas ternational University who once served as Nur Valdes told CubaNews she hopes the after Cuba — which has only 480,000 mobile Cuba’s chief economist and vice-minister of boost in communication within Cuba will lines for its 11.2 million inhabitants, translat- finance. “I don’t know that they want that eventually result in growing networks of ing into mobile penetration of only 4.3%. kind of increase of communication among Cubans pushing for expanded civil liberties Yet that 480,000 represents a 60% jump over the people.” and economic freedom on the island. the 300,000 wireless lines that were in service In mid-April, the Obama administration Details: Raíces de Esperanza Inc., PO Box in April 2008, when the Castro regime opened said it would let U.S. telecom firms build 260486, Miami, FL 33126-0486. Tel: (305) up mobile service to the general public. satellite facilities in Cuba, lay fiberoptic 323-2444. URL: www.raicesdeesperanza.org. Before that, cellphones were available only cable between the two countries and enter – DIANA MARRERO to tourists and government bigwigs. Etecsa May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 3 all restrictions on family remittances, and its Verizon are licensed by the Federal Commu- decision to let U.S citizens pay fees for tele- nication Commission to provide long-distance NEWS BRIEFS com services offered in Cuba. service to Cuba via cable or satellite. CANF, REJECTING ITS PAST, CALLS FOR DIALOGUE “Etecsa has been investing in its digital net- Yet it’s not clear how many actually provide work, laying fiber on-island and expanding its service, and when contacted by CubaNews, The leading organization for Cuban exiles coverage, but there’s lots of room for growth,” FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield couldn’t pro- is urging the White House to expand rela- he said. “Cubacel already has more than 200 vide specific information on U.S.-Cuba phone tions with the Castro regime while channel- roaming agreements covering over 100 coun- traffic, market share or total long-distance ing more U.S. taxpayer and private money to tries, but U.S. carriers have been conspicu- revenues paid to the Cuban government. the Cuban people. ously absent in this picture.” Nor is it at all clear how Havana would react In a 14-page document issued in mid-April, Ever since the 19th century, AT&T has con- to a dismantling of current telecommunica- the Cuban American National Foundation nected the United States and Cuba — first tions barriers between the two countries. explains its “break from the past” that would “chart a new direction for U.S.-Cuba policy.” The New York Times says the CANF document “amounts to the group’s most significant rejection of a national approach to Cuba “We need to avoid using telecom restrictions as a political tool. it helped shape, and that has been defined by hostility and limited contact with the island.” Person-to-person contact, by travel or phone, should stay above the “For 50 years we’ve been trying to change fray. The approach of the past does not inspire investor confidence.” the Cuban government, the Cuban regime,” said the foundation’s president, Francisco — FORMER AT&T EXECUTIVE JORGE ESCALONA, NOW A PRIVATE TELECOM CONSULTANT “Pepe” Hernández. “At the present time, what we have to do is change the emphasis to the Cuban people — because they are going to be the ones who change things in Cuba.” with telegraph cables, then via an underwater Enrique Lopez, who runs AKL Group, a The group now calls for an end to the 1997 copper cable in the 1950s and 1960s linking Miami-based global telecom consultancy, told ban on cash aid from the U.S. government, Cojimar, just east of Havana, to West Palm the Herald “anything that attempts to bypass while advocating an increase in private aid for Beach, Fla. But that cable had a maximum government control will be politely rejected.” pro-democracy groups and a plan for “permit- capacity of 144 simultaneous phone conver- Even so, Escalona said he’s been waiting a ting Cuban-Americans and others, under sations and hasn’t been in operation for years. long time for an opening from the U.S. side. license, to send cash, building materials, agri- These days, Cuba-bound calls are often “We now have a policy, but the regulations cultural implements and provide services to routed through third-party carriers like Tele- are yet to be defined. An inter-agency task independent, private entrepreneurs.” globe Canada, ItalCable and other operators. force is likely very busy developing the The CANF proposal also urges the United detailed regulations to support the adminis- States to encourage travel to Cuba for cultur- COMPANIES WAIT TO SEE U.S. REGULATIONS tration’s position,” he told CubaNews. al, academic or humanitarian purposes, Escalona says telecommunications is one of “We expect these new regulations to be returning to the standards of 1999, before the the few industries singled out by both the 1992 progressive, because it is clear that the presi- Bush administration tightened limits. Cuban Democracy Act and the 1996 Helms- dent’s intent is to allow for the free flow of Details: CANF, 1312 SW 27th Avenue, Burton (Libertad) Act for special treatment. information. But until we see them, we won’t Miami, FL 33145-1243. Tel: (305) 592-7768. “In the past, our government’s position has know the pace and full extent to which partic- Fax: (305) 592-7889. URL: www.canf.org. ipation in these initiatives can occur.” been ‘no, no, no.’ As a result, few U.S. compa- WESTERN UNION TO EXPAND CUBA NETWORK nies have received licenses to conduct busi- In the meantime, suggests Escalona, “we ness in this sector,” Escalona told CubaNews. need to avoid using telecom restrictions as a Western Union Co. plans to expand its net- “The limited business we’ve seen has typical- political tool. Person-to-person contact, by work in Cuba now that the White House has ly focused on international long-distance traf- travel or by phone, should stay above the fray. loosened restrictions on money transfers to fic provided under very severe restrictions.” The approach of the past does not inspire the island, says the Denver Business Journal. Eight U.S. companies including AT&T and investor confidence.” ❑ Western Union says it runs 153 agent locations in Cuba and 3,000 Cuba-enabled agent locations in the United States. “We have consistently connected families Last U.S. newspaper’s “man in Havana” to leave in the United States with loved ones in all he last correspondent for a U.S. news- reporter, Tracey Eaton, home in early 2005. Cuban provinces since 1999, and we look to paper in Cuba is heading home after The Sun-Sentinel opened its Havana bur- expand our network to better serve our con- T the newspaper’s owner decided it eau in 2005, next to the Chicago Tribune of- sumers both in the U.S. and Cuba consistent would no longer support a bureau in Havana. fice. Both papers belong to the Tribune Co. with the administration’s decision,” stated Ray Sánchez, correspondent for the South chain, which also includes the Los Angeles Stewart Stockdale, WU’s Americas president. Florida Sun-Sentinel, had been in Cuba since Times and filed for bankruptcy in December. The White House said it would no longer 2006. His departure comes as the Ft. Lauder- The Sun-Sentinel’s chief rival, the Miami restrict travel for people with family mem- dale-based newspaper cut 40 jobs this month Herald, has never been allowed to open a bers in Cuba or impose limits on money from its 220-member editorial staff. bureau in Cuba. Once Sánchez departs, the transfers to relatives in Cuba. It’s not clear when Sánchez, who wrote a only U.S. media outlets with a local presence Under the Bush administration’s rules, Cu- column titled “Direct from Havana” each there will be CNN and the Associated Press. ban-American exiles could send no more than Tuesday, will actually leave the island. His In related news, Juan O. Tamayo, former $300 to relatives every quarter, and could Apr. 30 column is a colorful portrayal of a 28- foreign editor and chief of correspondents at travel to Cuba only once every three years. year-old man from Santiago de Cuba who the Miami Herald, has joined the University Western Union, founded in 1851, operates decides to relocate to the capital city. of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban- in over 200 countries and territories. It repor- The only other newspaper with a Havana American Studies as a research associate. ted first-quarter 2008 revenues of $1.2 billion. correspondent here was the Dallas Morning At ICCAS, Tamayo will edit a new month- Details: Daniel Díaz, Corporate Affairs, Wes- News, which axed that position and sent its ly electronic publication, Cuba Observer. tern Union, Englewood, Colo. Tel: (720)332- 5564. Email: [email protected]. 4 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 phere affairs (see top news item, page 5). Obama — FROM PAGE 1 Congress acts on Cuba While the White House says there’s no sions in Washington and New York. Cuba rush to make changes in Cuba policy, a State responded in kind by limiting the travel of While the Obama administration deliber- Department official says there is pressure to U.S. diplomats in Havana. ates what to do about Cuba, lawmakers are “continue the momentum” generated by the But the administration official said those moving quickly to try to end sanctions. administration’s first overtures to Cuba, steps can wait. “We’re not in any hurry,” he Bills have been introduced in the House announced just before the Organization of said. “We’re first trying to determine what and Senate to eliminate all restrictions on American States’ Apr. 17-19 Summit of the the Cubans are prepared to do.” American travel to Cuba. Americas in Trinidad. Obama said he’d like to see positive signals Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat The official said it’s possible a new an- from Cuba on political prisoners and human who heads the Senate Finance Committee, nouncement on Cuba policy will be made rights before enacting new policy changes. plans to introduce legislation this week to before Latin American and Caribbean leaders However, he may have a long wait. ease sales of U.S. food to Cuba and facilitate congregate again in San Pedro Sula, Hondu- In an Apr. 30 speech, Cuban President Raúl travel to Cuba by farmers seeking sales. ras, for an OAS meeting in early June. Castro dismissed the Obama policy changes And Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), head of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will likely as “achieving only the minimum” and said “it the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is represent the United States at that meeting, is not Cuba that has to make gestures.” And urging changes to the embargo policy. which will feature a debate on whether to in a May Day reflexión, Fidel said Obama’s The top Republican on that committee, readmit Cuba — ousted from the fold 47 preconditions indicated the United States Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, outflanked years ago at Washington’s behest. wanted Cuba to act like a slave willing to Kerry by releasing recommended changes “accept again the whip and the yoke.” to Cuba policy in April. Lugar’s recommen- NEW U.S. INITIATIVES POSSIBLE dations included the resumption of migra- While the White House insists “the ball is STATE: A ‘LESS RESTRICTIVE POLICY’ tion talks and allowing Cuba to buy U.S. now in Cuba’s court,” the State Department The step Obama wants to take without that agricultural products on credit. official we spoke to suggests the United States conditionality — the resumption of migration Lugar also asked Obama to name a spe- could take new initiatives without waiting for talks — may also be delayed because Cuba cial envoy to begin talks with Cuban lead- any positive action from Cuba. He noted may not be willing to come back to the table. ers, though the senator’s press secretary, wryly that “this is not a game of ping-pong.” State Department spokeswoman Heidi Andy Fisher, told CubaNews the White Michael Shifter, a Latin American specialist Bronke said the U.S. asked Cuba in Decem- House hasn’t yet responded to that request. at the Inter-American Dialogue, said it’s no ber if it would consider “moving toward a less surprise the Obama administration appears restrictive policy” on U.S. diplomats in Hav- even though Cuba’s top diplomat in the Uni- more cautious than the State Department on ana if travel restrictions were lifted on Cuban ted States, Jorge Bolaños, has had two face- the politically charged issue of Cuba. diplomats in Washington and New York. to-face meetings with Tom Shannon, assis- Key White House members of Obama’s for- But there has been no response, she said, tant secretary of state for Western Hemis- eign policy team, including Dan Restrepo, the president’s Latin American expert, are veter- ans of Obama’s campaign and are more likely Cuba on Camacol’s distant radar screen to be sensitive to political concerns than sea- soned diplomats, Shifter said. efore the Cuban Revolution, Miami Camacol’s current president is William Others involved in the White House debate was little more than a Southern vaca- Alexander, who despite his Anglo-sounding on Cuba policy include Chief of Staff Rahm Btion town, and it certainly wasn’t a name is also Cuban. The group’s board of Emanuel — a former head of the Democratic major center of international trade. directors include top Cuban-American exe- Congressional Campaign Committee — and In 1965, six years after the revolution, a cutives for major firms such as American David Axelrod, Obama’s closest adviser who group of independent Cuban exile busi- Airlines, Anheuser-Busch, BellSouth, Goya helped him win the White House as his chief nessmen founded Camacol (Latin Chamber Foods, Publix and Winn-Dixie Stores. campaign strategist. of Commerce), with the goal of fostering Although politically oriented groups like “They should not delude themselves that economic growth for its members. CANF are rethinking their long-standing Cuba is going to change and explore some In time, Camacol styled itself as a pro- hardline position toward anything connect- openings anyway,” Shifter said of Obama’s moter of commercial activity between ed with Cuba, García said Camacol is White House advisers. South Florida and the emerging economies unlikely to pursue business opportunities Anti-Castro exiles and their supporters in of Latin America. It pushed U.S. exports to as long as the Castro brothers are alive. Congress will continue to oppose openings to the region while promoting the importation “I would think that they’d be totally Cuba. The Obama administration insists a lift- of everything from Brazilian footwear to against any dealings with Cuba,” he said. ing of the entire embargo is not in the offing. Caribbean fresh fruits and vegetables. José Antonio Font, Camacol’s treasurer, But recent polls indicate a growing number But Cuba has always been notably ab- said his group eventually would like to see of Americans including Cuban exiles support sent from Camacol’s promotional activities. a free-trade agreement between the United an easing of sanctions (see story, page 19). From the 1970s to the 1990s, the public States and Cuba “anchored by the forma- The Cuban American National Foundation, face of Camacol was its longtime chairman, tion of a Cuban entrepreneurial sector with the nation’s largest exile group, supports the Luís Sabines, a native of Camagüey. access to capital and technical know-how policy decisions Obama has already made, as Sabines, who died in 2002 at the age of for the financing of production and trade.” well as the ones he’s considering. 84, was admired by local, state and national He said the free-trade proposal “will be a CANF’s founder and president, Francisco politicians for his enormous influence. centerpiece of this overall strategy, to be Hernández, said changes in Cuba policy are “Camacol was probably the first Hispanic implemented when Cuba is governed by a likely to occur in “step-by-step” increments. business group created in Miami,” said Joe freely elected government, respectful of “The U.S. government should do things García, former executive director of the Cu- civil rights. This is not the case today.” that benefit the United States and improve ban American National Foundation and a Details: William Alexander, President, communication with the Cuban people, no recent Democratic candidate for Congress. Camacol, 735 NW 22nd Avenue, Miami, FL matter what Cuba does,” he told CubaNews. ❑ “They get government grants for small bu- 33125-3339. Tel: (305) 642-3870. Fax: sinesses, and promote trade between small (305) 642-0653. URL: www.camacol.org. Ana Radelat is a Washington-based freelance Hispanic business and Latin America.” – VITO ECHEVARRIA journalist and has been covering Capitol Hill for CubaNews since the publication’s birth in 1993. May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 5 POLITICAL BRIEFS SHANNON, BOLAÑOS MEET TWICE IN ONE MONTH In their own words … A senior U.S. diplomat on Apr. 27 held his second round of meetings with Cuba’s de facto “The collision between the great power of the North and the Cuban revolution was inevitable. The heroic resistance of the people of our small country envoy in Washington, says the State Department. was underestimated. Today they are willing to forgive us if we will resign our- Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state selves to returning to the fold as slaves that, after knowing freedom, will for Western Hemisphere affairs, met with Jorge accept again the whip and the yoke.” Bolaños, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Fidel Castro Washington — a follow-up from an earlier meet- — , writing Apr. 30 in a column that derided President Obama’s ing Apr. 13 between the two diplomats. recent steps towards improving relations with Cuba. “These meetings happen periodically,” said State Department spokesman Robert Wood, who “I don’t think anybody reads those documents because they know that the cautioned reporters over reading too much into author [United States] is an international criminal in many issues it criticizes.” the latest encounter. — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, commenting Apr. 30 on a State “I’m not trying to make more or less of it,” Department report that leaves Cuba on the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. added Wood when pressed whether this indicated a further warming of ties between the U.S. “President Obama is paving a new road. It is recognition of the fact that pre- and Cuba, which do not have diplomatic ties. vious policies have failed. Fifty years of a policy that has not generated the Alberto González, a spokesman at Cuba’s mis- originally sought purposes can be called a failure.” sion in Washington — technically an annex of the — Leonel Fernández, president of the Dominican Republic, praising Obama’s new Swiss Embassy — offered a “no comment” on the Cuba policy Apr. 17 with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at his side. Apr. 27 meeting between Shannon and Bolaños. CANADA TO SEND HIGH-RANKING OFFICIAL TO CUBA “I want to be clear: I want Cuba back in the Inter-American system. I think it was a bad idea in the first place [to suspend Cuba in 1962]. Cuba is a member Canada is sending a cabinet minister to Havana of the OAS. Its flag is there.” this month to push the Castro regime to release — José Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, political prisoners and start democratic reforms. in an interview Apr. 17 with the Miami Herald during the summit in Trinidad. The visit by Peter Kent, minister of state of foreign affairs for the Americas, is a concerted effort by the Conservative government to add to “This is a step to extend a hand to the Cuban people, in support of their the international momentum of President desire to determine their own future. It’s very important to help open up Obama’s easing of restrictions on Cuba. space, so the Cuban people can work on the kind of grass-roots democracy that is necessary to move Cuba to a better future.” “It’s evident that change is in the air. The elec- tion of Obama has given real momentum to the — Dan Restrepo, senior director of Western Hemisphere affairs at the National sort of change that Canada has been encourag- Security Council, announcing Obama’s new Cuba policy on Apr. 13.. ing for a long time,” Kent told Canwest News in an exclusive interview published Apr. 26. “We’re facing an almost united front against the United States regarding Kent’s would be the first official Canadian polit- Cuba. Every country, even those with whom we are closest, is just saying ical visit to Cuba since then-Prime Minister Jean you’ve got to change, you can’t keep doing what you’re doing. [But] we would Chretien’s visit in 1999. like to see some reciprocity from the Castros on political prisoners, human A top Cuban dissident released in 2009 after rights and other matters.” five years in jail praised the Canadian initiative. — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at a May 1 diplomatic briefing in Washington. “I believe Canada can play a big role,” said Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos. “Several of the pris- “We hope the position of Obama is positive. I believe he’ll be able to elimi- oners of conscience are in bad condition. Maybe nate the embargo that has caused so much damage to our system.” Canada can give some support to these people.” — Yusiley González, attending a May Day parade in Havana. SÁNCHEZ: DISSIDENTS WOULD NIX PRISONER SWAP “Half of the revenues of Royal Caribbean and Carnival Corp. come from the A leading rights activist told AP most of Cuba’s Caribbean. We believe the opening of Cuba could actually double their busi- 205 political prisoners would rather serve out ness in the Caribbean because not only will people travel to Cuba, but they’ll long terms in jail than be part of an exchange for combine it with a trip to the eastern Caribbean or western Caribbean.” five communist agents imprisoned in the U.S., as — Thomas Herzfeld, whose Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund invests in companies Cuban President Raúl Castro has suggested. which stand to benefit from a lifting of the embargo, quoted Apr. 13 by Reuters. “It’s nearly unanimous among the prisoners that they not be exchanged for military men arrested red-handed in espionage activities in the “The feeling I’ve been getting in Congress is, ‘We’ve done something and United States,” said Elizardo Sánchez of the Cu- now the regime has to show its good will. Any media-created momentum in ban Commission for Human Rights and Reconci- Cuba policy has been cut off by Obama putting the onus on the regime.” liation. “They would rather stay in prison.” — Pro-embargo lobbyist Mauricio Claver-Clarone, quoted by the Miami Herald. AP suggests Obama “could suffer serious political fallout” if he agrees to swap the so-called “There are realistically only two courses open to us in these circumstances: Cuban Five — communist agents who were con- first, to make every effort to curtail trips to Cuba; two, to withdraw the exist- victed of espionage in Miami in 2001. The ringing regulation prohibiting such trips. The first is unlikely to meet the problem, leader was implicated in the death of four exiles and I favor the second.” killed when Cuban military fighters shot their — Robert F. Kennedy, in a Dec. 12, 1963, memo to then-Secretary of planes down off the island’s coast in 1996. State Dean Rusk. The quote was featured in an Apr. 23 opinion piece Senior State Department officials in Washing- in the Washington Post by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the late attor- ton said they knew about Castro’s offer, but were ney-general’s daugher and former lieutenant-governor of Maryland. unaware if an official proposal has been made. 6 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 AVIATION New Cuba travel rules boost traffic for charter airlines BY LARRY LUXNER annual sales are, though he did say “obvious- [each capable of carrying 150 passengers] on hones have been “ringing off the hook” ly our revenues are going to increase, and Mondays, Tuesdays and maybe Wednesdays. at Miami’s ABC Charters Inc. ever since we’re hiring additional personnel.” On Fridays and Saturdays we’re upgrading P President Obama — on his way to the Thomas Cooper, president of Gulfstream from Boeing 737s to 767s,” meaning a jump Summit of the Americas in Trinidad — vowed Air Charter in Fort Lauderdale, says business from 145 to 225 passengers per flight. to abolish all restrictions on Cuban-American is up 20-25% over earlier this year. ABC, which flies to both Havana and travel and remittances to the island. “The government hasn’t come out with any Holguín from Miami, has just began advertis- While some restrictions still remain on the new rules or told us when they’ll take effect. ing a Miami-Havana round-trip price of books, vice-president Maria Teresa Aral says So we are still operating under the same $418.80 plus $51.20 tax — which she said is Obama’s Mar. 13 relaxation of the once-every- rules, when they changed in March from one now the lowest in the business. three-years rule on exile travel to Cuba has trip every three years, to one trip every year. Los Angeles-based Cuba Travel Services been a significant boon for business. That give us a little bit of a boost. Inc., which already flies from Miami to both “All our planes are flying down there full,” she told CubaNews. For now, U.S. airlines are banned from operating regularly scheduled flights to Cuba, meaning aircraft chartered by federally licensed travel agencies will still be the only way for Cuban Americans to visit the island. ABC is one of seven charter companies authorized to fly between the United States and Cuba. Nearly all those flights are to or from Miami International Airport, though two other cities — New York and Los Angeles — are also authorized to serve as points of entry or exit to Cuba. Three other cities seek permission to offer charter flights to Cuba (see story, page 7). Armando García, president of Marazul Charters Inc., said that traffic in March and April was up 60% over January and February — even without unlimited travel to Cuba. “We’re still waiting for these regulations to be issued relative to the Apr. 13 announcement. But the regulations that were changed Mar. 11 specify that people can fly once a year to visit family. So at this point, Cuban- Americans have to sign an affadavit stating that they will be flying to visit relatives.” “A lot of people who have pent-up desire to Havana and Cienfuegos, plans to begin offer- go to Cuba are going, and it’s perfectly legal ing three flights a week to those cities Jun. 5 BIGGER PLANES, MORE FREQUENT FLIGHTS now. If the rules were to stay where they are, using MD-83 aircraft in addition to the ATR-72 García said that in March, Marazul’s total it would level off. I don’t think demand would commuter jets with 64 seats each. capacity to Havana and Camagüey was 360 keep growing.” CTS General Manager Michael Zuccato seats a week. That’s going up to 480 in May, Cooper, who has 20 employees, says his predicting a 40% jump in business in May- when he adds a Boeing 737-200, and as many lawyer is checking in every day with OFAC. June, compared to the same period in 2008. as 900 passengers in June and July, when an In addition to the Miami flights, CTS plans MD-83 aircraft holding up to 250 passengers CTS TO RESUME LOS ANGELES-HAVANA ROUTE to resume Cuba service from Los Angeles. It will go into service. In the meantime, Gulfstream flies daily had offered direct flights to Cuba from LAX By then, Marazul will be flying Thursdays, from Miami to Havana, taking 120 passengers for over four years, but stopped after the Bush Fridays and Saturdays to Havana, and three days a week using a leased Boeing 737- administration cracked down on exile travel Saturdays to Camagüey, with the possibility of 200. The other four days, it uses a 30-seat in 2004; the draconian measures also forced a second flight to Camagüey during the week. Marazul to stop flying from New York’s JFK. “This will be a regular schedule,” he said. Embraer-120 turboprop, for a total of 480 seats a week. In May, that will increase slight- “We were looking at opening up Los Ange- “If demand increases and we get landing per- les when Obama changed the restrictions,” mits, we might increase to extra flights during ly to 500 a week, and in June to 600 seats. “By then, the new law should be finished, Zuccato said. “In California, unlike Miami, we the summer.” have competition an hour and a half away. It’s unclear whether Marazul is allowing and then we’ll see what the market bears,” said Cooper, declining to discuss revenues. People could drive to Tijuana and fly from passengers to bring more than the 44 lbs. of there to Havana via Monterrey. But now Cuba luggage on its Cuba-bound flights. “We’re modestly profitable, and we hope to continue that way.” has halted all flights from Mexico because of “This is one of the points we’re expecting the swine flu.” OFAC to clarify,” said García, referring to the ABC’s Aral said she added three new employees even before Obama’s announced Zuccato said at least 100,000 Cuban- Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Americans live in California, providing a Assets Control, which enforces the embargo. he would lift all remaining restrictions on Cuban-American travelers. ready market for charter flights. “Family members can now bring more than At this point, he said, it appears likely that 44 lbs. but that has to be clarified.” “Unlike some of my competitors, I did not García declined to say what Marazul’s add flights, but in June we'll be flying MD-83s See Charters, page 9 May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 7 AVIATION Tampa, San Juan apply for direct charter flights to Cuba BY LARRY LUXNER for charter flights to Cuba will be one less scheduling the first flight from Puerto Rico to ampa, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico burden these families will have to face.” Cuba through his Viajes Varadero travel — both home to thousands of Cuban Castor said her petition has the full support agency. No arrests were ever made, though T exiles — hope to become the next gate- of TIA’s director, Louis E. Miller, and that right-wing Cuban exile agents were long sus- way cities for charter flights to Cuba. implementation of charter service would be pected in Muñíz’s murder. And both have the backing of their respec- fully coordinated with officials of both the Times have changed, and now a majority of tive representatives in Congress. Transportation Security Administration and exiles living in Puerto Rico want such flights. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat who repre- Customs & Border Protection officials “to In mid-April, Los Angeles-based Cuba sents Florida’s 11th District, asked the U.S. ensure that flights are scheduled during stan- Travel Services Inc. asked the Obama admin- Commerce and Treasury departments to add dard airport operating hours, avoiding addi- istration for permission to add San Juan’s Luís Tampa International Airport to the current tional costs that might result from officials Muñoz Marín International Airport as a gate- list of authorized ports of entry/exit for U.S.- Cuba charter flights. At present, only Miami, New York and Los Angeles can offer such charter flights.

In an Apr. 14 letter to Treasury Secretary LARRY LUXNER Timothy Geithner, Castor said that with Presi- dent Obama’s recent decision to lift all family travel restrictions, the number of U.S. visitors to Cuba will likely triple from the current 10,000 a month to nearly 30,000 a month. “This dramatic increase for travel to Cuba will create a need for a substantial increase in the number of direct charter flights,” the con- gresswoman wrote. “Currently, several charter companies operate flights from Miami to Cuba, but none from the Tampa Bay area, Tampa, Fla., and San Juan, Puerto Rico: The newest cities to offer direct charter air service to Cuba? which has one of the largest concentrations of Cuban-Americans in the United States.” having to work overtime.” way for direct service to Cuba. Castor, citing census data, said the Tampa- Maria Teresa Aral, vice-president of ABC Michael Zuccato, general manager of CTS, St. Petersburg-Clearwater area is home to Charters in Miami, said she’s not sure flights said “I think the arguments for it are really nearly 67,000 Cuban-Americans — some of from Tampa to Cuba really make sense. strong, considering the fact that the over- them in the historic Ybor City district, a flour- “It’s wonderful they want to open Tampa whelming majority of Cuban-Americans in ishing center of Cuban culture long before and other cities [to Cuba flights], but all you’re Puerto Rico are over the age of 55.” Miami. Along with Orlando, Kissimmee, doing is diluting our Miami traffic. The differ- “You can fly to Cuba from Los Angeles, Lakeland, Jacksonville, Sarasota and Braden- ences in price will end up coming to the same New York and Miami. But for people living in ton, some 110,000 Cuban-Americans “would thing,” she told CubaNews. “Right now, every- Puerto Rico — especially the elderly — this is have easy access” to Tampa International. really a humanitarian issue,” he said. “It’s not My office deals with the personal family body is forced to come to Miami.” about bringing tourists to Cuba, it’s about struggles that past limited travel opportuni- CUBA TRAVEL INDUSTRY’S ONLY ‘MARTYR’ reuniting people in Puerto Rico with their ties brought on a regular basis,” she said. “In families in Cuba.” their quest to travel to Cuba to say good-bye That’s also the problem in Puerto Rico, Casa Cuba, a San Juan-based cultural or comfort a loved one, they were subjected home to tens of thousands of Cuban exiles. organization that claims to represent over to the worst kind of bureaucratic red tape Thirty years ago this week, Carlos Muñíz 40,000 Cuban-Americans and their relatives in because of those restrictions. I am convinced Varela, a 26-year-old political activist living in Puerto Rico, submitted a letter to the White that the addition of TIA as a departure point San Juan, was gunned down five months after House in support of Zuccato’s application. SAN JUAN-SANTIAGO DE CUBA FOR $595? WTC-Tampa Bay plans trade mission to Cuba “When Cuban-Americans in Puerto Rico visit their loved ones in Cuba, they must fly to he board of directors of World Trade “It’s a totally nonpolitical endeavor,” said Panama or Miami before making connecting Center Tampa Bay has voted to organ- Valiente, partner in the Tampa office of Min- flights to Cuba,” said Michael Acevedo, presi- T ize a fact-finding trip to Cuba. neapolis-based CPA firm Larsen Allen. “We dent of Casa Cuba’s board of directors. “This “There are several formalities which must want to get our community ready for when routing is very costly and extremely incon- be met in order to take a delegation to the time comes. It’s all about relationships.” venient, since some travelers are forced to Cuba,” Jack Bierley, president of the interna- The delegation will focus on identifying stay the night before continuing to or from potential trade and business opportunities tional business development franchise, told Cuba. This clearly represents an unfair hard- between Tampa Bay companies and Cuba. ship on those Cuban-Americans living here.” the Tampa Bay Business Journal. The group will consist of 10-15 people who José Valiente, chairman of the WTC Zuccato, whose company has an office in can “offer products which are certified as le- the San Juan suburb of Hato Rey, said “Puerto Tampa Bay-Cuba Business Council, and Vice gal by the U.S. government,” a release said. Rico is a relatively small market, but it still Chairman Frank Cisneros will lead the dele- Details: Jack Bierley, World Trade Center- needs to be served.” gation of business leaders later this year. Tampa Bay, 1101 Channelside Drive, His idea is to operate flights between San Both men are Cuban-Americans who’ve Tampa, FL 33602. Tel: (813) 864-3000. Fax: Juan and Santiago de Cuba, on the eastern lived in Tampa since the 1960s. (813) 864-3100. Email: [email protected]. See Gateway, page 9 8 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 NEWSMAKERS José Pertierra fights to put ‘terrorist’ Posada in prison BY LARRY LUXNER planting the bombs or plotting the attacks, regime ruling Guatemala at the time. ow come controversial Washington but rather with lying in an immigration court “I don’t think they meant to kill me. They attorney José Pertierra didn’t end up in about his role in the Havana attacks. only wanted me off the case,” he says. “The HSouth Florida like most of the other “This is welcome first step, because for the FBI came in with its domestic anti-terrorist Cuban exiles who fled their island in 1960? first time, in formal legal documents before a force and concluded it had been the work of “When we first arrived in the United States, federal district court, Posada was linked to professionals. But they never found anything.” I was 9 years old,” he said. “My mother saw international terrorism,” said Pertierra. “Up Pertierra said he’s gotten no similar threats the Cuban Revolution as the perfect excuse to ‘til now, the only charge had been that he lied in connection with either his representation get away — not from the communists but about how he entered the from her mother-in-law, who she hated.” United States [in 2005, seeking Upon landing in Miami, the Pertierra fami- political asylum]. Now, he’s ly learned that the U.S. government offered being charged with perjury, in refugees a one-way ticket anywhere they that he denied any link to the wanted to settle in the United States, as long terrorists in jail in Cuba.” LARRY LUXNER as they promised not to move back to Miami. The Cuban government has “My mother looked at the map and picked claimed that one of two Salva- the farthest place she could, which was Cali- doran nationals convicted in fornia,” he recalled. “So we went to live in Los Havana of the bombings, Raúl Angeles, and I grew up with César Chávez in- Ernesto Cruz León, placed the bomb that killed the Italian, stead of Jorge Mas Canosa.” and that Cruz León was an That could also explain how Pertierra accomplice of Posada. became a friend of the Castro government “We have always known that rather than an enemy. He’s probably the only Posada was receiving money lawyer in America whose office — located from terrorist organizations in only a few blocks from the White House — is the U.S. to hire Central Ameri- decorated with articles about his exploits in cans to take bombs to Cuba, the Washington Post, the National Law Jour- and Cruz León has always said nal and Cuba’s own Communist Party mouth- that the person who hired him piece, Juventud Rebelde. was Luís Posada Carriles.” The day CubaNews came to interview Per- tierra, three young Latino immigrants — a PERTIERRA IS USED TO RISKS Mexican, a Guatemalan and a Salvadoran — were waiting in his small but comfortable Posada’s lawyer, Arturo V. reception area, seeking legal advice. Hernández, told the Miami Nearby is a knick-knack shelf crammed Herald his client is innocent. with leftist memorabilia, including a portrait “This superseding indict- of Elián González with a blue ribbon from the ment is under analysis, and boy’s Cuban school uniform, and a humorous once we complete that review, ceramic miniature of Hugo Chávez sitting at my client intends to plead not his desk inscribed “Alo Presidente.” guilty to the additional counts,” Hernández told the newspaper, José Pertierra represents Venezuela in its case against Luís Posada. GRAND JURY LINKS POSADA TO ‘97 BOMBINGS which also reported that the FBI has compiled a document claiming that No surprise, considering Pertierra’s top Posada hid plastic explosives in shampoo bot- of the father of Elián González, or his efforts client happens to be the Venezuelan Embassy. tles and shoes to be smuggled into Cuba to have Posada extradited to Venezuela. The Chávez government hired him in June weeks before the Sept. 4, 1997, bombing. The lawyer shrugged off suggestions that 2005 to make sure the U.S. Department of Pertierra is no stranger to bombs and too much is being made of a man in his 80s Justice and the State Department would abide Central American terrorists. who is too old and frail to be of harm to any- by international treaty obligations and extra- Thirteen years ago, on a brisk morning in one at this point. dite accused terrorist Luís Posada Carilles to January, a powerful explosion destroyed “Luís Posada is very important,” Pertierra Venezuela, where he’s wanted for master- Pertierra’s Honda Acura; the blast was felt all insisted. “He’s the Osama bin Laden of Latin minding the bombing of a Cubana airliner in around his quiet Washington neighborhood. America. And he is the mastermind of the 1976 in which 73 passengers died. “At that moment, two images flashed campaign of terror that has been waged “My task throughout this has been to help through Pertierra’s mind,” according to a against Cuba since the early 1960s.” guide along the process of preparing and pre- June 1996 article in The Progressive. “The first senting the extradition request,” said Perti- was of Orlando Letelier, the former left-lean- LAWYER: POSADA SHOULD BE TRIED IN CARACAS erra, estimating that he spends 30% of his ing Chilean foreign minister who died in 1976 time on the Posada case alone. “He’s a free man despite the Patriot Act, when his car was blown up at Sheridan Circle which permits the United States to detain a On Apr. 8, Pertierra got some great news. in Washington. Agents working for Chile’s That day, a federal grand jury in El Paso, Tex., ultra-rightist military had planted the bomb. person the Department of Homeland Security handed up a new indictment against Posada, The second was of the Guatemalan army.” declared to be a terrorist. The Bush adminis- for the first time linking the 81-year-old mili- The bomb followed a series of threats tration chose not to do that, and the Obama tant in a U.S. legal proceeding to a series of against Pertierra, who at the time was repre- administration so far has refused to do that,” 1997 bombings that killed an Italian man senting Jennifer Harbury, a U.S. citizen mar- Pertierra complained. vacationing at Havana’s Copacabana Hotel. ried to a Guatemalan peace activist who had “If they are accusing him of obstructing jus- The indictment doesn’t charge Posada with been tortured and murdered by the military tice in an international terrorism investiga- May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 9 tion, and they know he helped move Cruz Venezuela, since Cuba had a death penalty León from El Salvador to Cuba, then the logi- and Venezuela didn’t,” he explained. Gateway — FROM PAGE 7 cal consequences are that he be detained “In addition, the two masterminds of the under the Patriot Act and indicted for interna- crime, Posada and Orlando Bosch, were in side of the island, since many Cubans living in tional terrorism and murder. That hasn’t hap- detention in Caracas. For that and many other Puerto Rico are originally from Oriente and pened,” he said. reasons, they decided to do it there.” not Havana. “But if politics are removed from the equa- Pertierra said the idea Posada would be tor- CTS is thinking about charging $595 for a tion, then I do expect that to happen.” tured if sent back to Venezuela is “absolutely round-trip ticket to Santiago de Cuba, and Halfway through our interview, Pertierra’s preposterous” and not even worth discussing. using ATR-72 aircraft to service that route. phone rang. On the other end was a journalist “There is not one shred of evidence that That would eliminate the need for Cuban from Cuba’s Mesa Redonda TV program, hop- Venezuela tortures its prisoners,” he charged. exiles to fly to Havana via Miami (a cost of ing to get a sound-bite from the Washington “If anything, it’s the United States that for around $930) or fly to Havana through the lawyer on his reaction to the new U.S. indict- years has been torturing its prisoners.” Dominican Republic (a little cheaper, at $830), ment against Posada. In his free time, Pertierra is writing a cou- or travel on Copa Airlines via Panama to Havana (over $1,000). Acevedo, who left Cuba 15 years ago, has been back to Havana only once — and that was in 2000, for only six days. “Luís Posada is very important. He’s the Osama bin Laden of “I think the majority of the community is in favor of this, because most of us want to visit Latin America. And he is the mastermind of the campaign of our families,” he said in a phone interview from San Juan. “There are extreme right-wing terror that’s been waged against Cuba since the early 1960s.” radicals against this, but most people see this — PROMINENT WASHINGTON IMMIGRATION LAWYER JOSÉ PERTIERRA strictly as a humanitarian gesture.” RESIDENT COMMISSIONER SUPPORTS IDEA Zuccato said he has the solid backing of “Cuba has never asked for his extradition,” ple of books — one on the Elián case, and the Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s non-voting resi- Pertierra pointed out. “The extradition and other a history of U.S.-Cuban relations from dent commissioner in Congress, as well as where this case should be tried was discussed the perspective of immigration law. that of pro-statehood Gov. Luís Fortuño. back in 1976 when the plane blew up. He believes that soon, the families of those “We submitted this application to the Bush “Many different countries have a stake in who died in the Cubana bombing will finally administration years ago and never got an this: Barbados, where the plane went down; see Luís Posada behind bars. And that’ll be a answer,” he said. “But this time, with more Venezuela, where the conspiracy arose and happy day for the United States, too, he says. local support in Puerto Rico and a verbal com- where the flight originated. Many Guyanese “The great majority of Cuban-Americans in mitment from Pierluisi, I’m very optimistic were killed, and most of those who died were Miami think Posada is a terrorist,” Pertierra that this will happen soon.” Cubans. But it was decided among all the told CubaNews. “They may be in the closet Likewise, in 2003, Delta Air Lines and Geor- countries that the best venue would be when they say that, but they think it.” ❑ gia state officials launched an aggressive lob- bying effort to have the U.S. government des- ignate Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Air- port as a gateway for direct charter flights to Cuba remains on State Department blacklist Havana and other Cuban cities. he State Department said Apr. 30 it’ll Cuba,” but pointed out that Cuba’s banking Nothing ever came of that effort, but Air- keep Cuba on a list of countries it says systems remain among the most secretive Tran Airways, with its largest hub in Atlanta, T support terrorism — lumping it with and opaque in the world. says it “has a lot of interest” in serving Cuba. pariahs Iran, Syria and Sudan (late last year, It also said Havana still allowed members “We’d like to be one of the first ones for North Korea was removed from the list). of U.S. militant groups like the Boricua Popu- scheduled flights, and certainly that would However, the report also highlighted posi- lar, or Macheteros, and the Black Liberation include Atlanta and probably other points in tive steps taken by the Castro regime. Army to live on its territory, even though Florida as well,” AirTran CEO Bob Fornaro “The Cuban government continued to pro- they were fugitives from U.S. justice. told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. vide safe haven to several terrorists,” even if “In keeping with its public declaration, the Delta spokesman Kent Landers said it’s too it “no longer actively supports” armed strug- government has not provided safe haven to early to say if the airline would serve Cuba, “based on the fact that we don’t know how any gle beyond its shores, it said. any new US fugitives wanted for terrorism ❑ According to the report, members of the since 2006,” it added. changes would be structured in the future.” Basque separatist ETA and two Colombian Cuba-watchers suggested the report may rebel groups — FARC and ELN — remain be a first step toward removing Cuba from free in Cuba, and that President Raúl Castro the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Charters — FROM PAGE 6 “continued to publicly defend the FARC” “It’s a big gesture on their part to recog- [Spanish acronym for Revolutionary Armed nize Fidel Castro’s statements about the CTS will operate once a week between LAX Forces of Colombia. FARC,” said Philip Peters of the Lexington and Havana, charging between $800 and $950 But it noted that last July, former Presi- Institute. “It sounds to me like Cuba is on its for a round-trip ticket. Zuccato said his com- dent Fidel Castro urged FARC to free the way to coming off the list.” pany will lease a Boeing 737-800 or an Airbus hostages they were holding without precon- Asked about that at a State Department 320 for the flight, which takes 5-6 hours. ditions. And Castro “has also condemned the briefing, Ronald Schlicher, acting coordina- Despite the rosy outlook, Aral said she’s FARC’s mistreatment of captives and of their tor of counterterrorism, said the report is not sure how many more people would travel abduction of civilian politicians who had no not “laying the groundwork for anything.” to Cuba more than once a year, even though role in the armed conflict,” it added. After the briefing, a State Department offi- it's now completely legal to do so. The State Department acknowledged it cial told reporters without elaborating: “It’s a “At $500 a pop, plus whatever they bring to has “no evidence of terrorist-related money new administration and they’re examining Cuba, it’s still not cheap to fly there,” she con- laundering or terrorist financing activities in the language a little more carefully.” ceded. “I don’t know how often an individual can afford to go in this current economy.” ❑ 10 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 FOREIGN TRADE ITC sees huge potential for U.S. food exports to Cuba BY LARRY LUXNER people of Brazil,” he said. “U.S. farm exports some confidence. If Cuba cannot rely on the f average American tourists were allowed could increase by another $250 million if we U.S., they are simply not going to put them- to visit Cuba freely, and current financing eased up on some of those restrictions, put- selves in the position of depending on us.” Irestrictions on selling food to Cuba were ting the total close to $1 billion.” Tracy said the draconian restrictions on lifted, the U.S. share of Cuba’s total $1.85 bil- Griswold added: “I don’t want American selling to Cuba have cost U.S. wheat farmers lion food import market would jump to be- taxpayer dollars subsidizing trade to Cuba, over $700 million in lost sales since 2000. tween 49% and 64%, up from the current 38%. but I also don’t want our government interfer- “We’re easily talking $100 million per year That translates into anywhere from $925 ing with normal trade. Just let private banks in sales that we’re foregoing by not having million to $1.2 billion in U.S. food sales — a finance transactions and assume all the risks.” open trade, and that’s just the wheat indus- significant increase over the $707 million Griswold, who noted that the embargo “has try,” he said. “It’s not a big deal when com- worth of agricultural commodities that was impoverished Cubans without making them pared to total U.S. wheat exports of $6 billion, actually sold last year, says Jonathan Coleman one bit more free,” said Congress and the but it is significant to our farmers.” Obama administration must act now to scrap Betsy Ward, president and CEO of the USA of the U.S. International Trade Commission. current Cuba policy. He noted ironically that Rice Federation, said her group represents “This model assumes lifting of all restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba,” he said. “We pre- dict 500,000 to one million Americans would travel there each year. It also assumes the removal of all financing restrictions.” Coleman, chief of the ITC’s agriculture and fisheries division, spoke at an Apr. 29 conference at Washington’s National Press Club on the subject of U.S. farm sales to Cuba. He said his latest data is derived from an earlier 2007 ITC study carried out at the request of Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), who this week plans to re-introduce a bill that would facilitate U.S. food sales to Cuba and make it easier for farmers to visit the island. “We conducted 40 interviews with interest- ed parties. We talked to many large and small U.S. companies trading with Cuba, and I traveled to Havana for a week, and we inter- viewed Alimport officials, port personnel and others to get a Cuban perspective,” explained Coleman, stressing that the ITC is an independent federal agency funded by Congress but not part of the administration.” “We tried to see what our trade would have been in 2008 absent the restrictions. So everything is pegged to what actually happened. If we just talk about Cuban-American travel, then the additional numbers of visitors would be much lower, so the effects would be a lot Republicans generally support trade agree- rice growers in Arkansas, California, Louisi- smaller. These are very rough numbers.” ments and Democrats generally oppose them ana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. Togeth- CATO: LET PRIVATE BANKS ASSUME THE RISKS — except when it comes to Cuba. er, these six states produce 19 billion lbs. of Coleman said that requiring Alimport to rice a year, about 50% of which is exported. Thanks to the Trade Sanctions Reform and buy letters of credit through European banks “If you could create an ideal market for U.S. Export Enhancement Act (TSRA), which and requiring cash payment before shipment rice, it would be Cuba,” she said. “Rice is a sta- allows U.S. farmers to sell food to the Cuban makes U.S. farm products 2.5% to 7% more ple of the Cuban diet, and Cuba has the high- government on a cash-only basis, Cuba now expensive than if Cuba, like all other buyers, est per-capita consumption of rice in the sources 100% of its corn and soybeans, 80% of were able to use normal banking channels. Western Hemisphere, about 150 lbs. annually. its poultry and nearly half of its wheat and But it only produces 5% of its rice. So to make pork products from the United States. U.S. WHEAT, RICE EXPORTERS MISSING OUT up that difference, Cuba imports 600,000 tons Yet the numbers clearly show room for im- of rice a year, making it one of the world’s provement, which would come at the expense Alan Tracy, president of U.S. Wheat Associ- ates, said the Bush administration’s imposi- best rice importers.” of major competitors such as Canada, Brazil, Before the revolution, Cuba was the top Vietnam and the European Union. tions of financing restrictions “severely damaged” the commercial relationship that U.S. buyer of U.S. rice, though nothing was sold Dan Griswold is director of trade policy between 1961 and 2000. After TSRA’s passage studies at the Cato Institute, a nonprofit think wheat exporters had built up with Alimport. But his criticism isn’t limited to Bush. that year, U.S. rice producers again began ex- tank with strong libertarian leanings. porting to Cuba, reaching 176,000 metric tons He noted that from dead last 10 years ago, “We are very disappointed that the Obama administration did not include anything on in 2004, or 30% of Cuba’s total rice imports. Cuba now ranks sixth in Latin America in U.S. But after financing restrictions were tight- the cash-in-advance issue. We would also like farm imports. ened, Cuba turned to Vietnam, causing U.S. “Last year, we sold more food to the 11 mil- to see the travel restrictions lifted,” he said. lion people of Cuba than to the 200 million “Over time, piece by piece, we can rebuild See Food Exports, page 11 May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 11 POLITICS Party promotes new leaders in time for next Congress BY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI eastern province of Granma. sional cadre of the Party 15 years ago. Now Highly praised for his work there. Promo- promoted to first secretary of the Party in Las uba significantly reshaped its govern- ted to Central Committee at the V Congress. Tunas, replacing Cuevas Ramos. ment in March. The following month, A National Assembly membersince the early 5. Misael Enamorado Dager, born in Cmajor changes took place in the leader- 90s. Recently promoted to a more important Santiago de Cuba, in 1953; mestizo. Electri- ship of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), eastern province, Santiago de Cuba. cal engineer by profession, worked in the as the Party gets ready to hold its long-await- 2. Luís Rafael Virelles Varreda, born in ministries of the Sugar Industry and Basic ed VI Congress either in October or Decem- the eastern province of Granma, in 1965; Industries. In the latter, he distinguished him- ber 2009 — most likely the latter. mestizo. A veterinarian by profession, with an self as executive director of one of the most Along with the adoption of “conceptual and additional bachelor’s degree in social studies. important metal industries in Cuba, the “Paco institutional” reforms, to use President Raúl Distinguished himself as a Party first sec- Cabrera” Metal Structures Enterprise. Castro’s own language, the congress will also retary in the cities of Bayamo (1990s) and Appointed to the Central Committee at the see the promotion of scores of new leaders. Manzanillo. Recently promoted to first secre- IV Congress and promoted to the Politburo The current changes — a good example of tary of the PCC in Granma. Together with and first secretary of the Party in Santiago de what to expect — reflect the type of leaders Exposito Canto, both are very much praised Cuba at the V Congress. Now promoted to the now being promoted: middle-aged, all of them for Granma’s economic and social recovery. Secretariat of the Party. His performance has born in the mid-1950s or after 1959, and UJC 3. Jorge Cuevas Ramos, born in Santiago been highly praised since the late 1980s. and FEU leaders since the 1980s. de Cuba, in 1957; black. A social studies grad- 6. Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermudez, In addition, they are generally university uate, worked as a professional Party cadre at born in Villa Clara, in 1961; white. Electrical graduates (engineering and social studies), the University of Santiago de Cuba. engineer by profession and promoted to the and graduates of the Colegio de Defensa Nac- Promoted to the Central Committee at the the Central Committee in 1991; appointed as ional (CODEN). They were promoted to the IV Congress (1991), working the Depart- first secretary of the Party in Villa Clara Party’s Central Committee between the IV ment of Cadres until he was appointed as first province in 1994 and 10 years later as first Congress in 1991 and the V Congress in 1997, secretary of the Party in Las Tunas, in 1997, secretary in Holguín. and they each have more than a decade’s replacing Enamorado Dager, who had been Raúl Castro has praised his performance, worth of experience as provincial leaders. promoted to the Politburo and first secretary specifically by name, again and again, since These leaders exemplify the younger gen- in Santiago de Cuba. the the mid-1990s. During the V Congress, he erations now taking over most of the govern- Cuevas was recently promoted to first sec- was a strong candidate for membership in the ment and Party leadership. In years to come, retary of the Party to the most important of all Politburo. Now he has been promoted to an when crucial changes take place in Cuba, the eastern provinces, Holguin (nickel mining, unspeficied “national position,” soon to be following will be major players: various key mechanical industries, and the announced. It is expected that Díaz-Canel will 1. Lazaro Exposito Canto, born in Villa largest share of the region’s tourism indus- be promoted to the Politburo. ❑ Clara province, 1955; white. A teacher by pro- try), replacing Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel. Former Cuban intelligence officer Domingo fession and a Party member since the 1980s. 4. Teresa Amarelles Boue, born in Las Amuchastegui has lived in Miami since 1994. First secretary of the Party in the city of Santa Tunas, in 1964; mestiza. A social studies He writes regularly for CubaNews about politics Clara, later promoted to first secretary in the teacher for a short period, became a profes- in Cuba and the South Florida exile community.

Food exports— FROM PAGE 10 making major trade concessions” like Brazil, “U.S. companies with small sales volumes Vietnam and the 27-member European Union are leaving the market because of these trans- rice exports to fall until last year, when only — which have moved rapidly to fill the void. action costs, the costs of storage and the fact 12,000 tons of American rice were they do not have established relation- shipped to Cuba. ships with appropriate foreign banks.” “Competition from Vietnam took Coleman said “we were told that us out of the market,” said Ward. sales of seeds and table potatoes from “But with open, fair trade, Cuba North Dakota were thwarted by com- would quickly be our No. 2 export plications relating to Cuban phytosani- market after Mexico. That would tary experts unable to travel to the translate into $180 million to $360 United States. Beef is not imported be- million in rice sales. This is why cause the Cubans cannot inspect our we’ve been very involved for the last meat-processing facilities.” 15 years in calling for an end to the Rosemarie Watkins, director of pub- embargo. Resuming normal com- lic policy at the American Farm Bur- merical relations with Cuba is a top eau, praised Obama’s policy changes priority for our organization.” but said “these actions really do not go The ITC’s Coleman said “we can far enough from our standpoint, and supply smaller volumes of individual we hope to see further liberalization.” shipments on a just-in-time basis to U.S. agriculture sales to Cuba have smaller Cuban ports. That’s especi- averaged $400 million annually since ally attractive to Cuba, with its lack 2000, she said. “With the embargo lift- of storage capability and transpor- ed, we expect that to rise to $1 billion. tation infrastructure. This works We believe we should allow unrestirct- very much in our favor.” ed travel. We should also allow direct Yet, says Coleman, “our exporters banking, eliminate third-country bank- are prohibited from offering credits, ing requirements and allow Cuban while several of our competitors are inspectors into the United States.” ❑ 12 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 INFRASTRUCTURE Holguín’s Frank País Airport poised for future growth

BY OUR HAVANA CORRESPONDENT This is the fourth in a series of articles on system. It can operate 24 hours a day. ocated just eight miles south of the city major Cuban airports. The first, published in Being the site of a major Air Force base of Holguín in eastern Cuba, Frank País our February 2009 issue, looked at the gener- developed in the heat of the Cold War, the air- L International Airport (HOG) is one of al state of Cuba’s air transportation system. port has bunkers for jet fighters, anti-aircraft the largest and busiest airports on the island. The second article (published in March) defenses, large barracks and a military apron It currently serves as a key link with the featured Santiago de Cuba International, and located along the north side of the runway. In Cuban exile community in the United States the 3rd (published in April) analyzed Jardines fact, this airport is a good example of how and might very well become a main airport del Rey International Airport on Cayo Coco. Cuba adapted its extensive military infra- once the U.S. general travel ban is lifted. structure to civilian use. HOG is conveniently positioned close to the Force base in eastern Cuba. HOG features a HOG serves a domestic route between Havana and the city of Holguín (population center of Cuba’s old Oriente province, home 10,623-ft-long, 148-ft-wide NE-SW asphalt run- 270,000). But it was the development of the to 3.96 million people — and better situated way capable of accommodating large trans- Guardalavaca tourism hub in the early 1990s than Santiago de Cuba International Airport continental passenger aircraft while serving that dramatically boosted its traffic — (see CubaNews, March 2009, page 10), whose military purposes. prompting the opening in 1996 of a new inter- location south of the Sierra Maestra moun- It has six remote standing positions for national terminal, along with the renovation of tains cuts it off from the rest of the island. large jets, two of them just in front of the inter- its navigational facilities. Built in the 1950s as a domestic terminal for national terminal. The airport boasts modern Holguín International has the capacity to small aircraft, Frank País years later became a aerial navigation equipment, including new process 1,200 travelers per hour at its peak. It crucial element in the defense of the commu- radars, lighting approach and maneuvering receives about 50 overseas flights per week in nist island, as home of the most important Air systems, beacons and an instrumental landing the high season (November-April) bringing tourists from Canada and Western Europe. It also gets four flights per week (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) from Miami, See Holguín, page 13 May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 13 Airlines, Edelweiss, Finnair, LTU Internatio- — FROM PAGE 12 Holguín nal and Martinair from and to the European BUSINESS BRIEFS cities of Vienna, Zurich, Frankfurt, Helsinki, bringing a total of 350 Cuban exiles weekly to HOLGUÍN TO GET $600 MILLION NICKEL REFINERY visit relatives in Cuba’s eastern provinces. Düsseldorf and Amsterdam. This airport receives over 155,000 passen- Minor airlines provide irregular executive Cuba will proceed with plans to build a $600 gers per year, most of them heading for north- and VIP links to Holguín. million nickel refinery with its ally Venezuela, coast resorts. These consist of Canadians Frank País has a domestic terminal sepa- even though a dramatic drop in world prices (58%), Germans (18%), Cuban exiles from rate from the main building so nationals and has drained the island’s foreign income, a gov- South Florida (10%) and British (5%). The rest foreign travelers don’t share the same space. ernment official announced Apr. 27. come from all over Europe. The international terminal is a steel-and- “We continue to work on this new project of ferronickel that should add in the next two to two-and-a-half years a significant quantity of ferronickel,” Juan Ruíz, director of state entity Cubaniquel, said in a television interview. The new ferronickel plant will be located in LARRY LUXNER Las Camariocas, in Cuba’s eastern province of Holguín. It’s expected to boost Cuba’s output to about 100,000 tons per year, up from 75,000 tons/year now. Cuba will deliver part of its production to Venezuela, where it’ll be used for the production of stainless steel. In 2007, Venezuela, Havana’s main political and economic ally, replaced China’s state- owned Minmetals Corp. as Cuba’s partner in the ferronickel joint venture. Cuba earned $552 million in 2008 from the sale of 70,400 tons of unrefined nickel and cobalt byproduct. The country ranks 5th in global nickel reserves and 6th as a producer. Cuban officials have said in the past the plant could produce annually up to 68,000 tons Holguín’s Frank País International Airport could become a key gateway for Cuban exile fights from Miami. of ferronickel, an alloy used in making stainless steel. But worldwide nickel prices have Over 20 airlines serve HOG, including the glass structure designed and built by Ottawa- tumbled sharply in recent months. domestic Cubana de Aviación, connecting to based Intelcan Technosystems; it has restau- Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado London via Havana, and Aero Caribbean, rants, cafeterias, duty-free shops, car rental Ventura said recently that a drop to $9,000 per which flies six times a week to and from Hav- and travel agencies. Sadly, the domestic ter- ton might make nickel production “unafford- ana. Holguín also receives American Eagle minal lacks the attention to detail reserved for able.” The metal dropped from $54,200/ton in charter flights from Miami. the international terminal. 2007 to $10,100/ton by the first week of May. Five Canadian airlines — Air Canada, Air Frank País International is located inland, Ruiz said Cuba is undertaking a series of Transat, Skyservice, West Jet and Sunwing — in a high wavy plain some 300 feet high, eight cost-saving measures to keep its nickel indus- provide links to Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, miles southwest of downtown Holguín, which try afloat, such as using domestic crude oil Quebec City, Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax and is accessible via the old two-lane Central High- instead of imported oil to power the plants. Vancouver. British companies First Choice way. It lies 45 miles southwest of the resorts at Cuba’s two state-run plants average 117 bar- Airways, Monarch, MyTravel Airways and Guardalavaca, which now boast 4,830 rooms rels of fuel oil to produce a ton of product for Thompson Airways connect Holguín to in four- and five-star beachfront hotels. ❑ market, according to business sources. London-Gatwick and Manchester. Italy’s Blue Panorama, Livingston and Neos RUSSIAN OIL GIANTS EYE OFFSHORE VENTURES provide links to Milan. Also seving Holguín: Russia could become a major partner in Austrian Airlines, Lauda Air, Belair, Condor Cuba’s search for offshore oil, a spokesman for the Cuban Ministry of Basic Industry said. Traffic lights are ‘disappearing’ Manuel Marrero Faz told reporters in mid- March that a consortium of five Russian com- Cuba’s streets and highways are short panies — he refused to identify them — was 375,500 traffic lights because the existing studying the possibility of launching oil pros- ones have broken down due to lack of pecting at 15 oil blocks in the Gulf of Mexico. maintenance or have simply “disap- Cuba’s exclusive economic zone in the gulf peared,” according to figures released by covers 112,000 sq kms and is divided into 56 the National Traffic Engineering Center. blocks. Oil companies from Spain, India, Nor- way, Venezuela, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brazil Some 97,500 traffic signals are required are already active in offshore exploration. on Cuban roadways and 278,000 are need- “In the near future, we’ll start negotiations ed in urban areas, says the report, which on this issue,” the spokesman said, adding adds that in 2008 alone, 2,091 traffic lights that companies from China and Angola were were damaged or disappeared altogether. also displaying interest in oil prospecting. The head of the center, Alvio Gil, told Marrero said that over the next three years, Granma he hopes to resolve the deficit by Cuba intends to increase the volume of oil 2013, adding that the traffic signals, “if extraction in the Gulf of Mexico, with at least they are not attacked and damaged, last in eight new oil wells coming into production good condition for up to seven years.” during that time. Cuba currently produces around 60,000 barrels of petroleum per day. 14 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 DEMOGRAPHICS Cuba’s population falls slightly, to 11,236,099 at end of ‘08 BY OUR HAVANA CORRESPONDENT total departures), while people aged 15 to 44 food security, social services, transportation or the third year in a row, Cuba’s popula- represent 62% of all expatriates. among them — potentially provoking a spike tion has dropped as result of low birth Authorities foresee Cuba’s population drop- in the birth rate and stemming emigration Frates, higher mortality and significant ping by 46,000 (or 4.0 per 1,000) between now while luring some exiles to return. emigration. and 2020, shrinking to 11.19 million, and fall- That very same thing happened at the turn At the end of 2008, there were 691 fewer ing further to 11.04 million by 2030. Yet the of the 20th century, right after independence Cubans living on the island than at the end of Cuban government has paid little attention to from Spain — and again following the 1959 2007, translating into growth of -0.1 per 1,000 the potential stimulus for population growth Marxist revolution — when despite a mas- compared to -0.2 per 1,000 in 2007 and -0.4% in that a healthier economy would trigger. sive exodus of Cubans to South Florida, new Improved relations with its nemesis, the hopes unleashed the birth rate and caused a 2006. ❑ The drop is statistically insignificant, but it United States, would enable Cuba to solve short-lived jump in immigration to Cuba. draws attention to the challenge of a stagnant some of its most acute problems — housing, population which is hesitant to reproduce and is getting older all the time. “In statistical terms, the Cuban population is stabilized. However, the trend points to an evident and pronounced decrease,” said Enri- que González, an expert at the government’s Centro de Estudios de la Población y Desar- rollo, a division of Cuba’s National Statistics Office (ONE in Spanish). The statement by González, picked up in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde, comes as a surprise because in early January, ONE published a preliminary 2008 report showing a modest population gain that bucked the nega- tive trend of recent years. Soon after, authorities warned that as a result of the devastating 2008 hurricane season, the birth rate would remain low — especially in the eastern provinces, where hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. ONE estimated Cuba’s population on Dec. 31, 2008, at 11,236,099, down from 11,236,790 a year earlier. The number of newborns in 2008 grew by 10,097 to 122,569, but it wasn't enough to reverse the trend. EMIGRATION REMAINS MAJOR FACTOR For decades, Cuba’s fecundity rate (the number of children per reproductive woman) and reproductive rate (the number of girls born per reproductive woman) have been too low to guarantee a population recovery. In 2008, the fecundity rate was 1.59 children per woman (down from 1.60 in 1998), and the reproductive rate was 0.77 per woman (down from 0.78 in 1998). As the population ages (see CubaNews, July- August 2008, page 8), the number of deaths gradually increases. Last year, 86,357 inhabitants passed away — Cuba’s largest number of deaths ever in one year — translating into The western provinces were the main a mortality rate of 7.7 per 1,000. origin of emigrants between 2002 and 2007, a pattern little changed In contrast, during the 1980s the death rate over te past 50 years.The flow of averaged 6.1 per 1,000, rising to 7.0% per exiles arriving in Cuba to visit their 1,000 in the 1990s. relatives likely would repeat this Emigration remains a major factor in the pattern in the opposite direction. population balance. Last year, roughly 37,000 Cubans fled the island for a better destination abroad. That came to 3.3 expatrates per 1,000, up from 2.9 per 1,000 in 2007 and the highest rate since the 1994 rafters crisis, when 47,844 people escaped. In recent years, the largest group of emigrants are in the 30-34 age bracket (12% of May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 15 TOURISM TOURISM BRIEFS U.S. CRUISE SHIPS TO CUBA? NOT SO FAST Cuba plans to develop golf courses The U.S. cruise industry is unlikely to BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA Cuban government approval to build a luxury expand to Cuban ports in the near future, an real-estate venture at Bahia Honda, an hour’s analyst told Business Week in mid-April — rowing talk of an end to the U.S. travel even if President Obama further relaxes ban against Cuba is stimulating interest drive west of Havana. This one will include three golf courses and a 500-slip marina. restrictions on travel to the communist island. Gin golf-oriented ventures on the island. Despite a relaxation of travel rules for At least one major golf resort, the six-star Cuban authorities didn’t always look kindly on the sport. During the early years of the rev- Cuban-Americans, broader restrictions and a Carbonera Club Esencia Hotels & Resorts, is olution, Fidel Castro, being a poor player, vir- trade embargo remain in effect, including a in the process of being built near Varadero. tually shut down any property that had golf rule that bans ships from docking in the U.S. The joint venture with Cuban state entity courses. But the apparent hunger for tourist within six months of docking in Cuba. Palmares SA, consists of a championship 18- dollars from wealthier visitors is prompting Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Timothy hole golf course, a yacht club, a hotel and spa, the regime to change its mind about golf. Conder, who has an “overweight” rating on along with 720 residential properties. One reason for Macdonald’s optimism: the the cruise sector, estimated that it will take Its developers say the property is only the Dominican Republic, home to 24 golf courses. one to three years at best before all the vari- beginning in terms of Cuba’s future as a viable Besides Casa de Campo in La Romana and ous factors are in place for the cruise industry site for golf resorts. PuntaCana Resort & Club is Cap Cana, a huge to begin calling on Cuban ports. Andrew Macdonald, chief executive of venture launched by Dominican developer “We believe the recent overtures by the Esencia Hotels, observed that Great Britain Ricardo Hazoury, with Donald Trump and vet- Obama administration toward Cuba are posi- — which is similar in size to Cuba — has over eran pro golfer Jack Nicklaus as partners. tive moves toward a more open relationship 2,000 golf courses, while Cuba basically has In the meantime, Macdonald is encourag- between the U.S. and Cuba, but are still only just one, which is why he’s overly optimistic ing golf culture by holding a competition this initial minor policy baby steps,” he said. about future golf-related developments. month for junior golfers. The Esencia Cup, at Industry executives say would take up to a “There’s a lot of room for potential. They the Varadero Golf Club in conjunction with year to begin calls on Cuban ports once broad should have 25 or 30 golf courses without the Montecristo Cup tournament, will feature restrictions are lifted, and 18-24 months after even touching the market,” Macdonald told a trophy presentation by Great Britain’s am- Cuban government approval to build perma- CubaNews from London. “Golfers are a higher bassador to Cuba, Dianna Melrose. nent port facilities for cruise ships. level of tourist. There are niches that haven’t Yet for the time being, golf is about as for- If the ban is lifted, Condor noted that cruise been developed. It’s attractive for investors. eign in Cuba as cricket. According to Miami ships will be one of the best options for tour- We’re finding surprising buoyant interest.” lawyer Tony Zamora, “we’re getting to a situa- ists to visit Cuba because hotels are limited. Another golf-centric project is in the works tion where discussion about 10 golf projects on Cuban soil. A group of developers has won will be approved in the next few months.” ❑ KEY WEST MULLS JOINT MARKETING EFFORTS At a recent meeting in Key West, local tourism leaders didn’t just ratify a contingency Judge strikes down Fla. travel agency law plan for the day Washington lifts all travel restrictions on Cuba, reports the Miami Herald. resident Obama’s decision to liberal- agencies, hailed Gold’s decision as a “clear, They approved some slogans, too. ize exile travel to Cuba wasn’t the unequivocal statement that the Florida leg- “We’re Making History Again” would pro- P only good news last month for South islature has no business conducting its own mote tours of historic homes in both Havana Florida agencies that depend on such trav- foreign policy.” and Key West. “So Much to Catch Up On” is el to stay afloat. Said Kurzban: “At a time when the state the tagline for a hypothetical fishing tourna- On Apr. 14, a federal district judge over- lacks resources, Florida legislators should ment off the waters of both islands. turned the Florida Travel Act, which had be focused on the issues that are important And for trips splitting time between both forced them to post bond of $250,000 each. to Floridians instead of spending hundreds tourist spots, the Keys plans this promotional Judge Alan S. Gold said the Florida law of thousands of dollars trying to uphold campaign: “Two Nations. One Vacation.” was in direct conflict with the federal gov- clearly unconstitutional laws such as the Monroe County’s updated 10-page Cuba ernment’s authority to set foreign policy. Travel Act amendments.” Strategic Marketing Plan reflects the growing “The State of Florida,” Gold wrote, “is Rep. David Riviera, the Cuban-American attention Cuba is getting from Florida tourism not entitled to adopt a foreign policy under Republican who sponsored the controver- officials. In 2002, Visit Florida warned that our Constitution or interfere with the sial law, said proceeds from the bond would one in five local vacationers would pick Cuba exclusive prerogative of the United States have been used to investigate travel agen- over the Sunshine State if given a choice. to establish a carefully balanced approach cies accused of violating the law. “But it is also safe to say there will be to relations with foreign countries, includ- “The Castro brothers obviously have demand by Americans to see an island that ing Cuba.” allies in this new administration,” Rivera has not been available to them for 50 years,” Signed into law last year by Gov. Charlie told reporters after Gold’s ruling was Visit Florida President Bud Nocera said on Crist, it never took effect. It was challenged announced. He said the office of the state Apr. 15. “We believe that if and when by a group of travel agents who said its pro- attorney-general might appeal. Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba, visions would force them to post bonds that Meanwhile, travel agents say they’ll seek much of that travel will be done from Florida.” were 10 to 25 times higher than those compensation for legal expenses totaling Florida tourism bureaus see Cuba’s reputa- required of other travel agencies. several hundred thousand dollars. tion for shoddy service as their best defense. This would, in turn, force them to raise “We are ecstatic,” said one agent. “First Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater prices and could drive them out of busi- we had the president keep his word, and Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors’ Bur- ness, they warned. The plaintiffs obtained today we have Judge Gold ruling on our be- eau, said she’s encouraged by how few for- an injunction barring enforcement of the half. It’s time to break out the champagne.” eign tourists Fort Lauderdale loses to Cuba. statute while it was under review. Details: Ira Kurzban, 2650 SW 27th Ave., “It’s very tough to sell Cuba,” she said. Miami attorney Ira J. Kurzban, lead Miami, FL 33133. Tel: (305) 443-4675. Fax: “Every once in awhile we’ll hear from a Cana- counsel for the charter firms and travel (305) 444-3503. URL: www.kkwtlaw.com. dian tour operator that their group wants to go Cuba. The next year, they’re back to us.” 16 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 ENVIRONMENT Experts urge joint US-Cuba marine conservation effort BY LARRY LUXNER the environment. More recently, it has begun professional meeting in the United States. altwater fish, migratory birds, turtles and looking into alternative energy sources. “An important first step toward managing marine mammals couldn’t care less “Cuba is experiencing an energy revolu- our shared marine resources would be to Sabout the political differences that sepa- tion. They’re dependent on Venezuela, but greatly increase the flow of information and rate the United States and Cuba. very much in the thick of an effort to become expertise between the two countries,” said But all could benefit from an improvement more energy-independent. Part of that equa- Huddleston. in bilateral ties and scientific cooperation, say tion is more wind, more solar, more biomass.” Added Dr. Douglas Rader, chief oceans sci- experts meeting Apr. 28 at the Brookings Whittle said that over the last 14 months, entist at EDF: “I have only a single message Institution in Washington. EDF staffers have today: that we cannot get marine conserva- Some 80 people attended the event, titled “A joined Cuban sci- tion right, especially in the southeastern U.S., New Era for U.S.-Cuba Relations on Marine entists at the Uni- without factoring in Cuba. and Coastal Resources Conservation.” At the versity of Matan- “Many Americans are aware of the dramat- seminar, 10 experts outlined a new path for zas to exploit ic beauty of this island and its unbelievable the United States and Cuba to protect diverse ocean energy. biodiversity — whether you like birds, mana- marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico, the “Our team has tees, lizards or even snails — but fewer Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. been working on Americans are aware of the dramatic linkages “Cuba is slowly coming into the 21st centu- how to do it between our place and that place.” right,” he said. ry, and as it does, it’ll have to deal with ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION POSSIBLE tourism, nickel mining, crumbling buildings “We’re also evalu- and pollution in Havana Bay. All of these ating the impact Even without a lifting of the embargo, the things must be addressed before it’s too late,” of oil and gas ex- Obama administration has the authority to said Vicki Huddleston, a Brookings foreign ploration, sharing institute far-reaching cooperation with Cuba policy fellow who headed the U.S. Interests EDF attorney Daniel Whittle our research with on joint marine environmental projects. Section in Havana from 1999 to 2002. Cuban colleagues. “There is essentially no limit to the conser- “There is nothing else the U.S. can do that This cooperative research is one example of vation activities in Cuba that President really makes sense, other than to have a long- how people in both countries benefit. We Obama can authorize, whether they take the range, strategic vision of a policy of critical would like to facilitate more and more of this form of government-to-government initiatives and constructive engagement,” she said, kind of joint research. It’s important to de-link or the authorization of American NGO proj- pointing out that if Cuba were removed from our political position towards Cuba from our ects in that country,” said Bob Muse, a Wash- the State Department terrorist list, various environmental policies.” ington attorney specializing in Cuba issues. types of computers and high-tech equipment David Hermann, chief of the State Depart- “It is hard to think of a more constructive useful in environmental and coastal protec- ment’s Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs, use of the president’s foreign-affairs preroga- tion could be exported to Cuba. stressed the “extreme vulnerability” of the tive than the preservation of the marine envi- Caribbean to climate change and other environment the United States shares with Cuba.” WHITTLE: CUBA IS MAKING ‘GREAT PROGRESS’ ronmental challenges. A leading national nonprofit organization, “We are committed to the region and its The meeting, organized by the Environ- EDF represents more than 500,000 members. security,” he said, adding that “EPA is trying Since 1967, EDF has linked science, econom- mental Defense Fund, came only two weeks to start a Latin American Federation of Coasts after President Obama eased travel restric- ics, law and innovative private-sector partner- and Estuaries through our national estuary in ships to solve key environmental problems. ❑ tions on Cuban-Americans and announced San Juan, Puerto Rico. And if things work out plans to revisit U.S. policy on Cuba. EDF has the way we’re hoping they will, it’s something Details: Daniel Whittle, Senior Attorney, asked that environmental protection be that potentially Cuba could participate in.” among the top priorities in future Cuban poli- Environmental Defense Fund, 4000 West- Under current U.S. law, travel for American chase Blvd., Suite #510, Raleigh, NC 27607. cy for the administration. scientists to Cuba is extremely limited, and “The U.S. and Cuba share many ecological the State Department rarely grants Cuban sci- Tel: (919) 881-2914. Fax: (919) 881-2607. resources, but the countries have different entists visas to conduct research or attend Email: [email protected]. URL: www.edf.org. ways of managing them,” said EDF senior attorney Dan Whittle. “More information exchange among academics, scientists and conservation groups will help both countries do a better job of managing coastal and marine resources. The sooner we work together, the LARRY LUXNER sooner we’ll see benefits for the people, environment and economy in both countries.” Whittle added that expanded scientific and management cooperation can help address the growing threats to coral reefs, ocean fish populations, habitats for migratory birds and biodiversity. “For the last nine years, I’ve been asked what Cuba is doing to protect the environment. In my opinion, they’re making great progress,” he said. “Like any country, the challenge to protect the environment during times of economic crisis is tremendous.” In 1994, Cuba’s National Assembly established its first-ever cabinet-level ministry for Cuba’s rugged Caribbean coastline near Ancón, in the southern province of Cienfuegos close to Trinidad. May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 17 AGRICULTURE AGRICULTURE BRIEFS CUBA DEVELOPS WORM-RESISTANT GMO CORN Cuba revamps food distribution chain Cuba is developing genetically modified corn uba has begun a major overhaul of its wanting to till it and has tripled amounts the that can be used with strong herbicides and are food distribution system as part of an state pays for most agricultural products. resistant to the boundless appetite of the fall Ceffort to increase production and tackle Local economists have applauded the meas- armyworm, a major threat to tropical nations’ inefficiency, Reuters reported Mar. 30. ures, but say they fall short of the market corn crops, reports Juventud Rebelde. The vast state network responsible for pur- mechanisms needed to improve output. Scientists at Havana’s Biotechnology and chasing and distributing 90% of farm output The latest move followed a government re- Genetic Engineering Center have planted has been moved from the agriculture ministry shuffle that replaced eight ministers and sev- three hectares of the crop in Yaguajay, in to the domestic trade ministry, the sources eral top officials and brought armed forces Sancti Spíritus privince, hoping to develop told Reuters correspondent Marc Frank. generals, former officers and middle-aged seeds to boost output for human and animal Their comments confirmed a brief report Communist Party officials into the cabinet. consumption once they get a green light in on state-run TV saying the transfer was under- Acopio is the name of the huge state-run terms of health, said the newspaper. way and that “agriculture will be left with what purchasing and distribution system that has Raul Armas of the center said the crops has to do with production.” come under fire for being grossly inefficient. need watering but little other care if herbi- The report said the number of state pro- There have been numerous reports in the cides are used. The fall armyworm (Spodop- duce markets in Cuba would be almost dou- local media this year of how part of a bumper tera frugiperda) is the biggest threat to corn bled from 156 to 300. So far, government offi- tomato harvest rotted in the fields for lack of growing in Cuba and other tropical countries. cials have not spoken publicly of the moves, containers and transport to cart it away. nor have official decrees been published. “Acopio functions as an intermediary be- SUGAR INDUSTRY BUYS BRAZILIAN COMBINES But farmers are praising the steps because tween farmers and consumers and has no bu- Looking for ways to make the sugar indus- they say they will allow agricultural officials to siness being part of the agriculture ministry,” try more efficient, Cuba has dumped the KTP concentrate on getting more food produced farm cooperative member Diego Cosme said — a combine produced in Holguín using ob- while leaving distribution to another ministry. in a phone interview from Holgúin. solete Soviet designs — in favor of Brazilian- “It is a good measure linked to others they Cuba imports 60% of the food it consumes, made Case harvesters. are taking. Agriculture should not be diverted spending nearly $2 billion last year. The island The new machines are lighter, more man- from producing by other tasks,” farmer Alfre- has about 250,000 family farms and 1,100 pri- euverable and more efficient; they consume do Rodríguez said in a phone interview from vate cooperatives, which together produce half the fuel, using 0.9 liters/ton of chopped the central province of Camaguey. 70% of Cuba’s food on less than one-third of sugarcane compared to 2 l/ton for the KTP. Raúl Castro has made increasing food pro- the cultivated land. The remainding land is In addition, the Brazilian combines require duction a priority since taking over the presi- owned by the state, and half of that lies fallow. fewer repairs and personnel to operate. They dency just over a year ago. Some 90% of the food is purchased by the drastically reduce the ratio of cane losses in Since then, he’s moved to decentralize con- state and shipped to institutions ranging from the fields and are capable of adjusting blades hospitals and schools to work place lunch- trol of agriculture, once centered in Havana, to the height of sugarcane stalks, delivering and to boost farm supplies. He has begun the rooms, and also sold at state markets, with the rest sold by farmers on the open market. ❑ an optimum cut. Operators work in a comfort- massive leasing of fallow state lands to those able air-conditioned cabin — a novelty for Cuban sugar workers — and that added comfort alone could boost productivity. The old KTP seems to be partially responsi- Central Bank to limit cash transactions ble for much of the damage caused to planta- uba’s central bank said it’ll limit cash These problems followed a disastrous tions, ultimately leading to the sugar indus- withdrawals and deposits in Cuban 2008, when damage from three hurricanes try’s collapse. Extremely heavy, the 42-ton Cbank accounts held by foreign firms caused Cuba’s trade deficit to widen and monsters compacted the soils while in opera- and joint ventures, reported Reuters. the global financial crisis dried up credit. tion, forcing an often deep plowing or replanti- No immediate explanation was given for Effective May 7, Banco Metropolitano ng to keep them loose and productive. the central bank move, which was set out said “cash deposits and withdrawals will CITRUS HARVEST TO EXCEED 200,000 TONS in a late April letter sent to customers by not be accepted in the current accounts of Banco Metropolitano, one of the state-con- foreign entities domiciled or not in Cuba, of Cuba exported over 14,000 tons of citrus trolled banks in Cuba that handles corpo- joint ventures or other forms of interna- juices through the port of Matanzas this year, rate accounts. tional economic association. mainly to Holland, said Radio Rebelde. Accountholders were told that as of May It also sent foreign companies a form to This port, in just its fourth shipment in 2009, 7, cash transactions by foreign companies request authorization to carry out future was able to upload 4,200 tons of the produce and associations will be restricted to with- cash withdrawals and deposits, asking in 45 hours of continuous work. drawals to pay salary supplements to Cu- them to detail the amount of the planned This fast upload was made possible thanks ban employees. Special authorization from monthly transactions and the purpose. to a modern cold-storage facility belonging to bank officials would be required for all oth- Based on government figures, Cuba’s Empresa Citricola Victoria de Girón, a joint er future cash deposits and withdrawals. venture in Jagüey Grande municipality that In Miami, the daily newspaper El Nuevo trade deficit was estimated to have totaled $11.8 billion last year, up from $6.9 billion sells juice under the Cubanita label. Herald said the limits on cash withdrawals Projections show the current citrus harvest and deposits were an attempt to clamp in 2007. Foreign businessmen have reported some payments problems and delays on in Matanzas province surpassing 200,000 tons, down on illegal financial activities such as according to the report. the Cuban side, reflecting the effects of the money laundering. Victoria de Girón extracts juices and essen- But a local economist, who asked not to liquidity squeeze. tial oils at the rate of one ton of final product be named because of the sensitivity of the The central bank directive cited by the from every 19 tons processed. The factory, a subject, said the moves were a “response to Banco Metropolitano circular did not refer ❑ 50-50 between the Cuban government and liquidity problems in the economy.” to individual accounts held by foreigners. Israel’s Grupo BM, has about 15,000 hectares of citrus under cultivation, said Radio Rebelde. 18 CubaNews ❖ May 2009 CIVIL SOCIETY UNDP chief Susan McDade on ‘the challenges of Cuba’ BY PATRICIA GROGG / INTER PRESS SERVICE poverty. If you take an indicator based solely usan McDade, resident coordinator of on income, well, farm- the United Nations Development Pro- ers who lost their crops Sgram in Cuba since February 2006, is the definitely saw their first woman ever to hold that job. incomes shrink. “As an international organization, the UN But the UNDP has has been promoting greater gender balance at argued for years that all levels, but actually there are fewer women poverty cannot only be in high-up posts,” McDade told Inter Press measured on the basis Service in a recent interview in Havana. “Latin of incomes because it’s America was one of the regions with the big- much more complex gest imbalances in that sense, although the than that, and has to do situation has started to change.” with opportunities for Here are excerpts from the IPS interview: access to education and Q: How have things gone for you in these public health services, three years working in a country with a among other things. machista reputation? There is no evidence A: Personally, I think I was very fortunate to that the hurricanes be posted to a country where the rights of have reduced access to women are guaranteed in the constitution, but the health and educa- that does not mean there haven’t been times tion systems, nor that when I was sidelined because I’m a woman. children under 5 have Q: Could you give me an example? been affected in terms A: In negotiating or making tough decisions of weight, or that life — when a man does it, he’s seen as a strong Susan McDade, UN Development Program’s resident coordinator in Havana. expectancy has gone negotiator, but when a woman does it she is Q: Does the UN system have any project relat- down. The hurricanes seen as difficult or as a witch. ed to gender violence? had a tremendous impact, but structurally did The challenge in Cuba is not being a A: That’s an area we are working on with not modify Cuba’s long-term living standards. woman, but being younger than the people the authorities, but we haven’t sought great Q: How would you evaluate the impact of this who answer to you. That also happened to me visibility for it. The important thing is to know kind of disaster on women? in China, where I held a senior position. that Cuba is neither more nor less vulnerable A: At a regional level, we know that normal- Besides, I have young children, and it has on that issue than the rest of the countries of ly female-headed households with minor chil- been hard for me to achieve the right balance Latin America. It’s a phenomenon that exists dren are more vulnerable to the impact of between family commitments and my work in the Caribbean and Central America, and these disasters. It also takes them much long- life. But that happens in any country. which is very difficult to tackle, regardless of er to rebuild their homes because there is no Q: What challenges and obstacles does the where you are. In the case of Cuba, there is no adult male member of the family to contribute third Millennium Development Goal (MDG), domestic abuse hotline, or shelters for people his labor power. Also, in the shelters to which referring to gender equality and the empower- who are beaten. women and children are evacuated, cases of ment of women, face in Cuba? violence against them are frequent. Q: Has the serious damage caused by the A: Women’s participation in the formal sec- Q: And in the specific case of Cuba? tor is very high. There are even university three major hurricanes that hit Cuba last year A: Unlike other countries, thanks to the sys- departments where women students far out- had an impact on progress towards the MDGs? tem of disaster prevention and preparedness number men. But, like in other countries, that A: One of the Millennium Development in Cuba, there were no cases of women giving is not the case in management positions or Goals is ensuring environmental sustainabili- birth in precarious conditions, because preg- high-level posts, where women are under-rep- ty, and Cuba is still working on that. The hur- nant women are evacuated early to health cen- resented. ricanes caused damages in forests and in the ters. There was human suffering, but we have In the area of politics, the proportion of management of river basins. no evidence that women are more vulnerable women in Cuba’s National Assembly is among With regard to the first MDG (eradicating than men in terms of risks to their lives. the highest in the world. However, there is no extreme poverty and hunger), we have no evi- What we do know is that women can be balance or equality in unremunerated activi- dence that hunger has increased, although more vulnerable to sexually transmitted dis- ties. Women form part of the labor force and the agricultural system had difficulties that it eases in the post-hurricane phase, because they also have to take responsibility for the is still facing to some extent. they are out of their element, and access to house and the kids. Men don’t participate in The distribution of land for farmers to work, condoms is more difficult, and conditions of these tasks to an equal extent. the opening of stores selling tools and other hygiene are more precarious. Q: So what’s the challenge for Cuban women? farm supplies, and the discussion of the possi- In the evacuation shelters, there are some- A: One is the lack of adequate availability of bility of making credit available to farmers times shortages of things that menstruating services that enable them to completely insert open up important possibilities for bolstering or nursing women need. These are pending themselves into the workplace. And a growing food security. challenges here and everywhere, and we are phenomenon in this country is that women It is still early to know what the results will working with the authorities to ensure better not only have to raise the kids, but they have be, but I believe these are areas where the conditions in that area. ❑ to care for the elderly at home. impact of the hurricanes made it necessary to Details: Susan McDade, Resident Coordina- There aren’t enough child care centers, and face up to challenges that already existed. tor, PNUD-Cuba, Calle 18, #110 e/1ra y 3ra, there aren’t enough nursing homes offering a Q: Did the disasters push many Cuban fami- Miramar, Ciudad de La Habana. Tel: +53 7 healthy, appropriate alternative for older ad- lies into poverty? 204-1492, Fax: +53 7 204-1516. Email: su- ults. That is a big challenge faced by women. A: The problem here is how to measure [email protected]. URL: www.undp.org.cu. May 2009 ❖ CubaNews 19 POLITICAL ANALYSIS Survey: Americans remain deeply divided on embargo BY DIANA MARRERO to be shifting, some say. A University of as simply the start of what could be a lengthi- ost Americans think the United States Miami exit poll last year showed Obama won er debate on Cuba policy, Pastor said. should lift its travel ban on Cuba and about 36% of the Cuban-American vote — “What I heard from Obama was an invita- Mre-establish diplomatic ties with the despite his pledge to go beyond a pro-embar- tion to debate,” he told CubaNews, adding that island. But the American public is much more go policy toward Cuba that has been the hall- “now is the time” for embargo foes to lobby divided about ending the embargo altogether. mark of previous presidencies. for more changes, using public-opinion data Those views were reflected in a poll re- “What President Obama did the other day to bolster their arguments. leased Apr. 15, which some say provides fur- was play to what’s new in Miami, to the peo- The survey results by World Public Opin- ther evidence of the gulf that has long existed ple who want to help their families in Cuba ion are similar to other recent polls on Cuba. and engage,” said Phil Peters, a Cuba expert A CNN poll found that 64% of Americans between public opinion and U.S. policy thought the travel ban should be lifted, and toward Cuba. at the Lexington Institute. But Peters also warned that letting Cuban- that 71% thought the United States should The poll by World Public Opinion found seek to foster diplomatic ties with Cuba. that 70% of Americans favor abolishing the Americans travel freely without allowing all Americans to visit Cuba would amount to a The World Public Opinion poll, with a 3.7% travel ban, while 28% oppose it. About 69% margin of error, follow a national survey con- said the country should re-establish diplomat- double standard that could be politically difficult to maintain. “It makes our travel policy ducted Mar. 25-Apr. 6 among 765 Americans. ic relations with Cuba, with 28% opposed. The poll also found that 75% said it would Americans were about evenly split on the unsustainable over time,” he said. Already, some Cuba watchers are unhappy be a good idea for U.S. officials to be ready to embargo, with 49% saying Washington should meet with Cuban leaders, 52% thought U.S. end it, and 48% saying the embargo must with Obama’s steps. “We had expected much more,” said Wayne policy toward Cuba has neither weakened or remain in place. Smith, who served as chief of the U.S. strengthened the Castro government, and It’s no surprise, experts say, that President Interests Section in Cuba under the Carter that 59% thought it’s time to try a new Obama opted to revisit one aspect of U.S. and Reagan administration. “It’s not enough.” approach to Cuba because the country may Cuba policy that was sure to generate little Obama’s actions, however, could be viewed be ready for a change. ❑ controversy: ending the travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans who wish to visit their relatives on the island. About 79% approved of that decision, according to the recent poll. Actor Jorge Perugorría opens N.Y. art exhibit “He chose to pick areas that already have a BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA vast majority of support,” said Robert Pastor, group exhibitions and had several one-man professor of international affairs at American s the Havana Biennial art event went shows, in Spain, Italy and India. In 2005, his University in Washington. into full swing in April, a key figure in exhibition “Labyrinth” was shown at the At the same time, public opinion polls sug- A Cuba’s film industry held a reception Galleria del Palazzo in Florence. gest Obama would have enough backing to in New York to promote his own paintings. “In reality, I have been painting long be- take even further steps to re-establish the Jorge Perugorría has starred in a string fore I ever thought of acting,” said Perugor- country’s ties to Cuba, he said. of Cuban-made films over the years, includ- ría while preparing for his exhibit, accom- “Given the numbers, why are we where we ing the Oscar-nominated hit “Fresa y Choco- panied by fellow Cuban actor Francisco Gat- are today?” Pastor mused, noting that polls as late” and “Guatanamera” as well as the torno, who was also in “Fresa y Chocolate.” far back as the mid-70s showed a majority of Stephen Soderbergh/Benicio del Toro film Perugorría, 43, says he has a studio in the Americans were ready to renew with Cuba “Che,” which covered the life of the revolu- outskirts of Havana to pursue his other even then. “Why are we stuck? The critical tionary Ernesto Che Guevara. artistic craft, and that some of his work has question is where do we go from here?” Perugorrí, known as “Pichi” to his friends already been shown at the Havana Biennial. Obama’s announcement came on the eve of and regarded by locals as the George Cloo- Both local and international artistic influ- his April visit to Trinidad to meet with Latin ney of Cuba, was already in New York to ences are evident in Perugorría’s oil-on-can- American leaders at the fifth Summit of the promote his new film “El Cuerno de la Abun- vas paintings. Americas, where Cuba was a major topic of dancia” (Horn of Plenty) at the Havana Film Perugorría, noting the positive direction concern. Obama says his administration will Festival New York. His art exhibit at the U.S.-Cuban relations seem to be taking consider further steps to normalize relations Center for Cuban Studies runs until May 23. under President Obama, says the gradual with Cuba — but that Cuba must do its part Perugorría kicked off his exhibit on cultural opening between the two countries before he would take any action beyond his opening night at CCS, and used his Holly- is positive for everyone involved in the arts. recent announcements. wood leading-man looks and charisma to “Havana is a city with a very strong cine- Obama’s approach appears to be in line work up commercial interest in his paint- matic tradition and many film professionals, with a majority of Cuban-Americans, who now ings, attended by a mix of Cuba-watchers, and I believe that [Hollywood] films can be say they even favor lifting the embargo, art enthusiasts and others curious about made there in the future,” he said. according to a poll released late last year by Cuban culture. “Many American film directors have Florida International University’s Institute for Among that evening’s attendees was dreamt of shooting a film in Cuba. Until Public Opinion Research. Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro, who played now, none of them have been able to do so,” “The community is changing even though Raúl Castro in the “Che” film. he commented. “When a filmmaker dealt the intransigents have a bigger voice,” said Despite some who think say Perugorría with the subject of Cuba in a film, they had Uva de Aragon, who leads Florida Internatio- has started painting only recently in order to shoot ‘Cuba’ in the Dominican Republic, nal University’s Cuban Research Institute. to take advantage of rising international Puerto Rico or Mexico.” Political experts have long argued that U.S. interest in Cuban art, the actor told Details: Sandra Levinson, Director, Center presidential candidates have adhered to a CubaNews during a brief interview that he’s for Cuban Studies, 231 West 29th Street, 4th hardline stance on Cuba in order to court the always been an artist. Floor, New York, NY 10001-5209. Tel: (212) politically powerful voting bloc in the swing Since 2001, he has participated in many 242-0559. URL: www.cubanartspace.net. state of Florida. But that calculus also appears 20 CubaNews ❖ May 2009

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