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20 Years After Communism's Collapse, Romanians Urge Cubans

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20 Years After Communism's Collapse, Romanians Urge Cubans Vol. 17, No. 10 November 2009 www.cubanews.com In the News U.S. traders pursue deals with Alimport, undeterred by Cuba’s dire cash crunch PAC money talks Pro-embargo group’s donations influence BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA (80% of which was food) fell by 36% in the first nine months of 2009 compared with the year- the Cuba debate .............................Page 3 uba will buy less food from the United States this year than in 2008 — marking ago period — and he admitted that the govern- Cthe first-ever drop in such purchases since ment has difficulties paying its suppliers. Cable to nowhere? passage of the U.S. Trade Sanctions Reform and “The Cuban economy is characterized by ob- Details sketchy on TeleCuba’s planned Export Enhancement Act in 2000. stacles to getting international financing, the “This will be the first year [imports] will de- reduction of demand and of prices for our main $18 million fiberoptic cable ..........Page 4 cline both in volume and in value, and if current export products — and the increase of priority conditions continue, it will be very difficult to imports like food, with the obvious decline in Phasing in changes keep increasing the volume of business,” Igor purchasing power,” Malmierca told reporters. The regime is seriously contemplating a Communist Party introduces leadership Montero, the newly appointed president of state purchasing entity Alimport told delegates at the future without the ration book system, leaving changes at provincial level ...........Page 6 27th International Trade Fair in Havana. ordinary Cubans who don’t have access to cash Cuba’s severe economic slump has forced increasingly wondering where their next meal U.S. condemns attack authorities to lower their 2009 GDP growth fore- will be coming from. cast from 6% to 1.7% and to make drastic cuts in Despite this dire scenario, U.S. exporters like White House ‘strongly deplores’ Havana imports, which were outpacing exports by a 5:1 Richard Waltzer aren’t giving up just yet. beating of 3 bloggers ....................Page 7 ratio at the beginning of 2009. Waltzer, president of Splash Tropical Drinks, Montero appeared along with Cuban Trade has sold frozen beverage mixes to Alimport for Varadero airport Minister Rodrigo Malmierca at FIHAV, which several years. He says it’s business as usual for was attended by 35 U.S. companies this year his Fort Lauderdale-based company. Juan Gualberto Gómez Int’l Aiport serves (down from 61 in 2008). Malmierca said imports See Alimport, page 2 Cuba’s top tourist hub .................Page 10 Business briefs 20 years after communism’s collapse, Regime blocks access to Revolico website; Iran grants Cuba credit line .......Page 12 Romanians urge Cubans: ‘Don’t give up’ BY LARRY LUXNER ple. The only dissident remaining decided to go Exiles by the numbers uman-rights activist Mircea Toma will speak to the journalists,” he said. “It took five Pew Hispanic Center issues new data on never forget his first and only trip to com- seconds for the police to react. Two guys threw clothes on the TV camera, two others beat the Cuban-American community.......Page 13 Hmunist Cuba. Toma, part of an eight-member Eastern Euro- guy, then pushed the journalists into a side pean delegation that also included representa- street so nobody could see anything.” Bookshelf tives from Poland, Hungary and the Czech The event gave Toma a rare insight into the Veteran Cuba-watcher Ann Louise Bardach Republic, visited the island 10 years ago, in a limits of political freedom in Cuba — the one trip secretly arranged by a Washington-based few tourists see. ponders life ‘Without Fidel’ ........Page 13 democracy foundation. Toma, president of Active Watch, was one of The visit happened to coincide with the high- many prominent Romanians interviewed during Dancing in Havana ly publiclized 9th Ibero-American Summit in a visit last month by CubaNews to this Eastern European nation of 21 million. For authenticity, avoid ‘shows’ and instead Havana, and a small group of dissidents was try- ing to “generate some visibility,” as he put it. On Nov. 22, voters here will decide whether visit old city’s Calle Obispo ........Page 15 “We were close to one of these groups. They to replace incumbent President Traian Basescu, were trying to organize a rally but this wasn’t backed by the Democratic Liberal Party, with CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly possible since most of them had been arrested one of four challengers of various other parties. by Luxner News Inc. © 2009. All rights reserved. that same morning,” Toma told CubaNews. Such an election would’ve been unthinkable Subscriptions: $429 for one year, $800 for two years. “What happened next was, a column of work- 20 years ago, when Romania was still ruled by For editorial inquires, please call (301) 452-1105 Nicolae Ceausescu, one of the worst dictators of or send an e-mail to: [email protected]. ers appeared in the street singing. It was a very nice demonstration organized by Castro’s peo- See Romania, page 8 2 CubaNews ❖ November 2009 months to close deals with the Cubans, some, ruled out selling to Cuba in the future, hinting Alimport — FROM PAGE 1 like Fort Lauderdale businessman Mohamed that “we’re waiting until the dust settles.” “I don’t see it as an issue. I’ve been getting Bouras of Bouras Global Trading, have taken Meanwhile, Cynthia Thomas of the Texas- paid, and I’ve personally seen an increase in a wait-and-see attitude. Cuba Trade Alliance told us the island’s busi- sales of grocery items [at supermarkets],” ness climate currently favors those who said Waltzer, who was working the FIHAV already have relationships with Alimport. trade show floor, representing various brand- “Since July 2009. when Cuba discovered ed supermarket-ready food items that his sis- significant holes in its financial budget and its ter operation, Procurement Systems Inc., cur- decision to change what business travelers rently sells to Cuba’s hard-currency shops. must do to obtain a visa, the business climate These range from Haagen-Dazs ice-cream has gotten negative,” Thomas said in an email and Miller beer to Hunt’s ketchup and Chef to CubaNews. “From what I can tell, the out- Boyardee canned food items. look for 2010 is not anticipated to improve.” Waltzer told CubaNews the liberalized rules Montero said Alimport would spend $590 on Cuban-American travel to the island have million on U.S. food imports this year once spurred demand for grocery-store items by banking, shipping and other transaction costs those visiting individuals as well as their rela- are included. That’s 32% less than the $870 tives. “They have more remittance dollars,” million in sales recorded in 2008. he said, referring to visiting Cuban exiles. Alimport’s numbers differ from U.S. statis- tics, which don’t include transaction costs. Re- FROM RAISINS TO RUM CAKES gardless, U.S. food exports to Cuba jumped by 61% in 2007 (see chart at left). Along with current U.S. suppliers like “The spike came as Cuba stockpiled food in Waltzer, other American competitors — those the face of rising commodity prices, a strategy who participated in FIHAV and those who that backfired when three hurricanes hit the didn’t — are trying to get into Cuba as well. island,damaging many of the warehouses Frank H. Walker III of Walker Ltd., a food where perishable items were stored,” said AP. manufacturer’s rep in McKinney, Tex, said Some 51% of food imports come from the he hasn’t shipped anything to Cuba yet, but United States, said Malmierca, though Cuba’s told us by phone that he’s “done all the paper- top trading partner remains Venezuela, fol- work needed” to export a variety of upscale lowed by China, Russia, Spain and Brazil. food products into Cuba, including New York- Participating in FIHAV ‘09 were 3,901 ex- style cheesecakes, key lime pies and rum- hibitors and representatives of 1,270 firms of infused bundt cakes. 54 countries, five more than in 2008. The U.S. These will presumably end up in the dining contingent included over 200 traders from 35 rooms of Cuba’s finer hotels and resorts, as companies, as well as state agriculture offi- well as in Cuban supermarkets by early 2010. cials from Georgia, Maryland and Virginia. Walker insists that even with the leader- Bouras, who at one time represented ship shuffle at Alimport — long-time presi- Indiana’s Marsh Supermarkets when it sold 2009 U.S. EXPORTS TO CUBA DOWN 21% dent Pedro Alvarez was replaced by Montero its own line of retail-packaged food items to According to USDA statistics, U.S. agricul- a few months ago — “we have been working Cuba, now exports such items to the Middle tural exports to Cuba in the first nine months hard with Alimport’s staff” to close trade East and Africa. of 2009 came to $407.4 million — a 21.3% drop deals with the Cubans. “Dubai is warp speed compared to Cuba,” from the $517.8 million recorded in the year- Of course, not all U.S. food traders have he said, chuckling about the oil-rich emirate’s ago period. However, exports in August and designs on Cuba. Given that it often takes more favorable business climate. He hasn’t September 2009 were down by 31% compared to the same two months of 2008. “This drop does not capture the July state- Food-ration books edge closer to extinction ments by Cuban authorities that there was a significant mismatch between their revenues uba has cut two staple foods from the covenant of the revolution: that socialism and expenditures,” Thomas told CubaNews.
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