U.S. Business Interests Spar Over Latest Effort in Congress to Repeal Section 211 Fidel's Anti-EU Outburst Has Little Effect O
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Vol. 11, No. 7 July 2003 www.cubanews.com In the News Fidel’s anti-EU outburst has little effect Wood exports resume on European trade, investment in Cuba Florida firm makes first U.S. lumber ship- BY LARRY LUXNER Premier Silvio Berlusconi to hated fascist dicta- tor Benito Mussolini. ment to Cuba since 1958 ..............Page 3 idel Castro’s hatred of the Bush adminis- tration is well-known, but last month’s out- Two days later, the Cuban government took F burst against the 15-member European control of Spain’s cultural center in Old Havana, U.K. growth fund Union took many Cuba-watchers by surprise. gave its personnel 90 days to vacate the elegant Ceiba Finance Ltd. invests in a variety of It all started Jun. 5, when the EU announced mansion and erected a huge “Anti-Fascist” bill- board at the main entrance. Cuban joint ventures .....................Page 4 it would review its once-friendly relations with Cuba following the sentencing of 75 dissidents Despite Castro’s irrational actions, however, to long prison terms and the firing-squad execu- there’s little evidence the transatlantic war of Half a century later tions of three men who hijacked a ferry. words has scared away European investment Jul. 26 marks 50th anniversary of launch The European Union also slashed high-level from Cuba, or kept a single Spaniard, Italian, German or Belgian from going ahead with that of Fidel Castro’s uprising .............Page 6 bilateral visits and participation in Cuban cultur- al events, and — in a real slap in the face to long-planned, three-week vacation to Varadero. Castro — offered to invite Cuban dissidents to “I don’t think there’ll be economic consequen- Yachtsman’s paradise embassy celebrations of all EU national days. ces, because the EU has issued no economic Boating could boost Cuba’s tourist sector In response, Fidel and his brother Raúl led sanctions,” said Pierre Sella, economic attaché hundreds of thousands of demonstrators past at the French Embassy in Havana. “So we don’t once U.S. travel ban is lifted ........Page 7 the Spanish and Italian embassies in separate, think anything will change for now.” well-choreographed acts of outrage. On national Added John Kavulich, president of the New Newsmakers TV, Fidel called Spanish Prime Minister José York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic CubaNews interviews human-rights acti- Maria Aznar “a little Führer” and likened Italian See EU, page 2 vist Elizardo Sánchez, the dean of Cuba’s dissident movement ......................Page 8 U.S. business interests spar over latest Down but not defeated effort in Congress to repeal Section 211 Despite recent crackdown, dissent is far from dead in Cuba .........................Page 9 BY ANA RADELAT The bill would repeal Section 211, which pro- everal members of the House of Represen- hibits U.S. courts from protecting the rights of Havana Nagila tatives are fighting to repeal a law that pro- expropriated Cuban trademarks. It would also direct the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to Cuba’s 1,300-member Jewish community S hibits a Cuban-French joint venture from protecting the Havana Club trade name in the establish a registry of U.S. trademarks in Cuba enjoys a resurgence of faith .......Page 10 United States. that were well-known at the time Castro came to The arcane law, known as Section 211, was power in 1959. Business briefs slipped into a massive 1998 spending bill at the In addition, the bill would require the U.S. behest of the Bacardi rum empire, which is bat- Treasury Department to establish a new gener- OFAC denies license for 2004 food show; tling to wrest control of the Havana Club name al license category to allow the transfer of U.S. one millionth tourist arrives .......Page 12 from Havana Club Holdings (HCH), a 50-50 ven- trademarks and trade names to Cuban entities. ture between the Castro government and Bill Reinsch, president of the National Provinces: Sancti Spíritus France’s Pernod Ricard. Foreign Trade Council, said the legislation is On Jun. 17, the U.S.-Cuba Trademark Protec- needed to protect more than 4,000 U.S. trade- Colonial charm, lonely sugar mills char- tion Act was introduced by Reps. Charles Rangel marks in Cuba, which he says are vulnerable to acterize rural province.................Page 14 (D-NY); Jeff Flake (R-AZ); William Delahunt (D- the “special-interest U.S. law” that breaches U.S. MA); Amo Houghton (R-NY), Earl Pomeroy (D- treaty commitments to Cuba. CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly ND) and Robert Matsui (D-CA). “That law gives Castro the option of choosing by Luxner News Inc. © 2003. All rights reserved. While the legislation may soon have a Senate not to honor the international treaties protecting Subscriptions: $429/year. For subscription or edito- sponsor — Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) is said to U.S. trademarks in Cuba,” said Reinsch, whose rial inquiries, call toll-free (800) 365-1997, send a fax association speaks for 350 member companies. to (301) 365-1829 or e-mail us at [email protected]. be interested — it faces an uphill battle and is likely to be blocked by House GOP leaders. See Section 211, page 6 2 CubaNews ❖ July 2003 EU — FROM PAGE 1 France’s Accor Group. “The average French- “If business was so bad and they were so Council: “It’s too early to tell if the stated com- man doesn’t even know what’s going on in nervous, they would never sign contracts or mon EU position will survive individual EU Cuba. They think most of the tourists in invest money in Cuba,” said Peyre. member country interests. Traditionally, the Cuba are Americans. Maybe only 2% of the But that’s exactly what Dennis Hays, execu- EU has made pronouncements relating to population of Europe is even aware of the tive vice-president of the Cuban American Cuba which have generally not been imple- political situation.” National Foundation, wants to see happen. mented by individual countries.” Peyre, who worked for Spain’s Sol Meliá Hays, a former Cuba desk officer at the In mid-February, the European Union inau- hotel conglomerate before joining Accor, told State Department, has been quietly visiting gurated its embassy-like office along Quinta CubaNews that as long as the island remains the Washington embassies of European coun- Avenida in Havana’s Miramar district — amid competitive on price, it will continue to at- tries in recent months, trying to get diplomats signs of an official EU softening and the like- tract tourists, regardless of political tensions. to toughen their attitudes towards Castro. lihood that Cuba would be welcomed into the “Companies like Cotonou Agreement, a preferential trade Accor and Meliá look accord that benefits 78 former European colo- only at the bottom nies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. line, and as long as Then came the dissident crackdown, the the bottom line looks LARRY LUXNER jail sentences and finally the executions — good, there is no and Castro’s short-lived honeymoon with the problem,” Peyre said, EU came to a screeching halt. noting that Meliá now “Cotonou is now completely out the win- manages 9,000 rooms dow,” said Philip Peters, vice-president of the in 21 hotels across Lexington Institute, a Washington think tank. the island, making it “It would not have opened a spigot of hun- dreds of millions of dollars in aid, but it could by far Cuba’s top for- have meant some increased aid and trade eign hotel operator. preferences for Cuba.” Two other Spanish The director of the EU office in Havana, companies, Occiden- Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, was on vacation tal and Pinero, are and couldn’t be reached for comment, though also making modest a European ambassador who asked not to be investments in Cuba. identified said “we have not had any concrete A few months ago, The European Union’s newly opened office in Havana’s Miramar district. signals of a major economic impact so far.” Occidental took over On the contrary, European tourism to Cuba management of the 472-room Novotel Mira- “What I find is a receptivity to even talk appears to be doing quite well. mar, while Pinero now manages the former about the subject which wasn’t there a year “Politics is one thing, tourism is another,” Club Med in Varadero and has invested at ago,” Hays told CubaNews. “I find great frus- explained Eric Peyre, Cuba sales manager for least $2 million to upgrade the property. tration. Having their money taken away to pay for American agricultural imports was a bitter pill to swallow for guys who bent over back- ECONOMIC STAGNATION SPARKS LEADERSHIP CHANGES wards for Cuba and then got slapped in the face. Castro’s actions are clearly the actions of steban Lazo Hernández, head of the removal of Millares appears to be connected a guy who doesn’t give a damn.” Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) in with a recent rise in consumer prices that is Hays, whose Miami-based CANF is still the EHavana and one of Cuba’s most visible very much resented by the population. largest Cuban exile group in the U.S. despite black leaders, has been named chief of the In addition, Carlos Manuel Pazo Torrado, recent internal strife, says “I don’t want this to PCC’s ideology department as well as its a 40-year-old engineer, will replace Alvaro be a U.S.-Cuba issue. It should be a Cuba vs. department of science, culture and sports.