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ISSN 1073-7715 www.cubanews.com Volume 6 Number 4 THE MIAMI HERALD PUBLISHING COMPANY April 1998 Editor’s Note MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS Clinton Policy Changes Oil Spill, Close Call When the U.S. Department of Defense transferred military responsibility for the The Clinton Administration eased U.S. pol- The collision of two small oil tankers in Caribbean from the Atlantic Command at icy toward Cuba by allowing the resumption Matanzas Bay resulted in a 6,700-barrel oil Norfolk, Va., to the Southern Command, of chartered flights and cash remittances spill that required a small army of workers and then moved SouthCom’s headquar- from the United States. More important, to clean up. Fortunately, the damage did not ters from Panama to Miami, many won- perhaps, Administration officials signaled a extend to nearby Varadero Beach. See Environment, Page 2 dered if SouthCom would be able to willingness to work with legislators to craft a maintain its independence so near to the bill that might loosen the embargo. See Washington Report, Page 2 Fishing Comeback vortex of anti-Castro politics. The moribund fishing industry is making We now have the answer and the Japanese Debt Deal answer is that moving to Miami has not a comeback after suffering a precipitous affected the military’s view of Cuba. That Perhaps even more important than the decline. The government says the export of is important news for those who wonder policy change, Cuba scored a breakthrough seafood has become one of the principal about influences on the debate over U.S. of sorts by renegotiating its $769 million sources of export earnings. policy toward economic development. debt with private Japanese firms. Cuba has See Fisheries, Page 8 Atlantic Command had for several been trying to engineer a deal of this sort years stressed that Cuba’s greatest threat for years, hoping it can pave the way for Tourism Keeps Rising to the United States would come if there entry into Western credit markets. The number of tourists arriving in Cuba in were no improvement in the economy. See Finance, Page 6 1997 rose to 1,170,000, an increase of 16.5 The corollary was that the embargo Dialing for Dollars percent. Vice President Carlos Lage called worked against U.S. interest in a peaceful tourism “the heart of the economy.” Cuba’s accumulated take from the reopen- See Tourism, Page 9 transition, or so the military believed. ing of direct telephone lines to the United Now a new assessment from the States over the past few years will almost The Burden of Age Pentagon concludes that Cuba poses no certainly hit $200 million soon. The latest military threat to the U.S., has no chemi- figures show U.S. telephone companies—led In some recent years, Social Security pay- cal or biological weapons capability by AT&T—have given Cuba $173 million as ments have surpassed the total amount of beyond those of any nation with a phar- of the end of 1997. Cuba’s income from exports. The trend is maceutical industry, and has no ability to See Telecommunications, Page 7 improving, but it remains one of the most project armed force beyond its borders. worrisome financial problems for the gov- Those conclusions are completely con- ernment. sistent with what is known about the See Demographics, Pages 10 & 11 Cuban military after the Soviet collapse. Unfortunately, reaction to the report in INSIDE Washington was also unsurprising. The report’s release was delayed so its con- Washington Report Telecommunications clusions could be “reviewed” — The Policy Changes ........................2 U.S. Telephone Profits.................7 Washington Post suggested so that it Sanctions Lifted .......................5 Fisheries could be made more consistent with cur- Visa Denials............................5 Recovery Update.......................8 rent policy. Nevertheless, Marine Gen. Charles Wilhelm, SouthCom’s comman- GOP Staff Report.......................7 Tourism der, defended the report against tough Trade & Commerce 1997 Numbers .........................9 questioning before a congressional panel. Cigar Production.......................3 Demographics Madeleine Albright, in announcing last Australian Nickel Contract ...........4 Social Security Burden..............10 month that direct flights between the Chinese Investment ...................4 U.S. and Cuba would once again be per- Social Security Facts ................11 mitted, said that the Cuban people were Italian Wine Factory Opens...........4 Labor thinking “beyond Castro” and that it was Energy Jobs PIcture Improving..............11 time for the U.S. to do likewise. The Juragua Still Stalled ..................5 question, of course, is whether U.S. poli- Government cymakers will have the courage to do so. Finance Provincial Assemblies...............12 Japanese Debt Deal ...................6 —Mark Seibel Calendar Possible Argentine Deal ..............7 Upcoming Events.....................12 WASHINGTON REPORT Clinton Reverses Course, Loosens Cuba Policy MATANZAS OIL NODE Almost exactly two years after the harden- MATANZAS ing of U.S. policy toward Cuba caused by the YUMURI RIVER Cuban Air Force ambush of Brothers to the Rescue pilots, the Clinton administration has moved in the opposite direction. Some MATANZAS BAY restrictions have been lifted and more WIND DIRECTION actions along the same lines may be in the 3/27/98 VARADERO works. PROBABLE HAVANA (For excerpts from President Clinton’s CRASH SITE announcement, see For The Record, Page SAN JUAN RIVER CONTAMINATED AREA 12.) SHORELINE ENLARGED MATANZAS CAUSEWAY The President to take the following steps: (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) —Resume licensing direct humanitarian charter flights to Cuba. The purpose is “to make it easier for Cuban-Americans to visit loved ones on the island, and for humanitari- ENVIRONMENT an organizations to provide needed assis- tance more expeditiously and at lower cost.” Oil Spill In Matanzas —Establish new arrangements to allow Cuban families in the United States to send The deplorable maritime accident that occurred in late March in Matanzas Bay, will no cash remittances to their families in Cuba at doubt serve as a reminder surely to all Cubans of how important sources of wealth from the level of $300 per quarter, or $1,200 a the earth can place the environment in danger unless extreme care is taken. year. “This will enable Cuban-americans to It sounds hard to believe, but two small tankers, one of them carrying domestic crude provide direct support to relatives in Cuba, oil from the nearby well fields, crashed at noon on a bright, cloudless day in a wide, deep, while moving the current flow of remittances open and almost empty harbor. The immediate result was the spilling of roughly 6,700 back into legal orderly channels.” barrels (132,000 gallons) of crude that, pushed by mild north winds, drifted to die along —Streamline and expedite the issuance of 300 meters (985 feet) of the shore of Matanzas (115,000 inhabitants), washing up on a licenses for the sale of medicines and med- local beach known as Los Pinitos —which, fortunately, was already closed to the public ical supplies and equipment to Cuba. because of pollution from sewage and industrial wastes— and along part of the pic- The President said the changes would not turesque cliffs of the city sea front. alter basic U.S. policy toward Cuba, which Over the next hours, local authorities and the Army sent hundreds of conscripts and he said was “built on four main compo- construction workers with buckets, shovels and bulldozers to remove as much of the nents,” which he identified as: pressure for spilled oil as possible by hand, while a nearby torula yeast factory was ordered to produce democratic change; support for the Cuban immediately one hundred tons of a non-specified biological—bacteriological—substance people through humanitarian assistance and that could feed on and thus clean up the leftover oil. help in developing civil society; promoted of The oil fields of the area yield a dense, viscous, sticky and sulfur-rich product that is multilateral efforts to promoted democracy collected in the Matanzas Petroleum Node (see CUBANEWS, March 1994) and shipped and human rights; and cooperative arrange- aboard small coastal tankers to the main thermal electric power plants of the island and to ments to move migration “into safe, legal some other important industries. Because of the unusual heaviness of this oil, much of it and orderly channels.” sank in the shallow waters near the shore, complicating the recovery efforts. Perhaps more significant than the above The accident could have been worse, but the environmental damage was bad enough, changes is an apparent willingness to sup- even though the authorities labeled it insignificant. But what is really frightening is that port legislation in Congress that would cre- scarcely 23 northeast from the site of the accident—with no natural obstacles hampering ate significant exceptions to the economic the movement of floating objects—lies Varadero Beach, by far the most important tourist embargo, as outlined at a State Department hub on the island, a prized destination for one third of all Cuba’s foreign visitors. news conference held on March 20 by Sec. In the aftermath of the incident, authorities would do well to rethink the safety and con- of State Madeleine Albright and ranking U.S. tingency plans of the huge Matanzas Petroleum Node, particularly when the records diplomats. throughout Cuba make evident that there is a worrisome increase in transport accidents Albright said the administration was pre- due to the poor technical condition of the equipment and a lack of operational discipline pared to work with congressional leaders “to on the part of some workers and supervisors. develop bipartisan legislation to meet In such a sensitive area like this, an environmental accident could easily become an humanitarian food needs on the island.” She economic catastrophe that will not be salvaged by a few conscripts with buckets.

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