Vol. XI, No. 11 www.cubatradenews.com November 2009 CubaPetróleo makes move in Africa xpanding the business of CubaPetróleo to a new con- CABINDA tinent, the Cuban state oil company Nov. 3 bought a 5-percentE share in an onshore field in Angola from ROC Oil Dem. Rep. Co. Ltd., a small Australian company that until recently had of Congo The Cuban state oil been the operating partner in a consortium exploring the Cab- company acquired a inda Onshore South Block. 5-percent stake in a Although the Angolan engagement is small and a long shot, strategic exploratory it points to Cuban efforts of leveraging long-time political Cabinda Onshore block in Angola. partnerships to diversify its oil supply sources. currently Block South depends on Venezuela for half of the island’s energy needs. Map: CTIN Since the days of the struggle against Apartheid South Af- ANGOLA rica, Cuba has been a steadfast supporter of the government of Angola, Africa’s Also see fourth-largest oil producer. Angolan Zarubezhneft, state oil company Sonangol holds 20 Page 8 percent in the Cabinda Onshore South Block into which Cupet invested. Luanda “We included CubaPetróleo at the request of Sonangol,” a source close to ROC told Cuba Trade & Investment News. “There’s a strong relationship between Angola and Cuba, and I guess they want to help out each other.” The strategic enclave of Cabinda is separated from Angola by the Democratic Republic of Congo. While it generates half One Currency of Angola’s oil — mostly offshore — Cabinda has been an area of separatist unrest. Since reaching a peace agreement with a separatist resistance group in 2006, the Angolan gov- ernment has pushed onshore exploration there, while keeping up to 10,000 troops in the enclave.

Continued on next page INSIDE Taking the trade show pulse...... page 3 Solution for frozen accounts?...... page 5 Chinese firm bidding for refinery project...... page 8 Partners take plunge on fiberoptic cable...... page 9 But it’s not thephotos: Cuban Catherin peso. S. Mesa Pavón See(top), page 7Venevision (top left), By the Numbers: Natural disasters...... page 14 Reuters TV (background) ‘CubaPetróleo,’ from previous page ROC did not reveal how or how much CubaPetróleo is paying for the 5-percent stake. Cabinda Onshore South Block partners Cupet is buying the stake from a company that is facing challenges. ROC has been losing money for the past three Pluspetrol Angola Corporation (Operator) 45% years; trading of the company’s shares on Australia’s AIM Force Petroleum de Angola, S.A. 20% exchange was suspended as of the end of October. The com- Sonangol P&P 20% pany founder died unexpectedly last year. Lacula Oil Company Limited (ROC) 10% Seven months before a subsidiary of ROC, Lacula Oil Co. CubaPetróleo 5% Ltd., farmed out the 5-percent interest (6.25 percent paying interest) to Cupet, ROC sold 45 percent in the Cabinda On- Source: ROC shore South Block to Pluspetrol Angola Corp. After the two deals, ROC retains only 10 percent interest (12.5 percent paying interest) in the block; Pluspetrol is now the operating venture — with Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA to ex- partner. plore for and certify tar oil reserves in the Orinoco Basin. The Under the leadership of Pluspetrol, an Argentina-based block assigned to Cuba is on the margins of the oil zone. company which does the bulk of its business in Latin Amer- Cuba has increased other economic activities in Angola ica, the consortium plans to test the Coco-1 discovery and over the past three years as well. Among others, Cuba is help- drill the Castanha-1 exploration well this year. ROC has spent ing restore the Quibaxe-Bula Atumba road just north of the $445,000 on exploration in the Cabinda block this year. Of capital Luanda and set up manufacturing joint ventures near seven exploration wells in 2008, five came up dry, and two Luanda. contained non-commercial quantities of oil. Cuba is also increasing economic ties with Algeria, another This is not the first CubaPetróleo engagement abroad. In long-time political ally and major oil producer in Africa. Al- 2007, Cupet signed an agreement — under its participation geria has become the biggest supplier of jet fuel to Cuba over in Petroalba, a Venezuelan-Bolivian-Nicaraguan-Cuban joint the past few years.

Note from the Publisher

Cuba, like all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, faces challenges ranging from falling exports, tourism and Cuba Trade & Investment News is a monthly publica- remittances to tighter credit markets. The country is adjusting tion of Trade & Investment Publications LLC (TIPs), Tampa, FL, USA. CTIN is distributed to subscribers via to the economic collapse by doing more with less — witness mail or e-mail. the rigorous energy savings campaign, social program cuts, and the 32-percent drop in purchases of U.S. food this year. Publisher Andrew Goddard However, while the embargoed country cannot borrow and P.O. Box 13752 trade its way out of the crisis to the degree its neighbors Tampa, FL 33681-3752 USA do, Cuba’s choices of economic interaction with the outside Tel: 813 839 6988 world are much broader than just a decade ago. A glimpse Fax: 813 831 3811 at this issue confirms this: For one, a regional trade bloc [email protected] now grants Cuba access to a common currency and global www.cubatradenews.com Editor Johannes Werner Internet connectivity. Then, there’s the return of Russian oil, Tel: 941 330 0303 and a venture into Angolan oil. Finally, one of ’s largest [email protected] privately owned companies is beginning to turn Cuba into a regional export platform. Editorial Advisors No matter whether these interactions are between large state Chris Aberle, FCStone, Des Moines entities, Cuba needs the help of private-sector players to make Kirby Jones, US-Cuba Trade Assn., Wash. DC these relations successful. And that’s where you come in. David Lyons, Daily Bus. Review, There’s light on the horizon for U.S. players, too. Check out John McAuliff, FFRD, New York the editorial on the history-making party at the U.S. Interests Phil Peters, Lexington Institute, Washington Section chief’s residence. SUBSCRIPTIONS Call 813 839 6988. One year $350. In Canada and Mexico, add $15 postage.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE No part of this publication Andrew Goddard — [email protected] may be copied, photographed or duplicated without TIPs’ consent.

2 Florida Strait Documentation: Fair Taking the trade show pulse n a sign of tough times, Cuban entities signed contracts worth $150 million during the 27th International Havana Fair Nov. 2-7, down from $350 million at lastI year’s fair. Taking a glass-half-full approach, fair director Abraham Maciques said the volume indicates foreign businesspeople’s faith in Cuba, despite “the complex economic situation and the North American blockade.” Meanwhile,” Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca announced at the opening ceremony of the fair that Cuba’s imports had dropped 36 percent by the end of the third quarter, compared to the first three quarters in 2008. He acknowledged that Cuba has been By Johannes Werner late with payments to many foreign suppliers, adding that Cuba “is ready to hold Small party, big deal dialogues to fix that.” Here are some of the ongoings at this year’s edition of the biggest trade fair in e just witnessed one of the Havana. most remarkable displays of WU.S. power in Cuba in 50 years — •For the first time, Russian The Venezuelan pavilion at FIHAV is and only a handful of people in the companies, a total of 50, occupied an anchored by state oil company PdVSA United States watched. entire pavilion by themselves at FIHAV. and its subsidiaries, but the bulk of Maybe that’s because the moment At the entrance of the participants are small didn’t have anything to do with building — which and midsize private- the Fourth Fleet, regime change was awarded a prize sector companies. This efforts, or end-of-embargo bills. It for best pavilion — year, there are 107 wasn’t even about Pilgrim’s Pride a Russian folkloric bilateral cooperation frozen chicken-quarter sales. Maybe orchestra gave two projects with a total Americans didn’t watch because the concerts a day. Cuban value of $1.5 billion. moment was drowned out by the B a s i c I n d u s t r y •The Brazilian noise around the “Peace without Minister Yadira Minister for Borders” mega-concert in Havana Garcia and Russian D e v e l o p m e n t , that got 1.15 million Cubans dancing Deputy Trade and Industry and Trade, on the Revolution Square. Industry Minister Ivan Materov Miguel Jorge, said at FIHAV that no Here’s the moment I am talking attended the signing ceremony for matter whether the opposition wins about: In October, Jonathan Farrar a major oil agreement between next year’s presidential elections in hosted a party in Havana, and 200 Zarubezhneft and CubaPetróleo (see Brazil, close relations will continue. He Cubans came. page 8) in the Russian pavilion. announced that Cuba and a Brazilian Farrar happens to be the new chief •Venezuelan companies signed company are negotiating installation of the U.S. Interests Section, and the letters of intent worth $6 million of a pharmaceutical plant in Brazil 200 guests happened to be, plain and with Cuban entities at the fair, twice with Cuban technology. The minister simple, the cream of the crop among as much than at last year’s event. also announced that construction of Cuban artists. The list of partygoers Yumersi La Rosa, Venezuelan deputy a plate glass manufacturing plant in at Farrar’s residence in Cubanacan minister of foreign trade, credited Cuba will begin in mid-December by was — I have abstained from using the “political will to develop trade.” a Brazilian company. The plant will this adjective since I turned 18 — Services aside, Cuba exports publishing use silica sand provided by Cuba. awesome. If you don’t have any and graphic industry products, electric Finally, Jorge mentioned construction insights into Cuban culture, let me equipment and components, radio and of an aluminum can factory for beer, put it this way: It was the equivalent TV programs, pharmaceutical products, soft drinks and juices. He didn’t specify. of Bruce Springsteen, Oprah, Zubin medical equipment and tools, chemical Jorge also announced that state oil Mehta, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Brad products, sugar industry equipment, company Petrobras concluded seismic Pitt, Steven Spielberg, and David textiles, furniture, light bulbs, and testing in its offshore block in Cuba. The Letterman all attending the same computer software and know-how. results of the evaluation should be out by reception at a foreign embassy in Oil and derivatives aside, Venezuelan April 2010. Washington. exports include herbicides, insecticides, •The Canadian ambassador announced We haven’t seen anything like it fertilizer, and building supplies. at FIHAV his government will open a in decades, and Farrar’s reception Some 150 Venezuelan companies are Canadian Commercial Corporation exporting to Cuba, 70 percent of which (CCC) office in Havana to cover the had no previous export experience. Continued on next page Continued on next page

3 D o c u m e n t a t i o n ‘Trade fair pulse,’ from previous page entire Caribbean region. CCC President Marc Whittingham said the office would open in 2010. CCC promotes and Crisis, what crisis? facilitates exports and imports from and to Canada, particularly Little elbow room within government markets. Wittingham said that Canada during public day at would continue to work on strengthening links with Cuba, the U.S. pavilion. despite the economic crisis. He offered that, while Canadian companies don’t have the cheapest products and services, Photo: CTIN they provide value, knowledge transfer and corporate social responsibility. Cuba’s deputy foreign trade minister, Antonio Luis Carricarte, invited Canadian companies to cooperate in Ricardo Cabrisas, and Construction Minister Fidel Figueroa the areas of agribusiness, tourism investment, and mining and de la Paz. oil exploitation. •Spain’s Grupo Miesa SA signed a letter of intent at •Iran and Cuba signed a memorandum of FIHAV with Empresa Industrial Herrajes to install understanding at the fair, under which Cuban state an assembly line for nickel-chrome surface treatment of companies CIMEX and Suchel Import-Export will plumbing products, as well as a water treatment plant at do business with Iran’s Padideh Donya e Tejarat and the Herrajes plant in the Havana suburb of Guanabacoa. Golden Chain Business Co., including the purchase The Bask Country-based engineering firm agreed to of raw materials and the production of detergent, synthetic provide financing. The total cost of the turnkey project is resin and plastic bags, and distribution of CIMEX-made goods estimated at $1.4 million. by Golden Chain in Iran. Also under the agreement, Cuba’s The Spanish delegation was the largest of any nation at Grupo Industrial de Bienes de Consumo (GBC) and CIMEX the fair. will buy refrigerators and other appliances from Entekhab •After eight years of absence, the European Union had Industrial Group (SNOWA). Empresa Importadora a pavilion at the fair. It was officially opened by EU aid General de Transporte (EIGT) and Wagon Pars agreed on commissioner Karel de Gucht. the purchase of more rail cars. •Thirty-fiveU.S. food, agriculture and shipping companies, •Cuba signed a letter of intent to set up assembly of as well as ports and state agriculture departments attended Vietnamese trucks and buses, including a first test assembly of this year’s FIHAV, sending some 200 representatives. They 200 vehicles. Also, state holding CIMEX signed an agreement included state agriculture officials from Virginia, Maryland with What Thang Co. Ltd. to export Cubita coffee, Varadero and Georgia. Last year, 61 U.S. companies attended. and Caney rums, and canned fruit to . In what the State Department said was a welcome change, Construction Minister Nguyen Hong Quan headed a Cuba for the first time allowed officials of the U.S. Interests Vietnamese business delegation visiting Cuba in October. Section to visit the Havana Fair, according to “Washington Hong Quan met with President Raúl Castro, Vice President Note” blogger Steve Clemons. Continued on next page O p i n i o n

‘Small party, big deal’ from previous page certainly chipped off a chunk from the wall of ice built up find a message from the Cuban ministry of culture on his in 50 years of frosty U.S.-Cuba relations. But even more answering machine, alerting him that dissidents would remarkable is the way the party came about. attend. “So that got you thinking about it,” the musician What triggered the flood of VIPs was a simple move explained his previous absence to El País. Then, he added: Farrar made: This time, the usual handful of dissidents was “Now, there weren’t any messages.” not invited. As John McAuliff, a New York-based advocate In other words: The absence of a dozen guests, combined for lifting the travel ban, put it: “As with the European with the absence of a short message on the answering embassies, and U.S. embassies in other countries, USINT machines of other guests is what triggered the stampede of will relate to dissidents as one part of the Cuban reality,” VIPs. rather than putting them at the center of attention. That speaks to the power of American culture among Farrar’s move was apparently noticed by Cuban officials, Cubans. I don’t think the Canadian, Spanish, Venezuelan and that, in turn, opened the floodgates of long held-back or Chinese embassies in Havana could have pulled off a longing for Carnegie Hall, Broadway, Latin Grammies, similar feat. and Hollywood among Cuban artists. One of the prominent partygoers explained to the correspondent of Spanish daily El Johannes Werner is editor of Cuba Trade & Investment País that before previous USINT events, he would infallibly News and Venezuela Trade & Investment News

4 D o c u m e n t a t i o n ‘Trade fair pulse,’ from previous page

•A trade delegation from Virginia, headed by Agriculture services, as well as pharmaceutical products. Commissioner Todd P. Haymore, was at the fair to negotiate •Turkey, with 15 companies, had a record presence at agricultural sales with state importer Alimport S.A. FIHAV. During a visit to Havana a week earlier, Through September, Virginia exported $45 million Turkish State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister worth of apples, poultry and soybeans to Cuba, up Cemil Cicek said his country is seeking cooperation from $40.7 million in all of 2008. in academic exchange, agriculture and construction. •Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago — a major oil and Cicek also visited the Center for Genetic Engineering petrochemical producer in the Caribbean — signed and Biotechnology (CIGB) in Havana, where he signed cooperation agreements for healthcare, agriculture and sports several biotechnology agreements. at the fair. Bilateral trade is in the $50 million range, mainly •A 40-member delegation from South Africa, led by Deputy thanks to Cuban purchases of ammonia. Cuba would like to Trade Minister Thandi Tobias-Pokolo, attended the fair. They sell Trinidad communications and information technology represented 34 South African companies.

E c o n o m y Moratinos conveys Castro message to concerned entrepreneurs uring a meeting of Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel obligations and lending,” Castro to DAngel Moratinos with the Cuban president in October, Moratinos emphasized. Moratinos: Raúl Castro reportedly offered to gradually pay overdue bills. “Therefore, he has ‘Personally However, the issue of unfreezing some $300 million worth asked me to convey committed.’ of bank accounts held by Spanish businesses still remains to a m e s s a g e o f f u l l be resolved. confidence and solution Observers believe the foreign-held frozen assets in Cuban of this concern of Spanish banks total $1 billion. businesspeople.” Castro is “conscious of the concern that exists among Foreign businesspeople said they recently received notice Spanish businesspeople,” Moratinos said at a press conference from their banks they could partially access their assets. “The in Havana after his meeting. “He thanked for, and most of problem is that we continue to have bank funds that were all reaffirmed, the gratitude that Cuban authorities have had converted into paper,” one foreign business source told the in relation to Spanish entrepreneurs, who have always been correspondent of Mexican daily La Jornada. “We don’t know ready to cooperate and to put their activities on the line. where we’re standing.” Therefore, [Castro] committed himself personally and has During his visit, Moratinos officially opened the Havana given instructions that all Spanish businesspeople that have office of the Spanish development aid agency. The Oficina delays will be paid one by one, with a calendar, with a dialogue Técnica de Cooperación de España will administer some with each and every entrepreneur.” euro 34 million ($51 million) in development aid programs Castro “has a firm commitment to comply with [Cuba’s] in Cuba.

5

E c o n o m y ALBA formally launches common currency ollowing barely a year of discussions also cover temporary deficits in transactions, to about details, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, level the playing field between ALBA members; Nicaragua,F Ecuador and Dominica signed and 4. creation of a Regional Monetary Council the founding charter for the Sucre common consisting of the finance ministers of member currency. countries. The council will define the parameters The document, ratified at an ALBA summit of the payment system and serve as a conduit of Oct. 16-17 in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, trade information and investment policies. stipulates the gradual implementation of In the first stage, the amount of Sucre transactions the Sucre (short for Sistema Unitario de will only be “symbolical” and not exceeding $1 Compensación Regional; Sucre is also the last name billion per year, “with the intent of checking the of an independence hero), beginning Jan. 1, 2010. viability of the system without running risks,” according The main practical motivation behind the Sucre is to a Venezuelan to save scarce hard-currency reserves, which ALBA government Web member countries must use in trade transactions between site that promotes each other. In a more advanced stage, it would also promote foreign investment in the Antigua Dominica cross-member investment. country. St. Vincent

Similar to the Euro, the Sucre will first be used as a The founding charter ECUADOR reference unit in calculating trade between ALBA member explicitly invites other countries. The participating countries haven’t publicly nations in South and explained how the Sucre exchange rate with global currencies Central America and the such as the U.S. dollar or Euro will be established. None of Caribbean to join. The the participating currencies is widely used in international Sucre could also be used ALBA transactions. as a reference unit in The plan consists of four elements: 1. Creation of a unit ALBA member countries’ to account for imports and exports within the ALBA bloc; trade with China and 2. creation of a compensation chamber, where all ALBA Russia, Venezuela’s exports and imports are registered and compensated; 3. finance minister suggested. creation of a regional reserve and convergence fund managed If successful, the Banco del ALBA could eventually morph by the Caracas-based Banco del ALBA, which will assign into a central bank for ALBA, in charge of managing, printing Sucre accounting units to the participants. The fund will and coining a physical currency.

Implications for Cuba

hile supporters of the common currency project respective governments. However, the unit of reference used draw parallels to the history of the Euro and say in calculating cost and debt between those state entities, as theW Sucre will challenge the dominance of the U.S. dollar in well as the currency for actual payments in these exchanges, the hemisphere, critics portray it as a hasty populist measure has been the U.S. dollar. with little economic impact. Also, an increasing share of Cuba’s trade with Venezuela No economic studies about the viability and potential and other ALBA countries is with private-sector companies in impact of the Sucre have been published. the partner countries. Most Cuban purchases are covered by Previous common-currency projects in Latin America, Venezuelan export guarantees. However, no matter whether such as the Central American peso which foundered in the it’s actual payments to the companies or to Venezuela’s export 1990s, failed due to lack of commitment and the instability development bank, all checks are made out in U.S. dollars. and outward orientation of the participating economies. If the first test run is successful, these exchanges will likely For Cuba, the by far biggest impact of the Sucre will be on be accounted for in Sucre, and be paid in national currency, financial transactions with its No. 1 trade partner, Venezuela. which could free Cuban hard-currency reserves for other Venezuela covers more than 90 percent of the island’s trade purposes. relations with the ALBA bloc. The Cuban central bank held a seminar at this year’s The lion’s share of these exchanges are between large Havana International Fair explaining the mechanism to state entities that are guaranteed and subsidized by the businesspeople.

7 E c o n o m y Russian state oil company signs 25-year agreement oscow-based OAO Roszarubezhneft signed four 25- year agreements with CubaPetróleo Nov. 3, under M Block III which the Russian state oil company contracted two near- Havana Varadero shore and two onshore blocks, all just east of the Varadero Matanzas Blocks 9 & 12 Block L heavy-oil belt. Pinar del Río Zarubezhneft acquired the rights to near-shore blocks III and L, off the northern coast of Matanzas, Sancti Spíritus, Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila provinces, according to Russian news agency TASS. Onshore, Zarubezhneft contracted the contiguous blocks 9 and 12 in Matanzas province. According to Zarubezhneft General Director Nikolai Zarubezhneft signed two onshore and two near-shore blocks, Brunich, the predecessor of his company started exploratory just east of Cuba’s main oil belt. Map: CTIN work on one of these fields as early as 1984. Cuban Basic Industries Minister Yadira García said the Russians are likely to find heavy oil of similar quality as in the Varadero belt, company would also supply spare parts and special equipment and a good chance to find gas, which Cuba uses to generate for the oil industry in Cuba. electricity. In what could eventually have a bigger impact on Cuba, the The agreements were signed during Russia Day at the 27th company is also in negotiations over three offshore blocks, edition of the International Havana Fair. two near Havana, and one farther out in the Gulf of Mexico. Brunich said Zarubezhneft still plans to sign a contract In August, Zarubezhneft agreed with PetroVietnam to partner to help Cupet increase production at the existing Boca de on deepwater drilling in Cuba. Jaruco field in Havana and Matanzas province. Zarubezhneft Cuba also continues to negotiate with a consortium of five would enhance Cupet’s oil recovery rate by using thermal Russian oil companies the lease of 15 deepwater blocks in the and integrated methods of formation treatment. The Russian Gulf of Mexico, officials said.

Chinese company bidding for refinery project Cuvenpeq lays out petrochemical plan hile touring the refinery in Cienfuegos, the Chinese uvenpeq S.A., the two-year old Cuban joint venture Wambassador in Havana announced that China of Pequiven, the petrochemicals subsidiary of Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Corp. (HQCEC) is VenezuelanC state oil company PdVSA, said it won’t participating in the bidding for a billion-dollar expansion of begin construction of its part in a planned $1.3 billion the Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture facility. During a visit of petrochemical cluster around the port city of Cienfuegos the ambassador to the refinery in Cienfuegos, Zhao Rongxian until “approximately around 2013-2014.” was briefed about plans to more than double the refinery’s In a first phase, according to General Manager Tomás capacity to 150,000 barrel/day by 2017. Oviedo, Cuvenpeq will build a 600,000 ton/year ammonia HQCEC, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum plant and a 725,000 ton/year urea plant. Corporation (CNPC), has built two refinery and dozens of Already, a plant in Cienfuegos that makes 250 million petrochemicals and fertilizer projects in the past 10 years. polyethylene bags a year began operations in November. HQCEC is also interested in being the contractor for The factory, the first of a 10-plant petrochemical cluster, construction of an urea plant nearby. is operating with Italian-made machines. Talks may also touch the issue of selling an equity stake According to Oviedo, a second phase will include in the joint venture to HQCEC. In times of relatively low construction of a PVC component plant for Petrocasa oil prices, Venezuela probably doesn’t have the financial modular home production, and another one for synthetic wherewithal to fund the billion-dollar project alone. wood for construction. Other projects include a plant for polypropylene sacks for use in agriculture and mining. Once olein production at the oil refinery in Cienfuegos begins, construction of a 200,000 ton/year high-density HQCEC polyethylene plant and a 130,000 ton/year polyethylene petrochemical project plant can start. in China Petrocasa, a Pequiven subsidiary, has built 426 homes throughout Cuba, with imported components. The Petrocasa component plant in Cienfuegos is expected to eventually courtesy HQCEC produce all parts for up to nine homes per day.

8 E c o n o m y Alcatel China subsidiary starts cable project season, which lasts from June through November. From Siboney Once operational, which is expected by the first quarter beach (above) Cuba of 2011, the cable will boost Cuba’s bandwidth, potentially Siboney to La Guaira allowing Cubans more and broader Internet access. (below) — linking Deputy Informatics Minister Ramón Linares cautioned that, Cuba to the while the cable will improve service, it won’t be “a panacea” World Wide Web. to resolve the issue of limited Internet access for Cubans.

map CTIN According to the partners, Jamaica agreed to be linked with a branch of the Venezuela-Cuba cable. The 964-mile trunk cable will run from the port of La Guaira Netherlands Antilles (near the Caracas International Airport) to Siboney, 14 miles Venezuela La Guaira east of Santiago in eastern Cuba. The Jamaican branch will run from Siboney to Jamaica’s northern coast. With a useful life estimated at 25 years, the cable will elecomunicaciones Gran Caribe S.A., the Venezuelan- multiply Cuba’s data transmission capacity — currently based TCuban state joint venture that will operate the first on satellite connection — by a factor of 3,000, while reducing submarine fiberoptic cable linking Cuba with the outside world, costs by 20 percent. announced that construction of the $63.4 million When first announcing the project in 2007, project began Oct. 14. Hugo Chávez said it would be paid with a $70 U.S. embargo-related complications have million loan from China. However, according apparently been the main reason for delays in the to Cuban and Venezuelan official media, the project, which was first announced two years ago. project is financed by Venezuelan banks and Gran The contractor is Alcatel Shanghai Bell. Caribe capital. Gran Caribe will sell transmission The Chinese subsidiary of French multinational capacities to telecommunications companies of Alcatel-Lucent (see sidebar) is expected to other countries. Cable ship execute the bulk of construction before hurricane The system could eventually expand to Haiti, Dominican Republic and the Minor Antilles. Miami man wants piece of action Miami-based company, TeleCuba Communications Inc., announced it received a Treasury Department How a French company turned Chinese licenseA to lay a submarine fiber optic cable linking Key West he strongest competitor of Alcatel and Havana by 2011. In a press release, the company said the TShanghai Bell in the project was cost of the project would be $18 million. Chinese IT concern Huawei, which The sole company owner is Luis G. Coello. Coello, who entered the submarine cable business launched a pre-paid phone card business and registered a last year. limousine service and a tile company in Miami, has been trying What might have made the difference since 1995 to get this project going. is that ASB is one of a handful non-U.S. Coello’s announcement comes two months after the companies able to provide a turnkey submarine cable Obama administration removed restrictions for U.S. telecom project with in-house products that are not subject to U.S. companies to connect to Cuba. patents. ASB is a Chinese registered company, and Alcatel While making a minor media splash in the United States, Submarine Systems is French-registered. The system will Cuba has turned a cold shoulder to Coello. Cuban officials be assembled and tested at an Alcatel plant in Calais, denied there had been any communications or negotiations with France, before deployment. the company. “Until today, neither the ministry of informatics Even so, keeping out U.S. technology and interference and communications, [state telecom] Etecsa, nor any other might be a challenge. Alcatel has a strong U.S. presence Cuban institution has knowledge that there is interest” on since its 2006 takeover of Lucent Technologies. Bell Labs, behalf of TeleCuba, said Francisco Hartmann of Cuba’s an Alcatel research and development division, is a U.S. Oficina para la Informatización during a press conference on government and military contractor. an unrelated issue. In order to win the bid, ASB probably also promised broad Another Oficina para la Informatización official pointed out technology transfer to its Venezuelan-Cuban clients. that the node to which TeleCuba’s cable connects would be In August, Alcatel — or parts of Alcatel — were rumored located in Florida. He suggested that U.S. authorities would be to be takeover targets of Huawei and Chinese IT competitor able to control all information flowing through that node. ZTE.

9 E c o n o m y Haier getting serious about Cuba as regional launchpad The Chinese aier Group, one of China’s largest non-state companies company and the world’s fourth-largest appliance manufacturer, has had a announcedH that it would form a joint venture with Grupo presence in Cubano de la Electrónica (GE), to manufacture Haier-brand Cuba since appliances and computers in Cuba. 2004. The announcement, made by Haier Vice President Zhou Haier Yienjie at a press conference at the Hotel Nacional in Havana, stand at has been five years in the making. the Havana According to Granma, the joint venture, which will be Fair. launched in the first quarter next year, could produce desktop and laptop computers, washing machines, air conditioners and photo: CTIN lighting devices. In February, Haier vice president Fang Chun Song told Communications Ministry on switching Cuba’s TV signal Juventud Rebelde that his company would like to build up from analog to digital. Cuba as “Haier’s Latin American headquarters.” Eventually, Haier products made in Cuba should be exported to other Chinese company provides solar technology markets in the region, according to Chun Song. sing Chinese technology, Rensol — also known as Since the 1990s, Haier has exported appliances to Empresa Productora de Equipos para Frigoríficos — Cuba. Starting in 2004, Haier has provided know-how and in UCiego de Ávila province is gearing up for production of components for Atec-Haier brand TV set, Panda washing 1,500 solar water heaters this year. Rensol’s vacuum-tube machine, and refrigerator assembly on the island. Most technology is licensed from Shandong Linuo Solar Energy recently, Haier has been working with the Informatics and Group, a German-Chinese joint venture. China is the world’s largest market for — and manufacturer Chinese companies sign nickel, refinery deals of — solar water heating. Shandong Linuo technicians will be at the new plant in delegation from the industrial province of Shandong Morón during the first months of production. At full capacity, signed five agreements during a visit of Cuba. the plant will crank out up to 50,000 water 90- and 200-liter AOfficials representing companies from China’s second heaters, mostly for most populous province signed agreements relating to schools, hospitals setting up a workshop in the nickel industry, refinery and hotels in renovation, fuel tank repairs, sales of lighting systems, and Cuba. export of specialty trucks. No details were released. The delegation also donated a computer server to the Linuo water Genetic and Biotechnology Engineering Center (CIGB) in heating panels Havana, and 100 laptops to the Education Ministry. in Cuina Vice President Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuba’s point man for strategic economic relations, met with the group. Chinese firm donates earthquake monitors uba’s National Center of Seismological Research C(CENAIS) and Beijing Gangzhen Mechanical & New Books Electronic Technology Co. Ltd. signed an agreement in Beijing under which the Chinese company will donate equipment to modernize the monitoring systems of CENAIS. The donation Norberto Fuentes: The for the Santiago-based center includes high-sensitivity Autobiography of seismometers, data transmission modems and portable stations WW Norton & Co., 567 pages for seismic construction. Fuentes, 66, a former Cuban advertisement official who deserted to the United States in 1994, wrote this fictitious autobiography. Publisher’s Weekly calls the novel “startling and surprisingly funny.” www.progreso-weekly.com

10 E m b a r g o give first taste of post-embargo travel roviding the ailing Cuban economy with In the interview, Aruca, 68 — a Cuban American oxygen, the number of Cuban Americans veteran of the cyclical “dialogue” events the Cuban travelingP to the island could reach a record-breaking government holds with the island’s diaspora — 200,000 this year, U.S. travel agency owner suggested the next meeting Jan. 27-29 should Francisco Aruca told the Havana correspondent also include representatives of exile groups less of Mexican daily La Jornada. amenable to the agenda of the Cuban government. If this number is reached, it would be higher On the agenda should be topics such as Cuban than during the cyclical thaws under Jimmy Carter emigrants buying real estate or investing otherwise and Bill Clinton, and second only to the number in Cuba, as well as that of welcoming emigrants of Canadian visitors. In September, the Obama who left more recently than 15 years ago, Aruca Administration published new regulations that Marazul founder suggested. relax family travel and spending restrictions. Aruca There are currently some 50 U.S.-Cuba flights per week, more than half covering the Miami- Fort Lauderdale seeks Cuba flights Havana route, said Aruca, founder of Marazul Charters, the roward County will petition the U.S. Treasury largest U.S.-Cuba tour operator. Department to establish Today, only the airports of Miami, New York (JFK) and charterB flights between Fort Los Angeles are licensed to host Cuba flights. The Tampa, Lauderdale-Hollywood Key West and Fort Lauderdale airports have applied to host International Airport and Cuba flights. Havana, aside, Cuba destinations of U.S. charter Cuba, the county commission flights also include Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba said. Broward County, just and Holguín. north of Miami-Dade County, In what is an exception to the rule in the Caribbean, Cuba’s also seeks to establish ferry overall tourism numbers still keep climbing, at an expected service from Port Everglades rate of 3.9 percent this year. Cuba welcomed visitor No. to Cuba. The Broward County Aviation Department has 2 million in October, 15 days earlier than in 2008, raising been approached by airlines looking to operate Cuba flights, forecasts for this year above 2.4 million visitors. Last year, a spokesman told the Business Journal. 2.348 million visitors came to Cuba. Locally based Spirit Airlines has recently been expanding However, revenues are down compared to last year. Caribbean and Latin America routes.

Tampa travel agency sues Florida Treasury Department-licensed travel agency in Tampa Cuban surgeons visit Pittsburgh A sued the state of Florida over a law that forces it to post Cuban medical team led by surgeon Dr. Ramón Villamil higher bonds because it offers travel to Cuba. A observed transplant surgeons and medical staff at Agencia 12 y 23, which is owned by a Cuban American, Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, on invitation by Global argues it is already heavily regulated by the federal government. Links. The Pittsburgh-based non-profit has sent hospital The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services supplies to Cuba since 1994. Villamil is chief surgeon and served the agency a complaint in September, arguing it is not director of the transplant center at William Soler hospital in licensed. Havana. The Florida legislature passed a law last year that forces stateside travel agencies offering travel to countries on the Hijacker returns to United States State Department’s “sponsors of terrorism” list to register uis Armando Peña Soltren, one of three hijackers of with the state and post a surety bond between $10,000 and PanAm Flight 281 in 1968, voluntarily returned to the $50,000. UnitedL States, after 41 years as a fugitive in Cuba. The 66-year old U.S. citizen arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New Havana band performs in Little Havana York to face charges, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for n a first for Miami in six years, a Cuban nostalgia septet the Southern District of New York announced. Peña diverted will perform not only in the city but in a club in the the Puerto Rico-bound plane to Havana. heartI of Little Havana, a hotbed of exile politics. The Septeto “The Cuban government was aware of Peña Soltren’s desire Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro is scheduled to play at the club Hoy to return voluntarily to the United States and authorized his Como Ayer Nov. 21. The Septeto began a U.S. tour in New departure,” a press release by the U.S. Attorney said. York City Nov. 7. He could face life in prison. 11 E c o n o m y Travel ban-lifting measure advances he House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold hearings Nov. 19 on a bill sponsored by Reps. Bill DelahuntT (D-Mass.) and Jeff Flake (R-Az.) that would lift the travel ban against Cuba. Both Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Ca.) and ranking minority member Richard Lugar (R-In.) in a Miami Herald op-ed expressed their support of the measure. A floor vote could happen early next year. With 218 votes Berman, Lugar support lifting needed to pass, the bill had 179 supporters — including dozens of travel ban of freshmen, according to Flake — as of early November. Flake also told Congressional Quarterly he knows that some During the Bush Administration, the House voted five representatives who had previously opposed embargo-easing times in favor of amendments that would have eased travel bills will “quietly vote” for the bill when it comes to the restrictions. Each time, the language was dropped, to prevent a floor. presidential veto. The current president has softened the travel Meanwhile, Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Michael B. ban, by easing restrictions on family visits in April. Enzi (R-Wy.) — sponsors of the Senate version of the bill — Meanwhile, 53 House Democrats signed a letter to Speaker were struggling to get their bill to the Senate floor, according Nancy Pelosi, urging her to “maintain current policy towards to The Hill. They have 32 co-sponsors, which includes just Cuba.” The initiative was led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman- four Republicans. Schultz, a Florida Democrat. Fifty of the signers received campaign contributions from the pro-embargo U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, ranging from Anti-Castro money targets Democrats $2,000 to $20,000. Another 58 representatives received PAC .S. pro-embargo donors, who have contributed donations this year, but did not sign the letter. U$10.77 million to 337-plus candidates since 2004, are now targeting mostly Democratic members of Congress, Embargo deals Obama first global rebuttal an analysis by a Washington-based non-government ealing the Obama Administration its first global watchdog group found. rebuttal, the United Nations General Assembly At its start in 2004, the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC passedD a non-binding resolution 187-3, plus two abstentions, gave 71 percent to Republicans. During the 2010 election condemning the U.S. embargo. This was the 18th consecutive cycle so far, the relation has been inversed, with Democrat year in which the United Nations condemned the embargo. The candidates receiving 76 percent. Obama Administration is following a diplomatic give-and-take According to Public Campaign, a network of anti- normalization strategy vis-a-vis Cuba, insisting it must keep the Castro donors, campaign committees and three Political embargo intact in order to maintain its negotiation power. Action Committees (PACs) — the five-year old U.S.-Cuba Israel and Palau voted with the United States, while Democracy PAC, Democracy Believers PAC, and older Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained. PACs — often coordinate their giving to mutually reinforce According to the small island nation’s secretary of state, the effect. In addition to PAC contributions, more than half Palau is negotiating with the United States what it would of the recipients received reinforcing individual donations like to be $225 million worth of aid over the next 15 years. from Cuban American donors. Washington is offering $156 million. “Starting in the middle of the decade, Cuban-American U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said it hard-liners realized that they could not rely on a president was “high time for this body to move beyond the rhetorical or lawmakers from one or two states to preserve their posturing of the past,” adding it was wrong to blame the U.S. interests,” the report says. “They began what only can now embargo for deprivation among the Cuban people. be seen in retrospect as a concerted effort to use campaign “Barack Obama should follow the lead of the UN General contributions to make Congress more responsive to its Assembly and take all necessary steps to end its economic wishes.” embargo against Cuba,” said human rights organization Considering the current push to ease the embargo, “the Amnesty International in a public statement following the question is whether reasoned policy or old-style politics UN vote. driven by the corrosive influence of campaign donations “The margin of the U.S. defeat reflects a dramatic failure of will prevail,” the Public Campaign report concludes, the Obama Administration to live up to its promise to improve suggesting campaign finance reform might be necessary. U.S. standing in the world,” said John McAuliff, an advocate of lifting the travel ban.

12 E c o n o m y Ministry announces job cuts at state farms he agriculture ministry plans to eliminate at least 9,000 mostly administrative jobs at state farms, Communist Santiago gets orchards PartyT daily Granma reported. he ministry of agriculture converted 30 farms Large-scale state farms employ an “excess of non-productive Tin eastern Santiago de Cuba province to solely personnel,” Granma said in an article Nov. 10. The official produce fruit, Juventud Rebelde reported. newspaper put the number of redundant state farm employees The farms, covering 13,640 hectares, are beginning at 89,000, or 26 percent of the total payroll. The agriculture operations in newly irrigated areas that are now receiving ministry plans to eliminate at least 10 percent of the redundant steady water supply from new water projects. jobs and cut in half the number of managers. The production — expected to exceed 100,000 tons — is The announcement comes at a moment of steep decline for apparently directed to the domestic market exclusively. the state farms that once dominated the island’s agriculture. In One of the farms planted 100,000 mango trees, with an effort to increase food production, the Cuban government 50,000 more to be planted in three other farms in the is granting long-term leases to thousands of acres of fallow area. Other fruit include guava, coconut, papaya and state farm land to private entrepreneurs and co-ops. In the past pineapple. two years, the agriculture ministry closed 83 and reorganized 473 state farms. Tobacco land shrinking Libreta losing staples ue to “financial restrictions,” the land devoted to sing a step-by- Dtobacco cultivation will shrink from 28,200 hectares step approach to 19,800 hectares, the government announced. Osvaldo to Ueliminating the ration Encarnación, vice president of Cuban state company Tabacuba book, the government said that this should not trigger a decrease in production of removed potatoes and Cuba’s world-famous cigars or cigarettes, according to the peas from the list of Trabajadores weekly newspaper. rationed food. This means Cubans can’t Food purchases in U.S. drop one-third buy those crucial uban food purchases in the United staples at subsidized CStates will be down by at least prices anymore. 32 percent this year, Alimport S.A. The move is part of Raúl Castro’s overall reform effort Chairman Igor Montero announced. of reducing subsidies while increasing productivity and Montero said he expected Cuban cost salaries. cutting to curb U.S. purchases to less As the ration booklet seems to be on its way out and the than $590 million — including shipping country’s two currencies might be merged, the neighborhood and financing costs — down from $870 Comités de Defensa de la Revolución have reportedly begun million last year. As opposed to U.S. data, Cuba includes to prepare Cubans for “very strong measures.” Montero In October, Granma published an editorial arguing the time shipping and financing cost in its figures. had come to do away with the ration book — known as libreta The United States is Cuba’s No. 1 food — altogether. The biggest share of Cuba’s $2 billion in food supplier, but only allows one-way trade and forces Cuba to pay purchases abroad goes to subsidized food sales. cash, in costly transactions via third-country banks. The chairman of the state food import company urged the New UN programs foster food security United States to allow Cuban imports and to let U.S. residents hree new United Nations-coordinated aid programs are travel to Cuba as tourists. fostering food security in areas identified as priority “If we aren’t given more possibility to generate revenues byT Cuba, IPS news service reported. The programs, for a through Cuban exports to the United States, or an exchange of total of $35 million, a focusing mainly on the poorer east of visitors, it’s going to be very difficult to continue to reach the the island. Studies show there is no chronic hunger in Cuba. levels of trade we’ve grown accustomed to,” Montero said. However, there are certain levels of anemia and scarcity of micronutrients in some segments of the population. One of U.S. exports to Cuba, Jan.-Sep. 2009 (mln $) the UN projects — aiming at decentralization in agriculture 2008 YTD 2009 YTD % change — plans to spend $7 million on small farming by individual 540.31 414.56 -23.3 entrepreneurs and cooperatives. The initiative is funded by the MDG Achievement Fund, whose main donor is Spain. Source: USITC 13 BY THE NUMBERS NATURAL DISASTERS Most Endangered Wildfire Zones (in pink) ith climate change and the rise of drought on the island, the number ofW wildfires has increased since the start of this decade, making a dent in Cuba’s re- forestation efforts. The government is now Source: MININT restructuring its firefighting capabilities and putting more resources into prevention and response. Among others, Cuba is planning Number of Wildfires (by month) to more than double the number of wildfire brigades throughout the island.

Number and Area Affected by Wildfires (by Province) # of wildfires affected area (ha.) affected area

Area Affected by Wildfires (hectares) Río City Youth Sancti Isle of Havana Spíritus Holguín de Cuba Santiago Pinar del Camagüey Villa Clara Villa # of wildfires Area (hectares)

Cause of Wildfires Natural 20%

Not determined 23% Number of Wildfires (2001-07)

Negligence Intentional 53% 4% Source: MININT

Wildfire brigades Cause of Wildfires, percent Active agriculture burns Active forest burns existing Other burns (roads, trash) Beekeepers proposed Spark (vehicles, machinery) Fishers and hunters Smoking Military exercise Electrical accident Intentional Natural Source: MININT Not determined

14 E c o n o m y Iran boosts credit line to $750m ran’s export development bank boosted its credit line to Other agreements signed at the fair between particular ICuba from euro 200 million ($300 million) to euro 500 corporations will boost Iranian exports of refrigerators, rail million ($750 million) in a memorandum of understanding cars, and raw materials (see Trade Fair, page 3). signed at the Havana International Fair by the Iranian transportation minister and his Cuban counterpart. Valdés urges ‘extreme’ power saving measures Half of the credit line — euro 250 million ($375 million) n a sign that an electricity savings — is allocated to small- and midsize fast-yielding projects of Icampaign has not produced desired up to euro 10 million ($15 million) each, Iranian state media results, a Council of Ministers memo reported. Euro 50 million ($75 million) will be used on buying circulating among government officials technical and engineering services, building factories, and is urging institutions to adopt “extreme importing Iranian-made goods such as dairy products, fruit, measures” in power savings, according juices, other beverages, and home appliances. to Reuters. The suggestions — apparently authored by Vice President and Informatics Cuban tourism leaders wow British investors Minister Ramiro Valdés — include ritain’s Cuba Initiative held a star-studded tourism shutting down non-essential plants and Binvestment seminar headlined by Cuban Minister of workshops. Tourism Manuel Marrero Throughout summer, the government has forced state Cruz. The event, Nov. 11 institutions to present energy savings plans and reduce in London, also featured electricity use by at least 12 percent. In case of non-compliance, Eulalia López, president of they would face selective blackouts. Cuban state hotel company Top priority are entities “that guarantee exports, substitution Gran Caribe S.A.; Lester of imports and basic services for the population,” according Felipe Oliva, president of to another memo seen by Reuters. ground handler Cubatur; Energy ministers visit ‘Energy Revolution’ Alfonso Llamas, president Manuel Marrero Cruz s part of a forum of the Latin American Energy of ground handler Viajes Organization (OLADE) at the Hotel Nacional in Cubanacan; and José HavanaA about regional integration, delegates toured sites in Manuel Bisbe, commercial Cuba relating to energy efficiency. Parallel to the forum, Cuba director in the ministry of tourism. Topics included the effect also hosted the 34th meeting of OLADE energy ministers. of the global economic crisis on Cuban tourism, current Using the examples of ALBA, PetroCaribe and Mercosur, investment opportunities for British companies, and the Vice President Ramiro Valdés urged the ministers to advance investment priorities of the Cuban government. regional energy integration. OLADE is headquartered in Founded in 1995, the Cuba Initiative is an independent Quito, Ecuador. bilateral non-government organization. Meanwhile, the House of Commons passed a motion, Analyst optimistic about nickel price presented by Ian Gibson of the Cuba Iniative, that urges aying that a current rally is “well supported,” a Société Britain to increase relations with Cuba. Britain has cooperation SGénérale metals analyst predicts a gradually rising agreements on sports, biotechnology and culture with Cuba. nickel price next year. Nickel is one of Cuba’s main hard-currency generators. Mariel expansion underway David Wilson projects an average nickel price of $20,700 n a first sign that the long-expected expansion of the Port per ton in 2010, compared to $15,000 per ton in 2009. He bases Iof Mariel is getting underway, Brazilian companies have his forecast on a 200,000-ton, or 7.5-percent, drop in global begun transporting heavy machinery to Cuba, said Brazil’s nickel production next year, due to production cuts, strikes, minister of foreign trade, Miguel Jorge. Cuba wants to turn the and delays on new projects. small port, 30 miles west of Havana into a container hub and “We don’t see a downside for the moment,” Wilson said. a logistics base for offshore oil drilling. Brazil granted $300 million in loans for the project; Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht is the main contractor. Cuba is still negotiating with “If we don’t do quality work, and if we United Arab Emirates-based Dubai Ports World construction don’t prepare to have an efficient of a container port at Mariel. and sustainable economy, we won’t have Meanwhile, Cuba has used Chinese loans and funds from the ALBA trade and integration agreement at its three main ports a future as a nation.” — Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago — to acommodate larger Miguel Limia David, president of the Council of Social cargo vessels after the expansion of the Panama Canal. Sciences of Cuba, to Trabajadores weekly

15 E m b a r g o Baseball diplomacy heating up

rying to stage a repeat of a couple exhibition games Tthey played against the Cuban national team in 1999, Commentator rejects Big-League play the Baltimore Orioles are planning to play again in Cuba next n an editorial on the spring, the Associated Press reports. Cubadebate Web site, state “Hopefully as next spring approaches, both governments TVI commentator Reinaldo will see clearer to improve the relations and make it rather easy Taladrid Herrero discussed for there to be a reciprocal arrangement,” owner Peter Angelos a reader suggestion to allow told AP, adding he had informal talks with U.S. officials. Cuban baseball players to play “Personally, I think the relations between the two countries for U.S. Big League teams. should be clearly and emphatically re-established.” The first argument Taladrid used to reject the idea is the U.S. Portuondo receives Grammy, personally embargo. mara Portuondo and jazz pianist Chucho Valdés won “While the blockade lasts, The latest defector, a Latin Grammy award each. Portuondo, the 79-year no Cuban who lives in Cuba Aroldis Chapman, left O old Buena Vista Social Club can charge a cent for anything Team Cuba in June. diva, became the first Cuban he does in the United States,” artist living in Cuba to receive Taladrid said. “In other words, the award personally during a he has to abandon his country, give up his fatherland ceremony in the U.S. to be able to do it.” Portuondo was also a master Taladrid also argued that Cuba’s national baseball of ceremony at the Grammies series would suffer of a talent drain, as would the in Las Vegas Nov. 5, probably performance of the national team. Finally, he alluded to the biggest exposure for any widespread doping among U.S. professional athletes. Cuban musician at a recent “The first priority is to protect the biggest cultural U.S. event.Cuban artists spectacle in the country, the national series,” Taladrid Portuondo received previously won awards, but concluded. “The second is to protect that national glory the Grammy for her were not allowed to travel to that is Team Cuba.” “Gracias” album the United States. Just Cuba. Corporate executives, company owners, lawyers, politicians, academics, diplomats and other government officials — every month, the relevant players read us.

Santa Ana, Cal. businessman Ralph AdamCuba Trade & Investment News Rendon was offers advertising space. sentenced to five years in prison after defrauding Inquire about our affordable rates. Jewish and Greek Orthodox senior Andy Goddard citizens who [email protected] to travel USA 813.839.6988 to Cuba. Rendon

16 C O N F E R E N C E S & E V E N T S

•Global Forum for Health Research 2009, Havana, Nov. 16-20 IN OUT •MITM Americas (meetings and incentives travel markets Italy’s Blue Panorama Airlines SpA opened an office in congress), Havana, Nov. 18-19 Havana. Established in 1998, the Rome-based airline operates •Participating in Cuba’s Energy Revolution: A Seminar for the the Rome-Havana route in winter. Privately-owned Blue flies UK Energy Sector (renewables), Havana, Nov. 26-27 •Int’l Symposium on Quality, Havana, Jan. 11-15 from Milan, Rome and Bologna to vacation destinations in •31st Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Havana, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Madagascar and Maldives with a fleet Dec. 3-13 of nine Boeing jets. •Int’l Congress of Higher Education (Universidad 2010), *** Havana, Feb. 8-12 The Foreign Trade •19th Int’l Book Fair, Havana, Feb. 11-21 Ministry issued a license •12o Festival del Habano (cigars), Havana, Feb. 22-26 to German holiday airline •Int’l Meeting on Neurorehabilitation, Havana, March 8-12 Air Berlin PLC & Co. •4th Interamerican Congress of Pediatric Surgery, Havana, Luftverkehrs KG to do March 21-26 •5th Int’l Conference of the Psychiatric Hospital of Havana business in Cuba. The (Psicohabana 2010), Havana, April 7-9 airline took over the routes and jets of German airline LTU •Int’l Congress of Information (Info 2010), Havana, April last year. Air Berlin flies three times a week from Düsseldorf, 19-23 Berlin-Tegel and Munich to Varadero. •VIII Festival Internacional del Cine Pobre de Humberto *** Solás, Gibara, April 19-25, 2010 The Foreign Trade Ministry licensed Italy’s L.R. Moroni •2nd Int’l Conference on Security and Defense, Havana, Cellulose Converting Machinery SRL to do business in April 27-29 October. The Milan-based company, a family property since 1922, makes machinery for sanitary napkins, panty shields, Call (941) 330-0303 or send an e-mail to JWerner@ cubatradenews.com for more information on events baby diapers and incontinence pads. *** Industrial Sedó S.L. was officially licensed to do business E m b a r g o in Cuba. The Spanish company, based in Tarragona, offers PVC coating products for trucks, swimming pools, playground Cuba invests in Telesur equipment and marquees. uba, one of the founding members of Telesur, turned into *** a voting shareholder of the multinational state television British record label TUMI Music Ltd. opened a Cuban networkC launched by Venezuela five years ago. subsidiary, Representaciones The network distinguished itself recently through its news Culturales SA (Recsa). TUMI coverage of the coup d’etat founder Mo Fini has been producing in Honduras. It also gained a Cuban music since the 1980s. Cuban reputation for its award-winning artists on the label include Yusa, documentaries chronicling Omara Portuondo, Félix Baloy y su social movements throughout Cuban Son All Stars, Son 14, David Latin America. Álvarez Y Juego de Manos, Baby According to Venezuela’s Salso, Papa Noel & Papi Oviedo and Gaceta Oficial published Oct. more. 5, Cuba’s Institute of Radio *** & Television paid $475,000 The Foreign Trade and Investment Ministry passed a for 903,000 shares in the resolution Aug. 28 denying an extension of the license of channel. Venezuela is the main a German company, Achse Lateinamerika GmbH. The shareholder, with 5.8 million company, founded in 2000, acts as a broker mainly for small shares. and midsize German companies in eastern Germany trying to The president of the Caracas-based channel is a Venezuelan, export products to Cuba. The Achse Lateinamerika office at Andrés Izarra, with Yuri Pimentel, president of Venezolana Marina Hemingway has at least four employees. de Televisión, and Carlos Alberto de Almeida, A Brazilian *** journalist and senator, as vice presidents. The board includes The Foreign Trade Ministry also denied a license extension to Enrique Albistur for Argentina, Ovidio Cabrera for Cuba, Maria Spain’s CYH Caribe S.L. The small Zaragoza-based company Simón (Uruguay’s education minister), Johnny Delgado for sold stationery and office equipment in Cuba. CYH has an Bolivia, and Fernando Alvarado for Ecuador. office at the Miramar business complex in suburban Havana.

17 C o m p a n i e s

Imperial Tobacco Chairman Gareth Davis announced Hollywood actor Michael Douglas staged an impromptu he will step down in May next year as chief executive tour in Havana during a four-day visit, stopping at the famous officer. He will be replaced by Alison Cooper, 43, who rose Bodeguita del Medio bar for a photo op with employees. through Imperial’s ranks over the past 10 years. In her last Douglas, who arrived unexpectedly in Havana on a weekend position, she was chief operating officer. The British in October, also included the Hotel Nacional, the Floridita company markets Cuban premium bar, a cigar store, and Old Havana’s four colonial squares in cigars worldwide. In other news, his walking tour. Imperial said that Habanos *** cigar sales volumes declined Pebercan Inc., the extinct Canadian oil junior that quit its this year, “in common with Cuban business early this year, settled a lawsuit by paying two most other luxury goods.” shareholders $760,000. Pebercan didn’t release any details, “However, we have partly other than saying that the 2008 lawsuit was brought by a former mitigated this through price senior executive and a former consultant of the company. increases across the portfolio” as *** well as sales increases in Asia and After a stormy one-year period, calm has returned to Eastern Europe, the company the Cuban operations of Sherritt International Corp. said in its third-quarter report. CubaPetróleo is continuing to pay off debt accrued last year “Pleasingly, we have seen with its Canadian partner, according to the energy and mining sales recovering in the last concern’s third-quarter report. As of the end of September, few months.” Cupet debt with Sherritt was $26.1 million, down $14 million *** since the end of June. “As with oil and gas, regular receivables Pernod Ricard SA said that, while overall organic sales payments in Cuba continue to be received” by the company’s slipped 4 percent, Havana Club rum sales rose 6 percent electricity generation ventures, Sherritt said in the report. during the July-September quarter. The French company is Sherritt announced net earnings of $55.9 million for the third the worldwide marketer of the Cuban-made rum. In other quarter of 2009, down from $133.1 million in the same period news, Havana Club International, Pernod Ricard’s Cuban last year. Even so, the profit turned the company’s 9-month joint venture proposed — in a reversal of roles — to launch results into the black, bouncing back from a big first-quarter Pernod Ricard’s Chivas Regal 18 Year Old Scotch Whisky loss. Nickel production during the third quarter was unchanged in Cuba. Also, Havana Club International is changing the from last year, cobalt was up 12 percent. The company invested design of its bottles and considering raising prices. The new $48.6 million in its Moa nickel joint venture during the bottles of premium seven-year aged rum will be more stylish, quarter. Excluding the loss of Block 7, which was prematurely evoking the craftsmanship of Cuban rum makers. The labels terminated by Sherritt’s Cuban partner, the company’s oil and will feature small notes about rum making and the signature gas production rose 6 percent during the quarter. Electricity of craftsmen. production rose 3 percent. *** *** The U.S. Treasury Department said it wants Microsoft Canadian low-cost carrier WestJet initiated thrice-weekly Corp. and Google Inc. to resume instant messaging services flights from Toronto to Varadero in November. A Boeing 737 in countries such as Cuba and Iran, to ensure “the flow and touched down with 136 passengers at the Juan Gualberto access to information.” Microsoft and Google cut off instant Gómez airport Nov. 1. WestJet will also fly twice a week from messaging services to users in Iran, Syria, Cuba and Sudan, Toronto to Cayo Coco, and once to Holguín. saying U.S. regulations prohibit the required downloads. *** Using a filter, Google also blocked access to its Google Earth, Nearly 100 players from 13 countries competed in the first Google Desktop and other services to users from portals in edition of the Sol Meliá Cuba Golf Cup, held in October U.S.-sanctioned countries. at the Varadero golf course. Canada’s Pierre Le Sieur won *** in the “best male player” and “closest to pin” categories, The Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Aregentinean Antonio Fernández Network (HITN) announced a new series, Enlace Cuba won the overall category. The (Cuba Link), a program dedicated to artists living and working second Sol Meliá Cup is planned in Cuba. The program runs every Sunday, 9 p.m.; the first for October next year. The next broadcast aired Oct. 25. The New big tournament at the Varadero York-based non-profit distributes its course will be the Second Annual programs on cable, via DirecTV, Dish Montecristo Cuba and Esencia Network, AT&T U-verse, Verizon Cuba, Apr. 23-24. Spanish pro FiOS, Time Warner Cable, Comcast Alvaro Quiros is scheduled to Cable, and Charter Communications. appear at the tournament. 18