Miami Lawyers May Fight $126M Venture by Russia's Zarubezhneft To

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Vol. 21, No. 1 January 2013

In the News Cuba eases travel rules for most people

Goodbye, Alarcón as experts debate impact on migration Elder statesman Ricardo Alarcón, 75, no BY DOREEN HEMLOCK just a passport and an entry visa to the nation longer head of National Assembly; Este- avana’s new migration law, which takes they plan to visit, if an entry visa is required. ban Lazo may replace him ...... Page 3 effect Jan. 14, relaxes restrictions on trav- But that’s where the questions start. The law Hel for most Cubans but also raises scores doesn’t recognize Cubans’ fundamental right to of questions — including its potential impact on travel, and Havana can deny a passport to any Election 2013 citizen on the grounds of “national security.” Is the balloting for and U.S. immigration policy. delegados diputados Analysts say the law likely will mean more Analysts want to see how broadly or narrowly a Cuban exercise in futility? ...... Page 4 the government applies its law. The Associated Cubans moving out of their homeland, some Press said Jan. 7 that doctors — long restricted through third countries such as Spain and Ecua- from making personal trips — will now be able Political briefs dor into the United States. Already, the number to travel freely. UN group urges Cuba to free Alan Gross; of Cubans obtaining legal U.S. residency hit a In contrast, political dissidents could continue Ex-Gitmo pensions continue ...... Page 5 record in the past decade, surpassing 300,000. to be denied that same right. And it’s unclear How many more Cubans migrate will depend how Havana might treat scientists and others in partly on how other countries react to Cuba’s technical and sensitive fields, say analysts con- Economic report new law. Numbers improve a little, but government sulted by CubaNews. “This is a challenge to U.S. immigration poli- “That part of the law is quite troubling, is stingy with hard data ...... Page 7 cy,” Chris Sabatini, policy director for the Amer- because it doesn’t really specify what are your icas Society, told Fox TV in a Jan. 4 interview. rights if you don’t have a passport,” said Jorge EXCLUSIVE MAP Havana’s migration reform, first unveiled Oct. Duany, who leads the Cuban Research Institute 16, eliminates the much-hated requirement for Two-page CubaNews map details every as- at Miami’s Florida International University. Cubans to obtain an exit visa to leave their coun- The new law also makes it easier for Cubans pect of the island’s economy ...... Page 8 try. Instead, citizens wishing to travel will need See Migration, page 6 Provinces: Matanzas Matanzas is home to sugar-mill towns, oil Miami lawyers may fight $126m venture and Varadero beach hotels ...... Page 10 Business briefs by Russia’s Zarubezhneft to drill for oil Golf-course projects on hold; Cuba expects BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA nationals who invested in pre-Castro Cuba oil 3.1 million tourists in 2013 ...... Page 13 ailed efforts to find oil off Cuba’s north- concessions. western coast led the Castro government Already, some are dismissing Gutiérrez’s Fto turn to old friends in Moscow. plans. Saving history “At some point, this group may win a judg- NYIT students help preserve Havana’s ar- Russian state oil giant Zarubezhneft currently ment in a Florida court against Zarubezhneft, chitectural gems; N.Y. group saves Cuban has an exploration concession off Cayo Santa but it will only be a hunting license,” said Uni- María in north-central Villa Clara province — in mural from wrecking ball ...... Page 14 versity of Nebraska professor Jonathan Benja- an area 330 km east of Havana labeled Block L. min-Alvarado, who’s been following Cuba’s Zarubezhneft is planning to invest nearly $126 quest for oil. Bookshelf million in the venture, stressing its commitment He opposes U.S. statutes that allow lawsuits “Marketing Without Advertising,” “Sustai- in helping the Cubans. It has also been stringent against foreign entities dealing with Cuba, not- nable Urban Agriculture in Cuba” and “50 in avoiding complications with the U.S. trade ing that Gutiérrez and his clients “could extort embargo by choosing a shallow-water rig that Years of Revolution” ...... Page 15 people who were doing business” on the island. has no American-made components. Gutiérrez is best known for representing cli- While that means Zarubezhneft will probably ents who filed claims under Title III of the 1996 CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly Helms-Burton Act, which bars foreign investors by CUBANEWS LLC. © 2013. All rights reserved. not encounter problems with U.S. authorities Annual subscription: $398. Nonprofit organizations: over its rig, a small team of Miami attorneys from “trafficking” in property confiscated by the $198. Printed edition is $100 extra. For editorial in- headed by Nicolás Gutiérrez wants to challenge Castro regime after 1959. quires, please call (305) 393-8760, fax your request the company’s Cuba presence on behalf of its Some years back, Gutiérrez sued a group of to (305) 670-2229 or email [email protected]. clients: descendants of Cuban exiles and U.S. See Zarubezhneft, page 2 2 CubaNews v January 2013 “On behalf of another similarly situated cli- enter the United States. Zarubezhneft — FROM PAGE 1 ent, Consolidated Oil and Gas, Total (France) Gutiérrez has tried to use Title IV in the international resort chains, including Spain’s and Sherritt (Canada) were put on notice — past to pressure these companies into legal Sol Meliá, Jamaica’s Superclubs and France’s with Sherritt sued in federal district court up settlements with varying results, due to occa- Club Med for building or running resorts on through the appellate level,” the lawyer said. sional lax State Department enforcement. beachfront property previously held by a “Furthermore, the National Association of “Sherritt eventually prevailed in court, on Cuban exile family, the Sánchez-Hills. Cuban Mineral and Petroleum Rightholders technical jurisdictional grounds, since their This time around, Gutiérrez wants to show was formed to defend the interests of Cuba’s U.S. and Cuban operations were adequately the Russians that Helms-Burton doesn’t just pre-confiscation legitimate owners, in a more insulated from each other by various corpo- apply to confiscated onshore properties — generalized united front.” rate firewalls,” said the lawyer. “Genoil and but also to 1950s-era Cuban oil concessions That group includes Diaz-Masvidal, Leyte Beau Canada offered us Title IV settlements, suspended by the Castro regime, including Vidal, Gutiérrez Valladon and other promi- which we deemed too low, given our large offshore areas. nent Cuban exile families. number of shareholders.” Gutiérrez and his team plan to use an un- With this track record, Gutiérrez’s team likely group of clients, shareholders of a TITLE IV COULD BE POTENTIAL WEAPON appears confident it can go after Zarubezhneft 1950s oil exploration firm called TransCuba, As before, such Helms-Burton lawsuits on Title IV grounds. His legal team is armed to do so. TransCuba was the largest contigu- have not proceeded under Title III because with a CVOVT concession map from 1957 ous oil concession holder in Cuba by the late the president — due to foreign policy con- which allegedly includes Block L, as well as 1950s, trading on both the New York and cerns — has leeway to suspend its enforce- other onshore and offshore areas of Cuba. Havana stock exchanges. ability every six months. And that’s exactly “We could absolutely put the Russian firm Before then, various Cuban oil concessions what has happened ever since its enactment on notice that any mineral activity conducted were held by an outfit called the Cuban during the Clinton administration. on that block would be considered trafficking Venezuelan Oil Voting Trust (CVOVT). However, Title IV, which is enforced by the in stolen property as per Helms-Burton.” “TransCuba earned a 50% interest in all of U.S. State Department, is non-suspendable Jorge Piñón, a Cuba oil expert with the Uni- CVOVT’s concessions in exchange for a mul- and bars such foreign executives and their versity of Texas, dismisses the significance of timillion-dollar payment and other terms to family members from being granted visas to See Zarubezhneft, page 3 invest certain amounts and maintain the concessions active,” said a member of the Gutiérrez legal team who spoke to CubaNews on condition he not be identified. “Later, many acres were farmed out to companies like Cuban Stanolind, Sulgraves and others. TransCuba held a 50% working interest in 15.4 million acres held under concession by the CVOVT.” The firm was eventually confiscated by Fidel just after the revolution, rendering its stock worthless. TransCuba stock certificates are currently being sold on eBay as pre- Castro souvenirs, while current holders of both those shares — and those of CVOVT — are on the Foreign Claim Settlement Commis- sion’s certified claimant list in Washington. Cuba has lured oil prospectors since ’50s “Mineral rights have a well-accepted and iami lawyer Nicolás Gutiérrez’s Trust Co. (CVOVT), which mapped out legally recognized force majeure clause which interest in asserting the rights of both onshore and offshore oil concessions generally allow noncompliance with contract M throughout the island, despite the fact that terms when there is a greater force that pre- those holding pre-1959 oil concessions reveal a little-known aspect of Cuban offshore drilling technology at the time was vents it, and this would also stop the clock on still in its infancy . the concession period from running, or expir- economic activity. (see map above) Most newspaper articles on Batista-era Cuba oil expert Jorge Piñón of the Uni- ing,” said the Miami lawyer. versity of Texas said there was a company “Illegitimate government intervention and Cuba mention sugar holdings, casinos and hotels, but there’s nothing about oil explo- called Empresas Petroleras Jones de Cuba, illegal confiscation of assets [are] precisely whose chief shareholder was Ted Jones. [that] greater force,” he said. ration in Cuba — onshore or offshore. During the 1950s, the expanding U.S. in- “Second was Consolidated Cuban Petro- In the mid-1990s, Gutiérrez helped set up a leum Corp., whose main shareholders were Florida subsidiary of TransCuba and trans- dustrial base was as hungry for oil then as the Chinese are now, which meant petrole- Clarence Moore, Peter Bergson, Rex Rand, ferred its Helms-Burton rights to that sub- John Harriman, Blanca Díaz López and Al- sidiary, letting it put foreign oil companies “on um exploration projects were underway not berto Díaz Masvidal García. Subsidiaries notice” of their alleged illegal exploration only domestically but throughout Latin were Cuban Land Oil Co. and Petroleo Cruz activities in Cuba. America, the Middle East and Africa. Verde Co. And there was Grupo Jarahueca- To some investors, Cuba looked promis- Motembo, whose shareholders were gov- DEFENDING INTERESTS OF CONCESSION OWNERS ing as well. ernment officials during the Batista regime.” “We informed the U.S. State Department, One such person was John Alston Crich- The Sep. 4, 1956 edition of the Securities OFAC and the New York Comptroller’s Office ton, a Texas oilman who would later become & Exchange Commission News Digest said [which still has custody of TransCuba’s fro- a close associate of President George H.W. Jones had also set up another entity, Los zen assets] accordingly, and then notified sev- Bush. In 1959, Crichton — who had bar- Angeles-based United Cuban Oil Co., offer- eral of the corresponding foreign partners of gained for drilling rights in Cuba during the ing two million shares at $1.25 per share. the Cuban regime in TransCuba’s stolen prop- Batista regime — raised funds to help the The SEC said Jones planned to use that erties, such as Genoil (Great Britain), Beau CIA sabotage Fidel Castro. stock offering to finance oil exploration Canada, Taurus (Sweden) and Petrobras The more prominent William F. Buckley along Cuba’s north coast. (Brazil), among others,” he said. Sr. set up the Cuban Venezuelan Oil Voting – VITO ECHEVARRÍA Petrobras once operated on Block L. January 2013 v CubaNews 3 POLITICS Lazo may replace Alarcón as National Assembly chairman BY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI was assigned to the Ministry of Foreign heart and beloved wife Margarita, Alarcón arlier this month, Miami-based journal- Affairs; from 1964 to 1991 he was Cuba’s per- became depressed and started drinking heav- ist Max Lesnik — having just returned manent representative to the United Nations ily. Friends say he was no longer the same. Efrom Havana — announced on his daily in New York. He also served as vice-minister Various media sources in Miami have con- radio program that 75-year-old Ricardo Alar- nected Alarcón’s removal from his current cón, chairman of the National Assembly since position to the arrest of close adviser Miguel the early 1990s, would no longer remain at Alvarez and his wife Mercedes Arce on espi- the helm of Cuba’s legislative body. onage charges. Their arrest, according to different ver- Word on the island is that Alarcón may be LUXNER LARRY replaced by 68-year-old Esteban Lazo. sions in Havana, came after Alvarez was re- The recent publication of biographies of cruited by the CIA during a stay in New York, candidates for deputies to the 612-member and Arce’s similar connections in Mexico. body did not include that of Alarcón, which amounts to an official confirmation. ALARCÓN SAID NOT LINKED TO SPY SCANDAL Alarcón, who granted us an exclusive, two- Alvarez had been named to work with hour interview nine years ago (see CubaNews, Alarcón years ago, came from the ranks of Cuba’s intelligence services, and until recent- May 2004, page 8), was among Cuba’s most distinguished leaders. A devout Catholic, he ly, his wife headed the University of Havana’s became a student leader during the under- Ricardo Alarcón lights up during a 2004 interview. Centro de Estudios de Alternativas Políticas. ground struggle against Batista. and minister of foreign affairs until his 1993 The two have been detained in Havana In the early ‘60s, he served as president of appointment to head the National Assembly. since Mar. 3, 2012. the University Students Federation (FEU) Alarcón, a member of the Cuban Commu- In any case, the scandal took place a year and was a leader of the Union of Young nist Party’s Central Committee since 1981, ago and no one is pointing a finger at Alarcón Communists (UJC). was elected to the Politburo in 1991 with the himself. As to his future, Lesnik said Alarcón In 1962, following his graduation with highest number of votes ever. will devote his energies to securing the degrees in philosophy and literature, Alarcón Following the death of his lifelong sweet- See Alarcón, page 13

Zarubezhneft — FROM PAGE 2 these pre-Castro era offshore concessions. EDF: What about environmental impact? “I do not believe that the pre-Castro gov- hen international oil companies The organization has a long track record ernment ever gave a deepwater offshore oil were exploring off Cuba’s north- monitoring Cuba’s coastlines. As far back and gas exploratory concession. They could Wwestern coast last year, much of as the 1990s, the EDF took part in helping not have done so anyway — the technology the U.S. media focused on the risk of oil the Castro government protect Jardines de was not available at the time,” he said in a spills like the Deepwater Horizon disaster la Reina, an 850-sq-mile marine reserve phone interview from Austin. that fouled the Gulf of Mexico — because it along Cuba’s southeastern coast. However, as shown on the CVOVT map was close to South Florida.” The reserve boasts large populations of drawn in 1957, such concessions still included Now that exploration efforts have shifted sea turtles, sharks, huge groupers and deepwater areas of Cuba. to Cuba’s north-central coast, the media thick seagrass meadows — all essential in Assuming this legal battle heats up, seems far less interested in the environ- maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Gutiérrez hopes to get access to TransCuba mental consequences. Whittle understands that the regime is assets in the United States to help cover costs. That worries attorney Dan Whittle, Cuba under pressure to find oil off its coasts, “The company has assets in New York that program director at the New York-based especially because its major petroleum have been frozen for decades and could be Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). source, Venezuela, could dry up if ailing used to defend its property from traffickers, if Whittle has been monitoring Cuba’s President Hugo Chávez dies. it convinces the U.S. courts or the politicians marine life for the past 12 years. At first, he However, Whittle hopes the Cubans are to release said monies,” said the attorney. was concerned about the island’s expand- cautious with their offshore activities. Time will tell if Zarubezhneft executives ing tourism sector and the adverse effects it “If they are intent on proceeding, then will give in to a Title IV suit, since that firm is might have on the environment. they should do so in the most careful, sen- not known to hold U.S. interests. But with that sector still limited mainly to Havana and Varadero, Whittle says he’s sitive way possible,” said Whittle, saying his Gutiérrez, seeing that many well-connected concerns aren’t limited to Cuba. “Fishing, Russians have grown accustomed to traveling focusing more now on offshore oil drilling. “My concern as an environmentalist is coastal development, and offshore oil and unimpeded to VIP destinations worldwide, gas exploration in Cuba can have huge im- apparently hopes that the stigma of being the impact on Cuban marine life,” Whittle told us. “That area, [Cuba’s north central pacts on the United States and vice-versa.” unable to visit the United States will serve his The nonprofit group is also urging the clients’ interests in the long run. coast] is very important. It’s extremely rich in marine biodiversity. The impact could be Cubans to look seriously at ocean thermal Yet not everyone agrees. energy as well as other alternatives to oil. “The Russians will give them the finger,” significant from any major oil spill. What distinguishes this from other sites is the “With good standards and policy in place, said Benjamin-Alvarado. “I don’t think they Cuba could be a model for clean energy care about being able to come into the U.S.” near-shore impact.” q The EDF notes that the Cuban govern- development in the Caribbean,” said Dr. Vito Echevarria, a New York-based freelance ment has designated 18% of its ocean shelf Rod Fujita, director of ocean innovations -- journalist, has written for CubaNews since our as marine protected areas, with plans to the research and development arm of EDF. establishment in 1993 about business, music, cul- increase that area to 25%. – VITO ECHEVARRÍA ture and sports, and more recently e-commerce. 4 CubaNews v January 2013 POLITICAL ANALYSIS Election 2013: More than just a ‘rubber stamp’ this time? BY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI clude Politburo members and key ministers, participation, which continue to be significant n February, Cubans will vote for leaders of mass organizations, scientists, intel- despite objections to one-party rule. delegados lectuals, artists and others). The 1992 electoral reform established that (provincial delegates) as well as diputados I— candidates to be elected as lawmakers Their names, pictures and biographies are candidates must be voted on individually and to the National Assembly. well publicized through the official media so not based on a single slate. This allows nega- It’s the culmination of a process that began that voters may become familiar with them. tive votes by those wishing to express sponta- last September, when 32,183 candidates were In recent years, candidates have been ex- neous discontent. directly nominated and later voted on by their pected to meet with their constituencies and In the elections of 2003 and 2008, negative neighbors in public meetings. Some 8.5 mil- listen to their concerns, complaints and de- votes, annulled votes and abstentions gained lion Cubans were eligible to vote. mands. Even this is not enough: in the Feb. 3 some ground, accounting for 9-10% of all votes election they must get more than 50% of votes, cast. The good old days in which Fidel Castro In voting that took place between Sep. 3 could claim 98% voter support are no longer and Sep. 29, a total of 14,537 local delegated there; however, discontent translated into were elected, representing 50,963 circunscrip- abstention still remains very small. ciones (precincts) in 168 municipalities The dissident movement could try to chal- throughout Cuba. lenge the system at the local levels by fielding These elected delegates during the last its own candidates — or by opposing such week of October — by way of indirect nomi- elections by urging huge numbers of voters to nation — proceeded to nominate those candi- abstain. Yet despite years of financial and dates for the upper levels (municipal, provin- technological support from Miami, dissidents cial and National Assembly) of the legislative have done nothing of the sort. branch of government and voted for the At the time of the September 2012 local municipal delegates, who serve two-and-a- elections, many foreign observers predicted half-year terms. This is the second stage. high levels of abstention and negative votes, The third stage takes place Feb. 3, when citing rising unemployment. But that didn’t Cubans will vote for 1,269 provincial assem- happen, and most likely won’t happen this blies of delegates, as well as for those candi- time around either. dates nominated as lawmakers to the 612- Even so, the drastic changes now taking member National Assembly (see map below place in Cuba will influence future patterns of for a breakdown of numbers of deputies and del- political behavior. The reasons for apathy, dis- egates allocated for each province). content and changing attitudes are obvious; On Feb. 24, the new National Assembly for under the electoral reform law of 1992. negative votes or rising numbers of people ab- the next five-year term will be inaugurated, staining will send a clear message to leaders and its governing body between sessions — This time around, the average age of the candidates for National Assembly is 41, just that expanded reforms are needed urgently. the Council of State, its president and its five If the Feb. 3 elections show strong backing vice-presidents — will be elected, based on a over a third (34.3%) are women and 42% are black and mestizo for the official candidates, then Cuban author- list of names nominated by the Politburo of (see chart above). ities will interpret these results as a clear reas- the ruling Communist Party of Cuba. surance that current policy enjoys over- The second and third stages act as a sort of ‘EL VOTO UNIDO’ whelming popular support. electoral college all the way to the top, but at Many foreign observers are extremely criti- Observers will pay close attention to the National Assembly level, 50% of all candi- cal and dismissive of Cuba’s electoral pro- whether Party leaders, following Fidel’s dates are effectively nominated through this cess. To them, it’s nothing but mockery and precedent set in the 1990s, will ask voters to procedure by local delegates. rigged results — with no competition vote for the “el voto unido” — the entire offi- The other 50% are nominated directly by between opposing parties. Therefore, they cial slate — and not for individual candidates. Party leaders, based on the argument that the see Cuba’s elections as absolutely irrelevant. Eventually, some candidates may not win the positions they hold must be represented auto- Apparently yes, but they also tend to under- required 50%. matically at the National Assembly (these in- estimate the level of citizen involvement and In 2008, President Raúl Castro did not call for “el voto unido” and so far, nothing sug- gests that he’ll do so this time around either. Finally, Cuba’s National Assembly, widely perceived as a “rubber-stamp” institution, will now play a key role over the next five years. And it’s not only about implementing the Party’s Lineamientos, or guidelines. According to Vice President and Politburo member Marino Murillo Jorge, the assembly will also be crucial in redesigning the system over the course of the next three to four years. Under Cuba’s constitution, the National Assembly, when in session, is the sovereign body of the nation. q Former Cuban intelligence officer Domingo Amuchastegui has lived in Miami since 1994. He writes regularly for CubaNews on the Communist Party, Cuba’s internal politics, economic reform and South Florida’s large Cuban exile community. January 2013 v CubaNews 5 POLITICAL BRIEFS UN GROUP URGES CUBA TO FREE ALAN GROSS In their own words … A United Nations group is calling on the Cuban “It is indispensable to break down the colossal psychological barrier that government to release Maryland resident Alan results from a mindset rooted in habits and concepts of the past.” Gross, saying his imprisonment is unfair, the — Raúl Castro, in closing remarks at the December session of the National Assembly. Washington Post reported Jan. 8. A 12-page report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was released by the Gross “In 2013, they can’t put people in jail and throw away the key anymore. They family’s lawyer. The Nov. 23 report had previous- have to act in a way that doesn’t draw international scrutiny. The turnstile jailing ly been released to the Cuban government, of perceived and real dissidents is really the next best way to keep the opposition which blasted its conclusions in early December, from growing.” saying that Washington had put pressure on the — Cuba analyst José Cárdenas, quoted in a USA Today article by Tracey Eaton that UN and arguing that Gross had been fairly tried. says political arrests in Cuba jumped to 6,602 in 2012 — the highest in decades — as But Cuba didn’t release the report itself. authorities shift their strategy for dealing with growing civic resistance. Gross was arrested in December 2009 while working on a project to set up wireless Internet “The government is trying to confuse public opinion. It is trying to show that connections for Cuba’s Jewish community. He repression has lessened. But that is not happening. Repression is increasing.” was working as a subcontractor for the U.S. — Héctor Masedanas, a former political prisoner also quoted in the USA Today story. Agency for International Development. U.S. officials have portrayed the work as purely “If Venezuelan funding dries up, [Raúl] Castro will have to speed up the pace humanitarian. But Gross was violating Cuban law of reform, allowing the economy to open up much sooner than he expected.” by doing work for USAID on the island, since un- — Peter Hakim, president emeritus of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, der Cuban law such activities must be authorized. quoted in a Jan. 3 Businessweek story on the health of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez. The working group — whose members include lawyers and professors from Senegal, Pakistan, “The new year has many surprises in store, and a new U.S.-Cuba policy may Ukraine, Chile and Norway — has no enforce- be one of them. One hopes that for the sake of all the dissidents and freedom- ment powers, but the ruling could put pressure loving Cubans in the island, U.S. policy continues to defend their rights.” on the Cuban government to release Gross, 63. The report repeated criticisms of Cuba’s judi- — Guillermo Martínez, writing Jan. 3 in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. cial system, saying it is not impartial, and also criticized the offense Gross was charged with, “The Cubans were far less flexible than the Americans expected. The U.S. ... committing crimes against the state, as imprecise wanted Cuba to release Gross, and only then would it press ahead on any other and vague. The report also says Gross should’ve policy changes. Rodríguez allegedly lectured Valenzuela for roughly an hour on been released on bail while awaiting trial instead Cuba’s history of grievances.” of being held in prison for more than a year. — R.M. Schneiderman, writing in Foreign Affairs, about a September 2010 meeting between then-Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela and Cuban Foreign PENSIONS TO CONTINUE FOR EX-GITMO EMPLOYEES Minister Bruno Rodríguez to secure the release of USAID subcontractor Alan Gross. The Pentagon has solved the problem of how to pay some $45,000 a month in pensions due to 67 “Mired in mistrust and miscalculation, each side seemed to be waiting for the elderly Cubans who once worked as day laborers other to blink. Eventually, however, the U.S. appeared to step back from an at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo, the Miami opportunity to free Gross from jail ... The Cuban-American lobby had won.” Herald’s Carol Rosenberg reported Jan. 3. — Same article from Foreign Affairs magazine (see above). Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale wouldn’t describe how the money would be delivered to the “The Cubans have hinted that in return for Gross, we should free the Cuban former Navy base workers, elderly Cubans who Five. But that is a non-starter. At this stage, it would be unacceptable to the Am- once commuted from the Cuban side of the mine- erican public. Five for one would be seen as unbalanced. Also, one of the five was fields to the U.S. Navy base for such jobs as convicted (however unfairly) of murder and is serving a double life sentence.” welders, machinists and bookkeepers. — Center for International Policy’s Wayne Smith, in a Jan. 7 report on U.S.-Cuba ties. But he said Washington and Havana had found a fix to ensure that “we won’t skip” the January “Given this ruling, I would like to know why your government is ignoring the payouts of pensions to the Guantánamo retirees. declaration of the United Nations that his imprisonment to be wrongful and its “Cuban officials have agreed to a workable inte- request for Alan’s immediate release?” rim mechanism,” Breasseale said by email. The issue came to a head last month with the — Judy Gross, in a Jan. 8 letter to Cuban President Raúl Castro (see news item at left). retirements of Harry Henry, 82, and Luís La Rosa, 79 — the last two “commuters” who on “It is not an option for our future development, it’s an imperative of our time. weekdays came through Cuban and U.S. military Without the mass application of the New Information and Communications checkpoints to work, respectively, in a Navy base Technologies (NICT), to production processes and social life, there are no con- office supply depot and at the motor pool. temporary possibilities of development.” The two men had powers of attorney for 65 oth- — Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist quoted by Inter Press Service in a Jan. 5 article er retirees, would cash their checks and then de- about the economic urgency of connecting average Cubans to the Internet. liver their funds in the course of their commute. The U.S. embargo prohibited wiring the funds “You have to exchange your American money when you get there, and when to the pensioners in Cuba, so the courier system you leave, you have to pay a $50 exit tax in U.S. dollars. You also have to keep a was developed as a legal workaround. diary of your daily activities, and you have to keep it for five years in case The colonel was unable to provide a precise the U.S. government wants to know what you were doing in Cuba.” total for the January 2013 payout. But he said last — Ronee Nassi, executive director of California’s Los Gatos Chamber of month’s pension payout to the 65 retirees totaled Commerce, which is sponsoring a Mar. 10-18 business trip to Cuba. $44,508.53, or an average of $684 each. 6 CubaNews v January 2013 a couple thousand Cubans a year, given the soil, assuming their motive is political. Migration — FROM PAGE 1 cash and visa difficulties facing most Cubans, Repealing that law, also known as the “wet to move in and out of their country without said Manuel Orozco, a specialist in migration foot, dry foot” policy, will help reduce the losing property or other legal status on the is- and remittances at Inter-American Dialogue, risky business of alien smuggling from Cuba land. For example, it lets citizens stay abroad a Washington-based think tank. to U.S. shores, Peters argues in a 14-page stu- up to 24 months, instead of 11 months. And it But longer-term, the outflow could rise, dy issued in December, “Migration Policy Re- allows Cubans who have moved overseas to partly from the ranks of Cubans with Spanish form: Cuba Gets Started, U.S. Should Follow.” visit for an initial 90 days, instead of 30 days, citizenship, Orozco and others say. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) an anti- and even re-apply for residency in Cuba. Some 200,000 Cubans of Spanish heritage communist hardliner and former chair of the recently obtained Spanish citizenship under a House Foreign Relations Committee, sug- REASONS BEHIND CUBA’S CHANGE OF MIND new law from Spain. Once they leave Cuba, gests a different change. She wants Cubans who become U.S. residents on the assump- Why the reform now? Cuban officials have they could use their Spanish passports to enter the U.S. visa-free and then stay and apply tion of political motives to be banned from vis- said one reason is to improve relations with iting the island, starving Cuba of their cash. the more than one million Cubans living over- as Cubans for U.S. residency after one year. seas, recognizing that most now leave for economic rather than political reasons. NEW DIRECTION FROM WASHINGTON “It’s part of a slow but emerging vision that A significant jump could put pressure on migration is not necessarily an act of treason. receiving countries to tighten their immigra- It’s to de-politicize emigration,” said FIU’s tion laws. News reports in the Bahamas alrea- Duany, a specialist in migration issues. dy highlight concerns of increased migration Better relations with Cubans abroad can from Cuba after Jan. 14. mean more money for Cuba’s cash-strapped So far, the State Department has not men-

“It’s not easy to get visas to the U.S. or to third countries such as Mexico and Spain. Only those with family abroad or a little money to survive a few weeks abroad will be able to go, mostly white Cubans. That will add to the deepening divide between whites and blacks.” — JAIME SUCHLICKI, DIRECTOR OF UM’S INSTITUTE FOR CUBAN AND CUBAN-AMERICAN STUDIES government and its struggling economy. tioned anything about a U.S. immigration pol- More emigres leaves fewer people to feed icy change. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland and employ. And Cubans abroad can spend has said Washington likes Havana’s move to when they visit and also send cash and goods liberalize travel, and maintains its migration back to their friends and family on the island. accords with Havana that provide about Neither change is likely in the current Con- Cuba receives at least $1 billion in cash remit- 20,000 entry visas a year for Cubans. gress, however, said Ted Henken, a professor tances yearly, hard currency vital to the econ- But some analysts and politicians want new at Baruch College and president of the Asso- omy, analysts say. direction from Washington. ciation for the Study of the Cuban Economy. But questions abound. How many more The Lexington Institute’s Peters says it no “Cuba is a very low-priority issue,” said Cubans will be able to travel or migrate any- longer makes sense to treat Cubans different- way? Travel is expensive. A passport costs ly than other immigrants, when they now Henken, “and there’s very little political capi- roughly $100, about five times the average come mainly for economic reasons just like tal to gain from it.” q monthly salary in Cuba. the rest. He urges an end to the 1966 Cuban Doreen Hemlock, former Havana bureau chief And few islanders can afford a plane ticket, Adjustment Act, which essentially offers legal and now business writer at the South Florida Sun- money to spend abroad and the price of an residency to any Cuban who arrives on U.S. Sentinel, is a regular contributor to CubaNews. entry visa required for Cubans to visit nearly every country except Ecuador. “It’s not easy to get visas to the United States or to third countries, such as Mexico FIU issues call for papers on Cuban diaspora and Spain,” says Jaime Suchlicki, who runs lorida International University has is- their history, legacy, future role and rela- the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban sued a call for papers to be presented at tions with their countries of origin — espe- and Cuban American Studies. Fthe 9th Conference on Cuban & Cuban- cially those comparing the Cuban experi- “Only those with family abroad or a little American Studies, titled “Dispersed Peoples: ence with other Latinos in the U.S. such as money to survive a few weeks abroad will be The Cuban and Other Diasporas.” Mexicans, Dominicans or Puerto Ricans. able to go, mostly white Cubans. That will add The May 23-25 meeting at FIU’s campus Panels should include four paper presen- to the deepening divide within Cuba between in Miami “invites comparisons between the ters, a chair and a discussant. Submissions whites and blacks.” Cuban experience and that of other groups may be in English or Spanish, and all pre- that live outside their homelands — from sentations are limited to 20 minutes. CASH CRUNCH LIMITS CUBANS’ OPTIONS the Caribbean to the Mediterranean, from FIU must receive all proposals for papers Just how many Cubans may move overseas Mexico to the Southern Cone of South and panels by Feb. 1; notifications of accept- is open to debate. Today, some 40,000 Cubans America, from Israel to China.” ance or refusal will be sent out by Mar. 1. leavie the island yearly to settle elsewhere, Organizers say they’re especially interest- Details: Jorge Duany, Director, Cuban Re- mainly in the United States, prompting a drop ed in papers and panels that examine the search Institute, FIU, 11200 SW 8th Street, DM in the island’s population, said Phil Peters of political, economic, social and cultural di- 363, Miami, FL 33199. Tel: (305) 348-1991. the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. mensions of diverse diasporas, as well as Fax: (305) 348-3593. URL: http://cri.fiu.edu. Short-term, that exodus might grow by just January 2013 v CubaNews 7 ECONOMY Cuban economy improves a bit, but data hard to come by BY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI The labor market continues to unfold as ing in the red for decades, and the total uba’s economy will grow 3.7% this year, predicted last year by CubaNews. In 2012, the amount of subsidies has never been disclosed. up from 3.1% in 2012, while the deficit state sector shrank by 228,000 jobs (com- About 5 billion pesos in social security ben- Cwill represent 3.6% of GDP in 2013, pared to 137,000 jobs in 2011). efits are now extended to 1.7 million Cubans, down from 3.8% last year (equivalent to 2.167 This trend is likely to continue — not just with another 815 million pesos going to low- billion pesos). as a result of state policies but also because of income families. Those are among the numbers released by the many thousands of Cubans who are quit- In 2013, state funds will have to provide for Cuba’s National Assembly during its Decem- ting their low-paying state jobs and moving to 864,100 elementary and secondary-school ber session, which reported that most results the private sector. students, as well as 233,300 higher-education Jobs in that sector jumped by 23% in 2012, students, 152 hospitals, 452 local clinics and fell short of 2012 goals. In particular, foreign say official figures, but statistics alone cannot 11,504 family doctors. investments came in 19% below target, main- reflect the current underground economy in In addition, huge sums from the 2012 and ly because of a slowdown in construction. which hundreds of thousands of people are 2013 budgets will have to be allocated to help Also not meeting goals were the tourism, finding more rewarding jobs in agriculture, Santiago de Cuba and other eastern provin- agriculture and industrial sectors, as well as services and other productive activities. ces recover from last year’s Hurricane Sandy. food sales through state channels. Oil, gas Cuba’s new taxation law, which took effect and nickel production stagnated at 2011 lev- GETTING RID OF UNFAIR SUBSIDIES Jan. 1, will offer flexibility for individual farm- els, though the sugar industry is recovering ers and or (those slowly, with a 20% increase in output last year. The coexistence of a state economy, a pri- “finqueros” “usfructuarios” vate sector and a large, informal underground receiving land in usufruct), while nine differ- During 2013, the state will collect 47 billion economy renders official figures unreliable. ent taxes will be phased in gradually. Taxes pesos in revenue (up 1.8%) while shelling out Yzquierdo said 3.8% of the workforce is job- on individual income and housing will be the 50 billion pesos in expenditures (up 1.6%). less, but added that another one million work- last to take effect, one year from now. State investments will grow by 34%, accord- ers are not “actively seeking employment.” The newly published code constitutes the ing to the National Assembly’s Economic This weird phrasing is inaccurate and mis- first comprehensive taxation in Cuba since Committee, with 79% of such investments fo- leading because these people are informally the 1959 revolution abolished nearly all taxes cused on “productive activities” — though no employed in all kinds of jobs and private busi- (see CubaNews, December 2012, page 7). specific numbers or projects were released. nesses. The problem is that many of them Lina Pedraza, minister of finance and pri- refuse to register and pay taxes — and at the STILL WAITING FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT LAW ces, said the top sources of government rev- same time, the Cuban state refuses to recog- As in past years, one thing the National enue are retail food sales, state corporations nize their existence. Assembly neglected to discuss was a new for- and businesses, and the “non-state” or private This mutual denial represents a major ob- eign investment law. sector, which contributes 14% of the total. stacle to economic stability and a huge black Debate over this law was postponed yet hole when seeking reliable statistics. again, despite official promises from the Min- PRIVATE-SECTOR JOBS JUMPED 23% IN 2012 Last year, 196 of the 480 economic activi- istry of Foreign Trade and Investment that it As usual, Pedraza’s report, as well as that of ties controlled by the state (or nearly 41% of would be debated — and despite the fact that Economy Minister Adel Yzquierdo, made no the total) did not meet their goals — the this legislation is one of the most important specific references to the role of remittances, result of a still highly centralized economy. Lineamientos [guidelines] adopted by the nickel exports, medical services, foreign The picture becomes even worse when Sixth Party Congress in 2011. investments, foreign credits or loans. subsidies are added into the equation. Nothing’s been said officially about this, Cuba spent more than $1.5 billion on food Although many subsidies have been abol- probably because the foreign investment law imports in 2012 and will spend a similar ished over the last 20 years — they were is especially subject to last-minute factors and amount this year, said the report, while agri- slashed by 38% in 2012 alone — they continue adjustments that depend on various factors. culture, industry and sugar production will to take a heavy toll on the economy. Among them: what to expect from the White remain at 2012 levels. Some 1,000 state entities have been operat- House, the delicate health of President Hugo Chávez and the future of Venezuelan oil subsidies; relations with the 27-member European Union, and potential opportunities with such Swiss bank ZKB drops its Cuba portfolio emerging giants as Brazil, Russia, India, ressed by Washington, Switzerland’s ZKB “cannot avoid paying attention to China and South Africa. 4th-largest bank dropped its business embargoes and blacklists,” a bank spokes- Shortcomings and setbacks are addressed Pwith Cuba, the website CubaStandard. man told finance newsletter Inside Parade- year after year in every report delivered at the com has reported, citing Swiss media. platz. “After prominent competitors bid fare- National Assembly. State-owned Zürcher Kantonalbank had well to the Cuba business long ago, due to Raúl Castro repeatedly blames this on picked up a Cuba portfolio after Swiss bank- the embargo, Zürcher Kantonalbank is now sheer negligence, business mismanagement, ing giants UBS and Crédit Suisse canceled pulling out of Cuba for the same reason.” frequent violations of contracts and persistent their business with the island seven and five CubaStandard.com said the bank’s move defaults, obstructionist attitudes by bureau- years ago, respectively. affects a number of customers, as well as crats and managers, growing corruption, lim- The White House has increased financial the Swiss-Cuban Chamber of Commerce ited resources, outdated technologies and the pressure on Cuba, partly as a side effect of a and aid organizations such as Camaquito. impact of the U.S. trade embargo. crackdown on Iran and money laundering. The move against ZKB takes place as U.S. Yet policies and actions are needed to over- The Treasury Department’s Office of officials probe the role of Switzerland’s top come this other “blockade” which has very lit- Foreign Assets Control recently issued a re- banks in tax evasion by U.S. citizens. UBS in tle to do with U.S. hostility. As it was fre- cord $1.9 billion fine against Britain’s HSBC 2004 paid the United States a $140 million quently said in the early 1970s: “No me le over alleged money laundering in Mexico fine, after it had swapped old dollar bills for eches más la culpa al bloqueo” [don’t blame it and violations of the U.S. embargo. new ones for Cuba-related customers. on the blockade anymore] — advice well worth heeding today. q 8 CubaNews v January 2013 January 2013 v CubaNews 9 10 CubaNews v January 2013 GEOGRAPHY Sugar-mill towns, oil and Varadero — Matanzas has it all BY ARMANDO H. PORTELA arely 90 kilometers east of Havana, Matanzas has excellent agricultural

Blands, abundant fresh water, an ample LUXNER LARRY and deep bay, good transportation routes, numerous oil deposits and Cuba’s best-known tourist resort, Varadero. One of the island’s most important ecological reserves, the Ciénaga de Zapata, covers over half of the land area of Matanzas. This huge marsh, by far the largest of its kind in the Caribbean, has freshwater swamps, saline marshes, hammocks and bogs, rare birds and the endangered Cuban crocodiles. POPULATION At the end of 2011, Matanzas had 696,528 inhabitants, or 6.2% of Cuba’s total population, down from 12.9% at the beginning of the 20th century. In the long term, its demographic growth has been rather modest compared to Cuba’s other provinces, although with net annual gain of 4.1 per 1,000 residents from 2006 to 2011, its growth exceeds the national average. Centuries of sugar farming and enly spread croplands have led to the rise of small towns and villages rather than large cities. Nearly 19% of the province’s people live in the capital city, also called Matanzas, with 132,651 inhabitants in 2011 (up from 75,000 in 1959). The latest available Cuban census (2002) showed other leading cities’ populations as follows: Cárdenas, with 80,832 inhabitants, followed by Colón (44,520), Jagüey Puerto Rico Libre, a sugar mill town of 1,200 in central Matanzas province (top); bottom, from L to R: The Grande (27,248); Jovellanos (26,726) and Pharmaceutical Museum in downtown Matanzas; monument to José Martí; farmer brings caña to market. Pedro Betancourt (14,143). Smaller towns are associated with sugar This is the fifth in a series of monthly arti- Natural pasture land, often infested with mills or important highway junctions, such as cles on Cuba’s 15 provinces by geographer marabú and other invasive bushes, account for Perico (12,247), Los Arabos (10,000), Martí Armando H. Portela, who has a Ph.D. in geo- 41% of all agricultural lands. (9,161), Unión de Reyes (9,043) and Limonar graphy from the Soviet Academy of Sciences. For centuries, sugar cane was the back- (8,088). Varadero and Santa Marta, two small bone of the local economy — but the collapse villages dependent on tourism and the oil but below the province’s 1.2% annual growth of that industry, along with the emergence of industry, had 7,822 and 10,465 inhabitants rate during the 1970s. oil and tourism, radically changed the provin- respectively in 2002. cial economic base. The downsizing of Cuba’s The effects of the economic crisis of the AGRICULTURE sugar industry in 2002 left Matanzas with only 1990s were somewhat milder in Matanzas Matanzas has 524,900 hectares (1.3 million six out of 21 mills still producing sugar. than throughout the rest of Cuba. Between acres) of agricultural land. Of that, 207,300 ha After successive downsizings of the sugar 1993 and 2000, the provincial population grew (512,250 acres) or 39.5% of it are croplands, industry, sugarcane currently accounts for by 0.7% a year, slightly above the national rate and 100,400 ha (248,000 acres) are vacant. around 80,800 ha (200,000 acres), down from 180,000 ha in the late 1980s. Currently, there are only four active sugar mills in Matanzas out of 21 existing before 2002. The four are Mario Muñoz (built in 1986), Jesús Rabí (formerly Porfuerza), René Fraga (Santa Rita) and Mexico (Alava). The España Republicana (España) and Juan Avila (Santo Domingo) mills might be moth- balled until conditions improve. The status of another two mills, Cuba Libre (Cuba) and Esteban Hernández (Guipúzcoa) is not clear. They were scheduled to produce only molasses, but have remained silent for the past few years. In recent harvests, Matanzas has produced See Matanzas, page 11 January 2013 v CubaNews 11

Matanzas — FROM PAGE 10 100,000 tons of raw sugar or less, val- ued at $44 million at prevailing world prices. That’s down from 288,000 tons of sugar in 2002 and a far cry from the nearly one million tons produced every year in the 1980s, when the crop was worth over $550 million, thanks to pref- erential prices by the Soviet Union. As for the rest of Cuba’s sugar sector, poor agricultural yields and a lack of qualified personnel are to blame for Matanzas’ scanty results in the past few years. Recent reports indicate that the Mario Muñoz sugar mill — one of the most reliable in Cuba, usually providing 40% of its sugar — has been a major disappointment, yielding only 39,000 tons in 2012 compared to the normal 100,000 tons per season. Ironically, for a country with centuries of sugar expertise, unskilled personnel in key positions are to blame for the “great disorder” or “debacle” — to use Gran- ma’s terms — in this sugar mill. Two sugar refineries located in Cárdenas — José Smith and España Republicana — can produce roughly 10% of Cuba’s refined sugar, though the José Smith refinery, formerly known as Progreso, is almost certain to be turned into a tourist attraction. In Cárdenas, alcohol is distilled and used to produce rum at the nearby Havana Club distillery. Matanzas is also noted for citrus, with its orchards producing one-third of Cuba’s citrus crops with the help of windfall for Cuba’s energy-starved Israeli technology and investment. economy. These orchards are concentrated north The Cárdenas-Varadero, Rangel of Jagüey Grande; 24,800 ha are in pro- and Seboruco-Yumurí oil fields have duction, down from 48,800 ha in 1989. a combined yield exceeding 27,000 Plagues, loss of markets and poor barrels per day. That’s equivalent to management have hit the citrus indus- 44% of Cuba’s national output and try badly, with output falling to 155,000 nearly a fifth of its total consump- tons in 2011, down from 418,000 tons in tion. This “black gold” — a heavy, 1988. Oranges account for 62% of total dense oil containing 6% sulfur — is output and grapefruit another 24%. used in specially adapted thermal Jagüey Grande is also the site of a fruit- power plants and cement plants. juice concentrate processing plant. The province produces 13.8 bil- INDUSTRY lion cubic feet per year of natural The discovery of important hydro- gas, or 75% of Cuba’s total; the gas is carbon deposits in Matanzas has been a See Matanzas, page 12 LARRY LUXNER LARRY

Aging marker along Cuba’s Carretera Central welcomes motorists to Matanzas province. 12 CubaNews v January 2013

TOURISM Tourism is by far the most lucrative sector of the provincial economy. Varadero, with over 20 kilometers of white- sand beaches, is the No. 2 tourist destination in Cuba after Havana. Thanks to new hotel construction, as of 2011 Varadero had 23,614 rooms — up from 8,000 rooms in 1994. In 2011, tourism to Varadero generated revenues of $773 million, down from $970.6 million in 2008 and only slightly higher than the $760 million reported in 1999. Yet tourism revenues in 2011 for Varadero alone were nearly double the earnings of Cuba’s entire sugar exports for that year. Also in 2011, Varadero received just over one million hotel guests, or around 40% of all visitors to Cuba. Even so, vast spaces of vacant lands and unexploited beaches are available near Varadero for future development. Nearly 18,500 people in Matanzas work in tourism. In 2012, Cuba received nearly 2.9 million tourists, up 4.9% from 2011, Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero announced on Dec. 27, with 3 million visitors expected in 2013. Canada remains the top source of tourism, with Britain the leading European source. INFRASTRUCTURE The six-lane National Highway, the narrow old Central Highway and the Central Railroad link Matanzas to the rest of the island, while a network of secondary roads and railroad branches reaches all settlements and economic hubs. The Via Blanca highway connects Matan- zas with Havana to the west; an electric train, built in 1916, still runs between Havana and Matanzas. Roads serving tourism areas are in fair shape, while others are in poor condition. One of the last engineering projects completed with Soviet assistance is the petroleum storage and transporting facilities of the port of Matanzas. Originally designed for receiving, storing and distributing nearly all fuel imports for Cuba, the facility was finished just as the Soviet Union was collapsing, and has never been used to its fullest extent. The petroleum facility can receive tankers of up to 150,000 tons and warehouse half a million cubic meters of crude, to be shipped later to the port and oil refinery at Cienfuegos through a 186 km-long pipeline capable of moving 134,000 barrels per day. The port of Matanzas used to be one of the country’s busiest. At its heyday in the 1980s, more than 300 ships called there annually. In future Matanzas oil refinery, a $4.3 billion in- — FROM PAGE 11 addition, 16% of Cuba’s sugar production was Matanzas vestment scheduled to open in 2015, with the exported through the port —- making it sec- currently used to generate electricity. capacity to process 150,000 barrels per day. ond only to Cienfuegos. The 330-megawatt Antonio Guiteras ther- However, failure to hit deepwater oil in four The bulk sugar terminal has a nominal mal power plant is reportedly the most effi- exploratory wells in the Gulf of Mexico — capacity of 10,000 tons a day, though traffic is cient in Cuba, consuming 10,000 barrels of which would have fed the future refinery — way down these days. The downsizing of the fuel oil a day. The government invested $33 might put this ambitious project on hold. sugar industry has put a further damper on million so that the plant can produce 90% of its Finally, the Bellotex mill near Matanzas is port activities. power with domestic crude oil. the main supplier of special fabrics for Cuba’s Six miles northeast of Matanzas is Juan Natural gas is used to generate power at tobacco industry, producing 19.6 million Gualberto Gómez International Airport, now the 173-megawatt Energas plant near Varade- yards of textiles a year. Cuba’s second-busiest airport after Havana’s ro, which was built and is operated in associa- And the old Rayonitro chemical plant is an José Martí. Completed in the 1990s to replace tion with Toronto-based Sherritt International. important supplier of fertilizers and sulfuric the aging, inadequate Varadero airport, it can A Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture built the acid for Cuba’s agriculture sector. handle up to two million passengers a year. q January 2013 v CubaNews 13 BUSINESS & FINANCE BUSINESS BRIEFS WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH GOLF COURSES? Cuba closes aging nickel plant in Nicaro It seems as though all golf course develop- uba has closed the oldest of three nick- ple’s minds for a while, because the plant has ment projects in Cuba have come to a com- el plants in the country, Reuters corre- very old technology and very low efficiency,” plete standstill, the website Havana Journal reported Jan. 3, noting that “there is not even Cspondent Marc Frank reported Dec. 28, said a plant office worker who asked not to be named. “We didn’t know exactly when it any hype of development — let alone quoting a Communist Party leader in the Hol- announcements of any development deals.” guín provincial mountain town of Nicaro. would close, but eventually it would have to because it is not economically sustainable.” Speculating that this means Cuba is “far, far Nickel is Cuba’s most important export away” from breaking ground on any new golf and one of its top foreign-exchange earners The Ramos Latour plant had been produc- courses, publisher Rob Sequin reported that after technical services and tourism. ing only a few thousand tons of unrefined “the world is still waiting for the liberalization “This plant’s productive role is completed nickel plus cobalt in recent years as the gov- of real-estate laws that would give foreigners and now it will dedicate its efforts to servic- ernment struggled to keep it open and figure ownership of their golf villas and condos, so es,” Jorge Cuevas Ramos, First Secretary of out what to do with Nicaro’s 15,000 residents. maybe that is one reason that Cuba golf- the Holguín Communist Party, said in an Cuba will now have two nickel processing course developers have nothing to say recent- interview with the provincial TV station. plants operating in Holguín — one a joint ven- ly. I don’t think there was any news from any “After the closing of the René Ramos ture with Canadian mining giant Sherritt In- golf course developer in all of 2012. So, just Latour plant, its director said only the miner- ternational and another owned by state-run like everything else in Cuba... we wait.” al transportation system would be maintained Cubaniquel, both located in Moa, Holguín. Here’s a rundown of golf course projects in so it is ready to be transferred to Moa or for a Cuevas said Cuba’s Ernesto Che Guevara Cuba, put together by Sequin: foreign company that might be interested in plant did not meet its 2012 plan, while the n Leisure Canada. Announced in 1999 that investing in the area,” the report said. Pedro Sotto Alba plant with Sherritt had, it was working on a new golf course project in Cuba’s nickel industry is cloaked in secre- without providing further details. Reuters Jibacoa. Result: Nothing but maybe some cy. National media has yet to mention the estimates 2012 output at around 65,000 tons signed letters of intent. Company apparently plant’s closure after operating for 70 years. of unrefined nickel plus cobalt. has moved to a wait-and-see approach. In 2010, Cuba produced 69,700 tons of A Cuban-Venezuelan ferronickel plant The website LeisureCanada.com forwards unrefined nickel plus cobalt. being built in Moa will open in 2013 and is to to the new brand of 360 VOX. As a side note, “This is something that has been on peo- absorb some Ramos Latour plant workers. q 360 VOX did purchase the domain name VisitCuba.com for $110,000 and has developed a very nice Cuba travel website. him. Other sources suggest that one of two n Carbonera Club. From a 2008 Esencia Alarcón — FROM PAGE 3 other men in their 50s might be named to press release, “Construction of the Carbonera release of the “Cuban Five” from U.S. prisons. replace Alarcón. Golf & Country Club will commence in 2009.” Lazo, a black man who grew up in extreme The first is Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Set to open in 2011. poverty in the province of Matanzas, was 14 52, an engineer and experienced Party leader This was the first golf development project announced in Cuba. Developers have been when he joined the militias and youth organi- in Villa Clara and Holguín. A former minister of higher education, he is often publicly silent for several years now. However, they do zations, participating in the revolution’s 1961 sponsor the Montecristo Cup tournament in literacy campaign. praised by Raúl Castro. The second is Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Varadero and offer Cuba golf vacations.: Two years later, he became a member of La Altura. A $1 billion golf course-hotel- the Communist Party and by 1969 was 53, a lawyer, journalist and former Cuban n ambassador to the UN. Rodríguez is current- marina development near Bahia Honda. All already a leading Party figure in Cárdenas quiet; not much written about this project. and throughout Matanzas province. ly minister of foreign affairs and was recently n Bellomonte. A Coral Capital golf course Lazo’s activities were confined to construc- promoted to the Politburo. Both men have accumulated extensive and marina project in Guanabo. CEO and tion and the sugar industry until 1980, when other executive jailed; whereabouts unknown. he was sent to study in East Germany. During speaking and parliamentary skills. They also that time, he became close to current First both represent the younger generation that is SUCHEL LAUNCHES NATURAL PRODUCT LINE already taking power in Cuba, replacing the Vice President José Ramón Machado Ven- Suchel Corp., a leader in the Cuban produc- tura, 82, who helped promote Lazo’s career. “históricos.” Time is in their favor. As such, the next five years will witness the tion and sales of perfumes, cosmetics and end of these — Alarcón being just detergents, will develop a line of natural prod- OTHER POSSIBILITIES: DIÁZ-CANEL, RODRÍGUEZ históricos ucts for export in 2013, the ACN news agency From 1982 to 1986, Lazo was first secretary the first of many to pass into history. Raúl’s reported Dec. 5. of the Party in Matanzas. He was then trans- repeated commitment to tenures not lasting The company’s import-export director said ferred to Santiago de Cuba and became the longer than 10 years fuels the demand for the new line is directly related to Cuban sites, Party’s first secretary in 1991, remaining at new leaders in their late 40s or early 50s. personalities and local flora, fauna and scents. that post until 1994. One such promising leader in her 40s is That year, he was named to lead the Party Ana Mari Machado, who was recently named CUBA EXPECTS 3.1 MILLION TOURISTS IN 2013 in the city of Havana, following the Maleco- vice-chairman of the National Assembly. q Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said he nazo riots of July which led to the rafter crisis. expects 3.1 million tourists to visit Cuba this In 1998, Lazo joined the Politburo, special- TO OUR READERS: From time to time, year, representing a 7% increase in revenues. izing in matters of ideology, culture, science CubaNews receives requests for back issues Marrero also said five hotels will be built in and education. Since then, he’s traveled of our newsletter. In our office, we keep Trinidad, and several others in Cienfuegos, extensively, representing Cuba at numerous print copies going back to September 1993. Camagüey, Holguín, Varadero and the north- overseas meetings and conferences. If you would like an old issue, please email ern keys of Villa Clara (Santa María) and Cie- Described as a straightforward, discreet go de Avila (Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo). a request to [email protected] or send a note man of few words but with strong character, to Larry Luxner, Editor, PO Box He also noted the growth of Cuba’s private Lazo is well-respected and inquisitive. CubaNews, sector, with 4,500 registered B&B rooms and 1345, Silver Spring, MD 20915-1345 — USA. Nevertheless, his age could work against 1,700 private restaurants known as paladares. 14 CubaNews v January 2013 ARTS & CULTURE NYIT students help preserve Havana’s architectural gems BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA Old Havana’s pedestrian boulevard, El Prado. al scene isn’t limited to NYIT students. Back he New York Institute of Technology The Office of City Planning provided NYIT in 2010, he was a guest speaker at an Ameri- (NYIT) is running ads in local newspa- students its most recent building codes and can Institute of Architects New York chapter Tpers highlighting its current architectu- regulations and gave them the chance to draft event on Cuban architecture. ral project in Old Havana. With approval from proposals for new structures in that part of Among that event’s participants were noted the Office of City Planning in Old Havana, the Havana. New York architectural firms like Perkins “The importance of this particular endeav- +Will,and Helpern Architects, as well as Nico- or was to open the students’ eyes to the fact lás Quintana (who passed away a year later), that hardship is the mother of invention, and Belmont Freeman, and Hervin Romney. that the Cubans have had to innovate in all This architectural interaction between Hav- sorts of ways,” said NYIT professor Brian ana and New York is also starting to benefit Brace Taylor, an architectural historian who younger-generation Cuban architects. launched the school’s project in Old Havana. In September 2012, the Omi International Arts Center in Ghent, N.Y., launched the ex- RICARDO PORRO INSPIRES NYIT PROJECT hibit “Skyline Adrift: Cuban Art and Architec- The inspiration for NYIT’s Cuban project ture” which showcased sculptures from two was architect Ricardo Porro, one of the origi- emerging Havana architects, Yilena Feitó nal designers of Cuba’s National Arts School Echarri and Yoandy Rizo Fiallo. — and a guest lecturer at NYIT’s School of That exhibit will remain at Omi until May Architectural and Design. In 2010, he became 2013. Feitó Echarri and Rizo Fiallo won six- a visiting professor at NYIT. week residencies at the Vermont Studio “He’s a very powerful, inspiring architect,” Center for their participation in that project. Taylor told a local news network. “He has his “Architects in Cuba have the same high own language and form that’s not easily imi- level of training as artists, yet have no oppor- tated by others. He’s a cultured man, and the tunities to travel,” said co-curator Rachel Per- students have really been excited [by his era Weingeist at the opening of that exhibit. presence].” “We wanted to bring [Cuban] architects here Since then, Porro has been working with to have the same freedom and openness and NYIT to design a dance school in Queens. opportunity to dream big.” q With a higher profile now being given toward Vito Echevarria, a New York-based freelance program started last spring when 10 NYIT NYIT’s Old Havana project, it’s likely to draw journalist, has written for CubaNews since our students trekked to Cuba for a one-week peri- more applicants for the spring 2013 semester. establishment in 1993 about business, music, cul- od. There, they studied renovation sites along Porro’s imprint on New York’s architectur- ture and sports, and more recently e-commerce. NYC nonprofit group saves Cuban mural from destruction andmark West!, a New York-based historic preservation group, eling efforts. However, he ran into opposition from Landmark West!, has succeeding in stopping a local entrepreneur from tearing the Cuban Cultural Center of New York and other civic groups. L down a rustic Cuban bas-relief mural in Manhattan’s Upper Arlene Simon, president of Landmark West!, said the restaurant’s West Side of Manhattan. location fell within the Upper West The mural, located at West 71st Side-Central Park West Historic Street and Columbus Avenue, was District — which meant that the once the entrance of Victor’s Café, changes Hunt wanted to make were a restaurant owned by Guanaba- subject to approval from New York coa, Cuba, native Victor del Corral. City’s Landmark Preservation It depicted a young Cuban gua- Commission. jiro and two oxen, and was admired Hunt eventually backed down, by locals not only because of the and is set to open his restaurant this mural’s quality but also because an month, with the mural intact. enclave of Cuban exiles once lived “The mural is emblematic of a on that block. notable moment in this neighbor- Victor’s Café was in business hood’s larger history,” Simon told from 1963 until the early ‘90s, when the New York Times in a recent inter- it moved to its current location view, recalling the Cuban artists, near Times Square — with a clien- professionals and other immigrants tele ranging from visiting Miami who once lived in that part of Man- Cubans to Wall Street yuppies. hattan before relocating to New For entertainment, the owner Cuban artist Arturo Martín works on the mural at Victor’s Café in this Jersey, South Florida and else- even had Spanish troubadors per- 1971 photo (left); same mural as it looks today at NYC’s Café Tallulah. where in the 1990s. form for his customers. Details: Landmark West!, 45 West Eventually, local entrepreneur Greg Hunt bought the site, and in 67th Street, New York, NY 10023. Tel: (212) 496-8110. Fax: (212) 875- early 2012 announced plans to open a French restaurant, Café 0209. Email: [email protected]. Tallulah. Hunt wanted to tear down the mural as part of his remod- – VITO ECHEVARRÍA January 2013 v CubaNews 15 BOOKSHELF ‘Marketing Without Advertising’ and ‘50 Years of Revolution’ eriodically, CubaNews presents reviews of SUSTAINABLE URBAN AGRICULTURE IN CUBA “Fifty Years of Revolution: Perspectives on books we think will interest our readers. Cuba, the United States and the World” (ISBN: PThis month, we offer “Marketing With- As large-scale industrial agriculture comes 978-0-8130-4023-3, price $44.95) features con- out Advertising,” “Sustainable Urban Agricul- under increasing scrutiny because of its oil tributions from a global Who’s Who gallery of ture in Cuba” and “”Fifty Years of Revolution.” and petrochemical-based input costs and envi- international scholars. The volume adopts a ronmentally objectionable consequences, uniquely nonpartisan attitude, a departure MARKETING WITHOUT ADVERTISING increasing attention has been focused on sus- from this topic’s generally divisive nature. tainable, local and agro-ecological techniques Organized to analyze — not describe — In 1993, in order to stop an economic free- in food production. fall in Cuba, Fidel Castro’s government reluc- Cuba’s foreign relations, the 400-page volume After the demise of the Soviet Union in the examines sanctions, the U.S. trade embargo, tantly instituted a series of early ‘90s, Cuba was left with- reforms to compensate for the regime change, Guantánamo, the Cuban exile out access to external sup- community and more. Drawing from personal demise of foreign aid from port needed to carry on with Moscow. These policies ush- experiences as well as recently declassified industrial agriculture. documents, the contri-butors update, summa- ered in a broad spectrum of The economic crisis led the national and global consumer rize and explain one of the prickliest political country to reconsider former issues in the Western Hemisphere today. products and services previ- models of resource manage- ously unknown to Cubans. Soraya M. Castro Mariño is professor at the ment. Cuba retooled its agri- University of Havana’s Center for the Study of In a few short years, Cubans cultural programs to focus on were seeing foreign brands International Migration. Ronald W. Pruessen urban agriculture — sustain- is professor at the University of Toronto’s De- among consumer durables and able, ecologically sound a broad array of logos brought partment of History and is the Pulitzer Prize- farming close to densely pop- nominated author of “John Foster Dulles: The in by tourists. ulated areas. Today, 20 years into these Road to Power.” Food now takes far less Antoni Kapcia of the University of Havana limited market reforms, no time to get to the people, who systematic research has stud- calls the book “a timely reassessment, by an are now better nourished impressive array of specialists, of a subject ied consumer brand aware- because they have easier ness among 11 million Cubans. which has access to whole foods. far too long The paucity of academic Moreover, urban farming research stems from the chal- been bedev- has become a source of iled by poli- lenges of conducting public/consumer opin- national pride — Cuba has one of the best ion, and official state policy contends that con- tical parti- urban agricultural programs in the world — sanship and sumer wants and needs are satisfied by either with a thousand-fold increase in urban agri- a series of generic and Cuban-made brands, an exces- cultural output since 1994. sive focus or by independent entrepreneurs who pro- Sinan Koont, associate professor of econo- vide brandless products and services. on person- mics at Dickinson College, has spent the last ality. As a “Marketing Without Advertising: Brand Pre- several years researching this topic, including result, we ference and Consumer Choice in Cuba” by aca- fieldwork at many sustainable farms in Cuba. demics Emilio Morales and Joseph Scarpaci learn much In his 208-page book, “Sustainable Urban and we (ISBN: 978-0-415-89698-6, price $100) analyzes the role, narratives and behavior of con- Agriculture in Cuba” (ISBN: 978-0-8130-3757- understand 9, price $74.95), he tells the story of why and more.” sumption in Cuba since 1959. how Cuba was able to turn to urban food pro- The book documents how consumer behav- Adds the duction on a large scale with a minimum use noted Mex- ior has changed since the pre-revolutionary of chemicals, petroleum and machinery — period, with special focus on the early 1990s. ican scho- and of the successes it achieved, along with lar Ana Cov- It documents the shift from moral-based the continuing difficulties it still faces in rewards in the early years of the revolution, to a r r u b i a s : reducing its need for food imports. “Perfect rivals or partners? Fifty Years of Re- the rise of material-based incentives. Says Al Campbell of the University of Utah: Although the Internet is highly regulated, volution accounts for a bilateral relationship “This study is to date the only book-length that has defied reason, intuition and good the Cuban diaspora in exile brings back cloth- investigation in either English or Spanish of ing, personal care products, electronic goods sense but that can nevertheless be explained. this important national experiment in trans- Yet the question remains: how can Cuba and and magazines that increase the awareness of forming the environmental, economic and brand logos, jingles, products and services. the United States relate to each other?” social nature of today’s dominant system of Details: Stephanie Williams, University Press These and related findings from the authors’ producing food.” primary reserach are ripe with marketing im- of Florida, 15 NW 15 St., Gainesville, FL 32603- plications such as substitution effects, price Details: Stephanie Williams, University Press 1933. Tel: (800) 226-3822. Fax: (352) 392-0590. elasticity, latent demand for certain products of Florida, 15 NW 15 St., Gainesville, FL 32603- Email: [email protected]. URL: www.upf.com. and services, and consumer behavior. 1933. Tel: (800) 226-3822. Fax: (352) 392-0590. Morales is former marketing director for Email: [email protected]. URL: www.upf.com. “Bookshelf” is an occasional feature of in which we summarize works Cimex SA, Cuba’s top retail and wholesale en- FIFTY YEARS OF REVOLUTION CubaNews tity; he moved to Miami in 2006. Scarpaci, a we think will interest our diverse audience. marketing professor at West Liberty Univer- Since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, eleven If you would like your book, report, novel sity’s Gary West College of Business in West men have served as president of the United or scholarly publication to be featured in an Virginia, has visited Cuba more than 50 times. States, arguably the most powerful nation on upcoming issue, please email a request to Earth. Yet none of them has been able to or send a review copy Details: Routledge Publishing, 7625 Empire effect any significant change in the stalemate [email protected] Dribr, Florence, KY 41042. Tel: (800) 634-7064. to Larry Luxner, Editor, CubaNews, PO Box between the United States and Cuba, its clos- 1345, Silver Spring, MD 20915-1345 — USA. Fax: (800) 634-4724. Email: orders@taylorand- est neighbor not to share a land border. francis.com. URL: www.routledge.com. 16 CubaNews v January 2013

CALENDAR OF EVENTS CARIBBEAN UPDATE If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know! You already know what’s going in Cuba, Fax details to CubaNews at (301) 949-0065 or send e-mail to [email protected]. thanks to CubaNews. Now find out what’s happening in the rest of this diverse and Feb. 7: “Outlook on the Americas” AACCLA Luncheon, Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, Fla. fast-growing region. Co-hosted by the University of Miami’s Center for Hemispheric Policy, annual event “provides Subscribe to Caribbean UPDATE, a an opportunity for open dialogue on the economic and political issues that will have the great- monthly newsletter founded in 1985. Cor- est impact on hemispheric trade and investment in the coming year.” Keynote speaker: José W. porate and government executives, as well Fernández, State Department’s assistant secretary for economic and business affairs. Cost: $75. as scholars and journalists, depend on this Details: Association of American Chambers of Commerce of Latin America, 1615 H St, NW, Wash- publication for its insightful, timely cover- ington, DC 20062. Tel: (202) 463-5573. Email: [email protected]. URL: www.aaccla.org. age of the 30-plus nations and territories of the Caribbean and Central America. Feb. 15-17: Intensive Executive Certificate Program in Cuban Studies, University of Miami. When you receive your first issue, you “This weekend program is designed for accommodating busy schedules. Our program’s have two options: (a) pay the accompany- expert instructors use a multi-disciplinary approach to reflect Cuba’s past and address Cuba’s ing invoice and your subscription will be present and future issues. Professors include José Azel, Brian Latell, Pedro Roig, Jaime Such- processed; (b) if you’re not satisfied, just licki and various guest lecturers. Breakfast provided all 3 days, and lunch first two. Cost: $495. write “cancel” on the invoice and return it. There is no further obligation on your part. Details: Jennifer Hernández, Institute of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami, The cost of a subscription to Caribbean 1531 Brescia Ave., Coral Gables, FL 33146. Tel: (305) 284-5386. Email: [email protected]. UPDATE is $281 per year. A special rate of Mar. 9 : Ivette Cepeda performs for the first time ever on U.S. soil, Miami-Dade County Audi- $142 is available to academics, non-profit torium. “This exceptional and highly charismatic artist brings her own soulful blend of salsa, organizations and additional subscriptions mailed to the same address. bolero and Cuban to the stage while covering compositions from traditional and estab- filin To order, contact Caribbean UPDATE at lished composers to contemporary trailblazers.” Tickets: $25-55. Details: Miami-Dade County 116 Myrtle Ave., Millburn, NJ 07041, call us Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33135. Tel: (305) 547-5414. Email: [email protected]. at (973) 376-2314, visit our new website at Mar. 15-17: 6th Annual Global Cuba Fest 2013, Miami. Weekend event features performan- www.caribbeanupdate.org or send an email to [email protected]. We accept ces by Julio Fowler, Yadam, Pavel Urkiza, Yosvany Terry, Hilario Bell, Horacio “El Negro” Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Hernández and the Cuban Creole Choir. Venues: Deauville Hotel Jazz Club and North Beach Band Shell (Miami Beach) and Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Prices vary. Details: Global Cuba Fest, Fundarte, Miami. Tel: (305) 316-6165. Email: [email protected]. URL: www.fundarte.us. Apr. 6 : Gema Corredera performs highlights from her first solo album “Derramando Luz” at Miami-Dade County Auditorium. “This celebrated vocalist and guitarist brings her exceptional voice and musicianship to the local stage with a sound influenced as much by her Cuban roots as by jazz, Brazilian music, opera and flamenco.” Tickets: $25-55. Details: Miami-Dade County

Auditorium, 2901 W. Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33135. Tel: (305) 547-5414. Email: [email protected]. Editor May 2 3 -25 : “Dispersed Peoples: The Cuban and Other Diasporas,” FIU Cuban Research In- n LARRY LUXNER n stitute, Miami. Event “invites comparisons between the Cuban experience and that of other Washington correspondent groups living outside their homelands — from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean, from Mex- n ANA RADELAT n ico to South America’s Southern Cone, from Israel to China.” Details: Paola Salavarría, Florida Political analyst International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 11200 SW 8th St., DM 363, Miami, FL 33199. n DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI n Tel: (305) 348-1991. Fax: (305) 348-3593. Email: [email protected]. URL: http://cri.fiu.edu. Feature writers Jun. 3 : “Cuban Economy Colloquium 2013,” Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere n VITO ECHEVARRÍA n Studies, New York. Annual gathering analyzes Cuba’s economy. Details: CUNY, 365 Fifth Ave,, n DOREEN HEMLOCK n #5209, New York, NY 10016. Tel: (212) 817-2096. Fax: (212) 817-1540. mail: [email protected]. Cartographer n ARMANDO H. PORTELA n

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