Vol. 22, No. 10 October 2014 In the News Three golf real estate projects A new tool in your box nearing joint venture phase The first economic index for Cuba is BY JOHANNES WERNER pany is listed on the Hong Kong Stock now available ......Page 3 Exchange. No details about the plans at tate company Grupo Empresarial Bellomonte have been released. Extrahotelero Palmares SA con- Original plans for the site by Coral Domingo on Cuba Scluded negotiations to establish a Capital Group Ltd. — a British company joint venture with a Chinese developer whose principals left the country after Church and opposition in Cuba are fac- for construction of a golf real estate proj- ing internal strife ..........Page 4 facing prison terms on allegations not re- ect in Bellomonte, just east of Havana, lated to Bellomonte — included a 1,100- and two more golf projects proposed unit golf community on a 628-acre site a Privates get a slice of the pie by Spanish companies are in “technical few miles from the beach, anchored by Foreign travel firms can now officially do preparation,” a tourism ministry official two 18-hole golf courses, plus a coun- business with private businesses...Page 6 said, according to news agency AIN. try club, spa, and 323,000 square feet of The Bellomonte SA joint venture with commercial space. On a nearby 20-acre Beijing Enterprise Group Real Estate Co. beach property, Coral was planning to Q&A: TV ads, hecho en Cuba is the second golf joint venture, following build a 160-room hotel and beach club. Island Films has covered a rather un- Carbonera Golf and Country Club SA, a The two projects with Spanish partners known niche — in plain spotlight ..Page 7 joint venture with Britain's Esencia Ho- — at El Salado, west of Havana, and at tels and Resorts, which was established Punta Colorada, in Pinar del Río province early last year. — are in “technical preparation,” Daniel Road accidents in Cuba The Chinese company is a subsidiary Alonso said, without elaborating. An analysis of the latest data and trends of Beijing Enterprises Group Co. Ltd., Once the joint ventures are formally es- on road accidents .........Page 8 a state-controlled company focusing on tablished, the Council of State has to give municipal utility companies. The com- See Golf projects, page 2 Q&A: Frank talk by a diplomat A former Spanish ambassador talks Tokmakjian sentence may cause about big-picture issues ........Page 10 German company opens at Mariel more strain; details still obscure BY JOHANNES WERNER Otto Bock GmbH is planning a small the crimes for which he was convicted, nding on an exclamation mark a without providing any facts. manufacturing plant ........Page 12 graft trial that has caused irritation Tokmakjian and his employees, “by Eand fear among foreign investors, way of gifts and privileges, created mech- Cienfuegos gets cruise terminal a Canadian businessman received a 15- anisms of corruption, with the purpose Cuba's second cruise port will have a year prison sentence from a provincial of obtaining illegitimate hereditary ben- court in Havana Sept. 26, his company efits,” the article said.” This has no place ‘world-class' facility, officials say..Page 14 said. in Cuban society.” After three years in prison, Cy Tok- The article added that Tokmakjian and Two dozen banks drop Cuba makjian maintains his innocence, but his his company were responsible for $91.7 Twenty-seven third-country banks yield lawyers are pondering whether to drop million in damages, “particularly fiscal an appeal in order to speed his transfer to evasion.” The sentence includes the con- to U.S. pressure .....Page 14 Canada, Canadian media report. fiscation of the company's assets in Cuba. Tokmakjian Group has also initiated Given the 74-year old's insistence on legal proceedings against Cuba in three innocence and his company's willingness CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly other venues, seeking hundreds of mil- to fight Cuba in other legal venues, the by CUBA MEDIA LLC. © 2014. All rights reserved. lions of dollars in compensation. hefty sentence could cause more strain, Annual subscription: $398. Nonprofit organizations: Most details surrounding the allega- just as Cuba is seeking to attract foreign $198. Printed edition is $100 extra. For editorial in- tions are still obscure. Eight days after investors. quiries, please call (305) 393-8760, fax your request the company informed international Also, many foreign businesspeople in to (305) 722-4350, or email [email protected]. media about the sentence, official daily Havana believe Tokmakjian was made Granma ran a short article that repeated See Tokmakjian, page 2 2 CubaNews v October 2014 GOLF PROJECTS —FROM PAGE 1 final approval for each project. de superficie) for “99 years or perpetuity” and apartments, the terms of real estate A Tourism Ministry official told the Na- to developers and real estate buyers, re-sales, the visa status of homeowners tional Assembly in July that other proj- Daniel Alonso said. The duration of the and their families, private car ownership ects at La Altura, La Güira, Boca de Ca- joint venture coincides with the “dura- regulations, and more. marioca, Rancho Luna, La Milpa, Punta tion of investment recovery, the size of The Cuban government has since is- Barrera, Playa Inglés, Caleta-La Chorre- the resources involved, and the charac- sued several laws and regulations clari- ra, and Loma Linda are moving towards teristics of the project.” fying the status of foreign real estate the joint venture stage as well. buyers, among them an amendment to Daniel Alonso said the government is FOUR YEARS IN THE MAKING immigration laws, providing long-term now prioritizing the creation of golf joint Some of the joint venture agreements visas to real estate buyers. ventures “preferably in second line of have been four years in the making. One The Esencia project at La Carbonera beach, and in zones lacking necessary week after the 6th Communist Party Con- includes 2,000 real estate units, a golf infrastructure.” He cited golf projects in gress in 2011, Palmares invited several course, a commercial center, and a hotel, Santa Lucía, in the north of Camagüey foreign groups to hold successive three- said José Reinaldo Daniel Alonso, busi- province, and Covarrubias, in Las Tunas day meetings to discuss terms, and at ness director at the Tourism Ministry, province, as examples. These locations least two of the groups agreed to terms. for a total estimated investment of $350 are not farther than 30 minutes from The discussions in these original million. major roads and in proximity to existing meetings were about a chronogram to The company has not provided any up- international airports. form a joint venture with Palmares, the dates about project funding; construction Cuba concedes surface rights (derechos ownership split in the joint venture, and has not started. q ground rules such as who can buy villas The Bellomonte golf project, just east of Havana, is close to the joint venture phase; next on Grupo Palmares’ to-do list are El Salado, just east of Havana, and Punta Colorada, at the western tip of Pinar del Río province. Palmares Graphic: Armando Portela and Britain’s Esencia Group formed a joint venture for the Carbonera project early last year. The four projects are part of a group of 13 pre- approved sites. TOKMAKJIAN —FROM PAGE 1 an example for run-of-the-mill behavior reminder that international investors within a dysfunctional system, and Tok- should beware” when dealing with Cuba. makjian Group executives have made an After the two sides battled over guilt or effort to drive home that point. innocence, a fight about dollars and cents Tokmakjian officials and family mem- and Tokmakjian's transfer to Canda is bers have described the corruption trial now taking shape behind closed doors. as “ludicrous,” suggesting that the alle- According to Reuters, Tokmakjian gations are about routine practices most Group Vice President Lee Hacker said foreign companies use in Cuba. Sept. 29 to reporters at the company Peter Kent, a conservative member of headquarters near Toronto that Cuban parliament for Tokmakjian's district and officials told Tokmakjian's lawyers the 15-year sentence: Cy Tokmakjian former minister of environment, called company would also have to pay $55 mil- the conviction a “travesty of justice.” lion, in addition to the company assets al- enues per year in Cuba. “It's obvious an appeal is a waste of ready seized in Cuba, to get the company In response to the trial, the shutdown time, given the Cuban justice system,” founder released from the La Condesa of the company's Cuba operations in Kent said, according to Canadian Press. prison in Havana where he has been 2011, and the seizure of its assets, Tok- But “it's not over yet,” he added, saying locked up for three years. makjian Group filed suits in the Ontario that Tokmakjian could be expelled from Selling vehicles and industrial equip- Superior Court and in Barbados. It has Cuba or transferred to a Canadian prison. ment, the privately-owned company gen- Kent said the case is “a very strong erated an estimated $80 million in rev- See Tokmakjian, next page October 2014 v CubaNews 3 The CSETI: A new tool in your box atural disasters and politics are, of course, unpredictable. But other Naspects that shape an economy can be measured, trends can be laid out, and forecasts can be made — even in a CSETI values above zero market notorious for its information defi- indicate cit and lack of clear signals. Welcome to the Cuba Standard Eco- favorable conditions for GDP growth. THE CURRENT CSETI FORECAST Values below zero indicate Of the five categories included in the unfavorable conditions.