Vol. 13, No. 7 August 2005 www.cubanews.com In the News NGOs mobilize to send humanitarian aid Dennis the Menace to Cuba in the wake of Hurricane Dennis Hurricane causes $1.4 billion in damages; BY HELEN J. SIMON AND VITO ECHEVARRÍA age and water treatment plants. The medicine wrecks crops, infrastructure ........Page 2 on-governmental organizations (NGOs) was to be distributed by the Cuban Red Cross. are scrambling to send assistance to Dennis, the worst hurricane to hit Cuba since NCuba in the wake of Hurricane Dennis — Flora in 1963, killed 16 people when it struck Embargo foes glum and Fidel Castro’s refusal of the meager assis- Jul. 7-8 and caused an estimated $1.4 billion in damage to housing, infrastructure and agricul- Breaking summer tradition, Congress re- tance offered by the Bush administration. jects bills to ease embargo ...........Page 3 ture. According to the Cuban government, over As devastation from the worst hurricane to 120,000 houses were affected; 15,000 of those strike Cuba in 42 years became apparent, NGOs were destroyed (see detailed map, page 6-7). French kiss-off throughout the United States issued pleas for On Jul. 10, Washington offered to send Cuba Dissidents blast Paris for inviting Cuban items ranging from medicine and money to mat- $50,000 worth of emergency supplies and an tresses and nails. They coordinated with each officials to Bastille Day party .......Page 5 assessment team to determine what items were other and with international organizations to needed most. Castro flatly refused the offer. bring relief to millions of affected Cubans. “If they offered $1 billion, we would say no,” Mapping the mayhem “Urgent appeal for Cuba: Help MADRE deliv- Castro retorted in a TV appearance in which he Two-page map details the destruction left er emergency aid to women and families devas- also rejected help from the European Union. tated by Hurricane Dennis,” read one e-mail by Hurricane Dennis ..................Page 6-7 Nevertheless, State Department spokesman posted a few days after Dennis struck. Tom Casey said the U.S. government supported MADRE, a New York-based international wo- the role of NGOs in Cuba. Newsmakers men’s human rights group, specifically sought “We will continue to work through appropri- Alfredo Mesa of the CANF tells CubaNews money to ship anti-parasite medicines to stem ate non-governmental organizations to deliver what must be done to help the Cuban peo- infections resulting from the destruction of sew- See Dennis, page 6 ple in the wake of Dennis .............Page 8 Losing patience Venezuelan oil keeps island afloat, but Analysts say destructive storm has fueled rising discontent in Cuba .............Page 9 analysts wonder — how much longer? BY DIANA MARRERO “How long can this go on before it explodes?” Personnel changes he Cuban economy is rebounding from asks Luís Vicente León, an analyst with the Michael Parmly to replace James Cason at the crippling loss of Soviet subsidies over Caracas-based polling and economic research T a decade ago thanks to the generosity of firm Datanalisis. USINT Havana; Caleb McCarry is named its new socialist ally, Venezuela. Venezuela’s vast spending, both at home and Cuba ‘transition coordinator’ ......Page 10 President Hugo Chávez recently boosted abroad, is outpacing the country’s Gross Dom- Venezuela’s oil shipments to the island from estic Product — a precarious situation that Business briefs 53,000 to 90,000 barrels a day, under highly could spell economic disaster should the price Cuba’s future in transshipment; Chinese favorable terms. He’s also embarked on a num- of oil fall. Even with prices at around $60 a bar- ber of joint business ventures and cooperation rel these days, Venezuela is running a deficit of firm to build TVs in Cuba ...........Page 12 agreements with his friend, Fidel Castro. about 4.5% of GDP. One of the most promising is a plan to help At the same time, Chávez has also driven Shrine to Elián Cuba explore for oil deposits off its shores and away potential investors and limited the growth Miami house where Elián González lived refine petroleum found there. State-run Petró- of private industry through policies that under- leos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) has opened a keeps the memories alive ...........Page 15 mine economic development, analysts say. new office in Havana to help run the project. “Businessmen are businessmen,” quips Rob- Venezuela’s Banco Industrial has also set up a ert Bottome, publisher of the newsletter CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly Havana branch, making it one of the few foreign VenEconomy Weekly. “They would love to do by Luxner News Inc. © 2005. All rights reserved. banks in Cuba. Subscriptions: $429/year. For subscription or edito- But some analysts warn that the days of business if the conditions are right. But every- rial inquiries, call us at (301) 365-1745, send a fax to where you turn there are obstacles.” (301) 365-1829 or e-mail us at [email protected]. Venezuelan charity might be numbered, espe- cially if oil prices drop. See Venezuela, page 11 2 CubaNews O August 2005 HURRICANE DENNIS Storm causes $1.4 billion in damages, wrecks agriculture BY OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT harvest. Some of them may be dismantled if it two in the central province of Villa Clara. This costs too much to repair. means that thermoelectric plants Rente (San- urricane Dennis was the worst storm to To grasp the extent of destruction, the offi- tiago de Cuba), Nuevitas (Camagüey), Felton hit Cuba in over four decades. It cial media reported that sugar mills in (Holguín) and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Hstretched its devastating path over six Granma suffered “serious damages,” includ- (Cienfuegos) could only supply electricity to provinces: Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Sancti ing the Bartolomé Masó mill, located relative- the eastern and central provinces, while Anto- Spíritus, Cienfuegos, Matanzas and Havana ly far from the eye of the storm. nio Guiteras (Matanzas), Santa Cruz del Nor- (see detailed map, pages 6-7). Damage to the plantations must be also ex- te (eastern Havana) and Mariel (western The Category 4 storm killed 16 people in tensive. Although the sugarcane does not die Havana) were the ones responsible of bring- Cuba, caused an estimated $1.4 billion in loss- with the winds or flooding (some plantations ing power to Matanzas, La Habana, the city of es and forced the evacuation of 1.5 million can be uprooted in extreme cases), the cane’s Havana and Pinar del Río provinces. people, the highest figure ever. Of these, stalks fall to the ground, making the harvest Except for the Mariel plant, however, there 245,000 were sent to shelters and the rest to more expensive and difficult. was no other power source available for west- the homes of family and friends. ern Cuba after the hurricane left Cuban terri- According to the official report, 13 deaths DENNIS POUNDS SUGAR MILLS, POWER PLANTS tory. Both Guiteras and the Santa Cruz plants were reported in Granma, two in Santiago de Luckily for the government, the beginning were shut down to prevent further damage Cuba and one in Sancti Spíritus, mostly due to of the zafra still lies five months ahead, and due to hurricane winds and rain. landslides and flooded rivers. the stalks are not yet fully grown. Consider- The heating up of generators to restart The death toll would have likely been much ing the extreme rainfall, it’s likely that the them takes 8-10 hours. Mariel had to send higher had amphibious military vehicles not sugar transport infrastructure has also suf- energy to both shut-down plants as well as to saved dozens of dwellers in outlying areas of fered serious damage. the gas and water distribution system. In all, Havana — many of whom had been evacuat- By comparison, Hurricane Michelle — a the first power cut lasted about 30 hours, ed and then returned home, only to face a Category 4 storm — flattened 35% of all sug- some areas did not have electricity for 48 sudden surge of water from overflowed dams. arcane when it hit central Cuba in 2001. At hours and the least fortunate, in areas like Some 120,000 homes were severely dam- least 10% of those plantations were destroyed. eastern Havana, had to wait for 72 hours. aged. Of these, 15,000 totally collapsed, Including the damage caused by floods, For most of the following week, there were 25,000 suffered partial collapse, 24,000 lost Michelle affected 50% of Cuba’s sugarcane power cuts in Havana lasting eight, 10 and their roofs and another 60,000 lost part of plantations. Experts estimate that the storm even 12 hours — making people wonder why their covering. destroyed 10% of the 2001-02 sugar harvest. A if Dennis had weakened should the restora- Dennis came only 10 months after the mess much milder, Category 2 storm — Hurricane tion of electricity take so long. left by Hurricane Charley; many houses de- Lili — that struck the same area as Dennis Official media reported that Dennis toppled stroyed by Charley’s raging winds still had and Michelle in 1996 destroyed at least 10% of 37 high-voltage towers and 1,025 utility poles, not been replaced by the time Dennis arrived. that year’s harvest. leaving 21 municipalities without electricity. Besides sugar, other crops were also rav- According to official reports, hundreds of WIDESPREAD DAMAGE TO INFRASTRUCTURE aged by Dennis in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, small generators have been imported to guar- Departing from its recent style of releasing southern Camagüey, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, antee that future power interruptions do not a detailed account of damages, as it did with Sancti Spíritus, Matanzas and La Habana stop essential services like water supply, gas Hurricanes Lili (1996 and 2002), Georges, provinces.