Vol. 16, No. 9 October 2008 www.cubanews.com In the News Gustav, Ike leave $5 billion in damages Inaction on Capitol Hill as Cubans struggle to put food on table Measures to relax Cuba sanctions in wake BY PATRICIA GROGG / IPS thankful to have saved the rice I planted,” he of hurricanes fail as U.S. financial crisis ontrary to the saying that after a storm said, after estimating that Ike’s direct path was within about 100 kms from his farm, out to sea. consumes lawmakers ....................Page 3 comes a calm, in Cuba the shockwaves left Cby hurricanes Gustav and Ike will prevent “I think the situation is serious, because if the any peace of mind for people living not only in hurricane caused us damage from that distance, Blogging away the most affected areas but in the whole coun- imagine what it must be like in the provinces where it made landfall,” said Torres in a tele- Cuban ‘bloggers’ risk it all to share their try for a long time to come, as they ask them- phone interview with Inter Press Service. controversial views online ............Page 4 selves if the worst is really over yet. According to his calculations, however quick- “The hurricane season lasts through Novem- ly farmers plant now to recoup their losses, Food prices frozen ber. If another one strikes, what will become of their produce will not be available until well into us?” asked Georgina Fernández anxiously. She the first half of 2009. Regime warns profiteers it’ll crack down lives in Havana but has relatives in Pinar del Rio, Meanwhile, vegetables are becoming scarce, on speculation and theft ................Page 4 one of the provinces hit hardest by Gustav and and consumers complain on a daily basis about then Ike, between Aug. 30 and Sept. 9. price hikes, especially in the farmers’ markets Leaving Cuba Fernández’s fears are not without foundation. where prices are set by supply and demand. During the Atlantic hurricane season which Cuba was still assessing the cost of the dam- Detailed analysis of Cuba’s geography of began in June, the most dangerous months for ages caused by Gustav in the west of the island emigration in the last century ......Page 6 Cuba in terms of storm frequency tend to be on Aug. 30, when Ike entered eastern Cuba the October, September and August, in that order. night of Sept. 7, swept over the island and out to What next for Raúl? In the central province of Santa Clara, small sea, where it picked up strength before return- farmer Rubén Torres lost his plantain and cas- ing the following day, sweeping across virtually Cuba’s post-hurricane dilemma: the worst sava harvest, as well as his avocado trees. “I’m See Ike, page 2 possible scenario ...........................Page 8 Puerto Padre in ruins Ten years on, ‘Cuban 5’ spies still in jail Hurricane Ike leaves once-proud port in Las Tunas utterly devastated .....Page 10 as U.S. activists lobby for their release Business briefs BY TRACEY EATON into custody, fined and released. ctivists trying to free five Cuban spies The FBI arrested the five Cuban agents on Bank: Cuba’s foreign debt at $16.5 billion; from American prisons took their case to Sept. 12, 1998, and accused them of forming Havana Club comes to India ......Page 12 AWashington last month — 10 years to the part of a U.S.-based spy ring known as the Wasp day after the FBI arrested the agents. Network. Cuban authorities contend they were Another Che movie Eight Nobel Prize winners along with poets, only trying to protect Cuba from violent attacks lawmakers, students and thousands of others by Cuban-American exile groups. 4-hour Soderbergh film delves into Che from 78 countries have rallied around the spies, Cuban-American leaders dispute that, saying Guevara’s revolutionary years ...Page 13 though their case remains largely unknown in the five spies are a threat to U.S. security. the United States. “They’re enemies of this country,” said Jorge Lawyers weigh options A former top U.S. diplomat in Havana joined Farragut, who believes Cuban spies are likely the activists across from the White House on active not only in Florida and Washington, but Will the convicted ‘Cuban 5’ ever get their Sept. 12 as they unveiled 102,000 signatures de- possibly Houston because “it’s a strategic port.” day in court? ...............................Page 14 manding the release of the so-called Cuban Five. Farragut, who came to Houston in 1980, con- “I’ve followed this case from beginning to tends that the agents should serve out their full jail terms. He heads Casa Cuba, a group that CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly end,” said Wayne Smith, who was posted in by Luxner News Inc. © 2008. All rights reserved. Cuba during the Carter administration. “It’s a helps Cuban immigrants arriving in Texas, and Subscriptions: $429 for one year, $800 for two years. gross miscarriage of justice.” he is passionate in his views. For editorial inquires, please call (301) 452-1105 U.S. Park Police arrested five of the protest- Farragat says he’d rather not hear anyone or send an e-mail to: [email protected]. ers during the demonstration. They were taken See Spies, page 15 2 CubaNews ❖ October 2008 were not in-season, leaving most fields empty Miyorquis added that the authorities sum- Ike — FROM PAGE 1 when the hurricanes blew through, although moned the heads of all of Havana’s markets to the whole country on Sept. 8 and 9. 800 tons of tobacco were affected. give them the information and reorganize An official report gave a preliminary esti- The storms ransacked some 300 public some things that she did not specify. mate of $5 billion for the losses caused by Ike health buildings including 26 hospitals and 14 Independent farmers markets in Havana nursing homes. Nearly 1,200 schools and edu- reacted by not displaying products for sale and Gustav. Seven people were killed, nearly cational centers were damaged, while wind after the government decision announced on 450,000 homes were ravaged by the storms, damage and flooding shuttered factories. Sept. 29 that it would respond with law more than 63,000 beyond repair. Seven ports remain closed. enforcement to the higher prices. At least 200,000 Cubans were left homeless More than half a million hectares (1.2 mil- The government said independent food and hundreds of thousands more may need lion acres) of sugar cane were washed out and markets would have to roll back prices to temporary housing while authorities work to nearly 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of newly where they were before hurricanes Gustav GUSTAV AND IKE: TRAILS OF DESTRUCTION rebuild, according to an official inven- and Ike devastated Cuba. tory of “preliminary losses” that took “Any attempt to break the law will more than half an hour to read on the receive a quick, energetic reply,” the nightly newscast. government warned in a statement. The government’s report called The scarcity of agricultural prod- Gustav and Ike “without a doubt the ucts is one of the main worries of most devastating” hurricanes to hit Cuban authorities after the storms Cuba, noting that “building and reha- devastated at least 110,000 hectares bilitating will mean financial invest- (275,000 acres) of vegetable crops ments and resources truly worth and hundreds of livestock operations. multimillions and will require years The Cuban government received of tense work.” almost 14,000 requests from individu- The impact of the hurricanes exac- als and cooperatives interested in erbated the economic and financial farming idle state land on the first problems in Cuba, which urgently three days of an initiative aimed at needs to increase food production boosting domestic food production. and reduce imports. Street in Camagüey is strewn with debris in aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Provision of land to private farmers The government had already is a priority of Raúl Castro’s govern- warned that owing to high prices on planted caña lost, along with 4,355 tons of ment, which has said that boosting the international market, the cost of ensuring food stocks, the report said. food output is a matter of “national security.” the basic food basket and fuels would be On Oct. 1, the daily newspaper Juventud More than half of Cuba’s arable land cur- much higher in 2008. Rebelde reported that the government is send- rently is lying idle. Cuba imports approximate- According to statistics released in June, ing extra shipments of foods like beans and ly 80% of the food consumed by its 11.2 million Cuba spent $1.47 billion on 3.4 million tons of rice to the state markets to guard against sup- inhabitants and had planned to spend $2 billion food in 2007. At present prices, the cost would ply shortages,. this year even before the devastation wrought be $2.47 billion. At the same time, Cuba’s con- Paula Julia Miyorquis, the administrator of by Gustav and Ike. sumption of 158,000 barrels of oil a day now a market in Havana, told the daily that “there According to official media, 90% of the pro- costs $11.6 million, 32% more than in 2007. exists a quantity of black beans that the state duce from the lands being assigned to individ- AP reported that in the tobacco-rich, west- uals and cooperatives will be delivered to the is going to allocate so the markets don't have ❑ ernmost province of Pinar del Rio, which was a deficit of that product, and a quantity of tons government for distribution.