Cuban Weekly News Digest – March 31st, 2011

Cuban Weekly News Digest – “A compilation of news articles about Cuba, distributed since 1992 in order to encourage a balanced understanding of the Cuban situation”

Solvision – Guantanamo – The elimination of the so-called low-voltage areas in Guantanamo is benefiting nowadays about 66,000 customers in the easternmost Cuban province, thanks to the program of the Energy Revolution in Cuba, sponsored by the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz. Engineer Sael Cantillo Guzman, head of the Integrated Projects (DIP) of Network Rehabilitation, in the local electric company, explained that since 2006, when there began such efforts in the territory until the end of last year, in some 529 the problem was solved in order to provide better service to citizens. Guzman also said that until 2010 the 86.4 percent of the work planned under the program in the province was executed, in which is investing about 27 million pesos. Although still remain about 63 low-voltage areas to eradicate the real impact can be seen admirably, since the quality of networks implies a reduction of interruptions from the changes, said the engineer.

Havana – DTC – The company Habaguanex S.A., which runs tourist facilities in Old Havana, is carrying out new projects in 2011. Works include the enlargement of the commercial network, which consists of 19 hotels, 38 restaurants, some 80 shops and more than 60 cafeterias and bars. In that regard, the Hotel Palacio de Marqués de San Felipe y Santiago de Bejucal, the first such establishment on Saint Francis of Assisi Square, was inaugurated in 2010. In addition, Habanaguanex S.A. also administers the hotels Santa Isabel, Valencia, Ambos Mundos, Florida, Raquel, Palacio O’Farrill, El Comendador, Los Frailes, Tejadillo and San Miguel, among others. In the gastronomic sector, the company runs the restaurants Monserrate, El Baturro, La Zaragozana, Castillo de Farnés, Café del Oriente, La Dominica and Prado y Neptuno.

CubaStandard.com – Prosecutors are seeking long-term prison sentences for an ex-minister and a Chilean businessman, after a provincial court in Havana found them guilty in a corruption case apparently designed to show the limits of translating power and influence into business in Raulista Cuba. A long-term sentence for Alejandro Roca Iglesias, 75, who was minister of food industries from 1976 to March 2009, would send a strong signal to Cuban officials with material ambitions. Max Marambio was absent, fighting the court proceedings from Chile; he was represented by a court-appointed defender.

If prosecutors have their way, Roca will get 15 years of prison, while Max Marambio, 63, former part-owner of the Alimentos Río Zaza joint venture, would get 20 years, offical daily Granma reported. The court ruled that Roca was guilty of bribery and “acts harming economic activity or commerce,” and Marambio of bribery and falsification of business documents, according to the Communist Party newspaper. Initially, Marambio was also accused of fraud and embezzlement. Sentencing is expected “in the coming days.” The brief Granma news item didn’t provide any details about the case. According to rumors, Roca made considerable bank deposits abroad from illicit commissions. A son of Roca’s works for Marambio in Chile.

The government shut down Río Zaza, which produced and sold processed food products in Cuba to the tune of $100 million a year, early last year and took back Marambio’s house in Havana. As of October, two Río Zaza executives were imprisoned in relation to the investigation, according to Marambio, but the government hasn’t released any information regarding other pending cases.

A Havana court indicted Marambio in May 2010, after a one-year investigation. The governments’ efforts to get Marambio to appear before a court have been published by official media, but this is the first time official media mentioned Roca’s case. The Chilean businessman, a political insider in Cuba during the 1970s and 80s, has not returned to the island since fall 2009. He filed legal proceedings against Cuba before the court of arbitration of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in October 2010.

“The central objective of this legal action is the unrestricted defense of my honor, that of my collaborators, and of all people who have cooperated with, and trusted in, the entrepreneurial project Río Zaza,” Max Marambio wrote in a press release about his ICC case in October. He explained the ICC was the forum for disputes indicated by the Cuban government to foreign investors, adding that the ICC offers the necessary neutrality to “fight a conflict built on unfounded and libelous accusations.” Marambio claims that part of the accusations stem from his paying generous benefits to Cuban employees.

Shortly after he filed the ICC case, the government asked Interpol to issue an international arrest warrant for Max Marambio. It also published a summons for Marcel Luis Marambio, Max’s younger brother and a vice president of the holding company that controlled Río Zaza. “I will go through this process with serenity, prudence and firmness,” Marambio said in the October press release. “I will do this maintaining the same feelings of admiration and respect towards what has been the Cuban Revolution, with the certainty that the truth is always revolutionary and always ends up winning, if it is defended with solidity and conviction.”

Marambio is one of the few foreigners who made it into Cuba’s inner circles of power under Fidel Castro. Since the 1990s Marambio, a former student leader in Chile, body guard of President Salvador Allende, member of Cuba’s special forces, and founding chief executive of the Cimex holding — today Cuba’s largest business conglomerate — used his close relationship with the Cuban government to build a thriving business. Roca lost his long-term post in March 2009, the same time as Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque and Vice President Carlos Lage, both of whom had been close to Fidel Castro.

Havana – DTC – Tourist arrivals in Cuba increase 14.7 per cent in February, compared with the same month in 2010. According to preliminary figures from the National Statistics Office, 588,394 vacationers visited the country in that period, accounting for a year-on-year increase of 75,234 visitors. It was reported that on February 2007, 439,134 tourists arrived in the country, and that number increased to 508,000 vacationers a year later, which confirms the importance of this activity for Cuban economy. Tourism contributes nearly 70 percent of hard currencies to the country’s economy. Tourism in Cuba benefits from the island’s geographic location in the Caribbean, rich nature and history, and the development of hotel infrastructure.

Miami Herald – The U.S. government said it will allow charter flights to Havana from Fort Lauderdale- Hollywood International Airport — all part of the ongoing easing of travel restrictions to the island by the Obama administration. It’s unclear which charter carriers will offer the flights, but the Broward County airport now has permission to schedule them. In recent years, only charter flights from Miami to the island have been allowed. “We still don’t know exactly when the flights will begin, but they have been approved,’’ said Greg Meyer spokesman for the airport. “We asked for permission on Jan. 28 and were optimistic they would be approved.” The government approved flights to Cuba from eight other U.S. airports, including Tampa, Chicago O’Hare, Baltimore, Dallas/Fort Worth, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Luis Muñoz Marín in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The approval of the new flights does not change existing restrictions which prohibit U.S. tourists travel to Cuba. For now, the U.S. government only allows Cuban exiles with relatives on the island and some American under special categories. The Obama administration allows Cuban exiles to visit the island as often as they wish, as opposed to only three times a year during the previous George W. Bush administration. In the U.S., there are nearly 2 million Cuban-Americans and their families, most live in South Florida. The flights out of Fort Lauderdale would likely serve this group.

Granma Intl. – Havana – The US government is planning to spend some extra $30 million on projects aimed at using the internet to destabilize the Cuban government, Granma newspaper reported. The Cuban daily revealed that with that purpose the US Agency for International Development (USAID) requested non-governmental organizations and specialized companies to submit their “ideas”, according to a document recently posted at the Cuba Money Project website by US journalist and researcher Tracey Eaton.

The document —dated January 11, 2011— was brought to light the day before the beginning of the trial in Havana against American USAID contractor Alan Philip Gross, who was charged of leading illegal activities in Cuba. The document details in a precise way, so much that it seems to be referring directly to the Gross case or to previous intelligence operations, that applying organizations must have experience on intense hostile internet fields. The spearhead of these operations, called web-based circumvention technology, is aimed at going around firewalls and filters used to discover multiple forms of illegal use of the internet according to the laws of every country.
The strategy includes a training program for the development of a network of instructors to train bloggers, citizen-journalists and civil organizations to operate illegally. The program comprises as well a “defense” fund for activists facing legal charges of hacking and “cyber intrusion.” Granma said that in addition to requesting proposals of initiatives against Cuba under the classical rhetoric of “help” for “digital activists,” the document also mentions China, Burma, Iran, Russia and Venezuela, all of which are countries refusing to submit to U.S. imperial domination.

Havana – DTC – The eastern Cuban province of Holguín will host the 12th commercial fair EXPOHOLGUIN-2011 this month. The meeting is sponsored by the local delegations of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Cuba and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment. According to organizers, the meeting is aimed at promoting business opportunities, creating strategic alliances among Cuban companies and reducing imports. In that regard, they recalled that Holguín offers opportunities to national and foreign entrepreneurs to diversify operations. On this occasion, the main sectors represented at the fair will be tourism, the sugar industry, mining, power generation, iron and steel, mechanic, informatics and construction.

CubaStandard.com – “…Petrobras has more to gain from organically growing its position in Brazil than going abroad to expand production”. Petrobras CFO Almhir Guilherme Barbassa (Forbes magazine, February 28, 2011)

More than 80 percent of the world’s crude oil production is in the hands of national oil companies (NOCs), the majority with a good track record of managing their national patrimony. But only a handful have been able to keep an arms-length relationship from their country’s politics du jour. Many governments treat their NOCs’ coffers as a petty cash box to finance their political or social agendas, without taking into consideration the huge amounts of capital that have to be reinvested, in order to maximize the NOCs’ return on assets and the life span of their hydrocarbon resources.

A rare exception is Brazil’s Petrobras, which has demonstrated an envious independence from the central government’s politics. This oil company is marching to the beat of its own drummer. In September of last year, Petrobras announced the sale of $67 billion worth of shares to finance its ambitious $224 billion, five-year investment plan, which is aimed at nearly doubling its current domestic crude oil production to 3.9 million barrels a day by 2014. The transaction generated $25.4 billion from the sale of preferred shares, giving the Brazilian government 55.6 percent of the voting shares; and another $39.2 billion from the sale of common shares, giving the government 48 percent of the common shares of Petrobras.

The results of the sale demonstrated private investors’ trust in Petrobras future performance. Projects by political allies Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and former Brazilian President Inácio Lula da Silva such as the Gasoducto del Sur, the Abreu e Lima refinery, and the Carabobo heavy oil project have failed to materialize, because they were not able to meet Petrobras’ profitability and strategic thresholds. In December of 2010, Petrobras executive Paulo Roberto Costa was quoted in the Oil & Gas Journal as saying that “Petrobras was willing to build the Abreu e Lima alone if Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA did not meet its financial terms and conditions,” thus underscoring the national oil company’s independence.

Now, to Cuba. In October 2008, Petrobras was awarded, under a two-year exploration concession, the 1,600 km² Block 37, located in Cuba’s Strait of Florida just 12 miles north of the island’s north coast between La Habana and Matanzas. After spending more than $8 million in seismic and geological work, Petrobras last fall determined that the hydrocarbon potential of the block did not warrant the additional expense of exploratory drilling and did not seek an extension of the concession.

This was the second time that Petrobras attempts to develop Cuba’s oil and natural gas resources. In 1998, Braspetro, Petrobras’ former international subsidiary, drilled two dry holes in the area of Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo at a cost of over $15 million. The Cuban government awarded this area — today Block L — to Russia’s Zarubezhneft oil company last year; it is just south of The Bahamas’ Andros Island, were British and Norwegian oil companies are conducting seismic studies.

The recent departure by Petrobras from Cuba should not be taken as a final verdict on Cuba’s oil and gas potential, or as a signal on possible strained political relations between the governments of Cuba and Brazil. It was simply an economic and strategic decision by Petrobras, following their long term-vision of focusing resources on developing its recently found 10 billion barrels of deepwater offshore oil and natural gas at the Santos and Campos basins, along the Atlantic coast.

HAVANA, Cuba – (acn) – The Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) state oil company signed a contract in Caracas for the creation and administration of the Venangocupet oil joint venture with Cuba and Angola. The operation includes the production, transportation, refining and exchange of crude oil, said Eulogio del Pino, president of PDVSA’s subsidiary Venezuelan Oil Corporation (CVP). PDVSA will own 60% of the stocks while the remaining 40% will be equally shared by Angola’s Sonangol Pesquisa & Producto and Cuba’s Cupet.

A press release from the Venezuelan Ministry of Oil and Energy notes that the agreement is the first economic alliance of this South American nation with an African country in the oil sector. Del Pino added that Venangocupet will work in the Migas and Melones fields, located in the Venezuelan state of Anzoategui, nearly 23 kilometers away from the city of El Tigre. The executive pointed out that the joint venture’s initial production capacity will be 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day with prospects to increase it to 60,000 in the future.

Cupet’s representative Rafael Luis Arias said that this alliance is a big opportunity for Cuba, which enters this exclusive economic zone for the first time. Prensa Latina reports that Cuba and Venezuela are currently working together on several projects in diverse social and economic areas as part of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) founded in 2004.

Havana – DTC – Trinidad’s tourist destination at the center of the Island is enhancing current hotel infrastructures. Earthworks have started at the place to build the 5-star Pansea Hotel next to the historical core. The establishment, financed by a French-Cuban joint venture, will offer 52 rooms with eight different typologies, and three suites. The building program is expected to conclude in 14 months, as well as some other works to enlarge La Ronda Hotel. Therefore, the former facility, from the Encanto chain improves its category with 17 rooms and a privileged location for its guests.

Vertientes,Camaguey – The granting of land plots in free usufruct in the municipality of Vertientes, some 26 km south-west of Camagüey, is consolidating as an effective alternative for the development of the sugar cane crop in this province, the largest in Cuba. An example of this project can be seen in the cooperative farms of this borough, which are providing the sweet graminaceous plant to Batalla de las Guásimas cane processing factory, which is a mainstay of the provincial economy.

José Manuel Ocampo Basulto is one of the Camaguey-resident farmers who looked towards the countryside and today his smallholding produces more than 90 metric tons of cane per hectare. Member of the Abel Santamaría Credit and Service Cooperative Farm, Ocampo Basulto set to produce 12 hectares of land that he and his family sowed with the variety La Cuba 173. Today José Manuel Ocampo Basalto is satisfied watching the modern sugar cane harvesting machines coming and going, while he expects to diversify his crops and expand his areas.

HAVANA, Cuba – (acn) – By the end of 2011, Cuba will have three modern tire-retreading plants that will contribute to saving hard currencies, an imperative need to mitigate the effects of the current international financial crisis. The director of the Union Nacional de Gomas (National Tires Group), Rolando Alfonso Sanchez, told ACN that the facilities will be located in the provinces of Mayabeque, Santiago de Cuba and Camaguey. These plants will contribute to saving nearly 20 million dollars, and to lengthen the useful life of tires, so essential for transporting loads and passengers.
Alfonso noted that despite the advantages of having enough tires in good conditions, some enterprises make no good use of them and have to buy them in the international market at very high prices. Cuba retreads only between 30 and 50% of tires with conditions to be reused, a very low figure for a tire importing country. According to data offered by the Union de la Goma, 90,000 tires were retreaded last year, which saved the Cuban economy 13 million dollars.
The general director of the Chemical Industry Business Group, Fidel Miranda, told ACN that retreading is a very good economic alternative because financial resources to buy new tires are not always available. Miranda added that the existing five tire-retreading plants in Cuba have the necessary raw materials to carry out their work. Specialists in the field affirm that it is possible to retread tires up to three times, depending on the wear degree.

Havana – DTC – The company MICALUM, based in the central Cuban province of Cienfuegos, has developed aluminum carpentry based on internationally-recognized quality standards. The firm received the Quality Management certificate due to its excellent work in producing and assembling the aluminum elements. The National Standardization Office granted the certificate, according to the Cuban Standard ISO-9001 of 2008. Other services provided by the company, including metallic structures for façades, industrial gates and garage doors, office furniture and modular constructions, will also get the certificate. MICALUM was founded 16 years ago and its main client is the domestic market in hard currency, especially the tourism sector, shopping centers and airports.

CubaStandard.com – Outright theft and under-the-table sales to private buyers are major reasons for Cuba’s record-low coffee harvest figures, official daily Granma wrote in an investigative report. The 2009-10 coffee harvest officially yielded a record low of 6,000 tons, forcing the government to import 16,000 tons of coffee last year to meet domestic demand. This year’s production plan won’t be met either, according to the article. Natural causes and mismanagement are only part of the picture, Granma suggests, adding that a history of low prices paid by the state distributor (21 pesos per can until last year) has created a thriving illegal coffee trade.

Despite a recent boost in coffee prices to 65 pesos, illegal sales and theft by both outsiders and employees continue, the article said. Illegal buyers — unidentified by the article — offer the same price, but accept lower quality. And while service and credit cooperatives owned by small landowners are now complying with production plans, the problem continues at large state cooperatives. A crackdown is necessary, the Communist Party newspaper suggests. “With the new price, radical change was expected in the issue,” the article says. “But it didn’t happen.” “The solution will not be to increase prices indefinitely; rather, we have to be more rigorous in the confrontation of these violations,” the article concludes, adding that “discipline and administrative order” must be imposed.

TAMPA, Florida – (Reuters) – The Port of Tampa hopes to start passenger and car ferry service between Tampa and Cuba under President Barack Obama’s relaxed travel restrictions, a port spokesman said. “There has been interest by some companies in starting the service,” said spokesman Andy Forbes. He said one of those companies was United Caribbean Lines of Orlando, which has applied to the United States to operate ferry service between Cuba and Tampa, Miami and Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

“We’re waiting for approval and could start as early as this fall,” United Caribbean Chief Executive Bruce Nierenberg said in a telephone interview. The Cuban government would also have to agree to the deal. Tampa International Airport was one of several U.S. airports approved for nonstop flights to and from Cuba earlier this month, expanding the current service from Miami, New York and Los Angeles. It is uncertain when the flights will start. U.S.-Cuban relations have been strained since the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro in power, and a 49-year-old U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba remains in effect.

Obama announced the eased travel restrictions in January, saying he wanted to increase people-to-people contact between Americans and Cubans. But relations between the two Cold War enemies grew strained again last week when Cuba sentenced a U.S. aid contractor, Alan Gross, to 15 years in prison for what it called a subversive project to topple the Cuba revolution. The United States said Gross was working to set up Internet access for Cuba’s small Jewish community and did nothing wrong by bringing in communications equipment. Cuba found him guilty of “acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the state.” The United States has said it will not undertake any more initiatives with the Caribbean island until Gross is freed.

U.S. travel to Cuba is still generally restricted to Americans with relatives in Cuba and to cultural, educational and religious groups. Tampa has the second largest Cuban-American population in Florida, behind Miami. Many are descendants of Cuban cigar makers who came to Tampa in the 1880s and made the city the center of cigar production in the United States. The sailing time between Tampa and Cuba would be about 18 hours and the cost about $350 round-trip. The ferries would have overnight accommodations and could carry 1,500 passengers and 600 cars. Nierenberg said he also wanted to start ferry service between Tampa and the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico in 2012. A ferry service was started between those two ports in 2003 but was discontinued after less than a year.

Havana – DTC – Supplies from Cuban enterprise CUBALUB, specializing in the production of diverse kind of lubricants gain ground at the Island’s domestic market. In the most recent edition of EXPOHOLGUIN commercial fair, company presented oil for two-stroke motors Super Moto 2T. Enterprise experts indicated that the oil is designed to lubricate two-stroke gasoline motors and that it complies with Japanese Jaso FC quality parameters. Besides, it reduces harmful emissions to the environment, protects motor mechanisms and increases lubricating efficiency. CUBALUB also produces MARTRON T1 404 lubricant, approved by HYUNDAI and MAN companies.

Granma International – Havana – In an exercise of democracy, based on proposals by organizations at the base, delegates were elected, as well as 1,280 candidates for the Central Committee. The 1,000 delegates to the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) this April have been elected in assemblies of base organization general secretaries in municipalities, districts, and equivalent units within the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior. Those elected also include representatives of Cuban volunteers working in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Haiti.

A parallel process at the same levels has resulted in 1,280 candidates for the Central Committee of the Party; part of a pool from which a definitive list will be presented at the Congress. It is worth noting the exercise in democracy carried out by the Party nuclei, which initially had the opportunity to put forward proposals and, once the lists were drawn up at the municipal and district levels, members were consulted, expressed their opinions, and could object to the composition or other aspects of the lists. The opinions expressed in the nuclei were duly taken into account by the municipal committees with the presence of cadres at that level and in some cases at the provincial level in various base organizations, in order to explain and discuss members’ doubts, misunderstandings, suggestions and general concerns in relation to the candidacies.

Members’ approval of delegates to the Congress and candidates for the Central Committee in the assemblies of the general secretaries of nuclei was done on the basis of debate and not always by unanimous vote. Given the current need for efficiency and functionality, this Party Congress will take place with the lowest number of delegates to date. Its essential issue is an analysis of the draft guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy Development Project of the Party and the Revolution, which therefore explains the interest in achieving a balanced delegate composition in order to contribute to that debate.

The review of amendments to the Guidelines proposed during the broad-based consultation process in workplaces and neighborhoods is currently being completed. Once the work of the groups meticulously examining the additions, modifications and eliminations proposed and comments expressing doubts and/or concerns, a new version of the document will be placed in the hands of elected delegates to be assessed, still as a draft project, prior to the April Congress. The 6th Congress of the Party coincides with the days on which Cubans will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Revolution and the Bay of Pigs victory.

The updating of our economic model implies a tremendous responsibility for Cuban patriots, and in this context, the Communist Party, as the vanguard of society, must assert the maxim expressed by the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro in the central report to the 2nd PCC Congress, “The Party exists solely through the people and for the people… The closest and most indissoluble ties must exist between cadres, members and the people, fundamentally based on the example and the confidence that revolutionaries will live and die for their people.”

Havana – DTC – Cuba has taken actions to restore Viñales, a town in the western part of the country and designated Humankind’s Cultural Heritage. The town’s buildings are benefiting from a restoration program sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to repair the damage caused by hurricanes. In that regard, the roofs of a group of houses of high cultural value will be restored, as well as the carpentry work at the House of Culture, one of the oldest in the town. UNESCO provided the funds to buy the materials and inputs to rebuild the typical houses of the Viñales Valley. That zone is also well known for its beautiful landscapes and tobacco crops among round-top hills called mogotes.

Granma Intl. – Havana – Rice producers in the central province of Camagüey are getting the drying and milling facilities ready for the upcoming season’s crop of the cereal starting in May. The facilities will be ready in time, despite the delay in the supply of laminar rolls and bearings, said Honorio Saavedra, vice-director of the Ruta Invasora Agroindustrial Complex (CAI), which is charge of the management of the buildings. In the winter crop season, from November to February, Camagüey planted around 8,800 hectares that will be harvested at the end of April. The rice crop will continue until November, when the crops planted from March to July will be harvested.

Saavedra noted that seven of the eight drying facilities in the CAI will be ready for the season. The eighth is not up for working since investments need to be done. Those facilities have a capability of producing 650 tons of rice a day. The harvest potential are currently at 515 tons per day considering the harvesting capacity of the harvesters of the complex. But the capacity of the drying facilities are not enough during the peak of the season, between the months of July and August and they have to look for alternatives such as laying the rice on roads to dry out in the sunlight, explained Elexis Rivero, from the Manual Ascunce Cooperative of Credits and Services, the largest rice producer in Cuba.

In addition to mechanical harvesting, producers also harvest the rice manually in small extensions of ground. There are also back-up harvesters to support the harvest when the factory capacity is smaller than the harvest. Saavedra also explained that the milling will be done in three out of the four existing plants because one of them is undergoing works for the upgrading and widening of its facilities, a project financed by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America. The National Association of Small Farmers estimates that private farmers will harvest around the 70% of the rice in Camagüey.

Havana – DTC – Cuban agriculture gives a boost to industrial fruit processing, as part of efforts to make good use of harvest in the Island. As a result it is working on the final details of a plant equipped with Italian technology, a project implemented with nearly two million dollars. Located at Matanzas province the installations will yield 20 tons of juice per hour, thus becoming the major in the country. Plans for this year consider processing around 165,000 tons of citrus and varieties such as mango and pineapple for tourism and export. Cuba also increases farming areas dedicated to plant about 19 thousand hectares, in order to reach one million 119 thousand tons of fruits in 2015.

HOLGUIN, Cuba – (acn) – The two wind farms in the municipality of Gibara, in the eastern Cuban province of Holguin, contributed with 21,000 megawatts to the National Electric System, in three years of functioning. The director of the National Electric System, Jose Pifferer, told ACN that this contribution saved the Cuban economy more than 4,000 oil tons, taking into account that these two wind farms produce nine megawatts per hour. It also played a part in ceasing to emit to the atmosphere more than 15,000 cubic meters of toxic gases, which benefits the environment.
The Cuban program of energy generation from the wind has other two facilities, with less generation capacity, located in the special municipality of the Isle of Youth and in the central province of Ciego de Avila. Pifferer noted that the Gibara I, in Holguin, was severely damaged by hurricane Ike, in September 2008; otherwise, these two farms could have made a larger contribution. The director of the Electric Company of Holguin, Hector Lugo, pointed out that the project to use the energy of the wind began in the province with the inauguration of Gibara I, on February 16, 2008, and expanded recently with Gibara II.

HAVANA – (AP) – Cuba’s central bank is devaluing the country’s two types of peso by about 8 percent in relation to the dollar and other foreign currencies, hoping the move will spur exports and local production as the government seeks to overhaul a moribund economy. The announcement published in state newspapers says the hard-currency peso used mostly by tourists and foreign companies on the island will now be worth $1, down from $1.08. Each hard-currency peso is still worth 24 of the standard pesos with which most Cubans are paid in an unusual two-tiered currency system.

It was the first time the government has revalued the currency in six years, when it increased the nominal value of its currency in relation to the dollar. This shift puts the exchange rate back to where it was before. Economists have been arguing for just such a change. They say it will be a boon for the island’s crucial tourism industry, because it will make trips to Cuba more affordable. It will also increase the peso value of remittances sent from abroad, a key lifeline for many cash-strapped Cubans working for salaries of about $20 a month. Arturo Lopez-Levy, an economist who left Cuba in 2001 and is now a lecturer at the University of Denver, said the devaluation was a step in the right direction, but did not go far enough. “The new rate is still too high,” he said. “The Cuban economy needs something more dramatic.”

Lopez-Levy said Cuban competitiveness was not strong enough to warrant a one-to-one exchange rate with the U.S. dollar, and countries with an overvalued currency face impediments to growth. He added, however, that the revaluation was a politically bold move from President Raul Castro, who has been struggling to lift the island out of its chronic economic malaise since taking over from his brother in 2006. The devaluation “is the clearest sign yet of Raul Castro’s will to put economic growth and structural adjustment ahead of political niceties,” Lopez-Levy said. In Havana, Cubans reacted with a mix of approval and indifference. “It’s good for someone who has family abroad,” said Jorge Kuri, 49, who works as a security guard at a state-owned company. “But for a normal worker, everything is going to be the same. This won’t resolve anything.”

Neither Cuba’s dollar-pegged peso or its normal peso are traded on international markets, so when the island’s government purchases items for import, it must do so in dollars, euros or other hard currency. The decision will make such imports more expensive, but the bank said the government hoped to ease the effect by boosting productivity at home. Cuba has cut its food and other imports by more than 30 percent in recent years. The statement said that the country’s economic woes, exacerbated by the effects of three monster hurricanes that struck in 2008 and the global financial crisis, had forced the bank to maintain an exchange rate that “did not correspond to the country’s current economic conditions.”

The bank said that despite Cuba’s economic woes, the government had managed to resume payments to foreign companies that had seen their payments blocked and accounts frozen the year before. It also said the country had managed to renegotiate its foreign debt, though it gave no details. Cuba does not release statistics on foreign debt.

Cuba is in the midst of a major overhaul of its economy. The communist government has made it easier for tens of thousands of Cubans to work for themselves in the private sector, albeit in a limited number of jobs. It has also said it wants to eliminate half a million public sector jobs, though Castro acknowledged recently that the plan had been beset with problems and would be delayed indefinitely. One of the long-term goals is to eliminate the two-tiered currency system.

Havanatimes.org – Daisy Valera – The latest CD by the duo Buena Fe (titled Pi 3.14) made it into my hands just a few days ago. I had heard the songs on the bus and in cafeterias, but because so many people had been around me talking, I was never able to pay it close attention. I began to listening to these musicians only recently, last year, on the CD Extremistas Nobles that they made with trova musician Frank Delgado. I found Extremistas Nobles to be an excellent collection and my door to the music of Buena Fe.

Almost to my surprise, Pi 3.14 turned out to be a disk that continues in the line of Extremistas; it takes up the challenge of revealing the reality of Cuba today. In songs like “Lo que un dia fue y no es” (What was one day but now isn’t), they invite us to dispense with the speeches of past glory and to center ourselves on the shortages and dogmatism of the present. “Dos emigrantes” (Two emigrants) is a song that speaks to us of the two fundamental positions that Cuban emigrants exhibit when they return to visit to the island: those who believe they now live in a democracy and those who understand the problems of capitalism.

The song Libre (Free) is an appeal for us to reflect, to be objective and increasingly less easy to manipulate, and to exercise thought – which is often opposed to obedience. “Despedidas” (Farewells), a song performed in the company of the magnificent voice of Pablo Milanes, is a dialogue between a father and his son, one that strips bare the generational conflicts and pain of Cubans when losing family and friends as a product of emigration. The disk includes the song Marti, recalling the phrase of this Cuban thinker of the 19th century: “With all and for the well-being of all,” referring to Cuban society. “Miedo” (Fear), sung together with Los Aldeanos (a hip-hop dual censored by the officialdom) enumerates the fears that cause people not to act.

In the CD’s title track, “Pi 3.14,” they express opposition to exploitation and plead for respect and love. They close the list with the songs “Serpiente y Paloma,” “El Puerco,” “Contracorriente” and “La sospecha.” As a whole, these songs make up a critical collection with demands that demonstrate the commitment of these artists to people — especially to the youth of Cuba — in these days of momentous changes to the island’s economic and political model.

MANZANILLO, Cuba – (acn) – The Onell Cañete footwear enterprise, in the eastern Cuban province of Granma, installed 53 modern machines with Italian technology, as part of its productive revival. The technical director of the enterprise, Julio Ramirez, told ACN that these modern equipments, placed in one of its three factories, will be used to produce Coloso military boots. Ramirez affirmed that this investment will contribute to duplicating the daily production and to improving the finish of the products, which will meet the needs of the personnel from the ministries of Agriculture and the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The new equipment will offer a financial improvement for the enterprise given that they guarantee considerable incomes in CUP, the Cuban national currency, and in CUC, the Cuban convertible peso. Director Noemi Villalon recalled that, before the arrival of the new technology, the factory used to produce only 200 pair of shoes daily; an insufficient figure to meet the demand. Villalon explained that 2011 perspectives give priority to continue increasing productions and to offer the best shoe quality. The Onell Cañete enterprise is located in historical center of the city. It was founded in 1964 and has been working, in conjunction with similar enterprises in the provinces of Villa Clara and Havana, to achieving better results.

Havana – DTC – Cuban agriculture gives a boost to industrial fruit processing, as part of efforts to make good use of harvest in the Island. As a result it is working on the final details of a plant equipped with Italian technology, a project implemented with nearly two million dollars. Located at Matanzas province the installations will yield 20 tons of juice per hour, thus becoming the major in the country. Plans for this year consider processing around 165,000 tons of citrus and varieties such as mango and pineapple for tourism and export. Cuba also increases farming areas dedicated to plant about 19 thousand hectares, in order to reach one million 119 thousand tons of fruits in 2015.

AIN – SANCTI SPIRITUS – With more than 1.5 million people in the 10-19 age group, adolescents make up close to 14% of the Cuban population. The largest totals of young people in that age group live in the provinces of Habana, Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Holguín, it was reported at a workshop that opened activities for the 20th anniversary of the Guidance Center for Youth, Adolescents and Families in Sancti Spíritus province. Speaking at the workshop, Dr. Francisca Cruz Sanchez, member of the executive of the Ibero-American Federation on Adolescence and Youth, confirmed that the 10-19 age group needs to be taken more into account in educational terms.

Cruz, also president of the Cuban Pediatric Society’s Adolescence Department, noted that the principal causes of death for this age group are related to accidents and malignant tumors. Rafael Wert, COJAF director, said that families, schools and society all have responsibility and the capacity for helping children and young people overcome problems and conflicts. There was a consensus at the workshop that fundamental activities during adolescence are related to affective relations with friends, hence the importance of influences on this sector in order to attain good habits in dressing, in ways of speaking, tastes, preferences and conduct.

Fort Lauderdale – Sun Sentinel – WASHINGTON — To help prevent a potential oil spill from wrecking Florida’s environment, former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham urged federal officials to form a pact with Cuba and Mexico to enforce safety standards and establish disaster-response plans for offshore drilling. Graham’s warning reflects growing concerns about Cuban plans to drill exploratory wells about 50 miles from the Florida Keys in the midst of the Gulf Stream, which rushes along Florida’s east coast. “Potential sites are close enough to the United States that if an accident like the Deepwater Horizon spill occurs, fisheries, coastal tourism and other valuable U.S. natural resources could be put at great risk,” Graham and William Reilly, co-chairmen of a national commission on offshore drilling, told the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

“This [drilling off Cuba] will be almost at the back door of the Florida Keys,” Graham added during a break in the committee hearing. “The Keys would be the first in line; the east coast of Florida would be next. The risk specific to Florida, and more broadly to the United States, is very real.” Graham, a Democrat from Miami Lakes who also served as Florida’s governor, said he and Reilly will meet with Mexican officials next month to press for a regional agreement on drilling practices to guard against another disaster.

“We think Mexico could be the interlocutor to work with Cuba to bring them into this,” Graham said. “This may take the form of a treaty or some other formal agreement. Then we can take the next step, with Mexico in the lead, to try to bring Cuba into standards and enforcement of those standards.”

Cuba has contracted with Repsol, a Spanish company, to drill exploratory wells as early as this year. Respol, with long experience in offshore operations, has asserted that it maintains the strictest safety measures. Nevertheless, Florida environmentalists and members of Congress are alarmed by the prospect of rigs so close to the state’s shores, especially near marine sanctuaries in the Keys. The Deepwater Horizon spill south of Louisiana, which fouled the Gulf coast and ruined its summer tourist season, dramatized the risks. Florida leaders for many years struggled to maintain a federal ban on drilling near the state’s shores, though some Republicans more recently have proposed expanded offshore production to generate jobs, raise revenue and boost U.S. supplies of oil and natural gas.

A 2006 federal law set a no-drilling zone that extends at least 125 miles from Florida’s west coast, and as much as 230 miles in some places. The Cuban exploration would drill in the narrow Florida Straits only 50 miles from the fragile ecosystem of the Keys. The rigs would be directly in the path of the Gulf Stream, a powerful current that carries water alongside the South Florida beaches and up the Atlantic coast. “If oil spilled from a well in the North Cuba Basin, it would coat popular South Atlantic beaches like Miami and West Palm,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., warned the Senate last month. “I am not prepared to take chances with Florida’s coral reefs and other marine life, nor with the livelihood of millions of Floridians who depend on tourism for their economic well-being.”

Nelson introduced a bill that would require federal agencies to prepare for a potential spill in Cuban waters. Under the bill, if a company that’s drilling near Cuba wants to lease drilling rights in U.S. waters, it would be required to prove it has a spill-response plan for both places. The bill also would require federal officials to recommend a multinational agreement on ways to prevent and contain oil spills, much like Graham’s proposal. Another bill introduced by U.S. Rep.Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, and 11 other Floridians would go further by authorizing U.S. officials to deny drilling leases to companies that do business with any nation facing trade sanctions, such as Cuba.

Though the United States and Cuba are adversaries with no formal diplomatic relations, they do cooperate in several ways, including sea rescues and weather warnings. Graham said that Mexico, which has closer ties to Cuba and is also exploring oil ventures, could act as a liaison for a regional agreement. Graham plans to visit Mexico the first week of April to make his case, and he hopes to visit Cuba to press the same concerns. Members of the Senate committee indicated they want to carry out some of the commission’s recommendations. “We know one thing: If oil is drilled, oil will be spilled,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. “We saw it in the worst of terms in the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t need to repeat that experience.”

BBC Video clip re new business licences in Cuba –

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12876893

Guantanamo – (Solvision) – More than a hundred businessmen, distributors, entrepreneurs and specialists from different parts of the world will meet in Cuba in April for the 21st Encounter of Clients-Friends of the Partagas Cigar House. The director of the Partagas House in Havana, Abel Exposito Diaz, told ACN that the event will coincide with the celebrations for the 166th anniversary of this Cuban cigar brand, one of the favorite ones among cigar lovers worldwide. Exposito noted that representatives from Italy, Grand Caiman, and Brazil have already confirmed their attendance, and mentioned that they have received several emails from people interested in attending the event.

He explained that the agenda of the meeting includes visits to tobacco plantations in westernmost Pinar del Rio, a province that produces the best tobacco leaves for the famous hand-rolled Cuban cigars. The director of House Partagas explained that, on the occasion of its 166th anniversary, humidors with 50 cigars of two vitolas ––especially made for this celebration–– will be on sale. Partagas recently launched two new vitolas to the international market, within the context of the 13th International Habano Festival. The head of marketing from Habanos S.A., Ana López, told ACN that these cigars have a unique taste and are presented in colorful boxes.

House Partagas was inaugurated in 1845 by Catalan Jaime Partagas, who bought some low-lying fertile lands in the Cuban western regions of Vuelta Abajo and Semi Vuelta —today’s Pinar del Rio province. Nowadays, Partagas owns a series of vitolas with different forms and sizes. Its Reserva, Lusitanias and Piramide vitolas stand out among the rest.

Havana – DTC – The road work enterprise in the Cuban capital is executing a wide rehabilitation program that intends to recuperate the road system in the city. For that reason, operations in 2010 resulted in laying 114,878 tons of asphalt compound, the largest volume in the company’s history, which surpasses 15 per cent of the quantity planned for this period.  The firm contributes with the coming into service of two modern plants and the incorporation of new equipment, such as resurfacing machinery, trucks and cylinders. The agenda for 2011 includes laying up to 295,000 tons of asphalt compound on roads of national interest for public transportation.

Granma International – Havana – The seabed fiber optic cable linking Cuba with Venezuela touched land February 9 on Siboney beach, in Santiago de Cuba province, 14 kilometers east of its capital city, during a ceremony attended by Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdés Menéndez, member of the Political Bureau and vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers; Medardo Díaz, minister of Informatics and Communication; Hamadou Touré, general secretary of the International Telecommunication Union; and Manuel Fernández, Venezuelan deputy minister of Telecommunication.

According to PL reports, Wilfredo Morales, Pres. of the Gran Caribe Telecommunications company, recounted the history of this integrating effort, initiated in 2007 by President Hugo Chávez with the creation of a joint entity and which had as its high point the 19-day journey of the French ship Ille de Batz, which extended the cable to Cuban shores. According to the Venezuelan news agency AVN, Morales indicated that the timetable established for the process was met as expected. Manuel Fernández emphasized the symbolic nature of the physical connection between the two countries which will end centuries of poor communication and advance the two governments’ efforts for integration and development.

The Cuban Minister of Informatics and Communication stated that the underwater cable opens a breach in the United States blockade of Cuba and strengthens its sovereignty in telecommunications. He also announced that, within the following 48 hours, the cable would be extended to Ocho Rios in Jamaica, providing the opportunity to connect with this country and others in the region, according to AIN. Leaders and workers in the informatics sector, residents of the coastal area and special guests also attended the reception ceremony.

Havana – DTC – The eastern Cuban province of Las Tunas hosted the 2011 CINEMAZUL Festival. The film “Boleto al Paraiso”, Gerardo Gijona’s most recent film, was premiered at the meeting. The motion picture is based on the book “Confesiones de un Médico” (a Doctor’s Confessions), and tells the story of four youngsters who met in the 1990’s and traveled around Cuba. On this occasion, CINEMAZUL was dedicated to the anniversary of the Cuban Film Institute, and consisted of debates about the most prominent Cuban filmmakers. The exhibitions of films and debates were held at educational, productive and cultural institutions, and a children’s workshop named “Sala de Sueños” (Room of Dreams), was also held.

Havana – Prensa Latina – Experts in geology, geophysics and mining from the five continents will attend the 4th Cuban Convention of Earth Sciences (Geociencias 2011) to be held in Havana on April 4-8.  Specialists from Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Angola, Namibia, the United States and Canada are expected to take part. The Third Cuban Congress of Oil and Gas, including an international workshop on Geology and oil potential in the Gulf of Mexico, will also be held in parallel to the Convention.

The website dedicated to the convention announces other sideline events, including a Congress of Geology, Geophysics and Mining with symposiums, round tables and seminars on Cuban breakthroughs in these fields. There will also be an exhibit, book launchings and several masterly lectures to be given by guests. Geociencias 2011 is sponsored by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment and the Ministry of Basic Industry.

(Reuters) – Cubans, speaking out in citizen meetings leading to a Communist Party congress in April, have given officials an earful about their economic worries and said the government must do a better job, people close to the process said this week.

They said concerns about low salaries, high prices and cutting state subsidies dominated discussions in the thousands of meetings held across the country from December through February. The government said more than 7 million people, out of a population of 11.2 million, participated. “People are very preoccupied over rising prices, over the lack of balance between wages and prices and over what will happen to the most vulnerable, for example if the food ration is cut,” said a Communist Party member involved in compiling comments from the meetings.

A summary of the citizen input will be provided to the public before the party congress, where 1,000 delegates will vote on proposed economic reforms put forth by President Raul Castro, who is under pressure from creditors over late debt payments and the population over economic stagnation. He wants to transform Cuba’s social system from one based on collective work and consumption to one where markets, individual initiative and reward play larger roles and targeted welfare replaces cradle-to-grave subsidized goods and services.

According to the proposals the state would pull back from some secondary activities in favor of private initiative, stop directly administering state-run companies and cede more power to local governments. Hundreds of thousands of state jobs would be cut in favor of an expanding “non-state” sector, while such things as subsidized utilities and the monthly food ration would be eliminated to improve government productivity and finances.

Cubans appear to be looking to the congress with a mix of hope and dread. Under changes already taking place, more than 113,000 people have taken out licenses for self-employment and 100,000 leased fallow state land in hopes of earning more money, but the state is also demanding more taxes and giving fewer handouts. “Me and my family feel much more squeezed than last year,” said pensioner Yolanda, who rents out a room to tourists in her Santiago de Cuba home. Yolanda said she supported Castro’s reforms, but thought lower taxes and more controls on rising prices were needed. “I used to pay a monthly tax of $136 to rent my room and now I have to pay $200,” she said.

The public meetings also reflected changing sentiment about the country’s economic woes. Many people blamed the system, and not just the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, long accused of being the main culprit, the sources said. People repeatedly demanded the government improve its performance in exchange for tightening their belts. “Many people asked why, after repeatedly complaining about the waste generated by its monopoly on food distribution, most produce was still under its control and food rotting in fields and on trucks,” said a retired party official in Guantanamo, with knowledge of the discussion. All in all, “the discussions generated an enormous amount of information about how the people look at and understand the main problems facing the country,” said a party member in central Camaguey province.

“And this puts enormous pressure on the government to respond adequately.” It will not be easy, said Vicente Gonzalez, president of the Santiago de Cuba Provincial Administrative Council, but “we have to carry out these changes because the alternative is a debacle.” “If we are not capable of creating a sustainable country where we produce what we need through hard work and sacrifice we will lose our main achievements,” he said, referring to free healthcare and education provided to all Cubans.

Havana – DTC – Cuba will host a new edition of the Terry Fox Run this month to pay tribute to that young Canadian man after whom the race is named. Organizers estimate that two million people will participate in the race all over Cuba. This year, the race will be part of the national Paralympics, so everybody is welcomed to participate. Every year, millions of Cubans take to the streets to remember the great deed of the Canadian runner, who, at the age of 18, began running in Canada after his right leg was amputated due to cancer. For 143 days, Terry Fox ran 42 kilometers a day, but the disease affected his lungs and he died at the age of 22.

Cuban News Agency – HAVANA, Cuba – Cuba will mark the official proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution and the 50th anniversary of the victory over the 1961 mercenary invasion of Bay of Pigs with a military parade and a popular march on April 16 at the Jose Marti Revolution Square in Havana. Cuba will change and it would be nice if for once the U.S. were ahead of the curve on an international development.  With the participation of VP Esteban Lazo, representatives of grass-roots and political organizations met at the Lazaro Peña Theater in the Cuban capital to coordinate all the actions prior to the celebration, which —Lazo said— will be dedicated to the young generations.
“We will show the world the patriotism of our youth and their determination to defend the same ideals that we defended at Bay of Pigs,” the VP added. The Secretary of the Young Communist League (UJC) in Havana, Judith Area Sarmiento, announced that the march will be opened by the students of the Vladimir Ilich Lenin Vocational School and will finish with young professionals, university students and athletes, among others. Also present in the meeting were the head of the Ideology Department at the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party (PCC), Rolando Alfonso Borges, and the First Secretary of the PCC in Havana, Lazara Mercedes Lopez Acea.

San Francisco, CA – (Vocus/PRWEB) – EcoArts Tours is dedicated to being a new kind of entity – one that serves as a nexus of bridging the gap between the arts, sustainability and travel. This June 27 – July 7, 2011, the Culinary EcoArts Tour provides professionals and aficionados of Cuban cuisine the opportunity to travel to a region normally restricted to Americans. So now, anyone can go! From Havana to the island of Cayo Coco, visit organic farms, gain insight on renewable energy, enjoy culinary lessons and explore the diverse culture and natural wonders. The registration deadline is March 31st, so reserve your space today.

Take a city tour of Havana with an agro-ecological focus of visiting organic gardens and a farmers market

Visit with the ACTAF (Cuban Association of Crop and Forestry Professionals)

Enjoy traditional dinners and culinary lessons at restaurants such as El Bambu and the 12 Apostles (at the foot of the Fortaleza Morro Cabaña)

Visit Cuba Solar, the country’s leading NGO for renewable energy, and gain insight on rural electrification

Stay a few days in the beautiful coastal city of Cienfuego where you will meet with members of rural cooperatives, enjoy farm tours and visit a school incorporating environmental education

Explore Trinidad, an intriguing 500-year old town and UNESCO World Heritage Site

Visit the organopónico El Ranchon and Sanidad Vegetal’s CONBIOL facility in Sancti Spiritus

Take an eco-excursion of the island of Cayo Coco. A guided tour will cover topics of sustainable tourism and marine conservation on the island, while also giving time to enjoy the beaches or scuba amongst the massive coral reefs.

*Pricing: full pricing information can be found here.

*Logistics: to take a look at the detailed itinerary click here.

*Application: to book the trip, find the full application here.

What does EcoArts Tours do?

EcoArts Tours is a creator of experiences, providing customized tours and workshops that focus on arts and sustainability on a global level. These experiences include:

Customized Tours – We create tours for special groups, corporate clients, families and honeymooners, as well as workshops and day-long tours for youth. The focus for each tour and program highlights a specific arts and sustainable element.

The EcoRenaissance Project – This initiative invites artists to travel on an EcoArts Tour to learn from leaders and convey how their art form can make an impact on combating an environmental issue, while incorporating inspiration from local artists.

Exceptional Partnerships – EcoArts Tours has an ongoing partnership with Global Exchange, an organization with over 20 years of experience working for international human rights, social, environmental and economic justice. Formed in 2009, this alliance shares the value that the arts is many-faceted, and when used as an ecotourism product, not only helps preserve cultural traditions but is also a means of economic empowerment.

Although we do not presume to have the solution to climate change, we are climate conscious and are partnered with NativeEnergy, a climate solutions pioneer in the US carbon market. For press inquiries or other questions, please contact:
Rosalyn Salters atRosalyn@ecoartstours.orgor call 415-680-3474

Havana – DTC – In order to boost tourism for vacationers with a high purchasing power, Cuba will host the 3rd International Gourmet Festival, the most important meeting on gastronomy and hotels. The event will be held from April 6-8 at Plaza America, in Varadero beach, some 140 kilometers (87 miles) east of Havana. Sources from the organizing committee said some 200 people from Argentina, Jamaica, South Africa and the United States are expected to participate in this important meeting, The festival will consist of eight presentations and wine-tasting events, including new products from several countries, a surprise prepared by suppliers and a lecture on Cuba’s tourism training system FORMATUR. The meeting will be sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism and the entrepreneurial group Palmares.

(Reuters) – London-listed oil explorer Bahamas Petroleum Co said it planned to raise 45.6 million pounds through a discounted share placing mainly to fund its existing exploration programme and other working capital expenses. The Bahamas-focused explorer, which owns five exploration licences in Bahamian waters to the east of Florida and Cuba, said it placed about 243.1 million shares at 18.75 pence apiece, a discount of 2.6 percent to the stock’s Tuesday close.

Canaccord Genuity Ltd, FirstEnergy Capital LLP and Novus Capital Markets Ltd acted as joint bookrunners for the placing. As of Dec. 31, 2010, Bahamas had about $6 million of cash. The company also said it is currently in talks to farm out some of its licences with potential partners. Bahamas shares, which have gained about 48 percent since the company was awarded a seismic survey contract in January, closed at 19.25 pence on Tuesday on the London Stock Exchange, valuing the business at 190.1 million pounds ($304.8 million). ($1 = 0.624 British Pounds)

Guantanamo – (Solvision) – Cuba will observe daylight saving time at midnight between Saturday and Sunday when the clocks will turn one hour ahead to 1am on March 20. Daylight saving time is used as a way to save energy by extending daylight, therefore reducing the need to use artificial lighting.  Daylight saving time was first introduced in Cuba in 1928 but it was not widely accepted until World War II. After the war, daylight saving time was no longer observed until 1965. In 2004 the Caribbean nation remained on daylight saving time until October 29, 2006. After two years operating all year-round without changing from “summer” to “normal” time, Cuba decided to re-establish standard time on October 29, 2006.

CubaStandard.com – With anticipation that U.S. President Barack Obama will soon lift the travel ban on American tourists visiting Cuba, representatives of Cuba, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands met here during the recent Miami International Boat Show to draft a strategy to handle the predicted influx of boats heading south.

Figures from the U.S. Coast Guard and Florida vessel registration authorities indicate that there are more than 600,000 boats in Florida alone that are capable of making the 90 mile sea voyage from South Florida to Cuba. U.S. boats have been barred from visiting Cuba for more than 50 years and opening a floodgate of vessels would rapidly inundate Cuba’s marinas.

NEW CRUISING GROUND SEEN
The representatives included Commodore Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich, representing Cuba’s major marina provider, Marlin; Dale B. Westin, representing the Port Authority of Jamaica; plus Neville Scott, representing Cayman Island marina interests. All agreed that any relaxation of the travel ban for American’s to visit Cuba would have the effect of creating a new Central Caribbean cruising ground consisting primarily of Cuba, plus the Cayman Islands and Jamaica.

MARINE TRADES GROUP PLANNED
In addition to marketing the three-country cruising ground, the representatives forecast the formation of the Caribbean Marine Trades Association that would serve as an umbrella organization to promote yachting tourism to the Central and Western Caribbean.  Today, the Eastern Caribbean is the significant yachting destination from the US and British Virgin Islands south to Trinidad and Tobago, plus Puerto Rico, the Bahamas along with Turks and Caicos.

USA TRAVEL BAN RELAXATION IN STEPS
Presently, most USA citizens are the only ones in the entire world that do not have the freedom to travel to Cuba.  President Obama in the past year has been relaxing the ban in several increments.  Bans imposed by President George W. Bush that prevented Cuban nationals and persons of Cuban extraction from visiting Cuba frequently were ended early in 2010. Most recently, visitation by members of the press, religious groups, cultural exchanges and educational travel have been considerably relaxed by the Obama administration.  Additional restrictions are expected to be eliminated in the near future.

The Cuba Embargo relaxation rests largely with the U.S. Congress and with U.S. Rep. Ilena Ross Lehtenin, now controlling the House Foreign Relations Committee, it is unlikely this measure will get house floor consideration in the next two years.  Obama, however, does have the authority to relax the travel ban. For additional information and details about the proposed Caribbean Marine Trades Association, contact Jamaican representative Dale B. Westin at dwestin@portjam.com or at 876-477-6914.

SAN DIEGO/PRNewswire/ – “We wish to make CUBA Herbal Energy Juice (Pink Sheets: CUBV) the official energy drink and non-alcoholic beverage of Five Star Airlines.  CUBA Herbal Energy Juice will be served on all flights, domestic and international and we will use our best efforts to promote the brand to the best of our abilities on every flight,” said Gabriel Rosillo, President of Five Star Airlines.

Five Star Airlines will commence service to multiple destinations in Mexico direct from San Diego, California in the spring of 2011.  They are offering multiple flights per week to popular destinations in Mexico. “We look forward to serving an all-natural CUBA Beverage products on our flights and in setting a new standard of promoting health and wellness on Five Star Airlines flights,” said Mr. Rosillo. Over 3 years ago, CUBA Beverage Company® was one of the first companies to market with an all-natural energy juice.  In response to consumer demand for a healthier, better-tasting energy beverage, CUBA Herbal Energy Juice® is now replacing traditional unhealthy energy drinks in many locations in the United States and internationally.

CUBA Herbal Energy Juice® is an all natural herbal energy juice currently available in three unique flavors; Pomegranate-Cranberry, Wild Berry and Passion Fruit-Orange. CUBA Beverage Company’s® products represent a healthy all-natural energy drink, with no caffeine, no taurine, no high fructose corn syrups or sugars, no preservatives and no artificial ingredients of any kind. CUBA Herbal Energy Juice®:  No monsters, no bull, just pure healthy energy!

CONTACT: Investor Relations
866-431-CUBA (2822)
info@cubabev.com
WEB: www.cubabev.com

HAVANA – (Reuters) – Brazilian oil giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA) has withdrawn from an offshore oil exploration block in Cuba’s waters that it leased amid great fanfare in 2008. Petrobras signed up for one of Cuba’s 59 offshore blocks in October 2008 in a Havana ceremony attended by then Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Cuban President Raul Castro.

Cuba’s offshore oil hopes now ride even more heavily on Spanish oil company Repsol YPF (REP.MC) , which is expected to bring a Chinese-built drilling rig to Cuba in August.

Repsol, in partnership with Norway’s Statoil (STL.OL) (STO.N) and India’s ONGC (ONGC.BO) l, plans to drill at least one well, then pass the rig over to Malaysia’s state-owned oil company Petronas. The oil industry is watching the Repsol project closely and if it finds significant reserves, more companies are likely to want to explore in Cuban waters. Repsol drilled an offshore well in Cuba in 2004 and said it found oil, but that it was “non-commercial.”

It said at the time it planned to drill more wells, but is believed to have had difficulty finding a rig that did not violate the 49-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

The embargo limits the amount of U.S. technology that can be used in equipment employed in Cuba. It also prevents U.S. companies from operating on the island.

Garcia said Brazil wished Cuba well in its search for oil. “There are other companies like Repsol and from China that are trying (to drill for oil) and I hope they find it,” he said.

The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated Cuba has about five billion barrels of oil offshore.

Cuban News Agency – SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba – Primary results of a pilot study on  Cuban breast cancer patients have demonstrated the effectiveness of electrotherapy to combat the disease of such a high incidence and mortality rate in the world. Researcher Hector Camue, with the National Applied Electromagnetism National Research Center, told ACN the therapy consists on applying low-intensity direct current on a tumor by means of electrodes.
Camue said a multidisciplinary team in charge of the study started from clinical experiences practiced by Chinese scientists who visited Santiago de Cuba in 2005 and trained a group of specialists on the technique. Camue said the current outcomes of the study are very encouraging, although the study is still on incipient. According to scientists, the electrotherapy is a safe and low-cost alternative method that helps to destroy both malignant and benign tumors. Camue said the therapy could be considered as a possible treatment that can be combined with other established therapies.
The results of Cuban studies on the application of electrotherapy on breast tumors have been presented in several international conferences, including the 4th International Conference on Applied Electromagnetism underway in Santiago de Cuba. The technique has been used in China since 1987 where more than 20,000 patients have been treated, Camue said.

Guantanamo – (Solvision) – The BRASCUBA enterprise will launch in the international market a new line of black menthol cigarettes made with the same kind of leaves as the worldwide famous Cohiba cigars. The co-president of this Brazilian and Cuban joint venture, Antonio Nacimiento, told that the new line will be gradually introduced in the international market, starting this month; thus contributing to increasing hard currency incomes to the country.
The launching of the product in Cuba is due to April, and it will be available throughout all Cuban hotel, trade and gastronomic facilities. According to sales manager Anderson Moraes, the new Premium product, with exquisite aroma, marks distinctively the existing cigarettes in the international market, mainly full of blond tobacco. He noted that export strategies are directed towards Spain, France, Morocco, Japan, and other Asian countries because they are the higher consumers of black cigarettes.

The BRASCUBA factory, in Havana, is under renovation to improve its technology and train its personnel, aiming at meeting the clients’ increasing demands. Moreas explained that nowadays, this enterprise exports its product to Spain, Dubai, Andorra, Albania, Germany, Mexico, Panama and Jamaica, among other nations. The H. Upmann, Monterrey, Vega, Hollywood, H. Upmann Selecto, Lucky Strike and Cohíba brands are included in the catalogue of the enterprise.

radiorebelde.Havana, Cuba – The Cuban Ministry of Agriculture is working on the recovery of the production of citrus to increase the offer to the population and tourism, and to reduce imports. As part of a national strategy ––up to 2015–– in the production of citrus, the 6,400 workers in the Victoria de Giron Enterprise, in the province of Matanzas, have planted 1,600 hectares of new citrus trees. The director of the enterprise, Jorge Risquedo, told ACN that the new technology implemented allows alternating orange trees with other fruit trees as guava and mango, which increases yielding.

Risquedo mentioned that this enterprise had to cut down large areas given that they were seriously affected by the 2008 cyclones and by the Huanglongbing disease. He explained that the aim is to plant 1,000 hectares this year in Jaguey Grande up to completing the rehabilitation and development plan. The director of the Tropical Fruit Research Institute, in Havana, Raisa Llauger, noted that the new plants come from high technology nurseries; and made emphasis on the introduction of new fruit varieties for exporting them and for taking them to the national markets. According to sources form the Ministry of Agriculture, the lands granted in usufruct contributed to increasing the number of fruit and timber trees.

Guantanamo – (Solvision) – The singer-songwriter Carlos Varela will record his next album in collaboration with US and Latin American musicians.  We will work with few luxuries, but with excellent musicians, said Varela, whose record productions have captivated music lovers in America and Europe. Varela defends the idea that the Cuban and American artists should and can build projects together. Favored by international critics, Varela wrote his first compositions in 1978, two years later he began his prolific career as a troubadour.

Holguin, Cuba – A new report of blind fish in caverns of the region of Gibara, to the north of Holguin, were made by a local research group. Jose Corella Varona, head of the team of scientific divers reported the identification of new fishes that “swim away from the light,” as described by Cuban zoologist Felipe Poey (1799-1891). The new species was identified as the type dentatus and was named n.sp. Corella Varona said several fishes of that species were found during a study in the underwater caves of El Baga, Cristalitos de Papaya and Dos Anas, close to the towns of Caletones and Laguna Blanca, northeast Gibara.

The expert explained that one of the fishes was particularly singular and it could be that it is a new variety of blind fishes, which is commonly known as n.sp. In Cuba, four blind fish species of the Lucifuga genus distributed irregularly across the island: subterraneus, dentatus, simile and teresinarun. There is a fifth species under study known as Lucifuga sp, and the fish found in Cristalito de Papaya. Corella Varona, who has a long experience on the research of cave systems in Holguin and a diver, said prior to this report, there was only information from the caves of El Masío and Tanque Azul, both in Gibara.

The specialist said blind fish of the Lucifuga genus evolved to cave-dwelling species and the feed on shrimps and crustaceous. Speleologist diver Juan Carlos Almaguer added that those species also live in both fresh and sea water and more than 90 percent of reports on the fish locate it in the western region of Cuba, except for keys and the Isle of Youth. According to specialists, these types of blind fish can only be found in Cuba, the Bahamas and Galapagos Islands.

(Reuters) – Cuba’s program to slash 500,000 state jobs nationwide has barely gotten off the ground in the provinces, as officials scramble to provide alternatives and deal with unease and anger over the layoffs. Confusion about how to implement the cuts, a lack of alternative jobs and worker resistance have led President Raul Castro to drop a deadline to carry out the plan by March. The layoffs, aimed at cutting expenditures by the debt-ridden government and increasing productivity on the Caribbean’s biggest island, are a key part of economic reforms Castro says are critical to the survival of Cuban communism.

Some 3,000 jobs have been cut in eastern Granma province since the program started in October, a similar number in adjacent Santiago de Cuba and 1,000 in central Camaguey, local officials told Reuters last week. But that is just 10 percent of the 70,000 jobs they said were slated to go by March in the three provinces and already the experience has proved wrenching for a society where a secure job had been guaranteed for decades under a centrally run socialist economy. “We never know now if tomorrow we will wake up with a job or not and it was never like that before,” said a middle-aged woman in Santiago de Cuba, asking that her name not be used.

A companion reform measure lifting many curbs on operating small private businesses and working privately in skilled trades was originally designed to absorb the workers who have yet to be let go. As of January 31, 113,000 people nationwide had taken out licenses to work on their own, including 15,000 in the Camaguey, Granma and Santiago provinces. But Marta Adan Hernandez, the director of labor and social security in Camaguey province, said there is room for many more people working on their own.

“There is no limit and many services still need to be provided to the population,” she told Reuters.

Castro’s reforms envision a growing “non-state” retail and farming sector and more efficient state-run companies. They are expected to be approved at a Communist Party congress in April. The massive lay-offs have reportedly come under fire during tens of thousands of meetings held across the island as a prelude to the congress. The program is being described as a “reorganization” of the labor force because in theory laid-off workers are declared “available” and offered other jobs or they can lease fallow state land or become self-employed. Twenty-nine nurses at one of nine health clinics in Camaguey, upon being declared “available” last week, were offered jobs at local hospitals.

“Some are taking the offer and others are going home because at the clinic you work eight-hour days while in hospitals you work a 12-hour day or night shift and it often turns into 24 hours when your relief doesn’t show up,” said Anaida, a nursing supervisor. That was not the case for bookkeepers at 20 restaurants in Santiago de Cuba attached to the Tourism Ministry. Their jobs were simply eliminated and all 20 let go, with their four supervisors taking over the work. “They declared me ‘available’ January 4 and sent me home with a month’s salary and then 70 percent for another month,” 40-year-old Maria Eugenia said. “They haven’t offered me anything. They haven’t even called me or any of the others.

Granma’s provincial vice president for economic affairs, Raul Lopez Rodriguez, insisted the reorganization would continue, but admitted only 10 percent of those laid off could be absorbed by a shrinking state sector. The remainder will have little choice but to return to the land or strike out on their own. “You are going to see a reorganization of the labor force to improve efficiency and those who remain must be paid much more,” he said. He estimated that average monthly wages, now about 440 pesos ($20), would need to double to motivate workers.

Radio Angulo.cu – Viñales’ gorgeous landscape attracts visitors from all over the world. Viñales Nacional Park, famous for its jurassic mogotes (Karst mountains) in the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio, receives every year thosands of Cuban and foreign visitors, who go over caves and roads, surrounded by living fossils, such as palma corcho (cork palm). One of the most outstanding options for tourists is Santo Tomas, one of the largest cave systems in Latin America, which received the World Heritage Cultural Landscapes award. Yoel Martinez, director of the Nacional Park, said to Prensa Latina that Maravillas de Viñales path, ideal for bird watching from a lush forest, is also preferred by nature lovers from various continents.

Martinez said that from 2002 up to the current year, 82,000 Cuban and foreign visitors have enjoyed the ecotourism proposals of that place, which also includes tours through El Cable cave, among other places prominent for their natural and scenic values. Among the source markets are Germany, France, Spain, the UK, and Italy, Martinez said. In about 15,000 hectares (37,500 acres), the area’s flora consists of more than 200,000 species, whose endemism in carbonate substrates approaches 30 percent. The stunning scenes of the Valle de Viñales have being painted from earlier centuries by famous artists such as Domingo Ramos.

HAVANA, Cuba – (acn) – Almost 76,5 % of the land given in usufruct by the Cuban government by way of Decree 259 is being exploited throughout the country after the conclusion of works to cut down marabu trees (Dichrostachys cinerea, aka sicklebush) and weeds. The Cuban Minister of Agriculture, Gustavo Rodriguez, told ACN that most of these areas are used for livestock raising and for vegetable and fruit growing purposes. He pointed out that the process of approval of applications is still slow and that there are delays in the assessment of the annual agreement among usufruct beneficiaries, the municipal delegate, the director of the agricultural and livestock enterprise, and the president of the cooperative to which the producer is linked.
Luis Suarez, one of these new beneficiaries ––who is already collecting the results of its first tomato, papaya and sweet potato harvests––, told ACN that this is a dream come true for him. He added that now there is a lot to study in order to implement the best techniques as to agricultural work and sanitary conditions in accordance to the kind of crop. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, by the end of December 2010 the government had granted 1,179,795 hectares in usufruct and had received more than 155,000 applications, out of which over 128,000 were approved and another 19,000 were pending from approval.

Xinhua – Cuba enforced Wednesday a new Highway Code imposing harsher measures against traffic violations such as speeding or drunken driving. The new code is aimed at reducing the number of accidents on the island. The so-called “Law 109,” approved on Aug. 1, 2010 by the Cuban Parliament, prohibits completely driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. According to official statistics, drunken driving is one of the most common causes of accidents on the island, where the road accidents caused by alcohol left a toll of 41 dead and 200 injured in 2010. The resolution, taking effect Wednesday, not only forbids driving under the influence of alcohol, but also provides penalties for passengers also drunk or affected by other substances, which could jeopardize the ability of the driver. Those involved in speed competition on the road will also be punished with measures ranging from the cancellation of their driver’s license to the confiscation of the vehicle.

Miami Herald – Four antennas for satellite telephones were smuggled into Cuba disguised as surfboards. Many others were simply home-made on the island out of metal sheeting or cement. Cuba alleges the satellite phones are part of a secret U.S. “cyberwar’’ to subvert the communist system by giving dissidents and others access to Internet and telephone services that its intelligence services cannot monitor or block.

Yet the vast majority of the illegal satellite phones in Cuba were slipped in not by U.S. government agents but by exiles who want their relatives and friends to access the services, several knowledgeable sources told El Nuevo Herald.

One Miami man quietly offers “satphones’’ for $3,500 up front and $50 a month. Other systems offered by U.S., Canadian, European and Central American companies cost as little as $410 for the equipment and $39.99 a month. The exact number of satphones in Cuba is unknown because of their illegal status, but one industry expert who knows Cuba estimated it “in the dozens.” A second industry expert put it at 50 to 70. Raúl Castro’s government has been telling its version of the cyberwar in a string of recent TV programs, titled “Cuba’s Reasons,” that explain its dark views of U.S. efforts to increase Cubans’ access to the Internet.

“They try to present it as a way to facilitate the free flow of information to and from Cuba,” an intelligence official identified only as Captain Mariana said on one program. But they are really aimed at “espionage, subversion and media manipulation.” Alan Gross, a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), was arrested in Havana in 2009 after he allegedly delivered satellite Internet communications equipment to Cuban Jews. He was tried last week on national security charges and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Communist Party’s Granma newspaper alleged last week that the U.S. effort to expand Cubans’ access to the Internet was part of a plan to “spark a popular uprising’’ like those that toppled the Egyptian and Tunisian governments.

Defenders of the U.S. programs argue that there’s a moral right to violate Cuban laws in order to give uncensored access to the Internet to a people living under a dictatorial system. “The issue is how much legitimacy we are willing to give to the legislation of an authoritarian and repressive society,” said a post this week in the Spain-based blog Penultimos Dias — The Last Few Days. The latest “Cuba’s Reasons’’ program featured Dalexi González, a telecommunications engineer who told how a former neighbor living in Spain offered in 2007 to introduce him to a “friend’’ who would help him set up an illegal Internet connection.

Gonzalez, who collaborated with Cuban intelligence, claimed that he received four satellite telephone antennas, with foam covers that made them look like surfboards, from a blond American during a surfing contest east of Havana in 2008. He also received software programs for communications security from the “friend,’’ Gonzalez added. But Gonzalez did not clarify whether he ever received the rest of the components for the satellite phones. Cuban TV identified the “friend’’ as Robert Guerra, head of Internet programs at Freedom House, a pro-democracy group based in Washington. Its web page says Guerra works to “expand the use of anti-censorship technologies (and) build support networks for citizens fighting against online repression.”

“We try to help Cuban citizens to connect with counterparts in other countries, and in most other parts of the world this is totally acceptable,” Daniel Calingaert, Freedom House’s deputy director of programs, told El Nuevo Herald. Freedom House never sent any satellite phones to Cuba, according to persons knowledgeable about its work, but it did send Guerra to the island to help broaden and improve Cubans’ access to the Internet. Cuba’s government tightly controls access to the Web, and the island has the lowest Internet penetration rate of Latin America. It blocks local access to many “enemy’’ Web sites and locally registered smartphones cannot download Web pages.

Access is largely limited to state officials and institutions, and others must pay exorbitant prices — $6 an hour at tourist hotels and $40-$50 a month to use an official’s password at night. Cuba’s average monthly salary stands at $20 a month.

The U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana has 23 computer stations that offer uncensored and free Internet access to Cuban visitors by appointment, and the Dutch embassy has another three. But satellite phones allow users to surf the Web or make phone calls from their own homes. They connect users directly to satellites — bypassing Cuba’s telephone system — and then to ground stations abroad that link to Internet or telephone networks. The George W. Bush administration first approved sending satellite phones to Cuba around 2006, but kept the numbers to a handful because of Havana’s likely protests, said two former administration officials. Cuba’s Decree 269, issued in 2000, requires satellite transmitters and receivers be registered with the government.

Satellite phones sent in by Cuban exiles clearly far outstrip those paid for by the U.S. government, industry experts told El Nuevo Herald. They asked that they not be further identified because of the illegal nature of most of the Cuba connections. The top-of-the-line phones are the BGANs, which costs $3,000 to buy. Voice chats cost 99 U.S. cents a minute and Web connections run $6-$7 for the equivalent of transferring two large photographs. The average BGAN bill runs $150-$200 a month. BGANs are expensive compared to other systems but are easier to hide because they do not require large satellite antennas. The lid of the laptop-sized satellite phone works as its antenna.

Cheaper but easier to detect and slower are the satellite Internet/phone systems sold by several companies around the world for use in remote locations, boats and other places without access to high-speed Internet. One man contacted by El Nuevo at a Miami phone number last week said he could provide satellite Internet access in Cuba for a $3,500 one-time fee and $50 a month. His offer is on the Web, boasting that his system is “not detectable.” A Cuban exile in Panama said he paid $1,000 up front and $60 a month to have a Panamanian company install the satellite connection for his father in Havana four years ago, and has since referred a dozen of other exiles to the installer.

Although the U.S. embargo bars U.S. satphone companies from selling their services for use on the island, exiles in South Florida can easily contract foreign companies to hook up friends and relatives on the island, industry experts said. They also can contract U.S. companies to provide the systems in remote U.S. locations — the Florida Keys, for example — then smuggle the equipment into Cuba while continuing to pay the bills in the United States. HughesNet, a U.S. company, charges $410 for the purchase of the equipment and monthly fees from $39.99 to $89.99. The more expensive plans offer faster connection speeds — though still slow by TV cable standards — and longer surfing times.

Such systems require a receiver-transmitter that looks like a fat 20-inch hot dog, a modem about the size of a book and a three-foot wide antenna. A photo on the Web shows an antenna made from concrete that can be flipped down to look like a square platform. Industry experts warn of not-infrequent fraud in the business. Because all the systems are illegal for use in Cuba, they note, exiles who buy them and lose their money have little or no legal recourse. An Orlando man who asked to be identified only as Omar but has put his complaint and telephone number on the Internet told El Nuevo Herald that he paid $3,000 to connect a relative in Cuba one year ago. He is still waiting.

(Reuters) – Alberto Granado, who accompanied fellow Argentine Ernesto “Che” Guevara on a trip immortalized in the film “The Motorcycle Diaries, died in Cuba on Saturday at the age of 88, Cuba’s state-run media reported. The report said his ashes would be spread in Argentina, Cuba and Venezuela. The famous trip across South America, begun in late 1951 on Granado’s old British motorcycle, supposedly awakened in Guevara a sympathy for the poor and desire for social justice that turned him into a leftist revolutionary.

He was one of the leaders of Cuba’s revolution that put Fidel Castro in power in 1959 and was in the Cuban government for several years until leaving to fight, less successfully, in other uprisings. He died in Bolivia in 1967 while trying to start a rebel force there. “The Motorcycle Diaries” was based on Guevara’s diary of the trip and on Granado’s book “Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary.” The 2004 film was directed by Brazilian Walter Salles. At the invitation of his friend, Granado, who was a biochemist, came to Cuba in 1961 and stayed.

Radio Havana – Cuba – The introduction of new technologies such as the double-row planting method will allow Cuban farmers to increase efficiency in the cultivation of tobacco. Oscar Basulto, director of the business group TABACUBA, stated that this technique is being successfully implemented in the westernmost province of Pinar del Rio as it allows to make the most of the cultivable land. The method also reduces the appearance of weeds and it favors the works of irrigation, fumigation and harvesting. At the same time, it contributes to the saving of oil.

According to data provided by specialists in the sector, with this technique, yields increase between 25 and 30 percent as the number of plants per hectare also increases. Hector Luis, a tobacco grower of the municipality of San Luis in Pinar del Rio, selected as Habano Man 2008, said the method also contributes to the reduction of materials used such as fabric and wire. According to reports from the Ministry of Agriculture, exports and sales of Cuban tobacco in 2010 reached 95% of the plan due to difficulties with the arrival of imports, an aggressive international anti-tobacco campaign, and the current international financial crisis.

Havana – DTC – The company EcoSol, attached to the Cuban corporation COPEXTEL, installed a backup mechanism to provide solar photovoltaic energy to the National Power System. According to experts, the new mechanism turns the direct current supplied by the photovoltaic modules into alternate current through a device called inverter. Results confirm the advantage of the technology, which provides clean renewable energy that can be stored and used in case of a power outage. EcoSol imports, sells and exports products and services in the field of renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency. That way, it provides integral solutions based on studies, diagnoses and saving solutions, energy efficiency and engineering systems using alternative sources of energy.

BUENOS AIRES – (Hollywood Reporter) – Puerto Rican Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro arrived in Cuba to direct a segment in the collective film “Seven Days in Havana.” Del Toro’s first time as a director will be a documentary featuring an American actor traveling to the island for a seminar. The doc was first presented in December during the New Latin American Film Festival in Havana and will be supported by production companies Full House (France) and Morena Films (Spain). With a 3 million euro budget, the cast of filmmakers participating will also include Julio Medem, Laurent Cantet, Pablo Trapero, Gaspar Noe, Elia Suleiman and Juan Carlos Tabio.

“Havana is the best place to be starting this adventure; to shoot my first project as a director here is a great privilege,” Del Toro told Cuban agency Prensa Latina. “For now, this is the only project I will be focusing on in the next days. That’s what I have in mind, I focus on one thing at a time.” The shooting will feature Cuban actors Daisy Granados and Vladimir Cruz. In the meantime, Del Toro will scout locations in Havana’s Old Quarter.

Del Toro is no stranger to Havana. Last time he was there was in July 2008 to receive a lifetime achievement award, and he was even praised by Fidel Castro for his performance as Ernesto Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh’s Spanish-spoken Che, which won him a best actor award in Cannes and a Spanish Goya in the same category. “I have good friends here,” he said. “I always come here only to work, but I love to do so.”

CAMAGÜEY, Cuba – (acn) – The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA) will finance the construction in the Cuban eastern province of Camagüey of a new fodder factory that will substitute one that has been in use there for 64 years. Braulio Muñoz Ramos, with the executive team of the Poultry Company of the territory, told ACN that the plans and costing stage will begin in the second semester of 2011 prior to the civil construction works and the installation of equipment. According to the stipulated period of construction, the factory should be finished 18 months later. Cuba is in negotiations with Chinese, German and Spanish companies for the purchase of the technology for the plant, which is expected to produce 25 tons of fodder per hour. Over the last few years and thanks to an agreement with ALBA, Cuba has been working to improve fodder manufacturers; in this regard, the modernization of a production line in a factory in central Villa Clara province is also scheduled for 2011.

This Week – Sometimes the people behind our huge Canadian travel industry are as fascinating as the destinations they take us to. When Colin Hunter sings “Come Fly with Me,” he means it. While you were boarding the plane, the chairman of the board of the Sunwing Travel Group was singing to you, and when the plane reaches altitude, tune in to channel 10 on your armrest and relax to his seductive, soothing, crooning voice.

Colin Hunter’s journey into singing didn’t happen overnight. His mother talked of him humming and swaying to music at two, and in his youth he sang in jazz clubs and had a half-hour show on All India Radio before immigrating to Britain, and then to Canada to use his commerce degree in the travel industry. He sang for his friends and family while he worked his way to stardom in travel. “For his 50th birthday we bought him a Karaoke machine,” says his wife Joan. “We had many Karaoke parties and that built his confidence again. “We’ve been on 20 cruises with the Oceania Nautica, and early on I told the pianist in the piano bar, that my husband was a great singer. Now the two are friends, and every night on our two week cruise, Colin performs in the piano bar.”

He’s now a living legend in the industry, and also in the last few years is becoming better and better known as a crooner-entertainer bringing 50s favourites to the forefront of old fans and new younger ones as well. Inspired by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole, Colin recorded a CD in 2005 when Sunwing Airlines was launched. Of course, it was called “Come Fly with me.” Now the sixth and seventh are due for release. This led to invites to jazz festivals, the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in 2009 and in this past December the 26th Jazz Festival in Havana.

It seemed appropriate that the man who flies 350,000 Canadians yearly to holiday in Cuba should arrive with Joan on the inaugural flight from Montreal to Havana. And even more appropriate that he stayed and rehearsed in the famous historic National Hotel. The National just celebrated its 80th birthday and what stories the walls could tell. This after all, was one of the hotels built by the mob. It seems fitting that Colin rehearses in the Sala Tagansana, where back in 1958 Nat King Cole performed, and Frank Sinatra sang. The hotel was packed with international entertainers, and people simply wanting to listen and enjoy the music, and soak up the 50’s atmosphere.

Watching the rehearsal was very special as the musicians pulled it all together. Colin was accompanied by legendary award winning Canadian pianist Joe Sealy and Cuban Jazz, a large group of talented musicians. Orlando Sanchez was on saxophone, pianist Alexis Bosch, and Singer Danai Blanco in duets. They all spoke the language of music, and when words were needed, the efficient charming Miosotis Elliott pulled it all together. “I know Come Fly with Me is your signature song,” said Joe Sealy at one point. “But it isn’t working at this venue.” It didn’t appear on the programs.

Joan and Colin married 38 years ago have four children. They have a romance that sends sparks across a crowded room. When he rehearsed, the love songs were directed directly to Joan. She seemed so in tune with him that she knew exactly when to deliver a glass of water. The saying goes, “Behind every successful man is a surprised wife.” Well Joan isn’t surprised. “I’m his biggest promoter.” When does this busy executive get time to practice?” He sings an hour each way as he commutes to Sunwing offices from home.” There were more than 20 different concerts during the three day festival, but many more jamming sessions here and there. Cuba has always been known for fabulous music, and this showcase of talent was out of this world.

The first concert was at the famous Havana jazz club La Zorray el Cuevo ( Fox and Raven). It was a scene right out of a 50s movie, and when we left at 3 a.m. the place was still packed. The next night more than 200 Cubans and Canadians arrived at the Casa del la Cultura Plaza to listen under the stars. Before Colin’s performance I said stupidly, ” I know you’ll be great.” Joan said, “of course he will, he always is.” And he was. Check out the National for the new plaque commemorating Colin Hunter when you visit Havana.

Prensa Latina – CUBA has condemned a new action in the context of the U.S. blockade of the island: the seizure of $4.207 million that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria had allocated for the first trimester. Orlando Hernández, deputy minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, who made the condemnation, affirmed that this action is yet another in the long list of examples of extraterritorial application of the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for more than 50 years.

He stated that in January the UN Development Program (UNDP), responsible for channeling financial aid to Cuba, reported that the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had frozen funds for the Cuban health sector. The financing, regularly allocated every year, was assigned to Global Fund projects directed at combating Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and tuberculosis in Cuba. The Cuban official added that this action constitutes an illegal act which seriously impedes international cooperation provided by UN agencies to funds and programs.

He added that it is even more serious given that it affects funds directed to combating and preventing pandemic outbreaks of diseases to which the Cuban government and the international community are devoting their greatest efforts. His statement emphasizes that this unilateral measure on the part of Washington will hinder the implementation and continuity of social projects focused on vulnerable groups within the Cuban population, as well as the universal nature of UN agencies, funds and programs.

Granma International – Havana – Agreement No.30/11 of the  Central Bank of Cuba’s Monetary Policy Committee IN 2005, taking into account the international economic and financial context, as well as a combination of factors of a more specific nature which were having a positive influence on the performance of the country’s economic activity, the decision was adopted to revaluate the official exchange rate of the convertible peso (CUC) by 8% in relation to the U.S. dollar (USD) and other foreign currencies.

It is worth recalling that, since 1994, when the convertible peso became a national currency, to April 8, 2005, the exchange rate of the convertible peso in relation to the U.S. dollar remained invariably at 1 CUC to 1USD. The very dynamics of our economy in subsequent years, aggravated by the damage and losses provoked by the hurricanes of 2008, as well as the effects of the international economic crisis, characterized by much volatility on the monetary markets, obliged us to reconsider the convenience of maintaining a convertible peso exchange rate in relation to the U.S. dollar and other currencies which is not in line with the country’s economic needs in present conditions.

An analysis of all these factors has resulted in the conclusion by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Cuba that it is opportune to devalue the Cuban convertible peso exchange rate with the dollar and other foreign currencies by 8%; in other words, to reestablish parity between the convertible peso and the U.S. dollar.

This decision signifies a discreet step directed at fostering an improvement in the country’s hard currency balance, given that it would constitute a stimulus to export activity and to the process of replacing imports. This, linked to more effective planning, procedures used for the allocation of hard currencies, greater rationality in managing the issuing of monies, and increased productivity and efficiency in the national economy, will help to establish more favorable conditions in our external financial relations.

As was announced in the 7th Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power 6th Ordinary Period of Sessions, the limitations that we were obliged to impose on payments from Cuban banks to foreign suppliers at the end of 2008 continued to decrease during 2010 and, at the same time, there have been significant progress in debt renegotiations with our principal creditors. Taking the above into account, as of March 14, 2011 the official exchange rate of the convertible peso in relation to the U.S. dollar will remain set at 1×1 throughout national territory, both for exchange operations in the business sector and those made by the population at CADECAS [national currency exchanges]. It should be noted that the commercial fees currently charged in exchange operations will be maintained.

The objective of these is to cover the costs of the financial institutions providing these services. In the same way, the 10% tax imposed on persons wishing to buy convertible pesos with U.S. dollars in cash will remain in place as compensation for the costs and risks caused by the manipulation of the latter as a consequence of the irrational and unjust economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States government for more than 50 years. This decision does not affect the current exchange rate of the Cuban peso in relation to the convertible peso in CADECA outlets, which remains set at 24 Cuban pesos for operations covering the sale by the population of convertible pesos, and 25 Cuban pesos for operations covering the purchase by the population of convertible pesos. Nor does it modify the official exchange rate of the Cuban peso against the convertible peso utilized in state sector accounting, which establishes that one Cuban peso is equal to one convertible peso.

Ernesto Medina Villaveirán
Minister-President
Central Bank of Cuba

SANTA CLARA, Cuba – (acn) – By the end of February, apiarists from the central Cuban province of Villa Clara exceeded the amount of honey collected last year, in that same period, by 76 tons. The Cuban agriculture minister, Gustavo Rodriguez, told ACN news agency that with this strategy, producers will be able to buy wood boxes directly, at the cost price of its production in hard currency, in accordance to a conversion rate of about 10 and 15 Cuban pesos per US dollars. Rodriguez explained that when farmers go to sell their products to the State, the enterprise will pay for the products including the container, and noted that the strategy aims at reducing annual loses, in this regard, throughout the country. The selling of nails for maintenance and restoration works is also included among the strategies.

According to the director of the apiculture enterprise in the province, Adelfo Sosa, the increase was the result of several changes such as the replacement of 60 percent of queen bees, the increase of beehives in the apiaries and the improvement in the handling of insects. Sosa noted that these results will contribute to meeting the plan of the present year, which rises up to 810 tons, with more than 15,000 beehives, and 71 apiarists in Villa Clara.

Farmer Fernando Marrero Estupiñan, from the Pedro Gonzalez Cooperative, in Madruga, in the western province of Mayabeque, asserted that these strategies will contribute to taking more fresh products in better conditions to the population. The president of the National Association of Small Farmers, Orlando Lugo Fonte, said that these strategies will contribute to the Cuban economy by saving thousands of dollars. Lugo pointed out that small carpenter’s workshops should be created in order to carry out maintenance and restoration works. The return of sacks, boxes and other resources is a common practice in many nations. Apiarist Ramon Marrero, the best producer in the province during the last harvest, explained that systematicity and strict compliance to the technical norms is the key of success in apiculture. Marrero affirmed that in order to avoid infestation by mites like Varroa, working bees have to be directly observed so as to detect on time any symptoms of the disease and prevent contagion.

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In 1999, OFAC (The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C.) confirmed that it had previously issued an opinion in 1994 which stated that a U.S. company or individual could make a secondary market investment in a “third-country company” that had commercial dealings with the Republic of Cuba as long as that investment in the “third-country company” was not a controlling interest. (Therefore, under that criteria, U.S. citizens and companies can invest in a private or public Canadian company doing business with Cuba)

James
Cuban Weekly News Digest

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Cuban News Digest – May 17, 2009

The Washington Post – Deep in the Gulf of Mexico, an end to the 1962 U.S. trade embargo against Cuba may be lying untapped, buried under layers of rock, seawater and bitter relations. Oil, up to 20 billion barrels of it, sits off Cuba’s northwest coast in territorial waters, according to the Cuban government — enough to turn the island into the Qatar of the Caribbean. At a minimum, estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey place Cuba’s potential deep-water reserves at 4.6 billion barrels of oil and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, stores that would rank the island among the region’s top producers.

Drilling operations by foreign companies in Cuban waters are still in the exploratory stage, and significant obstacles — technological and political — stand between a U.S.-Cuba rapprochement eased by oil. But as the Obama administration gestures toward improved relations with the Castro government, the national security, energy and economic benefits of Cuban crude may make it a powerful incentive for change. Limited commercial ties between U.S. businesses and the island’s communist government have been quietly expanding this decade as Cuban purchases of U.S. goods — mostly food — have increased from $7 million in 2001 to $718 million in 2008, according to census data.

Thawing relations could eventually open up U.S. investment in mining, agriculture, tourism and other sectors of Cuba’s tattered economy. But the prospect of major offshore reserves that would be off-limits to U.S. companies and consumers has some Cuba experts arguing that 21st-century energy needs should prevail over 20th-century Cold War politics. “The implications of this have the potential to be a sea change, literally and figuratively, for the Cubans,” said Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska-Omaha who studies Cuba’s energy sector.

At a House subcommittee hearing last month on U.S.-Cuba policy, former oil executive Jorge Piñón told lawmakers that the United States has a strategic interest in helping Cuba tap its potentially vast hydrocarbon stores and that U.S. companies should receive special permission to do so. “American oil and oil equipment and service companies have the capital, technology and operational know-how to explore, produce and refine in a safe and responsible manner Cuba’s potential oil and natural gas reserves. Yet they remain on the sidelines because of our almost five-decade-old unilateral political and economic embargo,” said Piñón, a member of a Brookings Institution advisory group on Cuba policy reform.

Cuba has said it welcomes U.S. investment, but American companies remain largely silent on the issue, at least in public, bound by trade sanctions that were established under the Kennedy administration. When Cuban oil officials and U.S. companies attended a joint energy conference at an American-owned hotel in Mexico in 2006, the Bush administration forced the facility to expel the Cuban delegation, attempting to thwart any potential for partnership. “Until trade barriers are removed, Chevron is unable to do business in Cuba,” said Chevron spokesman Kurt Glaubitz. “Companies like us would have to see a change in U.S. policy before we evaluate whether there’s interest.”

Robert Dodge, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, said his organization is not lobbying for access to Cuba, and Texas congressional representatives with ties to the oil industry said they are focused on opening U.S. territorial waters to drilling. But observers of U.S.-Cuba relations say American companies haven’t been sitting on their hands and remain in conversations with Cuban counterparts. At the 2006 Mexico energy conference, U.S. oil companies “all had plans to move forward as soon as the U.S. government gives them the go-ahead,” said Benjamin-Alvarado, who attended the conference. If that go-ahead is granted, American companies would be entering a drilling contest crowded with foreign competitors. Several global firms, including Repsol (Spain), Petrobras (Brazil) and StatoilHydro (Norway) are exploring in the Gulf of Mexico through agreements with the Castro government, and state companies from Malaysia, India, Vietnam and Venezuela have also signed deals.

Sherritt International, a Canadian company, has had oil derricks pumping heavy crude along Cuba’s north coast for more than a decade, extracting about 55,000 barrels a day, mostly for Cuba’s domestic energy consumption. But most of Cuba’s undiscovered reserves are thought to be in two offshore areas. The oil and gas that make up the USGS estimate lie in an area known as the North Cuba Basin, a short distance off the island’s northwest coast. The larger deposit is thought to be in a section of the gulf known as the Eastern Gap, to which Mexico and the United States also have a claim. Cuban officials believe there are 10 billion to 15 billion barrels of crude stored there under more than 5,000 feet of seawater and 20,000 feet of rock– costly to extract but accessible with existing technology. By comparison, U.S. proven reserves total 21 billion barrels.

The Eastern Gap area is also coveted by American companies, but in Florida, where anti-Castro and anti-drilling sentiments run high, the Cuban government’s energy ambitions have alarmed lawmakers who see the threat of ecological calamity in Cuba’s plans to drill in that part of the gulf. “They’d be drilling right in the Gulf Stream,” Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) said in a telephone interview, describing a nightmare scenario in which ocean currents could carry spilled crude into Florida’s marine sanctuaries and blacken beaches along the Eastern Seaboard. “There would be a monumental disaster,” he said. “There simply should not be drilling out there.”

Other U.S. lawmakers said oil deals with the Cuban government would throw a lifeline to the island’s feeble economy and the 50-year rule of Fidel and Raúl Castro. They also question how reliable a partner Cuba would be. “What if we make those investments and then U.S. assets are nationalized?” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked after last month’s subcommittee hearing. Because it would take three or more years for Cuba to fully develop its energy resources, according to Piñón, U.S. participation in the island’s energy sector could benefit a Cuban government not necessarily led by Fidel, 82, or Raúl, 78. Helping Cuba develop its own reserves, he said, would allow the island to gain the political independence and economic footing needed to negotiate a reconciliation with the United States without outside interference. “Since Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, Cuba’s communist government has had to largely rely on foreign providers — first the Soviet Union, now Venezuela — to fulfill its energy needs,” Piñón said. Cuba’s “petroleum dependency” on Hugo Chávez’s government “could be used by Venezuela as a tool to influence a Cuban government in maintaining a politically antagonistic and belligerent position toward the United States,” he said.

LA Times – Blending commerce with politics, Orbitz Worldwide has launched a campaign to reverse a law that prohibits travel to Cuba for most U.S. citizens and green-card holders. Through the Open Cuba website, visitors can petition the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and members of Congress to eliminate the Kennedy-era trade and travel restrictions. U.S. airlines and cruise and tour operators are eager to launch travel to the Caribbean’s largest island. President Obama raised their hopes by encouraging a dialogue with Cuba’s communist government and by removing restrictions on family visits by Cuban Americans. It is not assured that Congress will take the next step and repeal the ban, which remains a prickly political issue. The Obama administration isn’t pushing Congress to act, and opponents say it would be folly to do so without significant reforms by Cuba.

Borrowing a page from the Obama presidential campaign, Chicago-based Orbitz is trying to build grass-roots support for opening travel to Cuba by appealing to the 14 million monthly visitors to its website. “We want to organize our customers and other interested parties to reach out to Obama and other government officials,” said Barney Harford, Orbitz’s president and chief executive. Energized by a White House visit with the president in March, Harford decided to rally his company behind a social cause and selected Cuba. Orbitz, however, risks being seen as exploitative, since it stands to profit. Those who lobby via the new site will receive a $100 coupon toward a Cuba vacation redeemable if the travel ban is lifted and flights and tour packages can be sold legally by Orbitz.

AP – HAVANA – Fidel Castro defended Havana’s response to the swine flu outbreak, including suspension of direct flights with Mexico, saying that Cuba is especially vulnerable to an epidemic because the U.S. embargo prevents it from buying medicine and diagnostic equipment. Hours later Cuba confirmed two new cases of swine flu in a group of Mexican students, bringing the island’s total cases to three. A Public Health Ministry statement said 11 of 15 students in the group were found to be healthy and released from a hospital in central Cuba. Cuba has not said whether it has access to Tamiflu. But the World Health Organization says it sent 2.4 million treatments of the anti-flu treatment to 72 developing countries last week.

“What does one of these epidemics mean to Cuba?” Castro said in an essay read on state television. “Our country has no access to buy whatever medicine, raw materials or equipment or components for diagnostic equipment produced by U.S. transnational companies.” Mexican authorities were offended when Castro accused Mexico of waiting to disclose the epidemic until after President Barack Obama visited in mid-April — even though Canadian and U.S. scientists did not identify the virus in Mexican patients until a week later. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has said he may cancel a planned a trip to Cuba this year because the island grounded flights to and from Mexico. “Why accuse us of being enemies of the Mexican people when we adopt measures that have been put together beforehand to protect our people?” Castro asked. More than 6,600 cases of swine flu have been reported in 33 countries worldwide, with 69 deaths.

Associated Press – MIAMI – Jugs of daiquiri mix. Gourmet nuts. Rolls of newsprint. Not exactly humanitarian aid, but still among the items sold to Cuba under an agricultural waiver carved out of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. American businesses are raking in more than $700 million a year selling these and other products to the Cuban government under the waiver, which was passed by Congress partly on humanitarian grounds and signed in 2000 by President Bill Clinton.

Backers said the measure would expand U.S. markets and help the communist country feed its people. And the waiver has accomplished that, with huge shipments of grain, chicken and other products. Some of the goods, though, wind up in a select group of supermarkets where few Cubans can shop, or in the island’s exclusive resorts and hotels, which most Cubans can’t visit. As President Barack Obama calls for a fresh start in U.S.-Cuban relations, sales of high-end treats and other seemingly nonessential items highlight the inconsistencies in the current American policy. “It’s hypocritical both ways,” said Andy Gomez, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami. “From the U.S. side, it was done by the administration to help certain members of Congress who wanted the sales. But from the Cuba side, it shows that the U.S. embargo is not really what is hurting the Cuban people.”

The embargo was imposed in 1961 at the height of the Cold War, but that hasn’t kept the U.S. from becoming Cuba’s largest foreign source of agricultural products. The waiver, which was championed by politicians from agricultural states, covers hundreds of categories, including wood-related and medical products, though the biggest sales to Cuba last year were still the basics — $196 million in corn, $139 million in poultry and $135 million in wheat, according to the Census Bureau. Rep. Joanne Emerson, R-Mo., one of the waiver’s original backers, said that lawmakers at the time weren’t focused on deciding item-by-item which products to allow and which ones to disallow. “When you get to the weeds, I don’t think that’s a good thing,” she said, adding, “The more products we can sell to the island, the better.”

The waiver has created all kinds of exotic opportunities for American businesses. One of the first U.S. companies to sign a deal with Cuba was not an agriculture giant sending grain from the heartland. It was a drink mix company in Fort Lauderdale. Rich Waltzer, owner of Splash Tropical Drinks, frequently provides the mixes for the daiquiris and margaritas tourists sip at Havana’s legendary Hotel Nacional. The daiquiri is believed to have been created in Cuba about a century ago; the rum drink apparently got its name from a beach and an iron mine in Cuba. While the notion of sending daiquiris to Cuba might seem comical, Waltzer said Cuban officials liked the predictability of his product, and besides, they don’t grow strawberries in Cuba. “When I started, the only thing I knew about Cuba was Fidel Castro, the Cuban missile crisis, rum and cigars,” said the Brooklyn-bred Waltzer, who also sells juices to Cuban schools.

Waltzer and other entrepreneurs are pretty happy with the way things are now. The waiver is so broad that it includes beer, soda and a host of inedible items such as beauty products, artwork, utility poles, kitchen cabinets and Alabama newsprint, which totaled $6 million in sales last year. Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said the newsprint has been used for Cuba’s government-run papers — in which diatribes against the U.S. embargo are frequent. Officials at the Communist Party newspaper Granma and the Cuban government did not return calls from The Associated Press. “Agricultural groups have about 90 percent of what they want,” said Dan Erikson, author of “The Cuba Wars: Fidel Castro, the United States and the Next Revolution.”

But what agricultural groups would really like is more Americans visiting the island. Under U.S. law, only Cuban-Americans and a few groups such as journalists and academics are allowed to visit Cuba. More tourists from the U.S. would mean more demand for food items, especially higher-priced products and American brands. Frank Walker, a food company representative who went to Cuba last year representing Texas manufacturers, is securing contracts with Cuba for a variety of upscale products, including New York-style cheesecake, key lime pie and a rum-infused bundt cake. “My products are driven by the tourist industry and food trade,” Walker said.

James Cason, former head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana under President George W. Bush, said ending the trade embargo would hurt the bargaining position of the U.S., which is hoping to prod Cuba to allow more freedom for its citizens. “There will come a time when the Castros are done,” he said. “Then the embargo will have some leverage.” In the meantime, the sale of the luxury goods demonstrates that at least some basic laws of the market work even in a communist country like Cuba, Erikson said: “If daiquiri mix sells in Cuba, then daiquiri mix is what’s going to go.”

WASHINGTON – (AFP) – Washington eagerly awaits Cuba’s return to the inter-American diplomatic system, a top US official told a gathering at the Organization of American States Wednesday. “We look forward to the day when every country in the hemisphere, including Cuba, can take its seat at this very special table, in a manner that is consistent with the principles of the Inter-American democratic charter,” said Undersecretary of State James Steinberg.

“The United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba and we have changed our policy in ways that we believe will advance liberty and create opportunity for the Cuban people,” Steinberg said in a speech delivered at the annual Council of the Americas meeting. He added that US President Barack Obama “has also made clear our willingness and our readiness to engage constructively with the Cuban government on a wide range of issues.” “We must also call on our friends in the hemisphere to join together in supporting liberty, equality and human rights for all Cubans,” the diplomat said.

In April, Obama lifted travel and money transfer restrictions on Americans with relatives in Cuba. However, the US president has said that he will not, for now, end the 47-year-old US economic embargo on Cuba, instead urging Havana to show progress on human rights. “None should mistake our willingness to engage governments with whom our relations have deteriorated in recent years for an abdication of principle,” Steinberg said, echoing that sentiment on Wednesday. “The region is showing that democracy can deliver if government can find ways to go beyond trade and capital liberalization to craft policies and build institutions committed to social justice.”

But last week, a top Havana official rejected Washington’s call for Cuban action to improve bilateral ties. “Cuba has to do absolutely nothing, because it did not do anything to the United States,” Ricardo Alarcon, speaker of the Cuban National Assembly and member of the Communist Party Politburo, told CNN television. Alarcon pointed to a trade embargo maintained by Washington against his country since 1962, the use by the United States of its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which Havana opposes, and Cuba’s inclusion on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. “We don’t have to do absolutely anything except taking note of the corrective steps taken by the other side when they take place,” Alarcon said.

AskMen.com – Undeveloped tropical beachfront property is vanishing faster than you can say “infinity pool.” At this point, if you come upon a large swatch of beautiful vacant coastline, you can safely assume one of the following: It’s private property; it’s a nature preserve; it’s the site of a bloody civil war — or it’s in Cuba. Cuba’s days as a relatively underdeveloped island are numbered. Esencia Hotels and Resorts, a Bri tish resort development company focused on properties in Cuba, has begun taking applications for residence at the Carbonera Club, a residential club, resort and golf course that will mark the first opportunity for foreigners to buy property in Cuba in 50 years. The Club will be located near the Varadero resort on Cuba’s northern coast, with easy access to Havana. The 150-hectare Carbonera Club is still in its early stages of development, and construction isn’t projected to be finished until 2011. According to promotional materials, the Club will include up to 800 properties for sale — a mix of private villas, one- to four-bedroom apartments and “Conran Resdiences,” ultra-luxury suites designed by British design guru Terence Conran. Apartments start at around $1,500 per square meter for the most basic amenities.

There will also be a PGA golf course and a members-only country club (only the second golf course of any kind in Cuba), a 150-room boutique hotel, a boat marina, and a spa.  Esencia Hotels and its development partners are expecting the project to cost around 350 million Euros. Esencia Hotels is accepting applications, and the fee to apply is only $1,000 (it’s refundable if you decide to pull out). In the application you have to provide your occupation and place of birth, and the Board of Admissions can deny you acceptance for any reason — and they don’t have to tell you why. So you closer-talkers and compulsive throat-clearers, don’t even try.

Also: American citizens? Sorry guys, not yet. It’s still illegal for us to own property in Cuba. Given the state of the mortgage market, we’re betting that a lot of the Carbonera Club’s buyers are going to be paying in cold, hard cash. Buyers must put up 10% of the purchase price once the application has been accepted and made a formal “reservation,” and 30 days later, another 30% is due. Finally, once construction is complete and you receive the keys to your new Cuban pad, be prepared to fork over the remaining 60%. Congratulations: You now own property in one of the world’s last communist countries.

Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism is onboard with the project, and if the Carbonera Club proves popular this could be the first of many new developments along Cuba’s coast. Investing during the first wave could mean a better deal, especially given the economic climate. Being an early adopter is one thing, but being part of history — the opening of Cuba to foreign investors — is another thing altogether.

NEW YORK – (Billboard) – As the annual Cuban music trade fair Cubadisco (http://www.cubadisco.soycubano.com/) kicks off Saturday (May 16) in Havana, promoters in the United States are hoping that a thaw in relations with Cuba could revive interest in the island’s music. Encouraged by President Barack Obama’s remarks in April that he’s seeking a “new day” in relations with Cuba, U.S. promoters have quietly begun planning stateside concerts by Cuban artists for as early as June, pending their ability to secure permission from the U.S. Department of State to perform in this country. Washington hasn’t authorized such visits since 2003.

The a cappella group Vocal Sampling, an international festival favorite, and the Grammy Award-nominated ensemble Septeto Nacional, which performs the tradition son style of music, has applied for U.S. visas. Los Van Van, the pioneering Castro-era dance group often referred to as the island’s Rolling Stones, hopes to launch an extensive summer tour in the States. International Music Network, the Gloucester, Massachusetts, booking agency that handled the Buena Vista Social Club’s U.S. tour in the late ’90s, is exploring the possibility of booking fall tour dates for some of the group’s surviving members.

Fuego Entertainment president Hugo Cancio, a Cuban-American promoter and label owner who presented some 80 concerts by various Cuban artists in the late ’90s and early ’00s, is awaiting a decision on the security clearances for Vocal Sampling’s summer tour, which he plans to promote. “I don’t know if people here have forgotten about Cuban music,” Cancio says. “I also don’t know if with this economy we will be able to put together the 17- or 18-gig tours the way we did before. I do know that the Cubans are continuing to make some of the best music in the world and that this is a natural market for those artists.”

The Obama administration hasn’t yet made drastic shifts in U.S. policy toward Cuba, lifting restrictions on the ability of Cuban-Americans to travel and send money to Cuba but keeping in place the decades-old U.S. trade embargo. Still, the conciliatory tone emanating from Washington has raised hopes of a further thaw. “We hope that the ‘new day’ Obama talked about will be here soon,” says San Francisco-based immigration attorney Bill Martinez, who is working to secure travel visas on behalf of iconic singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez and other Cuban artists.

Rodriguez had hoped to perform with Pete Seeger at his 90th-birthday celebration May 3 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, but he didn’t obtain a visa in time for the show. Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, Seeger’s grandson (and no relation to Silvio Rodriguez), says he hopes the Cuban singer will be able to perform at the Clearwater Festival June 20-21 in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., an annual event benefiting Seeger’s nonprofit environmental organization Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. “It would be a shame to waste this opportunity,” Rodriguez-Seeger says.

Cuban music enjoyed a boom in popularity in the United States after Washington exempted Cuban recordings and other “informational material” from the trade embargo in 1988 and later allowed Cuban artists to perform stateside, although under the condition that they receive no more than per-diem payments. By 2000, hundreds of musicians from the island had performed in the States, most prominently the Buena Vista Social Club, whose 1997 Ry Cooder-produced album went on to sell more than 1.8 million U.S. copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The George W. Bush administration subsequently reduced the number of Cuban artists allowed to perform stateside and stopped issuing such visas altogether after 2003. Still, promoters say politics wasn’t the only reason for Cuban music’s failure to live up to its commercial promise in the U.S. market. “The unfortunate side of Buena Vista Social Club and all of its spin-offs was that they saturated the market so heavily it got to a point that nobody wanted Cuban at all,” IMG Artists managing director Elizabeth Sobol-Gomez says.

Meanwhile, younger artists who perform the fast-paced dance rhythms of timba and other contemporary Cuban styles have had difficulty translating their popularity among Cuban emigres and committed Cubaphiles into broader commercial success. Even Los Van Van, Cuba’s most popular band of the last four decades, has failed to gain more than a cult following in the States. Its latest album, “Arrasando” (Sony International), has sold only 1,000 U.S. copies since its release in January, according to SoundScan.

“Contemporary Cuban music is very virtuosic and interesting, but not well known by the non-Cuban public,” says Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, the Cuban producer who brought the Buena Vista Social Club artists together in the studio for the sessions with Cooder. “In general, for a lot of people the music is unintelligible and too explosive.” Ramon Castan, who manages the Caribbean catalog at the Orchard, says the digital distributor has seen growing international demand for Cuban music during the past few years. If Cuban groups can resume stateside touring in support of new albums, Castan says, “it would boost sales 100 percent.”

Granma Intl. – Havana – Claudio Jérez puts all the strength of his 14 years into the ball as he warms up his arm on a modest field in the capital’s Playa municipality. The players here are 13- and 14-year old who aspire to follow in the footsteps of some of their idols, whom they saw play in the recently ended World Classic. The great sporting figures Germán Mesa and Omar Linares, the stars Cepeda and Yulieski Gourriel or Japanese player Ichiro Suzuki and U.S. star Derek Jeter are the most commonly mentioned. Jérez explained that he has been told that he has a talent for pitching; however, he adds, “I like batting more and I admire Suzuki, his form of batting, he impressed me in the Classic.”

The sun is intense during Havana’s spring but it is not as yet too hot when the 20 adolescents begin to train. Like Jeter, Orlando Amador has been playing shortstop for four years, but he aspires to follow in the footsteps of Germán Mesa on the capital’s Industriales team. “Cuba has the best quality in the world,” he affirmed. Jérez began to play baseball with his friends in a park near his house when he was seven years old. One day, he was told that he should enroll in this sport and so he did.

In Cuba, baseball is the national game and the majority of children play it in the street and dream of becoming baseball players. Tony Castillo, head of the school department of the Cuban Baseball Federation, explained in a conversation with Granma International that, on the island, “the base is very wide in all sports but baseball has the largest.” Amador and Jérez are members of the 13 to 14-year-old selection for Playa municipality and participate in a championship among teams from 15 Havana municipalities. Once finished with the tournaments, players from the province are selected to play in the provincial championships.

According to figures provided by Castillo, some 46,000 young people play baseball in each one of the sports areas that exist in the 169 municipalities in the country in categories corresponding to age: 7-8 years, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, and youth. Adelio García, commissioner of the sport in Playa, explained that the children have permission from their schools to play in the afternoons during the two months of the championship. García added that “the children are inexhaustible because Cubans have baseball in their blood.” The experienced trainer noted that, up to the age of 16, baseball players learn to play different positions and when there is no tournament, play two or three times a week.

The National Sports Institute (INDER) provides various items of sports equipment; the rest they have from previous years or “their parents buy them.” If they stand out in their provinces, Amador or Jerez will enter the Sports Initiation School (EIDE). There is an EIDE in each one of the island’s 15 provinces with 752 players aged from 13 to 16 years. The pool of baseball players is vast and the quality of Cuban baseball is reflected in its impressive list of international achievements: Cuba won three Olympic gold medals (1992, 1996 and 2004) and two silver medals (2000 and 2008), and finished second and fifth in the two Baseball Classics, to cite some of its greatest successes.

The list of prominent Cuban baseball players is a long one. Mesa, Linares, Orestes Kindelán and Antonio Pacheco are some of the legends. Among others, players like batter Frederich Cepeda and outfielder Yohenis Céspedes were outstanding in the last Classic.  With pride, García pointed out that Alexander Malleta, Cuba’s first baseman at the Classic, and Carlos Tabares, an outfielder for Industriales who played in the first Classic, were trained in Playa. In the current National Series, eight players from the capital teams – Industriales and Metropolitanos – were trained in this same municipality. “The level achieved in baseball has not taken place by chance, it’s the fruit of a massive organization, the base is very large and few talents escape us,” Castillo commented.

Havana – (Prensa Latina) – Everything is ready for the opening ceremony Saturday in this capital of the International Music Fair “Cubadisco 2009,” dedicated this time to Puerto Rico, organizing committee chairman Ciro Benemelis stated. The awarding ceremony will take place at the Havana Karl Marx Theater. The opening session will be Sunday at the Amadeo Roldan Auditorium Theater, with performances by the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, directed by Guido Lopez-Gavila, as well as relevant Cuban and foreign artists.

This 13th edition of Cubadisco, to be run until May 24, will pay tribute to outstanding Puerto Rican singers and composers like Rafael Hernandez, Tite Curet Alonso, Pedro Flores, Bobby Capo, and Daniel Santos, among others. During the country’s most integrating event of the phonographic industry, more than 60 guests will carry out activities in several artistic expressions, in which dance, fine arts, and folklore will be present. The forum will also includes spaces for children, with music and live performances of La Colmenita, the Cuban children’s theater company. An international symposium on music will be held in this capital on May 18-23, with the attendance of researchers, musicologists, and academics from several countries, organized by the Center for the Research and Development of Cuban Music and presided over by its director Laura Vilar.

The Jamaica Observer – The Government has ordered a probe into the landing of a private aircraft travelling from Cuba at the Norman Manley International Airport shortly after 9:00 Thursday night, following allegations that a diplomatic pouch containing a large sum of US dollars was aboard. “The findings of the investigations are expected to be ready for Prime Minister Bruce Golding when he returns to the island on Sunday,” the Ministry of National Security said in a statement yesterday afternoon.

At the same time, telecoms giant, Digicel, which had chartered the plane that was carrying former Prime Minister P J Patterson, two of his assistants and six employees of the cellphone provider, also called for an investigation into the matter after radio reports alleged that Cuban diplomats were among the passengers on the private jet. “We hope and recommend that this whole issue is fully investigated by the Jamaican authorities, as we are deeply concerned with the irresponsible and damaging media reports which have surfaced to date,” said a statement issued by Digicel’s group head of public relations, Antonia Graham.

Patterson, meanwhile, dismissed the allegations about the diplomatic pouch and about Cubans being aboard the flight. “On Thursday, May 14, I travelled by private aircraft with a high level delegation headed by the Group CEO of Digicel and members of its technical team to hold discussions with the Ministry of Informatics and Communication in Cuba. “Digicel has been the first Caribbean operator to establish a commercial agreement with ETECSA and is seeking to expand its operations in the Cuban market. “At the conclusion of our discussions in Havana, we returned home, landing at the Norman Manley Airport at 9:10 pm. The passengers on board were those who had gone to Cuba and did not include any diplomatic personnel or anyone of Cuban nationality.

“The plane conveyed no diplomatic pouch or diplomatic baggage on board. “On landing, all passengers including myself, cleared Customs and Immigration in the customary fashion. After the requisite approval had been obtained from the Customs and Immigration, we all proceeded home,” said Patterson, an attorney. He said, too, that there was no altercation between himself and any Customs or police officer at the airport nor did it become necessary at any stage for him to protest any search nor to tender any advice as to the right of searching diplomats or diplomatic pouches, since neither was present.

Said Patterson: “So far as I am aware, the Customs Department and the airport police made the usual checks of the aircraft after the passengers, including myself, had left the airport premises without any concern being expressed as to the contents of whatever we all had taken for a simple one day trip. “The crew members were also permitted to proceed to their hotel as arranged in Kingston as nothing extraordinary was found either on the plane itself or on their persons,” he added. Patterson said he had chosen to state the “incontrovertible facts for the public record and categorically deny the false and spurious allegations relating to [him] that others have contrived”.

Digicel also said Patterson and the other passengers cleared Customs and Immigration in the usual way and left the airport with no issues at all. “To be absolutely clear, there were no Cuban nationals on board the Digicel-chartered plane. Further, we have no knowledge whatsoever of any dispute at the airport, nor are we aware of any alleged diplomatic pouch on board,” said Digicel. The cellphone provider said media reports about alleged suspicious activities following the landing of its chartered plane were totally inconsistent with anything it saw or experienced.

CanWest News Service – OTTAWA — Canada’s cabinet minister for Latin America says he has no regrets about chiding Cuba on human rights, even though Havana abruptly cancelled the trip he was to make there. But Peter Kent, minister of state for foreign affairs for the Americas, says Canada has only good intentions in helping Cuba reform. That’s because it stands “at a crossroads in history” with positive overtures coming from U.S. President Barack Obama that could end the half-century-old U.S. embargo which the minister says has isolated Cuba. In an exclusive interview with Canwest News Service and Global News, Kent said the quiet diplomacy or “constructive engagement” of past Liberal governments has not worked and that Canadians expect their government to conduct human rights discussions in the open, not behind closed doors.

“This government is much more open in its discussion of foreign policy in speaking up on human rights, not just in the Cuban situation, but in other countries around the world and I think that the Canadian public as well, as perhaps citizens of Cuba . . . deserve a chance to see the process,” said Kent. “We are very understanding of the Cuban situation. They have been isolated through the years of the Cold War by the Helms Burton embargo, but Cuba stands today at a crossroads of history and Canada.”

Kent learned recently that his planned trip to Havana was no longer possible. The Cuban government gave no clear explanation other than it would not be able to accommodate him. It is unclear whether Kent’s tough language — as well as some frank talk from Prime Minister Stephen Harper about Cuba’s totalitarian state — rubbed the Cuban communist regime the wrong way. Kent has previously told Canwest News Service that he wanted to use the trip to prod the Castro regime to release political prisoners, to show better respect for human rights and to open itself up to allowing meaningful political dissent.

But Harper also said the U.S. embargo did not work, and Kent reiterated this, saying it has hindered meaningful change in Cuba. “There have been improvements over the years. They have been incremental. The greatest obstacle has been Helms-Burton, the Congressional law that isolates Cuba.” Last month, Obama relaxed travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans and lifted limits on the cash remittances they can send back to their homeland. Obama admitted that his country’s economic embargo, which has been in effect since 1962, has not worked. But he called on Havana to allow democratic freedoms before lifting it. 1962 was also the same year that Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States, but pressure is mounting in the 34-country group to readmit Cuba. Along with the U.S., Canada is opposed to readmitting Cuba until it allows political freedoms that are in line with the OAS charter.

Kent will represent Canada at the next major OAS meeting in early June when Cuba’s future will be discussed. “Canada believes that the time is right for Cuba to move towards a more democratic society, with greater respect for human rights and the release of political prisoners and for its re-integration into the OAS. It’s not that we oppose Cuba’s re-admittance or the end of its suspension from the OAS,” Kent said. He said that a consensus emerged from the recent Summit of the Americas, where OAS leaders, including Harper and Obama met, “that for Cuba to be readmitted would require its embrace of the OAS principles of democratic practices.” “This is a time to encourage — again in a more public way perhaps now — that Cuba move towards democratic practices and principles,” Kent added. “Canada has had very close relations with Cuba for 64 years now . . . We’ve encouraged Cuba to move closer to the democratic norms of this hemisphere and to recognize human rights and to release political prisoners and we’ll continue to do that.”

Florida AP – MIAMI — President Barack Obama may be trying to reach out to Cuban leaders, but his 2010 budget suggests he isn’t looking to cut the U.S. government’s controversial broadcasts to the island anytime soon. The president’s budget proposal calls for about $32.5 million for the broadcasts, down only slightly from last year’s budget of $34.8 million, though it does request some retooling: shorter, more frequent TV news segments and an all-news radio format. That cuts down on the amount of commentary, which critics have said often fails to provide balanced perspectives and has been mismanaged.

The Miami-based Office of Cuba Broadcasting beams Radio and TV Marti into Cuba to help counter government-run media there. Supporters say the programs offer Cubans essential information about their country and about the U.S., which their own government refuses to provide. Along with the U.S. embargo, the broadcasts have long been a thorny issue between the two countries but are strongly supported by many in the politically powerful Cuban exile community. OCB spokeswoman Letitia King said the adjustments reflect the agency’s efforts “to enlarge our audience in Cuba, to streamline certain aspects of programming and to respond to feedback from the limited audience research we are able to do.”

Still, the budget proposal suggests Obama is moving cautiously in upending the country’s decades-old policies toward Cuba – despite his recent decision to lift restrictions on Americans seeking to visit family members on the island. The budget request for the Cuba broadcasts comes several months after a congressional report found that based on third-country phone surveys, the Marti stations had a limited audience among the island’s 11 million residents. The Martis have received nearly half a billion dollars in recent decades. The report was requested by Sen. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass, who has called for an end to the broadcasts.

Supporters of the broadcasts say such surveys fail to elicit honest responses from Cubans who fear speaking out against the government. Dissidents in Cuba have repeatedly said TV Marti’s signal is frequently jammed but have praised Radio Marti for its reach and influence. One exception to Radio Marti’s all-news format will be Major League Baseball broadcasts, which King said would continue because of their popularity.

Trade Arabia News Service – Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment, a leading sustainable development projects provider, has signed a $75 million joint venture agreement with a Cuban-government owned firm towards developing an exclusive 5-star resort in Cuba. The joint venture was signed through its subsidiary Qatari Resorts with Gran Antilla, an affiliate of Gran Caribe, a Cuban company fully owned by the Cuban Ministry of Tourism.

As the first major joint venture between Qatar and Cuba, this key partnership will cement two close visions of quality community resort. Gran Paraiso, the joint venture company, will develop and manage an island resort located 30 minutes flight from Havana, on a 28.59 hectares parcel of land in Cayo Largo del Sur. Reflecting the traditions and customs of the local Cuban culture, Cayo Largo del Sur, the new luxury resort hotel and spa, will consist of up to 450 bedroom hotel with world-class amenities, including a spa and fitness centre.

The second phase of development will include 60 deluxe villas, designed to create a dwelling for travelers’ community.  The development will be complimented by retail facilities and is scheduled to open in 2012. “Signing these agreements comes in line with Qatari Diar’s vision and strategy to support sustainable development,” said Ghanim bin Saad Al Saad Al Saad CEO of Qatari Diar and director of Qatari Resorts Company. “Cuba offers a good market that we look for a strong presence in; therefore, these agreements give us the opportunity to invest in Cuba’s emerging tourism and economy,” he added.

Luis Miguel Diaz, president of Gran Caribe, said: “With this new joint venture with Qatari Diar, we will initiate the development of many other projects in the tourism sector. It is a first step in a long term win-win business relation.” Gran Caribe Group is one of the leading hotel operators in Cuba with 47 hotels strategically positioned in the most important locations. Gran Caribe and Qatari Diar will offer world-class, quality products and services that are designed to reflect the spirit of the Cuba culture, said a report. Furthermore, another joint venture agreement between Qatari Diar and Habaguanex Compania Turistica, a Cuban tourist company based in Old Havana was concluded.

The potential project, named Prado y Malecón, involves the development and construction of a hotel in a plot of land located at the Malecón in Havana. Habaguanex Compania Turistica takes care of making the old Havan’s historical centre revive, through tourism investments renewing old traditions. In keeping with Qatari Diar’s tradition of creating sustainable, community-enhancing projects, these two projects will generate hundreds of jobs during the construction phase while enhancing Cuba’s tourism infrastructure and desirability as a tourist destination. The resort and the hotel will also help cater to the needs of the Cuban business and tourism sectors, and will serve as an attractive venue for the growing number of people expected to travel to the country in the near future.

Granma Intl. – Havana – Cuba is to work on improving its methods for more effective tourism marketing and promotion, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero announced, confirming that, “we are not sitting here waiting for an avalanche of easy tourism.” Speaking to participants from close to 60 countries at the 19th International Tourism Fair (FITCUBA 2009) at the Morro Cabaña Complex in Havana, Marrero gave a picture of the industry’s current situation, hierarchies and perspectives.

Despite the limitations and disadvantages which with Cuba is competing on the international scenario, we are to continue proposing diversity as a distinctive attribute of this destination and will offer it to all countries under the same conditions. “To our friends, those who have stood by us during these 50 years despite the pressures, the Revolution and the Cuban people will never turn our backs on you,” he affirmed. Work priorities oriented toward other countries will emphasize direct actions in issuing markets. In that aspect, it is vitally important to continue boosting the arrival of tourists from Canada, which has the largest volume of visitors per year, reaching 820,000 people last year, a trend that continued in the first four months of 2009 with 10% growth. The minister affirmed that it is a solid market, strong very well established, with appreciable loyalty and a high repetition rate.

However, the industry is working just as intensively to recuperate its European markets, which have contributed so much to developing Cuban tourism. Links will also be expanded with Latin American countries, because “we want Latin Americans to come more and to get to know Cuba,” Marrero said.  He announced the extensive work planned to stimulate the so-called emerging markets in the developing stage, “where we have a lot of confidence with an eye to the future.” Marrero noted the results from Russia, which exceeded a 40% growth last year and is a market where the foundations have been laid to achieve significant figures in the future. It is the same case with China, where Cuba has been declared a tourism destination. Likewise, there is optimism regarding an increase in travel from India. “We hope that one day we will receive a significant number of Indians, as well as the Japanese market and others,” Marrero affirmed.

Within Cuba, the development plan up until 2015 will occupy the entire sector’s attention, given that tourism remains a top source of hard currency income, Marrero emphasized. A program for capital repairs to hotels will continue to be a priority, as well as the construction of new buildings. Actions will be focused on port facilities and road infrastructure, road signage, water supply to tourist centers and waste treatment for consolidating environmental protection. Despite the crisis, the investment process has not stopped,” he stated. The restoration of heritage buildings throughout the country is another projection, with the notable inclusion of the Encanto hotel chain. Through this program, the original values of several buildings have been rescued. In that aspect, the minister said the plan was to take the Old Havana program and extend it throughout the country. He also affirmed that progress is being made on creating new businesses with foreign partners, under mutually advantageous conditions, and focused on new development zones.

Human resource training is another top priority task in the sector. This branch is generating its own training system; “We are generalizing it throughout the country and this will continue until every hotel in Cuba is a school,” he emphasized. Regarding options, he highlighted the importance of guided tours for demonstrating patrimonial and cultural values. Currently, Cuba’s potential is internationally recognized for its sun and beach options. “But, unfairly, the country’s entire potential is not known, which is why we are stating that we have a major unexploited tourist reserve. Traveling habits have changed a lot among travelers. Currently, we have an awakening interest and need for better use of time, and the demand is to learn more, to discover the country, to have contact with its people,” Marrero said.

Next year’s International Tourism Fair in Cuba has been called for May 2010, and the eastern part of the country will be highlighted, “an exclusive product and destination where all the diversity of Cuba’s extensive tourist catalog can be found.” The announcement was made by María Elena López, deputy minister of tourism, in the closing session of FITCuba 2009. López added that, in the next edition, Russia is to be the country of honor, given that is has become one of the most outstanding issuing countries in recent years. López affirmed that the outcome of the recently concluded fair was successful: more than 1,700 industry professionals participated, including businesspeople, tour operators, travel agents, journalists and invited guests representing 58 countries. The deputy minister thanked participants for their demonstrated confidence and loyalty and assured that satisfactory progress is being made on presentations and negotiations by the entities charged with promoting and marketing offers.

HAVANA – (Reuters) – More than a year after Cuban President Raul Castro pushed through a wage reform aimed at rewarding productive workers most state-run companies have yet to implement it, the official Bohemia magazine reported. It was the latest evidence that Castro’s efforts to modernize the communist country’s economy were being resisted by a state bureaucracy that controls more than 90 percent of economic activity. The decree promulgated by Castro was supposed to lift wage caps and replace a collective wage system with one based on piecework as a centerpiece of his program to raise Cuba’s economic output.

But Bohemia said in its latest issue available this week that a recent labor ministry inspection found that “only 25 percent of the companies inspected used some variant of the piecework system.” A law leasing vacant state lands to anyone willing to till them was also stalled by bureaucracy, Raul himself admitted late last year, though land grants have increased since then. Castro assumed Cuba’s presidency on Feb. 24, 2008 from his ailing brother Fidel Castro, and quickly instituted reforms such as decentralizing agriculture and opening up sales of such things as cell phones and computers to the Cuban people. He pledged to tame communist Cuba’s bureaucracy and improve production and efficiency by replacing an egalitarian pay system, in which everyone received more or less the same amount, with one in which pay is determined by productivity. Egalitarianism, Castro said, had encouraged sloth, which was hurting Cuba’s economy.

Socialism means social justice and equality, but equality of rights, of opportunities, not of income,” Raul said in a speech a few months after taking office. “Equality is not the same as egalitarianism. Egalitarianism is in itself a form of exploitation; exploitation of the good workers by those who are less productive and lazy,” he said. Castro’s policy attempts to increase production and efficiency without resorting to capitalism under a model first designed by the military when he was defense minister. In March, he replaced almost the entire economic cabinet he inherited from his brother with army technocrats and party cadre experienced with the model, called Perfeccionamiento Empresarial, loosely translated as perfecting the state company system.

Decree Law 9 on the piecework system was signed in February 2008 and was first due to take effect in August 2008, and then postponed until December. The law also allows for a 30 percent increase in wages for administration and sectors tied to performance where applying the piecework system is impossible. Bohemia reporters fanned out to a number of provinces where they discovered many managers and workers knew little about the law. There had been little if any discussion of the wage plan, despite a mandate from on high to discuss it. “Today, the use of wage formulas more in tune with the results of one’s work is still in diapers,” Bohemia said.

Managers claimed they did not have the technical expertise to implement the system, lacked adequate resources or simply were waiting for orders from their superiors. Some claimed they were implementing the new wage system, but workers said they had not. Carlos Mateu, deputy minister of labor, told Bohemia, “the majority of companies can adjust their system immediately … by simply taking the decision to go along with what’s been established.” Mateu said management and labor should immediately put together a plan in each company and implement it.

www.envioregalos.com – With the main goal to prepare the direction boards and the population for big disaster situations, the popular simulation Meteoro 2009 is to be held all over the country. The first day will be dedicated to the analysis of the results and difficulties of the disaster risk reduction, with special emphasis in the actions made and the perspectives aimed at minimizing the vulnerabilities related to the most dangerous events for the territory and the entities.

At the same time, during the day, training activities will take place for members of direction boards at all levels in each institution and territory that take part in the exercise, with special stress on the measures undertaken in extreme situations caused by hydro-meteorological events, as well as intense earthquakes. The second day, different categories of the population will work in the awareness of risk levels for every community, how to act in situations of disasters, and how and where to protect the people. State entities will carry out practices aimed at the reduction of vulnerabilities, the training of the forces that take part in the recovery of tropical cyclones and sanitary events.

During the Meteoro 2009 simulation, the protection measures for the population and the economy must be stressed in case of intrusion of the sea, especially in Sandino, Los Palacios, Pinar del Río, San Juan and Guane municipalities and floods in Los Palacios, Consolación del Sur, Pinar del Río, San Juan y Martínez, San Luis and La Palma.
The economic centres with dangerous substances will also hold exercises focused on updating their plans and training the employees and the population that might be affected in case of a breakdown.

Havana – DTC – The dairy industry in the central Cuban province of Cienfuegos has increased production to meet the growing demand from the domestic market. In that regard, the company Escambray plans to produce 1,000 tons of cheese to reduce imports of that product. Company executives pointed out that conditions exist to achieve the plan, considering that milk production increases during the spring. The firm produces several kinds of cheese, including the so-called Cumanayagua, Azul de Cuba, Atlántico, Monteverde and Pizzarella. Part of that production goes to the tourist and gastronomic sectors, and the rest is sold on the domestic market.

SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba – (acn) – With the removal of some 8,000 cubic meters of sediments and the extension of the access for bigger ships, the dredging of the eastern Santiago de Cuba bay advances satisfactorily. Ramon Suarez, technical vice-president of the Ports Authority in this city, explained the works underway at the 4th CARICOSTAS International Convention. These works are one of the most important cleaning up actions to improve the ecosystem quality and done simultaneously with a environmental education program given to coastal communities inhabitants and thse using the bay, said Suarez.

The specialist highlighted the extraction of over 20 tons of hydrocarbons from a ferry that had fallen in disuse, cleaner production at the factories surrounding the bay, to reduce pollution and the proper disposal of solid waste from the city. Luis Medina, head of Cuba’s National Port Authority, stated to the press that this project is done out of the need to increase the bay’s depth to minimize “false freightage” (payments done for unoccupied space in ships) and extra freightage (additional trips). Medina added that the investments in dredging of Santiago de Cuba, Cienfuegos, La Habana and Nueva Gerona ports are up to 23 million dollars, a program to run through the year. Santiago bay, with a privileged location for commerce in the Caribbean, is the second most polluted in Cuba, and in this area has the largest amount of maritime operations, since it does operations for all eastern Cuba provinces.

www.Tiempo21.cu – With the recent graduation at the polytechnic of computer sciences, the province of Las Tunas counts on more than 260 graduates in that specialty to boost the scientific development in this eastern region. The twelfth graders of the Simon Bolivar polytechnic institute received the certificate that credits them as Computer Operator Technicians for their labor occupation or for the continuity of their studies. Several of these graduates will go to the University of Computer Sciences (UCI) in Havana, or in any other province while the rest have a job in this province. The Simon Bolivar polytechnic school boosts more than one hundred software for companies and local organizations, such as the factory of Stainless Steels (ACINOX), and the Center of Information and Technological Administration, among others.

Havana – DTC – A modern piece of equipment to measure the density of bone minerals to diagnose osteoporosis was installed in the eastern Cuban province of Granma. The equipment is being tested at Bayamo’s clinical, surgical and teaching hospital. The densitometer makes it easier for doctors to research fracture-prone areas such as the hip and the spine. It also can detect calcium metabolism disorders and bone disorders caused by chemotherapy or diabetes. According to experts, the procedure is quick and painless, as computers provide all the information through x-ray images.

www.Caribbean360.com – HAVANA, Cuba – Barbados’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean has announced plans to open an embassy in Cuba by September 1st this year. Speaking during a reception hosted by the Cuban/Caribbean Association for Prime Minister David Thompson and the Barbados delegation visiting the Spanish speaking island, Senator McClean said the opening of the Embassy would assist those individuals seeking to renew passports and ascertain information about their relatives in Barbados.

Noting that it was long overdue, the Minister added that this would strengthen and solidify relations between the two countries. During Prime Minister Thompson’s trip to Cuba, both Barbados and Cuba took steps to further develop their relations friendship and cooperation through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation. “Under the MOU, periodic visits and meetings will be undertaken by Ministers and senior officials of both parties as the need arises and, through their diplomatic missions, the countries will also inform each other about important domestic and foreign policy issues relating to their respective countries,” a release from the Barbados government said. The Permanent Representatives of both parties to the United Nations, as well as to other international organisations, will also maintain regular contacts and, if need be, consult on issues of common interest.

In Business Las Vegas – People who know anything about Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air know it is an airline that marches to a different beat. So why should anybody be surprised that Allegiant’s newest destinations will be places where few Americans have ever been? Allegiant Travel, the parent company of the airline that specializes in delivering people from small communities to resort cities such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Florida cities such as Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, recently won a contract to supply charter flights from Miami to four cities in Cuba. Flights will begin in June. Allegiant’s charter business is a small but important piece of the company’s revenue picture. Although Allegiant is an airline that brings people here from places such as Bismarck, N.D., a couple of times a week, the company’s charter operation in the first quarter supplied 7 percent of its revenue.

The airline has had charter agreements with companies such as Harrah’s Entertainment, shuttling gamblers to Reno, Laughlin and Biloxi, Miss.; and the U.S. Forest Service, taking firefighters to the big blazes we see on television; and, in college football and basketball seasons, players and boosters to out-of-town games. But this gig is a little different. The new contract is part of a program with the Treasury Department’s foreign assets control office. Although Cuba is less than 100 miles from U.S. soil, few Americans have spent any time there because of travel restrictions imposed by the U.S. Over the years, policies have changed dramatically depending on the shifting relationship this country has had with Cuban leaders. In the 1960s when Americans were being kept awake at night during the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy imposed an embargo on all trade with Cuba, including travel, using his authority under the Trading with the Enemy Act. Only a few people received licenses to travel to Cuba on a case-by-case basis by the State Department.

It wasn’t until 1977 that President Jimmy Carter lifted all travel restrictions and administrators drafted new regulations. Charter flights from Miami International Airport ensued later that year. But in 1982 President Ronald Reagan limited travel-related transactions and during his administration the rules were tightened again. President George H.W. Bush led efforts to expand the list of persons allowed to travel to the island. In addition to travel for public performances, exhibitions and “humanitarian reasons,” Bush policies allowed travel for educational reasons, religious activities and for activities of recognized human rights organizations. Events that occurred during President Bill Clinton’s administration tightened, then relaxed travel policies twice.

In 1994 Clinton’s tightening of restrictions led to thousands of Cuban rafters crossing the Florida Straits that summer. A year later, in an effort to promote democratic change in Cuba, Clinton reinstated limited general licenses. But in 1996 the Cuban military shot down two American civilian aircraft and Clinton stopped all direct flights. In 1998 Pope John Paul II visited Cuba, and Clinton allowed flights carrying religious pilgrims to go. After the pope’s successful visit, Clinton lifted the flight ban. In 1999 travel restrictions to Cuba were in the news again when the Baltimore Orioles received a license to travel to Cuba under the American policy related to public performance.

Over the next decade a limited number of people traveled to Cuba for business, to export food and medicine, for professional conferences and symposiums, for other educational events, for public performances, for religious travel and for journalists on assignment. Families with relatives in Cuba could travel between the two countries once every three years. But this year new legislation enables greater frequency for visits. Families can now visit each other annually. That’s where Allegiant comes in.

Several air carriers have held contracts to shuttle eligible travelers, and Allegiant is one of the latest to fly what is expected to be a growing number of people. Allegiant is committing one of its MD-80 series twin-engine jets to the program. If it grows, there could be more. Because flights are over water, the company had to get special certification for any aircraft used. The contract is fixed-fee flying for Allegiant, meaning that all the airline has to do is provide the aircraft and the flight crew. Separate companies handle all the reservations, and Allegiant has no risk on fuel costs because those are passed on to the contractor.

One of the companies that processes applications for licenses to go to Cuba and books reservations for charter flights is Miami-based Tico Travel. Chelly Huby, an agent with Tico, said program participants face a mountain of paperwork before they can travel. “I give them the restrictions, what they need to know to see if they fall under one of the laws,” Huby said. “If they don’t, they’re not able to go.” Huby admitted she wasn’t familiar with Allegiant or its contract with the government. In fact, her first choice to shuttle passengers to Cuba is on foreign air carriers that have scheduled service to Cuba through Mexico or Costa Rica.

As for Allegiant, the company views the contract as one more new opportunity to make money in a time when most airlines aren’t. Tyri Squyres, a spokeswoman for Allegiant, said the flights from Miami to Cuba will only take about a half-hour. One of the unusual restrictions for the flight crews are that once they’re on Cuban soil, they can’t leave the aircraft. “It’s pretty much loading the plane, flying the plane and unloading the plane,” she said. Who knows, maybe we’ll sometime see a day when Americans will have the opportunity to see Cuba and Cubans will be able to visit their families in the United States whenever they want. By then, Allegiant will know the way.

Havana – DTC – Cuban cigar roller José Castelar, also known as Cueto, attracts many foreign tourists who are interested in his unique cigars. He officially received the Guinness certificate in Havana this year for the record of rolling the world’s longest cigar (45.38 meters long). Cueto, who rolled the cigar during the 2008 International Tourism Fair of Havana, has broken three other Guinness records by rolling very long cigars.  His first record was a 11.04-meter-long cigar, the second one was 14.80 meters long and the next one was 20.41 meters. All records were certified by Guinness.

GateHouse News Service – SPRINGFIELD – Nearly 10 years after accompanying Illinois Gov. George Ryan on a historic trip to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, members of the delegation say they’re glad they went. “I can’t imagine it wasn’t personally rewarding for each and every one of us,” said David Chicoine, a former dean of University of Illinois’ College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. Harder to gauge, however, is whether the October 1999 journey was of lasting benefit for Illinois.

Ryan initially described the five-day trip as a way to foster a trade relationship someday between Cuba and Illinois, but the U.S. government frowned on that. It later was billed as a “humanitarian mission” to help Cubans and Illinoisans build bridges with one another. The delegation of about 50 included lawmakers, educators and officials from Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc., Decatur-based Archer Daniels Midland and other Illinois businesses. The trip made the Republican Ryan the first sitting U.S. governor to travel to Cuba since Castro seized power in 1959.

While Castro has since stepped aside in favor of his brother, Raul, the relationship between Cuba and the United States is unchanged. The two countries still don’t have formal diplomatic relations, and a U.S. trade embargo against the island nation remains in effect. Throughout his Cuban travels, Ryan repeatedly called for an end to the embargo. Last month, President Barack Obama announced the U.S. government would lift restrictions on how much money Cuban-Americans could send to their Cuban relatives. Further, the president said, Cuban-Americans should be allowed to travel to Cuba as much as they want.

Several members of the Ryan delegation said they support Obama’s moves. Some would like to see him go even further by dropping the embargo. “I think the evidence is real clear that the boycott has not worked. It’s only helped Castro to sustain himself in power,” said House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat. “I think we ought to just normalize relations with the island,” he added. “The best way to dismantle the communist regime in Cuba is to normalize relations with America so there can be a free flow of goods and services and information.” Todd Sieben, a former Republican state senator from Geneseo, called Obama’s actions a positive step. “I think the time is long past since Cuba represents any kind of threat to the United States,” he said.

In south Florida, where delegation member Ana Cecilia Velasco now lives, the U.S. policy changes have led to a divided response from the large numbers of Cuban-Americans who settled there after fleeing Castro’s regime. “You’ll find people who are fanatically against anything supporting the Cuban government,” Velasco said. “However, you will also find people who have parents (in Cuba) who are getting older in age,” so they want to travel there more easily. As for her own view, Velasco said she has “great faith that whatever President Obama is doing right now has been done thoughtfully and with a lot of care as to what consequences and repercussions the United States, as a whole, is going to have to live with.”

Opening trade between the United States and Cuba could benefit certain sectors of the U.S. economy, including agriculture, pharmaceuticals and heavy machinery – all of which have a strong presence in Illinois. But it’s unclear whether the 1999 trip means that the Land of Lincoln would stand to gain more than other states if Cuba and the United States normalize diplomatic relations. “That’s a long time ago. That’s 10 years ago,” Chicoine said. “From an economic standpoint, it’s probably much more of an important issue for the Cubans and the Cuban economy than it is for the U.S.”

Doug Crew, a retired governmental affairs manager at Caterpillar Inc., added: “Given the time that has passed since then, I think the potential for opportunity because of that trip is increasingly limited.” State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, believes the Illinois economy would get a boost from open trade with Cuba, though not necessarily just because of the Ryan trip. Illinois is well-positioned to do big business with Cuba because it’s a major producer of corn and soybeans and a major manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, he said. Geography also plays a role, Madigan said, recalling how Ryan used a map to point out to Castro how easily goods could be transported on the Mississippi River from Illinois to Cuba.

In the long run, the Ryan delegation’s trip to Cuba might be remembered more for its historical significance in altering the way Cuba and the United States deal with one another. “These kinds of geopolitical changes usually don’t take place as a result of one incident,” said Crew, citing President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 speech calling for the destruction of the Berlin Wall. That speech didn’t immediately cause the Berlin Wall to fall, but it eventually did come down. Similarly, Ryan’s gesture by going to Cuba helps make the case for easing U.S. sanctions, he said.

Rutherford, who in 1999 was a state representative, credited Ryan for his “foresight and tenacity in taking on this political statement.” The U.S. government authorized Ryan’s trip to Cuba but wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, several delegates recalled. After Ryan met with Castro, a State Department spokesman said he shouldn’t have done it. Ryan was firm in his belief that the trip “ought to happen,” Madigan said. “When the historians write about the relationship between the United States and Cuba, in what will eventually become normalization of relations, I’m sure they’ll point to Ryan’s trip,” he said. “And they’ll either say that it helped or it didn’t hurt.”

Havana – DTC – The port of Cienfuegos, in the central Cuban province of the same name, has reported good results in handling incoming and outgoing cargo. From January to April 2009, the port handled 540,000 tons of cargo by concept of cabotage, imports and exports. Experts noted that bulk sugar and clinker shipments increased during the abovementioned period. Statistics show that 69 ships had docked in Cienfuegos, the largest port in central Cuba, until April this year, and no demurrage charges had to be paid. This year’s goal is to handle more than one million tons of cargo for the fourth year in a row.

Financial Times Deutschland – Terasita, the owner of a small family restaurant by the same name on the outskirts of Havana, has let her fantasies run wild as she considers the decision by Barack Obama, US president, to ease restrictions on US citizens – and particularly Cuban Americans – visiting the island.  “I’m planning to fix the place up, make it more comfortable, a better environment for family fiestas,” she says, looking at the empty tables on the garden-enclosed terrace of her home. Similar to many small businesses off the beaten track in and around Havana, Terasita caters to Cubans often supported and visited by family abroad. And in her mind, this week’s move by the Obama administration to lift restrictions on the number of visits Cuban Americans can make and the amount of money they can send home means more business.

“There will be more people and money coming in and logically more business,” she says. “Cubans like to take their families and friends out for a meal when they visit.”  A broad spectrum of Cubans, from dissidents to state workers, and even – albeit begrudgingly – Fidel Castro, the former leader, praised Mr Obama this week for his moves.  Besides easing restrictions on travel and remittances, the US president also loosened regulations on communications companies doing business with the island, although this has received far less public attention.  “Positive, although minimal,” the ailing Mr Castro quipped in one of two essays on the measures in the official media, demanding in the other that Mr Obama lift the “cruel” and “genocidal blockade” completely.

He warned in a third essay on a different topic that, while Mr Obama might mean well, the next US president could be even more menacing than George W. Bush. “The measures are a huge threat to the government but difficult to reject given [the] rhetoric,” says Oscar Espinosa Chepe, a dissident economist. “They are not sure how to respond.” Foreign businessmen with years of experience in Cuba say the reality is that the government would welcome US telecom companies for talks, approve what was in its interests and stall and block what was not. Mr Espinosa says that with his measures Mr Obama is helping tens of thousands of family businesses, such as Terasita’s, round the edges of the state-dominated economy that have been hurt by the imposition of tight controls on Cuban Americans.

Mr Obama’s authorisation to explore commercial flights to the island, he says, also signals that all Americans might be travelling to the country soon. Many Cubans and foreign observers also believe that this week’s move is just the beginning. “The measures signalled 49 states, not just Florida, are now influencing US policy,” says the trade promotion manager for an Asian country, who asked not to be identified. “Those 49 states are in recession and looking for new markets. Cuba is the best new market out there.”

The Cuban government, which takes 20 cents of every dollar entering the country and then slaps a 240 per cent mark up on goods at hard currency shops, will also benefit. That angers Mr Obama’s critics, but not most foreign governments and businessmen. The international financial crisis and slowdown have combined with three hurricanes last year and bureaucratic bungling to create a serious liquidity crisis that has many foreign businesses waiting for weeks and months to transfer money out of the country. “This package is very likely to ease the credit and banking crunch that many foreign companies have been experiencing,” says a western economic attaché.

A Communist party economist says relations with the US and President Raúl Castro’s efforts to improve economic efficiency appear to be headed in the right direction and the result could be improved economic liberties and performance. “The economic situation is really deteriorating and Raúl does not have much time to improve the situation,” the economist says. He asked not to be identified due to a prohibition on talking to journalists without government permission. Raúl Castro’s economic cabinet was replaced last month and the new one has been busy reviewing policy, he says. “I think the measures were just the beginning of changes that will help us.”

Havana – DTC – Cuba is fostering the development of covered crops, as part of authorities’ policy to increase food production for the domestic market. In eastern Ciego de Avila province, investments have been made to increase vegetable production.  Experts said 385 hectares of crops covered with nylon fabric to protect them against insects would be under exploitation nationwide.  That kind of cover is seven times cheaper than traditional ones, as imported inputs are reduced and 100 tons of fresh food per hectare can be produced every year. In addition, the use of nets in the roofs reduces the impact of sunlight by 30 percent, thus improving the quality of vegetables.

St. Petersburg Times – Even as its economy slowly moves into the 21st century, Cuba still has the image of a place stuck in the ’50s. That’s largely because of all those big-finned Buicks and Cadillacs — relics of a colorfully corrupt era when Tampa’s Santo Trafficante Jr. and other U.S. mobsters made Havana one of the world’s gambling meccas. Could Cuba ever regain its place as the Monte Carlo of the Caribbean? (Assuming, of course, the demise of the very anti-gambling Fidel Castro.)

“I seriously doubt it because there is so much more competition today,” says Michael Pollock, publisher of the Gaming Industry Observer. “You’re comparing an era when the only place to gamble in the United States was Las Vegas to an era where there’s gambling in Florida and many other warm-weather climates. It may get gambling, but it wouldn’t regain its position of a half century ago.” Indeed, few places could compare with the Cuba of the ’50s, when thousands of Americans drove their cars onto ferries for the 90-mile trip to Havana. There they found a sybaritic world of extravagant floor shows, high-stakes casino games and sex of every price and permutation.

“The fabulous nightlife was used as a lure by the Cuban government to attract foreign investors, mostly from the United States,” writes T.J. English in his book Havana Nocturne. “But to those who cared to look below the surface, it was apparent that Cuba’s startling economic windfall was not being used to meet the needs of the people but rather to pad the private bank accounts and pocketbooks of a powerful group of corrupt politicians and American ‘investors.’ This economic high command would come to be known as the Havana Mob.” Among the most corrupt politicians was Cuba’s own president, Fulgencio Batista. In the early ’50s, his grip on power seemed assured thanks to support from both the U.S. government, which saw him as a bulwark against communism, and American mobsters, who quickly realized he was a man they could work with.

With Batista pocketing millions in kickbacks, the mob and its brilliant financier, Meyer Lansky, began developing an unparalleled gambling infrastructure. No sooner had Batista obligingly passed a “hotel law” — providing tax exemptions and automatic casino licenses — than several lavish hotel/casino projects hit the drawing boards. And few crime bosses were more receptive to Cuba’s charms than Trafficante, whose control of Tampa’s lucrative bolita racket had been threatened by congressional hearings on mob activities in the United States. Newly acquitted of bolita-related charges in 1954, Trafficante headed to Cuba where, as English writes, “gambling was legal, mobsters were welcome and profits were virtually guaranteed by the government.” Within a few years, Trafficante owned or held stakes in such prime properties as the Tropicana, the legendary nightclub whose guests included Marlon Brando and Ernest Hemingway.

Another visitor was a young U.S. senator named John F. Kennedy. On a 1957 trip for talks with the U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Kennedy spent a night at Trafficante’s Comodoro Hotel, in a suite with three prostitutes and a two-way mirror. As English notes, Trafficante later kicked himself for not filming the dalliance — “it would have made terrific blackmail material.” Not everyone was captivated by Havana’s sexually-charged nightlife. To many Cubans, it was evidence of their country’s degradation and plundering by greedy outsiders. Fidel Castro’s own disgust stoked the revolutionary fervor that led to the overthrow of Batista’s government on Jan. 1, 1959.

As Batista fled to the Dominican Republic, gambling was banned and most of the casinos trashed. Among those who lost everything: Trafficante, who spent months in prison before apparently bribing his way out. He later became the CIA’s point man in a plot to assassinate Castro. Castro, of course, is now pushing 83. Trafficante died in 1987 at 72. And even if casinos eventually return to Cuba, the mob as it existed in Havana’s heyday is long since gone. As Meyer Lansky put it: “I crapped out.”

Havana – DTC – Cuba is developing and diversifying the henequen industry to make better use of that raw material on the domestic market. A short-term plan has been put in place to improve yield and reduce the cost of production in the country. Plans include increasing henequen crops to more than 1,500 hectares and installing cutting-edge technology. The goal is to supply more than 4,390 tons of henequen to the industrial sector and 460 tons for handcrafted production. In order to achieve those goals, investments have been made to import bulldozers, irrigation systems and tractors, among other machineries. (For those who are wondering what the heck is henequen, it is an agave whose leaves yield a fiber also called henequen which is suitable for rope and twine)

The Stage Newspaper – The Royal Ballet is to make its first visit to Cuba as part of its 2009 summer tour, which will see the company travel through Washington, Granada and Havana. The London-based ballet company will perform a mixed programme at the Gran Teatro de la Havana, followed by performances of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon at the Karl Marx Teatro to audiences of more than 4,500. Cuban RB principal guest artist Carlos Acosta will lead the company for the first performance of Manon with Tamara Rojo. It is expected that the first mixed programme will be broadcast live to a big screen in the centre of Havana.

Monica Mason, director of the RB, said: “I am thrilled that our plan to visit Cuba has materialised. I have the most enormous respect for the great Alicia Alonso and everything that she has achieved for the National Ballet of Cuba, the company that she founded, and for its dancers who are known and admired world wide.  “I am also delighted that Carlos Acosta will be appearing with us and indebted to him for the part he has played in making this tour possible. Over the years touring has played a very important part in the history of The Royal Ballet and this, our very first visit to Cuba, will be a challenging and exciting one for us. I so appreciate the invitation that has been extended to the Company and I hope very much that the Cuban audiences will enjoy our performances in the repertory we have chosen to present to them.” Acosta welcomed the news, explaining that McMillan ballets had never been performed in Cuba before. He added: “I can’t wait to see the reaction – both the Cubans to the Royal Ballet and the company to the Cubans.”

HAVANA – (IPS) – Too bold for some tastes and too dissident for others, some of the Cuban exhibits at the recent Havana Arts Biennial brought to mind the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the visual arts were in the vanguard of national culture. “I don’t know if what is being done today has the quality and power of what was produced by the so-called 1980s generation. I just know that something is on the move. The spark of life is back,” a 41-year-old visitor to the inauguration of the Tenth Havana Arts Biennial, who said she had witnessed “years of inertia,” told IPS.  “They are making a very strong statement. Even the titles of the works challenge the status quo,” added a 38-year-old man who said he did not remember exhibitions like “Volumen I”, movements like “Arte Calle” (Street Art) or the “Castillo de la Fuerza” (now a museum) project, which in their time revolutionised the Cuban cultural scene.

The interviewee, a computer programmer, was impressed by the exhibition “La enmienda que hay en mí” (The Amendment Within Me), by Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa, on show at the National Museum of Fine Arts. “Words fail me,” he said.  “I believe in everything” and “I believe in nothing” were the signs on two street barriers. The absurdity of political discourse was recreated in Garacoia’s playful use of photography and architectural drawings, ending with “Joyas de la corona” (Crown Jewels) – real or imaginary miniature replicas of torture centres, prisons and intelligence networks, including Cuban ones.

More than 200 artists from 40 countries participated in the Tenth Havana Visual Arts Biennial, alongside the countless community projects and side exhibits that are one of the customary attractions of the event.  As well as the exhibition at the Fine Arts museum, an artistic project by Tania Brugueras called “Estado de excepción: arte de conducta” (State of Emergency: Performance Art) created a buzz.  It included works in different formats titled “Intelectuales sin palabras” (Wordless Intellectuals), “Esta obra tiene problemas ideológicos” (This Work Suffers from Ideological Problems), “Tráfico de información” (Information Trafficking) and “Normal Is Good.”

But neither the celebrated exhibition by Garacoia nor Bruguera’s project really exemplify what is happening in Cuban visual arts, according to sources consulted by IPS. “The situation in the country has not changed so much that what occurred in the 1980s could happen again. Although Tania presented her project jointly with her students, both she and Garacoia are presenting personal positions, not a movement,” painter Joel Jover, invited to one of the performance events at the biennial, told IPS.

According to Jover, the reasons lie in the emigration of virtually a whole generation. “Those who came afterwards learned the lesson,” he said. In his view, the new generation “became more cynical, didn’t want to court trouble from the institutions, and focused primarily on the market.”  “And now, it’s even good form to be a bit anti-establishment,” said the painter, who also emphasised the trend toward an art of nostalgia. “Many young artists work on the sense of loss, but they portray things they never knew or lost themselves,” he said. In frank opposition to Jover, Roberto Méndez, an essayist, poet and student of Cuban visual arts, told IPS that “we could be seeing the second stage of that collective art of the 1980s which was truncated by the changed circumstances” ushered in by the economic crisis of the 1990s.

“However, the protagonists now are different, they have had different experiences and their attitudes seem to be more radical,” the intellectual said.  The 80s Generation, as they are called, made up mostly of graduates from Cuban art schools, made a complete break with the work done by artists in previous decades, which was characterised by “socialist realism” and a complacent vision of society. In contrast, they opened up to the most diverse stylistic and formal trends.  But above all, both Méndez and Jover said, it was a movement with a profoundly ethical sense which questioned all aspects of reality.

According to Méndez, “the 80s Generation particularly stressed the ethical and participative nature of its discourse. To a certain extent it rejected collectable art, intended for the élites, and supported collective action that would influence and produce changes in the immediate social surroundings.”  “This was all based on a somewhat utopian project that was to reform and perfect Cuban socialism, at a time of relative economic bonanza,” said the expert, adding that “the visual arts in this country seem to have been in almost perfect harmony with the socioeconomic situation.”

While the art of the 1980s rejected the temptations of the market, in the 1990s, blasted by the impact of a crisis that the country has not yet totally left behind, the reverse was true. Most of the 80s Generation emigrated; artists from earlier generations became established, producing “stabilised” art that could draw a clientele; and a new group of artists arose who, rather than changing society, wanted to create “high ticket” art that was collectable and, above all, “sellable.”  “It isn’t that their art was distanced from Cuban society. Indirectly, it reflected the crisis of paradigms and the rise of cynicism, disenchantment and pragmatism,” said Méndez, who has written several essays on the development of Cuban visual arts in different periods.

In contrast, the Tenth Biennial, the imprints of which can still be seen in Havana, showed what may be a minority group, but nevertheless a real one, of artists who seek to recover the immediacy of a role in society that, according to Méndez, “emphasises dialogue, change, and ethics.”  Although he said it is “too soon” to speak of “a new wave of art,” Méndez recognised a tendency toward “returning to art that is open, participative, even scandalous, art that wishes to draw attention to certain important things in society, and to challenge everything openly.  “I think it is being done with less ingenuousness and naivety than in the 1980s, but the work of Tania Bruguera and Garacoia’s exhibition in the Fine Arts museum are signs of a vanguard with a difference, rebellious and inclusive, with a questioning attitude, that does not avoid openly political statements,” he said.

Peoria Journal Star – Cuba is going to need some work — plowing, building, mining — if it is to get back on track as a modern city, and Caterpillar is standing by. “We were the first major company to call for change in our Cuban policy,” said Bill Lane, director of the company’s Washington, D.C., office. “As early as 2000, Caterpillar called for a new trade policy with Cuba — a support policy based on engagement, not isolation.

Periodico 26 – Havana – A new species of lizard was recently discovered in the Cuban Varahicacos Ecological Reserve, located in Matanzas province. The reptile, found in the bushes and forest of the protected park was registered with the name of Aristelliger reyesi, in recognition of Ernesto Reyes, one of its discoverers, reported Juventud Rebelde. The finding shows that Cuba’s biodiversity still holds surprises, for that reason inventories and biological monitoring actions should be further facilitated, said Luis M. Diaz, researcher with Cuba’s National Museum of Natural History.

Morphological and genetic studies in comparison with other specimens confirm that the lizard belongs to a species that is closely related with the Aristelliger cochranae (from Navassa Island) and with the Aristelliger expectatus (from La Española), explained Diaz. The Aristelliger is represented by seven Caribbean species and its closest relatives come from Africa, which means that its origin could be very ancient. The Aristelliger reyesi grows up to 13 centimeters long and the males are larger than the females. The head is crossed by a black stripe that reaches the forelegs.

(WOODLANDS, TX) – American hotel developers today are eye-balling the announced $75 million deal oil-rich Qatar has signed with Cuba, but that’s about all they can do at this time, they say. A 50-year-old travel ban to Cuba the U.S. placed 50 years ago would first have to be lifted by the Obama Administration before any serious development plans could be undertaken, U.S. developers and marketers say. At the same time, Cuba President Raul Castro would also have to approve travel by U.S. tourists to his country.

Even if those hurdles are met, some U.S. developers would still balk at doing business with a communist regime. “I won’t enter into discussions with other companies that want to invest or develop there,” says Burt Cabanas, president and CEO of 25-year-old Benchmark Hospitality International based in Woodlands, TX.   Cabanas told John Walsh, a contributing writer for http://www.HotelNewsNow.com, “I won’t operate in Cuba until my family, mother and godmother is OK with that.” He predicts the Cuban government will move slower than its U.S. counterparts in opening the country to new hotel development because it fears the 1.5 million Cubans residing in the U.S. will relocate to Cuba and seize the land Fidel Castro took from them 50 years ago. (Editor – Good luck)

Cabanas says investors from Ireland and Japan already have contacted him to act as a front for developing luxury resorts in and around Cuba but he has declined the offers. Other U.S. hotel groups, however, are not that adamant in refusing to do deals with the Castros.  For example, Interncontinental Hotels Group of Denham, United Kingdom and Marriott International of Washington, DC, have been monitoring development opportunities in Cuba for some time. Scott Smith, senior vice president of PKF Consulting in Atlanta, notes the current cost of construction and labor for new hotel development in Cuba is inexpensive, which would appeal to American developers.

Still, says Allison Fogarty, director at Pinnacle Hotel Group in North Little Rock, AK, “meaningful development (by Americans) in the luxury segment in Cuba is still a long way off.” Agreeing with that assessment is Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, president of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association. He says the new travel rules between the U.S. and Cuba remain unclear.  “How long will it take before we see democracy in Cuba?” he asks.  “In some people’s minds, it is a matter of snapping their fingers, but in reality, it will take at least 10 years.” However, Sumner Baye, president, partner and a longtime leisure industry consultant at New York City-based International Hotel Network, thinks it could be much sooner.  “Everyone is waiting to see what happens,” he told John Walsh of HotelNewsNow.com.  “It’s too early to tell.”  He pinpoints Veradaro Beach in Cuba as a potential prime new hotel site.

Tampa Bay Business Journal – TAMPA — Tampa International Airport officials are in discussions with charter businesses licensed for flights to Cuba in anticipation of receiving federal approval to become one of four airports authorized for travel to Cuba. U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, has dogged federal officials since mid-April in an effort to add Tampa as a departure point. Castor has written Timothy Geithner, secretary of the treasury, and Gary Locke, Department of Commerce secretary, requesting designation of Tampa International as an airport authorized to provide nonstop Cuban air charter service.

Castor noted in the letters, copies of which were sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that census data shows the Tampa area has 67,000 Cuban-Americans, the fifth largest population of Cuban-Americans. Since President Obama’s decision to allow Cuban-Americans to visit their relatives in Cuba, the number of U.S. travelers to Cuba is expected to nearly triple from 10,000 per month to nearly 30,000, Castor wrote. At a subcommittee hearing last week, Castor broached the airport subject with two commerce department officials. “They said it was really a Homeland Security issue,” she said. “Homeland Security said it was a commerce issue.”

When Castor mentioned Frank Sanchez, the Tampa lawyer who is Obama’s nominee for undersecretary of international trade, “they said they would get to work on it.” Airport administrators already have consulted with U.S. Customs and Immigration officials who indicated it would be no burden to handle clearance procedures for Cuba travelers, said Louis Miller, TIA’s executive director. The airport has the space to accommodate the additional passengers and vendors that would be involved in flights to Cuba, Miller said. He also is talking with several charter companies licensed to provide Cuba travel. “This would be charter flights nonstop out of Tampa,” he said. “It’s a matter of speculation right now about numbers, but we know the passenger traffic would be a lot.”

The prospect of unlimited travel to Cuba is on the horizon, which means TIA would be in a good position if it already has been designated as a port, Miller said. “Once things are lifted, we would sort of have a foot in the door,” he said. Castor said easing the hardships on Cuban-Americans who have been restricted in the past from visiting families is her first goal. As far as signing on as a co-sponsor to a current House bill that would lift all Cuba travel restrictions, Castor said she would like to see “some gesture from the Cuban government” dealing with political prisoners and other issues. However, she is thinking of signing on as a co-sponsor of the bill, citing the benefits of better contact and engagement with the Cuban people.

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