Chronicle on Cuba - November 2004

US-Cuba Relations

November 1: Cuba signed contracts to buy $10 million of US wheat and meat products, and $300 million of American dairy cattle, launching a new round of deals for US farm products projected to reach $150 million. "We're all committed to cooperation," said rancher John Parke Wright, of J.P. Wright & Co. "What we represent are good relations, fellowship and free and open trade." Wright's Naples, a Florida company will ship the cattle to Cuba from Vermont. The $10 million deal was with Louis Dreyfus of Georgia for wheat, chicken and pork. The deals were announced at the weeklong International Fair of Havana, also attended by companies including Archer Daniels Midland of Illinois, Tyson Foods of Arkansas, and Cargill Inc. of Minnesota. (AP, 1/11/04)

November 1: Agricultural goods produced in the United States and exported to Cuba have reached $298 million, more than double than in 2003, according to a Texas Cooperative Extension economist. "Sales could exceed $400 million for 2004, ranking Cuba the 25th largest market for US agricultural exports," said Dr. Parr Rosson, Extension economist and director of the Center for North American Studies at Texas A&M University. "Growth in the Cuban market has become especially important as the US agricultural trade surplus has narrowed over the last two years." Importantly for Texas, Rosson said, rice was the top export to Cuba for the first eight months of 2004 with sales reaching $64 million. (Agnews, 1/11/04)

November 1: Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón has said that US President George W. Bush has gone too far in recent anti-Cuba declarations in Florida. Alarcón spoke with reporters at an activity organized by US businesspeople to celebrate the 80th birthday of Ramón Castro, Fidel Castro’s older brother. The island's top legislator said that Bush's recent statements that he will 'free Cuba' went a bit too far -- kind of like "tightening the screw so much that it strips the threads." Ricardo Alarcón noted that Bush made his declarations in Miami, "before an audience that wanted to hear exactly that." (Radio Habana Cuba, 2/11/04)

November 2: The head of the US legation in Havana, James Cason, held a reception at his residence to watch early election returns and organized a mock ballot for the Cubans attending. Local opponents of the island's Communist regime voted for US president and immersed themselves in the electoral process, wearing buttons with the names of their favorite candidates and following election results on American television. Among those attending the reception were, Vladimiro Roca, of the Todos Unidos movement, and Marta Beatriz Roque, recently released from jail. (EFE, 3/11/04)

November 2: The US Treasury Department has ordered federal charges dropped against three members of a Methodist church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who were accused of spending US dollars during a visit to Cuba. At a news conference called by the Wisconsin Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba, attorney Art Heitzer said that Washington will end nearly six years of threats and legal prosecution of the Methodist 3, as they became known in Milwaukee, without requiring any fines or other penalties. They were among six members of Milwaukee's oldest Methodist Church, Central United Methodist, who visited their sister church in Havana to help celebrate its 100th anniversary. Earlier this year, they were charged with spending between 40 and 70 dollars each, resulting in government demands for penalties totaling $22,500. (Radio Habana Cuba, 2/11/04)

November 3: Cuba's state television said that George W. Bush won the US presidential election by manipulating voters' fears of future terrorist attacks. On the island's nightly televised "Round Table" discussion program, host Randy Alonso said Bush's win was due to a successful strategy "to cultivate fear among (U.S.) citizens" and "present himself as the great leader of the fight against terrorism." With Bush's victory, Alonso said Cubans should expect little change in the US hard line policy toward the communist-run island. "Nothing has changed for us," he said. "And for the Americans, four more years of darkness could be ahead." (AP, 3/11/04)

November 4: Cuba agreed at an international trade fair in Havana to buy nearly $30 million in food products from the United States. The products will include $600,000 worth of cooking oil from a company in Miami. The latest numbers represent deals made through the weeklong fair. Pedro Alvarez, chairman of the Cuban food import company Alimport, said he expects Cuba to sign agreements totaling some $150 million by the fair's end. The latest deals with US companies totaled more than $7.5 million. (AP, 4/11/04)

November 4: The United States has denounced Fidel Castro's communist government in Cuba for repeated and persistent human rights violations, putting Havana on notice that the situation on the island remains a US priority. The State Department said Washington had not forgotten that scores of Cuban dissidents arrested in a widespread crackdown in March 2004 were still languishing in prison and repeated demands for their immediate release. [Cuba: Human Rights Situation] (IOL, 4/11/04)

November 4: Public opinion in Cuba with regards to what a second administration for President George W. Bush could mean for the Caribbean island nation ranges from extreme pessimism to indifference and even a slight glimmer of optimism. Although they do not hope for miracles, some analysts predict that a new Bush administration will take a more moderate stance towards Cuba. However, the government of Fidel Castro does not believe there is any chance of a change for the better. While Cubans on the street could be heard expressing disappointment or resignation, Granma, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, made no editorial comment on the results of the US elections. Academics and representatives of moderate dissident groups, meanwhile, do not rule out the possibility of a slight easing of tension between the two countries, now that Bush has safely won four more years in the White House. ( IPS , 4/11/04)

November 5: Cuba struck back at the United States, calling it the world's worst human rights offender two days after the US State Department criticized the island nation for continuing to imprison scores of dissidents rounded up more than 1 ½ years ago. ''The government of the United States doesn't have the minimum moral authority to accuse Cuba,'' the island's Foreign Ministry said in an official note published in the Communist Party daily Granma. ''It's the government of the United States that is the worst violator of human rights in the world,'' the note said, pointing to alleged abuses of prisoners in Iraq and terror suspects at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The foreign ministry also said the US trade embargo against Cuba "is a cruel, inhuman and genocidal blockade that over more than four decades has violated the human rights of all the Cuban people.'' [Official Statement] (AP, 7/11/04)

November 5: Two moderate Cuban oppositionists wrote letters to recently re-elect US President George W. Bush, requesting that, during his new term in office, his administration’s policy toward Cuba be revised with a stress on exploring new dialogue options and the reassessment of sanctions against the island. Former Revolutionary Commander Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, leader of Cuban Change, and Arco Progresista’s spokesman Manuel Cuesta Morúa expressed their support for renewed dialogue efforts and a review of political sanctions against Cuba. (AFP, 5/11/04)

November 6: With $65 million worth of contracts for the sale of US farm products to Cuba signed this week, purchases by the Communist-ruled island since Washington authorized such sales in 2001 have topped the $1 billion mark. "With what was signed today, we hit $1 billion since negotiations began" in 2001 for sales to Cuba of food and agricultural products, the president of the state-run purchaser Alimport, Pedro Alvarez, told reporters. Purchases this week totaling more than $65.5 million were made at the Havana International Fair. (EFE, 5/11/04)

November 6: The United States repatriated 108 illegal Cuban migrants intercepted in seven separate groups, the Coast Guard said. Most of the deportees sent back to Cabañas, Cuba, were apprehended off the Florida coast on vessels crewed by presumed alien smugglers. A total of 68 migrants were traveling on three fast boats that developed engine problems, two of which were adrift in the Florida Strait. Another boat manned by alleged people traffickers was halted with 30 Cubans on board, while 13 other illegal immigrants were rescued by the Coast Guard aboard three rafts. Of the Cubans taken into custody, three will be turned over to the authorities at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo, Cuba. Meanwhile, nine persons suspected of alien smuggling are in custody and are being questioned by US law enforcement authorities. (EFE, 8/11/04)

November 8: Vermont's agriculture secretary has returned from a successful trade mission to Cuba. Steve Kerr said he hoped to work out a contract to sell Cuba 2,000 bushels of Macintosh apples valued at $40,000. He also said he had made substantial progress on the sale of 3,000 metric tons of powdered milk with an estimated value of $6 million. He added that New Zealand, a major powdered milk supplier, also is competing for the contract. (AP, 9/11/04)

November 9: The Dallas Morning News, one of just four US media companies with a coveted bureau in Havana, will close its operation in Cuba by the end of the year for economic reasons, the paper's managing editor confirmed. The Havana pullout comes as the Texas daily copes with financial losses from circulation overstatements that resulted in millions of dollars in overpaid advertisements that must be compensated. The Havana bureau, opened in 2001, has been an expensive venture that could no longer be justified. ''It's been a significant cost,'' George Rodrigue, the managing editor, told The Herald in a telephone interview. ``We need to close the bureau but we don't plan to close out our coverage in Cuba.'' (The Miami Herald, 9/11/04)

November 9: Fidel Castro's tumble to the ground last month and an increasingly difficult economy have prompted many Cubans to begin contemplating the island's future, the top American diplomat in Havana said. ''All over the island people are discussing the future, of what they want it to be,'' James Cason, chief of the US Interests Section, told a gathering of Cuban Americans and Cuba-watchers in Coral Gables. ``The lonely voices in the opposition are getting less lonely by the day.'' ''Cubans are increasingly losing patience with Castro,'' Cason said. ``In the weeks since Castro's well-publicized fall, more and more regime supporters are now saying it is time for Castro to step down.'' ''Most Cubans on the island today have known nothing but communism -- 70 percent were born after the revolution,'' Cason added. ``Simply plunking down a genuine electoral system won't be sufficient in the future. It will take at least a generation to acquire the habits of democracy on the island.'' (The Miami Herald, 10/11/04)

November 15: In what appears to be the largest mass defection of Cuban performers to date, Cuban members of a theatrical production in Las Vegas sought asylum in the United States, leaving families behind and defying their government, the show's founder and creator said. The 43 performers, including dancers, singers and musicians, submitted their requests at the federal courthouse in Las Vegas, said Nicole "N.D" Durr, who also directs the "Havana Night Club" show. Durr said seven additional cast members, who are currently in Germany, also are seeking asylum. They are expected to arrive in the US within the week. Another three members have decided to return to Cuba, she said. (NYT, CNN, 15/11/04)

November 15: The President of Cuba's Parliament, Ricardo Alarcon, said in Havana, that Washington's plan to destroy the Cuban Revolution is part of a US policy for all Latin America. Speaking at the closing session of the 12th Havana Meeting of Cooperation and Solidarity of Town Halls, Alarcon stressed that despite the increasing of Washington's hostilities, Cuba will always be free and independent. (Radio Habana Cuba, 16/11/04)

November 15: Washington's four-decade-old economic embargo against Cuba will be lifted next year, former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez said in Paris, implying that he was privy to some inside knowledge on the issue. "I am convinced the embargo will be liquidated next year and I have a certain level of information" to that effect, Gonzalez said at a seminar on Latin America organized by the French newspaper Le Monde. Asked by the daily's editor, Edwy Plenel, whether he was sure the administration of US President George W. Bush was going to reverse its position on the trade ban, the Spaniard answered categorically: "Yes, that's what I'm saying." (EFE, 15/11/04)

November 16: Cuba had completed its promised purchase of $10 million in Montana agricultural products, Senator Max Baucus said, and another deal is possible. The Democrat is scheduled to visit the island nation next month. In September 2003, Baucus traveled to Cuba with state agriculture producers and business officials and secured a deal in which Cuba would buy $10 million in farm products. The country wound up buying $10.4 million in wheat, dry beans and peas, he said. “We're all very excited here about the potential for this sale to help our agricultural economy and create jobs on main streets across Montana," Baucus said. (AP, 16/11/04)

November 16: The Bush administration has delayed some Cuban payments to US food exporters to investigate compliance with rules governing sales to Cuba under an exception to the four-decade trade embargo, trade sources said. They said the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which enforces sanctions against the Communist nation, is preparing new guidelines for the growing food sales to Cuba. Nerves are frayed on both sides of the Florida Straits with exporters and importers worried the Bush administration, which has stepped up actions aimed at depriving Cuba's government of hard currency, may introduce more stringent payment procedures. "The US banks have been delaying some payments as Treasury checks cargo status and other requirements," a source deeply involved in the food trade said. "They sometimes rule a company is not in compliance, but issue a special license allowing the payment to go through," he said, asking his name not be used. A US Treasury Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the payments issue involving food trade with Cuba. (Reuters, 16/11/04)

November 16: Fidel Castro said the emergence of an Osama bin Laden videotape just ahead of the US presidential election seemed to have been "arranged'' to help President Bush. In his first public comments about Bush's re-election, the Cuban leader said, ``We have seen too much (…) trickery and shamelessness to sustain the belief that this wasn't something arranged.'' Speaking on the communist-run island's nightly televised "Mesa Redonda'' discussion program, Castro added, "Bin Laden makes the documentaries that decide elections.'' He did not give any detail on how the tape could have been timed to the election. (AP, 17/11/04)

November 16: Fidel Castro warned the country will respond to any aggression from the United States, such as Washington's recent outrageous attempt to block Cuba’s international transactions with US dollars. Castro said that Cuba decided to stop the circulation of the US dollar and use the convertible pesos instead to counteract the “treacherous action”. The Cuban leader said that the White House tried to prevent Cuba from using the dollar in its international trade with “the bare-faced lie that Cuba was laundering US dollars in foreign banks”. (Prensa Latina, 17/11/04)

November 16: DaimlerChrysler, the German car manufacturer, has been fined by the US for breaking the embargo on Cuba. US Treasury officials told the press that DaimlerChrysler was guilty of "exporting goods to Cuba". The case was settled last month, after the company paid a fine thought to be $30, 000 US. The penalty was imposed on DaimlerChrysler North America Group, the US subsidiary of the company, because of exports by DaimlerChrysler Vehiculos Comerciales, the Mexican subsidiary of the German manufacturer. (Financial Times, 16/11/04)

November 18: Vermont’s Agriculture Secretary, Steve Kerr, said that he has completed a deal to sell six million dollars in powdered milk to Cuba. Cuba has agreed to purchase powdered milk through DairyAmerica, a California-based marketing cooperative. Part of the order would come from the Saint Albans Co-op and Agri-Mark, Vermont's two major dairy cooperatives. Kerr, who returned from Cuba, expects the state will sign a contract for the milk next month. (World Now, 18/11/04)

November 18: A woman in the US has been awarded more than $80m after suing Fidel Castro and his government for allegedly executing her father. CIA pilot Thomas Pete Ray took part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Mr Castro in 1961. The pilot was captured by Cuba shortly after his plane was shot down during the botched invasion by Cuban exiles, backed by the US. Ray's body, with a gunshot wound to the right temple, remained in a Havana morgue until 1979, when Cuba finally returned it to the US. A judge in Miami ruled that he was the victim of an extra-judicial killing. Cuba did not offer a defence in the trial, heard without a jury. According to American law, Janet Ray will be paid out of Cuban assets frozen in the US. Speaking after the award was given in her favour, Ms Ray said her intention was to do nothing more than honour her father. (BBC, 18/11/04)

November 18: Cuban Vice-president Carlos Lage declared in Costa Rica that, coming from the United States, Cuba always expects the worst, regardless of who the incumbent Secretary of State may be. Referring to President George W. Bush’s recent reelection, Lage said, “Other than the blockade and aggressive measures, we never expect anything else from the United States, and we are always ready for the worst – even a military aggression.” (Notimex, 18/11/04)

November 23: T he Corcoran Gallery of Art abruptly postponed a cultural program it planned to sponsor in cooperation with Cuban diplomats. "The timing two days after the Thanksgiving weekend is not optimum. We are postponing it," said Margaret Bergen, chief communications officer for the city's oldest private museum. Even though the Corcoran had sold only 41 tickets, the event drew the attention of the State Department and several groups who have been fighting the government of Fidel Castro and its policies. Among the questions raised were where the money would go and the appearance of being open-minded about conditions in a country in which poets and writers are jailed. The program was billed as "An Evening at the Cuban Interests Section." (The Washington Post, 24/11/04)

November 23: Some companies that sell food and agricultural products to Cuba are reporting that payments are not being credited to their bank accounts in the United States, according to a representative of a group that tracks business between the two countries. John Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc., said that fewer than half a dozen companies have contacted his organization recently about such problems. He said banks have confirmed receipt of payments from Cuba but have not credited the accounts of exporters on instructions from the US government. A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department said its Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the economic embargo against Cuba, is looking into the matter. OFAC, she said, has been asked to clarify the government's policy regarding payments. She wouldn't say who requested the clarification. (AP, 24/11/04)

November 23: The Venceremos Brigade has received a Requirement to Furnish Information (RFI) notice from the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). According to a news release issued by the Brigade, the letter is the first phase in the enforcement of laws that restrict travel to Cuba. The Venceremos Brigade (VB) says that the OFAC letter calls the organization a "travel service provider" -- but the VB clearly states that it is not a travel service provider. The Venceremos Brigade is “an anti-imperialist education project that works to develop friendship with the Cuban people”. (Radio Habana Cuba, 23/11/04)

November 24: The Treasury Department has begun issuing licenses to several companies doing business with Cuba to allow those exporters to receive payments from the island that had been frozen, pending a federal review of Cuba trade policies. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces the existing US embargo and travel restrictions to Cuba, is not expected to make a decision about whether to change the business practice until after the holiday weekend. But in order to clear any deals that had already been paid for, OFAC began issuing licenses for each individual transaction. "U.S. financial institutions interdicted a handful of transactions due to confusion among some agribusinesses about the types of payments authorized for Commerce-licensed agricultural sales to Cuba,” said a statement from a Treasury spokeswoman. “Thus, OFAC has adopted an interim specific licensing policy for exporters whose Cuban payments have been interdicted pending further guidance on the payment policy for shipping agricultural goods to Cuba, pursuant to licenses issued by the Commerce Department. OFAC is working directly with these exporters and is currently issuing specific licenses to unblock their payments”. (Sun Sentinel, 24/11/04)

November 25: There are close links among Cuban and Venezuelan counterrevolutionary groups operating freely in the US territory, denounced Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón. Talking with reporters, Alarcon said the situation in Venezuela is becoming similar to that in the 1960s in Cuba. The terrorist actions against Cuba at that time by groups based in Miami and other US cities reached a particular violence, with the consent and support of United States intelligence services, the Parliament leader said. "Venezuelan counterrevolutionary groups are also based in Miami and closely linked to fascist groups of Cuban origin," Alarcón emphasized. Alarcón recalled that the ex Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who is living in Miami, publicly called for violence, the assassination of Chavez and the coup. (Prensa Latina, 26/11/04)

November 25: Record failures by successive US administrations trying to destroy the Cuban Revolution is the factor triggering current US aggressiveness, said Ricardo Alarcón, president of the Cuban Parliament. This is a singular moment of threats and aggression risks for Cuba, he added. Alarcón described the offensive unleashed by George W. Bush after his reelection, promoting actions included in the Plan for a Free Cuba. Before specialists and scholars attending the Scientific International Seminar on the 45th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, the head of the Cuban parliament indicated that Washington has allotted 59 million dollars a year to organize mercenaries at their service. (Prensa Latina, 26/11/04)

November 28: Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora led a delegation of 12 religious leaders to Cuba to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Santiago -- a diocese Florida had been associated with nearly 500 years ago. In a ceremony at the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba attended by thousands, Favalora said, "I found a church very, very alive. Their hearts were full of fervor. You could see it in the way they prayed." Favalora, however, also experienced the religious and humanitarian restrictions of the Cuban government. The group had taken 21 suitcases filled with donated rosaries and such medicines as insulin, antibiotics, vitamins and decongestants. They were stopped at the airport by Cuban government agents. (The Miami Herald, 30/11/04)

November 29: In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher welcomed the release of three political prisoners in Cuba, but said the detainees never should have been imprisoned in the first place. "We continue to condemn the unjust incarceration of dozens of other prisoners of conscious in Cuba," Boucher said. "We hope that they can return to their work to build a truly just and open Cuban society," Boucher said. (AP, 29/11/04)

November 29: President Bush nominated as his new commerce secretary a onetime Cuban refugee who now runs a business empire that includes American kitchen cabinet staples Pop Tarts, Frosted Flakes and Cheez-Its. Carlos M. Gutierrez, the CEO of Battle Creek, Michigan-based Kellogg Co., is ''a great American success story,'' Bush said at a news conference introducing his nominee. ''He will be a strong, principled voice for American business and an inspiration to millions of men and women who dream of a better life in our country,'' Bush said. (Chicago Sun Times, 30/11/04)

November 30: The US State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, did not recognize the role of the Spanish diplomacy in the release of Cuban journalist Raul Rivero. Asked during a press daily briefing about the mediation of Spain and the European Union with the Cuban government, Boucher answered that, he couldn’t describe the Cuban decision “as being the result of any specific nation or upcoming meeting or anything like that”. “I don't know if the Cubans will say that's why they did it, or this is why they did it or not, and whether they'll be speaking the truth anyway”. Boucher added that, “the Europeans have been, in recent years, partly because of our work with them, a bit more insistent on human rights aspects in Cuba and raising these issues”. (El Mundo, 30/11/04)