Chronicle on Cuba - May 2005

Economy

May 1: A special ceremony was organized in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, to mark the delivery of 400 buses for export to Cuba. It is considered the biggest bus export deal for a Chinese auto maker. The export deal, worth 240 million yuan (about 28.92 million US dollars), included 200 complete buses and the other 200 CKD (completely knocked down) bus parts, said Tang Yuxiang, President of Yutong Group, the exported bus maker that is based in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital. Yutong Group will also build an after-sale service in Cuba later, according to Tang. (Xinhua, 1/5/05)

May 1: Prawn and shrimp breeders will be able to breathe easy soon with a biotech product that could make their fry resistant to diseases such as the dreaded white-spot virus. And no one is more thrilled than prawn farm owner Hashnoel Murshim Hashim, the first in Malaysia to try Acuabio 1, a growth stimulator agent developed by a Cuban biotechnology research centre. Initial results during test trials have shown that the product increased productivity by 100 per cent. (New Straits.Com, 1/5/05)

May 2: Even a rigidly state-controlled economy such as that of Cuba is not immune to the global phenomenon of music-industry piracy, with local artists seeing their big hits circulating widely in illegitimate copies. Energized by digital technology, the illegal copying and sale of recorded music has really taken off in Cuba, according to a study by now-state-run Egrem, the island's oldest and largest music label. The firm's marketing director, Reinaldo Hernandez, told the press that retail sales of legitimate CDs in Cuba have fallen for three years running and he put Egrem's losses from piracy in 2004 alone at $40,000. (EFE, 2/5/05)

May 2: A co-operation protocol in the fields of infrastructures, sporting equipment and training of trainers, coaches, referees and umpires was signed in Luanda between the Angolan Youth and Sports Ministry and Cuba's National Institute for Sports, Physical Education and Recreation. According to a communiqué, the agreement was inked by Angola's deputy Minister of Sports, Albino da Conceiçao Jose, and Cuba's first vice chairman for Sports, Julio Cristiano Molina. (AllAfrica.Com, 2/5/05)

May 3: Fidel Castro recently sent a team of economists on a secret mission to explore the state of poverty in Cuba, as part of his campaign to put a brake on growing poverty and social stratification in what was once one of the world's most egalitarian societies. According to a well-placed source, their verdict was 300 pesos - five times the minimum 55 pesos pension and three times the 100 pesos ($4.80 USD) monthly minimum wage. Shortly after receiving their report, Mr Castro announced increases to the minimum monthly pension - to 150 pesos - and the minimum wage - to 225 pesos - to take effect this month. "The two measures will benefit 3,602,344 people receiving the lowest income, for which the revolution will dedicate 2,255,683,370 more pesos to the annual budget," said the official trade union weekly, Trabajadores. Some Cuban economists are not as enthusiastic. "There is no similar increase in domestic production to justify increasing demand. It is inflationary," a Cuban economist said. (Reuters, 3/5/05)

May 3: Colombia has sold 35,000 tonnes of white sugar to Cuba this year, a practice that may become more common as production on the Caribbean island falls, Colombia's sugar producers association said. "It is not clear at this time if we are going to send more sugar to Cuba or not," Ricardo Villaveces, president of Asocana, Colombia's sugar cane producer association, told the press. "But their production is going down, so it may become more common for Cuba to buy sugar from abroad," he said. This year's sales to Cuba were made by CIAMSA, a trading company owned by Colombian sugar producers. (Reuters, 3/5/05)

May 4: Venezuela and Cuba have agreed to start a joint shipyard in Venezuela, the Venezuelan government said. The shipyard was among a series of agreements signed between the countries during a visit to Havana by President Hugo Chavez, the Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement. The shipyard is to be built in the western Venezuelan state of Zulia. It is to be for repairing naval ships and the construction of small navy ships, Venezuela’s Infrastructure Minister Ramon Carrizalez Rengifo said in the statement. Venezuela announced that the 53,000 barrels of oil it began selling to Cuba on preferential terms in 2000 had now risen to up to 90,000 barrels daily. Cuba agreed to increase the number of its doctors in Venezuela to 30,000 by year's end. It will also help train 40,000 new Venezuelan doctors. (AP, 4/5/05)

May 4: The Cuban Ministry of Commerce informed that Cuba will purchase from Venezuela $28.5 million USD worth of food products, including canned sardines, crackers, pudding, marmalade and chocolate drinks, as well as work apparel. (AP, 5/5/05)

March 4: Cuba has signed an agreement with Canadian company Sherrit International, aimed at expanding their joint venture in the nickel industry, official sources reported. According to a press release published in Granma daily, the agreement was signed in the Cuban capital in the presence of Fidel Castro and Ian Delaney, the president of the Canadian firm. The agreement is aimed at implementing a program to extend production by the Pedro Soto Alba firm, located in Moa, (in the eastern part of Cuba) and at a nickel refinery located in the North American country. The project requires financing of around $450 million, which Sherrit International and Cuba will equally fund. The press release announced that Pedro Soto Alba’s production would increase to 16,000 tons of cobalt nickel as a result of this initiative. (Radio Habana Cuba, 4/5/05)

May 4: Canadian mining and energy company Sherritt International posted first quarter operating profits from its oil and gas business in Cuba of Cdn$21.1mn (US$16.9mn), up 21.3% from Cdn$17.4mn in the first quarter of 2004 (1Q04) , the company said in its 2005 first quarter earnings statement. Revenues rose to Cdn$49.7mn from Cdn$47.6mn in 1Q04 due to higher realized prices, partly offset by lower production volumes. The average price in Cuba rose to US$28.40/b in the quarter from US$24.21 in 1Q04. Sherritt's net oil sales in Cuba fell to 17,523b/d from 19,964b/d in 1Q04 and first quarter gross operated Cuban oil production fell 9.13% to 39,219b/d from 43,157b/d in 1Q04. This figure excludes production from Santa Cruz on block 7 because the field has not yet been declared commercial. Following on from promising initial results from the Santa Cruz exploration well in December, 2004 [that tested at a rate of 1,300b/d], Sherritt has begun drilling two appraisal wells in this field," the statement said. "If initial results are borne out, commercialization of the field is anticipated around the end of the year." Four drilling rigs were active during the quarter, drilling a total of seven development wells and one exploratory well. Sherritt sells all heavy oil produced in Cuba to Cuban government agencies, generally at selling prices based on 79-83% of the Gulf Coast fuel oil no. 6 reference price. The impact of higher fuel oil prices was partially reduced by the strength of the Canadian dollar. (BNAmericas, 4/5/05)

May 5: Fidel Castro made an appeal to have rationality prevail in whatever economic steps are taken on the island. In a national radio and television address, Castro said that “the Revolution has demonstrated it knows how to act speedily”, but this time not only it knows how to do things speedily, but it knows how to do it with much higher quality, he noted. Castro made emphasis on the carefulness with which work will be done in the distribution of products, raw materials, consumer goods and other commodities purchased in Venezuela and worth 412 million dollars. He insisted on the need that the hard currency stores keep their prices, so that the current rising trend of the Cuban peso purchasing power is kept, a goal that will not be achieved in a matter of days, he cautioned. (AIN, 5/5/05)

May 6: The US government has been trying to keep cruise ships out of Cuba for years. Now Cuba's government is telling the ships to stay away as well. Fidel Castro said last week that Cuba had discovered that the cruise ships weren't the sort of tourism it wanted. "Floating hotels come, floating restaurants, floating theaters, floating diversions visit countries to leave their trash, their empty cans and papers for a few miserable cents," Castro said. "We have told [fellow Caribbean states] that Cuba will not accept cruise ships," Castro said. He did not say whether the measure had taken effect. Cruise ships have been visiting Havana periodically until late last month. (Orlando Sentinel, 8/5/05)

May 9: The 6th International symposium over the use of hydrogen as fuel was inaugurated at the National Hotel in Havana. Experts from different countries will debate the contribution of this fuel to the development of a Cuban sustainable electro-energetic system. The production of hydrogen in the country is low because it is mainly used as refrigerant in thermoelectric plants. It is very valuable to be able to broaden and update the knowledge about new technologies, according to Antonio Valdés of the organizing committee. Cuba will host for the first time in Latin America a meeting of this type, including experts from 25 countries mainly from developing nations. (Prensa Latina , 9/5/05)

May 9: The northeastern Brazilian state of Ceara will focus on bilateral trade with Cuba, it was reported. Ten Cuban entrepreneurs will take part in a workshop with the participation of 30 Ceara-based companies. Trade relations between Cuba and the state of Ceara were limited and the workshop is intended to change this situation. According to Brazilian Development, Industry and Trade Ministry, the exports of Ceara to Cuba totalled $558,810 in 2004. Between January and March 2005, the Ceara state exports to Cuba stood at the modest $24,770, accounting for the modest 0.01 pct of the total Ceara state exports in the period. Representatives of Cuban drug, cement, sugar and ethanol and agricultural industries, as well as software, hotel, fish and footwear producers will participate in the workshop. According to the Development, Industry and Trade Ministry, in the first quarter of 2005, the Ceara exports to Cuba were limited to footwear, while in 2004, exports to Cuba were more diversified, including household appliances, juices, and other leather products. There is no statistical data about Cuban exports to Ceara for 2004 and 2005. (Latin American News Digest, 10/5/05)

May 9: Cuba and Russia have good potential to develop bilateral ties in various areas, Fidel Castro said in Havana, when meeting a delegation of the Russian State Duma headed by the first deputy chairperson, Lyubov Sliska. "In the course of a 90-minute conversation we discussed many interesting topics and shared opinions on the prospects for future cooperation," Sliska told the press. Castro spoke in favour of continuing "a close dialogue with Russia, for developing bilateral economic ties and raising their effectiveness", she said. During the meeting, Castro named several concrete projects that could be implemented within the framework of Cuban-Russian cooperation. (ITAR-TASS, 9/5/05)

May 10: Cuba's 25th International Tourism Fair kicked off in Havana with the participation of travel authorities and businessmen from 37 countries seeking to diversify their product and improve their quality. Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero gave the welcoming address to more than 1,200 participants, among them the heads of France's and Venezuela's tourism authorities, Leon Bertrand and Wilmar Castro, respectively. Marrero said that in 2004, for the first time in history, Cuba received more than two million tourists, adding that Havana expects to welcome 2.3 million visitors this year.
He said that tourist arrivals increased 8 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period in 2004. Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Argentina and Mexico all have sent big delegations to the fair, organizers said. (EFE, 10/5/05)

May 10: The Cuban authorities expressed interest in attracting more Chinese tourists to visit the Caribbean island, as the 25th International Tourism Fair of Cuba opened in Havana. Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero stressed that the number of Asian vacationers, especially from China and Japan, is on the increase. China and Cuba signed a memorandum of understanding in 2003, allowing Chinese travel groups to visit the Caribbean country. (Xinhua, 10/5/05)

May 11: Cuban Economy and Planning Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez stressed that the national economy is gradually recovering. The minister said Cuba’s relationship with other countries is bringing about favorable perspectives, like the latest agreements with China and Vietnam. Rodriguez also highlighted the new step toward western hemispheric integration in an agreement with Venezuela through the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, in contrast to the US-sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas. (Prensa Latina, 11/5/05)

May 11: The Cuba-Belize Joint Commission concluded in Havana with the signing of a final declaration including bilateral cooperation in different sectors. Cuban Foreign Investment Minister Marta Lomas and Belize Development Minister Assad Shoman presided over the meetings. Cuba and Belize analyzed cooperation in health care, education, culture and transport and agreed to set up a program for the next two years. At least 105 Cuban collaborators, most health personnel, are currently working in Belize, while 197 young people from that country are studying in Havana, including 123 studying medicine, according to the Cuban minister. (Prensa Latina, 11/5/05)

May 11: The Brazilian northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte targets to strengthen trade relations with Cuba with the aim to boost exports to that country. According to the government of Rio Grande do Norte, the state's exports to Cuba might reach $11.9 mln per year. Cuban ambassador Pedro Nuñez Mosquera, formerly Cuban Foreign Affairs Vice Minister, took part in the 92nd edition of Foreign Trade Meeting (Encomex) which started in Mossoro, Rio Grade do Norte. The delegation of the Cuban ambassador is comprised by representatives of four sugar and ethanol producing companies, and firms from the drug and fertilisers segments. Rio Grande do Norte presently exports to Cuba products for hotels, footwear, furniture, ready-to-wear clothes and fish. The total Brazilian exports to Cuba jumped by 90 pct year-on-year to $193 mln in 2004. (Latin American News Digest, 11/5/05)

May 12: The Cuban and Venezuelan governments will organize a construction company to reduce the deficit of housing in both nations and in Latin America. The initiative is part of the integration agreements to boost the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA). The US$100 mn corporate capital will be sourced from the ALBA International Fund, with the contribution of the member countries. Under the agreement, Cuba will provide machinery and equipment, while Venezuela will provide capital, as published by El Universal newspaper. (Latin American News Digest, 11/5/05)

May 12: Sol Meliá Cuba Sales and Marketing Director Gabriel Díaz informed that the Spanish hotel chain hosted 227,796 visitors out of 721,818 tourists that traveled to Cuba in the first quarter of 2005, which translates into 31.58% of all tourist arrivals on record between January and March. The main tourist markets that contributed to these results include Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Russia and Argentina. (Europa Press, 12/5/05)

May 12: Venezuelan business persons are expected to sign an agreement with Cuba that surpasses 8m US dollars. Light Industry & Trade Ministry said the contracts the Cubans will sign are for chocolate drinks, fruit juices, condensed milk, plastic bags and iron-tubed furniture, among other products. The 8m dollars will be added to 28m dollars agreed to in bilateral trade talks that took place in Havana. The Cubans will pay 1.9m dollars for the chocolates drinks deal and 1.4 for fruit justices, while 5m dollars will go for kitchen utensils, plastics and artisan products pending a positive green light from Cuban trade officials regarding which Venezuelan products to grants contracts to. (BBC, 12/5/05)

May 12: The state-run Bolivarian News Agency informed that Venezuelans vacationing in Cuba would soon be allowed to pay in Bolívares without any impact on the rate of exchange as pertaining to the US dollar. According to the President of the Banco Industrial de Venezuela (BIV), Luis Quiaro, a project to that effect is currently at an advanced stage and will shortly be submitted for the approval of Finance Minister Nelson Merentes and other Venezuelan finance authorities. (Encuentro en la Red, 12/5/05)

May 14: It was reported that Cuba's ranks of retirement- age citizens will only grow. The average Cuban is expected to live 76 years, one of the highest life expectancy rates in Latin America. Low birth rates also mean Cuba's population, much like the United States, is becoming older every year. The Cuban government imposes a mandatory retirement age for most of its citizens - 60 for men, 55 for women - to make room for younger workers in the tight job market. Some workers, however, are retiring even earlier, knowing they can make more money on the streets than in a typical government job. A middle-age newspaper vendor who wakes up early every morning to sell Cuba's official newspapers on the streets said he used to work for the government at a newsstand until he realized he could make more money on his own. One 62-year-old Havana man has a friend who sells him 100 plastic bags for 50 pesos, or about $2. The man steals them from a Havana factory where he works. The retiree can sell each bag for 1 peso on the street, doubling his investment. "You have to go into business to survive,'' he said. His pension amounts to less than $10 a month. (AP, 16/5/05)

May 15: Cuba welcomed its one-millionth visitor of 2005, staying on track to hit the target of 2.3 million tourists set for this year, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said. Tourism authorities are trying to expand the tourism market by providing more diverse offerings and improving service, officials said. During the January-April period, tourist arrivals rose 8 percent, compared to the same period last year, according to the Tourism Ministry. Nearly 2.05 million tourists visited Cuba last year, the highest number ever, generating about $2 billion in gross revenues. Canada remains the top source of visitors to the island, followed by Italy, Britain, Spain, Germany and France. The number of visitors from Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Argentina and Chile is growing rapidly, tourism officials said. (EFE, 15/5/05)

May 20: The problems with the electrical service that have been affecting Cuba in recent days are due to damages in thermoelectric units in the country, according to an Electric Union note. "Serious damage has been affecting the electrical service, with stoppages of generating plants when important maintenance works were being carried out," according to the brief report that did not refer to the power stations damaged. The text asserts the situation will improve in the next days. (Prensa Latina, 20/5/05)

May 25: Officials from Cuba and Mozambique ratified in Havana their decision to broaden cooperation after signing a protocol during the 15th Session of the Joint Commission for the Economic and Scientific Technical Collaboration. Cuban Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, and her Mozambique counterpart, Alcinda A. de Abreu reiterated their interest in extending the ties to new areas like fishing, radio, television and tourism. (AIN, 26/5/05)  

May 26: Cuban economic growth is expected to accelerate in 2005 to 5%, fuelled by new international accords and the development of oil and mineral resources, a United Nations study says. "The 2005 economic outlook is moderately optimistic based on a new economic policy, agreements with Venezuela and China, the discovery of new oil deposits and increased nickel production," the UN Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said, in a 48-page study on the island for 2004-2005. The study said the Cuban economy grew 3% in 2004, a figure below the 5% figure announced by Cuba, which uses a different methodology to calculate gross domestic product figures. The source said that UN economists used mainly preliminary data provided by the Cuban government to recently draw up the study, which was undated. (National Post, 26/5/05)

May 27: Fidel Castro praised the qualities of the pressure cooker, a basic tool for saving electricity in the country, and said authorities were making "exceptional efforts" to avoid repeated blackouts that have been affecting the Cuban population in recent days. After highlighting the issue of the state of Cuban electricity distribution system and the need to reduce consumption, in his 29th TV appearance, the 78-year-old leader addressed it again, unveiling a national plan for the promotion of practices reducing electricity consumption including the use of pressure cookers. At the end of a 2.5-hour speech in which he criticized Cubans for wasting electricity, Castro had some aides bring to the podium where he was staying two trolleys carrying some ten pressure cookers, two electric fans, one electric kettle and other household appliances. Answering a question posed by Castro, officials of Cuba's state-owned electricity monopoly said 17,000 kilometres of electric cables and 44,000 substations needed to be upgraded. (ANSA, AP, 27/5/05)

May 28: A London-based journal, the Travel Trade Gazette (UK & Ireland), has announced that the forthcoming inauguration of an air line between Gatwick airport, outside the British capital, and Havana should increase the flow of tourists from the Untied Kingdom to Cuba. According to the journal, officials linked to British tourism in London have stated that the new route with Virgin Atlantic will operate from mid July onward. It was also revealed that the head of Cuban tourist concerns in London, Mario Dorta, has stressed that the twice-weekly flight will bring about an increase of about ten per cent in the number of British holidaymakers traveling to Cuba. (World Data Service, 28/5/05)

May 30: Vietnam's prime minister praised Cuban achievements in the scientific, technological and environmental fields and encouraged both countries to draw up concrete collaboration programs in those areas. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai commented to Fernando Gonzalez Bermudez, interim minister of Cuba's Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), on the strength of Cuba's scientific sector and emphasized the need to develop new strategies to strengthen cooperation. Fernando Gonzales recently concluded an official visit to Vietnam accompanied by other members of his ministry. (Radio Habana Cuba, 30/5/05)

May 30: Mozambique is to begin using an anti-cholera vaccine developed at the Finlay Institute, according to Alcinda Antonio de Abreu, minister of foreign business and cooperation for that country, who spoke with Granma International just before ending a three-day visit to Cuba. The minister explained that in the future, immunization campaigns using other products from that Cuban scientific center could be undertaken against malaria, tuberculosis and other endemic diseases. (Granma International, 30/5/05)

May 30: Cuba has ended the worst sugar harvest in a century with output down more than 40 percent from the previous harvest at around 1.3 million tonnes, sources close to the industry said over the weekend. "Only one of 13 sugar-producing provinces, Villa Clara, met its plan," a local expert said, adding one or two mills could still be open somewhere in the country, but for all intents and purposes the season was over. Drought slowed planting last year and destroyed some freshly seeded plantations. The always hermetic sugar ministry has not commented since January on the harvest. Local experts said general neglect of the state-run industry was the underlying reason for its precipitous decline from a peak of 8 million tonnes when the Soviet Union guaranteed a market at subsidized prices. (Reuters, 30/5/05)

May 30: Cuban medical brigades that arrived in Honduras to help out in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch are to leave the country following a decision made by the local government. In statements to the press, Honduran Health Minister Merlin Fernandez said that the departure of the Cuban doctors was a decision taken by a tripartite commission, made up by the Medical Association, the government and the School of Medicine. The minister said that the presence of some 120 Cuban doctors who provide free services in the 18 departments that comprise Honduras represent expenses of 14m lempiras (900,000 dollars) for the government every year. "Obviously, we will not abandon the communities; we will seek mechanisms to generate more resources so that Honduran doctors can replace them," said the minister. Alberto Gonzalez Polanco, Cuban ambassador in Tegucigalpa, said that the Honduran Foreign Affairs Ministry still had not informed him of the decision. (Notimex, 30/5/05)

May 30: Cuban businessmen have increased cooperation with Russian businessmen in different spheres due to mutually advantageous basis, Alejandro Musteller, Chairman of the Cuban part of the Business Council Russia-Cuba said. He addressed a meeting of businessmen of the two countries, which was attended by representatives of the Cuban government. “The bilateral Business Council was created just at the moment when relations between Cuba and Russia are strengthening on the whole,” Musteller stressed. According to Musteller, serious progress has been achieved in the work of the Russian-Cuban Inter-Governmental Commission in the field of economic cooperation. (ITAR TASS, 31/5/05)

May 31: Spanish-Argentine oil and energy company Repsol YPF said that it will spend more than 21.1 billion euros ($26.1 billion) as part of a five-year global investment plan, with particular emphasis on exploration and production. The company said some 11.4 billion euros ($14.1 billion) will go specifically to exploration and production under its 2005-2009 strategic plan. Chairman Antoni Brufau said exploration and development projects will spearhead the company's growth in the next five years beyond its traditional markets of Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. Brufau also said Repsol will continue exploring for oil in Cuba. (AP, 31/5/05)

May 31: Cuban Minister of State Ricardo Cabrisas expressed in Havana his country's readiness to cooperate with Iran in the World Trade Organization. In a meeting with Iran's Ambassador to Cuba Ahmad Edrissian, the Cuban minister said Cuba is ready to hold consultations with Iran now that Iran's call to join the WTO has been accepted. Cuba received the WTO membership on April 20, 1995. Cabrisas, who is Cuban head of Iran-Cuba Joint Economic Commission, expressed satisfaction with the growing trend of economic relations between the two countries, particularly bilateral cooperation in the fields of industry, water, electricity and sugar cane. (IRNA, 31/5/05)