Chronicle on Cuba - March 2010

Economy

March 1: As a sign of the improvements in public transportation in Cuba, the total amount of people who used these services increased 7.3 per cent in 2009 compared to the previous year. According to the reported issued by the National Statistics Office (ONE) close to 1.8 billion people used public transportation, being buses the main means of travelling with over 700 million users. The different investments made by the Cuban government, which included the purchase of buses in China and the Russian Federation, as well as locomotive engines in Iran, have had a great influence on these improvements. Transportation by taxi and ships also saw growth while less people travel by air during that period (ACN, 1/3/10).

March 1: Cuba received 254,845 visitors in January 2010, a 4.9  per cent less than during the same month the previous year, according to a report published by the Ministry of Tourism website. According to the data supplied by the Statistics National Office (ONE) this figure represents 13,270 visitors less than in January 2009. However, it translates in a 2.6 per cent increase from 2008, and 15.2 from 2007. In 2009 the Caribbean nation received 2,429,809 visitors, a 3.5 per cent more than in 2008, but the revenues showed a 148 million dollar decline, mainly due to the US dollar weakness. Canada has remained as the main emitting market, with 900,000 tourists, followed by the UK, Spain, Italy and France in that order (ACN, 1/3/10).

March 2: Cuba is offering foreign businesses 2 per cent annual interest over five years as part of a plan to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts frozen by the cash-strapped government, diplomatic and business sources said. The government is hoping the interest payments will encourage companies to keep doing business with import-dependent Cuba while the country gradually unblocks the frozen accounts. The aim is to do this without depleting communist-led Cuba's financial reserves. The offer from the state-run banks consists of monthly payments over five years at 2 per cent interest, with the proviso that payments can be missed without penalty when money is not available. “Some people are taking the deal. At least the funds go from a nonperforming asset at no interest to a performing certificate of deposit,” one western commercial officer said. “The alternative seems to be nothing. It's an offer you can't refuse,” he told Reuters. Cuban banks first informed depositors in November 2008 that they had no foreign exchange to back up the convertible peso, or CUC, in which many were doing business. At one point, in February 2009, hundreds of suppliers, joint ventures and other companies had an estimated $1 billion frozen in Cuba's banks. In August 2009, the government released part of the blocked money so companies would continue selling to the country. Suppliers since then have sought payments either offshore or with letters of credit stamped “CL,” instructing banks to clear the funds (Reuters, 2/3/10).

March 3: State-run food markets in the Cuban capital received only 60 per cent of expected deliveries in January and just 64 per cent in February, Communist Party daily Granma said, adding that the agricultural reforms implemented by President Raul Castro have not yet yielded results. Granma reported that a scarcity of pesticides and fuel resulted in “costly damages” and pointed to supply and marketing problems, but also noted that the small-scale producers at the center of a plan to boost farm output say the changes in the sector “are not yet as beneficial as they had hoped.” “At times, excessive obstacles and prohibitions are breeding grounds for crime and bribery,” according to the newspaper, which cited excessive bureaucracy, lack of coordination and rigidity in food production and distribution. “Almost all the producers are making the same proposal: that they be able to access Havana markets without going through any intermediate steps.” Granma went on to say that supply shortages are “difficult to understand” given the strategic measures adopted by the government of General Castro, who since formally succeeding ailing older brother Fidel two years ago said food production is a matter of “national security.” “Many (...) were hoping for a different scenario in January and February since the higher prices help producers, along with other factors such as the exploitation of idle land that had been given in usufruct, the creation of a large number of farms and the more rational and disciplined use of technical forces and means,” the newspaper said. Among the causes of the food shortages, Granma mentioned that the smallholders and cooperatives that produce 70 per cent of the food sold to state-run markets “did not receive fertilizers and chemical products to protect their crops in the final quarter of 2009 (LAHT, 3/3/10).

March 4: Cubalum and Sigmaplast, a Cuban and a Dominican company, respectively, signed a Letter of Intent to create a joint venture to produce flexible printed material and polyethylene in Santo Domingo city. The agreement provides mutual advantages, since Sigmaplast (a corporation) will access a broader market, to which it will provide raw materials and other perishables, while Cubalum will obtain state-of-art technology and reduce costs through the substitution of imports. Sigmaplast and Cubalum will immediately start the technological and commercial collaboration with technical information exchange and the provision of necessary inputs to ensure production, thus creating the foundations to form the joint venture (ACN, 1/3/10).

March 4: Cuba is participating in the 28th EXPOCOMER International Commercial Fair that is underway in Panama until March 6th with a delegation of representatives from 32 national companies. Speaking with Prensa Latina news agency, Omar Fernandez, Legal Director of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the significance of attending an event of this type, which attracts the attention of important businesspeople and enterprises from the region. Some of the island’s products exhibited in the fair include cigars, cosmetics, rum and other beverages as well as products from the perfume industry. Fernandez added that Cuba is also present with service companies dealing with issues like computing technologies, legal consultancy for investments and economic control (ACN, 4/3/10).

March 4: An import program that brought flashy new cars to Havana streets dominated by old US and Russian vehicles has been canceled, the Cuban government said in a resolution. In the online edition of the Official Gazette, the communist government said “irregularities have been observed” in the program without explaining what they were. Since April, Cubans with cars had been allowed to import vehicles to replace pre-1990 models, with the goal of cutting fuel consumption and pollution on the Caribbean island. The old models were turned over to the government, which regulates the purchase of cars and restricts who can get them. It was not known how many vehicles had come in under the program. But shiny new cars and SUVs, some luxury makes such as BMW and Mercedes, began popping up among the 1950s American cars that still rumble through Cuba and the Ladas that came during the island's 30-year alliance with the Soviet Union. Artists, athletes and doctors posted abroad are among those allowed to have cars and some of the few Cubans who can afford them. The only cars that can be freely bought and sold are the old US models that predate the 1959 Cuban revolution. In recent months, some Cubans had bought the old cars, which are sold for between $3,000 and $40,000, to be able to import a new car to replace them (Reuters, 4/3/10).

Marzo 4: Los ingenios en Cuba, todos estatales, tuvieron un deficiente rendimiento durante la primera mitad de la temporada de la zafra debido a las averías, las lluvias y otros factores que provocaron una menor producción de azúcar de la esperada, dijo una radioemisora local. “El país, por el incumplimiento en la molienda, que estaba programada para el 80 por ciento de la capacidad, no llega ni siquiera al 70 por ciento; está al 64 por ciento (...),”  dijo Juan Varela Pérez, un reportero especializado en el tema del azúcar. “Esa diferencia marca el incumplimiento del plan de azúcar,”  dijo a una radioemisora local. Según las autoridades cubanas, el plan era lograr una zafra de unos 1,3 millones de toneladas de azúcar sin refinar esta temporada, cifra similar a la cosecha anterior. Sin embargo, el Ministerio del Azúcar ha dicho que hay menos caña disponible que el año pasado y los planes están basados en los ingenios operando a un 80 por ciento de su capacidad. La zafra se extiende desde enero a abril, aunque unos pocos ingenios muelen entre diciembre y mayo. El rendimiento de la caña suele llegar a su punto máximo entre febrero y marzo, por lo que será difícil recuperar el rezago causado por el bajo ritmo de la molienda y las lluvias de este mes (Reuters, 4/3/10).

March 5: A cooperation agreement was signed between the Chambers of Commerce of Cuba and Panama during the 28th International EPOCOMER Fair underway in the capital of the Central American country. The agreement sets the grounds for the systematic exchange of publications and information about exportable offers and investment projects between the two countries. It also envisages the participation of both chambers in international fairs and exhibits held either in Panama or in Cuba (Prensa Latina, 5/3/10).

March 5: Cuba and Hungary signed several cooperation accords in the economic sector at the end of the 1st Session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Cooperation. The documents were signed by the Cuban Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade and Investment, Ramón Ripoll, and Lajos Oláh, Hungary’s First Deputy Minister for Transportation, Telecommunications and Energy. The documents include accords in economic lines linked to the sectors of energy, tourism, agriculture, fisheries, transportation and the environment, among others. A business meeting sponsored by the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, during which enterprises from the two nations presented their opportunities for exchanges, also took place during the session (ACN, 6/3/10).

March 9: Inter RAO-UES (OOTC:IRAOF), a Russian supplier of electric power, will open an office in Havana and begin a joint venture with the state-owned Union Electrica, the Russian media announced. The joint venture, to be known as Generacion Mariel, will undertake projects for the generation of thermal and hydroelectric power. Its first project will be the modernization of the four-unit thermal power plant Maximo Gomez in the port city of Mariel, Havana province, and the construction of two additional 100-megawatt plants. The first phase of the project will be to attract funding; the second will be the actual construction, expected to begin a year from now. In its website, Inter-RAO describes itself as a “power supplier with a number of generation and distribution assets in Russia and abroad. [...] The company is a major investor and a leading exporter and importer of electric power in Russia” (The Miami Herald, 9/3/10).

March 10: Canadian mining company Sherritt International's (S.TO) joint nickel venture in Cuba broke production records in February, while a second plant's output was two per cent above plan, official media reported. “The Pedro Soto Alba plant produced 106 tonnes of mineral daily while the Ernesto Che Guevara plant reached 76 tonnes daily,” Holguin province's television Cristal reported. The two plants are located in Moa, Holguin province, the home of the industry. Pedro Soto Alba is a joint venture between state monopoly Cubaniquel and Sherritt International. The Che Guevara plant is owned by Cubaniquel, as is a third plant in neighboring Nicaro, the Rene Ramos Latourt plant. At current production rates, the Pedro Soto Alba appeared on track toward output of around 38,000 tonnes of unrefined nickel plus cobalt, while the Che Guevara would weigh in at around 28,000 tonnes, well below its 32,000 tonne capacity. There was no information on the Rene Ramos Latourt, the oldest plant with a capacity of 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes, which operated below capacity at various times last year (Reuters10/3/10).

March 11: Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, first Vice-president of the councils of State and Ministers, urged to be objective and careful in the process of contracting with enterprises, given its importance for a systematic supply of markets. The call was made during a meeting with representatives from the cooperative and agricultural sectors of La Habana province’s San Jose de las Lajas municipality, in which delegates to the 10th Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) and candidates-to-be of the future National Committee of this organization were elected, Granma newspaper reported. The report analyzed during the meeting underlines that the yield and volume of harvests depend largely on consumables, but also specifies that there’s a good deal of difficulties of subjective nature affecting results, as well as of non-implemented local solutions. An optimum use of available resources, to erase damaging ways of thinking and take into account the economic reality of today, amid which the country should limit itself to its resources in order to be able to give, are things that should be emphasized, added Machado Ventura (ACN, 11/3/10).

March 11: The Russian electricity company Inter RAO announced that it opened an office in Cuba to support its commercial relationship with the Caribbean island and with other Latin American nations. According to Granma newspaper, Inter RAO will participate in the organization of the joint venture Generación Mariel S.A., created upon the principle of equality between Cuba and Russia as part of inter-governmental agreements to expand cooperation in the energy sector. This Russian enterprise, along with the Cuban Electricity Union, will work in a project to manage and modernize the Maximo Gomez thermoelectric power plant, including the renovation of four generating units with a capacity of 100 MW each and the construction of two others with the same capacity, RIA Novosti news agency reported (ACN, 11/3/10).

March 14: A forest fire of considerable proportions is under control, after affecting more than 700 hectares of forest of the Charrasco kind, highly valuable for its endemism in the area known as Melones on the plateau Pinares of Mayari, in the eastern province of Holguin. Julio César Estupiñán Rodríguez, president of the Civil Defense in the municipality, told ACN news agency that 21 families were evacuated to safe places and there were not human losses due to the event. Estupinan stressed that there were severe damages to the economy, but appropriate measures were taken to prevent further damages to the economic objectives of the zone, as the conveyor belt that carries the raw material to the Rene Ramos Latour nickel processing, in Nicaro. More than 300 people and numerous engineering equipments, Interior Ministry troops and forces of agricultural and construction institutions were involved in extinguishing the fire. Favorable weather conditions led to the quick spread of the fire, with winds of up to 80 kilometers per hour, causing damage to the ecology of the area, rich in plants and animals peculiar to this area (ACN, 14/3/10).

Marzo 15: El gobierno cerrará un centenar de empresas agrícolas que considera “ineficientes,”  anunció el ministro cubano del sector, Ulises Rosales del Toro, durante una reunión de la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños (ANAP, integrada por campesinos del sector privado), en Santa Clara. Rosales, dijo que el cierre afectará a entidades que no son rentables en la actual coyuntura económica, informó la agencia oficial Prensa Latina. Añadió que unos 40,000 trabajadores “indirectos” de la agricultura serán “reubicados.” Para incrementar la eficiencia y la producción “no necesitamos fuerza de trabajo de otros sectores, sino ajustar nuestros propios mecanismos y transformar la labor de los agricultores,”  afirmó Rosales del Toro, también vicepresidente del Consejo de Ministros (Diario de Cuba, 15/3/10).

March 15: Cuba registered a slight increase in the number of foreign investment projects last year, the first rise since authorities began winnowing out foreign ventures they deemed ineffective or corrupt in 2003, according to a government report. The report by the Foreign Trade and Investment Ministry said the country was involved in 218 joint ventures, compared with 211 in 2008, and had 69 hotels under foreign management, up from 63 the previous year. The increase was the first reported since 2002. After that Communist authorities began closing many of the 404 ventures and 313 cooperative production agreements then in existence, mainly with Western partners, alleging they did little for the economy and were often corrupt. The report said there were currently just 14 cooperative production agreements, where an investor receives part of the profit or product produced, but holds no shares. The increase in foreign investments came despite a severe financial crisis and just a year after President Raul Castro formally took over from his ailing brother Fidel Castro in 2008. But local economists said it was too early to say if the change was the result of a change in government policy. Foreign Trade and Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca told the National Assembly in December that 46 of the investment agreements with foreign companies were abroad, many of them in Venezuela, China and Angola. Cuba has pharmaceutical ventures in Iran, India, China, Brazil and other countries, works construction in Angola and Vietnam, operates a hotel in China, and is involved in numerous projects in Venezuela, whose President Hugo Chavez is a top ally. Inside Cuba, Malmierca said joint ventures were predominantly with investors from Spain, Venezuela, Canada and Italy, in sectors such as tourism, oil exploration, communications and mining (Reuters, 15/3/10).

March 15: The president of the Russian Federal Agency of Tourism, Anatoli Grechkin, met with Carmen Casal, Foreign Relations Director at the Cuban Tourism Ministry (MINTUR), to discuss prospects of bilateral cooperation in this sector. During the tourism fair Inturmarket International Exhibition that concludes in the Moscow Crocus Expo, Stefania Escobar Díaz, director of MINTUR’s office in the European country, also participated in a meeting with Russian tourism authorities to discuss cooperation possibilities.  MINTUR is participating in Inturmarket-2010 along with national tour operators such as Havanatur, Sol y Son, Cubatur, Gaviota and Gaviota Tours, Prensa Latina news agency reported. In a stand of 81 square meters, Cuba is working with Russian tour-operators like Neva, Weekend, Southern Cross, ICS, Capital tour, SIT Travel, Vand International and TEZ tours, among others. Escobar Díaz announced that Cuba will give in September a seminar to a network of tour operators in several Russian cities such as Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Nishni, Novgorod and Samara. A total of 8,721 Russian tourists had visited Cuba by the end of last February, for a 12 per cent increase compared to 2009, when 37,391 Russians traveled to the Caribbean nation (ACN, 16/3/10).

March 18: The governments of Angola and Cuba signed, in Luanda, two technical and scientific agreements in telecommunication sector that formalize cooperation between both countries. The documents were signed by the Ministries of Telecommunication and Information Technology, and of Industry, Mines and Geology of Angola, and the Information and Communication Ministry of Cuba. According to the Computer Science and Communication vice minister of Cuba, Arufe Rodriguéz, the agreements strengthens the cooperation between the sectors of both countries, following the talks they had when the Angolan minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology; Carvalho da Rocha paid a visit to Cuba (Angop, 18/3/10).

Marzo 18: El Comité de Cooperación Empresarial Cuba-España comenzó en La Habana una reunión para analizar soluciones a los efectos de la falta de financiación y liquidez de la isla, que han provocado retrasos en el pago de deudas y retención de fondos de cuentas bancarias de empresarios españoles. El ministro cubano de Comercio Exterior e Inversión Extranjera, Rodrigo Malmierca, reconoció las “grandes dificultades” de La Habana para acceder a financiación internacional y también la preocupación de los hombres de negocios españoles por las deudas atrasadas y los fondos retenidos en sus cuentas cubanas. Malmierca dijo que el gobierno tiene “la mejor voluntad de diálogo,”  prometió el cumplimiento de los compromisos pendientes y aseguró que Cuba seguirá siendo un mercado “confiable.” “La situación que afrontamos con las retenciones en bancos se ha venido aliviando en los últimos meses y podemos asegurarles que se trabaja de manera permanente en la solución de este problema,”  dijo. En la inauguración de la XVII sesión del Comité, su presidente por la parte española, Javier Arenas, señaló que el momento es “complicado” y pidió “un esfuerzo de acercamiento y de regeneración de confianza” para alcanzar “fórmulas razonables para todos.” Las exportaciones españolas a Cuba en 2009 cayeron un 40 por ciento respecto al año anterior, hasta 467 millones de euros, y las ventas de la Isla a España bajaron un 2 por ciento y quedaron en 118 millones. España es uno de los cuatro mayores socios de Cuba en comercio e inversiones extranjeras, después de Venezuela, China y Canadá (Diario de Cuba, 19/3/10).

March 19: Liu Yuqin, Chinese ambassador to Cuba, said in Havana that his country will increase the number of projects in the Caribbean nation as part of the bilateral cooperation. Yuqin and Orlando Hernández, deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment (MINCEX), signed the certificate attesting to completion in the archipelago of five major projects, reported Prensa Latina news agency. These were implemented through non-interest government loans and grant funds awarded for this island by China. These works are the construction of small hydropower plants in the provinces of Granma and Holguin, supplies for the education sector, and the second phase of technical assistance for aquaculture development. Also the third and final phase of the cooperation project for the teaching of Chinese in Cuba was signed, with the presence of teachers from the Asian country (ACN, 19/3/10).

March 19: The Federal Customs Service (SFA) of Russia and the General Customs of Cuba signed the joint memorandum in customs, first in the history of the bilateral relations, according to Ria Novosti news agency. In a press statement made in Havana Vladimir Malinin, SFA deputy director, said that the two agencies had set the guidelines for the cooperation between them for the near future and long term. “The signed memorandum contains guidelines that serve as reference for the joint work,” said Malinin. Malinin arrived last Monday on an official visit to Cuba during which he held talks with the Chief of the General Customs of Cuba, Pedro Ramon Pupo Perez, who emphasized the importance of the document signed for the cooperation between the Caribbean nation and Russia (ACN, 19/3/10).

March 20: Undeterred by Cuba's inability to pay its debts on time, representatives of the Spanish Council of Chambers of Commerce met with Cuban officials in Havana to promote the importation of Spanish goods and services. At the opening session of the Committee for Cuban-Spanish Business Cooperation, Cuba's Minister of Foreign Trade, Rodrigo Malmierca, acknowledged the island's “great difficulties” in accessing international financing. Addressing the concerns over debts in arrears and the freezing of Spanish exporters' bank accounts, Malmierca said that Cuba has “the greatest willingness to dialogue” with its creditors, promised eventual payment, and vowed Cuba will be a “trustworthy” market. “The situation we face, with the withholdings in banks, has been relieved in recent months, and we can assure you that we're working permanently to solve this problem,” he told the Spanish businessmen. Javier Gómez Navarro, president of the Spanish Council, asked for increased bilateral cooperation “to recover the commercial flows and promote investments.” He said cooperation was “the only way [...] to regain the figures in economic growth that we had up until the crisis.” Spanish exports to Cuba dropped 40 per cent in 2009, to 467 million euros. Gómez reminded his hosts that Spain is the leading European investor on the island, “with a vocation of permanence,” and that trade will increase “if financial conditions are facilitated.” Javier Arenas, Spanish co-chairman of the committee, asked for both sides “to come closer and regenerate confidence,” so as to develop “formulas that are reasonable to everyone.” He asked for the “necessary flexibility” to reach an agreement and establish “new bases” for future trade. Arenas conceded that liquidity problems in Cuba “will be a constant” (EFE, 20/3/10).

March 21: Russia has made the first 2010 grain relief supplies to Cuba. Russia has delivered 25,000 tonnes of grain to the Cienfuegos port. Russian Ambassador to Cuba Mikhail Kamynin called the decision taken the Russian leadership to make relief supplies to Cuba as “one more manifestation of friendship and solidarity, which are traditional for the relations between the countries, as well as the sincere desire to support the fraternal Cuban people.” The ambassador stated that Russian-Cuban current relations “are at a very high level and are strategic.” He also emphasized that Russia had made the grain relief supplies in the year, which particularly important for both countries. On May 8 Russia and Cuba will celebrate 50 years of the resumed diplomatic relations. Russia intends to deliver about 100,000 tonnes of grain as relief supplies to Cuba from the Russian intervention fund this year (Itar-Tass, 22/3/10).

March 22: Cuban farmers are pressing for greater autonomy to produce and sell their crops, blaming government inefficiency for Cuba’s falling food output despite agricultural reforms introduced by President Raúl Castro. Government distribution last year resulted in the loss of tons of fruits and vegetables. In meetings around the country, they have complained that the government is not providing the inputs they need and has failed in its basic role of getting their produce to market, according to meeting participants and media reports. Their claims and requests, which are being aired at meetings of the National Association of Small Farmers, are significant because they seek to move away from government control of agriculture, which has been one of the pillars of the Castro brothers’ regime. At issue are regulations guaranteeing the state’s near monopoly of the distribution system through its long-standing practice of contracting for 75 per cent of what farmers produce in exchange for supplying fuel, pesticides, fertilizer and other supplies otherwise not available. The farmers say the state often fails to deliver inputs when they need them and undercuts production by not picking up and distributing crops in a timely fashion, which leaves their produce rotting in fields and warehouses. The latter has become such a problem that Cuba’s state-run press recently reported that farmers basically want the state to get out of the way (Merco Press, 22/3/10).

March 22: The Cuban enterprise CIMEX is fostering the commercialization of new products such as the Caney rum (12-year aged) with the purpose of increasing its exports and sales amidst the current international financial crisis. This new rum, called Super Premium, is manufactured by the rum industry in eastern Santiago de Cuba. Tranquilino Palencia Estruch, an expert in the manufacture of this rum, said that the initial production of Caney 12 Years has already been sold to Bodegas Torres and the Sotabac Company, which will distribute the product. Dagnet Flores Aldana, Development Manager of CIMEX’s Wholesale Division, explained that they traditionally commercialize rum brands such as Caney and Varadero as well as the Cubita coffee although they are now promoting the sale of charcoal, mainly in Europe (ACN, 22/3/10).

March 25: Cuba may open sugar production to foreign investors for the first time since the 1959 revolution as it seeks to reverse the once proud industry's relentless decline, business sources said. Talks between investors and the government have come and gone with little result for years, but what is shaping up as perhaps the island's worst harvest in a century has increased interest in bringing foreign partners, the sources said. Their money and management know-how could help revive a sugar industry that has collapsed from neglect and the decapitalization of mills and plantations, local experts and foreign traders said. Sugar, once the driver of Cuba's economy, now accounts for less than 5 per cent of Cuba's foreign earnings, but prices have been driven up by ethanol demand, so Cuba is turning to it once again. A Cuban source with knowledge of the sugar industry said the government has been seriously exploring foreign participation for several months. “The executive Committee of the Council of Ministers approved plans to pursue talks last November, and again this year to sign administrative agreements,” the source said. Foreign banking and other business sources confirmed talks were advancing toward agreements that would have investors jointly administer several mills and share in the production for a limited number of years. Theoretically, the state-run sugar industry has been open to direct investment since 1995, but in practice there has been little interest on the government's part except in a few joint ventures making sugar derivatives such as alcohol and parts used in sugar processing, the sources said. Cuba shut down and dismantled 71 of 156 mills in 2003 and relegated 60 per cent of sugar plantation land to other uses. More mills have closed since then, with just 44 mills open this season. Another 20 have been maintained in working condition for future use. Only 1.7 million acres (700,000 hectares) of the over 5 million acres (2 million hectares) once controlled by Cuba's Sugar Ministry are currently dedicated to sugar cane. Cuba planned to produce 1.3 million tonnes of raw sugar this season, but milling problems and low yields have resulted in a shortfall of more than 100,000 tonnes to date. With the harvest scheduled to end by May, Cuba is in danger of reaching its lowest output since 1908, when 1.2 million tonnes of sugar were produced (Reuters, 25/3/10).

March 26: The number of tourists coming to Cuba during the first two months of 2010 fell 3.4 per cent from last year due to a decline in visitors from Canada, Cuba's top tourist provider, the government said. But a jump in arrivals by Cuban-Americans after the Obama administration lifted restrictions on their visits home likely helped offset the drop in Canadians. A slump in tourism is bad news for President Raul Castro, who replaced his ailing brother Fidel Castro two years ago and is grappling with an economic crisis. Tourism and related businesses brought more than $2 billion to the communist-run Caribbean nation in 2009, or about 20 per cent of its foreign exchange income. The National Statistics office reported on its website (www.one.cu) that 513,000 tourists arrived in January and February, down from 531,000 during the same period in 2009. Canadian arrivals dropped to 243,800, from 270,400 in 2009. Tourism industry experts outside Cuba said a pricing spat with a major Canadian tour operator contributed to the decline.
Other destinations, including the Dominican Republic and the Mexican resort of Cancun, also are drawing away tourists with lower-priced packages, they said. Arrivals from the United States and some other countries under the category of “other” rose 11.6 per cent to 99,500 for the two-month period, the statistics office said. Most of that increase is probably Cuban-Americans because operators of US-Cuba charter flights say their business is booming due to a flood of Cuban-Americans going to their homeland (Reuters, 26/3/10).

March 28: Granma, the newspaper of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, accused the “bureaucracy” of slowing down pork production in its report on a meeting attended by officials from government-run companies and the official union representing independent farmers. “The bureaucracy holds back the production of pork in the capital,” was the title of the article on the paper’s front page, a story that discussed the meeting on the weekend that attracted bureaucrats from different sectors and headed by Vice President Jose Ramon Machado Ventura. The delegates of the ANAP association of small-scale farmers “criticized the ‘diabolical’ mechanisms that curb the interest in increasing (production) of this food,” said Granma. “Despite the efforts made by the parties, the Hydraulic Resources, Public Health and Physical Planning institutes were not able to agree with the Veterinary Medicine Institute,” Granma said. “Upon learning that there are several entities involved in this incredible production slowdown, Machado said that the solution cannot be delayed and that it must be the representative from Agriculture who heads up the activity and demands that those responsible respond immediately and appropriately,” the ruling party mouthpiece said. “We’re aware that whatever holds back production and marketing must be eliminated and we must ensure the most important thing: taking maximum advantage of the resources we have,” the 79-year-old Machado said (EFE, Granma, 29/3/10).

March 30: Cuban Vice President and Commander of the Revolution Ramiro Valdes reiterated called on the residential sector to step up energy saving measures. Valdes made the call during a territorial meeting on the rational use of energy involving all four central Cuban provinces from Cienfuegos to Ciego de Avila, according to a Granma newspaper. Valdes said all the people should get involved in this battle through political and grass-root organizations, which, he said, should play a more active role in this regard. The vice president pointed out that with the upcoming summer season, initiatives to reduce consumption have to be developed in all sectors and particularly in the houses, where the largest economic reserves are concentrated. Valdes asked for inspections to detect any infractions of energy saving measures, which must be severely punished with power cuts and fines. He noted that in the ongoing year, more than 1,000 offenses have been reported (ACN, 30/3/10).

March 31: The signing of four letters of intent was part of the first day of the International Construction Fair FECONS 2010, which runs through April 3 in the Pabexpo fairgrounds in Havana. Domestic and foreign companies penned these agreements, through which they fulfilled one of the key objectives of the event: the exchange of experiences and the commercialization of products. Leading these efforts was the Panamanian group BM INC., which showed interest in selling its items with the Cuban Institute of Water Resources and the CUBAHIDRÁULICA Company. B.M. INC. is responsible for the integration of irrigation projects for agriculture, water treatment system and networks, including agricultural production in protected areas. Also, the Mexican entity COP Paints and Coatings signed a letter of intent with the Cuban Construction Industrial Business Group. Also, in the framework of FECONS 2010, a new contract between the Spanish company NSV, SL and Universal Storage Services SA, which operate in Cuba, was signed. More than 110 firms from 23 countries are represented in this construction fair, in which 27 business operations were made on the opening day (ACN, 31/3/10).

March 31: Cuba benefited in 2009 from works and services valued at more than 530 million dollars, the fruits of economic cooperation programs between international organizations and local governments on the Caribbean nation. Raciel Proenza, director of Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment, said in Havana that during that period over 1,200 negotiation projects were implemented with more than 50 countries. Among the tasks carried out in the communities are included the rehabilitation and maintenance of houses affected by weather events, building community houses and actions to sanitation, drainage and solid waste management. Fabio Laurenzi, co-director of the Ecopolis Havana project, highlighted the implementation of pilot programs in the Cuban capital, related to economy, society and the environment. Some fifty kindergartens received equipment, maintenance or repair, the fruit of solidarity aid, stressed Felix Mejias, director of the Collaborative Council of the Provincial Administration of Havana (ACN, 31/3/10).