Cuban growth rate falls short of forecast
Cuban growth rate falls short of forecastBy IANSSaturday December 29, 03:19 PM
Havana, Dec 29 (IANS) Cuba registered a growth rate of 7.5 percent against an official forecast of 10 percent with both agriculture and construction sectors badly hit by weather, Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez has said, Spain's EFE agency reported Saturday.
Rodriguez, tabling the economic survey report and budgetary policy at the plenary session of the country's parliament Thursday, said the economy performed well in 2007 despite a nearly 24 percent hike in the cost of imported food and an increase of more than seven percent in oil prices.
Cuba, which reported growth of 12.5 percent in 2006, expected its economy to slow down to 10 percent but remain among the strongest in the region, an official report in March this year had said.
Its vital tourism industry felt the pinch this year owing to a warm European winter and cheaper destinations elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Although the economy grew at a rate less than expected, the minister said, 'This level of growth is significant.' He pointed out that exports of goods and services were up 24.8 percent as compared with a 2 percent increase in imports.
The minister offered no statistics on the tourism sector, one of the country's chief sources of revenue, which, according to a report by Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero, grew by 6.3 percent.
Cuba's Communist Party government calculates its GDP using a formula that takes into account the broad range of public services provided to citizens at no cost.
Though many contend Havana's economic statistics are unreliable, Rodriguez said Friday that Cuba's current GDP gauge is 'perfectly comparable to that of any country in the world.'
Castro again hints at retirement
Castro again hints at retirement
Cuba's ailing President, Fidel Castro, has for the second time this month alluded publicly to the possibility of retiring from office.
In a letter read out to Cuba's National Assembly, he said in the past he had been a person who "clung" to power, but that life had changed his perspective.
Mr Castro also urged people to support his brother, acting leader Raul Castro.
Last week, the 81-year-old communist leader wrote that he had a duty not to obstruct the rise of younger people.
I am not a person who clings to power – I could add that I was once, for the excesses of youth and lack of conscienceFidel Castro
"My basic duty is not to cling to office, and even less to obstruct the path of younger people, but to pass on the experiences and ideas whose modest worth stems from the exceptional era in which I have lived," last Tuesday's message said.
Mr Castro has ruled Cuba since leading a communist revolution in 1959.
He handed temporary power to his 76-year-old brother in July 2006 after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery, and has not been seen in public since.
'Continue marching'
Cuba's acting leader, Raul Castro, sat next to the empty chair of his ailing brother at the final session of the National Assembly before next year's parliamentary election.
In a letter read out before the day's business got underway, Fidel Castro said that in the past he had been a "utopian socialist".
It was a phase, he said, when he believed he knew what we had to do and wanted the power to do it.
FIDEL CASTROBorn in 1926 to a wealthy, landowning familyTook up arms in 1953, six years before coming to powerBrother Raul was deputy and Che Guevara third in commandHas outlasted nine American presidentsTarget of many CIA assassination plotsDaughter is a dissident exile in Miami
"What the foreign press in Cuba have most reported in recent days has been the phrase where I expressed… that I am not a person who clings to power. I could add that I was once, for the excesses of youth and lack of conscience," he said.
"What changed me? Life itself, through the deepening of the thoughts of [Cuban independence leader Jose] Marti and the classics of Socialism," he said.
Mr Castro also urged people to support his brother, saying he had read in advance a speech Raul made earlier this week in which he said Cuba needed to become more democratic, at least by allowing more open debate about economic and social issues.
"It is necessary to continue marching without stopping for even a minute. I will raise my hand next to yours to support him," he added in the letter dated 27 December.
The BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says that although the remarks were the first time that Mr Castro has publicly backed his brother's attempts at reforms, there is no talk of any political changes in the one-party state.
Mr Castro's two messages come before elections on 20 January to elect the National Assembly, which then selects the Council of State, which he has headed since 1976.Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/7163672.stm
Published: 2007/12/28 23:14:39 GMT
Raul Castro suggests liberalisation as Fidel hints at retirement
Raul Castro suggests liberalisation as Fidel hints at retirementBy IANSSaturday December 29, 05:11 PM
Havana, Dec 29 (DPA) Cuba's interim leader Raul Castro has suggested that economic changes – though within a socialist system – could be on the way, while his brother and long-time leader Fidel has again hinted that he may soon leave office for good.
In a final session Friday of Cuba's National Assembly before re-elections in January, Raul Castro said that 'excessive' government intervention and prohibitions had led to some difficulties that would have to be overcome.
Fidel Castro, in a letter read out to the assembly, said he was no longer a 'person who clings to power', as he may have been in his younger days. Last week he said he had no plans to block younger Cuban leaders from taking over.
'My fundamental duty is not to cling on to office, and much less to block the path of younger people,' he said in a letter read out on Cuban television last week.
Castro fell ill and temporarily handed over power to his 76-year-old brother Raul in the summer of 2006. He has not been seen in public since, but has released videos and a number of statements and newspaper articles commenting on policy.
Raul Castro, in a speech before the assembly, for the first time suggested that some means of production could be opened up to those that could operate them most efficiently, and highlighted the high prices of basic foods as an issue that needed urgent attention.
He said that 'excessive prohibitions' had at times led to 'illegalities', but he insisted socialism remained the only system 'capable of overcoming the difficulties'.
Cuba’s Castro says no longer ‘clings’ to powe
Cuba's Castro says no longer 'clings' to powerBy ReutersSaturday December 29, 07:05 AM
HAVANA (Reuters) – Convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro sent a written message to the National Assembly on Friday saying he had "clung" to power in his younger days, but that life had taught him to change his attitude.
Castro, who handed over governance to his brother Raul after surgery in July 2006, hinted last week he may give up his formal leadership in a letter describing his duty as "not to hold to positions and less to obstruct the path of younger people."
Cuba's National Assembly could formalize Castro's retirement as head of state when it approves the members of the executive Council of State at its new session in March.
Since falling ill, the 81-year-old Castro has only appeared in official photographs and pre-taped videos and it is unclear whether he will resume office. If he is too ill, the assembly may formally appoint Raul Castro or someone else as successor.
"What the foreign press in Cuba have most reported in recent days has been the phrase where I expressed … that I am not a person who clings to power. I could add that I was once, for the excesses of youth and lack of conscience," Castro said in a statement read out at the assembly session, where the younger Castro, 76, sat next to his brother's empty seat.
"What changed me, life itself, through the deepening of the thoughts of (Cuban hero Jose) Marti and the classics of socialism," he wrote.
Castro has been nominated to run again for the assembly and his brother says he is now well enough that party delegates back his running again for an assembly seat, a requirement for holding the presidency.
He holds the posts of president of the Council of State and Council of Ministers, and first secretary of the ruling Communist Party.
Cuba watchers say there has been a smooth transition of power under Raul Castro. Some analysts say he is a more practical administrator who has begun talking about a more open approach to handling the island's economic problems.
In a landmark speech in July this year, Raul Castro, encouraged more debate on the country's main problems and promised "structural changes" in agriculture to ensure Cubans have more food as import costs rise.
Cuba reports strong growth for fourth yea
Cuba reports strong growth for fourth yearFri Dec 28, 2007 12:36pm ESTBy Marc Frank
HAVANA, Dec 28 (Reuters) – Cuba said on Friday its economy grew 7.5 percent in 2007, the fourth year the Communist-run country has reported a big increase in the gross domestic product since being plunged into crisis by the Soviet Union's demise.
Economy and Planning Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez told a year-end session of parliament a 10 percent target was not reached due to the heaviest rains since the early 1960s, import delays and other factors.
Rodriguez said Cuba's GDP would increase 8 percent in 2008.
"The results are significant and above the 5.4 percent norm for the region … and at the same time demonstrate the gradual consolidation of the economy," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez reported a 24.7 percent rebound in the agricultural sector, 7.8 percent in industrial activity, 7.9 percent in transportation and 11.7 percent in services.
Growth was reported as 12.5 percent in 2006, 11.8 percent in 2005 and 5 percent in 2004, based on a unique Cuban formula that outside experts such as the Economist Intelligence Unit and the CIA say may overstate the GDP by 3-4 percentage points.
Cuba's GDP plunged 35 percent in the early 1990s and industrial activity 80 percent with the demise of former benefactor the Soviet Union, leaving the country in darkness, crippling public transportation and causing food and other shortages.
A gradual recovery has gained force since 2004 as oil-rich ally Venezuela began payments for massive social service assistance and soft credits from China resulted in billions of dollars in new revenues to restore infrastructure and improve Cubans' often difficult daily lives.
IMPROVED TRADE BALANCE
Rodriguez said exports increased 24 percent and imports just 2 percent this year, a marked turnaround from recent years when imports soared to twice the 2004 level and exports stagnated.
Foreign trade totaled $12.18 billion in 2006, with exports of $2.76 billion and imports of $9.42 billion, the government reported.
The trade deficit was offset by more than $6 billion in revenues from services in 2006, with similar revenues expected for 2007, although Rodriguez did not mention a figure.
"We have a commercial balance of goods which is better than previous years," Foreign Trade Minister Raul de la Nuez recently told Reuters.
"Nickel prices are the most important reason our exports are up, followed by pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and tobacco," de la Nuez said.
"We have been importing a great deal of equipment and products that did not have to be repeated this year and we are pursuing a policy of substituting imports," de la Nuez said when asked about the slowdown in imports.
Cuba's current account balance of payments was $240 million in deficit last year, compared with a surplus of $140 million in 2005, and foreign debt rose by $2 billion to around $16 billion, the government said.
The current account balance of payments is considered the broadest measure of any country's external transactions. It includes trade, services like tourism, and financial transfers like profit repatriation and interest payments.
Rodriguez made no mention of this year's balance of payments or foreign debt, reported as $16 billion in 2006 by the government.
(Additional reporting by Nelson Acosta, editing by Vicki Allen)
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2846019020071228?sp=true
Cuba offers doctors, awaits RP reply
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Cuba offers doctors, awaits RP reply
By Francis Earl A. Cueto, Reporter
Doctors in the Philippines are turning themselves into nurses to be able to work abroad immediately, with the United States seen as their preferred destination. Their departure is said to worsen the so-called brain drain in the Philippines.
Cuba can help Manila stop the apparent bleeding, Havana's top diplomatic official in the Philippines told The Manila Times during an exclusive roundtable interview on Thursday.
Cuban Ambassador to Manila Jorge Rey Jimenez said his country is practically overflowing with doctors and other medical practitioners, whom Havana could deploy to the Philippines if the government of President Gloria Arroyo would welcome them. Manila, however, has not responded to Cuba's offer to send them over.
"We have lots of doctors and medical practitioners. We have offered [them] to the Philippines, but your government has yet to make its move," Jimenez said.
Some local health officials and even nongovernment organizations supposedly have intimated that Cuban doctors can work with them in several public-health programs and hospitals.
Jimenez said he understands the flight of Filipino doctors who want to work overseas as nurses. He added that the Philippine government might consider taking in Cuban doctors to replace those local doctors leaving the country. If Manila does, Jimenez said, the deal need not be strictly medical.
The ambassador disclosed that 17,000 Cuban doctors and dentists, for example, provide medical and dental services in Venezuela. Caracas, in exchange, supplies Cuba with 100,000 barrels a day of subsidized oil.
The foreign doctors are said to have helped bring down maternal and child deaths in oil-rich Venezuela to only a fifth of their former level.
A fact sheet given by the Cuban Embassy in Manila to The Manila Times showed that doctor to population ratio in Cuba is one for every 158. In the Philippines, the ratio is one for every 10,000 to 26,000 Filipinos. In the United States, it is said to be one for every 150.
From 2000 to 2003, the Philippines lost 51,850 nurses. Over 5,000 registered doctors left from 2001 to 2004. At least 6,000 doctors are studying to be nurses.
Over 50,000 caregivers have been trained at the government's Technical Skills and Development Authority and accredited schools, with half of them already deployed abroad.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/dec/30/yehey/metro/20071230met1.html
Exiles urged to stem tide of Cubans
IMMIGRATIONExiles urged to stem tide of CubansAs another group of Cubans landed, the U.S. Coast Guard's top official called on Cuban exiles to stop financing trips that are resulting in more dead at sea.Posted on Sat, Dec. 29, 2007BY LAURA MORALESllmorales@MiamiHerald.com
As the Cuban government blamed U.S. policy Friday for an uptick in the number of Cubans leaving the island and disputed the number of dead in recent drownings off its coast, the top U.S. Coast Guard official in Miami called on exiles to denounce the illegal voyages.
Rear Admiral David W. Kunkel said the Coast Guard has patrol boats and cutters looking for migrants constantly. “We have federal, state and local help. But there's a link missing.''
That link, he said, is the local community.
''They are not working with us. I know that's rather blunt, but the fact remains that these smugglers are being financed by desperate families,'' he said. “The only safe way is if we all work together.''
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen agreed Friday that “we must all do more to stop these illegal human traffickers who are enriching themselves while exploiting the suffering of the divided Cuban families.''
Even as Cuba and the United States traded barbs across the Florida Straits, another group of 38 migrants arrived Friday morning in Adams Key — southwest of Elliott Key where 12 migrants landed Thursday.
Miami-Dade County resident and videographer Tom Charron managed to get several shots of the 38 Cubans as they were unloaded from rescue boats.
''I don't know exactly how many kids there were, but there was one that was taken off on a stretcher,'' Charron said. “I could see his eye was swollen.''
BLAMES MEDIA
In a Friday report in Granma, the Communist Party daily, the Cuban government blamed Miami news outlets, including The Miami Herald, for publishing reports of 25 suspected dead in an attempted escape Dec. 22.
The Cuban government said the boat was in distress and Cuban Border Guard troops detained a Cuban on land who said he was part of a group that included women and children who were in trouble at sea.
''As a result of the ground patrol, 26 persons were detained [19 men and seven women], accompanied by two minors, both 9 years old,'' the report in Granma noted.
The Cuban government insisted that the sea search was a rescue operation that turned up two dead, identified as Yosvani Vera Alvarez, 29, and Zuleica Rodríguez Pérez, 43.
The Cuban government denies having chased the boat — as Florida family members of some of the Cubans said earlier this week.
The government blamed the United States' ''wet foot/dry foot'' policy that allows Cubans who reach U.S. shores to remain in America.
U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart said Friday that 'the level of human trafficking that we are witnessing can only occur because the regime is aware of it and profiting from it. The typical `blame the U.S.' rhetoric is consistent with the regime's 49-year policy of not accepting responsibility for its atrocities against the Cuban people.''
`REGIME LIES'
Ros-Lehtinen added: “The Castro regime lies about everything, so we should not rely on its information. . . . The 13 of March tugboat massacre [a decade ago] is just one of the many sad examples of the lies perpetrated by the regime to mask its criminal behavior.''
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said he has not received any details that would dispute the Granma report.
''But, that being the regime that it is, I have to take their information with a grain of salt,'' he said.
O'Neil added that the public has not responded to the Coast Guard's requests for any information about the tragedy.
''It makes it harder to find out what really happened,'' he said.
Havana-born Juan Perez, who landed with the Elliott Key group, said on Friday that the holidays made it easier to escape.
''People are preoccupied with Christmas and with their families,'' he said outside a Catholic Charities refugee resettlement office in Doral.
Perez said increasing numbers of people are ''getting fed up'' with the Castro regime, which could account for the rising number of Cubans trying to leave illegally since Fidel Castro's emergency surgery in 2006. Fidel's brother, Raúl, is now in charge.
''Raúl está loco,'' Perez said — “Raúl is crazy.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/360428.html
Santeria class less ritual, more rigor
EDUCATIONSanteria class less ritual, more rigorPerhaps America's best known babalawo, Oba Ernesto Pichardo, is making history with an FIU class that's long on history and short on chicken heads.Posted on Sat, Dec. 29, 2007BY ERIKA BERASeberas@MiamiHerald.com
Those who came to Oba Ernesto Pichardo's fall semester course at Florida International University's Biscayne Bay campus expecting chicken heads, seashells and drum circles probably left disappointed.
The controversial, charismatic and enterprising Pichardo, a Yoruba priest and the country's leading expert on Santeria, spent hours talking about the transatlantic slave trade, paraded in cultural anthropology professors and expected both PowerPoint presentations and 12-page research papers at semester's end.
It was a different side of a man best known for having spent the last few decades fighting lawmakers and Santeria detractors.
His most notorious tussle: with the city of Hialeah over sanctioning animal sacrifices in religious ceremonies. He won, earning the U.S. Supreme Court's blessing.
He also won over his sixteen undergraduate students this year. The class included several religious studies majors, a Peruvian-American Broward school teacher, a 61-year-old auditor and a grandfather-grandson duo. Many of them came to get in touch with their Afro-Caribbean roots.
`MAKING HISTORY'
Four months ago he concluded FIU's first three-credit Santeria class, with a grand prediction: “You are making history here today.''
''This is not some fringe movement,'' Pichardo told his students. “If you can get a Ph.D. in Judaism or Christianity, you should at least be able to take a course in Santeria.''
Taught through the school's African-New World Studies Department, where Pichardo is spending the academic year as a research fellow, the class has been a success, administrators say.
At semester's end in December, the students said they now know more about the history of Africa and the Americas.
'I knew of Santeria practices in my parents' countries,'' said Elizabeth Prochet, 21, a Haitian-Dominican student who is majoring in international relations.
Prochet, who has lived in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, became interested in Santeria after visiting Cuba with a friend several years ago.
''It was different when I was in Havana,'' she said. “And since coming back, I've been deeply interested in trying to learn as much as I can.''
Her final presentation in Pichardo's class was on the rise of Santeria following the Mariel boatlift.
''These are all so interesting,'' said Cuban-born Yanelis Diaz, 28, a hospitality major, following a class presentation. “People think it's all just Orishas [the name of Santeria deities] and animal sacrifices but it's not.''
Students say they leave the course with newfound knowledge of Africa's influence in Caribbean culture.
''I was an altar boy in Hialeah,'' said Pichardo. “But I was also exploring Santeria.''
SPREAD TO MIAMI
Over time, Santeria has become commonplace in Miami. Both Haitian and Cuban botanicas throughout South Florida sell Catholic saints alongside the potions and powdered egg shell used for Santeria practices. Internet botanicas are a thriving business. Public places of worship operate openly. Pichardo is the priest at one, The Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye in Hialeah.
Many practice Santeria solely at home, either out of convenience or tradition.
''My family and I are into it,'' said William Colas, 22, a Cuban-American liberal studies major. “It's been passed down, it has always been present.''
The class had a suggested reading list, including Christine Ayorinde's book Afro-Cuban Religiosity, Revolution and National Identity and David O'Brien's Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom.
Many of the guest lecturers, such as Miami Dade College professor Teresita Pedrazza Moreno, are long-time acquaintances of Pichardo's. His wife, Nydia, and 22-year-old daughter Magena, a hospitality student, attended class, too.
The Pichardos first met in a classroom in 1986. She was recently divorced and had arrived in South Florida from her native Puerto Rico when Pichardo was the featured guest speaker in an anthropology class she was taking at Miami Dade College.
''Watching these kids learn on such a deep level,'' she said of the new class, “it's been great.''
Pichardo hopes his course will grow into a major.
His supervisor, Akin Ogundiran, director of the African-New World Studies Department, told Pichardo's class in August: “This is not just about religion. This is about civil rights. This is about freedom of speech.''
And for some, it's about questioning belief systems.
''This is interesting, '' said Santiago Valdez, 21, who took the course with his grandfather Manuel Valdez, 63. “But just because he [Pichardo] says so, doesn't make it real. Just because it's in some book doesn't make it real. I'm exposed to this at home. Just because I learn it doesn't mean I believe it.''
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/360425.html
Castro once longed to cling to power
Castro once longed to cling to powerPosted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007By WILL WEISSERTAssociated Press Writer
HAVANA –Fidel Castro said Friday that as a young man he hoped to cling to power but has long since outgrown the urge, the latest ambiguous statement about his future at the helm of the country he has ruled for nearly five decades.
In a letter read at Cuba's year-end session of parliament, the ailing 81-year-old clarified an assertion he made Dec. 17, that he "was not a person clinging to power."
"Let me add that I was for a time, because of excessive youth and lack of conscience," Castro wrote. "What made me change? Life itself."
By the time he led Cuba's 1959 revolution, he had already realized it was his "duty to fight for (socialist) goals or die in combat," not to stubbornly hold on to power, the letter said.
Castro's words drew a standing ovation from 509 lawmakers at the legislature on Friday, where his chair sat empty next to his 76-year-old brother, Raul Castro.
Castro has not said when – or if – he will step aside for good after emergency intestinal surgery forced him to cede "provisional" authority to his brother 17 months ago. He has not been seen in public since, but remains the head of Cuba's Council of State, its highest governing body.
Castro has vowed not to stand in the way of younger leaders, but remains on the ballot in parliamentary elections Jan. 20 – a candidacy the Communist Party supports, Raul Castro said, suggesting his brother has no plans to retire.
Re-election to parliament is essential for the older Castro to retain his post atop the Council of State.
Also at the session, Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez announced Cuba's economy had grown 7.5 percent in 2007, well short of official forecasts for 10 percent growth. He predicted 8 percent growth in 2008.
Cuba includes state spending on free health care, education and food rations when calculating gross domestic product – an uncommon methodology that critics say inflated its growth figures for 2005 and 2006, which were 11.8 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively.
Officials have spent months debating how to shape Cuba's economic future, alleviate crippling housing and transportation shortages, and boost agricultural output, Raul Castro told the assembly.
"We'd all like to move faster, but it's not always possible," he said.
"Those who occupy positions of leadership should know how to listen and create an environment that is favorable for everyone to express themselves with absolute freedom," he said. "Criticism, when used appropriately, is essential to advancing."
Agricultural production rose nearly 25 percent in 2007, while the industrial and transportation sectors grew about 8 percent each, Rodriguez said. Exports of goods and services rose by a quarter, largely because the island sends so many doctors to provide free medical care in Venezuela in exchange for discounted oil.
But Osvaldo Martinez, head of the legislature's economic affairs commission, said the island's sugar harvest – and a government push to build new homes – had failed to meet expectations.
He blamed slowing growth on an "intense rise" in the cost of food and fuel imports – the island spends $1.6 billion to import food each year – and on falling tourism.
Cuba disputes migrant drownings account
Cuba disputes migrant drownings accountPosted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007By MIAMI HERALD STAFFdnews@MiamiHerald.com
The Cuban government on Friday confirmed the deaths of two citizens and the arrest of several others caught last week after trying to flee the island illegally in an apparent failed attempt to reach the United States.
The two confirmed deaths dispute earlier family accounts that as many as 25 people had drowned in the boat accident following a chase by Cuban authorities.
The unusual detailed account of the incident, published in Granma, the Communist Party daily, blamed U.S. law for the deaths in the apparent smuggling operation. It also blamed Miami news outlets, including The Miami Herald, for the dissemination of the unconfirmed death tally.
What follows is a direct translation of Cuba's account of the incident:
Once again fostered by the Cuban Adjustment Act, which the U.S. government utilizes against Cuba, and with the participation of traffickers in human beings, a lamentable event occurred at dawn Dec. 22, when a speed boat that originated in the United States sank in the region of Piedra Alta, Santa Cruz del Norte, province of Havana, taking the lives of two people.
At 4:39 a.m. that day, the guard duty officer at the Havana outpost of the Border Guards reported to the command of the Directorate of Border Guard Troops (DTGF) that an officer at the border post in Boca de Jaruco had detained a citizen in the area of Piedra Alta who said he was part of a group of 15 to 20 persons who had made an illegal departure from the country aboard a speed boat from abroad, which foundered, and the rest of the people, including women and children, were still at sea.
From that moment on, a sea search was instituted with air and naval craft, as well as patrols on land.
Coast Guard boat 040 and Patrol speed boat 60 were sent to the area, as well as a [Cuban Air Force] helicopter, which found objects belonging to the seagoing craft. Also mobilized were a search-and-rescue group of the firefighters unit of Santa Cruz del Norte, alarm groups of the Border Guard troops and a patrol car of the national police.
At 6:50 a.m., the crew of Patrol speed boat 60 picked up the body of a woman in her 40s; later, the body of a citizen between 25 and 30 years old. Both were taken to the border post at Boca de Jaruco.
As a result of the ground patrol, 26 persons were detained (19 men and seven women), accompanied by two minors, both 9 years old. The ages of the older detainees range between 20 and 66 years. Twelve of them have criminal records.
The bodies were identified as Yosvani Vera Alvarez, 29, a self-employed taxi-bike driver who lived in the municipality of Aguada de Pasajeros, Cienfuegos province, and Zuleica Rodríguez Pérez, 43, a resident of the municipality of Jovellanos, province of Matanzas.
Autopsies conducted at the forensics institute established the cause of death in both cases as asphyxia by submersion. At 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 22, the bodies were turned over to their respective families. Funerals were held later, without incident.
During initial interviews, several of the people involved stated that they were asked by relatives living in the U.S. to travel to the town of Sierrita in Santa Cruz del Norte. There, they were led by a citizen (who has not been located) to a cave on the coast, where 25 people gathered.
Another presumed guide apparently communicated by telephone with the speed boat drivers. He announced when the boat would arrive.
Minutes later, a white boat approached the shore. Two men stood in the cabin, which was astern, right above two outboard motors. One of them gave the signal to board, telling the passengers they had only 10 seconds to come aboard. However, because of the waves, only 11 persons were able to go aboard.
According to the citizens who managed to board the speed boat, the craft approached from an area filled with reefs. One of the traffickers used his legs to try to keep the craft from crashing into the rocks. This was verified during an inspection of the rocks, which showed evidence of damage.
The survivors themselves say that, from the moment of departure, the boat started to take in water and one of the engines failed. The circumstances forced the drivers to return to shore a few minutes later. While doing so, in a sudden move, the craft overturned and sank by the stern, about one kilometer [0.6 miles] from shore.
According to the survivors' testimony, all began to swim to shore. One of the drivers handed two lifesavers to a woman with a girl (Yusimi Sánchez Torres and her daughter, Melisa Chapelli) but the rest of the survivors lacked lifesavers. Nine illegal migrants and the two drivers managed to reach shore.
As a result of the events, little Melisa Chapelli was given medical attention, because she was very weak. Luciano Rodríguez Lozano was treated for fuel burns; Lester García Soto, a diabetic, was given insulin. All were treated and released by doctors.
The Ministry of the Interior reported that the authorities are searching for the drivers, who apparently fled inland, leaving the would-be migrants.
While in Cuba the investigation continues into this lamentable occurrence provoked by the murderous Cuban Adjustment Act, which took two more lives in its long list of casualties and endangered 28 others, including two minors, in Miami the counter-revolution made use of its arsenal of lies, which always has sided with the aforementioned anti-Cuban legislation.
Thus, on Dec. 26, in the program Noticias 41, Channel 41 in Miami stated that ''25 Cuban rafters died at sea,'' a version repeated the following day by The Miami Herald, whose storyteller spread the lie that “apparently the craft was detected and pursued by Border Guard patrol boats, and, while being pursued, crashed against a reef, suffering severe damage.''
Radio Mambí was not far behind. ''It is said the boat was rammed by the Cuban border guards. Twenty-five people died and only 11 bodies have been recovered.'' And the announcer added: “Now we have to wait to learn the whole truth, because the regime will never tell the truth.''
The truth is that Washington's aggressive policy against Cuba has stimulated the unscrupulous trafficking of persons by groups that enjoy impunity in Florida and utilize the same routes and means used in the drug-trafficking operations, which also affects neighboring countries, such as Mexico, where the mafias linked to these deals shoot each other to claim control and profits.
That is the truth. The Cuban Adjustment Act is a criminal tool of aggression used by the U.S. government and its mercenaries in Miami, who resort to any means, whether it's death or lies, in their eagerness to defeat the revolution.
Miami Herald translator Renato Pérez contributed to this report.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/359694.html
Migrant smuggling spiked in past month
CUBAN MIGRANTSMigrant smuggling spiked in past monthTwelve Cuban migrants made it to Elliott Key safely, but many who flee aren't so lucky. Up to 65 people went missing this month.Posted on Fri, Dec. 28, 2007BY LAURA MORALES AND TIM CHAPMANllmorales@MiamiHerald.com
As 12 Cubans were picked up on Elliott Key Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it has stopped seven migrant-smuggling operations heading to Cuba within the past week, with 11 suspected smugglers among them.
The Cuban government also for the first time acknowledged that the sinking of a go-fast boat off the northern coast had resulted in two drownings among the 30 onboard, according to Agence France-Presse.
Two smugglers, suspected of traveling to Cuba from the United States, apparently escaped from Cuban authorities and a search was underway on the island, Cuba's Interior Ministry said, adding that the 26 surviving Cubans were being questioned. The bodies of the two dead had been turned over to family, the government said.
Earlier reports by family members to El Nuevo Herald and local Spanish-language Radio Mambí suggested that at least 25 had perished during a chase by the Cuban coast guard as the boat hit a reef.
U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil said conflicting reports from communist Cuba make it difficult to track the number of lives lost at sea.
'If family members' reports are accurate, up to 65 people are missing at sea since Nov. 24,'' said O'Neil. The Coast Guard spokesman noted the report of one missing boat in November did not surface until Dec. 6, when family members notified his agency.
He attributed the deaths mostly to the recklessness of smugglers.
“You have these go-fast boats jammed with 30 or 40 people. When they're going at high speed, they start flooding, and people panic.''
Citing the July 2006 death of a young Cuban woman who suffered head trauma when she fell inside an overcrowded speedboat, O'Neil also said that folks on such packed vessels have no way to steady themselves, making the trip even more dangerous.
''Why do people think it's OK to pay a felon for endangering the lives of their loved ones when there are legal avenues available?'' O'Neil said. “These smugglers don't care about safety. But they operate with the tacit approval of the community.''
The Coast Guard also announced that 28 migrants had been repatriated to Cuba on Thursday. The crew of the cutter Tornado had intercepted a speedboat carrying the 28 Cubans and two suspected smugglers 16 miles north of Mariel Harbor on Dec. 21. The suspected smugglers, who would bring the total to 13 so far this month, were turned over to Customs and Border Patrol officials in Key West.
With 2007 about to end, the Coast Guard has interdicted 3,197 Cubans — up from 2,293 in 2006.
Since Fidel Castro had emergency intestinal surgery in July 2006, the number of Cubans trying to leave the island — many by sea to Mexico and then across the U.S. land border — has risen sharply. Under the Cuba-U.S. migration accord, the United States is supposed to issue at least 20,000 immigrant visas annually in Havana. But that number periodically falls short, leading to recriminations between Havana and Washington.
The two governments have recently traded accusations on which side is to blame for this year's visa deficit.
Jaime Suchlicki, director of the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, which assembled a recent migration report, has said the increase in arrivals reflects growing ''disillusionment'' with the Cuban regime.
Tracking Cubans at sea becomes particularly difficult when U.S. family members fear calling the Coast Guard for help.
On Dec. 6, some relatives of up to 40 migrants believed to have left Cuba on a speedboat on Nov. 24 told the Coast Guard that their family members had not been seen or heard from since. Extensive Coast Guard searches failed to turn up any sign of the boat or its passengers.
''Until the community begins speaking out against human smuggling, we're going to keep seeing these senseless and avoidable tragedies,'' O'Neil said.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Honduran authorities recently detained 21 Cubans who allegedly were dumped and abandoned by their smuggler along that country's Caribbean coast.
The 12 ''dry foot'' Elliott Key migrants — six men and six women, roughly between the ages of 17 and 35 — appeared in good health, with ample supplies of ice, water and some crackers. They were dressed in casual clothes, including one man in a skin-tight blue swimsuit.
Under the United States' wet foot/dry foot policy, Cubans who arrive on American soil are generally allowed to stay while those interdicted at sea are generally sent back to the island.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/359106.html
Cuba looks to tourism to fuel economy
Cuba looks to tourism to fuel economyNew chain of hotels highlights island's culture, architectureBy Michael Martinez | Chicago TribuneDecember 29, 2007
CIENFUEGOS, Cuba – When Cuban officials peer into the historic Hotel Palacio Azul, they see a piece of Cuba's future. In their view, it's an economy infused with foreign cash.
As the elegant, seven-room lodge was renovated to become part of a new government hotel chain promoting the island's heritage, it served as an appropriate example of the small steps with which interim leader Raul Castro has tried to improve Cuba's developing economy, but possibly his grander ambitions too.
Ever since Castro announced last summer that he was broadly seeking more foreign investment, the international business community has been keenly watching to see the extent of the opening he may make in the tightly centralized economy, including the hotel sector, a tried and true booster for the island's communist government.
So far, the government has been short on specifics, but discussions in mass organizations such as trade unions and a few early measures by Castro have created optimism, especially among businessmen participating in last month's Havana International Trade Fair, which promotes foreign companies selling goods to Cuba.
But analysts don't expect dramatic measures.
"He may be in favor of a practical reform but within the socialist framework," said Paolo Spadoni, a Cuba expert who's a visiting assistant professor in political science at Rollins College in Winter Park. "It will be gradual and rather limited. It won't be spectacular change." Castro, who has a reputation for using limited free-market models for reforms, is considered the pragmatic counterpart to his brother Fidel, Cuba's leader since 1959. Fidel Castro, 81, handed provisional control over to his 76-year-old brother in July 2006, after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery.
Since then, Raul Castro has changed some government practices and rules that some view as inching toward remedying the island's economic problems, including low wages, food shortages and an inadequate infrastructure. Oil exploration, nickel mining, transportation, housing and water treatment are areas where Castro may seek foreign investment, analysts said.
Tourism helped bail Cuba out of austerity in the 1990s, and officials again are turning to this cash-generating engine, saying it tops the list of sectors in which Cuba needs more foreign partners.
In 2006, tourism dropped 3.6 percent, partly because visitors complained about Cuba's revalued currency, luggage theft, poor service and a failure to attend to complaints. Cuban officials have blamed rising air fares, shifting exchange rates and hurricanes. The government had hoped the sector would grow by about 8 percent last year, to 2.5 million travelers. Instead, 2.2 million visited, according to Bohemia magazine.
Among other measures initiated under Castro, the government last month announced that some aircraft can be privately owned by "individuals or legal entities."
At the Hotel Palacio Azul, Lerida Torres, 49, a clerk, explained how the hotel was converted from a mansion built about 1920. The building had most recently housed offices, but the government spent $70,000 in 2002 to create a hotel for 15 guests.
The two-story Blue Palace, as it translates in English, was renovated again in the past year. In September, officials inaugurated it as a flagship for their new Hotel Encanto chain that highlights cultural and architectural landmarks.
Built on Cienfuegos' upscale Punta Gorda shore, the Blue Palace was designed with neoclassical and Art Deco motifs by Rome-born architect Alfredo Fontana Giugni, who also built Cienfuegos' roads, aqueduct and sewer lines, said Torres.
At the inauguration, Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said the group of 50 proposed hotels, 10 of which are under construction, aims to tap into "an unsatisfied demand" among tourists.
One Blue Palace guest, Hans Jung, 64, who runs a 77-room hotel in Nunspeet, The Netherlands, declared the new lodging "very good." "You don't expect this because it's a communist country," Jung said. "They're doing a hell of a job."
The Chicago Tribune is a Tribune Co. newspaper.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-flhcubatradesbdec29,0,6225205.story
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