Spain's agreement to renew 'dialogue' marks milestone in ...

BY LARRY LUXNER

From the First State to the CornhuskerState, U.S. governors, port officials andsecretaries of agriculture are flocking to

Cuba for lucrative food export contracts worthtens of millions of dollars.

In early March, tiny Delaware sent its first-ever trade mission to Havana, followed later inthe month by a 31-member Nebraska delegationheaded by Gov. Dave Heineman. At press time,Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter was in Cuba onhis first overseas trip since taking office.

What is it about Cuba that makes the forbid-den island such a tantalizing market for individ-ual states — even as the White House is doingall it can to discourage such visits?

For one thing, says John Pastor, a trade offi-cial at the Delaware Office of Management andBudget, “there’s no risk of not getting paid.”

Under the 2000 Trade Sanctions Reform andExport Enhancement Act (TSRA), U.S. compa-nies are required to receive payment up-front

and in cash from Cuban food purchasing agencyAlimport before the goods can leave the dock.In some respects, that makes Cuba the leastrisky country on Earth to do business with.

For another thing, the Cubans are close toU.S. ports — and they’re eager to buy.

Since TSRA’s passage, Cuba has become the34th-largest market for U.S. agricultural exportsout of 227 countries, importing $341 million infood products, utility poles and other commodi-ties in 2006.

This year, Alimport will buy over $1.6 billionworth of food from the United States and othercountries, says Alimport CEO Pedro Alvarez.

Yet Alvarez said procedural rules imposed in2005 make the U.S. an “unreliable” supplier andhave driven Cuba to buy from lower-cost com-petitors like Brazil, Vietnam and China.

“We’ve been obliged to divert several hun-dreds of millions of dollars,” Alvarez told for-eign reporters Mar. 28 after signing deals to buy

BY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI

Spain’s decision to renew political and cul-tural dialogue with Cuba after a four-yearhiatus marks a major turning point in the

two countries’ relationship after more than adecade of almost continuous clashes.

Madrid’s dramatic policy shift followed a visitto Cuba in early April by Spanish Foreign Min-ister Miguel Angel Moratinos and meetingswith Raúl Castro, Carlos Lage, Ricardo Alarcónand other top Communist Party officials.

“We have opened a new chapter in our rela-tions, based on respect and dialogue,” Mora-tinos told reporters in Havana. “It’s absolutelyunthinkable that the Spanish government can-not maintain defend and develop an intense,constructive and communicative policy with theCuban authorities.”

Declared his Cuban counterpart, ForeignMinister Felipe Pérez Roque: “Spain would notallow, as Cuba does not allow, for someone to

come impose or give unsolicited advice. Cubadid not accept before, as it does not accepttoday, the conditions previously established bythe European Union for cooperation.”

Those clashes began soon after the inaugura-tion of Spain’s conservative prime minister, JoséMaría Aznar, in 1996, and reached a climax in2003, following the firing-squad execution ofthree ferry hijackers and the imprisonment of75 dissidents.

In response, the Aznar government intro-duced in Brussels the well-known “posicióncomún” vis-a-vis Cuba. In accordance with thatposition, EU member states began shunninghigh-level talks with the Castro regime whileinviting dissidents to events at their embassyparties and receptions, sparking the so-called“cocktail wars.”

That, in turn, led Havana to freeze ties andreject millions of euros in EU development aid— a situation that prevailed until 2005, when

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True believerBook about spy Ana Belén Montés leavesmany questions unanswered ........Page 7

NewsmakersSgt. Carlos Lazo, 42, has become an ardentfighter in the battle to allow unrestrictedfamily travel to Cuba .....................Page 8

Natural wondersCubaNews visits the marine terraces ofMaisí at island’s eastern tip ........0

Scholarly articlesA list of 42 recently published papers deal-ing with Cuba topics ...................Page 11

Business briefsCuban team to study property rights issue;Herzfeld Fund hits new high .....Page 12

Cuban KlezmerCuban-born Roberto Juan Rodríguez mix-es the best of traditional Jewish music andsalsa to create a new sound ........Page 13

Provinces: CienfuegosNew industrial investments may help oneof Cuba’s smallest provinces ......Page 14

www.cubanews.com

Vol. 15, No. 4 April 2007

See Spain, page 2

See States, page 4

CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthlyby Luxner News Inc. © 2007. All rights reserved.Subscriptions: $429 for one year, $800 for two years.For editorial inquires, please call (301) 452-1105or send an e-mail to: [email protected].

Spain’s agreement to renew ‘dialogue’marks milestone in relations with Cuba

Nebraska, Delaware latest states to leadtrade missions to Cuba; others to follow

2 CubaNews ❖ April 2007

lower-level meetings resumed at the encour-agement of Spain’s new Socialist governmentled by José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero.

The following year, Roque visited Madridand held detailed discussions with Moratinos.At the same time, Spanish companies led byoil major Repsol-YPF were pushing in favor ofthis new relationship.

Last November, Spanish businesses spokeconfidently and with increased optimism atthe Havana International Trade Fair (FIHAV).DIALOGUE NOT AN OPTION, BUT AN OBLIGATION

Moratinos insisted that Spain’s new policytowards Cuba is not an option, but an obliga-tion based on the very special historical tiesbetween Madrid and Havana.

In this case, Spain may serve the purposeof activating a dialogue and helping reshapethe EU’s common stand or posición comúntoward Cuba.

During the Moratinos visit — the first byany EU foreign minister since the sanctionswere imposed in 2003 — he and Roque signeda document creating a forum for political con-sultations, which calls for “the promotion andprotection of all human rights for everyoneand to contribute to effective, constructiveand non-discriminatory treatment of the prob-lem in international forums.”

As a result of this thaw in Spanish-Cubanrelations, the following should happen soon:

■ The signing of an agreement to protect

and promote reciprocal investments.■ A Cuban offer dealing with a settlement

of Cuba’s $1 billion debt with Spain. It seemsthat Spain will consider this offer seriously,and will restore a new line of official credit insupport of trade operations and investments.

■ A bilateral meeting, to be held shortly,aimed at increasing cultural cooperation,including the return of the Spanish CulturalCenter in Havana to Spanish control.

The center — located along the Malecón —was inaugurated in December 1997 but takenover by Cuban authorities in September 2003,following the freeze in EU-Cuba relations.

“For Spain the reopening of the SpanishCultural Center is very important,” saidMoratinos. “We have decided to open talksand we will see how they develop ... naturallywith all respect and according to the prioritiesboth countries establish for a continued col-laboration on cultural issues and in benefit ofSpanish and Cuban culture.”MOST DISSIDENT LEADERS BOYCOTT MEETING

Cuba clearly didn’t want to talk about theissue of political prisoners, which Roqueinsisted was not even on the agenda.

“They are mercenaries financed by a for-eign power to subvert the internal order andto commit acts of violence and terrorism,”Roque told reporters in Havana. “Here thereare no prisoners for thinking differently.”

While some prominent dissidents met withMoratinos, most refused out of principle.

Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo called the Mora-tinos visit “fantastic,” though he told the

Spanish news agency EFE that “for themoment, I don’t think he’s going to get any-thing, not on democracy or on human rights,or on anything.”

Cuba’s best-known internal opposition lead-er, Oswaldo Payá, accused Spain of curryingfavor with the Castro regime at the expense ofhuman rights.

“We feel that the actions of the governmentand the Spanish Embassy in this case haveadapted themselves to the conditions of exclu-sion that the Cuban regime imposes withrespect to the dissidents,” Payá said in a com-munique. “The Spanish Embassy had time tomake contact with us, however, it did notmake contact with us in recent months — andonly when Mr. Moratinos is ending his visitdoes it tell us to attend a meeting it is holding— when Mr. Moratinos has already left.”

Payá, who won the EU’s 2002 SakharovPrize for human rights, also denounced thefact that “this visit comes at a time in whichthe repression and the language of intoler-ance and the violation of civil rights is grow-ing in Cuba, especially against the democraticopposition, which is completely peaceful.”

Added former political prisoner VladimiroRoca: “Zapatero has ignored all oppositionrequests to respect human rights. Moratinoscame to ensure Spain’s investments in Cuba.”

Miriam Leiva of Damas en Blanco (Ladiesin White) was even more outraged.

“The Spanish government has betrayed ourprisoners, all those repressed since March

Spain — FROM PAGE 1

At the end of March, Chinese and Cubanauthorities met in Havana to conclude areview of current bilateral relations and

sign several new agreements. The official Chinese delegation — led by

Wei Jianguo, deputy minister of foreignaffairs — met with Vice President CarlosLage Davila, ministers Yadira García (BasicIndustry), Jorge Luís Sierra (Transportation)and Felipe Pérez Roque (Foreign Affairs).

Trade figures indicated an enormous leap,from roughly $900 million in 2005 to $1.8 bil-lion in 2006, with China enjoying a substantialtrade surplus.

Joint ventures are slowly expanding everyyear. Current projects include two biotech fac-tories, one ophthalmology hospital and ahotel being built for the 2008 Olympics.

A more complex neuroengineering centerwill soon be constructed, and Chinese invest-ments in Cuban oil exploration will increase.

In addition, a joint investment group hasbeen established to invest in specific projectsin IT, electronics and telecommunications.This results from previous talks held inBeijing by Ramiro Valdése Menéndez, Cuba’sminister of IT and communications.

Chinese funding has also been made avail-able for projects like poultry, protection fromcrop diseases, new mini-hydroelectricalpower plants and rice production.

Other contracts include one for the deliv-ery of Cuban sugar to China during 2007.

Prior to this meeting in Havana, a series ofhigh-level Chinese delegations — includingmilitary delegations — visited Cuba betweenDecember and March. Overall, bilateral rela-tions were characterized by Wei Jianguo as“progressing very well.” He promised thatthose ties would be deepened and expanded.

But then, something spoiled the party.For the first time, after several years of

blurry references, Marta Lomas, Cuba’s min-ister of investments and cooperation, finallyadmitted that a promised Chinese investmentof $500 million in a Holguín nickel refinerywould be definitely cancelled. The project willinstead be financed by Venezuela.

Not a word was said about China’s intent tobecome the largest investor in the San Felipenickel project, in Camagüey province, but theconsensus among experts was that this too,was cancelled.

The reason wasn’t disclosed by Cuban orChinese officials, but obviously this is badnews for Cuban authorities — especially nowthat nickel has become Cuba’s top source offoreign exchange.

It is an important issue that needs clarifica-tion. In the meantime, Cuba has explicitlypromised to Wei that the island will continueto supply nickel to its Chinese partners.

– DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI

Cuban-Chinese relations confusingCUBA DEMOCRACY CAUCUS MEMBERS

SENATE:Mel Martínez (R-Florida)Bill Nelson (D-Florida)Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey)Joseph Lieberman (I-Connecticut)Jim Bunning (R-Kentucky)John Ensign (R-Nevada)David Vitter (R-Louisiana)HOUSE:Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Florida)Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida)Mario Díaz-Balart (R-Florida)Christopher Smith (R-New Jersey)Dan Burton (R-Indiana)Albio Sires (D-New Jersey)Eliot Engel (D-New York)Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey)Robert Andrews (D-New Jersey)Allen Boyd (D-Florida)Mike Pence (R-Indiana)Tom Feeney (R-Florida)Steve King (R-Iowa)Kendrick Meek (D-Florida)Connie Mack (R-Florida)Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida)Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina)Luís Fortuño (R-Puerto Rico)

See Spain, page 3

April 2007 ❖ CubaNews 3

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

BY ANDY GOLDMAN

Cuba is one of the most restrictive coun-tries in the world regarding wirelessphone usage for its own citizens, but

when it comes to foreigners, getting a Cubancellphone number is straightforward and fast.

Government-owned monopoly Cubacel hasan office in the arrivals hall of Havana’s JoséMartí InternationalAirport. SIM cardsallowing you to useyour 900 MHz (Non-U.S.) GSM phonewith a Cuban phonenumber can be pur-chased for $3.00 aday, or you get havea permanent numberfor $120.00 — butbeware: Cubacel willnot accept dollars aspayment, even though the SIM cards arepriced in dollars.

Actual prices come to 3.00 convertiblepesos (CUC) per day, or 110.00 CUC for thepermanent card, which must be recharged atleast once every 60 days or it’ll expire, andcannot be reactivated.

Phone equipment and accessories such aschargers and headphones can also be pur-chased from the office, and 900 MHz GSMphones can rented for CUC 6.00 per day (SIMcard not included).CHECK YOUR NETWORK FIRST

It should be pointed out that mobile phoneson U.S. networks don’t work in Cuba, whilephones from other countries often do work.Check with your network provider beforedeparting. When purchasing a temporarynumber from Cubacel, foreigners must pay infull and in advance, and additional days can-not be added. All phone service is provided

Rent a cellphone in Cuba? If you’re a foreigner, it’s easyon a prepaid basis. There’s no limit to howmuch credit can be purchased at the time youbuy your number, but unused credit cannotbe refunded. When the phone runs out ofcredit, calls cannot be made or received.

Top-up cards, with additional phone credit,are available at public phone kiosks through-out Havana in CUC denominations ranging

from 5.00 to 20.00.A passport and

valid visa must bepresented upon pur-chase of a SIM card.The salespeople areknowledgeable andhelpful, often speak-ing English, Frenchand Italian besidestheir native Spanish.They program thephone system to

reply in the customer’s native language forsuch things as balance inquires.PER-MINUTE RATES AMONG WORLD’S HIGHEST

Cubacel staffers also offer a list of theirpersonal mobile phone numbers and ask thatthey be called directly in the event of ques-tions or problems. The whole process takesabout five minutes.

Rarely if ever will you hear a mobile phonering in Cuba, which may be the world’s mostexpensive place to own a cellphone. In theevent you do hear one ring, most likely therecipient will glance at the caller ID and notanswer, preferring instead to return the callfrom an inexpensive pay phone.

That’s because calling from a mobile phoneto a Cuban landline costs 60¢/min, while re-ceiving a call is 44¢/min. Night rates, in effectfrom 8 pm to 8 am, are 50¢/min to call and36¢/min to receive. Per-minute calling betweenmobile phones is 50¢ for the caller and 44¢ for

the recipient. Night rates between mobilephones are 40¢ to call and 36¢ to receive.WATCH OUT FOR RIPOFFS

International calls are billed at the follow-ing per-minute rates, regardless of time of dayor night: United States ($2.70); rest of NorthAmerica ($2.45); South America ($3.40); Cen-tral America ($4.45); rest of the world ($5.85).

Callers dialing internationally from bothmobile phones and pay phones complain thatCuban billing timers seemed to run fast, mak-ing calls even more expensive.

Domestic text messages are 16¢ each.International text messages are $1.00 each.Text messages cannot be sent to or receivedbetween Cuba and the United States.

Cubacel’s network coverage is good, evenin rural areas.

In addition to high usage rates, callers toCuba need to be aware that if the person theyare calling does not answer the phone afterseveral rings the call is diverted andanswered! The person who answers the callsays “Hola” and then tries to keep the calleron the phone, thus incurring additionalcharges. One tactic is to tell the caller, “Holdon, they’ll be right back” or to get the caller toring back by saying “They asked that you callback in a few minutes.”

Likewise, European tourists often complainthat they turned on their mobile phones inCuba to receive text messages but neveranswered a single call. Yet when they arrivedback home, they received bills of hundreds ofdollars because their calls had been divertedand answered.

2003,” she said. “If Moratinos talks before the EU, he will do so onbehalf of the Cuban government, and not in the name of the Cubanpeople ... I think the Spanish government should apologize for thishumiliation and these agreements with a government which absolute-ly ignores human rights.”

Not everyone in Spain was happy with the Moratinos visit either.Angel Acebes, secretary-general of the opposition Popular Party,

called the visit “an authentic shame” for Spain because Moratinosevaded the issue of the 300 political prisoners held in Cuban jails.

Eastern European nations led by the Czech Republic and Polandare now trying to make Germany the new anti-Castro champion with-in the EU — and German authorities are said to be considering a pro-posal of “conditional changes” if Cuba adopts certain reforms.

Cuban authorities were extremely alarmed about this new develop-ment that would take away Spanish leadership within the EU in mat-ters concerning Cuba and Latin America at large. On the other hand,Zapateros government is not ready to admit this manuevering andseeks to outsmart the Germans and Czechs.

Some analysts say Spain has taken a calculated risk by accepting

Washington-based Andy Goldman is a first-time contributor to CubaNews. He recentlymoved back to the United States after 15 yearsdesigning and administering social programs foreconomically disadvantaged people in Africa.

current costs — alienating some of its EU partners, the U.S. andmost of Cuba’s dissidents — in exchange for future prospects.

The expected payout, according to Elena Valenciano, secretary ofinternational policy for Spain’s Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), is“to have the ability to influence in the transition that Cuba will haveto take some time towards a democratic regime. For that, it is nec-essary to accept the dialogue.”

Philip Peters, a Cuba analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arling-ton, Va., said he believes the looming death of Fidel Castro is whatled Zapatero to send Moratinos to Havana in the first place.

“My hunch is that Spain decided what they wanted to do, and thatthey were not going to be tied to this idea of a common policy, whereevery six months they have to have this big fight with the Czechs,who are acting like proxies for the Bush administration,” Peters toldCubaNews.

“The Spanish believe this is a time when they need more contactthan ever, not less, because there’s a possibility of change in Cuba,”he said. “The way things seem now, if there’s change in Cuba, it’ll becoming from inside the regime.”

Spain — FROM PAGE 2

Larry Luxner contributed to this story.


$60 million worth of wheat, pork and soy-beans from Nebraska farmers.

“U.S. companies, which are efficient, are inmany cases unreliable for us, because youdon’t know when a shipment is going to beheld up,” Alvarez complained.

Heineman brought along offi-cials from Louis Dreyfus, Farm-land Foods and other companieshoping to land wheat, corn andsoybean contracts with Alimport.

“Despite the challenges be-tween our countries, we hope toincrease the number of Nebras-kan products sold here,” saidHeineman, a Republican.

“I’ve been here three times now,probably more than any of the 50governors, I can assure you. Thishas been a very significant andvery meaningful relationship forour state. It’s been a terrific opportunity for usto look at an expanded relationship. That’swhy we’re down here again.”OPPORTUNITIES FOR IDAHO

A fellow Republican, Gov. Otter of Idaho, isnow in Havana, accompanied by 35 agribusi-ness executives with similar intentions.

Both Otter and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig areoutspoken in their opposition to the U.S.embargo against Cuba; in 2003, then-Rep.Otter told the Times-News of Twin Falls thatthe embargo was an impediment to America’sweapon of capitalism.

“If we wanted to bomb Cuba,” he said at thetime, “we’d be better off dropping Sears Roe-buck catalogs out of the back of a plane.”

Last year, according to the Times-News,Idaho exported $22,613 worth of frozen foodsto Cuba, as a result of Otter’s initial trips tothe island as a congressman.

But that was only a drop in the bucket com-pared to the $731.5 million worth of potatoesand other food Idaho sold to China in 2006.

“Obviously he wants to open up markets toIdaho products into that communist country,”said Otter spokesman Jon Hanian. “It’s limit-ed, and it’s very tightly controlled. Primarilywe’re looking at agricultural goods, timberproducts, and medical supplies — anythingfrom bandages to generic drugs.”DELAWARE SENDS FIRST MISSION TO CUBA

Delaware, the second-smallest state in thenation, wants to get in on the game too.

Alimport is interested in buying frozenpoultry, apples, wheat, potatoes and soybeansfrom Delaware, according to Rebecca Faber,executive director of World Trade CenterDelaware in Wilmington.

“We’re a small state, but we have one of thelargest densities of chickens per-capita in thenation,” Faber told CubaNews. “We have a lotof small farmers, and we’d like to pull themtogether in a cooperative effort.”

Delaware’s 13-member delegation, whichspent three days in Havana, was led by Agri-culture Secretary Michael Scuse and includ-ed executives from Perdue Farms, Tyson

Foods and Diamond State Port Corp., whichmanages the Port of Wilmington.

That port can handle shipments of 5,000 to10,000 tons of frozen chicken a month depend-ing on the season, according to Tom Keefer,deputy executive director of Diamond StatePort Corp. It can also handle containers of

wheat and other grains, and isalready receiving dozens of ves-sels year-round from Centraland South America laden withbananas, grapes and other fruits.

Trade with Cuba would allowsome of these ships, which oftenreturn to South America empty,to carry products to Cuba.

“There is more and moreinterest, and we believe thatthere are some real possibilitiesfor some Delaware products tobe sold into Cuba,” Scuse toldthe News Journal of Newcastle.

Scuse added that he’s talkingto some farmers about sending a

container of wheat to Cuba. The state sellsmost of its 45,000 acres of wheat to mills inPennsylvania. But most of those mills are atcapacity and farmers don’t have nearby mar-kets to sell the wheat.TEXAS COULD BENEFIT FROM CUBA TRADE TIES

If Cuba represents such big trade opportu-nities for Delaware, imagine what the islandcan do for Texas — the largest state in size(excluding Alaska) and the nation’s No. 3 statein population.

Using a share of production method, Texasexports of farm products to Cuba have come

to $113 million since December 2001, accord-ing to Parr Rosson of Texas A&M Universityin College Station.

“Texas agribusinesses are well-positionedto respond to the expanding Cuban marketdue to quick delivery time from Texas ports,the availability of high-quality products, andcompetitive pricing,” said Rosson.

During 2006, Texas exports to Cuba werevalued at $22.3 million — down from the $40million range in 2004 and 2005.

“Two important reasons for this decrease,”said Rosson, “is that the U.S. has exported in-creasing amounts of soybeans and soybeanproducts, of which Texas has an extremelysmall share of U.S. production, and a decreasein exports of dry milk, which is coming main-ly from Texas.”

In 2005, the Lone Star State’s share of totalfood exports to Cuba by value was 11.46%, upfrom 10.17% in 2004 and 2.09% in 2003. But lastyear, that tumbled to 6.54%, says Rosson.

On the other hand, Texas is a major pro-ducer of chicken and rice — two of the topU.S. agricultural exports to Cuba.

Rice farmer Curt Mowery, who’s seen thearea cultivated with Texas rice shrink from500,000 acres in the mid-1970s to less than150,000 acres today, told the Dallas MorningNews he blames the decline on urban sprawl,low commodity prices, high farming costs andtighter water supplies.

“Cuba could literally buy 100% of our ricecrop and part of Louisiana’s, too,” said Mow-ery of Sandy Point, about 40 miles south ofHouston. “You just can’t lose a market, partic-ularly nowadays.”

LET’S GO GROCERY SHOPPINGPRICES IN LOCAL CUBAN PESOSpapaya (lb) 4.00plaintain (unit) 3.00cucumber (lb) 3.00banana (unit) 1.00melon (lb) 3.00mamey (unit) 10.00guayaba (lb) 5.00tomato (lb) 5.00bitter orange (unit) 1.00pineapple (unit) 10.00eggplant (unit) 5.00garlic (unit) 3.00pumpkin (lb) 2.00pepper (unit) 2.00PRICES IN CONVERTIBLE PESOS (CUC)chicken neck (kg) 1.00whole chicken (kg) 2.75cheeze pizza 10.00pizza with onion topping 13.00pizza with ham topping 15.00cooked mortadella (kg) 3.50Viking ham (kg) 10.80cooked ham (kg) 4.40sausage (chorizo velo) (kg) 4.80ground turkey (kg) 1.40cooked ground beef (kg) 1.35*prices compiled in late March by our Havana correspondent Fresh produce prices at a Havana peso market.

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States — FROM PAGE 1

Nebraska Gov. Heineman

“It was President Bush himself who has ignored the criminal and terroristcharacter of the accused.[Posada] was protected by charging him only withbreaking immigration laws. Not a single word has been said about his count-less victims, his bomb attacks on tourist facilities in recent years or dozens ofhis plots financed by the U.S. government to eliminate me physically.”

— Fidel Castro, writing Apr. 10 in Granma, in an article implying that a deci-sion by a U.S. judge to free militant exile and former CIA operative Luís Posada

Carriles on bail could only have resulted from instructions by the White House.

“They are grabbing at straws. It is an act of desperation by the government.It’s just another attempt to keep him in jail.”

— Arturo Hernández, a defense attorney for the 79-year-old Posada. The U.S. gov-ernment is trying to prevent Posada’s court-ordered release before his trial on

immigration fraud charges in federal court in Texas.

“This is an individual with a long history of terrorism. He is known as theOsama bin Laden of Latin America. I cannot imagine that a U.S. judge woulddetermine that he is not a danger to the community and release him.”

— José Pertierra, the Washington attorney representing Venezuela in its extradi-tion case against Posada, speaking to an organization known as FreetheFive.org.

“The bill that Congressman [Charlie] Rangel has to allow travel for allAmericans of any category has at this moment about 80 co-sponsors. That’s ahigh level of support. Our wish, of course, would be for that to pass — if notas an independent bill then at least as an amendment onto another importantbill that would make it difficult for the president to veto.”

— Dagoberto Rodríguez, chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington,in a lengthy interview published Apr. 7 in the Tampa Tribune.

“We couldn’t be happier. In the old apartment we had seven people with twobedrooms and it was falling down. Here, we have three bedrooms for four peo-ple, and best of all, we are still in Old Havana.”

— Belkys Collaza, 39, quoted by the Miami Herald in a Mar. 21 story on a gov-ernment program to relocate residents of decaying buildings to new apartments

in Old Havana, whose 66,000 people are crammed into a 1.5 sq-mile area.

“We always knew the biggest challenge of socialism is to instill in youngpeople a communist conscience and rejection of capitalism, without havinglived in it, without having seen the moral damage it produces.”

— Vice President Carlos Lage, speaking Apr. 4 at Havana’s Karl Marx Theateron the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth Union.

“It’s a whole new ballgame, no pun intended. This absolutely represents anew extreme. It’s beyond just smuggling for profit. This is smuggling forsuper profit, and I would represent to you that this is absolutely more prof-itable than smuggling drugs.”— Former U.S. attorney Guy Lewis, on the trial of a sports agent accused of smug-

gling Cuban baseball players to Florida in speedboats piloted by a drug dealer.

“When I arrived, this street was empty. Now the flavor is completelyChinese. I could be in my own country.”

— Tao Jin Rong, 66, who came to Cuba from Shanghai in 1995, the year FidelCastro first visited China. Tao was quoted in an Apr. 3 story by Reuters on

Havana’s bustling Chinatown.

“As members of the new majority in the United States Congress, we writetoday to express our concern with the recent expulsion of three veteran for-eign journalists from Cuba, as well as the continued restriction and abuse ofnative journalists in Cuba.”

— Mar. 28 letter to the Cuban Interests Section signed by 13 Democrats, includ-ing several House members who oppose the embargo, following the expul-

sion of Chicago Tribune correspondent Gary Marx, César GonzálezCalero of Mexico’s El Universal and BBC’s Stephen Gibbs.

In their own words …DISSIDENTS FORM NEW GROUP TO FREE PRISONERS

A newly organized dissident coalition in Cubahas launched a campaign to free political prison-ers, promising to take its fight worldwide.

Agence France-Presse reported Mar. 29 thatthe National Constitutionalist Alliance groups 225organizations with a total of 3,000 members.

The group’s director, Angel Polanco, told AFPthe campaign would seek to gather 250,000 sig-natures and pass them to the International Courtof Justice and the International Criminal Court.

He also said that if the Cuban governmentrejects the request, the group would call for aday of peaceful civil disobedience across Cuba,something that has never happened in almosthalf a century of communist rule.

The outlawed but officially tolerated HumanRights and National Reconciliation Commission,run by dissident Elizardo Sánchez, says therewere 283 political prisoners at the end of 2006 —50 fewer than the previous year.

Since Fidel Castro’s surgery eight months ago,dissidents have become increasingly vocal, dis-tributing statements to foreign media, politicians,governments and human rights groups.

EXPERTS QUESTION U.S. SPYING CAPABILITY

As Fidel Castro appears to be growing moreactive, and U.S. reports that he has cancerincreasingly seem off the mark, Cuba watcherswonder just how much American spies knowabout what’s happening on the island, the MiamiHerald reported Apr. 8.

The U.S. intelligence community — despite itsspy satellites and ships — is too shellshockedfrom past intelligence setbacks on Cuba and theIraqi weapons of mass destruction debacle toaggressively spy on the island.

Washington, as a result, is now largely ignorantof what is happening within Cuba’s inner circlesas power is transferred from Fidel to Raúl.

Nearly a dozen people knowledgeable aboutU.S. intelligence on Cuba — all of whom spoketo the Herald only on condition of anonymity todiscuss classified materials — painted a mixedpicture of the capability to spy on the island.

U.S. spy satellites and ships can monitor thingslike troop movements and largely civilian phoneconversations, said one retired intelligence offi-cial. Occasional senior defectors can providesome insight into Cuba’s inner workings.

One person with access to U.S. intelligencematerials on Cuba said Washington has a “prettygood” understanding of public sentiment inCuba, thanks to interviews with arrivingmigrants and contacts with Cuban NGOs.

But there’s little credible information on eventsat the top levels of the government, the armedforces and security services, the person added.

Cuban counterintelligence’s tight monitoring ofU.S. diplomats in Havana makes it difficult forthem to meet privately with top Cuban officials.

According to the Herald, “it is impossible toknow the full extent of U.S. intelligence capabili-ties on Cuba. Even senior government officialsmay not have access to details such as whetherU.S. spies are operating in Havana or if Washing-ton is listening to Fidel’s telephone chatter.”

POLITICAL BRIEFS



blackouts, brought about a comprehensiveassessment which led to a change of focus thatopened the way to designing a strategy for har-nessing wind power.

The virtual collapse of the power grid wasdue to obsolescence and deterioration of thethermoelectric power stations, and a totalbreakdown at the Guiteras plant, the main elec-tricity station in the country.

The wind prospecting program began in1991, and a map of the island was producedshowing the most promising sites for windfarms. Anemometers (wind speed indicators)have been placed at these sites to measure andrecord their potential.

A model wind farm producing 0.45 MW ofelectricity was installed in 1999, in Turiguanó,in the province of Ciego de Ávila, 434 kms eastof Havana. This February, a larger wind farmwas inaugurated on Isla de la Juventud.

The six French-made wind turbines that arenow part of the landscape on the Isle of Youthhas a capacity of 1.65 MW of electricity, closeto 10% of peak hour demand in this municipali-ty southwest of Cuba.

A third wind farm, with six wind turbines

Cuba sees wind power as potential key energy sourceENERGY

BY PATRICIA GROGGS / INTER PRESS SERVICE

Cuba is interested in developing windpower and other renewable energysources to reduce its dependence on fos-

sil fuels for generating electricity, without set-ting aside its hopes for new oil finds.

“The main thing is to diversify energy sour-ces. There is no single solution,” said windenergy expert Conrado Moreno, of the Renew-able Energy Technologies Study Center at theJosé Antonio Echevarría Higher PolytechnicInstitute in Havana.

Wind power could become the 2nd-most im-portant energy source in the country, Morenosaid, although he preferred not to describe itspotential in precise figures, as it is still the sub-ject of research.

Until the 1990s, hardly anyone in Cuba wastalking about wind energy, except academiccircles and a few professionals. “They called usdreamers, and ... the prevailing opinion wasthat there wasn’t enough wind here to gener-ate electricity,” Moreno said.

But high oil prices and the power crisis of2004, which caused frequent and extensive

and a capacity of 5.1 MW, is expected to comeonstream in the first half of this year in Gibara,located on the coast north of Holguín, 689 kmseast of the capital.

Another wind farm is planned for the samearea, which will raise the total capacity at Gib-ara to 9.5 MW. This output will be fed into thenational grid on an experimental basis.

One of the greatest advantages of windpow-er (apart from its fuel being cost-free) is thatit’s non-polluting. According to the experts,each kw generated by wind power, rather thanby a thermal power station, saves one kg of car-bon dioxide emissions from being released-house gases that cause global warming.

However, environmentalists are concernedthat the wind turbines could harm migratingbirds. “The environmental impact studies car-ried out before a wind farm is installed includeanalysis of this and many other aspects. Forinstance, it’s important not to interfere withcommunications,” Moreno said.

Other experts have pointed out the advan-tage that wind turbines can be placed on landunsuitable for other purposes, like deserts,along the coastline, or arid slopes too steep foragriculture. They can also occupy land in pro-ductive use, such as pastures or low-growingcrops like wheat, maize, potatoes or beetroot.

Wind energy is shaping up as one of thefastest growing energy sources in the worldtoday. According to statistics from the WorldWind Energy Association (WWEA), installedwind power capacity grew 10-fold between1997 and 2006.

The WWEA said that Brazil was the countrywhere wind power grew most rapidly during2006. By adding 208 MW of installed capacity,Brazil increased its wind energy capacityseven-fold in just one year.

Germany is the largest wind power producerin the world, with a capacity of 20,622 MW, fol-lowed by Spain and the United States, withover 11,000 MW each.

Havana will be hosting a May 22-25 interna-tional conference on renewable energy, atwhich the possibilities for cooperation in thisfield will be analyzed.

Cuba also generates electricity from sugar-cane biomass (bagasse), from small hydroelec-tric stations, and from photovoltaic cells whichuse light from the sun. But power generationremains primarily dependent on fossil fuels.

In 2007, 39 new wells will be drilled in areasof Cuba where oil has already been found.Crude production is expected to climb by100,000 tons. Cuba produced about 3.9 milliontons of oil and gas in 2006, equivalent to nearlyhalf of its domestic consumption needs. Therest is imported.

A substantial increase in the quantity andquality of crude depends on future finds in theCuban sector of the Gulf of Mexico, where 59blocks have been put out to tender. So far only16 blocks have been taken up, and negotiationsare under way for another eight.

53.0% — not affected personally by current restrictions on travel and remittances64.4% — would prefer a return to 2003 rules on travel and remittances50.8% — would prefer a “sudden and violent” transition in Cuba49.2% — would prefer a transition that is “gradual and peaceful”71.7% — strongly/mostly favor sale of U.S. medicine to Cuba62.0% — strongly/mostly favor sale of U.S. food to Cuba51.1% — strongly/mostly favor direct U.S. military action against Cuba70.7% — strongly/mostly favor military action by Cuban exiles96.2% — strongly/mostly support human-rights groups in Cuba65.0% — strongly support national dialogue among exiles, dissidents and government55.2% — support unrestricted travel to Cuba34.1% — support expanded U.S. agricultural trade with Cuba26.2% — feel U.S. agricultural trade with Cuba should stay the same39.6% — feel U.S. agricultural trade with Cuba should be stopped76.4% — agree that the embargo has not worked very well or not at all57.5% — want the embargo against Cuba to continue28.6% — would end the embargo right now51.3% — support the establishment of full U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations17.0% — expect a transition to democracy will happen in less than a year45.9% — expect a transition to democracy to take place in the next 2-5 years

Florida International University has published its 2007 FIU Cuba poll. Released Apr. 1, thesurvey shows a definite softening of attitudes among exiles since FIU conducted the firstsuch survey in 1991. FIU questioned 1,000 Cuban-Americans selected at random; the mar-gin of error is +/- 3.2%. Below are percentages for key questions posed to respondents:

FIU: Hardliners losing influence in Miami

Details: Hugh Gladwin, Director/Institute for Public Opinion Research, FIU, 3000 NE151st Street, #HM-246, North Miami, FL 33181. Tel: (305) 919-5778. Fax: (305) 919-5242. E-mail: [email protected]. URL: www.fiu.edu/orgs/ipor/cuba8/pollresults.html.


naught, but Carmichael’s suspicions wererevived in 2000 when he learned that the FBIwas seeking to identify a Cuban agent in theU.S. government. At that time, agents and elec-tronic surveillance directed at Cuba werebeing thwarted so consistently that it seemedthat someone was tipping the Cubans off.

Carmichael ex-amined the FBI’sprofile of the un-known Cubanmole and found,bit by bit, thatMontés fit the pro-file. But frustrat-ingly, this turningpoint in his narra-tive lacks detail.Both the FBI pro-file and Carmich-ael’s clues remainsecret.

“True Believer”goes on to de-

scribe Carmichael’s ultimately successfuleffort to convince the FBI to focus on Montés.Here again, readers learn about Carmichael’smeetings, phone calls, memos, and personalworries — but nothing about their substance.

With the FBI on board for a full investiga-tion, Carmichael played a key role. He ensuredthat Montés’ colleagues were kept in the dark,thwarted her temporary assignment to anoth-er agency, and choreographed a series of diver-sions of Montés and her colleagues thatallowed investigators to pluck her tote bagfrom her workstation and search it. Inside wasan investigative prize: the codes she used tocommunicate with her Cuban handlers.

Carmichael examined Montés’ desk onenight during the investigation and found that itmatched her taciturn personality: It was order-ly and devoid of personal items with the excep-tion of a Shakespeare couplet, written in scriptand pinned to the wall:

“The king hath note of all that they intend byinterceptions which they dream not of.”

To Montés’ colleagues, this citation fromHenry V might have indicated pride in theirprofession; to Montés, it seems the king wasFidel Castro and the “interceptions” her own.

This delicious detail and a few others areovershadowed, however, by Carmichael’sapparent decision not to address — or hisinability to do so, due to DIA restrictions — theburning questions that remain in the AnaMontés case.

How did Montés come to spy for Cuba? Car-michael provides just one sentence indicatingthat she was recruited before her DIA career,while she was working at the Justice Depart-ment and attending graduate school at night.

What about the damage Montés caused toU.S. national security? Here, except for a briefindication that Montés raided a databaseshared by U.S. intelligence agencies and

‘True Believer’ leaves many questions unansweredBOOK REVIEW

BY PHILIP PETERS

The 16-year career of Ana Belén Montésas a Cuban intelligence agent came to aprosaic end the morning of Sept. 21, 2001.

Her supervisor at the Defense IntelligenceAgency (DIA), where she was the top Cubaanalyst, directed her to a conference room todiscuss a fictitious problem involving one ofher subordinates.

FBI agents were waiting there. Within 20minutes, Montés was departing in handcuffsafter hearing her Miranda rights and decliningto divulge any part of her story until she saw alawyer.

In time, she did tell her story to the govern-ment, unrepentantly. She pleaded guilty in2002 to a single count of conspiracy to commitespionage, agreed to cooperate with investiga-tors, and received a 25-year prison sentence.

She told the judge that she worked for Cuba— without compensation — out of a sense ofobligation “to help the island defend itself fromour efforts to impose our values and our politi-cal system on it … I did what I thought right tocounter a grave injustice.”

Happily for the government, there was notrial and no spilling of secrets that could fur-ther harm U.S. security or embarrass DIA.

Unhappily for those of us who knew her andwanted to know how she was recruited andhow she served the Cubans, that story isknown only to the U.S. investigators who com-piled a classified study of this major intelli-gence debacle.

Scott W. Carmichael, the DIA investigatorwho pursued the Montes case from initial sus-picion to arrest, has now written the firstaccount of the Ana Montés story from withinthe government.

“True Believer: Inside the Investigation andCapture of Ana Montés, Cuba’s Master Spy”(Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2007, 179pages) puts the reader inside the disquietedmind of the professional counter-intelligenceofficer, someone paid to suspect the worstabout his colleagues.

Carmichael writes breezily, with humor anda good dose of self-deprecation. He evinces adeep patriotism, dedication to his profession,and great fair-mindedness in carrying it out.

Carmichael first interviewed Montés in 1996after one of her colleagues reported suspiciousbehavior to him. The interview came to

passed information to Cuba, Carmichael pro-vides less information than is already in thepublic domain.

In a court affidavit, the FBI affirmed thatMontés alerted Cuba to the arrival of a U.S.agent, and a message from Cuban state securi-ty found on her laptop reported that when theagent arrived, “we were waiting here for himwith open arms.” She also told Cuba when U.S.intelligence spotted weapons in Cuba, andrelayed details of a 1996 war game exercise.

Carmichael lists cases where Montés, withher wide access to secrets, could have be-trayed classified information of military value:the 1990 U.S. military action in Panama, thewars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, a 1987guerrilla attack on a Salvadoran military basein which an American soldier was killed, theliberation of Kuwait. But Carmichael writesthat he does not know if she did so.

Finally, did Montés disinform U.S. policy-makers by skewing her analysis of Cuban capa-bilities and intentions?

Here, Carmichael provides only conjecture.He writes that he conducted no formal inter-views for his book, but he might have profitedfrom interviewing the CIA’s former top LatinAmerica analyst, Brian Latell.

Montés, Latell writes in his book “AfterFidel,” accepted Cuba’s explanation that theconviction of senior military officers in 1989was due to drug trafficking. Latell believed itwas a purge of political rivals.

Latell also writes that in 1993, contrary toevidence available at the time, Montés arguedthat the Cuban military desired closer rela-tions with the United States.

As for Cuban capabilities, the U.S. govern-ment seems to have answered the questionwith regard to two key issues: Cuba’s militarystrength and its possible development of bio-logical weapons. Montés worked on a famous1998 unclassified Pentagon report that calledCuba’s military capability “residual” and“defensive” and its threat “negligible.”

That report has not been updated, eventhough a less benign assessment would suitthe Bush administration’s political interests.

And U.S. intelligence agencies have down-graded their assessment of bioweapons activi-ty in Cuba, concluding unanimously in 2005that it is “unclear whether Cuba has an activeoffensive biological warfare effort now, or evenhad one in the past.”

The full story of how Ana Montés betrayedher country remains to be told, either throughdeclassification of the intelligence communi-ty’s own damage assessment, or through pub-lication of a book other than the personal inves-tigative story contained in “True Believer.”

Philip Peters is vice-president of the LexingtonInstitute in Arlington, Va., and a prominentanalyst on Cuban affairs who was profiled in theNovember 2006 issue of CubaNews. He wrotethis book review exclusively for CubaNews.

Luxner News Inc., which publishes thisnewsletter, has a new mailing address: POBox 1345, Wheaton, MD 20915. Ourphone numbers are (301) 452-1105 and(301) 933-3552, and the new fax numberis (301) 949-0065. Our e-mail address isstill [email protected]. Please make anote of these changes for your files.

Note new mailing address!

wanted to see me. But I knew that new restric-tions were about to take effect on July 1, so twoor three days before they went into effect, Iflew to Miami for my flight to Havana.”

The soldier was in for a rude awakening.“When I got to Miami Airport, I found out

the Bush administration was not letting pas-sengers board the plane because they wereafraid the people wouldn’t come back on time,”he said. “It wasn’t just me, it was everybody. Iasked what happened, and was told ‘Treasuryis not letting people board the plane. The flight

Sgt. Carlos Lazo: A soldier’s struggle to lift travel banNEWSMAKERS

BY LARRY LUXNER

Carlos Lazo never expected to become awar hero — or, for that matter, a symbolin the battle to end the travel ban to Cuba.

But he did, and now the Iraqi War veteranhas dedicated virtually all his free time to fix-ing what he calls a monumental injustice.

“I’m fighting for the right of all Americans togo to Cuba,” Lazo told CubaNews during a two-hour interview in Washington last month.

“I would be very ungrateful if I said, ‘pleasemake a bill for Cuban-Americans to go therewhenever we want, but no one else.’ I’m not ina position to deny the people who welcomedme here that right.”

Born in 1965 to a housewife and a cigarmak-er, Lazo was raised like any other Cuban child,growing up in the Havana suburb of Playa. Infact, nothing much exciting happened in Lazo’slife until the moonless night in 1988 when heand a friend attempted to flee Cuba in a ricketywooden boat.

“We spent three days in the water,” the 42-year-old recalled as if it happened yesterday.“Actually, we were dying and were saved bythe Cuban Coast Guard. They delivered us tothe police, and they sent me to jail for a year.”

In 1992, Lazo tried again — using a strongerboat rigged with the engine of a 1951 Cham-pion lawnmower. This time, he and five otherbalseros made it to within six miles of Key West.All of them were rescued by the U.S. CoastGuard and allowed to stay in South Florida.

Lazo lived in Hialeah with his mother until1998, when he resettled in Seattle and joinedthe National Guard out of a sense of obligation.

“I was already 35 and working as a counselorfor the mentally disabled in Washington state,”he said. “I learned more English in six monthsin Seattle than I did in six years in Miami.”NASTY SURPRISE AT MIAMI AIRPORT

During this period, Lazo would visit Cubaonce a year — sometimes more than that —spending as much time as possible with his twosons from a previous marriage, Carlos Manueland Carlos Rafael.

“I visited Cuba frequently, and had a verygood relationship with my ex-wife’s family,” hesaid. “I was sending about $100 a month, andthe whole family was eating with that $100. Atthat time, $100 there was like $1,000 here.”

Lazo’s last visit to Cuba was in April 2003. InNovember of that year, his Washington Natio-nal Guard unit was deployed to Iraq, and hewas sent to Camp Anaconda, a military base 40miles north of Baghdad.

Lazo, who had been trained as a combatmedic, got a job taking care of wounded Iraqis— both civilians and captured insurgents. Intime, he learned to speak Arabic fluently.

Lazo’s two-week leave finally came in June2004.

“I returned to the U.S., and the first thing Iwanted to do was go to Cuba. I was in a warzone and wanted to see my sons, and the kids


Star. But it didn’t bring the soldier any closer tohis goal of visiting his boys in Havana.

“The administration refused to give me awaiver, not even to go to Cuba for 24 hours.Then some congressmen started suggestingthat to resolve the problem, I could bring thekids over here. They talked to the StateDepartment, and then my kids were called tothe U.S. Interests Section in Havana.”

In July 2005, the State Department took theunusual step of granting Lazo’s sons expeditedU.S. visas so the boys could join their father in

is leaving empty and they’ll be picking up pas-sengers in Havana.’

“I was so upset,” Lazo recalled. “There was aTV reporter from Channel 51, so I took out myID showing I was in the army. I told them thatbecause of the politics of this administration, Icouldn’t embrace my children, and that I wouldnever vote for George Bush.”

]When he got back to Iraq in July, Lazomade a videotape complaining about his pre-dicament and sent to members of Congress. Iteventually made its way onto MSNBC, andfrom there, his story quickly spread.

Lazo appeared on TV many times — fromtalk shows to news programs — and was inter-viewed by the Miami Herald, the WashingtonPost and the Los Angeles Times.BRAVERY DIDN’T HELP WIN TRAVEL WAIVER

In late 2004, Lazo and 12 other medics weresent to Fallujah to support a contingent ofMarines battling insurgents.

“We were so close that our own mortarswere killing Marines. I was in the ambulance,driving around dead kids in the street, pickingup soldiers. The first day, we had 56 casual-ties,” he said. “We rescued people under firewhile being attacked by RPGs [rocket-pro-pelled grenades]. I remember crying in thatambulance, driving and in tears while holdingthe hand of a dying soldier the age of my son.”

For his bravery, Lazo was awarded a Bronze

Seattle. They eventually did, but if the WhiteHouse’s intent was to shut Lazo up, as manycritics have charged, the attempt didn’t work.SOLDIER CONTINUES LOBBYING ON THE HILL

Lazo has since met with more than 50 mem-bers of Congress — Democrats and Republi-cans, lawmakers who favor relaxing the travelban and those who want to keep the ban inplace. He’s been encouraged in this effort bysuch groups as the Center for InternationalPolicy and the Center for Democracy in theAmericas’ Freedom to Travel campaign.

“I left Cuba for various reasons, first of allbecause I had been a prisoner,” he said. “WhenI came out of jail, I couldn’t find a job. I felt dis-criminated against, but there were other rea-sons as well. I wanted to have a better life, tolive in freedom, and in better economic condi-tions. But that didn’t mean I would forget aboutmy family.”

He added: “They say this is a way to keepdollars from the dictatorship, to bring downFidel, but it won’t. Of course not. It won’t mod-ify Cuban society or bring down the Cubangovernment at all. But I don’t think the peoplewho implemented this cruelty even believe itthemselves.”

Orlando bishop Thomas Wenski, chairmanof the U.S. Bishops’ committee on internation-al relations, praised lawmakers like Rep. JeffFlake (R-AZ), Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Char-

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escaped with Batista. These people don’t wantto go back. They were professionals, business-men, people with money who lost everythingin Cuba. When I was born, the revolution wasalready there. I was the son of a cigarmaker.”

Yet Lazo says the Díaz-Balart brothers andRep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) can’t changetheir minds now “because they don’t want tolook like losers.”

“They made a mistake implementing this

les Rangel (D-NY) who seek to lift the ban.“No one should be prevented from visiting a

dying relative or attending a loved one's funer-al simply for having traveled to Cuba once inthe previous three years,” Wenski said in arecent statement, adding that the policy doesno honor to the country.

Added Sarah Stephens of the Center forDemocracy in the Americas: “As Cuba enters anew era, so should America, and replace ourpolicy of isolating Cuba with one favoringengagement, travel and trade.”THREATS FROM HARDLINERS

Lazo eventually did go to Cuba, in January2007 — because by then it had been well overthree years since his last trip — to visit a broth-er, aunt, uncle and other cousins still living inHavana and Cienfuegos.

His presence on the island was virtuallyignored by Cuban media, despite his near-celebrity status in Washington.

In Miami, Lazo is easily recognized, thoughnot everyone likes him or agrees with him.

Sadly, the medic told CubaNews he’s receivedthreatening phone calls and e-mails from right-wing Cuban exiles in Miami.

“They’re basically offensive and insulting,implying that something will happen to me,” hesaid, adding that he’s been called a “Commu-nist bastard” among other things.

“Most of the Cubans who still support thispolicy came in the 1960s. Those who came inthe ‘80s and ‘90s want to visit their families.Lincoln Díaz-Balart came in the first plane that

cruelty. The majority of people in Miami saythey are against it. Even people supporting thetravel ban for all other Americans say this fam-ily restriction is wrong.”

In fact, he told us, “older people come up tome in the street and say to me, ‘I hate Castro,but this thing with the family [restrictions] esuna mierda.’”

Lazo adds: “You cannot forget the Miamiradio factor. This small, vocal group of fanaticsintimidate people. They control the media.People are afraid to speak out. It’s hard for me

“They say this is a way to keep dollars from the dictatorship, tobring down Fidel, but it won’t. Of course not. But I don’t think thepeople who implemented this cruelty even believe it themselves.”

— SGT. CARLOS LAZO

to go to Miami and do a program there. Youmight say something to a journalist, and thenext day something else comes out.”

Lazo said people are free to form their ownopinions about him, but that nobody deservesto be labeled a friend of the Castro regime sim-ply for opposing the 45-year-old U.S. travel ban.

“If Cuba says they’re for lifting the travel banbecause they want families to kiss each otherand have a good relationship, then I agree with

the Cuban government. If they say they’re fordemocracy, I’m for that too. I cannot be con-cerned about what other people think.”

Yet Lazo — who plans to return to Iraq whenhis unit is redeployed there, probably in 2008or 2009 — declined to give his own opinions onthe embargo itself.

“Some people try to drag me into supportingthe lifting of the embargo against Cuba. I don’teven want to comment on that. I don’t want thecause of love which I’m fighting for to be con-taminated with any other cause.”

Sgt. Carlos Lazo takes photos while peering from the top of an armored personnel car-rier in Fallujah (upper left); receives a Bronze Star from Congressman Jim McDermott inSeattle (lower left); poses in Balad, Iraq, with army truck sporting a Cuban flag (above).


GEOGRAPHY

Cuba’s natural wonders: The marine terraces at MaisíBY ARMANDO H. PORTELA

It took us a while — three hungry Cuban geographers well used toexploring the island — to understand what we were reading at thatsmall eatery’s menu board: “Mabinga con fongo o bacón hervido.”“What!” we said incredulously, trying to decipher the meaning of

the sign. Then a local lady came to the rescue.“It’s shredded horse meat garnished with mashed green bananas,

or with boiled ripe red banana,” she said.We were at La Asunción, in Maisí, at the eastern tip of Cuba — 1,250

kms from Cuba’s western tip at Pinar del Río province, and the closestyou can get to another world within the island, except for the touristenclaves at Varadero or Cayo Coco.

Maisí is an exotic land of dense rainforest and exuberant coffeeplantations in the fresh highlands, transitioning to dry brushes andcactus in the lowland flats. Besides the different landscapes, the peo-ple of Maisí have their own accent when speaking Spanish, and as welearned, their own habits and foods.

We came to that remote corner in the early 1980s to measure andsample one of the world’s most unusual geological features: the spec-tacular and relatively unknown marine terraces of Maisí.

Geographers and geologists, zoologists and botanists, anthropolo-gists and archaeologists have visited the region for decades to exploreand collect samples.

Maisi has consistently yielded new species of plants and animals(the endangered Polymita picta, a colorful snail, being one of the bet-ter known), abundant aborigine artifacts and an extraordinary blue-print of the unstable earth’s crust at one of its most dynamic places.

Carved out in hard limestone from Middle to Upper Miocene clos-est to the sea level and Cretaceous marble in the highlands, the ter-races at Maisí result from millions of years of marine abrasion over a

constantly changing coastline on a background of an oscillating sealevel and powerful tectonic upraises.

At least two dozen terraces can be delineated as a gigantic stairwayrising northwest from the sea level between Punta Negra and theOvando Bay to nearly 500 meters (1,640 feet) at the villages of ElDiamante and Los Llanos.

The entire staircase leans to the north, as the tectonic uplifts aremore intense closer to the Caribbean Sea. In consequence, the numberof terraces and their altitude diminish in the direction to the AtlanticOcean. There are 14 steps west of Maisí point and fewer close to themouth of the Yumurí river.

The terraces are not smooth, however. Some are broken by recentfaults, others show colossal scars probably resulting from ancientearthquakes; still others are carved by deep river canyons that exposetheir internal structure. Lithology and climate combine to preserve theupper and older steps — probably as old as Early Pliocene — as fairlyflat surfaces bordered by high step cliffs, while the lower terraces lookmore like ample flat plains.

The 35,000 people of Maisí are dispersed throughout small villagespeppered in the highest, freshest and more exuberant terraces devot-ed to coffee plantations. The town of La Máquina, with some 3,000souls, is the administrative center.

Ironically, Maisí is not listed as a preserved landscape in the exten-sive Cuban system of protected territories, although it deserves to beeventually guarded as a unique place in the island’s geography.

Energas, a joint venture between Canada’s Sherritt Interna-tional and two Cuban state entities, is using the natural gascollected during the extraction of petroleum to generate 15%

of the electricity consumed by Cuba, to provide energy for cook-ing to 1 million people and to reduce environmental pollution,reports the Spanish news agency EFE.

Top project officials told reporters about the effort during aMar. 14 tour through Cuba’s northwest exploration and oil pro-duction zone. Energas, created in 1998, is owned one-third eachby Sherritt, Cuba’s Unión Electrica and Cubapetroleo (CUPET),which handles gas production and distributon to consumers.

The entity processes the gas extracted along with crude oil,removing sulfur and naphtha, and then burns the now-clean andnon-polluting gas in turbines to produce electricity.

Energas has three gas production plants in Cuba’s so-calledNorthern Heavy Crude Strip, which runs for some 150 kms (93miles) along the coast between Havana and Matanzas, said deputygeneral manager Alberto Villalonga.

The project includes investment of $200 million, and the threeplants generate 400 MW of electricity, with production set to reach525 MW by the end of 2008 during its final development phase.

Villalonga told reporters that the process allows Cuba to use thegas issuing from the oil wellheads as an alternative source of ener-gy, with the goal of reducing so-called greenhouse gases resultingfrom the burning of petroleum and its associated products.

The three plants are located at Boca de Jaruco, Puerto Escon-dido and the beach resort of Varadero. After the gas is cleaned, it’sprepared for two purposes: burning it to generate power and pro-viding 300,000 cubic meters (33.5 million cubic feet) a day of nat-ural gas to be used for cooking by 250,000 households in Havana.

This is the first in a series of occasional articles on Cuba’s natural won-ders by Miami-based cartographer Armando H. Portela, who has a Ph.D.in geography from the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Havana.

Energas generates 15% of Cuba’s power


ACADEMIA

A list of 42 recently published scholarly articles on Cuba

A s a service to our readers, CubaNews of-fers you this list of recent scholarly arti-cles on Cuba — in no particular order.

Each listing includes title, author, name of peri-odical, date of publication and page numbers:

■ “Cubaniquel and Sherritt Expanding MoaNickel” Engineering & Mining Journal, Apr2005, Vol. 206, Issue 3, p14-14, 1/5p.

■ “The Service Sector of Cuba: An Analysis& Critique” Robertson, Christopher J.;Lindsay, Richard P.; Pérez-Verzini, Marcelo.Thunder-bird International Business Review,Jul-Aug 2006, Vol. 48, Issue 4, p537-553, 17p.

■ “Commercial Biotechnology in LatinAmerica: Current Opportunities and Challen-ges” Quezada, Fernando. Journal of Commer-cial Biotechnology, Apr 2006, Vol. 12, Issue 3,p192-199, 8p, 3 charts, 3 diagrams.

■ “How Brinkmanship Saved Chadbourne:Credibility and the International Sugar Agree-ment of 1931” Dye, Alan; Sicotte, Richard.Explorations in Economic History, Apr 2006,Vol. 43, Issue 2, p223-256, 34p.

■ “Havana” Colantonio, Andrea; Potter,Robert B. Cities, Feb 2006, Vol. 23, Issue 1,p63-78, 16p.

■ “Cardiovascular Disease and AssociatedRisk Factors in Cuba: Prospects for Preven-tion and Control” Cooper, Richard S.; Ordu-ñez, Pedro; Iraola Ferrer, Marcos D.; BernalMuñóz, José Luís; Espinosa-Brito, Alfredo.American Journal of Public Health, Jan 2006,Vol. 96, Issue 1, p94-101, 8p.

■ “Ecotourism and Sustainability in Cuba:Does Socialism Make a Difference?” Winson,Anthony. Journal of Sustainable Tourism,2006, Vol. 14, Issue 1, p6-23, 18p.

■ “Mobility, Energy and Emissions in Cubaand Florida” Warren, James P.; Enoch, Mar-cus P. Transportation Research: Part D, Jan2006, Vol. 11, Issue 1, p33-44, 12p.

■ “Hotel Management in Cuba and theTransfer of Best Practices” Cerviño, Julio;Bonache, Jaime. International Journal ofContemporary Hospitality Management, 2005,Vol. 17, Issue 6, p455-468, 14p.

■ “British Council Sponsored Visit andMeeting in Havana, Cuba: The First Cuban-British Workshop on Nanosciences, 2004”Horton, M.A. IEE Proceedings — Nanobio-technology October 2005, Vol. 152, Issue 5,p157-157, 1p.

■ “Science and Society in Cuba in theContext of Techno-Economic Globalization.”Ahmad, Aqueil. Journal of Business Chemistry,Sept 2005, Vol. 2, Issue 3, p112-118, 7p.

■ “Connections Among People, Things,Images, and Ideas: La Habana to Pinar andBack” Sunderland, Patricia L.; Denny, Rita M.Consumption, Markets & Culture, Sept 2005,Vol. 8, Issue 3, p291-312, 22p.

■ “Cuba and China Sign Biotech Accord”Asia Pacific Biotech News, 1/15/2006, Vol. 10,Issue 1, p8.

■ “The Operational Codes of Fidel Castro& Kim Il Sung: The Last Cold Warriors?” Mal-

ici, Akan; Malici, Johnna. Political Psychology,June 2005, Vol. 26, Issue 3, p387-412, 26p.

■ “Cubanos, Americans and Modes of Be-ing Between in Pre-Castro Cuba” Corbin,John. Third World Quarterly, Apr 2005, Vol.26, Issue 3, p551-558, 8p.

■ “Sugarcane Transportation in Cuba: ACase Study” Lopez Milan, Esteban; MiguelFernández, Silvia; Pla Aragones, Luís Miguel.European Journal of Operational Research,Oct 2006, Vol. 174, Issue 1, p374-386, 13p.

■ “Cuba’s New Sugarcane CooperativesTen Years Later” Alvarez, José. Post-Commu-nist Economies, Mar 2005, Vol. 17, Issue 1,p125-136, 12p.

■ “Cuba: Is the ‘Special Period’ Really Ov-er?” Benzing, Cynthia. International Advancesin Economic Research, Feb 2005, Vol. 11 Issue1, p69-82, 14p.

■ “Cuban Retailing: From a CentrallyPlanned to a Mixed Dual System” Cerviño,Julio; Bonache, Jaime. International Journalof Retail & Distribution Management, 2005,Vol. 33, Issue 1, p79-94, 16p.

■ “Guest Editor’s Introduction: Where Isthe Cuban Economy Heading?” InternationalJournal of Political Economy, Winter 2004-05,Vol. 34, Issue 4, p3-10, 8p.

■ “Cuban Foundational Marxist Thought”International Journal of Political Economy,Winter 2004-05, Vol. 34, Issue 4, p11-23, 13p.

■ “Formulating Waste Management Strate-gies Based on Waste Management Practicesof Households in Santiago de Cuba” Mosler,Hans Joachim; Drescher, Silke; Zurbrügg,Christian; Rodríguez, Tamara Caballero; Mir-anda, Omar Guzmán. Habitat International, De-cember 2006, Vol. 30, Issue 4, p849-862, 14p.

■ “Characteristics of the Evolution of theCuban Economy Since 1990” InternationalJournal of Political Economy, Winter 2004-05,Vol. 34, Issue 4, p49-64, 16p.

■ “Planning in Cuba Today” InternationalJournal of Political Economy, Winter 2004-05,Vol. 34, Issue 4, p65-83, 19p.

■ “De-Dollarizing Cuba” International Jour-nal of Political Economy, Winter 2004-05, Vol.34, Issue 4, p84-95, 12p.

■ “Why Does Academic Achievement VaryAcross Countries? Evidence from Cuba andMexico” McEwan, Patrick J.; Marshall,Jeffery H. Education Economics, Dec 2004,Vol. 12, Issue 3, p205-217, 13p.

■ “The Dialectics of Human Resource Man-agement in Cuba” Cunha, Miguel Piña; Cun-ha, Rita Campos. International Journal of Hu-man Resource Management, Nov 2004, Vol. 15,Issue 7, p1280-1292, 13p, 3 charts.

■ “The U S. Sugar Program and the CubanRevolution” Dye, Alan; Sicotte, Richard.Journal of Economic History, Sept 2004, Vol.64 Issue 3, p673-704, 32p.

■ “Institutional Development and SocialPolicy in Cuba: The Special Period” Valdés,Julio Carranza; Paz, Juan Valdés; Rosales,Raúl J. Journal of International Affairs, Fall

2004, Vol. 58, Issue 1, p175-188, 14p.■ “Getting By in Cuba,” Scientific Ameri-

can, Sept 2004, Vol. 291, Issue 3, p36-26, 1/6p.■ “Vermiculture Offers A New Agricultural

Paradigm” Berc, Jeri L.; Muñiz, Olegario;Calero, Bernardo. BioCycle, June 2004, Vol.45, Issue 6, p56-57, 2p, 3 charts.

■ “Castro and Latin America: A SecondWind?” Erikson, Daniel. World Policy Journal,Summer 2004, Vol. 21, Issue 2, p32-40, 9p.

■ “Afro-Cuban Religions and Social Wel-fare: Consequences of Commercial Develop-ment in Havana” Hearn, Adrian H. HumanOrganization, Spring 2004, Vol. 63, Issue 1,p78-87, 10p.

■ “ITC and WIPO Back Together in Cuba”Sala, Maria-Mercedes; Frauenrath, Marie-Claude. International Trade Forum, 2004,Issue 1, p34-34, 1/3p.

■ “Washington’s Irrational Cuba Policy"Weinmann, Lissa. World Policy Journal,Spring 2004, Vol. 21, Issue 1, p22-31, 10p.

■ “Rumba Diplomacy in the Age of Bush-ismo” Sublette, Ned. World Policy Journal,Spring 2004, Vol. 21, Issue 1, p75-84, 10p.

■ “The Havana Club Saga: ThreateningMore than Just ‘Cuba Coke’” Taylor, Emily.Northwestern Journal of International Law &Business, Winter 2004, Vol. 24, Issue 2, p513-532, 20p.

■ “State Policy, Economic Crisis, Gender andFamily Ties: Determinants of Family Remit-tances to Cuba. Blue, Sarah. Economic Geo-graphy, Jan 2004, Vol. 80, Issue 1, p63-82, 20p.

■ “Does Nation Building Work?” Payne,James L. Independent Review, Spring 2006,Vol. 10, Issue 4, p597-608, 12p.

■ “Cuba — Taking Things for Granted”CILT World, Dec 2003-Jan 2004, Issue 9, 1p.

■ “Socialism, Spillovers & Markets in Cuba:Jensen, Camilla. Post-Communist Economies,September 2003, Vol. 15, Issue 3, p435, 25p.

■ “The Effect of Economic Restrictions onTransport Practices in Cuba” Enoch, Marcus;Warren, James P.; Valdés Ríos, Humberto;Henríquez Menoyo, Enrique. Transport Pol-icy, January 2004, Vol. 11, Issue 1, p67, 10p.

A report by the University of Miami’sCuba Transition Project probes the allegedlink between al-Qaeda and Cuban supportof guerrillas in the Western Sahara.

The report, which warns of Islamic ter-ror groups in North Africa, looks at Cas-tro’s backing of the Polisario Front, whichMorocco accuses of working with a groupcalling itself “al-Qaeda in the Maghreb.”The Polisario, whose aim is to wrest con-trol of the Spanish Sahara from Morocco,has long maintained close ties with Cuba.

The full report can be downloaded at:http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/main.htm.

Cuba-Polisario link analyzed

CUBA EXPLORES INVESTMENT IN GOLD MINING

Gold prices have recovered in the interna-tional market since 2002 and with it the prof-itability of gold mining worldwide, includingCuba. A study conducted by three Cubanengineers says the market price for gold,around $500/oz, makes it the right moment toinvest in gold mining.

According to the geologists, there’s goodpotential in Camagüey and Las Tunasprovinces. Deposits have been detected inGolden Hill, Florencia y Jacinto with reservesestimated at over 500,000 oz.

The experts proposed a mining strategy inthe short, medium and long terms, startingwith the opening of the Golden Hill mine at acost of $10 million per year.

This would enable exploration of theFlorencia and the Jobabo fields and the con-tinuation of mining in the Golden Hill plant.

Exploration along the veins of Sur Elenaand El Limón and prospecting in the sur-roundings of Jacinto would meanwhile guar-antee gold-mining activity in that zone.

CAMAGÜEY CHROME DEPOSITS PROMISING

A research paper presented at the EarthSciences Congress in Havana last month dis-cusses a chrome deposit discovered in 1942 inthe province of Camagüey.

The Camagüey fields began to be exploitedback in the 1920s by several U.S. and Cubancompanies. Chrome extraction reached itspeak during World War II, reaching nearly 1.4million tons in the period from 1940 to 1945.

Mining in the area ended in 1985 with theMamina deposit.

It seems the field discovered by the JuraguaIron Co., a unit of Bethlehem Steel, was leftunexploited because it was near another minewhere chrome was being extracted undermore favorable conditions.

Between 1962 and 1964, this mine whosereserves have been estimated at 700,000 tonsof refractory chrome, was explored oncemore. But it was not until the 1980s that thereserves estimate was reached, and only nowis the area being evaluated for exploitation.

FINCA VIGIA RESTORATION TO FINISH IN 2009

Work to restore Ernest Hemingway’s Cubanhideaway probably won’t be finished until theend of 2009 — held up in part by efforts tobuild a garage to house the author’s long-lostChevy convertible, the Miami Herald report-ed Mar. 21.

Hemingway lived at Finca Vigia, on Hav-ana’s southeastern edge, from 1939 to 1960.Following his suicide in 1961, the novelist’swidow turned the property over to the Castroregime, which made it a museum in 1962.

Efforts began in 2005 to repair the deterio-rating Finca Vigia and restore its groundsalong with the papers, furniture and otherobjects inside.

Museum director Ada Rosa Alfonso wouldnot say how much restoration has cost todate, or how much was needed to finish it,

BUSINESS BRIEFS only that “it’s a process that requires dedica-tion and time.”

The budget for the restoration comes fromthe Cuban government, she said, adding thatthe museum is “open to accepting any kind ofdonation or support” but she said thatWashington’s embargo has blocked willingAmerican donors.

Six U.S. experts have obtained permissionto travel to Cuba and aid in restoration. Alfon-so said that the last American came in August.

Isabel Ferreiro, the museum’s deputy direc-tor, said officials recently tracked down a 1955Chevrolet convertible Hemingway had onceowned, and are negotiating with its Cubanowner to buy it.

Finca Vigia was placed on the NationalTrust for Historic Preservation’s list of mostendangered places in 2005. Originally char-tered by Congress, the Washington-basedtrust is now privately funded.

CUBA AIMS TO BOOST FOOD-STORAGE CAPACITY

More than 100 refrigerated silos for storingwheat, corn, soy, beans, rice and other grainsare now in use as Cuba seeks to increase itsfood storage capacity, according to a Mar. 15article in Granma.

The goal is to have another similar amountin operation by the middle of this year.

“We can’t forget the ups and downs we’vehad in the national production of eggs due tothe lack of chicken feed; now, our reservesare greater with the increased storage capaci-ty,” said Brig. Gen. Moisés Sio Wong, chief ofthe National Institute of State Reserves.

Wong, who showed Raúl Castro around agrain storage facility in the western provinceof Pinar del Río, said grain storage is funda-mental to guaranteeing stability in the deliv-ery of basic foodstuffs for the population.

He noted that Cuba must also increasereadiness for emergency situations like hurri-canes that could affect the island or producingand exporting countries that sell to Cuba.

San Cristobal has two silos operating and amodern grain mill with a packing plant admin-istered by the Food Industry.

Granma said “families are already seeingthe benefits of the investment as to date354,000 bags of corn flour in 500 gram pack-ages have been distributed.”

Olga Lidia Tapa, first secretary of the Com-munist Party in Pinar del Río, said the productis distributed in the 14 municipalities of Pinardel Rio at 123 different sales points.

Besides the new modern refrigerated silos,Wong noted that the conventional silos andrefrigerated warehouses as well as transportvehicles and port facilities are under repair.

He told Raúl Castro that the Ministries ofConstruction, Agriculture and Sugar are incharge of building the foundations for thesilos throughout Cuba. He said 25 of thosewill have adjacent grain processing plants.

In his May Day 2006 speech, Fidel Castrosaid the initial phase of investment in 120 siloswould have a capacity of 240,000 metric tonsof grain. This, he said, would be followed by asecond phase of 130 silos and a third thatshould add 500,000 tons of storage capacity.

HERZFELD CLOSED-END FUNDS HIT NEW HIGHS

Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, Inc. said Apr.9 that the firm’s Managed Account Programs,which invest exclusively in closed-end funds,made a new all-time high at $3,316,407 (perunit) vs. $600,000 at inception.

The program consists of a total of six man-aged portfolios, each of which was fundedwith $100,000 at inception. Performance forone unit in each program was ahead 2.75%year-to-date and 452.73%, from inception, afterall fees and commissions.

Performance got a boost from a 5.1% shareprice increase in Tri-Continental Corp. (TY),which in early April announced plans to adopta managed payout policy.

TY is the largest holding of HerzfeldAdvisors’ discretionary accounts. Herzfeldoperates the Herzfeld Caribbean Basin FundInc., which trades on Nasdaq SmallCapExchange under the symbol CUBA.

Details: Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors, PO Box161465, Miami, FL 33116. Tel: (305) 271-1900. E-mail: [email protected].


Cuban team to examine property rights issue

Ateam of economists, anthropologistsand philosophers will study the issueof property rights in Cuba.

The multidisciplinary effort — the first ofits kind ever in Cuba — will examine theissue from the perspective of how to limitinefficiency, theft, poor service and corrup-tion, according to official media.

“Finding new methods to improve econo-mic efficiency and stop corruption are themain objectives of the large group of pro-fessionals, who for the first time began aproject analyzing property in the country,”said the official newspaper Juventud Rebeldein a report quoted Apr. 9 by Reuters.

The team, led by Jesús García ofHavana’s Instuto de Filosofía, is expected toproduce a report within three years.

“Socialist property in Cuba faces externaland internal threats. To fight them success-fully science needs to find the causes,” eco-nomist Ernesto Molina, from Cuba’s topschool for international relations, said dur-ing the meeting, held at Havana’s Centro deEstudios de Economía y Planificación.

Plans to form the Commission on Social-ist Property Relations were first announcedin October by Juventud Rebelde following ascathing three-part expose by the daily ongraft and poor service in shops and bars.

“The current irregularities in the coun-try’s services, in the midst of the search fora better economic model, has meant Cubastill does not have a retail and services sec-tor that satisfies people’s expectations,” thenewspaper concluded at the time.


CULTURE

BY LARRY LUXNER

Klezmer music, rooted in the Jewish shtetlof 19th-century Eastern Europe, is mak-ing an unprecedented comeback. So is

Cuban salsa, whose Afro-Caribbean rhythmsare enjoying a wave of global popularity.

It was only a matter of time before someenterprising musician came along and com-bined the two.

That someone is Havana-born drummerRoberto Juan Rodríguez, founder of the five-piece jazz band Cuban Klezmer.

“People ask me if I’m Jewish,” said Rodrí-guez, 45, who lives in New York and dissemi-nates his music through the Tzadik recordlabel. “I say no, but I’m getting closer.”

Listening to Cuban Klezmer, it’s often hardto tell whether you’re hearing Cuban music,or Jewish music — or something entirely newand different.

“My father says this is music you’ve neverheard before, but you feel you have,” Rodrí-guez explained. “There’s the minor keys, thesadness in the melodies, the joyfulness of it.”MUSICIAN BEGAN BY PLAYING BAR-MITZVAHS

The Washington Post gives the composerrave reviews. Richard Harrington, the paper’smusic critic, said his instrumental pieces“have plenty of festive rhythmic energy, butthe Afro-Cuban element is somewhat down-played. With rich, complex arrangements, themusic has a stately, chamber music feel morereflective of the European-Cuban danzón andSpanish-Cuban guajira traditions.”

Rodríguez, who was raised Catholic, left hisnative Havana at the age of 9, by which timehe was already playing violin, piano and trum-pet. His family, escaping communism underFidel Castro, fled to Mexico, later crossingthe border into the United States and eventu-

ally settling in South Florida.“My father [trumpet player and bandleader

Roberto Luís Rodríguez] had a lot of Jewishfriends in Cuba, so when we got to Miami, weparachuted right into the Jewish community.At the age of 11, I became a drummer, and Istarted to play at bar-mitzvahs and Jewish

Cuban Klezmer mixes two great musical traditions into one

weddings,” he said. “In 1974, I began playingfor the Miami Beach Yiddish Theatre.

“I learned a lot about Jewish culture and his-tory through the immigrants and Holocaustsurvivors I met in Miami. It seeped into myDNA,” said Rodríguez, who studied at Hav-ana’s Caturla Conservatory of Music and atthe University of Miami. “It was a lesson thatyou don’t get unless you’re Jewish or youstudy Judaism. But it was through music thatI became aware of Jewish culture.”

Interestingly, Rodríguez’s wife — SusieIbarra, also a musician — is a Philippine-born,Hebrew-speaking Catholic who was previous-ly married to an Israeli.

“It’s not the latino but the Jewish communi-ty that’s supporting me,” he said. “I didn’t dothis project to get famous or make money, butbecause the opportunity came up. I was alrea-dy working with Jewish musicians who werepart of this label and had CDs on Tzadik.”BREAKING THE RULES

Rodríguez’s quintet, formed in 2000, in-cludes two Israelis — clarinet player GiladHarel and violinist Jonathan Keren — as wellas New York’s Rob Curto on accordion andBernie Mimoso on base. Mimoso, who is half-Cuban and half-Puerto Rican, played with leg-endary Puerto Rican bandleader Tito Puente,who died six years ago.

“Tito told me I should write my ownmusic,” said Rodríguez. “I give him credit forthat in one of my records.”

Thanks to his friendship with composerand alto saxophonist John Zorn, whose Tza-dik label specializes in “radical Jewish music,”Rodríguez went on to produce three CDs.

“I would never have done a record if it wasnot for John, who I think is one of the bestmodern composers now,” he said, adding that“this kind of music is radical because webreak the rules.”

Roberto Juan Rodríguez performs in Arlington, Va.

Rodríguez’s first CD, released in January2002, was “El Danzón de Moisés” (The Danceof Moses). Its cover is emblazoned with thedistinctive red, white and blue flag of Cuba —except with a Star of David where the regular

star should be. Rodríguezcalls his second CD“Baila! Gitano Baila!” acelebration of Cuba’s elu-sive Jewish community.

“Cuban music hasalways been popular, andthe Jews especially lovedit. When I was a kid in

Miami, my grandfather would take me toWolfie’s Deli on Collins Avenue, and we’d seethe old Jews dancing the cha-cha and therumba,” he recalled. “It’s in the gene pool. Allyou have to do is put on a record of old Cubanmusic, and you’ll get a Jewish couple in their80s starting to dance.”

Rodríguez has worked with Rubén Blades,Paquito D’Rivera, Celia Cruz, Joe Jackson,Paul Simon, Julio Iglesias and the MiamiSound Machine, among others.

“I’ve been through the gamut,” said Rodrí-guez, though he rarely performs other peo-ple’s compositions — which is why you won’thear him playing “Guantanamera,” “ComoFue” or “My Yiddische Mama.”

“I’m not a lyricist, I’m a drummer and acomposer,” he explained. “I could play otherpeople’s songs, but that takes me away frombeing original. I express an emotion justthrough musical sound, without lyrics.”STILL ON THE TO-DO LIST: MIAMI AND HAVANA

Rodríguez said there’s a long tradition ofJewish musicians turning to Latin music.

“Before Stan Getz was playing bossa nova,he played klezmer in the Catskills,” he said.“Gershwin even went to Cuba. In Miami, Iremember the Latin thing was Irving Fieldsand his Bagels and Bongos.”

Rodríguez has played his unique fusion ofklezmer and salsa in San Francisco, Toronto,New York and Washington. He’s toured allover Europe and is supposed to play soon atthe Barbicon Theater in London.

BBC-3 has nominated Rodríguez for across-cultural jazz project, and in Montreal,his latest CD, “Descarga Oriental: Maurice elMedioni Meets Roberto Rodríguez” recentlywon acclaim as “Best CD of the Year in WorldMusic.”

But the two places Rodríguez has neverplayed are Miami and Havana. “My music istoo political,” he said about Miami. “I’m alrea-dy mixing Jewish and Cuban. We tried to putsomething together last year, but it fell apart.”

Rodríguez has been back to Cuba only oncesince emigrating — in 1999, to visit his grand-parents, who still live in the crumblingHavana suburb of Marianao.

“That’s one of my dreams, to play in Cuba,but not for any political reason,” he said. “I’donly play for the Jewish community there.”

A recent article in the New York Timesabout Jewish life in Cuba has generatedenormous interest in B’nai B’rith.

Stanley Cohen, international chairmanof the group’s Cuba Jewish Relief Project,said a Feb. 4 article by Caren Osten Gersz-berg — entitled “In Cuba, Finding a TinyCorner of Jewish Life” — resulted in atleast 1,200 phone calls to his office.

“Talk about the power of the press.We’re still getting calls,” he said. “There’sa lot of interest in Cuba, and most peoplegenuinely want to help the community.”

It’s too late to join B’nai B’rith’s Jun. 6-14mission to Cuba, but space is still left for aDec. 6-14 mission to Havana, Cienfuegosand Santa Clara. Under U.S. law, the tripis open only to B’nai B’rith members.

Details: Stan Cohen, B’nai B’rith CubaJewish Relief Project, Pittsburgh. Tel: (412)521-2390. E-mail: [email protected].

B’nai B’rith plans mission

LAR

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LUX

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Revived cement plant, oil refinery could help CienfuegosPROVINCES

This is the 8th in a series of monthly articles on Cuba’s 14provinces by cartographer Armando H. Portela, who has aPh.D. in geography from the Soviet Academy of Sciences inHavana. Portela currently resides in Miami.

BY ARMANDO H. PORTELA

Cienfuegos is a relatively new province. Itwas created in 1976 when the old provinceof Las Villas was split to form three new

jurisdictions, including the neighboring provin-ces of Villa Clara and Sancti Spíritus.

Excluding the City of Havana, Cienfuegos isthe smallest province in Cuba, with an area ofonly 4,180 sq kms (1,615 sq miles), or 3.8% ofCuba’s land area. The territory is made up of fer-tile, flat and cultivated plains occupying 73% ofthe area, and by sparsely populated mountainscovered with forests and coffee plantations in theremaining 27%.

The mountains of Escambray rise in south-eastern Cienfuegos province to an altitude of1,140 meters (3,740 feet) at Pico San Juan (alsoknown as Pico La Cuca), which is the highestpoint west of the Sierra Maestra mountain rangein eastern Cuba.POPULATION

Cienfuegos currently has 400,976 inhabitants,or 3.6% of Cuba’s total population. Its populationis virtually stagnant, with annual growth of 0.6%between 1994 and 1999, dropping to 0.4%in the 2000-06 period. That’s in contrast tothe 1980s — the peak of industrial inves-ment — when workers from other parts ofCuba streamed into Cienfuegos, pushingup population by 1.4% a year.

The provincial capital, also called Cien-fuegos, ranks as Cuba’s 10th-largest city,with 140,734 people as of December 2006,or around 35% of the province’s inhabi-tants. Other towns in the province includeCumanayagua (24,400), Cruces (20,000),Aguada de Pasajeros (16,000), Palmira(12,000), Lajas (11,000), Rodas (10,000),Abreus (5,000) and Yaguaramas (3,500).ECONOMY

The local economy is a combination offarming, manufacturing and port activities.The province’s development is closely tiedto the bay and port that share its name.

Cienfuegos has 3,038 sq kms (1,173 sqmiles) of agricultural land. Of these, sugarcane accounted for 127,000 hectares, or30% of the total, prior to the 2002 downsiz-ing of the industry. Now, just 74,000 hec-tares (24% of the total) is devoted to sugar.

Sugar production and shipping is theeconomic backbone of Cienfuegos, a con-dition that remains even after the downsiz-ing, which left the province with seven a-ctive mills — compared to the 12 that exist-ed in 2002, when Cienfuegos accounted for6-7% of total Cuban sugar production.

Poor yields forced authorities to closethe following mills: Martha Abreu (former-ly San Francisco); Ramón Balboa (SanAgustín); Primero de Mayo (Perseveran-cia); Espartaco (Hormiguero) and PepitoTey (Soledad). All were built between 1839

and 1892; together, they pro-duced 170,000 tons a year in themid-1940s. Dismantling the millsleft at least 12,000 people jobless.

By Cuban standards, the sugarmills of Cienfuegos are typicallysmall, except for the Cinco deSeptiembre mill — built in the1980s — with an original grind-ing capacity of 7,400 tons a day,today reduced to 4,600 tons/day,or 25% of the province’s capacity.

At only 100,000 tons, this har-vest’s expected output is a pit-tance compared to the 500,000-ton-a-year harvests produced inCienfuegos before the collapse ofthe Soviet bloc.

At current market prices, theprovince’s 2006-07 harvest repre-sents a value of only $24 million,compared to more than $300 mil-lion in the 1980s.


Pasture lands, mainly spontaneous and generally infested withthorny bushes and weeds, cover 105,000 hectares. At their peak, dairyfarms along the Arimao River Valley near the town of Cumanayaguaproduced 40 million liters of fresh milk per year, thanks to a qualityHolstein herd and mixed breeds, but this has decreased considerablyin the last decade as result of the economic crisis.

Coffee covers around 5,300 hectares in the mountains. Althoughoutput is modest, Cienfuegos produces the high-priced CrystalMountain brand, which is exported to Japan, Taiwan and WesternEurope. Coffee yields are generally poor. Growers left the mountains— sometimes against their will in the 1960s, as the armed uprisingagainst Castro’s government strengthened in the Escambray moun-tains — and the worker shortage here is now critical.

A plan to attract farmers back to the coffee zones in the mid-’90s suc-ceeded in luring only 1,600 settlers in the last five years. Coffee grow-ing is blamed for causing considerable damage to the environment,but the same lack of resources that dramatically cut output in the lastdecade has forced the government to restore some environmentallyfriendly — and cheaper — growing methods used over 50 years ago.INDUSTRY

Major investments in the 1970s and ‘80s turned Cienfuegos into oneof Cuba’s leading industrial hubs, but the economic hardships at theend of the 1990s has paralyzed the province’s industrialization.

Even so, the industrial expansion has had severe environmental con-sequences. Uncontrolled industrial waste disposal, oil spills and un-treated runoff from the sugar industry reportedly have ruined marineecosystems in the bay (see CubaNews, September 2002, page 3).

The Juraguá nuclear power plant, easily the most notorious indus-trial investment in Cienfuegos, was begun in 1983, halted when theSoviet Union collapsed in 1991 and officially abandoned in 2000 —even though its first reactor was 75% to 80% finished and just two yearsaway from completion. The project roused deep safety concerns in the

United States from the very beginning, because the heart of the facili-ty would have been a Soviet-built 440-megawatt reactor similar to theone responsible for the April 1986 nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

The Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermal power plant began opera-tions in 1978 with a capacity of 398 MW, equivalent to 12% of Cuba’stotal generating capacity. It has two 34-year-old Czech-made units andtwo 24-year-old Japanese units. The government recently invested $37million to refurbish the plant so that it can burn Cuban crude oil, whichit says will save $50 million a year in imported fuel costs.

That power plant is linked to the backbone of Cuba’s national powertransmission grid through a double-extension line of 220 and 110 kVrunning 60 km (37 miles) to Santa Clara, in the center of the island.

The Karl Marx cement factory, opened in 1980, was recently reno-vated and expanded at a cost of $105 million. Now known as CementosCienfuegos SA, the plant is 50% owned by Cemvid — a unit of Cuba’sMinistry of Basic Industry — and 50% by Las Pailas de Cemento SA, aSpanish company controlled by a private investment bank.

The plant now has two kilns producing 1.6 million metric tons a year,boosting Cuba’s total annual cement production to 2.5 million tons (seeCubaNews, April 2004, page 6).

Another megaproject involves the Camilo Cienfuegos oil refinery,which has remained idle since its completion in 1991. It has a potentialrefining capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (3 million tons per year) —or over 30% of Cuba’s annual fuel consumption.

Last year, CubaNews reported that Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSAsaid it would invest $83 million to rehabilitate the Soviet-designedrefinery in a joint venture known as PDV-Cupet SA, owned 51% by theCuban government and 49% by Venezuela.

The aim is to build a pipeline that will take as much as 120,000 bar-rels a day of products to a 600,000-bbl storage terminal on the island’snorthwestern coast. The refinery is to open sometime in 2007, initiallyprocessing 65,000 b/d of crude (see CubaNews, June 2006, page 2).INFRASTRUCTURE

Although all settlements and economic hubs are reachable throughpaved roads and railroads, Cienfuegos lies relatively far from Cuba’sprimary land routes — the National Expressway, the old CentralHighway and the Central Railroad — and is instead connected to allthree by narrow roads.

A domestic airport located close to the capital city has limited, irreg-ular links with the rest of the country, while the Port of Cienfuegos isthe second-busiest in Cuba after Havana. Cienfuegos boasts the lead-ing terminal for Cuban sugar, capable of handling over two million tonsa year. At its heyday, the bulk sugar terminal handled 30% of all Cuba’ssugar exports. The port also exports citrus, cement and fuel.

In 2004, Cienfuegos attracted 163,295 tourists — roughly 8% of allvisitors to Cuba — generating $23 million in revenues and $4.5 millionin profits for the tourism industry.

Pedestrians stroll along a busy street in downtown Cienfuegos (top), whileabove, a campesino uses oxen to flow his field in rural Cienfuegos province.

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CARIBBEAN UPDATEYou already know what’s going in Cuba,

thanks to CubaNews. Now find out what’shappening in the rest of this diverse andfast-growing region.

Subscribe to Caribbean UPDATE, amonthly newsletter founded in 1985. Cor-porate and government executives, as wellas scholars and journalists, depend on thispublication for its insightful, timely cover-age of the 30-plus nations and territories ofthe Caribbean and Central America.

When you receive your first issue, youhave two options: (a) pay the accompany-ing invoice and your subscription will beprocessed; (b) if you’re not satisfied, justwrite “cancel” on the invoice and return it.There is no further obligation on your part.

The cost of a subscription to CaribbeanUPDATE is $267 per year. A special rate of$134 is available to academics, non-profitorganizations and additional subscriptionsmailed to the same address.

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If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know!Fax details to CubaNews at (301) 949-0065 or send e-mail to [email protected].

Apr. 11: Panel on results of 2007 FIU/Cuba poll. Details: Hugh Gladwin, Director/Institutefor Public Opinion Research, Florida International University, 3000 NE 151 Street, NorthMiami, FL 33181. Tel: (305) 919-5778. Fax: (305) 919-5242. E-mail: [email protected].

Apr. 12: “19th-20th Century Cuba” Casa Bacardí, Miami. Private collection of unpublished,pre-revolutionary panoramic photographs that “give a unique and magnificent perspective ofsocial life, landscape, and urban development.” Exhibit runs thru Jun. 8. Cost: $5 (studentsfree). Details: Institute for Cuban & Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami, PO Box248174, Miami, FL 33124-3010. Tel: (305) 284-2822. URL: www.miami.edu/iccas.

Apr. 24: “New Perspectives from the Cuban-American Business Community” The BildnerCenter, New York. Speakers: Carlos Saladrigas, co-chair of the Cuba Study Group, and Bar-uch College professor Ted Henken. One of a series of events focusing on the Cuban-Ameri-can exile community. Details: The Bildner Center, City University of New York, 365 FifthAve., Room #9206, New York, NY 10017. Tel: (212) 817-2099. E-mail: [email protected].

Apr. 24: “Economic and Institutional Challenges for Cuba” Breakfast co-sponsored by TheAmericas Society and Council of the Americas, New York. Speakers: Carlos Saladrigas, co-chair of the Cuba Study Group; Andrew Gómez of University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban& Cuban-American Studies, and attorney José W. Fernández of Latham & Watkins. Cost:$50. Details: Americas Society, 680 Park Ave., New York, NY 10021. Fax: (212) 517-6247.E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]. URL: www.as-coa.org.

Apr. 26: “Doing Business With Cuba,” InfoMart, Dallas. One-day workshop co-sponsoredby Texas-Cuba Trade Alliance and International Trade Center/SBDC. Washington lawyerBob Muse and Larry Luxner, publisher of CubaNews, to speak. Cost: $60. Details: Dr. ParrRosson, Texas A&M University, 464a Blocker Bldg. 2124 TAMU, College State, TX 77843.Tel: (979) 845-3070. Fax: (979) 847-9378. E-mail: [email protected]. URL: www.tcta.us.

Apr. 27: “El Lector de Tabaquería: Historia de Una Tradición Cubana” The Bildner Center,New York. Author Araceli Tinajero discusses her book about the traditional Cuban “lector”who reads newspapers, magazines and literature to cigar workers. Presentation is free andwill be in Spanish. Details: The Bildner Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave.,Rooms #9204/05, New York, NY 10017. Tel: (212) 817-2099. E-mail: [email protected].

May 14-17: International workshop on the effects of iron on human health, Havana. De-tails: Centro Nacional de Biopreparados (BIOCEN), Carretera de Beltran, Km 1.5, Bejucal,La Habana. Tel: +53 7 881-7024. Fax: +53 7 883-1144. E-mail: [email protected].

May 23-29: Or Hadash/Next Generation Jewish Humanitarian Mission to Cuba. Orlando’syoung Jewish professionals organization lead smission to support Cuba’s tiny Jewish com-munity. Details: Congregation Ohev Shalom, 5015 Goddard Avenue, Orlando, FL 32804.Tel: (407) 645-5933 x233. Fax: (407) 296-7101. E-mail: [email protected].

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(ISSN 1073-7715), founded in1993, is published every month by Luxner NewsInc., PO Box 1345, Wheaton, MD 20915, USA.

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Editor & Publisher■ LARRY LUXNER ■

Washington correspondent■ ANA RADELAT ■

Political analyst■ DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI ■

Feature writers■ VITO ECHEVARRÍA ■

■ HELEN SIMON ■

Cartographer■ ARMANDO H. PORTELA ■

Marketing consultant■ ANI LUXNER MATSON ■

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