Pérez Roque off to Europe for dialogues

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque will be busy next week. Monday afternoon, he will arrive in Madrid to prepare with his Spanish counterpart,  Miguel Angel Moratinos, the agenda for the political dialogue the two governments agreed upon in April 2007. On Wednesday, Pérez Roque will travel to Paris to arrange, through French intermediaries, the beginning of the dialogue between Havana and the European Union. A meeting between Cuba and the EU to formalize that relationship is expected "soon," according to Moratinos.
Last June, the 27 EU nations agreed to lift the sanctions they had imposed upon Cuba in 2003 and grant the island a one-year period for talks and cooperation. That period would hinge on Cuba's actions on human-rights issues.
In a related development, Madrid plans to offer Havana "a plan to relieve part of the commercial debt [Cuba] owes Spain," the Spanish daily ABC reported Sunday. According to ABC, that debt amounts to US$1.5 billion. The debt forgiveness "would affect only some of the elements of a debt two-thirds of which was incurred before 1986," the newspaper said.
On Tuesday, Pérez Roque is scheduled to pay a visit to King Juan Carlos at Zarzuela Palace. [PHOTO SHOWS: Moratinos and Pérez Roque in Havana last year.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Help end embargo, Russian asks EC

The United States must end its economic blockade of Cuba and repeal the Helms-Burton Act, said Ivan Melnikov, deputy chairman of the Russian Duma, at a meeting Monday of the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council. Speaking in Strasbourg, France, Melnikov, who is also deputy chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, criticized what he called Washington's policy of extraterritorial pressure on other sovereign states. "This blockade is an aggression not only against Cuba but also against third countries," Melnikov said, according to the Cuban news agency Prensa Latina. The Russian official asked the Assembly to demand "the liquidation of anti-Cuban and discriminatory measures, such as the Torricelli Law." Commenting on the effects of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Melnikov said that Washington's best humanitarian aid for the Cuban people would have been a six-month suspension of the blockade, at least, to enable the island to buy food, construction materials, and other necessary supplies in the U.S. market. Melnikov was accompanied at the meeting by Gennadi Zyuganov, first secretary of the CPRF, and Alexander Babakov, former deputy speaker of the Duma.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Díaz-Balart: Embargo will lead to change

The U.S. should not lift its embargo against Cuba, Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said in an article published Monday in USA Today. Choking the flow of trade and travel will bring democracy to the island, he writes, and "it is in the national interest of the United States for there to be a democratic transition in Cuba, as it obviously is in the interest of the long-suffering people of Cuba." In addition, "it is critical that external pressure be kept for a democratic transition to take place in Cuba once the dictator [Fidel Castro] is no longer on the scene." An end to the embargo, if contemplated, would be "conditioned on three fundamental developments: the liberation of all political prisoners; the legalization of all political parties, labor unions and the press; and the scheduling of free elections. Those are the exact same conditions that brought about the democratic transitions in Portugal, in Spain, in South Africa, in Chile, in the Dominican Republic and in many other dictatorships." To read the entire article, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

No breathing room for Cuba, official says

Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez on Monday defended the current U.S. sanctions against Cuba, saying that "we don't want to give them a lot of breathing room at a time when we believe change will happen," The Associated Press reported. The embargo "has denied a sworn enemy of our country resources that he can use against us," he said. Speaking at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., the Cuban-born Gutiérrez said the situation in Cuba has deteriorated so much after the recent passage of two hurricanes that Raúl Castro "will have a hard time keeping it together." To read the AP report, click here. Full text of Gutiérrez's remarks can be found here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuba to U.S.: Why the conditions?

The Cuban Foreign Ministry responded Wednesday to a renewed offer from the U.S. State Department to provide aid to the island if the Cuban government first allows a U.S. "humanitarian assessment team [...] to inspect the affected areas." Below, excerpts from Havana's response:
• "Cuba does not require the assistance of an humanitarian assessment team because it has enough trained specialists to perform this task."
• "If the Government of the United States is really willing to cooperate with the Cuban people, it is asked to permit the sale to Cuba of indispensable materials [...] to repair homes and reestablish power grids."
• Cuba repeats its "request for the Government of the United States to suspend the restrictions that bar U.S. companies from offering private commercial credit to Cuba to buy foodstuffs" in the United States.
• Washington's repeated offer of conditional aid "does not really respond to the two specific requests [for materials and credit] that the Government of Cuba made to the Government of the United States, [...] which it reiterates in the Note submitted today."
• "The Government of the United States behaves cynically. It attempts to suggest that it is desperate to cooperate with Cuba and that we refuse. It lies without scruples. Why does the Government of the United States insist on the pretext of making an on-site inspection, when ample and evident information about the serious damage caused by the hurricanes [...] has been disseminated? Why does it condition [its aid] to the dispatch of an inspection team, something that no other country [...] has done? Why does [it] refuse to allow Cuba to buy [in the U.S.] materials to repair homes [...] or reestablish power grids? Why does [it] forbid U.S. companies, and their subsidiaries in any other country, to offer Cuba private credit to buy foodstuffs ...?"
• "Cuba has not asked the Government of the United States to give it anything free. Simply to allow it to buy. The rest is pure rhetoric, pretexts and justifications that nobody believes." For the entire text, in Spanish, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Tobacco industry seriously hurt by storm

Cuban cigars might be scarce next year. Hurricane Gustav's winds grievously wounded the tobacco industry in Pinar del Río province, the official daily Granma reported Saturday. More than 5,000 curing barns -- where tobacco leaves are traditionally dried before being turned into cigars -- were damaged; of those, 3,300 were flattened, the newspaper said. The cities of Pinar del Río, Viñales, La Palma and Minas de Matahambre reported damages, but the hardest hit city was Consolación del Sur, where 1,836 of the existing 1,857 curing barns were destroyed. Carpenters from other provinces are being organized into brigades and will be taken to the worst-affected areas to rebuild the barns. Cuban stogies account for 80 percent of the world's cigar market; sales in 2007 totaled $402 million, according to the Cuban government. For the Granma report (in Spanish), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuba's foreign debt rises

Cuba's foreign debt continues to mount, the Reuters news agency reported Friday. The Central Bank has told creditors the debt increased by $1.1 billion in 2007 to $16.5 billion, Reuters said, citing sources "close to Cuban efforts to reschedule some official debt." [UPDATE: The figures were confirmed Saturday by the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America.] The active debt -- consisting of money borrowed since the 1991 dissociation of the Soviet Union -- was $8.9 billion in 2007, up from $7.8 billion in 2006. The active debt includes about $4.5 billion in official debt owed to other governments, $2.5 billion owed to suppliers, and $1.86 billion owed to foreign banks. Reuters also reported that Venezuela is Cuba's top provider of funds, followed by China. To read the entire news item, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuba can't pay debt to Russian bank

As if Cuba didn't have enough financial problems, the International Commercial Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation has upheld a lawsuit filed by the Moscow-based International Investment Bank (MIB, for its Russian acronym) demanding payment for $330 million in loans to the National Bank of Cuba. Technically, the MIB can now seize the NBC's assets anywhere in the world and sell Cuban debts (albeit at a loss) in other countries, reports the Russian business daily Kommersant. But the MIB is reluctant to take such drastic measures and will try to settle the debt "on mutually acceptable terms," according to MIB chairman Andrei Serebryakov (in photo). The Russian newspaper was unable to obtain comment from the NBC. The Cuban bank "does not even have its own Internet site," wrote the reporter, "and the only telephone number obtained by [this] correspondent was answered by an answering machine." The Cuban debt incurred during the Soviet era adds up to $25-26 billion, Kommersant said, adding that "the chances of recovering it are close to zero." The Reuters news service recently reported that the National Bank of Cuba failed to pay debts to Japanese and Canadian firms, claiming it was short of funds. (See our blog entry Cuba's cash not flowing.) To read the Kommersant article, in Russian, click here. For an abridged version in English, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuba's cash not flowing; creditors worry

Cuba has notified at least two foreign governments that it cannot meet its debt payments and that it wants to renegotiate its indebtedness, the Reuters news agency reported Wednesday. Western diplomats in Havana did not say what governments were involved but confided that Cuba did not have the funds to fully meet August payments to them or their companies. "This is really bad news; everybody is nervous," a Western businessman with years of experience in Cuba told Reuters. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance stopped accepting new applications for trade insurance for business with Cuba after Cuba failed to pay Japanese exporters for its purchases. Canada's Pebercan, which produces oil in Cuba, said in June it had not received debt payments totaling $37 million from state-owned Cuba Petróleos (Cupet), which blamed "the difficult economic situation" and rising food and raw material costs for its failure to pay. To read the Reuters news report, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Texas seeks to boost sales to Cuba

Exporting food and agricultural products to Cuba could bring millions of dollars to Texas farmers and create hundreds of jobs, the Texas-Cuba Trade Alliance concluded after meeting in San Antonio Aug. 15. The alliance comprises ranchers, farmers, Texas Department of Agriculture officials and experts on international trade. The conference, on ways to increase sales to the island, was co-sponsored by Texas A&M University. "The growing Cuban tourism industry [...] and the weaker dollar are leading to U.S. agricultural goods being more affordable" to Cubans, said Dr. Parr Rosson, an A&M economist. Corn, soybean meal and oil, and frozen chicken are among the products most in demand in Cuba, he said, adding that the island "is the top grain market in the Caribbean and has good potential for consumer-ready foods." A Texas trade mission to Havana in May led to contracts for the sale of cotton and other agricultural products; two other missions have been scheduled for November 2008 and early 2009. For an A&M report on the conference, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro. 

Actor asks for deeper changes in society

A renowned actor this week joined the ranks of Cuban intellectuals who are asking for deeper societal changes. Jorge Perugorría (you may remember him as the gay Diego in the 1993 movie Strawberry and Chocolate) told the Spanish newspaper El País that what's needed is "profound changes that will lift the country from its economic immobility and stimulate the people; [changes] that will put an end to this tragedy we're living, where, to get ahead, people have to leave the island or survive inside it by their own wits because they can't do it through their work."
After Raúl Castro took over, "people formed an expectation greater than what has in fact occurred. In recent months, [the authorities] have lifted some restrictions that were much too absurd -- such as the ban on staying in hotels or owning a cell phone -- but that mean nothing when you consider what the country needs and what should happen," the actor told El País.
What's happening now is "an evolution within the system itself" toward a socialism that's more efficient and "integrated into today's world, like China or Vietnam, [but] no one knows exactly." Asked if a sudden break with the current system would help matters, Perugorría answered: "Evolution is preferable to a rupture, and it is best that whatever happens in Cuba come from the government itself. The consequences of a rupture would be worse than a very slow change." Meanwhile, "the only right we Cubans have is to hope and be confident." To read the entire interview, in Spanish, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuba tells Japan it can't pay debts

The National Bank of Cuba this week told Japan's main export insurance company that it would default on imports from Japan because it is short of funds, the Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesday. The extent of the bank's insolvency is unclear, because Cuba is not a member of the International Monetary Fund, the paper said. The insurance company -- Nippon Export and Investment Insurance -- told Yomiuri it has already covered losses that several Japanese companies have incurred on their exports to Cuba, but has not made the details public. One such instance involved Meiwa Corp., a trading house that contended Cuba had not paid it for US$803,550 worth of medical instruments. Exports from Japan to Cuba, comprising mainly medical and other precision instruments, were worth about US$192.5 million in 2007. According to Yomiuri, "more of Cuba's debts may become uncollectable in the near future, as [the nation] has been seriously affected by soaring oil and food prices." To read the Yomiuri article (in English), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russians to aid Cuba in oil extraction

The Russian oil company Zarubezhneft will help Cuban oil company Cupet improve yields from its onshore oil field at Boca de Jaruco, east of Havana, Zarubezhneft's director general, Nikolai Grigorievich Brunich, told the Russian magazine Finmarket on Wednesday.
The Boca de Jaruco field has been under development for more than 40 years, yet only 4 percent of its reserves has been recovered. One big problem is that the oil is very heavy, so Zarubezhneft will have to apply modern Russian techniques to extract and refine it, Brunich said.
Zarubezhneft officials and technicians plan to arrive in Cuba on Sept. 20 to sign an agreement with Cupet and begin their research.
In addition, the Russians have been invited by PetroVietnam to join forces in the exploration of three blocks (oil deposits) offshore, Brunich said, "but we are only studying this question, so far." A decision will be made after the Russian company ascertains "how interesting the project is, from a commercial standpoint." The blocks leased by Vietnam are in deep water, "so the risk of the project is very high." To read the entire interview (in Russian), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Combined crops boost food production

A farm cooperative in Pinar del Río province is experimenting successfully with combined crops, the daily Granma reported Saturday. The Los Burros cooperative's main crop is bananas, which take about a year to produce. The trees are separated by lanes that are yards wide, so the farmers are using those empty (but fertile) lanes to plant cabbage, beans, malanga (a tuber) and papaya. In the year that it takes to grow a harvest of bananas, "we can get one or two harvests of greens, fruits or grains," says Luis Hernández, president of the cooperative. The proceeds from the sale of the additional produce have enabled the cooperative to emerge from a 250,000-peso deficit; Hernández expects to begin distributing profits by December. "Only a weather disaster could keep us from achieving that," he says. To read the entire article (in Spanish), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

U.S. is Cuba's 5th-largest trade partner

The United States has become Cuba's fifth-largest trading partner, thanks to a $100-million hike in U.S. agriculture sales in 2007, the Reuters news agency reported Thursday from Havana, citing Cuba's National Statistics Office. Total U.S. sales in 2007 added up to $582 million, compared with $484 million in 2006, when the U.S. ranked seventh on the list. The U.S. began selling food to Cuba in 2002, under an amendment to the embargo.
Cuba's top four partners in 2007 were Venezuela ($2.698 billion in business), China ($2.457 billion), Canada ($1.411 billion) and Spain ($1.154 billion).
Cuba's total trade was $13.8 billion, with exports of $3.7 billion and imports of $10 billion, Reuters reported.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Pesos, Please

   Four people were arrested Tuesday when they refused to pay their restaurant tab in Cuba’s dual dollar-based currency known as the “cuc.”
     Three different couples dined at La Casona de 17 in Vedado Tuesday and insisted on paying their bill in Cuba’s national currency.The people were part of the “With the Same Coin” campaign, which has initiated seven acts of civil disobedience in recent weeks. The campaign seeks an end to Cuba’s dual currency system which infuriates the populace, because workers are paid in one currency and most goods are available in another.
    It’s like if you got paid in dollars, but everything at the mall was euros.
     Magdelivia Hidalgo, the Florida rep for the Latin American Federation of Rural Women, said the first couple who tried paying in pesos was allowed to do so. The second couple was taken to the police station at abut 1:30 p.m., and the third as well some two hours later. By early evening, they still had not been released.
    “They have not committed any crime,” Hidalgo said. “They are not refusing to pay.”
     The last people to be arrested in these incidents were released around midnight the day of their protests.Tuesday’s protesters were Luis Carlos Gómez Fernandez; Raiza Ramírez López; Camilo Llerena Alberna; Daylen Valdes Matos; Lázaro Ruiz Mejía y Ailín Cárdenas Sosa, she said.
-Frances Robles

Putin: Restore Russia's position in Cuba

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday told his government's Presidium that Russia "should restore its position in Cuba and other countries," the Russian newspaper Kommersant said. Putin made the comment after hearing a report delivered to the nation's ministers by Vice President Igor Sechin on his recent visit to Cuba at the head of a trade delegation. Sechin reported to the Presidium on the several agreements signed on commercial projects, which included the establishment of an assembly plant in Cuba for Kamaz trucks. Automobile manufacturers Avtovaz, Zil and Gaz are negotiating similar projects with Cuba, Sechin said. According to Kommersant, "Putin asked about Fidel Castro's health. 'Those questions were not discussed at the meeting, but he always says he remembers your contacts with gratitude,' Sechin replied." And Sechin told Putin that Raúl Castro "said to tell you hello." To read a Herald report on the Presidium meeting, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russians keen on Caribbean crude

Russian oil companies have "sufficiently promising prospects" to join the Cubans as partners in the exploration of the Gulf of Mexico, off the northwestern coast of the island, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko told the ITAR-TASS news agency on Friday. Companies like Gazpromneft, TNK-BP and Rosneft are interested in exploring offshore fields. "Working groups will soon be set up as part of an agreement signed [this week] by the Russian Energy Ministry and the Cuban Ministry of Basic Industry," Shmatko told the agency. The Zarubezhneft oil giant is ready to offer Cuba its technologies for improving the oil-recovery efficiency of onshore oil fields, Shmatko said. The minister said Russia may help Cuba overhaul its oil-production infrastructure. Experts from state-owned Rosneft are going to Cuba to look at possibilities for sharing transportation technologies and help Cuba repair its crude-oil storage facilities. Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) will be involved in the negotiations because Venezuela is Cuba's strategic partner, Shmatko told ITAR-TASS.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Medvedev to Castro: Let's work together

Excerpts from letter from Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to Cuban President Raúl Castro, as released Friday (in English) by the Kremlin's press office. The letter was delivered by Russian Vice President Igor Sachin.
"Russia and Cuba are bound by traditions of friendship and partnership that have received a noticeable positive boost of late. Greater trust has come to our bilateral political dialogue and our trade and economic ties have taken on a new dynamic. In particular, the use of credit schemes has brought about an increase in Russian-Cuban trade. I think we should now make even more active efforts to develop our cooperation in areas such as fossil-fuels production and processing, energy, transport, information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, areas in which our countries have made many advances. We should work together and take steps towards carrying out bilateral investment projects and setting up joint ventures. The Russian-Cuban Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation has a big part to play in this process. Its regular meetings should focus above all on identifying and developing new areas for long-term cooperation.
"I am sure that our abundant experience of constructive cooperation in a broad range of areas will continue to serve the interests of our peoples and contribute to building a fair and just world order."

Russia, Cuba step up 'reactivation' of links

The Russian trade delegation now in Cuba is having a productive and profitable week. On Thursday, the two countries signed "several accords for the modernization of Cuba's civil-aviation fleet" with Russian technology and a contract for the purchase by Cuba of a TUpolev-204SE cargo plane, the news agency Prensa Latina reported. In addition, the Russian delegation stated that "there are sufficient foundations for the establishment of joint ventures in transportation and machine manufacture, and other areas, such as naval construction." "There was discussion about the repair of oil tankers," the Cuban news agency said, without elaborating. The head of the delegation, Vice President Igor Sechin plans to tour the beaches at Varadero on Friday "to appreciate the potential of the [tourism] sector on the island." [Photo shows Raúl Castro, center, meeting Thursday with Sechin, right, and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council. The meeting was "cordial and friendly and both parties stressed their mutual interest in continuing to improve and expand the reactivation of economic, trade and financial links," the Cuban account said.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russian VP begins trade-expansion talks

A large delegation from Russia met with Cuban officials Wednesday in Havana, "in a climate of trust and commitment, to deepen the economic and trade relations" between the two countries, the daily Granma reported Thursday. The sides were headed by Igor Ivanovich Sechin, Vice President of Russia, and Ricardo Cabrisas, Cuban Minister At Large. Working groups met to discuss a rapprochement in the fields of basic industry, aviation/transport, education, science and technology, computer science and communications, tourism, agriculture, military, financial and banking, and pharmacology.
Russia’s trade with Cuba was $363 million in 2007, according to the Russian daily Kommersant; it was more than $207 million in the first half of this year, a 20-percent increase over the same period in 2007. The Russian news agency Novosti quoted Sechin as saying that oil production, tourism, health care, nickel production, telecommunications and nanotechnology "are the most promising spheres for cooperation between the two countries." Sechin also met with Vice President Carlos Lage. Trade missions pass regularly through Havana but the size of this Russian delegation, the heft of its members, and the variety of its interests make this visit noteworthy. The Russians plan to be in Cuba until Saturday. [UPDATE: Raúl Castro met Thursday afternoon with Sechin and Gen. Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian Security Council.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

No major improvements, Raúl hints

Raúl Castro made no major pronouncements in his speech Saturday in Santiago de Cuba. And some of his statements were almost downbeat. Examples:
• "I repeat that the Revolution has done, and will continue to do, whatever it can to continue to move forward and reduce to a minimum the inevitable consequences of the current international crisis for the population. Nevertheless, we must explain the difficulties to our people in a timely manner and thus prepare ourselves to deal with them. We must get used to hearing not only the good news.
• "We still lack many things that we wish our people could enjoy, although this is a very different reality to [the reality] encountered by the Revolution.
• "Much as we may wish to solve every problem, we cannot spend more than what we have. And to gain the best advantage, it is indispensable that we save everything, primarily fuel.
• "I repeat what [Fidel Castro] said on this same podium, a day like this, 35 years ago: [...] 'As a poor country, without great natural resources that can be easily exploited [...] the objectives of our people on a material level cannot be very ambitious.' And he added: 'It will be our duty in the years ahead to raise to the maximum our efficiency in the utilization of our economic and human resources. To keep a detailed account of the expenses and the costs. And we should valiantly rectify any errors in idealism that we may have committed in the management of the economy,' he concluded."
For the full text of Castro's speech (in English), click here. For The Herald's report on the event, click here. For an NPR analysis, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Farmers are offered supplies on credit

The Cuban government has begun offering private farmers equipment and other resources on credit, along with land in usufruct, the Reuters news agency reported Wednesday. Farmers are being asked what machinery and supplies they need to exploit the land to its fullest, the agency said. Government officials "told us to present our requests immediately for what we need, and [said] that Venezuela, Iran and other countries had given credit to cover the resources," a member of a cooperative told Reuters. "We can ask for whatever we need. Machinery, spare parts, irrigation systems, wind mills, land-clearing kits, you name it." International sugar expert G.B. Hagelberg told Reuters that "the government recognizes the key role of the private sector in solving Cuba's food problems and has junked the long-held doctrine of the superiority of large-scale collectivist agriculture." For the entire Reuters report, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Laws on land, jobs get swift publicity

The official daily Granma on Friday took the unusual step of publishing the entire text of two decrees issued by Raúl Castro -- one on the granting of idle land in usufruct, and the other on the rehiring of retired teachers at full pay. Castro had previewed both measures during a National Assembly meeting on July 11.
Decree No. 259, dated July 10, "authorizes the delivery of idle state-owned land to natural or legal persons, in usufruct, [...] for up to 10 years and may be successively extended for a period of up to 10 years for natural persons." Legal persons (companies or cooperatives) can work the land for up to 25 years and extend the usufruct for another 25 years. Other provisions:
• The usufruct is "nontransferable and may not be ceded or sold to third persons," except when the farmer cannot continue to work the land because of advanced age or ill health. He can then recommend his successor.
• Farmers availing themselves of the new law will be taxed for the use of the land.
• Farmers who own no land can receive a maximum of 33.16 acres in usufruct; those who already own land can expand their property to 99.48 acres.
• The new law takes effect as soon as published in the Official Gazette; the rules to implement it will be announced on Aug. 11.
Decree No. 260, dated July 15, "provisionally and exceptionally authorizes teachers and professors retired for reasons of age [...] to receive the full salary of the post they assume, plus their pension."
To read the entire text of both decrees (in Spanish only), click words in blue, above. For a detailed account in The Miami Herald, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Puzzled blogger seeks enlightenment

Don't know much about socioeconomics, so I was intrigued by a couple of the recommendations put forth by Raúl Castro during his speech Friday, regarding the Social Security bill and employment issues. According to the draft proposal, retirees may rejoin the labor force for full wages. Castro even invited retired teachers "to return to [their] noble profession" and "contribute [their] professionalism and experience" for the full standard wages plus their regular pension. And the government is weighing the possibility of allowing people to hold more than one job, "the so-called pluri-employment."
So, if retirees and "pluri-workers" (for lack of a better word) rejoin the work force and take up the available jobs, where does that leave the young and inexperienced people who are looking for entry-level jobs to join the labor force? Will there be enough jobs for all?
It sounds like a Catch-22 situation, where a young person's only way to gain experience is to get a job, but he can't get a job because he lacks the experience an older candidate (retiree or pluri-worker) brings. Perhaps a reader can enlighten me.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Absentee calls Raúl's speech 'perfect'

In a parting quip, Raúl Castro on Friday referred to a missing delegate to the National Assembly meeting he had just addressed.
It is important that all Assembly members agree with the proposals made to solve the national problems, Raúl said after concluding his speech, "but is very important that the fellow who sits there, where I sit," and Raúl made a gesture, as if stroking his beard, "is also fully in agreement." The audience chuckled.
Without naming the absent delegate, Raúl said that he took him a copy of the speech he planned to deliver. "He has a very active life, exercising, reading, meditating, thinking, (sometimes he tells me about international news that I have not had the time to read) and I asked him to answer me as quickly as possible. He set a record this time."
Soon thereafter, the absent delegate conveyed his approval to Raúl through a secretary: "It's perfect." So Raúl asked the secretary to express his congratulations to him. "To him?" the secretary asked. "Yes," replied Raúl, "because he has a very intelligent brother who learned everything from him."
"Laughter and applause" followed Raúl's narrative, according to the official transcript. (For an English-language translation by the BBC, click here.)
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Home building unsatisfactory, officials say

Although the construction, preservation and rehabilitation of homes has consumed millions of dollars, it has covered barely 5-to-7 percent of the housing needs nationwide, the official daily Granma said Wednesday. Reporting on a meeting of the Construction Commission of the National Assembly, the newspaper said that "the most basic evaluation [reveals] that the country has neither money nor materials to undertake larger projects at this time." Between January and June, only 45.1 percent of the housing planned for 2008 had been completed, the National Housing Institute reported. Havana City, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo were the provinces lagging farthest behind. Delays, mismanagement, shoddy work and theft were the most frequent complaints. What's "unacceptable," Granma said, citing members of the panel, "is the low output of plants that produce [housing materials], the organizational problems in those plants" and "the failure of various organizations and institutions to meet the commitments they assumed with the [housing] program, even as -- on more than one occasion -- they insisted that they were prepared." The problems are bound to extend into 2009, the commission members warned.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Private transporters to be licensed again

The government will soon issue licenses for the private transportation of passengers, the Spanish daily ABC reported Tuesday, citing the EFE news agency. Transport Minister Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz said on Radio Rebelde that "it has been decided -- and will be implemented in the next several days -- to authorize operators' licenses for private transportation," in effect, private jitneys. Those vehicles will not compete with public buses because they will operate in rural areas and some suburban areas "not served by the vehicles now arriving" in Cuba from China and Belarus. The licenses "will be approved on an individual basis," and the driver "will be given fuel, his fare will be set, and his route and timetable will be set. It's as if it were a public bus for the rural zone," Sierra said. The measure is seen as another opening for private enterprise in some sectors of the economy. Private carriers (known as boteros, or boatsmen) were licensed in the 1990s but the licenses were discontinued in 1999 without explanation. For more, in The Herald, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cubans are warned to tighten belts

First, the good news about the Cuban economy: the farm sector grew by 7.5 percent over the first half of 2007; industrial production was up 6.2 percent; tourism, 14-15 percent. Investments were up; so was energy production. Wages increased by 4.6 percent. So said Minister of the Economy José Luis Rodríguez, addressing the Economic Affairs Commission of the National Assembly, Monday in Havana.
Now, the bad news. Food and fuel prices in the international market are up, at a time when Cuba imports 50 percent of its food and fuel. Productivity rose only 3.5 percent since January, less than the wages.
The upshot, according to Radio Habana: "adjustments and restrictions are inevitable in the national economy, as well as in the drafting of the 2009 economic plan." Measures must be taken "to prevent the dangers of an internal financial imbalance." How much belt-tightening will be required and how will the "adjustments and restrictions" affect ordinary consumers? Details are still to come. For an account in The Herald, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Brazil, Cuba negotiate an oil venture

The Brazilian oil company Petrobras is negotiating with Havana for offshore exploration rights, the president of the Cuban oil company Cupet told the Brazilian news service Agência Estado. According to Fidel Rivero, Cuba has confirmed the existence of reserves of up to 20 billion barrels of crude in waters off the Gulf of Mexico -- twice the estimate made recently by U.S. government experts. "What we shall produce will be well above our needs. Therefore, our objective is to transform our country into an exporter [of crude] in the next several years and use the revenue to finance our economy," said Rivero (shown here with Raúl Castro.) One estimate is that initial production will be 500,000 barrels per day; Cuba consumes 140,000 b/d. Cupet and Petrobras are now discussing rates of investment and exploration conditions, Rivero said. A final announcement on the negotiations is expected in a few months. Rivero also said that American oil executives are visiting Cuba to find out more about the island's oil potential -- "but they're coming in as tourists, through the back door."
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Refinery will double output, official says

Cuba plans to double the output of its oil refinery in Santiago de Cuba to 50,000 barrels per day, the Reuters news agency reported Friday. Foreign Investments Minister Martha Lomas Morales said on TV that Venezuela would pick up the tab but did not specify the cost of the expansion or when it would be completed, Reuters said. The plant, about 500 miles east of Havana, was owned by Texaco; after it was nationalized, it was renamed the Hermanos Díaz refinery. It currently processes 22,000 barrels of crude per day, according to Venezuelan sources. To read the entire Reuters report, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Cuba will buy 100 buses from Belarus

The government of Belarus this week approved the sale to Cuba of 100 buses for US$17.47 million, the Interfax news agency reported Saturday. Belarus also OK'd a credit line of US$14.8 million for the transaction. The credit is granted for five years, at an annual rate of interest of 8 percent. Delivery of the buses (manufactured by MAZ, acronym for Minsk Automobile Plant) will begin after 15 percent of the total cost is paid in advance. According to Nikolai Cherguinets, chairman of the Permanent Commission for International Affairs, the sale will "improve the economic and trade cooperation between Belarus and Cuba and reinforce Belarus' position in the Latin American market." Trade between the two countries amounted to US$21.2 million in 2007. The bus deal resulted from a visit to Minsk in February by Minister Without Portfolio Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz. Cuba also buys buses from China.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Russia suspends purchase of oil refinery

Lukoil, Russia's largest oil company, has shelved plans to buy a refinery in Cuba because its exploration projects in Venezuela have run into delays, Lukoil's president said Thursday. "Unfortunately, the signing of Venezuelan projects has dragged on. The laws being approved today by the country are a burden to its economy," Vagit Alekperov told the Russian newspaper Kommersant. Lukoil cannot be sure the projects will crystallize "as a source of supply for the Cuban refinery. And to buy a refinery in Cuba without having crude-supply logistics makes no sense," he said. According to Alekperov, the Caribbean "has unique reserves of oil and gas, in which Lukoil must be present. We are interested in producing and refining oil in the region because we are present in the U.S. retail market [...] where we sell 8 billion tons of oil products per year. The project has prospects to develop." In this country, Lukoil gasoline is dispensed at 2,000 fuel stations in 13 states.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Quest is on for perfect socialist business

An expression being used more and more by the Cuban government is "perfeccionamiento empresarial" -- roughly translated as the perfecting or enhancement of businesses. It is a model developed by Raúl Castro, when he was Defense Minister, to improve the performance of armed forces suppliers, says The Financial Times in a current article. And it is being applied to Cuba's business practices today. "Perfeccionamiento" grants management more authority over day-to-day decisions and imposes more discipline on workers, while increasing their participation in decisions and offering them incentives. It "has no exact analogy in capitalist economies and is not borrowed from other socialist countries' models of reform," the newspaper says, quoting Cuba expert Phil Peters of the Lexington Institute. The article makes for interesting reading. Click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

4 British banks blackball Cuba, daily says

Four British banks are conducting "a covert embargo of Cuba out of deference to the United States," the British daily The Guardian reported Monday. The banks -- Lloyds TSB, Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC -- have been telling clients who trade with Cuba to take their accounts elsewhere, the newspaper said, adding that none of them would go on the record about their policy toward the Castro government. In the past, "the U.S. has taken legal action [...] against multinational companies that deal with Cuba and have offices in the U.S.," The Guardian noted. The Cuban Embassy in London said the Bush administration "has been quietly working under the table at spreading the scare amongst the business and the banking communities." To read the entire article, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Germany key in EU vote on Cuba

The Spanish government is "perplexed" by Germany's sudden bid last week to postpone the European Union's debate over the lifting of its sanctions against Cuba until Thursday, the Spanish daily ABC reported Wednesday. The sanctions -- and their possible termination -- were supposed to be debated by the EU's foreign ministers on Monday, but Chancellor Angela Merkel asked for a postponement without explanation. Until Monday, Germany had leaned toward lifting the sanctions, so Merkel's request caught everyone at the EU by surprise, especially Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who champions an end to the sanctions. Even German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was startled.
A clue may be found in a press briefing given on June 11 by Judy Ansley, Deputy Assistant to the President, after President Bush met in Berlin with Chancellor Merkel. Ansley told reporters: "On Cuba, they talked about the importance of the Cuban government unconditionally releasing all political prisoners as a test of whether or not the Raúl Castro regime is willing to move forward, as they have stated, in terms of human rights for the Cuban people."
So, it is possible that Germany on Thursday will vote against lifting the sanctions until Cuba meets that condition. Other countries adopting that stance are the Czech Republic, Sweden and Britain.
According to ABC, the Spanish government feels that the hardliners' objections can be overcome by a careful drafting of the EU's final declaration. So far, Cuba has insisted on an unconditional end to the sanctions, which were imposed in 2003 and suspended in 2005.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Editorial: Oil lubricates embargo's end

The end of Washington's trade embargo on Cuba is being hastened by Cuba's apparent intention to drill for oil in waters south of Florida, The Houston Chronicle said Wednesday in an editorial. This would encourage the two countries "to come together for mutual advantage," the editorial said, "opening up a desperately needed source of oil for the U.S. and a multibillion-dollar business opportunity." The end of the embargo -- or at least an easing of it -- "can't come soon enough," the newspaper said. It "has nothing to do with democracy. It is a political measure that succeeded in punishing the Cuban people rather than communist ideology." The editorial gives several reasons why the embargo should be eased or lifted, but concedes that "it will not be feasible until President Bush [...] leaves office." To read the entire editorial, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

British bank nixes services for Cuba

A health store that sells Cuban sugar and a shop that sells Cuban cigars are among several British businesses that were told by their bank to stop using its facilities to buy those products, the British daily The Guardian reported Sunday. Lloyds TSB has notified an undetermined number of companies that they must take their Cuba-related accounts elsewhere, apparently under pressure from the U.S. government, the newspaper said. The Cuban Embassy in London denounced the bank's action and the extraterritoriality of the U.S. embargo, calling it "illegal, worldwide economic warfare against Cuba." One businessman to whom the bank refused any assistance in dealings with the island said: "It is mystifying. We are able to trade with China and Vietnam but apparently not Cuba. It seems a nonsense." To read the story, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Iran might boost credit to Cuba

Iran's Minister of Industries, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, has asked his government to increase its Letter of Credit to Cuba to 500 million euros (US$768.4 million) from the current 200 million euros (US$307.4 million), reports the Mehr News Agency of Teheran. The reason is "the volume of contracts signed between the two sides recently," the minister said. The trade volume between the two countries -- 213 million euros (US$327.3 million) -- makes that increase necessary, according to the news agency. Because Cuba has complained about Iranian bureaucracy, the Iranian government will try to remove unwanted barriers, so "bilateral economic cooperation and trade volumes [may] increase," Mehrabian told MNA. For the MNA report, click here. [UPDATE: At a meeting Monday in Teheran with Cuban Minister Without Porfolio Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran's and Cuba's "enemies are on the verge of collapse and great victories are already on the way." He also said he hoped "that Iran and Cuba would celebrate great victories in the near future." For a report in Spanish, click here.

---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Spain to press for lifting of EU sanctions

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Monday will advocate the lifting of sanctions imposed on Cuba by the European Union in 2003, the Spanish news agency EFE reported Sunday. Moratinos will speak in Luxembourg, at a meeting of the Council of Ministers on the question of removing the sanctions, with were suspended in 2005. Spain, Germany and France favor taking steps toward dialogue with Havana but other EU members, such as the Czech Republic, oppose the idea. Diplomatic sources say Madrid believes that removing the sanctions "can stimulate the process of change" and benefit the civilian population without "giving a blank check" to the government of Raúl Castro. Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero last week defended Madrid's intentions, citing the "positive" economic reforms instituted recently by Castro. [UPDATE: Early Monday, the ministers postponed a decision on Cuba until Thursday, citing an overloaded agenda. Click here.]
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Wage system gets major overhaul

Workers will now be paid according to their material output or the quality of their service, the daily Granma reported Wednesday in an interview with Carlos Mateu, Deputy Minister of Labor. The wages will vary "according to the nature of the labor performed by the worker," the official said. Granma describes the process as "the socialist principle of distribution, where everyone [is paid] according to quantity and quality."
Until now, workers have been paid flat rates according to job descriptions. There have been no incentives. But a new law, Resolution 9/08, provides that the workers will "have no limit in the salary they may earn over and above the standard indicators," meaning that the more a worker produces (or the better he serves the public) the more money he will be paid.
"Egalitarianism is not convenient," Mateu told Granma. "It is not fair, because while it is harmful to pay the worker less than what he deserves, it is also harmful to give him what he doesn't deserve." (Translation: Freeloaders need not apply.) The new law's other provisions:
• Merely for meeting their production quotas, workers can get a bonus of as much as 5 percent of their base salary.
• Managers will be limited to a 30 percent wage increase for improved performance.
• Companies have until August to readjust their payrolls, but if any company is ready to make the changes, it can do so immediately. To read the entire article (in Spanish only), click here. For The Herald's account, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

City farmers profit from empty lots

Cuba's urban farming program is "a stunning and surprising success," The Associated Press reports from Havana. City dwellers who are entrepreneurial enough to borrow idle land from the government and till it can make a living selling the produce on the streets. The AP cites the case of a couple who got permission to farm a half-acre empty lot near their home, planted tomatoes, sweet potatoes and spinach, and now earn as much as $250 a month selling the vegetables. The average government salary is $19 a month.
In a half-block farm in Miramar, six workers earn an average of $71 a month each, raising arugula, spinach, radishes and basil.
The minifarms supply much of Cuba's vegetables and provide 350,000 jobs nationwide with relatively high pay, The AP says. According to California sociologist Catherine Murphy, the experiment "shows that cities can produce huge amounts of their own food, and you get all kinds of social and ecological benefits." For the AP story, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Texas trade tour brings swift results

Last week's trade mission to Cuba by a Texas delegation is already paying off, The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday. Havana signed two contracts for raw cotton shipments, totaling $400,000, and is negotiating deals for poultry and powdered milk. "It's not a huge contract but it's a good contract and it solidifies our presence in Cuba," said R. Dale Grounds, the cotton exporter. The purchase "was very significant," said business promoter Cynthia Thomas, who arranged the mission. "We weren't expecting to sign anything up" so quickly. "Cuba is on the edge of opening up [...] so it's important for Texas businesses to be represented here," said farmer Karen Provost. For more on the tour, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Economic woes are key concern, poll finds

A survey conducted surreptitiously in Cuba found that more than half the respondents considered their economic problems to be their principal concern, The New York Times reported Wednesday. Less than 10 percent said that lack of political freedom is the main problem, said the survey, conducted March 14-April 12 among 587 Cuban adults by the International Republican Institute, a democracy-building group affiliated with the Republican Party. Latin American interviewers were asked by the I.R.I. to conduct the interviews. Other findings cited by The Times:
• Nearly 70 percent of Cubans 18-29 favor a democratic system with multiparty elections, freedom of speech and expression.
• More than 80 percent of all respondents support a market economic system that includes the right to own property and operate businesses.
• Asked to rate Raúl Castro from zero to 10 -- with zero being "very bad" and 10 "very good" -- the average response was 5.55.
To read The Times' account, click here. To access the I.R.I's website, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

U.S. presses Europe on Cuba sanctions

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutiérrez on Wednesday called on the European Union to restore its economic sanctions against Cuba, suspended in 2005. Interviewed by the Reuters news agency, the Cuban-born Gutiérrez said that the socioeconomic reforms instituted recently by Raúl Castro did nothing to ease poverty or guarantee Cubans' fundamental rights. His views run counter to those of the EU's commissioner for humanitarian assistance, Louis Michel (photo at left), who said last week that he wanted to persuade the 27-member body to eliminate those sanctions altogether. A decision on the matter could be made during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on June 16. For more on Gutiérrez's views, click here. Javier Solana (photo at lower right), the EU's foreign policy chief, said Wednesday that he hopes "no differences will appear" among the member countries when considering the Cuba issue and added that "anything we can do to contribute to the evolution in Cuba, you can be sure we shall do."
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Texans upbeat as trade mission ends

A Texas trade delegation voiced optimism as it ended its four-day mission to Cuba on Saturday. "Thus far, the trip has exceeded our expectations and our goals," Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples told The Dallas Morning News. He said he sensed "a sincere desire" among Cuban importers "to do business with Texans" and added that possible deals were in the works much earlier than expected. The delegation included representatives from all sectors of Texas agriculture, including soybeans, wheat, cotton, beans, rice and cattle. Michael Parmly, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, cautioned the visitors to "look for business opportunities, but don't do anything yet. I wouldn't spend a dime on any sector. Yet the potential in this country is enormous." To learn more about the tour, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Texas trade mission hailed by daily

The Dallas Morning News applauded Texas' current trade mission to Cuba, led by Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples, as a project that "could pay off big." Texas sells about $25 million worth of farm products to the island every year, including wheat, cotton, beans, rice and cattle. The mission (May 27-31) will try to increase that amount.  "Cuba and Texas are logical business partners: Cuba is a big agricultural buyer; Texas a big seller," a Morning News editorial said Thursday. "Political and economic changes are taking place there [...] Eventually, the day will come when Fidel Castro's influence and the embargo fade into history. Texas farmers and ranchers are wise to prepare for that historic moment." To read the entire editorial, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Colorado weighs trade with Cuba

Some businesses and government officials in Colorado are intrigued by the possibility of exporting state-produced goods to Cuba and may try to enlist Gov. Bill Ritter to join a trade delegation to the island, The Rocky Mountain News reported Monday. Pam Reichert, international trade director in the state's economic development office, said her office will begin researching Colorado's trade potential with Cuba. Right now, the state sells nothing to Cuba, but trade expert Jim Reis told The News that "if Colorado does strengthen its business ties with Cuba, agricultural and maybe some medical exports from the state could reach $5 million to $10 million in two to five years." According to the newspaper, the state that sells the most to Cuba is Louisiana: $173 million last year. Second is Texas, with $57.7 million. To read the entire article, click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Official says dual-peso system will end

Cuba plans to eliminate its two-tier currency system, merging the national peso and the convertible peso, said Osvaldo Martínez, chairman of the Economic Commission of