| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
The intelligence community has placed
Cuba on a watch list of nations facing potential
instability
By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Tue, Feb. 21, 2006.
WASHINGTON - The U.S. intelligence community
has added Cuba to its classified list of
nations at risk of instability in about
two to five years because of growing concerns
over the health of Cuban leader Fidel Castro,
U.S. officials have confirmed.
The National Intelligence Council, the
community's main center for middle and long
range analysis, based at the CIA in Langley,
Va., added Cuba to the three-part list during
its last biannual update in October, the
officials added.
One official said Cuba was added to the
list of countries that risk instability
in the long term, typically two to five
years. The other categories cover countries
at risk in the short term, roughly less
than six months, and those at risk in the
six-month to two-year time frame, added
the official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because intelligence matters were
involved.
Cuba's inclusion in the classified list
is the latest evidence that the U.S. intelligence
community is growing increasingly concerned
over the consequences of Castro's advancing
age and apparently deteriorating health
after more than four decades of communist
rule over the island.
For more than a year, the CIA has been
telling U.S. policymakers that the 79-year-old
Castro suffers from Parkinson's, a debilitating
neurological ailment that could make it
harder for him to govern. His brother and
designated successor, Raúl, is only
five years younger and is widely reported
to be a lifelong heavy drinker.
NOT ON VERGE OF CHAOS
Knowledgeable U.S. officials point out
that Cuba's inclusion on the NIC list was
a signal to U.S. government agencies to
start considering their preparations for
a post-Castro Cuba, but caution that this
does not mean that the island is on the
verge of chaos.
''This is not a sudden issue, we're not
talking about tomorrow,'' the official said.
"Would there be any instability if
Castro passed away, being of old age? That
was the question.''
The Cuban interest section in Washington
did not return calls seeking comment.
The U.S. officials declined to identify
the two dozen or so other nations on the
list, first reported by the Financial Times
newspaper in London in a little-noticed
story in November.
''If you were to take a bunch of people
who were familiar with foreign affairs,
you'd pretty much come up with the same
list,'' said Melanie Anderton, a spokeswoman
for the State Department's new Office of
the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
CONTINGENCY PLAN
CRS uses the NIC list to help set its own
priorities, contact other U.S. government
agencies and plan for contingencies, Anderton
said. The office seeks to harness the government's
foreign crisis management capabilities in
one place, with an eye to avoid the planning
missteps that marked post-war Iraq.
CRS has been helping to coordinate the
new round of planning meetings of the interagency
Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba,
the Bush administration's main vehicle for
setting its policy on Cuba.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reconvened
the Commission in December under orders
to produce a report in May focusing on the
first 18 months after Castro dies and on
finding ways to hasten the end of the Castro
government.
This is the second time the commission
is being convened.
A similar report in 2004 led to tougher
U.S. sanctions against Cuba, including restricting
Cuban-American family visits to the island.
Earlier this month, the University of Miami's
Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies
staged a mock first meeting of Cuban leaders
after Castro's death to explore what kinds
of decisions they might make.
'BE PREPARED'
And former Polish President and Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate Lech Walesa recently urged
a gathering in Miami last week to ''be prepared''
for the transition with "well-structured
ideas of what to do, because there could
be anarchy.''
Mark Schneider, a former official with
the U.S. Agency for International Development,
said the NIC watch list has been circulating
for at least a decade, known informally
as the "yellow light list.''
Schneider is now the senior vice president
with the International Crisis Group, the
London-based organization that lists 78
countries and regions as prone to violent
flare-ups.
The ICG list does not include Cuba, Schneider
said, because ''ours is much more short-term
in nature'' and "focusing on deadly
violence.''
U.S., hotel chain discuss handling Cuba
sanctions
The State and Treasury
departments and a U.S. hotel chain discussed
the recent eviction of Cubans from a U.S.-owned
hotel in Mexico.
By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Sat, Feb. 18, 2006.
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is
reviewing the way it implements economic
sanctions against Cuba after a U.S.-owned
hotel in Mexico ejected a Cuban delegation
from its premises and triggered a diplomatic
row, officials confirmed Friday.
Representatives from the Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets Control, the State
Department and the Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide met to discuss Cuban sanctions
on Friday.
The meeting came a day after Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice told a House panel
that ''dislocations'' caused by the sanctions
would be looked at.
She said the administration is seeking
to enforce policies more effectively to
ensure that the communist government of
Cuban leader Fidel Castro is "not capable
of replicating itself later on.''
'DISLOCATIONS'
''Where there are dysfunctions or dislocations,
of course, we have to go and we have to
look to see what some of the actual impact
is,'' she said, noting that she had discussed
the incident during a meeting with the Mexican
foreign minister earlier this week.
Friday's meeting with hotel representatives
was the first formal meeting since the Feb.
3 incident, when Treasury warned Starwood
that it may have broken U.S. laws by housing
a 16-member Cuban delegation attending an
energy conference in its Sheraton María
Isabel hotel in Mexico City.
The hotel management decided to evict the
Cubans and the conference continued at another
hotel. The Mexican government launched an
investigation and may fine the hotel $500,000
for breaking anti-discrimination laws.
''I can confirm that various elements in
the State Department have spoken with Treasury,
including OFAC representatives, about the
Sheraton incident,'' a State Department
official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the issue. The official said the group talked
about the ''implementing policy'' of the
sanctions.
The meeting was attended by officials from
the State Department's Western Hemisphere
bureau, the legal department and the economics
bureau. Starwood declined to comment.
RECONSIDERING
The meeting provided further evidence that
the Bush administration is reconsidering
its decision to expand the enforcement of
the Cuban embargo to include smaller transactions,
like hotel bookings.
U.S. companies are prohibited from knowingly
selling goods and services to Cuban nationals
anywhere in the world without obtaining
a license first, but the laws are rarely
enforced.
A gift for Cuba
Posted on Tue, Feb. 21,
2006.
Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx on Monday
gave one of his signature bicycles to Fidel
Castro, lamenting only that he did not get
the chance to present it personally to the
Cuban president.
Merckx presented the blue Eddy Merckx brand
bike to Vice President Jose Ramon Fernandez,
president of the Cuban Olympic Committee.
Merckx was winding up a two-day trip to
the island, where he donated 1,000 of his
bicycles to doctors who work in the easternmost
province of Guantanamo, as well as to Cuban
cyclists.
''It makes me proud to be the sponsor of
a project like this,'' Merckx said. ''Sports
can bring nations closer and can be a great
learning experience in life.''
Merckx, 61, participated in the last run
of the international Vuelta, a Cuba cycling
competition that ended on the island Sunday.
Merckx, a five-time winner of the Tour
de France, said he was not worried about
the future of the sport with the upcoming
retirement of Lance Armstrong.
''Cycling will go on and other names will
emerge,'' Merckx said.
Utley awaits WBC
Chase Utley is ready to get some clutch
hits much earlier than usual.
The Philadelphia Phillies second baseman
is playing for the United States in next
month's inaugural World Baseball Classic.
''I'm more excited than anything just to
be around those guys, guys who are winners
and are very successful,'' Utley said Sunday
at Clearwater. ''It will only help. They're
winners. They've won batting titles.''
Despite not having become the regular starter
until June, Utley hit .291 with 28 homers
and 105 RBI in his first full season with
the Phillies last year. He's the only Phillies
player on Team USA. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins
and right-hander Brett Myers made the provisional
roster but weren't selected for the final
30-man squad.
Keeping with theme
If customers don't know Eddie George's
jersey number before they visit his new
restaurant, they will by the time they leave.
The former Ohio State and Tennessee Titans
running back was No. 27. His restaurant
is named Eddie George's Grill 27.
But it doesn't stop there. The bar is set
at a 27-degree angle from High Street. The
drink menu will feature 27 draft beers,
27 wines and 27 specialty drinks.
And the menu offers a 27-ounce porterhouse
steak.
The restaurant is scheduled to open Friday
near Ohio State, following invitation-only
events scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
The $2 million restaurant seats 200 in
its dining area and bar and has 41 flat-screen
TVs, some in individual booths.
The freedom fliers, 40 years later
First passenger list
now a piece of history
By Luisa Yanez, lyanez@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Sat, Feb. 18, 2006.
José Anorga has taken many flights
in his 67 years. But only one dramatically
changed his life: the one he took Dec. 1,
1965.
Anorga was onboard the inaugural Freedom
Flight from Cuba to Miami -- a flight that
launched a U.S.-sponsored airlift that would
give a new life in exile to some 260,000
refugees.
''You never forget a flight that takes
you away from your country. That's a sad
day,'' said Anorga, of Hollywood, who made
the journey on that Pan American plane with
his pregnant wife, Rebeca, and their infant
daughter. "From then on, our lives
were different.''
That now-historic flight is credited with
opening the floodgates to the first continuous,
legal wave of Cuban refugees, a steady flow
that would change Miami and help build up
Little Havana and the Cuban exile community.
The twice-a-week flights ended in 1973.
Now, a piece of that exodus has resurfaced,
offering a glimpse of the times.
This month, the Historical Museum of Southern
Florida acquired the passenger list for
that first Freedom Flight. An anonymous
donor made the gift.
''Its historical value is wonderful,''
said Dawn Hugh, the museum's archives manager,
of the donation. "We're very happy
to get it.''
The Freedom Flights were the result of
a deal struck by President Lyndon B. Johnson
with Cuba in late 1965 to end an illegal
boatlift from the Cuban port of Camarioca.
Don't escape Fidel Castro on boats, come
on planes, the U.S. told the Cubans. And
they did.
That first list of freedom fliers had 82
names, although only 75 landed at Miami
International Airport that chilly Wednesday
morning in December.
News accounts show the refugees wearing
their Sunday best and carrying all their
worldly belongings in suitcases. As they
climbed out of the plane, they were engulfed
by a sea of relatives and reporters. Yellow
buses then took them to Opa-locka Airport
for processing.
The existence of such a list leads to the
question: What became of that first group
of Cubans? How did they fare in the U.S.?
The Anorgas and the other Cubans were hurled
into a foreign country with little warning.
Anorga said he was notified by Cuban militia
that he was leaving the night before he
flew out. "One day I had my life there,
the next I was here.''
The passenger list now at the museum was
part of a news release issued by the U.S.
Cuban Refugee Center, housed at the Freedom
Tower in downtown Miami. The eight-page
release groups the refugees into family
units, gives their year of birth and the
name and address of the relative in the
U.S. who would take them in.
Anorga remained in Miami with his brother.
He landed a job at a Hialeah factory, struggled,
raised a family and is now retired. He still
treasures a photograph of his arrival at
MIA that appeared in a magazine. ''Me and
my wife, we look so young,'' he said.
Other refugees that day were headed for
places like New Jersey, California and Illinois
to reunite with relatives.
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the
first Freedom Flight, The Miami Herald is
trying to locate others who were on board
Flight #1.
Today, The Miami Herald is publishing the
names and year of birth of the refugees
on Flight #1 as they appeared on the embarkation
list. The entire document can be viewed
at MiamiHerald.com. under Today's Extras.
If you were on board that flight or know
someone on the list, contact Luisa Yanez
at lyanez@MiamiHerald.com or at 305-376-4627.
|
