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Venezuela to Keep Cuba Oil Sales Steady

Venezuela Official Says Nation Plans to Keep Oil Sales to Cuba at 90,000 Barrels Per Day in 2006

CARACAS, Venezuela, 6 (AP) -- Venezuela plans to keep oil sales to Cuba steady at roughly 90,000 barrels a day this year because the island has discovered petroleum of its own, Venezuela's oil minister said Friday.

"We expect to keep that level of sales unchanged given that Cuba is discovering more oil and that's a good thing," Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said

Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil exporter, increased oil sales to communist-led Cuba to 90,000 barrels a day last year, up from roughly 53,000 barrels during previous years.

Since taking office in 1999, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has moved to strengthen ties with Cuba. Cuban President Fidel Castro's government buys Venezuelan crude under preferential terms and, in exchange, sends thousands of doctors to treat the poor in this South American nation of 26 million.

Chavez, Castro's closest ally in the Americas, also has given Cuba an important role in organizing sales of Venezuelan fuel to Caribbean nations through a regional initiative called Petrocaribe.

Venezuela plans to store and possibly refine oil in Cuba for redistribution to other Caribbean countries under the initiative, which aims to cut energy costs in the region.

Decision to Repatriate Cubans Criticized

By Laura Wides-Munoz, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 10, 2005.

MIAMI - Cuban-American community activists and politicians lambasted the U.S. government's decision to repatriate 15 Cubans picked up from the base of an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys.

An attorney for the families of the migrants said he planned to file a suit Tuesday asking a federal judge to allow the group to return.

The migrants were sent back to Cuba Monday after U.S. officials concluded that the section of the partially collapsed bridge where they landed did not count as dry land under the government's policy because it was no longer connected to any of the Keys.

Under the U.S. government's "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach dry land in the United States are usually allowed to remain in this country, while those caught at sea are sent back.

"Through a legal review, the migrants were determined to be feet-wet and processed in accordance with standard procedure," Coast Guard spokesman, Petty Officer Dana Warr, said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., called the government's decision an example of "the complete and utter failure" of the wet-foot, dry-foot policy.

"Because they reached an old bridge and not a new bridge there's a judgment they didn't reach American soil? The semantics used to return these men and women - who have risked so much to reach freedom and are now returned to an uncertain future - are an embarrassment," Martinez said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (news, bio, voting record), R-Miami, called the decision absurd. "If any crime would have been committed on that bridge, the perpetrators would have been arrested and charged with violating U.S. laws," she said in a statement.

The group - including a 2-year-old and a 13-year-old - left Matanzas Province in Cuba late on the night of Jan. 2 aboard a small, homemade boat. The migrants were rescued Wednesday morning by the Coast Guard from the base of the bridge just south of Marathon Key.

Mercedes Hernandez Guerrero said initially she was elated to receive a call from her niece Elizabeth Hernandez, telling her that she and her husband and their 2-year-old son John Michael had reached the bridge.

"I said stay there. The currents are strong. I thought I was giving them good advice," Hernandez recalled.

But her joy at her niece's arrival turned to concern as the days passed and she heard nothing more from the group.

William Sanchez, an attorney for relatives of the Cubans migrants who planned to file a motion asking for the group's return, said he was on his way to file an emergency injunction to halt their return when he learned they were already back in Cuba.

He noted that the Coast Guard's own Web site states that if immigrants "touch U.S. soil, bridges, piers or rocks," their feet are considered dry.

But Coast Guard Lt. Commander Chris O'Neil said the structure the migrants landed on didn't fall into any of those categories.

"The 'bridge' is kind of a misnomer," said O'Neil, spokesman for the department's Southeast region. He said officials in Washington determined the Cubans should be considered "feet wet," because they were not able to walk to land from where they landed.

Hunger Strike Continues; 15 Refugees Sent Back To Cuba

AP, January 10, 2006.

A Cuban activist is continuing a hunger strike at Miami's Freedom Tower, even though 15 refugees for whom he hoped to win freedom have been sent back to Cuba.

Ramon Saul Sanchez, leader of the Movimiento Democracia, asked that the refugees who touched the old Seven Mile Bridge south of Marathon Key on Wednesday be allowed to stay. Sanchez, has been on a hunger strike since noon Saturday on behalf of the Cubans.

Sanchez, along with about 35 others from Movimiento Democracia, has made his cause visible to the public, displaying signs that read, "Hunger strike for freedom. Mr. President, respectfully, immigrants have rights too," and refusing food and water from those concerned by his actions.

The migrants were repatriated late Monday morning, Coast Guard officials said. The group included a 2-year-old and a 13-year-old. They left Matanzas Province in Cuba late on the night of Jan. 2 aboard a small, homemade boat.

Their case drew attention after the U.S. Coast Guard decided that the piling they landed on did not constitute dry land.

Under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil are generally allowed to stay, while those intercepted at sea are generally repatriated.

But the part of the old bridge piling that the Cubans touched is no longer connected to land -- a gray area in the law that Sanchez and his supporters believe is unfair.

"The particular structure that they were found upon is not connected to land. The 'bridge' is kind of a misnomer," said Coast Guard Lt. Commander Chris O'Neil, spokesman for the department's Southeast region.

O'Neil said officials in Washington determined the Cubans should be considered "feet wet," because they were not able to walk to land from where they landed.

"We recognize that the old Key West bridge is part of the United States, as much as the Statue of Liberty, and (that the government should) allow the Cubans that were found there, as the law says, to remain in freedom in the United States," Sanchez said.

Sanchez believes if the Statue of Liberty is considered "dry foot" but is not connected to land -- although arguably the nation's most-symbolic monument rests on Liberty Island -- that the same rules should apply in this case.

An attorney for the families of the migrants says he plans to file a lawsuit today asking a federal judge to allow the group to return.

15 Cubans Who Got to Fla. Bridge Sent Home

By Laura Wides-Munoz, Associated Press Writer, Jan 9, 2006.

MIAMI - Fifteen Cubans who fled their homeland and landed on an abandoned bridge piling in the Florida Keys were returned to their homeland Monday after U.S. officials concluded that the structure did not constitute dry land.

Under the U.S. government's "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Cubans who reach dry land in the United States are usually allowed to remain in this country, while those caught at sea are sent back.

The Cubans - including a 2-year-old boy and a 13-year-old boy - were sent back around midday, said a Coast Guard spokesman, Officer Dana Warr. They were rescued last week and were held aboard a Coast Guard cutter while they awaited a final decision on their status.

The case presented U.S. officials with an intriguing legal question, and the way it was handled outraged some Cuban American leaders in Florida.

The Cubans thought they were safe Wednesday when they reached the Old Seven Mile Bridge. But the historic bridge, which runs side by side with a newer bridge, is missing several chunks, and the Cubans had the misfortune of reaching pilings from a section that no longer touches land.

"The 'bridge' is kind of a misnomer," said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris O'Neil. O'Neil said officials in Washington determined the Cubans should be considered "feet wet," because they were not able to walk to land.

An attorney for relatives of the Cubans had planned to file an emergency request Monday to prevent them from being sent back, but did not act in time. William Sanchez said he was going to ask the government to review the question of whether the bridge constituted dry land.

Sanchez said later Monday he would file a lawsuit seeking the return of the 15 Cubans.

"We believe the law was misapplied because they entered U.S. territorial waters and more importantly, they touched a piece of bridge that was clearly under the United States' control," Sanchez said. "If a federal court judge indicates they weren't properly repatriated, there is case law that they could be returned to the United States."

The Cubans had left Matanzas Province in Cuba late on the night of Jan. 2 aboard a small, homemade boat. They were rescued by the Coast Guard from the base of the bridge just south of Marathon Key.

Veteran immigration attorney Ira Kurzban, who was not involved in the case, called the Coast Guard decision ridiculous.

"The wet-foot, dry-foot policy has no foundation in law," he said. Kurzban said the policy is inconsistent with U.S. and international law, noting that the federal government's jurisdiction extends beyond dry land to waters as far out as 100 miles.

"International law says that refugees should be granted a hearing before they are forcibly returned," he said.

At least a dozen Cuban-Americans protested the decision Monday outside the Coast Guard headquarters in Miami Beach.

"Apart from being illegal, it's a disgrace and a great insensitivity to a community that for three days has been asking that they not be repatriated," said Ramon Saul Sanchez, head of the Democracy Movement, a Cuban-American group.

Nilo Cruz Paints a Landscape of Tangled Lives in 'Beauty of the Father,' Opening at MTC

Kenneth Jones Playbill On-Line, Jan 10, 2006.

An artist's home overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Granada, Spain, is the setting for Nilo Cruz's Beauty of the Father, opening Jan. 10 in its New York City premiere.

The Pulitzer Prize winning Cruz (Anna in the Tropics) offers a sun-drenched world heavy with perfumed, metaphor-rich language about life, art, mortality and love. Tangled relationships - sexual, platonic, mystical - fill the five-character play. In it, a middle-aged artist who has conversations with the ghost of murdered playwright-poet Federico Garcia Lorca welcomes his estranged daughter to the home he shares with a young Moroccan lover and a middle-aged woman who has married the boy.

Manhattan Theatre Club began Beauty previews at City Center Stage II, Off-Broadway, Dec. 15. 2005. Performances continue to Feb. 19.

Michael Greif (Rent, Mr. Marmalade) directs a cast that includes Ritchie Coster (Emiliano, the painter), Oscar Isaac (Federico Garcia Lorca), Priscilla Lopez (Paquita, the middle-aged woman who plans to eventually marry Emiliano), Pedro Pascal (Karim, Emiliano's lover and Paquita's wife) and Elizabeth Rodriguez (Marina, Emiliano's 25-year-old daughter).

Tony Award winner Lopez is a veteran of A Chorus Line, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine and MTC's newyorkers.

Here's how MTC bills the play: "A young woman (Rodriguez) travels to Spain to visit her estranged father (Coster) and quickly becomes immersed in his vibrant, artistic world. But will a charming young Moroccan suitor (Pascal) stand in the way of their reconciliation?"

Cruz made his Broadway debut with Anna in the Tropics, which won the Pulitzer prior to its appearance in New York (its debut was in the regional theatre, a rarity for Pulitzer winners). His other works include Lorca in a Green Dress, Night Train to Bolina, A Bicycle Country, Dancing on Her Knees, A Park in Our House, Two Sisters and a Piano and Hortensia and the Museum of Dreams. Cruz is one of this country's most produced Cuban-American writers; his work has been developed and performed at McCarter Theatre Center, NYSF/Public Theater, NY Theatre Workshop, New Theatre (Coral Gables), South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa), Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage, the Alliance (Atlanta), the Studio Theatre (Washington D.C.), Magic Theatre (San Francisco), Victory Gardens (Chicago), Coconut Grove Playhouse (Miami), the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis, Lee Strasberg Theatre (L.A.) and Salt Lake Acting Company.

Beauty of the Father received its world premiere at Miami's New Theatre and had a subsequent production in Seattle.

The MTC Beauty creative team features Mark Wendland (set design), Miranda Hoffman (costume design), Jim Ingalls (lighting design), Darron L. West (sound design), Deborah Hecht (dialect coach), Rick Sordelet (fight director).

Lopez previously appeared on Broadway in Nilo Cruz's Anna in the Tropics. She appeared Off-Broadway in Class Mothers '68, a six-character, one-woman play, receiving a Drama Desk nomination. In A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine on Broadway, she won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress for her performance as Harpo Marx. She received a Tony nomination and an Obie Award as Diana Morales in A Chorus Line, where she introduced the song "What I Did for Love."

The performance schedule for Beauty of the Father Tuesday through Sunday at 7:30 PM, with matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 PM.

Tickets are $48 and can be reserved by calling CityTix at (212) 581-1212. Group and student rates are available. For group ticket information, call (212) 399-3000 ext. 134. Student tickets are $25 and are on sale for all performances based on availability on the day of the performance, up to one hour before showtime. Call (212) 581-1212 for further information.

For more information visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

Two Florida university staffers charged as Cuban covert agents

MIAMI, 9 (AFP) - Two Cuban-Americans have been charged with being covert agents for Cuba's communist government for almost three decades and were denied bail when they made their first court appearance in Miami.

Carlos Alvarez, 61, a Florida International University professor, and his wife Elsa Alvarez, 55, who also works at the university, were both charged with one count of failing to register as agents of a foreign government.

The indictment unsealed Monday alleges Carlos Alvarez worked for Cuba's Directorate of Intelligence (DI) and its predecessor agencies since 1977, while his wife worked as a covert agent since 1982.

The defendants gathered information for the DI in the United States, informing on groups and individuals who oppose Cuban President Fidel Castro, "and carrying out other operational directives," the indictment said.

The two allegedly operated under the codenames David and Deborah to work under a shroud of secrecy while pretending to be upstanding US citizens, government prosecutor Brian Frazier told the court.

He said Carlos Alvarez even managed to gain the confidence of the authorities, conducting psychological evaluations of police recruits for almost 20 years.

The prosecutor said the two confessed to their activities last year.

"They admitted serving as spies," he said, adding that the two naturalized US citizens conceded their "primary allegiance is to Cuba."

But an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation who testified at the hearing said he had no information suggesting the couple were paid by Cuba.

He also admitted that the two apparently did not have access to top secret information or military intelligence.

US Magistrate Andrea Simonton remanded the two in custody, citing the risk they would flee to Cuba in refusing to release them on bail.

If convicted, they could each face up to 10 years in jail and a maximum fine of a quarter million dollars.

"These defendants have betrayed their adopted country and their sworn duty to defend the United States against all enemies," said Alex Acosta, the US attorney for the southern district of Florida.

"The Castro government should be on notice that the United States Attorney's Office will continue to use all legal means that no foreign agent and no opponent of freedom undermines America," he said at a news conference after the hearing.

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