Published Thursday, August 23, 2001.
The Miami Herald
Cuban foreign minister says he hopes Helms doesn't change his mind
HAVANA -- (AP) -- Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said Wednesday that he
hopes Sen. Jesse Helms, Cuba's most vilified conservative nemesis, makes good on
his promise to not seek re-election.
"He should have done this a long time again,'' Perez Roque told
Associated Press Television News. "Not because of his age, but because of
his ideas ... I hope he doesn't change his mind.''
Helms, 79, announced his retirement plans in a taped message shown Wednesday
night on a newscast in his native North Carolina. He was first elected to the
Senate in 1972 and his current term ends in 2002.
Helms has been a chief American opponent of communist Cuba and its leader
Fidel Castro for three decades.
"I don't care how he leaves there. Horizontally or vertically,'' Helms
said of Castro in January 1998, the month Pope John Paul II visited the island
nation. "I want him out of there, and the Cuban people want him out, too.''
Helms co-authored a 1996 law that tightened the U.S. embargo on Cuba that
has been in effect since 1961.
Among other things, the Helms-Burton Act penalizes foreign companies that
invest in or use properties in Cuba confiscated without compensation following
the 1959 Cuban revolution.
West Palm Beach / Exiles to protest Cuban band's performance
The Cuban exile opposition to artists from Cuba performing in the United
States may shift to West Palm Beach next month. Exiles say they plan to
demonstrate in large numbers Sept. 8 when the Cuban jazz band Irakere plays at
the Carefree Theater.
The exiles say they are upset because they believe Irakere picked West Palm
Beach to distance themselves from protests in Miami. The threat of disruptions
from exiles led to the cancellation earlier this week of the Latin Grammys that
had been scheduled for Sept. 11 at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.
"Hopefully, those who were going to demonstrate in front of the arena
in Miami will come over here,'' said Jorge Avellana, a Cuban American from West
Palm Beach organizing the protest at the Carefree Theater.
Avellana said the Carefree is "ignoring the sensitivity'' of exiles by
allowing Irakere an alternate venue outside Miami.
Carefree owner John Stoll said there was no political intrigue in the
booking of the group.
"This is not a political statement or movement,'' Stoll said. "They
are just doing a concert.'' He said the band is on a tour of the United States.
Irakere is the third band from Cuba to play in West Palm Beach since SunFest
booked Cubanismo in 1999. That appearance drew a small number of protests. The
exile position seemed to mellow in April when an Afro-Cuban All-Stars concert at
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts evoked only a letter of concern from a
coalition of Cuban-American organizations. That same coalition has decided to
demonstrate at the Carefree, Avellana said.
Grammy money motive denied
Security is called reason for pullout
Andres Viglucci, Cynthia Corzo and Jordan Levin.
aviglucci@herald.com
Several members of the Miami committee that was raising money to host the
Latin Grammy awards emphatically disputed statements by the group's two finance
chairmen that the event's organizers pulled out of the city over financial
issues.
The Latin Grammys organization also reiterated Wednesday that security
concerns over a planned protest by Cuban exiles, and not doubts about the Miami
group's ability to meet a $1 million fundraising goal or sell blocks of seats to
the event, prompted the decision to move the Sept. 11 show to Los Angeles.
"We were sure they were going to reach their goal,'' said Ron Roecker,
spokesman for the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Roecker said that having the show in Los Angeles will cost the academy an
extra $1.7 million, in part because it will have to forgo $500,000 in cash
already raised by the Miami host group. "So this was not about money,'' he
said.
On Tuesday, Fred Balsera and Sylvester Lukis, partners in a lobbying firm
and chairman of the Latin Grammy Host Committee's finance effort, said they
believe the academy moved the event because the group was $200,000 short of its
goal, and had not sold any of the 10 AmericanAirlines Arena luxury suites it
promised to fill for the event at $40,000 to $60,000 each.
But among those casting doubt on their comments Wednesday were Cuban
American National Foundation Chairman Jorge Más Santos and Miami-Dade
Mayor Alex Penelas, co-chairmen of the host committee, both of whom have sharply
criticized the academy's decision to pull out of Miami.
Neither disputed Balsera -- who once worked as an aide to Penelas -- and
Lukis on the fundraising facts. But they expressed little doubt the goals would
have been met, and said they had no indication that money worries played into
the academy's decision. Penelas said that academy head Michael Greene never made
an issue of fundraising.
"I assume had it been a real concern that reached his level, he would
have called me on it,'' Penelas said. "I knew things were a little slow,
but we expected things to pick up considerably after the Labor Day weekend.''
In fact, Penelas said, he had long been slated to work the phones on
Wednesday to drum up sponsors and sell suites.
Four other members of the host committee also denied Lukis and Balsera's
statements: Greater Miami Visitors and Convention Bureau President William
Talbert, lawyer Dean Colson, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce Chairman Ramiro
Ortiz, and Frank Amadeo, president of Estefan Enterprises, music producer Emilio
Estefan's company.
"I'd like to find something to blame it on, but we only have ourselves
to blame,'' said Ortiz, referring to the Cuban exile community.
Only one committee member reached Wednesday, former chamber Chairman Phil
Blumberg, said finances may have played a partial role, in combination with
security worries, in persuading Greene to pull the plug on Miami. But Blumberg
attributed his view to "a gut feeling,'' and said he believed fundraising
would have picked up sharply closer to showtime.
(gra)(gra)A frenzy generally occurs as we get closer to an event when people
find out that clients are coming into town, or that one of their competitors has
bought a suite and they need to do the same,'' Blumberg said. "It's natural
that the heaviest commitments occur closer to the event, and it's particularly
true in Miami.''
Balsera, however, remained adamant Wednesday. While also asserting that the
committee would have met its fundraising goals, he insisted that academy
officials were nervous about finances and used the planned demonstration as a
pretext.
"They found an excuse and jumped,'' Balsera said.
The academy asked for the fundraising commitment as part of the conditions
it set to bring the show to Miami, citing higher, unspecified expenses
associated with producing the show in Miami -- in part because the production
company it uses to put on the show is in Los Angeles and would have to ship
equipment to Miami.
The dispute over whether money played into cancellation of the Miami show
hinges in part on a discussion during a meeting last week in Miami between
committee members and academy Vice President Mitch Roth and Executive Director
Enrique Fernández.
According to Lukis, Roth told the committee members that Greene was upset
over the slow pace of fundraising. Lukis, Balsera said, "personally assured
Mitch that there was no doubt in anybody's mind that they could raise the
money.''
Fernández, while acknowledging concerns over the fundraising, said he
felt reassured after listening to Lukis.
"He said, 'I know this is nerve-racking, but everyone will come
through, this is a Latin town, and everything would be last-minute.' He was very
reassuring,'' Fernández said.
Lily Abello, executive director of the Latin Grammy Host Committee, said
there was no threat of pulling out because of the financial concerns.
She said the committee already had commitments for more than $500,000 in
cash from sponsors, including $250,000 from United Distillers and Vintners and
$50,000 from the Potamkin family, as well as $300,000 in in-kind support.
The in-kind contributions were to be used to for Grammy-related events such
as a mayor's reception, street banners, shuttle buses, and hotel rooms for
out-of-town attendees.
Several other sponsorship proposals were pending final approval that would
have added $300,000 to the pot, exceeding the $1 million goal, Abello said.
While the committee had not sold any suites, she said it had raised $70,000
more by selling eight of the 15 loges -- groups of box seats -- it had pledged
to sell.
Amadeo, the Estefan Enterprises president, said Miamians often wait until
the last minute before committing to such events.
Herald staff writers Lydia Martin, Charles Rabin, Daniel Chang and Kevin
Baxter contributed to this report.
New crop of 26 Americans arrives for free medical study in Cuba
HAVANA -- (AP) -- A group of 26 Americans arrived in Cuba on Wednesday to
study medicine courtesy of Fidel Castro's communist government, joining 12 U.S.
citizens enrolled in the program.
The 13 men and 13 women are to attend a free six-year physician's training
program originally designed for impoverished students from Latin American
countries.
Castro said he would offer the free medical training to up to 500 Americans
when he met last year with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The U.S.
State Department later said it would not oppose the program.
The new students were accompanied by the Rev. Lucius Walker of the nonprofit
group Pastors for Peace, which brings humanitarian aid to Cuba and helped the
Congressional Black Caucus recruit young people from minority families for the
program.
They were greeted by Wing Wu, 23, one of the eight Americans who started
studying in Cuba in April. Another four American students came later.
Wu told the new students they will need patience, saying, "Things
definitely are not easy here.''
"In the States, everything is in a rush, you have everything
immediately,'' said Wu.
Cuba has suffered acute shortages of basic medicines since the collapse of
the Soviet Union, which lent it financial support.
But there are positive aspects to living and studying on the Caribbean
island, said Wu, a native of St. Paul, Minn.
"The most surprising is the people,'' she said. "The Cubans are
very friendly and very helpful.''
The Americans join more than 4,000 other students from 24 other nations in
Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa who now attend classes at the medical
school, which opened two years ago.
The State Department has said it is unclear whether Cuban-trained Americans
will meet licensing requirements after returning home.
Many Cuban physicians who emigrate to the United States have had difficulty
obtaining permission to practice.
Cuba has a surplus of doctors and sends thousands abroad each year to work
in other developing countries.
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald
The change, which would apparently benefit the population, is viewed with
skepticism here. Many voice concern that the pound of sugar will, indeed, be
taken off the ration cards and the oil won't ever show up, citing previous
instances of a shell game played when similar substitutions have been announced.
Many years ago, at the beginning of the revolutionary period, the
traditional Christmas celebration was moved to July, and traditional Cuban
staples for the holiday, such as pork, cheese, dates, and Spanish nougat, were
made available at that time. Suddenly, after some years, the pork, and cheese,
and dates, and nougat disappeared from the market and were not available again,
in July or in December.
At another time, consumers had a choice between pure coffee and coffee
extended with chick-peas, and between ham and pork shoulder. Then the government
simplified the choice; now only the ersatz coffee is available, and
occasionally, at that. Ham and pork are only available at dollar-denominated
stores.
In 1963, after hurricane Flora devastated the eastern end of the island, the
government announced it was raising some prices for one year to rebuild. The
prices never reverted, but they did continue to go up subsequently.
Some are saying the change is due to the government's desire to take
advantage of a small increase in the world market price for sugar. Others,
citing the government's recent claims of economic growth, ask "What kind
of economic growth can there be when the government has to take away a pound of
sugar of the six allowed every month, to make available half-a-pound of oil? "
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