USA Today, April 18,
2001.
This week is the 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs debacle, when Castro's
forces killed or captured U.S.-trained invaders attempting to overthrow his
government. U.S.-Cuba friction is likely to grow in coming weeks:
* A World Trade Organization dispute panel is expected to rule on a European
Union challenge to a U.S. law used to invalidate claims by the Cuban government
and French liquor distributor Pernod Ricard to the U.S. trademark rights to
Havana Club rum. The ruling is expected before July.
* President Bush must decide by July 17 whether to permit Cuban-Americans to
sue Castro's government and foreign investors on the island for triple the value
of property they left behind.
* The State Department is expected to decide soon whether executives of
Spain's Sol Melia hotel chain and other companies that have invested in Cuba
should be barred from traveling to the USA.
* The Bush administration in coming weeks is to release rules under which
U.S. companies can make limited sales of food products and medical supplies to
Cuba. The rules are likely to permit less commercial activity than originally
expected.
* The U.N. Commission on Human Rights votes today or Thursday on a
U.S.-backed resolution condemning Havana.
* At the behest of the U.S., Cuba will be left out of the Free Trade Area of
the Americas negotiations, which start Friday in Quebec.
* Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., is expected to introduce legislation to stiffen
the 1996 Helms-Burton law and bolster U.S. support for Cuban dissidents and for
independent institutions on the island. | 