Yahoo! April 19, 2001
Regular U.S.-Cuban Shipping Resumes
By Philip Brasher . AP Farm Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Regularly scheduled cargo shipping between the United
States and Cuba resumed for the first time in 40 years as a ship carrying
donated goods left Jacksonville, Fla., for Havana Thursday.
The vessel, owned by Crowley Liner Services of Jacksonville, is to unload in
Cuba on Saturday.
"It's clearly precedent-setting,'' said John Kavulich, president of the
U.S.-Cuba Economic Council, an organization representing U.S. businesses. "It's
an important visual moment in the bilateral relationship.''
The Havana stop was added to a weekly route between Florida and Mexico.
Whether the Cuba service will continue depends on demand, said Mark Miller, a
spokesman for Crowley.
Congress last year authorized the sale of food and agricultural products to
Cuba but put tight restrictions on such transactions. They cannot be subsidized
by the federal government or financed by U.S. banks.
Cuba is urging Congress to ease those terms. Fernando Remirez, Cuba's top
diplomat in Washington, said earlier this week that the restrictions "make
it almost impossible to have any'' sales.
Crowley has had discussions with more than 100 companies interested in
shipping products to Cuba, said Miller. He declined to say whether Crowley had
made any bookings for commercial sales or to disclose what was on the ship that
left Thursday.
"There will be some sales, the question is when, not if,'' said
Kavulich. "Likely they will be small, more symbolic sales in the beginning,
especially intended to reward the companies and organizations and members of
Congress who have worked to develop expansion of the commercial relationship.''
The Crowley service also will save nonprofit organizations that are giving
food and other items to Cuba. Without a shipping service between the United
States and Cuba, donated goods have had to be trucked to Canada or Mexico and
then loaded on ships, Kavulich said.
Cuba Marks Bay of Pigs Victory
By Anita Snow, Associated Press Writer.
PLAYA GIRON, Cuba (AP) - On the coastline where his forces claimed victory
over a CIA (news - web sites)-trained exile army 40 years ago, President Fidel
Castro (news - web sites) on Thursday saluted the veterans and the victims of
Cuba's Cold War triumph in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
"Today is a day of glory that nothing and no one can erase from
history,'' Castro said, looking out at thousands of Bay of Pigs veterans from a
stage decorated with heavy artillery and surrounded by palm trees. He spoke of "remembering
the fallen, remembering the humble sons of the nation who pushed forward into
the crushing blow of the pride and arrogance of the empire.''
Before Castro rose to address the crowd of men, many with military medals
pinned to the commemorative T-shirts distributed at the event, veteran Ernesto
Robaina Figueroa told his former comrades-in-arms that "there is no
powerful enemy for a people who know what they are fighting for.''
The men, now in their 60s, 70s and 80s, cheered and waved small paper Cuban
flags in response.
Dismissing a U.N. condemnation Wednesday of communist Cuba for its human
rights record, Robaina declared: "Liars! What human rights are they talking
about...our country has been blockaded for more than 40 years.''
The vast majority of the more than 10,000 participants who organizers said
gathered on Cuba's south-central coast for the ceremony were older men.
Trained by the CIA in Guatemala at the height of the Cold War, an invasion
force known as the 2506 Brigade was comprised of about 1,500 exiles determined
to overthrow Castro's government, which had seized power 28 months before.
The three-day invasion failed. Without U.S. air support and running short of
ammunition, more than 1,000 invaders were captured. Another 100 invaders and 151
defenders died.
Victory for Cuba came here on Playa Giron - or Giron Beach - a strip of
gorgeous, palm-dotted coastline on the Bahia de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs.
While exiles still blame their loss on President Kennedy's refusal to
provide additional air support, Cuban leaders have always maintained that they
won the battle simply because they fought better.
Exiles in Miami remembered the battle on Tuesday, the day of the beach
landing at Playa Larga - Long Beach - at the most inner part of the Bay of Pigs,
about 12 miles north of here. The fighting later moved south, to Playa Giron,
where Cuba claimed victory.
"The Mercenaries Got This Far,'' reads a billboard just outside Playa
Larga, showing a huge blowup of an old black and white photograph of exile
soldiers taken prisoner after the battle.
"Here Was Unleashed a Decisive Combat for Victory,'' another nearby
billboard read.
Among the guests at Thursday's ceremony were relatives of former castaway
Elian Gonzalez, including the boy's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, who waged a
seven-month battle to return his son to Cuba.
But the 7-year-old boy, who was seen Wednesday afternoon at the entrance of
this beach's only hotel, was not at the event. Also absent were his stepmother
and younger half brother.
Cuba's Communist leadership considers Elian's return to Cuba last June one
of its major recent victories over its "imperialist'' enemies.
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