CNSNews.com. January
09, 2002
Normal US-Cuba relations predicted
By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com
Senior Staff Writer. January 09, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - The head of a group that wants to end U.S. sanctions against
Cuba said she is optimistic that both chambers of Congress will enact
legislation to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
Cuban Policy Foundation President Sally Grooms Cowal, a former U.S.
ambassador and member of the Nixon administration, led a delegation of
congressmen to Cuba last week. Speaking Monday in Havana, she called her talks
with Castro government officials "successful."
"There is a great interest in making progress toward a more normal
relationship. And that would include a trade dialogue and diplomatic relations,"
Cowal said.
Cowal said the United States and the Castro government could have a good
trading relationship if the embargo is lifted.
"There are things here that we want to buy. I would say that would
certainly include services and not just the traditional products like sugar. But
it would also include things that are the product of the wonderful educational
system that exists here."
She also commented on Cuba's "human capital" - Cubans who are
trained in the computer field, for instance.
"The world is one place," Cowal concluded.
Accompanying Cowal were Democratic Congressmen William Delahunt and Stephen
Lynch of Massachusetts, Vic Snyder of Arkansas, Bill Clay of Missouri, Collin
Peterson of Minnesota and Hilda Solis of California. Jo Ann Emerson, a Missouri
Republican was also part of the delegation.
On Monday, the delegation meet with Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana,
then held talks later in the day with several Cuban dissidents.
Rep. Bill Delahunt (D-Mass.) told reporters at the end of those sessions, "We
have to work together, we have to put the cold war behind us."
Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and a well-known
human rights activist was among those who met with the congressional delegation.
However, Dennis Hays, executive director of the (anti-Castro) Cuban-American
National Foundation suggested that Cowal doesn't know the meaning of the word "progress."
"The problem is that Ambassador Cowal and others always talk about what
the United States is going to do and never about what Cuba needs to do. Were any
political prisoners freed? Were these 'highly trained' Cubans given free access
to the Internet? Or to outside sources of information? Were the Cuban farmers
allowed to determine what crops to plant and who they want to sell them to?"
Hays asked in an interview with CNSNews.com.
"The answer regrettably in all of these cases is 'no,'" Hayes
said. "Nothing has changed and so again it's a question of people wanting
to give something for nothing."
Russia Postpones Dismantling Of Cuban Spy Base
By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. January 09,
2002
(CNSNews.com) - A high-ranking Russian military official has announced a
postponement in dismantling Russia's Lourdes spy base in Cuba, something that
was supposed to begin on Jan. 15.
The official Russian Interfax-Military news agency reported Tuesday that Lt.
Gen. Viktor Denisov, the commander of the operation, said three heavy cargo
planes that were supposed to pick up radar and other equipment from Lourdes had
been delayed because the military didn't receive funding in time for the planned
beginning of the operation.
Denisov did not say when the flights would be rescheduled. But he did say
the flight crews were ready to take off at any time.
For nearly 40 years, Russia maintained the spy station in Cuba to keep tabs
on the United States. It was set up in 1964 during the Khrushchev regime after
the Cuban missile crisis.
The Castro government, one of Russia's most important allies in the Western
Hemisphere during the Cold War, was angered by Russian President Vladimir
Putin's decision to close the base. The decision was announced in October.
Granma, the official newspaper of the Castro government, said in an
editorial that the Russian military base has collected 75 percent of the
strategic information necessary to prevent U.S. "aggression," and was
the principle instrument for monitoring compliance with disarmament accords.
"Russia will now be without vital defense information," the
editorial said. The newspaper called it "laughable" that "Russia
now asks Washington to dismantle its similar electronic radar station in Norway,
just 40 kilometers from Russian borders."
Granma also refuted Russia's economic arguments for closing the base,
rejecting Russia's argument that it could launch 20 reconnaissance satellites
with the $200 billion in savings.
"An abyss separates our thinking from the opportunism, the egoism, and
the lack of ethics that today prevails in the decadent field of the imperialist
and capitalist system, or of those that aspire to it," said Granma's
editorial.
Granma said Cuba would incur "terrible damages" from Russia's "abrupt
and total default" on all agreements that the former Soviet Union had
signed with the island.
Putin said Lourdes was too expensive to maintain, given the state of the
Russian economy. However, he stressed that the decision did not mean its
relations with Cuba were being downscaled.
Cuban Priests Urge Followers to Avoid Pork
By Jim Burns. CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. January 08,
2002
(CNSNews.com) - Cuba's Santeria priests are advising Cubans not to eat pork
to avoid making this year worst than last year.
Pork is a food staple in Cuba and continues to be popular with Cubans.
They believe that 2002 is going to be a bad year. Some Cuban experts are
telling news services that this year's predictions remind them of the ones that
were made in 1994.
In that year, many Cubans seeking to escape the communist run nation died at
sea on makeshift rafts. Nineteen ninety-four also saw economic hardship and an
outbreak of public unrest against the Castro government.
The Santeria priests predict there will be more coups and wars and flooding
and a growth of disease throughout the world.
In addition to avoiding pork, the priests are urging Cubans to keep their
children away from seas and rivers and to paint their homes white.
The Santeria religion, which mixes traditional Roman Catholicism with
African spiritual influence, arrived in Cuba during the 17th century and is
widely practiced by an estimated 11 million Cubans.
Santeria originated in West Africa, spreading to the Caribbean along with
the slave trade.
Any decision by Cubans to avoid pork could have international repercussions.
A United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Report said pork
production in Cuba peaked in the early 1990s and has remained flat since 1995.
The report said Cuba has had to import more pork since 1997 to meet consumer
demand.
The European Union and Mexico used to be Cuba's main pork suppliers, but
Canada has steadily gained market share and now accounts for about 80 percent of
Cuba's pork imports.
The National Pork Producers Council wants the United States to export more
pork to Cuba because it is a "substantial potential market" for U.S
pork producers.
"There is no question that Cuba would be an important export market for
U.S. pork producers, absent sanctions," said Nick Giordano, the
international trade counsel for the NPPC.
"Because of the trade embargo, however, U.S. pork producers are denied
sales while their competitors in Canada, Mexico and Europe sell pork to Cuba,"
he added.
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