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September 16, 2002.
Walls around Cuba are cracking
BY TOM WEBB, Pioneer Press Mon Sep 16, 6:36 AM ET
WASHINGTON — America's hard-line policy toward Cuba is crumbling —
and crumbling quickly — but not because of leftist voices. Instead, it's
conservatives who are leading the charge to end four decades of embargoes and
isolation.
As Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura prepares to travel to Havana on Sept. 25,
the loudest applause for his mission is coming from Republican precincts: from
farm groups like the conservative American Farm Bureau, from major corporations
in Minnesota, from free-trade advocates and from rural counties that vote
loyally Republican.
Full
story at St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ahead of Cuba visit, Jesse Ventura says he won't be puppet of Castro
Sat Sep 14, 5:01 PM ET
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Gov. Jesse Ventura says he has enough experience in
the world to avoid being used for propaganda purposes by Fidel Castro when he
visits Cuba later this month.
"For these people that think I'm some babe in the woods, heading to
Cuba, and would be totally ... transfixed or misled by Castro, guess again,"
Ventura said in a radio broadcast Friday.
Ventura and a group of Minnesota executives plan to visit Cuba Sept. 25-28
for an agricultural exposition.
The trip has been condemned by the State Department and Gov. Jeb Bush of
Florida, where many anti-Castro Cuban-Americans live.
Ventura says his travels have made him a man of the world.
"I know what it's like to be under the rule of a dictator," said
Ventura, describing his Navy years in the early 1970s when he watched as
Ferdinand Marcos exercised dictatorial powers in the Philippines.
"When Marcos declared martial law, you didn't hear a peep out of the
United States. Why? Because he was a puppet to us. ... As long as we pulled his
strings, it seems, we're OK with him," Ventura said.
Mexico Clears Ambassador to Cuba
Sat Sep 14, 1:45 AM ET
MEXICO CITY (AP) - With hugs and an apology, Mexican officials cleared their
ambassador to Cuba of allegations that he misspent government money.
Ambassador Ricardo Pascoe was recalled to Mexico late Thursday to be
questioned about two audits that indicated he had misspent $86,000.
In a news conference Friday, the operations manager for the foreign
relations department, Mauricio Toussaint, said that Pascoe offered documents
that "adequately solved" the alleged irregularities.
Toussaint apologized to Pascoe, and Pascoe replied, "I forgive you."
Most of the complaints appeared to be practices that are common among
foreign offices in Cuba. Many companies pay their Cuban employees a small amount
to supplement the $20 to $40 a month they might earn from the state employment
bureau, which provides all workers to foreign companies and embassies.
The standoff began when Pascoe canceled Mexican Independence Day
celebrations in Havana at the request of Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda,
whose office declined to pay for the festivities.
Castaneda and Pascoe have sparred over Mexico-Cuba relations, with Pascoe
supporting Havana's communist government and Castaneda often sparring with Cuban
officials, including Fidel Castro.
In April, Castaneda accused Castro of trying to blackmail Mexico into voting
against a U.N. resolution targeting Cuba's human rights record — and then,
after Mexico voted for it, trying to embarrass Fox by making public a private
conversation between the two leaders.
In the conversation, Fox prodded Castro to leave a major summit in Mexico on
March 21, a day before U.S. President Bush was to arrive. | 
