| The Miami Herald
Drink producer seeks deal in Cuba
By Nancy San Martin. nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Mon,
Sep. 30, 2002.
HAVANA - A Fort Lauderdale-based tropical drink producer is expected to meet
today with representatives of Havana Club over the distribution of its product
on the island, with the companies likely becoming the first joint distribution
and marketing venture between a Cuban and a U.S. firm.
The 6-year-old Splash Tropical Drinks hopes to seal a multimillion-dollar
contract that would bring the product into Cuba's hotels, restaurants and bars
as early as mid-October. The company makes piña colada and rum rummer
mixes.
''This is a great opportunity for an American product to come together with
the Republic of Cuba,'' said Splash president Richard Waltzer, whose company
already exports to Canada and various islands throughout the Caribbean,
including Jamaica, St. Lucia and Antigua. "Our product will help them sell
more Havana Club.''
Meanwhile, a number of other American companies participating in the U.S.
Food & Agribusiness Exhibition also have signed deals worth more than $66
million. The deals reached at the trade show, which ends today, boosted U.S.
sales to more than $200 million since Cuba began making cash purchases of
American commodities to replenish crops and other products destroyed last year
by Hurricane Michelle.
The trade show -- the first of its kind in four decades -- attracted 288
exhibitors from 33 American states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Participants also included agricultural representatives from 11 states,
seven of which sent either their commissioners or secretaries of agriculture.
The companies signing contracts with Cuba are fully licensed, despite the
U.S. trade embargo that remains in effect. A 2-year-old U.S. law created an
exception to the trade sanctions by permitting direct commercial sales of
American food and agricultural products to Cuba, so long as payments are made in
cash.
The trade fair has generated interest among American corporations eager to
add the communist island to their list of Caribbean export stops. With a
population of more than 11 million, Cuba represents a potential boon in the
region, business executives said. Cuban officials have said that if sales
continue at the current pace, the United States could become Cuba's largest
supplier of food and agricultural products.
''After this [trade show], we will continue to work on more deals,'' Pedro
Alvarez Borrego, head of Cuba's primary purchasing firm called Alimport, said
Sunday. "We're not finished yet.''
U.S. official dampens trade-show enthusiasm with talk of Cuban credit
By Nancy San Martin. Nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Sun,
Sep. 29, 2002
HAVANA - Dressed in a traditional white guayabera shirt, U.S. Interests
Section chief James Cason walked among the booths of American companies
Saturday, taking an interest in products being marketed to the island and
inquiring about sales.
While exhibitor after exhibitor reported how pleased they were with the U.S.
Food & Agribusiness Exhibition, Cason used the opportunity to dampen
enthusiasm by cautioning them about the risks involved with engaging in commerce
with Cuba.
''I used to do trade shows, so as a vehicle for selling trade it's great,''
Cason told representatives of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Still, he
warned, "Credit is a different ball game. They [Cuba] have the poorest
credit in the world.''
Asked if there was any chance for the passage of legislation that would
dismantle the four-decade old trade embargo, Cason said: "The president
would veto it. He made it clear. So I would concentrate on cash sales.''
Despite Cason's assessment, agricultural and food products representatives
were not dissuaded from exploring business opportunities with America's closest
Caribbean neighbor.
''In our state, producers are looking to diversify,'' said Anthony Moreno,
director of international marketing for Kentucky's Department of Agriculture. "Cuba
offers an excellent market. We will definitely let our legislators know that.''
Moreno said that he had doubts about Cuba's market potential and its
commitment to trade, but that the exposition was the impetus for a "change
of heart.''
About 200 representatives from Cuba's purchasing agencies have spent the
week meeting with American executives and signing purchase contracts worth
millions of dollars.
''I was a little bit leery when I came down here, but they've taken the
first steps,'' Moreno said. "If the embargo is ever lifted in the future,
now is the time to form relationships. In Cuba, there is a need for food
products. The issue is whether this can actually be a viable long-term
relationship.''
Cason was well-received at the exposition, despite the ill-will he stirred
earlier in the week by calling Cuba ''an international deadbeat and last in
terms of GDP,'' and saying that he expected ''to see a lot more bull than
beef,'' at the trade fair.
''I give him credit for showing up because his [prior] comments contributed
to a poisoning of the atmosphere and did create some resentment among some of
the exhibitors,'' said John Kavulich, president of U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic
Council Inc.
Cason spent about two hours at the trade show, shaking hands with executives
and wishing them luck even as he criticized the government.
Members of the delegation seemed impressed by the set-up, saying the trade
show appeared to be "tremendously successful in terms of organizers getting
participants here.''
The event, which ends Monday, attracted 288 exhibitors from 33 states, the
District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Florida made up the largest contingency of
exhibitors, with companies accounting for more than 3,000 product names at the
show.
Shoppers seek out bargains, profits in Cuba
By Nancy San Martin. Nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Sat,
Sep. 28, 2002
HAVANA - Cubans and Americans strolled the aisles of this island's newest
and most modern supermarkets Friday, eyeing the same products for different
reasons: the Cubans checked prices to see what they could afford while the
Americans, representing some of the biggest firms in the United States, scoped
out the potential for profits.
The grocery stores in the Miramar suburb were stocked with imported items
from across the globe. A limited number of U.S. products also were on sale,
including Coca-Cola, various California wines and Haagen-Daz ice cream.
''Some things we can buy but the costs of others are prohibitive,'' said
Elena Alcazar, a first-time visitor to the Palco market. She filled her shopping
basket with $20 worth of products, including imported rice and pasta.
''Still, it's great to be able to come here and have a choice,'' she said.
Around the corner, the purchasing manager for Miami-based Sunlight Foods,
jotted down descriptions on the size, packaging and prices of products similar
to those offered by the company.
''Next week, when I go back to Miami, I'll look at my notes and see if we
can do business with a supermarket like this,'' said Craig Green, one of more
than 700 people attending the U.S. Food & Agribusiness Exhibition, a trade
show for American companies interested in doing business with Cuba.
LOGISTICS
''Lots of the stuff they have here is coming from Spain and Canada,'' said
Green, whose company already exports to Central and South America and most of
the Caribbean. "If we could ship our products from Miami -- it could be
very competitive. But I don't know all the logistics involved. There is . . . a
learning curve involved before we can consider Cuba as a market.''
President Fidel Castro, meanwhile, spent most of Friday meeting privately
with U.S. agricultural representatives, business leaders and Minnesota Gov.
Jesse Ventura, the highest-ranking official to attend the event. Participants
said they socialized with Castro, discussing a wide range of topics, even as
officials from Cuba's purchasing agency, Alimport, signed new deals.
As of Friday afternoon, Cuba had signed about $25 million in commodities at
the fair, which ends Monday. Today, dozens of U.S. firms are expected to
register their trademarks in Cuba as part of the services offered at the
exposition.
''If Cuba could do a similar type of exposition in the United States, I
think that would attract as much interest over there,'' said Raúl Fernández,
47, who has relatives in New York. ''Our countries should be able to trade
freely,'' said Fernández as he shopped at Palco. "We are neighbors.
Why do we have to continue to fight?''
BETTER PRICES
Even though the U.S. products available at the dollar stores are more
expensive than Cuban products, they are still cheaper than those imported from
farther away. At La Puntilla, a shopping center in Miramar, butter recently
imported from Indianapolis-based Marsh International sells for $3.80 a pound,
compared to $2.90 for a pound of Cuban butter. However butter imported from
Canada and Spain is more expensive, at $4.10 a pound and $5 a pound,
respectively.
''We need more products and better prices,'' said Vladimir Diez, 40, a
computer technician, who spends $50 to $100 a month on groceries from the dollar
stores.
''What this trade does is help the people here,'' said Diez, who has two
children, ages 21 and 11, living in Miami. "Politics is politics, but the
population has to keep living.''
Lili may grow, hit Cuba's west
By Martin Merzer. Mmerzer@herald.com. Posted on Mon, Sep.
30, 2002.
Tropical Storm Lili cruised through the Caribbean near Jamaica's northern
shore Sunday night. Forecasters expected it to hit western Cuba as a hurricane
Tuesday, its outermost wind and rain brushing South Florida.
Heavy rain produced severe flooding and mudslides in Jamaica and spread
gradually over Cuba. Tropical storm or hurricane alerts blanketed Jamaica, Cuba
and the Cayman Islands this morning.
Evacuations accelerated in eastern Jamaica and southern Cuba, though the
worst of the storm avoided the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay, where 598
detainees were being held as alleged terrorists.
Lili's future path was unclear and the Florida Keys were close, but the Keys
and all of South Florida appeared out of danger for a direct strike -- assuming
Lili finally begins to obey forecasts.
OUTLOOK BETTER
''We are in better shape than we were,'' said Irene Toner, director of
emergency management for Monroe County.
Still, clouds will thicken, winds will grow stronger and rain will become
more prevalent in South Florida tonight through Wednesday as an intensifying
Lili passes to the south, though how far south remained unknown.
''Fairly subtle changes in heading could make the difference in Lili staying
south of Cuba, moving over Cuba or even entering the Straits of Florida''
between Cuba and the Keys, said forecaster Richard Pasch of the National
Hurricane Center in West Miami-Dade County.
WATCHES, WARNINGS
With the southern route seeming most likely, all of Jamaica was under a
tropical storm warning. Tropical storm watches or warnings were issued for
eastern and central Cuba; hurricane watches or warnings for western Cuba and the
Caymans.
More than 50,000 students in rural schools in Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas
returned to their homes for safety, and Cubans were evacuated from low-lying
areas.
Last November, Hurricane Michelle killed five people and destroyed thousands
of homes in Cuba. About a week ago, Hurricane Isidore damaged hundreds of homes
and ruined tons of crops on the Isle of Youth and in western Cuba.
A storm alert was lifted Sunday at the U.S. Navy base at Guantánamo
after Lili, again defying predictions, meandered away from that area.
Lili spent most of Sunday near Jamaica, its center just off the shore of
Montego Bay, its spiral bands dumping heavy rain on vulnerable areas near the
sea and in the mountains.
Rescue workers evacuated the southeastern seaside community of Bull Bay,
where one man was feared dead, swept away by floodwaters. Other people were
rescued by a military helicopter.
More trouble seemed certain. Lili was expected to become a hurricane
tonight, before it reaches western Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday. Then,
it could grow into an intense hurricane with winds exceeding 110 mph.
Its ultimate target: possibly Texas or Louisiana.
Herald staff writers Jennifer Babson and Cassio Furtado contributed to
this report.
Cuban honoree must miss D.C. gala
By Tim Johnson. Tjohnson@herald.com. Posted on Sat, Sep.
28, 2002.
WASHINGTON - An offshoot of the Democratic Party will host a huge gala on
Monday to honor the Cuban democracy activist leading a petition drive for
peaceful reform on the island -- even if the honoree cannot be present.
More than 700 members of Congress, diplomats and policymakers are expected
at the gala to honor both Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá of the Varela
Project and the Organization of American States with W. Averell Harriman
Democracy Awards from the National Democratic Institute.
Payá, however, will probably be feted in absentia. The Cuban
government of Fidel Castro is balking at letting him travel.
''He has gone through all the various processes in Cuba to obtain a
permit,'' said Kenneth Wollack, president of the Institute. "As of this
morning, he has yet to hear from [the authorities].''
Payá and the Cuban-based Varela Project have drawn upon a provision
in the Cuban Constitution that allows citizen initiatives on the island. In May,
Payá and his associates submitted a petition with 11,000 signatures to
the National Assembly calling for open elections, freedom of speech, freedom for
political prisoners and free enterprise in Cuba.
''It uses the rules of the regime, in a sense, against the regime,'' said
Wollack, who called the Varela Project an "ingenious way to reach out and
garner support for fundamental democratic principles.''
While Payá may be absent from the ceremony, Wollack said the
institute will screen a 20-minute documentary showing rare footage of him
describing the difficulties of gathering support for the signature initiative.
If Payá does not attend the ceremony, he will not be the first
honoree unable to receive the Harriman Democracy Award in person. In 1996,
Burmese democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi could not attend, because she was
under house arrest in Rangoon.
Also being honored at the ceremony is the OAS, the once-weak hemispheric
body that plays a growing role in protecting democracy in Latin America and the
Caribbean. César Gaviria, a former president of Colombia who has been
secretary general of the OAS since 1994, will accept the award.
The Institute said the OAS is the only intergovernmental organization that
demands that its members "exercise representative democracy.''
Defector community keeps cyclists spinning
Posted on Sat, Sep. 28, 2002
The hub: Bikes To Go, a shop that is home away from home for a colony of
Cuban defector cyclists.
The grease: Rich, black Cuban coffee. Instant energy for the riders who come
by for a quick fix of caffeine -- or of their bikes.
The spokes:
Ricardo Hernández, a former Cuban national champion who made it to
Miami by raft. For two years, he worked as jackhammer operator, truck driver and
warehouse supervisor before he sold his car for $700 to buy a Trek and start
riding again.
Raúl Pipián was a 1992 Olympian who defected in Peru.
Jaime Oliveros, ''a two-time balsero,'' competed on the Cuban team for eight
years.
Frank Travieso, a junior team member, arrived four years ago.
Usmanis Barreidos was a Cuban rider and mechanic for 23 years. A 1965 team
photo hangs on the wall. Since he landed in Miami via visa lottery nine months
ago he has become customers' favorite repairman with the resourcefulness he
learned in Havana.
Max Berger, owner of the shop near Dadeland, came to Miami on a 1962 Pedro
Pan flight. He has given jobs and gear to Cubans who came later.
And then there's Iván Domínguez, who defected during the 1998
Goodwill Games and worked at a clothing factory and sprinkler company before
resuming his career. Of the 15 to 20 cyclists who have defected to Miami since
1993, he is the one who has truly made it. He has a pro contract with the Saturn
team and the potential to compete in Europe. He will go after his second Miami
Cycling Classic title at 3 p.m. Sunday in Coconut Grove when the U.S. Pro
Cycling Tour makes its final stop.
The cyclists who ended up here in the unofficial satellite capital of Cuban
sports talent will be riding or cheering. Many athletes have remained loyal to
Fidel Castro, such as baseball player Omar Linares and high jumper Javier
Sotomayor. But plenty have said goodbye. Destination: Miami. Hernández
met his wife, Hualya, when he saw her Roller-Blading in Key Biscayne and pulled
over to say, ''Don't I know you?'' She was on the Cuban roller skating team and
had defected during a competition in Puerto Rico.
It's a small exile world. The cyclists know Angel Pérez, the kayaker
who swam across the Rio Grande, got a job installing burglar alarms, became a
U.S. citizen and competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and Rio Ramirez, the
diver who won NCAA titles at the University of Miami.
Boxers, weight lifters, volleyball, water polo, basketball and baseball
players -- they've all started over in Miami. Some are still competing. Some are
making ends meet. Your plumber might have been a star wrestler in Cuba.
Domínguez, 26, might still be digging sprinkler trenches if not for a
few breaks. In 1999, he was given an old purple bike frame and cannibalized
parts by local cyclists. He rode it to fourth place in the Grove race. Then an
uncle agreed to sponsor him. He embarked on a cross-country tour of races with
Cycle Science team manager Danny Bennett. They traveled in an old prison bus,
retrofitted with six beds. At a race in Wisconsin, Domínguez caught
Saturn's eye. Last month, he won the New York City Criterium.
''In Cuba, you're racing, running or playing baseball for nothing. It leads
nowhere,'' Domínguez said. "The athlete's life is better than that
of the average person, but it is not a good life.''
Now, because his sprinting abilities make him valuable, he dreams of racing
in Europe or making Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team. He recently
moved to Los Angeles.
''The training is better there because drivers respect cyclists,'' he said. "In
Miami, they try to push you off the road.''
Hernández has hit his prime at 37. He did not compete for eight years
after he quit the team, then was jailed for attempting to leave the island on a
boat.
After he got out, he pilfered plywood from a concert stage and foam from air
conditioning units and assembled a raft in his family's garage. He lied to his
mother, a member of the Communist Party. He told her he was building a sofa.
At 9 p.m. on Aug. 18, 1994, while most of Cuba was engrossed in a Brazilian
soap opera, Hernández and five friends rowed into the darkness. Sixteen
hours later, the U.S. Coast Guard took them to Key West. The next day President
Clinton announced his interdiction policy; Hernández just missed being
sent to Guantánamo.
He worked, took physical therapy classes, tried to forget about cycling.
'But every day when I drove to work on Key Biscayne, I saw people riding up the
bridge and I said, 'Someday that will be me,' '' Hernández said.
Within a year of buying his Trek, he won the state criterium championship.
He has led the Florida racing series the past three years. He rides for the
amateur Jet Network/Home Financing Center team and works with his wife as a
personal trainer and massage therapist. They have a daughter, Sofia, 10 months
old. He'll become a U.S. citizen Jan. 6.
Hernández has regrets. ''The frustration is not knowing what I could
have achieved when I was a younger athlete,'' he said.
But life is good. Much better than when his only ride was a clunky Chinese
Forever bike.
''I never really stopped cycling in Cuba because the bike is your only
transport,'' Hernandez said. "Your girlfriend is in back, your brother is
in front and you are pedaling hard.
"Life in Cuba is funny. Now you smile, but when you're there, you
cry.''
lrobertson @herald.com
Liberation underway in Cuba
Posted on Sat, Sep. 28, 2002
Following are excerpts from Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá's
message to Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel in Miami this week.
B ack in 1968, totalitarianism had already been consolidated in Cuba. There
were thousands of political prisoners, and it seemed that hope had been
extinguished for all those trapped within the dense and toxic shadow of
communism. It was then that refreshing winds of change began to blow from a
small European country named Czechoslovakia.
We all know how the communist empire crushed that experiment in reform.
Devastating and disproportionate force was used against a defenseless people
that had dared to dream. Everything was crushed, everything except the hope of
freedom, which God places in the human soul and that no one can eradicate.
We in Cuba did not lose that hope, either. [Mr. Havel], history has recorded
how you and a group of your countrymen, even when it seemed absurd according to
the standards of this world, upheld the flag of freedom in that culture of fear
that we know so well, which upholds that type of regime. You gained your
freedom. And I want to proclaim our gratitude and recognition for the Czechs'
solidarity, especially your own. . . .
Our headquarters in Santiago de Cuba, a small house where a humble family
lives in a town named Palmarito, has been subjected to an attack by a
government-organized mob. I am talking about pogrom, of dozens of State Security
agents and collaborators of the Communist Party hurling insults and stones,
covering the home's walls with mud and terrorizing the defenseless family
within. Worse yet, children have been actively forced to take part in these
awful actions. . . .
Our greatest victory has been that we have never hated, that we have
discarded violence and genuinely work for reconciliation. To many in the world
it still sounds strident if we categorize government cruelty and sadism as a
''communist act.'' Even our language has been suppressed. . . .
That is why we congratulate you. For your courage and your honesty, for
visiting our diaspora, which is an inseparable part of our suffering people. I
congratulate you for having that courage while many in the world, who are
bothered by the fact that we preserve our hope of freedom, still say that Cuba
is different, that Cubans are not that bad off.
We never lost that hope, and you have been a light which has kept that hope
alive. That is why today it is more than a dream. It is determination. And it is
liberation.
Many Cubans are losing their fear, taking off their masks and raising their
heads. Change begins when citizens lose their fear, because the regime is
founded on fear. Those in power are afraid of people not being afraid.
Liberation is under way in Cuba -- many do not believe it although all desire
it.
There is a vanguard. Thousands of citizens who have told the regime: We want
change; we want a referendum on the Varela Project, here are our names and
addresses. The Varela Project is not another mask. It is our own face. This is
liberation.
We will continue the civic campaign of the Varela Project until we have
regained our rights. We will continue no matter what the regime's reaction may
be. Our goal of freedom and the nonviolent means through which to achieve it are
inseparable. There is no victory without struggle. | 
