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CUBA
NEWS
Yahoo!
Cuban Tourism Firm Head Leaves Post
By Anita Snow, Associated
Press Writer , Thu Dec 4.
HAVANA - The head of Cuba's largest state-run
tourism enterprise has left his job, officials
inside the company said Thursday. But authorities
would not comment on reports he was arrested
amid allegations of corruption in the industry.
"We don't have any information about
that," Mario Fernandez, of the Tourism
Ministry's foreign relations office, said
of reports that Juan Jose Vega was removed
from his job as president of the government's
Cubanacan tourism firm amid a probe into
company finances.
But employees answering the phone at several
Cubanacan travel agencies around the capital
said that Vega was no longer the company's
president.
Tourism is this communist country's No.
1 source of foreign income, and any scandal
involving high-ranking officials within
the sector would be a highly sensitive political
matter.
Citing unnamed government sources, the
British Broadcasting Corp. reported from
Havana Thursday that Vega was among several
officials being held under house arrest
pending an investigation. It said the Tourism
Ministry was now directly managing Cubanacan.
The BBC said the alleged corruption was
uncovered after the government told local
businesses they could no longer keep funds
in U.S. dollars. In the process of exchanging
their holdings into Cuban pesos, shortfalls
were discovered, the BBC said.
Cubanacan accounts for about 40 percent
of the island's tourism sector. It operates
51 hotels, a convention center, two marinas,
travel offices, stores, restaurants, nightclubs
and a taxi service.
Although workers at several Cubanacan offices
said they were told Vega was no longer president,
a man who answered the phone in the president's
office at company headquarters Thursday
morning insisted Vega retained his position,
but was unavailable for comment.
The man, like the travel office employees,
did not give his name.
Orlando Pedroso, Cubanacan's international
relations director, did not immediately
return telephone calls from the AP seeking
comment.
Officials at the International Press Center
said they had no information about the case.
Protective of its international reputation,
especially when it comes to tourism, Cuba
traditionally has not publicized details
of past scandals in the industry.
Amid rumors of a corruption scandal in
August 1999, Cuba's leadership replaced
then-Tourism Minister Osmany Cienfuegos
with current Minister Ibrahim Ferradaz for
unexplained reasons.
The move followed the sacking of several
lower-level tourism officials.
At the time, the government said several
employees of a Cuban tourism firm were disciplined
for inappropriate actions, but denied reports
of a widespread corruption scandal in the
tourism industry.
The Tourism Ministry assumed a key role
this decade after Cuba lost most of its
former aid and trade with the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
As the sugar industry, once Cuba's primary
source of income, began to falter, visitors
from Europe and Canada became an importance
source of hard currency.
Cuba Welcomes U.S. Oil Companies
HAVANA, 4 (AP) - Cuba welcomed American
petroleum companies on Thursday to join
efforts by the government and other firms
to find oil off the island's coast in the
Gulf of Mexico.
"The Cuban government does not object
to letting American petroleum companies
participate in exploration and drilling
in our zone as long as it is based on mutual
benefit," said an official notice in
the Communist Party daily Granma.
Repsol-YPF of Spain plans to begin offshore
exploration next year. Sherritt International
of Canada has also signed contracts with
the government to begin exploration, and
Petrobras of Brazil is studying the feasibility
of a similar move.
Despite Cuba's invitation, interested American
companies would be unable to explore or
drill for oil off the island's coast because
of a four-decade-old U.S. trade embargo
against the communist-run nation.
The Cuban government statement noted American
farmers have been legally selling their
agricultural goods to the island for two
years under an exception to the trade sanctions.
Cuba, once almost wholly dependent on foreign
fuel imports, now produces more than 30
percent of its own crude.
Nevertheless, the government said it was
not counting on the possibility of future
oil discoveries for the nation's economic
development.
"The government of Cuba would like
to clarify that our plans for economic development,
and especially our social programs that
are increasingly admired by many around
the world, are not based in the least on
the hypothetical possibility of finding
new sources of energy," the statement
said.
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