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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Cuban tourism boss fired over corruption
Several senior officials at Cuba's largest
state-run tourism enterprise are reported
under house arrest pending a probe of alleged
financial improprieties.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Fri, Dec. 05, 2003 .
The president of Cuba's largest state-run
tourism enterprise was abruptly removed
from his post amid reports out of Havana
on Thursday of a financial probe involving
the disappearance of millions of dollars
from the company's coffers.
The case may be one of the biggest corruption
scandals in more than a decade, several
analysts said.
According to British Broadcasting Corp.,
Juan José Vega was among several
unidentified senior officials at Cubanacán
placed under house arrest pending a probe
of alleged financial improprieties. The
BBC, citing unnamed government sources,
said Raúl Castro, defense minister
and brother of President Fidel Castro, was
directly involved in the investigation --
an indication that Cuba is facing a serious
corruption scandal.
''Raúl only gets directly involved
if it's big,'' said Alcibiades Hidalgo,
a Cuban ambassador to the United Nations
and personal secretary to Raúl Castro
before his defection last year.
''This is the tip of the iceberg; there
is lots of corruption in Cuba,'' Hidalgo
said. "The [government] may be preparing
for a major purge.''
QUICK GROWTH
Cubanacán was created in the 1980s
to form partnerships with foreign investors
in the tourism industry. The company grew
quickly after Cuba opened its doors to visitors
in the mid-1990s by operating hotel chains
such as Spain's Sol Meliá and running
various other enterprises, including restaurants,
travel agencies and rental car companies.
Cuban officials in Washington did not return
Herald phone calls seeking comment. In Havana,
authorities also were mum.
''We don't have any information about that,''
Mario Fernández, of the Tourism Ministry's
foreign relations office, told the Associated
Press.
Employees answering the phone at several
Cubanacán travel agencies around
the capital would only confirm that Vega
was no longer the company's president, the
AP reported.
Several analysts said that while corruption
scandals in the tourism industry have surfaced
in the past, most recently in 1999, the
industry is particularly vulnerable because
of the large amount of foreign currency
handled by Cuban managers who are paid in
pesos.
''The temptation is high,'' said William
LeoGrande, a Cuba expert at the School of
Public Affairs at American University in
Washington. "Ever since they've begun
to revitalize the tourist sector, they've
had problems with corruption.''
''There have been more financial irregularities
in the tourism sector than in any other,''
said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba
Trade and Economic Council in New York,
which monitors Cuba's economy. "As
Cuba's economy continues to be in transition
and the government can't provide higher
standards of living, there's going to be
a continuing and ever increasing impulse
to try to get more no matter what the risk.''
If the allegations are proven, several
experts said, the penalty will likely be
severe and made public, like the convictions
of the 75 dissidents jailed earlier this
year.
''It's in the Cuban government's interest
to publicly show an aggressive response,''
Kavulich said, adding that placing Vega
under house arrest, rather than in a jail
cell, indicates that the investigation is
at preliminary stages.
Others speculated that the probe was part
of a ruse to oust officials who have fallen
out of favor.
''It's quite possible, and even likely,
that some of the Cuban tourism managers
have gotten too rich or too powerful, or
too whatever, for the tastes of the regime,
and corruption is always a convenient fiction
to take them out of the picture and replace
them with less experienced, more controllable
individuals,'' said Art Padilla, a professor
of business management at North Carolina
State University who has done studies on
Cuba's tourism industry. "A sort of
periodic house cleansing, if you will, to
maintain control.''
Said Joe Garcia, executive director of
the Cuban American National Foundation.
"It's either a big fight or a big robbery.''
SOURCE OF DOLLARS
Still recovering from a multibillion-dollar
loss of subsidies from the former Soviet
Union in 1991, an economic downturn in the
world economy and a drop in sugar prices
-- previously one of Cuba's key industries
-- tourism has evolved into the country's
most important source of foreign currency,
bringing in as much as $2 billion each year.
The BBC report said the alleged shortfalls
were discovered earlier this year after
the government implemented a new centralized
system, controlled by Cuba's Central Bank,
that prevented local businesses from keeping
funds in U.S. dollars. Instead, they had
to exchange their holdings into Cuban pesos.
Cubanacán handles about 40 percent
of the island's tourism sector, and operates
51 hotels, a convention center, two marinas
as well as travel offices, stores, restaurants,
nightclubs and a taxi service, according
to the AP.
Coast Guard: Ten Cuban migrants may
have drowned
Herald staff report. Posted
on Fri, Dec. 05, 2003
Ten Cuban migrants trying to reach South
Florida may have drowned when their 14-foot
homemade boat was destroyed by rough weather
after leaving the island last week, the
U.S. Coast Guard reported Friday.
The Coast Guard cutter Manitou on Monday
picked up the 24-year-old man who is believed
to be the sole survivor, clinging to two
inner tubes in the water about nine miles
east of Miami.
The man, whose name was not released, told
the Guard that he and 10 other people had
left Matanzas, Cuba on Nov. 27 in a 14-foot
vessel that was subsequently destroyed by
bad weather. The Guard says the weather
has been unusually cold, with 17-30 mph
winds and three to seven foot seas.
The Manitou and an HH-65 Dolphin rescue
helicopter launched a search for anyone
from the boat.
Computer models predicting the course and
speed of the boat indicate it would have
drifted through areas patrolled by the Coast
Guard and by imigration service planes from
Fort Lauderdale to below the Cay Sal Bank,
so all were alerted. Marine broadcasts also
told vessels to be on the lookout.
Cuban defectors hoping to cash in
Maels Rodríguez and Yobal Dueñas
are ready to showcase their skills for major-league
scouts in early January.
By Kevin Baxter, kbaxter@herald.com.
Posted on Fri, Dec. 05, 2003
Henry Vilar, the Miami-based agent for
Cuban defectors Maels Rodríguez and
Yobal Dueñas, said he plans to invite
all 30 major-league clubs to an open workout
for his clients in early January before
taking offers that could make the pair the
best-paid rookies in baseball next spring.
Rodríguez, a 24-year-old right-hander
whose fastball can top 100 mph, could be
offered a long-term contract worth more
than the four-year, $32 million deal defector
José Contreras signed with the New
York Yankees a year ago, several agents
familiar with the pitcher say.
''He's the only amateur player in the world
I think might be worth more than Contreras,''
said Jaime L. Torres, Contreras' agent.
THE WAITING GAME
The players left Cuba with friends and
family in October and are working out in
El Salvador while they wait for the paperwork
necessary to complete their residency petitions.
Vilar said a half-dozen teams, including
the Yankees, Mets, Mariners and Rangers,
are interested.
''We're still looking to get in good shape
physically,'' Rodríguez said by phone.
"We're running a lot, swimming, doing
long-tossing, building strength so when
we get to the tryouts we're 100 percent.''
A good tryout could mean millions to Rodríguez,
who Cuban authorities say hurt his arm last
season. Two years earlier, he struck out
263 in 178 1/3 innings, and he is the only
pitcher in post-revolution Cuba history
to throw a perfect game.
NO WORRIES HERE
''Don't worry, I'm fine,'' said Rodríguez,
adding that Cuban sports officials exaggerated
the injury to justify leaving him off two
national teams because they feared he would
defect.
Now that he is out, however, he has another
obstacle to overcome: The 13 Cuban pitchers
who have defected and reached the majors
since 1993 are a combined 289-299, and only
Orlando Hernández (53-38) is more
than five games over .500.
''In Cuba, I felt like I made it to the
top and I wanted another experience,'' Rodríguez
said. "Pitching in the big leagues
is the dream of players all over the world.''
SOMETHING TO PROVE
Dueñas also must alleviate some
doubts. At 31, the second baseman will have
to show scouts he still has the talent that
allowed him to win a stolen-base title and
hit .321 in 14 seasons in the Cuban league.
The Marlins will watch both closely, said
Fred Ferreira, the club's director of international
operations.
''I'm interested in anybody that's available,''
said Ferreira, who signed a pair of Cuban
defectors to minor-league contracts last
summer.
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