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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
DeLay criticized for trying to help
Bacardi
Tom DeLay's effort to aid Bacardi-Martini
is drawing fire from other corporations
that fear retaliation by Castro.
By Julia Malone, Cox News
Service. Posted on Mon, Oct. 20, 2003
WASHINGTON - House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay's behind-the-scenes attempt to help
rum maker Bacardi-Martini fend off Cuban
competition is drawing fire on Capitol Hill.
Last week, four House Judiciary Committee
members formally protested after an article
in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call
reported that DeLay planned to slip an amendment
revising U.S. trademark statutes into the
annual defense authorization bill.
Watchdog groups and business interests
also have objected to the Texas Republican's
efforts.
The amendment had not been properly ''vetted''
by their panel, which is supposed to oversee
trademark law, said the letter signed by
the Judiciary Committee objectors.
NOT FIRST ATTEMPT
DeLay's effort is not the first attempt
to help the Bermuda-based company run by
a politically plugged-in Cuban exile family.
Bacardi's Miami-based U.S. division has
donated generously to both political parties
for the past several years.
The rum company won a major Capitol Hill
victory in 1998, when then Sen. Connie Mack,
R-Fla., inserted an obscure amendment, known
as Section 211, into a catch-all spending
bill 4,000 pages long.
Months later it became apparent that the
language cleared the way for Bacardi to
win its lengthy court battle for the U.S.
rights to one of the world's oldest rum
labels, Havana Club. The label is also claimed
by Pernod-Ricard, a French company that
sells rum by that name in partnership with
the Cuban government.
The legislation denies U.S. protection
to foreign trademarks when government confiscation
is involved. France complained to the World
Trade Organization, which ruled that the
United States has violated treaty obligations
to protect copyrights.
DeLay is seeking to insert new language
to bring the statute into technical compliance
with the WTO ruling. Several major corporations,
including Dupont, Ford and General Motors,
have joined in asking Congress to repeal
Section 211 altogether to avoid possible
retaliation by Cuba's President Fidel Castro
against their own trademarks.
LIBERAL GROUP
Also objecting is a liberal group, Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,
whose director, Melanie Sloan, links Bacardi's
success in Congress to its campaign donations.
The company has spread more than $650,000
to political party committees since 1997.
Bacardi has also been one of DeLay's top
benefactors, giving a total of $40,000 to
political action committees that he founded.
DeLay's spokesman Jonathan Grella responded
that "It's wrong and unethical to link
legislative activity to campaign contributions.''
A spokeswoman for Bacardi was unavailable
for comment.
Leader opposes Cuba loophole
By Susannah A. Nesmith,
snesmith@herald.com. Posted on Sun, Oct.
19, 2003
David Rivera lay in wait by the information
desk at Miami International Airport's Concourse
E Saturday morning.
His prey: travelers bound for Cuba for
a trip organized by the University of South
Florida's public radio station.
''She is certainly not some University
of South Florida student on a cultural and
educational exchange,'' said the state representative,
spying a white-haired woman making her way
to the ticket counter.
The Miami Republican opposes the educational
exemption to the ban on travel to Cuba,
saying it is being taken advantage of by
travelers looking for a sunny beach, business
opportunity or seedier forms of entertainment
he called "sex tourism.''
Helpless to stop the trips, or the dollars
travelers bring to the island, he set out
to preach about the dark side of sunny Cuba.
''You will only see what the government
wants you to see,'' he told a group of retirees.
"The only employer in Cuba is the Cuban
government. It's important that you know
that.''
The group listened respectfully. But they
weren't swayed.
AN INDEPENDENT VIEW
''We assume people who do this kind of
tour are interesting and curious people,''
explained Bernice Belmont, 74, a retired
federal government employee from Sarasota.
"It's a way of trying to find out for
ourselves about Mr. Castro.''
She and her husband, William, were eager
to assess whether Rivera's dire warnings
of poverty and repression were true. And
if U.S. policy is doing any good.
'I think a lot of the arguments are passé:
'They expropriated U.S. property,' '' said
William Belmont, a retired economist parroting
Rivera. "We did the same to the British
during the Revolution and it was called
patriotism.''
Rivera said he was also worried that the
Communist government was skimming money
from the $3,250 cost of the weeklong tour.
Trip organizers denied that.
JoAnn Urofsky, a trip organizer from WUSF,
the radio station for the Tampa university,
said no money was being funneled to Castro's
regime "through us or the travel agency.''
"The price of this trip is in line
with our other trips.''
ACCUSATIONS
Rivera passed out newspaper clippings about
conditions in Cuba. Moving on from the group
of retirees to the next cluster of tourists,
he remained suspicious that many travelers
were interested in more than just high-minded
culture.
''You never know what perverts lurk in
these groups,'' he said. "Those people
seemed nice, but you never know, do you?''
Urofsky denied the trip was a front for
a sex tour or a business excursion.
''These people came because they listen
to public radio and they're interested in
learning about another place,'' she said,
noting that the group plans to tour schools,
churches and a synagogue.
Rivera, recently appointed to the House
education appropriations committee, is planning
to introduce a bill requiring public colleges
and universities in Florida that sponsor
Cuba excursions to submit their itineraries
and passenger lists prior to each trip.
''Each time, we're going to talk to the
university about canceling the trip,'' he
said.
Nation fears excess of tourists
An 'avalanche' of pent-up demand to
visit Cuba is expected to overwhelm the
island's tourism resources.
By John Rice, Associated
Press. Posted on Sat, Oct. 18, 2003
CANCUN, Mexico - While they would welcome
the enormous influx of tourism dollars if
the U.S. Senate lifts a travel ban, Cuban
officials worry an ''avalanche'' of American
vacationers would harm the very atmosphere
that drew them in the first place.
At a conference that opened Friday between
Cuban and U.S. tourism operators, both sides
said limited hotel space could restrict
any increase in American tourism even if
politics allows it.
''Pent-up demand is going to be huge''
after decades of restrictions on U.S. visits,
said Robert Whitley, president of the United
States Tour Operators Association, which
represents companies moving 10 million tourists
a year.
Most estimates say at least 1 million Americans
could try to visit Cuba in the first year
after a travel opening. Miguel Figueras,
advisor to Cuba's Tourism Ministry, said
that figure could reach 2.5 million to 3
million in five years.
INDUSTRY BOOM
Cuba's rapidly growing tourist industry
accounts for 40 percent of the country's
foreign trade income. It expects to serve
1.9 million tourists this year, most from
Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and
Britain.
The industry is still midsized by regional
standards. There are 40,000 hotel rooms
on the entire island of Cuba. Cancún,
the resort city hosting the conference,
has 26,000 alone.
''We have to avoid an avalanche because
that is going to affect quality,'' said
Antonio Díaz, vice director of Havanatur,
a government travel agency.
He said prices would likely rise to meet
the demand and limit an overload of tourists
if Americans start flowing in.
The Cancún conference follows passage
of a U.S. House appropriations measure that
would block the Treasury Department from
enforcing a ban on most U.S. citizens spending
money in Cuba.
DEBATE ENSUES
The issue is now before the Senate. If
passed, it could be vetoed by President
Bush, though that would hold up the budgets
for the Treasury and Transportation departments.
Critics, led by Cuban-American organizations
based in Florida, say tourism strengthens
President Fidel Castro's communist government,
delaying his downfall after 44 years in
power.
The travel officials here said it was an
issue of American rights. ''Americans should
have the right to travel to any destination
they want to see. . . as long as it's a
safe destination,'' Whitley said.
Loopholes in the travel ban let Cuban-Americans
visit the island, and more than 100,000
did so last year. Figueras said that another
77,000 U.S. citizens also visited, only
half of them using the U.S. government licenses
granted for religious, humanitarian, educational
or other approved purposes.
Figueras said that his agency estimates
the United States loses $565 million for
every 1 million visitors who are banned
from the island -- a figure that included
$300 million for airlines and $160 million
for agents and tour operators.
Like a visit to old Havana
Long overshadowed by the image of Margaritaville,
Cuba's legacy is starting to thrive in Key
West.
By Fabiola Santiago. fsantiago@herald.com.
Posted on Sun, Oct. 19, 2003
KEY WEST - The tacky tourist T-shirt shops
on Duval Street carry trendy cigar-box purses,
old watering holes sport a ''mojito madness
hour,'' and the quaint shop Cuba! Cuba!
sells arts and crafts by Cuban artists and
the kind of nostalgic memorabilia seen only
in Cuba-obsessed Miami.
On Mallory Square, at the traditional Sunset
Celebration, Antonio Rodríguez, a
Cuban artist who came here as a child on
the 1980 Mariel boatlift and stayed, sells
his nostalgic watercolors of chickens and
tropical fruits -- anón, papaya,
coconuts -- as a small salsa band plays
Top-40 salsa hits nearby at Don Pepe's patio
bar.
Last Sunday, the controversial dance band
from Cuba, Los Van Van, performed outdoors
at a bar on Simonton Street.
Cayo Hueso (Bone Key), as the Spanish named
this island when they came upon it and found
bones scattered everywhere, is embracing
its Cuban heritage with unusual fervor.
Even Key West's famous Ghosts and Legends
tour now makes a point to incorporate references
to the practice of santería on the
island.
These days, the Key West of Mel Fisher
and Jimmy Buffett shares the stage with
the historic Cayo Hueso of Jose Martí
and Havana ties that predate the Cubanization
of Miami-Dade.
''The Cuban influence has always been here
-- it's just more visible these days,''
says Larry Winters owner of Cuba! Cuba!.
Winters opened the store eight years ago
when he realized Cuban culture -- via the
food and the music and, he notes, the popularity
of Gloria Estefan's Mi Tierra -- ''was making
a resurgence'' in the United States.
''The only images we have of Cuba is Fidel
Castro and the balseros coming over on rafts,''
Winters says. 'So when I went over the first
time and saw the architecture [of Havana]
-- a combination of Rome, Madrid and Miami
Beach all rolled up into one -- I said,
'Here is this beautiful, old culture Americans
have no knowledge of,' and I wanted to do
an upscale presentation of it.''
His store carries some items you can get
in Miami, like estampillas, prayer cards
of Our Lady of Charity and the Virgin of
Regla, but also some rare finds like posters
of Cuban classics hanging in Cuba's National
Museum and landscape paintings and wood
sculpture by Cuban artists from as far away
as the eastern city of Holguín.
''You'd think a Cuban would have come up
with this idea, but no Cuban had, so I did,''
Winters says. "It's such a great idea
for Key West. There have been Cubans here
for over 100 years. It was a natural.''
His store is an eye-catcher.
''Every Cuban that goes by comes in out
of curiosity, but most customers are plain
vanilla Americans,'' he says.
Winters says he completely stays out of
Cuban politics. A sign at the store says
so. ''It's part of our mission statement
to present the culture of the island and
not get involved in anything political,''
Winter says.
SAN CARLOS
The renewed interest in Key West's Cuban
heritage also has been fueled by the 1992
restoration of the San Carlos Institute.
An architectural crown jewel on Duval Street,
it had been abandoned for almost two decades.
The San Carlos, named after Cuba's San
Carlos Seminary and in honor of Carlos Manuel
de Céspedes, father of Cuba's independence,
opened in 1871 and hosted exiled Cuban leaders
like Jose Martí during their bid
for independence from Spain.
It's now used primarily for educational
conferences, many with a Cuba-related focus.
''The restoration served as a catalyst
to reopen the historical ties of Key West
and Cuba,'' says institute president Rafael
Peñalver, the Miami lawyer who led
the restoration. "For a long time,
the cayohuesanos were quiet about their
Cuban heritage. It used to be something
negative, but now it has become fashionable
to highlight your Cuban roots.''
Peñalver, however, laments that
not all the interest in Cuba is based on
historical ties and culture. Many in the
business community, he says, want to do
business in Cuba -- "with Fidel Castro
and without any regard to supporting a repressive
regime.''
GATEWAY TO CUBA
People with business interests want Key
West to ''distinguish itself from Miami,
to create an image that it is a gateway
to Cuba,'' Peñalver says.
Hence, the free Van Van concert at the
Sands Beach Club, organized by travel-to-Cuba
impresario John Henry Cabañas, unlikely
in Miami because of the band's close links
to Cuban government officialdom. The band
did play at the Miami Arena in 1999, but
not without a rowdy crowd of protesters
outside.
Citing public safety concerns, Key West
police canceled the concert's first venue
at Mallory Square. At the beach-bar concert,
the only reported incident involved a WLTV-23
Univisión reporter who scuffled with
security to interview band members. When
he asked about the mix of music and politics
at a recent Havana concert where singer
Mayito Rivera chanted ''¡Viva Fidel!,''
Rivera angrily answered:"I repeat it
here, viva Fidel, viva Cuba. I say it three
times . . . in Cuba, in China, Japan.''
Politics aside, to the Margaritaville visitor,
Cuban Key West -- old and new -- is in the
details.
As in Cuba, you wake up to roosters crowing
and they're seen all over, crossing even
busy Duval Street. Cuban Conchs, however,
call their café con leche only ''a
con leche.'' They accompany it with the
traditional Cuban bread and butter for breakfast
and eat it standing up at little cafeteria
counters. And regular visitors from Miami
swear that the anón (sweetsop) and
guanábana (soursop) ice creams at
the Flamingo Ice Cream shop are the best
anywhere.
At the bodega in the Casa Cayo Hueso y
Habana complex can be bought a Christmas
tree ornament that's a set of bongos. One
drum top says ''Key West,'' another "Cuba.''
At the outdoor Don Pepe's bar, where an
old sign boasts ''Fly to Havana in 30 Minutes,''
a bartender named Rob mixes a mean mojito.
''Soy Roberrrrto!,'' the old Conch says,
proudly showing off how well he rolls his
r.
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