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CUBA NEWS

September 30, 2003

Exiles' entry rule is lifted

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003

Beginning early next year, Cubans living in the United States will no longer need permission from Havana officials to visit their homeland, Cuba's foreign minister reportedly said at a meeting in New York.

Felipe Pérez Roque, who was in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, also told the crowd of about 250 Cuban Americans that a conference between exiles and Cuban officials would take place May 27-29, according to several people who attended the meeting Saturday.

The Nation and Emigration conference was called off in April in the midst of an island-wide crackdown that landed 75 dissidents in jail.

Both announcements were received with cheers and a standing ovation, according to those who attended the meeting at a union headquarters in New York.

''Pandemonium,'' said Elena Freyre, executive director of the Cuban American Defense League in Miami. "People were really happy. It's a step in a very positive direction.''

Cubans who live abroad have long complained that they must obtain prior clearance from the Cuban government if they want to visit their homeland, saying it makes them feel like foreigners in their own country.

''We are delighted that the Cuban government has decided to make [the suspension of the requirement] a reality.'' said Silvia Wilhelm, executive director of Puentes Cubanos, an anti-embargo organization in Miami.

Roque told the audience that a passport was all that would be required for Cubans to visit, several people at the meeting said. But it was unclear if that meant that Cubans with U.S. citizenship would have to obtain a Cuban passport.

Albright defends Clark, lauds Payá

A former secretary of state calls Democratic candidate Wesley Clark 'a very fine person' during a visit to Miami.

By Peter Wallsten, pwallsten@herald.com.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday defended retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who since announcing his presidential bid has come under fire from former Pentagon colleagues who say he was disliked among fellow commanders.

Albright, who served under President Bill Clinton and worked closely with Clark during the war in Kosovo that he engineered as NATO supreme commander, credited Clark with the victory there.

''He really won that war militarily,'' Albright said during a lunch with Herald editors and writers to promote her new memoirs, Madam Secretary (Miramax Books, $25.95).

''He's a very fine person and a very good friend,'' Albright added, "and I don't like some of the attacks that are coming about him. I think he was a very fine soldier and a patriot, and I'm glad that he got into the race.''

Clark, a retired four-star general, has rocketed to the top of the 10-candidate field vying for the Democratic nomination, despite only recently deciding to become a Democrat and entering the race two weeks ago.

He has emerged as a leading critic of the war in Iraq and is viewed by some Democratic and Republican strategists as the most potent threat to President Bush's reelection next year -- a point that has made Clark a target for critics who question his decision-making during the Kosovo war.

The former secretary, who now runs a global strategy firm in Washington, was careful to say that she was not endorsing Clark, and that she has advised all the Democratic presidential candidates.

She said the Iraq war would become an increasingly critical factor in the campaign if questions persist about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction.

''The more information that comes out that the information [from the Bush administration about Iraq] was inaccurate or manipulated, the more the people who doubted it will get saliency,'' Albright said..

If a Democrat wins the White House next year, Albright said, she would happily return to the administration.

In her conversation with Herald writers, Albright called for an international embrace of Cuban dissidents and said world leaders should give Varela Project leader Oswaldo Payá whatever he wants.

Albright recently joined a group of European leaders, including former Czech President Vaclav Havel and Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, formed to build international support for dissidents on the island seeking legitimacy and resources to fight the Castro government.

She said the project was ''making Castro nervous'' and that dissidents wanted the attention.

'They say over and over again, 'Just shine the light on us,' '' Albright said of dissidents. "They say if nobody pays attention to us, then whatever dictator's in charge can in fact do whatever he wants.''

For the sake of legitimacy, Albright added, "It cannot be viewed as a U.S. versus Castro thing. It needs to come from international sources.''

Anger of new Cuban exiles is in music

Habana Abierta, which will play Miami this weekend, shines a light on Havana, where just about everything is changing.

By Fabiola Santiago. fsantiago@herald.com. Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003

Here comes Habana Abierta, the irreverent voice of a generation, lifting the veil on the underground life of youth in Cuba with songs that -- whether they're about love or revolution -- are poetic, energetic and critical.

Trend-setting in their fusion style of traditional Cuban rhythms and international influences that range from bossa to rap, the Madrid-based band is making a first appearance in Miami with concerts at the Coconut Grove Playhouse Friday and Saturday.

Here's a guide to some of the street talk in Habana Abierta's lyrics:

¿Qué volá? -- Whazzup?

Gorrión -- Sadness, nostalgia, the jones.

Chocando con una calada -- Go for a toke.

Vámonos de rosca -- Let's party.

Hoy le instalé la bomba al coco -- I finally got my brain to work.

Dándole pira al dolor -- Setting fire to my pain.

¡Chivatón! -- A big stool pigeon.

For the eight singer-songwriters of Habana Abierta, reunited after struggling individually for years to make it in and out of Cuba, coming to Miami marks a milestone in a long journey that mirrors the experience of the new wave of Cuban exiles.

ANOTHER LANDMARK

For the capital of exiles, where contemporary art, music and cinema from the island are pushing the cultural envelope, the Habana Abierta concert is equally a landmark. It swings opens a window on a radically different Cuba -- a weary Havana that speaks a different jargon, has an edgier look and more pragmatic politics.

''We began to make music at a time when everything we had ever believed in, we had ever been taught, came crashing down,'' says Boris Larramendi, 33, who in his Mick Jagger-like thinness and waist-long hair looks more like an American rockero than the traditional Cuban songman. ''We are marked by our experience and immigration.''

''We are bohemian, drunks, sex-crazed,'' quips Ihosvani ''Vanito'' Caballero, 36. ''I don't know if I'm from Havana, Santiago de Cuba [where he was born] or Madrid, or from where I am going to be tomorrow. I feel Cuban, más 'na que eso. No more than that.''

The music of Habana Abierta -- which literally means Open Havana -- is a mix of ''the musical powerhouses of the world -- Cuba, Brazil and the United States,'' says Luis A. Barbería. That's a whole lot of rumba, son and bolero infused with bossa, reggae, pop, jazz, funk.

Songs like Rocasón show off a mix of something so different it defines monolingual description. Call it a rock 'n' roll con guapería -- with Cuban attitude. Others tap into the more sultry percussion of Brazil or break into a rap to a Cuban beat.

But it is Habana Abierta's lyrics -- the street poetry in anthems like La vida es un divino guión (Life is a Divine Movie Script) and Cuando salí de La Habana (When I Left Havana, the only one starting to play frequently on Miami radio) -- that set the group apart.

''They are the voice of a generation born and raised inside the Revolution,'' says Natalio Chediak, the Miami music empresario who facilitated their reunion and is staging the concert in collaboration with Miami Dade College. ''It's not a sad and depressed voice, but an open, witty, critical, sarcastic voice.''

Besides Larramendi, Caballero and Barbería, the other band members are Alejandro Gutiérrez, Andy Villalón, Kelvis Ochoa, José Luis Medina and Pepe del Valle.

Their songs speak of the squashing force of the system in Havana and the sadness of exile.

In Quítate de eso (Get Away from That), they rail in rhyme against a system that has turned neighbors into government informants.

Yet their voice rings, not with the traditional good-guy, bad-guy script of the long-exiled, but in the gray tones of a generation sick of Cuba's isolation.

''Those of the right swing to the right,
those of the left swing to the left
and I am bored with the old little trips in circles ...''

And in a tone that's perfectly in sync with the Cuban character of all times, they celebrate love, sex and music itself with algarabía -- with wildly exuberant emotion.

''Our music is enjoyable, danceable. It's about gozar y bacilar -- have fun and boogie,'' says Pepe del Valle.

Habana Abierta's musical biographies date back to the 80s when the musicians were teenagers and started singing and playing solo at parties in Havana as a way to pass the time and ''buy Chiclets,'' as Caballero puts it.

Students in rigorous schools like the Lenin Vocational School and the Superior Institute of Art -- Larramendi studied law and Caballero painting -- they quit to seriously embark on songwriting and performing careers.

MUSIC'S 'A REFUGE'

''In Cuba, music is a refuge. You're hungry you make music. You're sad you make music. It's a way of life,'' Barbería says.

From the onset, their lyrics were provocative so they remained almost in the shadows.

''We grew up with Russian cartoons and bizarre things like that,'' Larramendi says. ''We were educated in a paradise that turned out to be false. We were told that the world was divided between good and bad and we were the really good, and then we lived out the process of realizing that we were just chips in a chess game. All of it was a lie.''

He adds: ''Everything in Cuba is s - - - and the only one who can speak is you-know-who, and me, all I want to do is whatever I f - - - - - - want.''

United by the experience of living in the underground of gritty central Havana and influenced by musicians like the Argentine rocker Fito Páez and Cuba's dissident trovadour Carlos Varela, they came together to put their best music on an anthology CD.

They called it Habana Oculta, Hidden Havana.

Then, one by one, like many in their generation, the disaffected musicians started to leave the island in the mid-'90s. Their way out were gigs in Buenos Aires, Quito, Madrid, Switzerland -- experiences that also have made their way into their songs.

Seven years ago, the eight performers found themselves together in Madrid, finding little success individually and struggling to make ends meet. Another Cuban musician already established there, Pável Urquiza, of the duo Gema y Pável, got them a contract to record together.

They called themselves Habana Abierta to celebrate their openness to the world and recorded two CDs -- the self-titled Habana Abierta and 24 Horas.

The latter features several of the bands' most popular tunes, including Ahora si tengo la llave (Now I Have the Key), about a guy who finally makes it in love. But then, it could all be a metaphor for something else.

''Cuban jargon, street poetry,'' says Caballero, who wrote the song. ''We Cubans speak in figurative terms.''

SURPRISE IN HAVANA

Last fall, a representative of the Cuban Cultural Ministry visiting Madrid asked Habana Abierta to perform in Havana. Surprised, Larramendi said, the group had one condition: 'We told him, 'Only if we can perform our songs. No censorship.' ''

They were even more surprised when the government agreed and facilitated a concert on Jan. 12 at La Tropical, a popular dance hall. To a packed house the group sang their most critical songs.

''We felt it was important for people in Havana to hear us,'' Larramendi says. 'Those people are f - - - - -, they need the songs. People were euphoric. Even a member of the police guarding the concert said, 'This is the most amazing thing we've seen in Havana.' ''

Their concert may have been one of the last acts of tolerance before the renewed crackdown on freedoms in March, the sentencing of independent journalists and dissidents to 20-year-terms, and the execution of three Cubans trying to steal a ferry to come to the United States.

The group is thrilled to be coming to Miami -- a long-held dream.

If Miami embraces their music and the city becomes an international springboard as it has been for other young musicians, Habana Abierta could become the next Bacilos, the once-underground band of gifted local kids who hit the big time with their catchy tunes and became Grammy-winning musicians.

Chediak plans to record a double album, The Best of Habana Abierta, a compilation of old and new work.

''Every track counts,'' Chediak says. ''Nobody is going to want to skip a tune.''

IF YOU GO

Habana Abierta performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, 3500 Main Hwy. Tickets are $40, $30 and $20. Call 305-442-4000 or visit www.cgplayhouse.com.

Cheap Cuban medicines fill Miami cabinets

The movement of pills and ointments between Cuba and South Florida goes both ways, despite U.S. rules meant to keep out untested foreign drugs.

By Elaine De Valle, edevalle@herald.com.

When Angelina Hernández feels that tightness in her chest and breathing becomes a burden in the middle of the night, she doesn't reach for Primatene Mist.

Her nightstand is stocked with Salbutamol, the made-in-Cuba asthma inhaler shipped to Hernández by her sister in Havana.

It usually happens the other way around: Medicine and first aid supplies are sent by the ton from Cuban Americans in South Florida to loved ones in Cuba, where many items are scarce. But the journey increasingly goes in the other direction, too, as more recently arrived Cuban refugees seek the comforts -- or cough drops -- of home.

Although many remedies are scarce there, the Cuban government recently made it even easier for tourists to get medications manufactured on the island to the outside world: A new pharmacy kiosk at José Martí International Airport in Havana dispenses all types of drugs -- sans prescriptions -- for U.S. dollars.

But the legality of this trend is questionable. While federal officials gave The Herald conflicting information, most agreed that travelers from Cuba can't bring prescription medicines into the United States except for small amounts for personal use.

Customs agents at Miami International Airport have confiscated more than 20 different made-in-Cuba medications from travelers.

Why risk having drugs seized when in most cases the same or similar medicines are available here?

For Hernández, 64, it's a matter of cost.

FRACTION OF PRICE

She doesn't have insurance and won't qualify for Medicare until next year. While over-the-counter inhalers and prescription brands like Albuterol cost about $18 at local pharmacies, the broncodialators from home cost her a little more than 3 Cuban pesos -- the equivalent of about 12 cents.

She has eight Salbutamol canisters stashed in her Westchester home. Her sister Andrea sends some anytime she hears of a Cuban coming to Miami or a South Florida resident returning home from the island. Because of estranged Cuba-U.S. relations, there is no reliable mail service between the countries.

Juanito Nuñez gets his blood pressure pills the same way -- and sends loads of vitamins, Metamucil and other U.S. healthcare products back to his family with those same travelers.

When Nuñez, 56, was diagnosed with high blood pressure about five years ago, a doctor suggested he take Norvasc, which drugstore.com sells at $60 for a month's supply. But his mother gets enough of a similar medicine, Nifedipino, at her neighborhood clinic in Cuba for both of them.

''They give it to her in abundance. It doesn't cost her anything,'' Nuñez said. "That's the only reason I would take it: To save money. Not because it's better.''

Hernández, too, would rather use a U.S. product. ''Everything they make in this country is superior,'' she said. "The only reason I use the Cuban one is economic.''

But others swear by Cuban brands.

Idania Valdés' aunt sent her Cuban-made benadrilina for her allergies for years -- until she discovered Claritin D months ago -- because she said the pink Benadryl capsules sold in U.S. drugstores were not as effective for her.

''Maybe the Cuban one is stronger, more concentrated. Or maybe it's just psychological,'' said Valdés, a records clerk at a healthcare agency.

A Little Havana woman gets an over-the-counter homeopathic remedy -- a honey-based cream -- for her arthritis from her sister in Santa Clara, Cuba.

''This is the only thing that soothes me. I have not found anything like it in this country,'' said the woman, 66.

Like some other people interviewed for this story, she did not want her name used because of the fear they might be doing something illegal.

Laws are being broken, said Norma Morfa, a spokeswoman with the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

''Prescriptions drugs from other countries are not allowed, that's an FDA law, with the exception of personal use amounts prescribed for the traveler,'' Morfa said. "Not for . . . their relatives living here.''

But those FDA laws frequently are not enforced.

''If someone had a suitcase full that they were going to sell, Customs would give it to us and we would not let it in,'' said William Hubbard, associate commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. "But if someone has just one bottle in their purse or pocket, we would not take it away from them.''

Enforcement efforts are concentrated, Hubbard said, on drugs that are intended to be resold in the United States for profit.

The practice does not violate the U.S. embargo against Cuba, which allows licensed travelers to bring up to $100 worth of goods back from the island, a Treasury Department spokesman said.

LITANY OF MEDICINES

Among the made-in-Cuba medications that The Herald found in Greater Miami medicine cabinets: powders and ointments for athlete's foot, ringworm or fungus; ointments for skin rashes and redness; a cold and cough medicine; and PPG, Cuba's noted cholesterol-busting pill, used by people in Miami for weight loss. Rumored to increase stamina and libido, it's sometimes called the Cuban Viagra.

Also found: Diazepam, Medazepam and Meprobamato, which are controlled substances -- Schedule IV narcotics that can cause physical and psychological addictions.

Customs agents seized 22 drugs from 52 passengers who arrived at Miami International Airport from Cuba in the past 12 months. Among them were seven of the same brands that The Herald found in local medicine cabinets.

The confiscated medicines included Diazepam, Medazepam and Meprobamato; antidepressants; sleeping aids; antibiotics; antibiotic ointments; and tablets to help stop vomiting.

In most cases, Morfa said, the traveler is neither arrested nor fined and the medications are destroyed.

MUST MEET STANDARDS

Drugs made in other countries can be imported only if they meet FDA safety standards, including manufacturing requirements. The FDA has not approved any medicines from Cuba for import.

The biggest worry about Cuban-made drugs in U.S. medical circles is quality control, said William Hartigan, dean of the College of Pharmacy at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale.

''Am I really getting that which the bottle claims? If it was done on the black market, or the makers are not as careful with the drugs, it might not be,'' Hartigan said.

Hubbard, of the FDA, shares that concern.

"We know that, around the world, the quality of drugs varies tremendously and counterfeiting of drugs happens a lot in other countries, so the consumer doesn't have nearly as many safety protections if they go elsewhere as if they get them here.

"That's not to say that all drugs from the rest of the world are bad either. There is just no way to tell.''