CUBA NEWS
Januray 21, 2003

CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Castro assassination plot trial postponed

By Frances Robles. frobles@herald.com. Posted on Wed, Jan. 21, 2004

PANAMA - The Panama trial of four Cuban exiles accused of a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro has been postponed indefinitely, a defense attorney said. It had been set to start today.

Luis Posada Carriles, considered Cuba's most wanted terrorist, was arrested in Panama City in late 2000 along with three Miami-Dade County men -- Gaspar Jiménez, Guillermo Novo and Pedro C. Remón -- accused of plotting to kill Castro with a bomb while he attended a presidential summit in Panama.

Thirty-eight months later, the four have yet to stand trial for possession of explosives, threatening public safety and illicit association.

Novo and Posada also are charged with carrying false passports.

The Cuban government released a statement Tuesday expressing ''worry and indignation'' over the ''maneuvers'' by defense attorney Rogelio Cruz to delay the trial.

Cruz acknowledged that the latest delay was caused by a change in judges that defense attorneys requested. Judge Enrique Paniza was replaced last month by Judge José Ho Juistiniani after Cruz raised questions about Paniza's impartiality. Ho postponed the trial after saying he had not had time to rule on important evidence.

But Cruz said he did not want the delay.

Posada, 75, was acquitted in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner that killed 73 people but escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 while awaiting a prosecution appeal.

The former CIA operative acknowledged and later denied bankrolling a string of 1997 Havana hotel bombings that killed a tourist.

The other defendants all have links to various attacks on Cuban government targets over the past four decades.

If convicted on the Panamanian charges, they could face seven years in prison.

Chávez's brother gets post in Cuba

CARACAS - (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has appointed his brother as ambassador to Cuba, an ally that has joined Venezuela in standing up to Washington, Venezuela's foreign minister said Tuesday.

Roy Chaderton said that Adán Chávez, the president's older brother and close confidant, would replace Julio Montes at the Venezuelan Embassy in Havana. Montes has been ambassador to Cuba since November 2000.

The older Chávez, a left-leaning university professor, previously had served as the president's secretary and held important positions within the ruling party.

Hugo Chávez has irked officials in Washington by forging strong ties with Cuba and forming a close personal relationship with Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Venezuela, one of the world's largest oil producers and a major supplier to United States, has signed numerous bilateral pacts with Cuba.

Venezuela sells 53,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba at discount rates. In return, Cuba sends medicine and materials for a nationwide literacy program to Venezuela.

Thousands of Cuban doctors and sports trainers are working in this poor South American country and thousands of Venezuelans receive free medical treatment in Cuba.

Foes accuse Chávez of steering Venezuela toward a Cuba-style dictatorship and insist he must be stopped before he can seek another six-year term in 2006.

Opponents are pushing for a recall on Chávez's rule this year.

Cuba enters wireless world

Despite high costs and strict ownership rules, more Cubans are obtaining cellphones, the island's new status symbol.

By Tracey Eaton, Dallas Morning News. Posted on Tue, Jan. 20, 2004.

HAVANA - Cubans wear them like fine jewelry, but they don't glitter. They ring. They chime. They even vibrate.

Cellphones, old news in most of the Americas, are the latest rage. They're a symbol of status and power, a way to slip into the wireless world, if only for a moment.

But they're hard to get in a place where the telecommunications industry is so tightly regulated. And they're expensive to operate, as much as $5.85 per minute. Still, many Cubans are dying to be connected.

''I got a cellphone to be in fashion,'' said Yoel, 21, a Havana market worker. "I want to be in on the party.''

But it's not always easy to reach out and touch someone.

Technically, Cuba's state-run cellphone companies can offer service only to foreigners or to Cubans who are authorized to go wireless. Thousands now have service. But some ordinary Cubans find ways around the rules, usually by persuading a visitor or tourist to help them.

Cuba's leading cellphone company is government-run Cubacel. Its local rates range from 30 to 70 cents per minute. Callers are also charged 30 to 66 cents for incoming calls.

Long distance is pricier, from $2.45 to $5.85 per minute -- serious money in a place where most people earn just $10 or $12 per month.

SLOW GROWTH

The high rates and strict regulations have prevented Cuba's cellphone industry from growing more rapidly, some telecommunications experts say.

Mobile phones remain scarce on the island, despite their allure.

Only 22 countries, including Liberia and the Central African Republic, have fewer wireless phones per capita than Cuba, according to NationMaster.com, a website listing thousands of statistics.

Many Cubans don't have home phones, either. Citizens' commissions decide who gets land phones, taking into account an applicant's work history, revolutionary loyalty and activity in neighborhood block committees formed to detect traitors and other undesirables. They also give priority to special cases -- disabled and sick people, including those with cancer or AIDS.

Castro loyalists say they're working to narrow the so-called digital divide between their nation and its richer neighbors.

The country had just 352,451 fixed lines in 1995, but that has since doubled, Ignacio González, Cuba's communications minister, told state-run media in March 2003.

China is helping out, giving Cuba $200 million in financing to buy Chinese telecommunications equipment. And Cuba is installing thousands of new public phones.

Still, the country has only half the phone lines per capita as the average Latin American nation, World Bank figures show.

Cuba's wireless industry could also take off, reaching as many as 3.5 million users in just three years, said Manuel Cereijo, a Florida International University professor and communications specialist. But that won't happen, he contends, unless the country adopts "a democratic and free market economy.''

Cuban officials say they have no interest in capitalism, nor do they want wild, uncontrolled growth in technology.

Instead, they say, they're trying to provide phone lines, Internet service and other forms of electronic communication to people in a fair and equitable way.

U.S.-Cuban politics and the longtime American ban on trade with the island often get in the way, said Luis Manuel Diaz, Cubacel's general manager.

Still, revenues at Cubacel grew from $5.5 million in 1987 to $13.1 million last year. Profits would have been higher if not for the trade embargo, Diaz said.

NO AGREEMENTS

The sanctions and other restrictions have made it impossible for Cuba to establish roaming agreements with the United States, for instance. So the 200,000 Cuban Americans and Americans who journey to the island every year must activate their phones in Cuba before using them, unlike visitors from Mexico, Canada and other nations. That discourages many clients and cuts into potential profits, Diaz said.

Cubacel had 17,851 customers at last year's end, up from 2,900 in 1997. Most of the clients are Cubans who work for state-run enterprises, ranging from hotels and travel agencies to government ministries. Other customers include foreign business managers, diplomats and journalists.

Neither Cubacel nor C-Com, Cuba's only other state-run wireless phone company, were able to offer statistics on how many ordinary Cubans have managed to evade the rules and get phones.

But more cellphones are turning up on the streets, in the hands of prostitutes and pimps, vendors and cabbies.

Jorge, a taxi driver who has gone mobile, said he tries to use his phone for business only. Just then, it rang. He answered, fired off a few sentences, then hung up.

It went clang-clang again, a few seconds of talk followed and he hung up.

This went on for several minutes.

''My wife called,'' he said.

"We try to keep our calls to less than seven seconds each. That's when the phone company starts charging you.''

Phones in Cuba

Posted on Tue, Jan. 20, 2004.

o Only 22 countries worldwide have fewer wireless phones per capita than Cuba, according to NationMaster.com. That ranking is improving as Cuba expands service, but the country is still about as wired as such far-flung spots as Algeria, Pakistan and the Republic of the Congo, statistics show.

o Cuba has only half the phone lines per capita as the average Latin American nation, World Bank figures show.

o Cubacel, Cuba's largest cellphone company, reported having 17,851 customers at last year's end.

o As for the cellphone industry elsewhere in Latin America, business is thriving. The number of users jumped from 3.6 million in 1995 to 60.6 million in 2000. And by 2005, it's expected to hit 138 million, experts say.


 


PRINTER FRIENDLY

News from Cuba
by e-mail

 



PRENSAS
Independiente
Internacional
Gubernamental
IDIOMAS
Inglés
Francés
Español
SOCIEDAD CIVIL
Cooperativas Agrícolas
Movimiento Sindical
Bibliotecas
DEL LECTOR
Cartas
Opinión
BUSQUEDAS
Archivos
Documentos
Enlaces
CULTURA
Artes Plásticas
El Niño del Pífano
Octavillas sobre La Habana
Fotos de Cuba
CUBANET
Semanario
Quiénes Somos
Informe Anual
Correo Eléctronico

DONATIONS

In Association with Amazon.com
Search:

Keywords:

CUBANET
145 Madeira Ave, Suite 207
Coral Gables, FL 33134
(305) 774-1887

CONTACT
Journalists
Editors
Webmaster