CUBA NEWS
March 31, 2004

CUBA NEWS
The Miami Herald

Cuba a bioweapons 'threat,' U.S. says

A high-ranking Bush administration official again accuses Cuba of dabbling in a bioweapons research and development program.

By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.

ARMS RESEARCH

The Bush administration continues to believe there's a ''strong'' case that Cuba has a limited biological weapons effort, although some of the intelligence is ''questionable,'' according to testimony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

''The case for the existence of a developmental Cuba BW R&D [biological weapons research and development] effort is strong,'' John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, told the House International Relations Committee.

''The administration believes that Cuba remains a terrorist and BW threat to the United States,'' he added.

REITERATED CLAIMS

Bolton's testimony, part of his statement during a hearing on nuclear nonproliferation, reiterated many of the same allegations he raised in 2002, when he alleged Havana had a ''limited developmental offensive biological warfare research and development effort'' and was exporting its technology to ''rogue'' nations.

Cuban President Fidel Castro has flatly denied the allegations and challenged the United States to present proof.

On Tuesday, Bolton repeated that Cuba has long "provided safe haven for terrorists, and has collaborated in biotechnology -- including extensive dual use technologies with BW applications -- with state sponsors of terror.''

But Bolton acknowledged that "existing intelligence reporting is problematic, and the Intelligence Community's ability to determine the scope, nature, and effectiveness of any Cuban BW program has been hampered by reporting from sources of questionable access, reliability, and motivation.''

Several defectors from Cuba's biotechnology industry and intelligence services have made similar allegations since the early 1990s but produced no hard evidence.

Miami Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican who chaired part of the committee meeting, said Bolton made it clear that Cuba is not to be overlooked as a security threat.

''He says they have the capabilities to be a real player in this evil racket if they choose to go this way,'' Ros-Lehtinen said in a telephone interview from Washington.

The communist-ruled island is among the State Department's list of nations that ''sponsor'' terrorism. The country is accused of ''harboring terrorists'' from Colombia and Spain and providing refuge to more than 70 fugitives wanted by the FBI.

Bolton said Castro "continues to view terror as a legitimate tactic to further revolutionary objectives.''

CRITICAL TIME

Ros-Lehtinen noted that Bolton's testimony came at a critical time because the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva is expected to vote on a resolution condemning Cuba's record in the coming days, a year after it sentenced 75 dissidents to jail, with some getting 28-year sentences.

The arrests drew worldwide condemnation and fractured Havana's diplomatic relations with the European Union.

In a statement earlier this month, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged U.N. commission member nations to again condemn Cuba, as they have done repeatedly since the mid-1990s.

''We who cherish liberty must seize this opportunity to send a powerful message of solidarity to the courageous men and women in Cuba who champion democracy's cause,'' Powell stated.

Herald staff writer Oscar Corral contributed to this report.

Jose Maria Mijares

Noted Cuban painter

By Renato Perez. rperez@herald.com

José María Mijares left Cuba but Cuba never left Mijares.

''In my subconscious there is an inner landscape that is Cuba,'' the painter said in an interview in 2001. "Since I was exiled at an older age, that landscape cannot be erased.''

Indeed, images of his native country blossomed frequently on his canvases.

Mijares, world renowned for his mastery of oil painting, his pioneer exploration of geometric abstraction in Cuban art of the 1950s and his neobaroque compositions of the exile period, died Tuesday of lung and heart problems at Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables. He was 82.

''Mijares was an exceptional human being and a tireless worker with the permanent state of mind of a youth,'' said his wife of eight years, María Antonia Cabrera. "At the hospital, he asked for watercolors so he could go on painting.''

Mijares was born June 23, 1921, in the Havana neighborhood of Santos Suárez. He took up drawing as an adolescent and, at the age of 16, he entered the San Alejandro School of Fine Arts in Havana on a scholarship.

''It amounted to 19 pesos and 70 cents a month, which seemed like a fortune at the time,'' he recalled later. "I was lucky to befriend [modernist painter] Fidelio Ponce, because he taught me how to restore old photographs, and with the money I earned I supplemented the scholarship.

"Ponce was my first influence. He, Carlos Enríquez, René Portocarrero, Cundo Bermúdez and others from the generation that preceded mine became known as the Havana School.''

His first major showing was in 1944, at a national exhibition in Havana's Capitol building. There, he won second prize with a painting titled La Alameda, The Boulevard. His style at the time was figurative but in the 1950s changed to what he described as "concrete forms.''

The arts scene in Havana in the 1950s was grim, he recalled in an interview. ''There were no galleries,'' he said. "They all went broke. The only places where one could exhibit were the Fine Arts Circle and the Lyceum Lawn Tennis Club.''

He went back to San Alejandro, this time as a teacher, and taught there for two years. He resigned when Fidel Castro came to power.

He left Cuba in 1968 and came to Miami. His geometric style changed with the change in surroundings.

''I went back to figurative painting: people and landscapes,'' he said.

Mijares was a prolific painter even in his waning years, working about six hours a day, beginning at sunrise.

Florida International University gave Mijares an honorary doctorate in fine arts in December 2001.

Two years ago, he opened the Mijares Gallery in Coral Gables, where his latest works went on display.

Visitation begins at 4 p.m. today at Rivero Funeral Home, 3344 SW Eighth St. Burial will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at Woodlawn Park Cemeteries, following Mass.

Mijares is survived by his wife.

El Nuevo Herald reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla contributed to this obituary.

Bacardi files suit to win brand battle

Bacardi wants a federal court to give the rum company exclusive rights to the Havana Club trademark in the United States and resolve a long-running struggle.

By Elaine Walker, ewalker@herald.com.

After almost a decade of fighting, Bacardi is seeking to put an end to the long-running trademark dispute over the rights to the Havana Club brand.

The rum giant, whose U.S. headquarters are based in Miami, said it was filing a lawsuit late Monday in U.S. district court in Washington, D.C. The suit asks the court to grant Bacardi exclusive U.S. rights to the premium Cuban rum trademark and cancel the registration currently held by Cubaexport, a Cuban government entity.

''We're asking the court to declare Bacardi the exclusive owner of Havana Club in the U.S. and resolve this matter once and for all,'' according to a statement from Eduardo Sardina, president and chief executive of Bacardi U.S.A.

The lawsuit is an appeal of the Jan. 29 ruling by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board or TTAB, which rejected Bacardi's efforts to cancel the Cubaexport registration on the grounds that it was registered under fraudulent circumstances. The board also ruled that Havana Club Holdings, a joint venture between the Cuban government and French liquor giant Pernod Ricard, had filed a proper renewal application in 1996 for Cubaexport.

''We think they came to the right decision, and we're confident that decision will be upheld on any appeal that might result,'' said Mark Orr, vice president of North American affairs for Pernod Ricard.

But for Bacardi, the issue is about a difference between common-law ownership and holding the registration for a trademark.

''We're asking for this review because the TTAB failed to take into account a pattern of questionable practices that led to Cubaexport gaining the registration, and current U.S. law which prohibits U.S. registrations of Cuban trademarks that were confiscated with out compensation,'' Sardina said in a statement.

The company is referring to the 1998 U.S. law known as Section 211, whose passage Bacardi lobbied for heavily. The law denies legal protection to trademarks of properties seized by the Castro government, but the World Trade Organization has recommended that the U.S. make changes in the law to comply with requirements for free trade.

The TTAB acknowledged in its ruling that some of Bacardi's issues were not addressed, saying it "has little or no experience in determining violations of statutes or regulations that do not directly concern registration of trademarks.''

Bacardi claims it has the rights to the Havana Club name dating back to an agreement with original owner José Arechabala in 1995, which was finalized two years later with a sale. Bacardi also established use in the United States, when it sold the Havana Club rum in this country in 1995 and 1996.

The Arechabala family had made the rum brand from the 1930s until Dec. 31, 1959, when Fidel Castro's government seized the plant and the trademark.

Meanwhile, Cubaexport claims it obtained the rights to the name in 1976 after José Arechabala S.A. allowed the trademark to lapse with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Cubaexport registered the trademark in 1976, but no compensation was ever provided to the Arechabala family.

In 1993, Cubaexport formed a joint venture with Pernod Ricard to create Havana Club Holdings. The partnership already markets Havana Club in more than 80 countries, but not in the United States because of the embargo on Cuba. U.S. courts have consistently ruled that Havana Club Holdings has no rights to the trademark in the United States.


 

 


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