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Cubans Told to Limit Time With Foreigners
By Vanessa Arrington, Associated
Press Writer. February 23, 2005.
HAVANA - Cuba's tourism ministry told its
workers to keep their mingling with foreigners
to a minimum, prohibiting everything from
accepting personal gifts to attending events
in the homes or embassies of foreigners
without written permission.
The new regulations, obtained Wednesday
by The Associated Press, were signed by
Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero in January
and went into effect last week. They apply
to Cubans working in tourism on the island
as well as overseas.
The action is the latest in a series of
attempts by the government to further tighten
state control on the island, which embraced
tourism in the 1990s as a necessary evil
after the fall of the Soviet Union thrust
Cuba into an economic crisis.
Marrero took over as head of the tourism
ministry last February after officials acknowledged
serious problems in an agency that handles
much of the business stemming from foreign
visitors.
He has launched a restructuring of the
country's vital tourism sector, which last
year brought in more than 2 million visitors,
primarily from Canada and Europe.
The new rules say "current conditions"
make it necessary to update norms to "regulate
relations with foreigners ... using the
ethical, moral and professional principles
that characterize our society." Under
them, tourism workers must limit their contact
with foreigners to what is "absolutely
necessary" for their work.
While in the company of foreigners, workers
are also urged to remain faithful to Cuba's
socialist system and abstain from opinions
that go against the "prestige"
of the country or workplace.
The ministry also calls on its workers
to practice austerity, protect all classified
information and be on the alert for possible
plots against the government.
All workers should "maintain permanent
watchfulness over acts or attitudes harmful
to the interests of the State," and
communicate all actions that could threaten
the principles of the Cuban revolution.
British actor Jeremy Irons honored at
2005 Havana cigar festival
HAVANA, 26 (AFP) - British actor Jeremy
Irons was among those honored at an all-night
500-dollar-a-plate dinner ending the International
Cigar Festival in Havana.
About 1,300 guests from 57 countries took
part in the closing dinner to celebrate
one of Cuba's most important exports.
It was the seventh annual festival of its
type.
A highlight of the festival was the traditional
auction of humidors signed by Cuban leader
Fidel Castro, which raised 530,000 euros.
Proceeds go to health programs on the communist
island.
Top seller was a humidor dedicated to the
world-famous Cohiba brand, crafted in gold,
silver, bronze, mahogany, cedar and marble,
which fetched 250,000 euros. Inside were
200 Cuban cigars.
Cigar smoking is their passion
Six humidors auctioned
at Havana gala
By Vanessa Arrington. The
Associated Press, February 27 2005.
HAVANA · Hundreds of cigar lovers,
including British actor Jeremy Irons, wrapped
up an international cigar festival with
an extravagant gala dinner featuring flamenco
dancing and sleek acrobatic performances.
Elaborate humidors signed by President
Fidel Castro were auctioned off for $700,000
at the Friday night event, where cigar merchants
and aficionados from Europe, Asia, the Middle
East and North America puffed away for hours
before returning home.
The annual festival brought together about
1,000 cigar connoisseurs from more than
50 countries this year. Participants visited
tobacco plantations and factories and attended
cocktail parties.
Irons, an Oscar winner known for roles
in movies such as Lolita, The French Lieutenant's
Woman and Stealing Beauty, was on his first
trip to Cuba. He arrived in the capital
Thursday night, and was immediately taken
to a club where he danced until the pre-dawn
hours. He planned to leave the island Saturday.
"Cuba is great. It has personality,"
Irons said. "And it has great mojitos,
great daiquiris, great food."
In remarks made on stage, Irons paid tribute
to cigars, prompting hearty laughter when
he cited a conversation he had earlier in
the day with a female lunch companion.
"She said smoking cigarettes is like
having sex," he said. "But smoking
a cigar is like making love."
The evening's events, at a pavilion in
Havana's Expocuba complex, began with four
performers climbing red sashes hanging from
rafters and executing impressive acrobatics,
high above the heads of audience members.
Easygoing instrumental music followed.
Then a group of Cuban percussionists quickened
the pace. Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist
Chucho Valdés was up next, performing
solos as well as accompanying singer Mayra
Caridad Valdés, his sister.
The evening's highlight was Spanish flamenco
dancer Joaquin Cortés, who gave a
spirited performance alongside a traditional
music ensemble. Wearing a black suit and
bright white shoes and tie, the performer
brought the crowd to its feet with his rapid
footwork and flamboyant style.
Meanwhile, guests feasted on a salmon and
scallops appetizer, mushroom toast, beef
medallions with a honey and ginger sauce,
and a creamy caramel-flan dessert. Cigars
were passed out as frequently as wine glasses
were filled throughout the night.
Castro did not attend the event, though
Parliament Speaker Ricardo Alarcón
and Vice President Carlos Lage were there.
The night culminated with the auction of
six humidors, each handmade by Cuban artists
and signed by Castro.
The hot item of the night was the Cohiba
Humidor, crafted in gold, silver, bronze,
mahogany, cedar and Carrara marble by sculptor
Raul Valladares. It fetched $330,000.
"For me, Cuban cigars are part of
my heart," said Valladares, whose father
and grandmother worked in factories where
the island's famed tobacco is hand-rolled
into cigars.
"They're the most elite product that
we have on the world market."
Cigars are one of Cuba's most important
exports, worth about $300 million annually.
All proceeds from the auction were to be
donated to Cuba's public health system.
This year's festival, the seventh of its
kind, came as the island's communist government
cracked down on smoking in closed public
places.
Despite the new law, permission to smoke
was obtained for all festival venues.
Senators, Treasury At Odds Over Cuba
Associated Press. Wednesday,
February 23, 2005.
The Treasury Department made it clear yesterday
that Cuba must make cash payments before
the shipment of U.S. agricultural and medical
products to the island. The ruling drew
quick criticism from farm-state senators,
with one threatening to block nominees to
Treasury posts.
"When I first heard of the proposed
change, I threatened to block consideration
of significant Treasury nominees,"
said Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the top
Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.
"Now that the change is made, I promise
to be good to my word."
Monday's Question:President Bush's interim
appointments of federal judges during congressional
recesses have been the subject of much debate.
Who was the first president to use recess
appointments to name a federal judge? George
Washington Andrew Jackson Rutherford B.
Hayes William Howard Taft
Baucus has also joined senior Republicans,
including Intelligence Committee Chairman
Pat Roberts of Kansas and Larry E. Craig
of Idaho, in promoting legislation to remove
what they call bureaucratic obstacles put
up by the administration to farm trade.
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