| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Martí a priority, state official
says
Radio and TV Martí
broadcasts to Cuba remain a priority and
will continue while a new transmission plane
is being sought, the Bush administration
said.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Fri, Jun. 24, 2005.
The U.S. military aircraft broadcasting
TV and Radio Martí's signals to Cuba
will not be diverted to Iraq, at least until
a replacement plane is bought and equipped,
a senior State Department official said
Thursday.
''The president has made the decision that
we would do what we could to break through
the information blockade imposed by the
Castro regime,'' the official said after
El Nuevo Herald and The Herald reported
concerns raised by Miami Republican Rep.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that the Pentagon's
C-130 Commando Solo plane could be sent
to the Middle East.
''As far as we know . . . until the permanent
platform is available, the C-130 is flying,''
said the official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity because of sensitivity surrounding
the issue.
The official added that negotiations are
under way with legislators to win approval
for President Bush's $10 million budget
request for the purchase of the plane.
''No one presumed that the battle for the
$10 million was going to be a slam-dunk,''
the senior official said. "At this
point, the administration is working on
that issue. I remain confident that we're
going to get the money.''
Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart, R-Miami,
also expressed optimism: ''The president
is fully committed to securing a permanent
platform for Radio and TV Martí,''
he said. "And I am not aware of anyone
in the administration challenging the president
on issues where he has clearly made his
intent known, such as this one.''
The moving signals broadcast by the C-130
as it flies off the Cuban coast are supposed
to make it more difficult for the Cuban
government to jam the signal, previously
broadcast from a stationary site in the
Florida Keys.
Since the flights began in August 2004,
39 Martí broadcasts have been transmitted
to Cuba, the State Department official said.
Cuba buys less U.S. food
Cuba is aiming to match
last year's purchases of $475 million in
U.S. farm sales, far short of its original
intent.
By Vanessa Arrington, Associated
Press. Posted on Fri, Jun. 24, 2005.
HAVANA - Cuba will spend less than two-thirds
of the money it had planned to invest in
American farm goods this year because of
increased U.S. restrictions, Cuba's top
import official said Thursday.
The communist-run island had planned to
purchase up to $800 million in goods this
year from the United States, according to
Pedro Alvarez, chairman of Cuba's food import
company Alimport.
But a rule that forces Cuba to make full
payment for goods before the cargo leaves
U.S. ports has complicated commerce and
forced the island to turn to other markets,
Alvarez said. As a result, Cuba is now aiming
just to match the amount it spent last year
on U.S. products -- about $475 million.
''Not only have the recent measures made
American exports more expensive, they've
also introduced a lot of uncertainty,''
Alvarez told a news conference during a
visit to the island by members of a U.S.
trade association pushing for normalized
trade with Cuba.
The U.S. Treasury Department rule was implemented
earlier this year. Some members of Congress
are pushing for an amendment, and about
20 delegates from the U.S.-Cuba Trade Association
came to Cuba to show their support for continued
trade.
One delegate, Dwight A. Roberts of the
U.S. Rice Producers Association, was perturbed
by the money loss.
''The economic viability of rural economies
in my opinion has never had such an uncertain
future as it has today,'' said Roberts,
whose Texas-based association represents
more than 6,000 rice growers in the United
States. "What is immediately disturbing
to American farmers is we're losing solid
export sales to Cuba every week.''
Roberts said the measure had shattered
the U.S. agricultural industry's reputation
for stability and efficiency, and called
for immediate changes in U.S. policy.
''Please don't penalize us for selling
food products to a neighbor who is willing
to pay cash,'' he said.
Food and agricultural sales to Cuba are
allowed under an exception created in 2000
to four decades of U.S. trade sanctions
against Cuba. The goods must be sold directly
to Cuba on a cash-only basis.
Since first taking advantage of the exception
in 2001, Cuba has contracted to buy more
than $1 billion in goods. But for the first
four months of 2005, sales have been down
26 percent compared to the same period last
year.
Among the products most affected are pasta,
soybean oil, rice, grapes and concentrated
milk. Sales of some products, such as cheese,
fruit and vegetable juices and soups, have
ceased altogether.
In the case of rice, some 160,000 tons
were exported from the United States to
Cuba last year, Roberts said. At the current
rate, he said his association will be lucky
to sell 40,000 to 50,000 tons to the island
by year's end.
And this, Alvarez said, at a time when
Cuba plans to import 300,000 more tons of
rice this year than last, in part to address
a long-standing drought in rice-growing
areas.
Plane issues imperil Martí broadcasts
Delays in getting a new
airplane to broadcast TV and Radio Martí's
signals to Cuba has raised concerns among
opponents of leader Fidel Castro and on
Capitol Hill.
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Thu, Jun. 23, 2005.
WASHINGTON - A yearlong delay in the purchase
of an airplane to broadcast TV and Radio
Martí's signals to Cuba has stoked
concern on Capitol Hill that the C-130 currently
being used may be reassigned to Iraq.
The possible loss of the airborne broadcasts
-- touted by President Bush as a key strategy
to break through Havana's jamming and hasten
the island's transition to democracy --
has prompted foes of Cuban leader Fidel
Castro to send pleas to the White House
and Pentagon.
At issue is the allocation of $10 million
to buy an airplane and broadcasting equipment
that would replace the C-130 turboprops,
known as Commando Solo aircrafts, now broadcasting
the signals of the U.S.-funded Radio and
TV Martí. The moving transmissions
are said to be more difficult to jam than
the current transmissions from blimps anchored
over Cudjoe Key in the Florida Keys.
U.S. officials say the battle centers on
whether the $10 million should come from
the Defense Department, which would be responsible
for purchasing and operating the aircraft,
or the State Department, which has paid
for the Martí broadcasts for more
than a decade.
The dispute comes amid reports within Congress
that the U.S. military's C-130 now broadcasting
the signal as it flies over the Florida
Straits could soon be headed to Iraq.
ROS-LEHTINEN LETTERS
In letters to Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice and President Bush, Miami Republican
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen cited "grave
concerns about reports that the C-130 Commando
Solo airborne platform transmission currently
dedicated to Cuba-related activities may
be reassigned.''
The purchase and equipping of a new plane
specifically dedicated to Cuba broadcasts
was part of a long list of initiatives against
Cuba launched by the White House last year.
Bush also ordered tightened restrictions
on travel and cash transfers to the island,
committed additional support for the dissident
movement on the island and promised to name
a ''transition coordinator'' to implement
the new measures.
The tightening of the restrictions was
implemented swiftly, but the administration
has yet to seal a deal on the plane purchase
or appoint a transition coordinator.
A State Department official who asked for
anonymity because he was not authorized
to speak publicly on the issue said Wednesday
that the Bush administration considers the
airplane a priority.
But Cuban-American lawmakers remain focused
on drawing attention to the matter.
CASTRO REGIME
''Mr. President, as a mother whose stepson
will soon be deployed to Iraq, I fully appreciate
the Administration's desire to use all available
tools to provide for the safety of our troops
and the security of our nation,'' Ros-Lehtinen
wrote in a letter to the White House this
week. "However, we cannot and should
not forget about the threats posed by the
Castro dictatorship in our own sphere of
influence.
''The Castro regime in Cuba must continue
to be a focal point . . . for your global
strategies to promote freedom and democracy
as antidotes to extremism and terrorism,''
the letter said. "The C-130 plane being
used for transmissions of Radio and TV Martí
is a critical instrument for the implementation
of this agenda.''
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