CUBA NEWS
Yahoo!

Hunger Striking Cuba Prisoner in Hospital

AP, September 22, 2005.

HAVANA - An imprisoned Cuban activist rounded up in a crackdown on dissents two years ago has been hospitalized after 14 days of a hunger strike, his wife said Thursday.

Victor Arroyo, 55, stopped eating on Sept. 8 to protest mistreatment at the prison in eastern Cuba where he is serving a 26-year-sentence, Elsa Gonzalez said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Gonzalez was waiting at Thursday to visit her husband, whom she said she has not seen for four months. The hunger strike was confirmed to her by Cuban authorities Wednesday, she said.

"He has not eaten any food, nor received any type of medication," Gonzalez said. "He had told me that a hunger strike would be his last alternative. I know him, and I know that he'll follow through with this."

Another political prisoner, Felix Navarro, joined the hunger strike in support of Arroyo and has eaten for nine days, Navarro's daughter said.

"We are very worried," said Sayli Navarro by telephone. "These men are not young, and they have made clear that they will maintain this until the end."

Both Arroyo and the elder Navarro were among 75 dissidents rounded up by Cuba's government in March 2003 and accused of receiving money from U.S. officials to undermine the island's system - charges the activists and American officials denied.

Since then, 14 of the 75 prisoners have been freed on parole for health reasons. Two of those, poet Raul Rivero and journalist Manuel Vazquez Portal, have since left Cuba for good.

Venezuelan Businesses Sign Deals With Cuba

September 22, 2005.

CARACAS, Venezuela, 22 (AP) -- Venezuelan businesses signed deals to sell US$36.7 million (euro30 million) worth of goods to Cuba Thursday that will include exports of shoes, underwear, artificial leather and industrial products to the communist country.

More than 280 companies, cooperatives and other commercial organizations participated in the government-sponsored forum aimed at boosting trade between the two countries.

"The businesses were satisfied, they were given financial advice and they will be accompanied through the whole process so that they can respond to Cuban demand," said minister of light industries Edmee Betancourt in a statement following the forum.

The businesses signed letters of intent worth US$36.7 million dollars in deals Thursday, but that sum does not include other agreements signed earlier this week whose value has not yet been calculated, the statement said.

Among the products in demand in Cuba are footwear, women's underpants, wood, paper and metal products, hardware and electrical equipment, it said.

Betancourt said Tuesday that the Venezuelan government was willing to provide financing to companies that have signed deals to export goods to Cuba but need more capital to increase production.

Ties between the two countries have tightened under the administration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an admirer of Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter, already ships about 90,000 barrels of oil a day to the Cuban government on preferential terms.

US saw no need for Cuban doctors for Katrina relief

BATON ROUGE, United States, 21 (AFP) - The United States has turned down Cuba's offer to send about 1,600 doctors to tend to Hurricane Katrina victims because enough American doctors have volunteered, a US official said.

The communist country's offer was not accepted because "there was not a match," State Department official Joseph Sullivan told reporters in Louisiana's state capital Baton Rouge.

"The offer ... was felt not to be able to be utilized effectively," Sullivan said.

"In general, there has been a great response of the American medical community and the needs have been met overwhelmingly by American doctors from around this country," he said.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, a nemesis of the United States since his 1959 revolution brought in to power, offered to send some 1,600 doctors and 34 tonnes of medicine after Katrina pummeled the US Gulf Coast on August 29.

Cuba, under a strict US embargo for more than 40 years, has itself rejected past US aid offers to help the island recover from hurricanes.

The United States has accepted the majority of aid offers that poured in from around the world in the wake of Katrina, Sullivan said.

At least 143 countries and international organizations have offered assistance, including 800 million dollars in cash to the US governments and hundreds of millions more to charitable organizations, he said.

North Korean official on visit to Cuba

HAVANA, 22 (AFP) - Yang Hyong Sop, a leader of North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly, began a week-long visit to Cuba, the Cuban government announced.

According to an agenda of the visit, which ends next Wednesday, the vice president of the assembly's presidium is to meet with Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage, Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, and Marta Lomas, Cuba's minister of foreign investment and economic cooperation.

The visit coincides with the 45th anniversary of the re-establishment of ties between the two communist countries, Cuba's National Information Agency said.

Cuban President Fidel Castro made an official visit to North Korea in March 1986; Choi Su Hon, North Korea's deputy minister of foreign affairs, visited Cuba in June 2004.

The two nations are among only five communist states in the world.

India's OVL acquires 30% stake in 7 oil and gas blocks in Cuba

NEW DELHI, Sept 21 Asia Pulse - ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) (NSI:ONGC), has acquired a 30 per cent stake in seven oil and gas blocks in Cuba, which hold more than 4 billion barrels of oil reserves.

Spain's Repsol-YPF is the operator of the Block 25-29, 36 and a part of Block 35 with 40 per cent stake and the remaining is with Norway's Norsk Hydro.

"OVL has entered into an agreement on September 15 with Repsol-YPF of Spain to acquire 30 per cent participating interest in the deepwater exploration Blocks 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 36 and part of Block 35 in Cuba," a company press release said here.

The acquisition, which marks OVL's first foray into the Cuban oil and gas industry, will be completed after formalisation of the contract by the Cuban government.

The blocks are spread over an area of nearly 12,000 sq. km in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Cuba.

"The hydrocarbon resource potential in the blocks is estimated to be in excess of four billion barrels. One exploratory well drilled in one of these blocks indicated presence of hydrocarbons," the release said.

These blocks are in the third exploration period. Work program during this period includes acquisition of 3,000 sq km 3-D seismic data. Drilling wells on selected prospects will be decided in the next exploration phase.

"With proven presence of petroleum system in Exclusive Economic Zone, Cuba, the area has drawn attention of many international oil companies. The blocks have a good potential and is especially significant for OVL as it would open door for other opportunities in the Latin American Hydrocarbon sector. With this acquisition, the company is now present in 13 countries," OVL chairman Subir Raha said.

PRINTER FRIENDLY