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Cuban official gets 12-year prison term

By Anita Snow, Associated Press. June 21, 2006.

HAVANA - A Communist official long held up as an example of the island's future leadership was sentenced to 12 years in prison for influence-peddling, the party said Wednesday.

Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, among the youngest members of the ruling Politburo before being kicked out of elite body and the party in April, pleaded guilty Friday during a trial in Havana, the official Granma newspaper said. Government prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence.

"It was demonstrated that Robinson Agramonte, in the open process of his ideological weakening and with abuse of his position, forgot his high responsibilities and the integrity demanded of a revolutionary cadre and used his influence to obtain benefits," Granma said.

It offered no specifics on what benefits were obtained or how Robinson used his influence to get them.

Cuban officials had once pointed with pride to Robinson as an example of the island's young black leadership.

Robinson, now 49, is from the eastern city of Santiago - Cuba's second-largest city - and had been the party's first secretary for the Santiago Province since 1994.

But in late April, the Politburo announced that Robinson was expelled from the party for repeatedly failing to overcome "errors" such as abuse of authority and arrogance.

At the time, the party leadership said Robinson had become "a lamentable and unusual case of the inability of a political cadre to overcome his errors."

Cuba is striving to build up its younger leadership to eventually take over for the original revolutionary leaders, many of whom are now in their 70s. President Fidel Castro will turn 80 in August, and his brother and constitutionally designated successor, Defense Minister Raul Castro is 75.

"Criticized, warned and exhorted more than once by the (party leadership) to overcome his failings, he pretended to recognize them and end them," the Politburo said then. "But that wasn't what happened."

The party leadership indicated Wednesday that Robinson should serve as an example, warning that "in our country, no one, despite their responsibilities and merits, can violate the law. He who does so will inexorably receive the weight of revolutionary justice."

Cuban migrants anxious to leave island

By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer, June 28, 2006.

HAVANA - One of 15 Cuban migrants sent home after reaching an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys said Wednesday the group is growing desperate after three months awaiting final Cuban government approval to leave for good.

The migrants were returned to Cuba in January. But a deal allowing 14 of them to emigrate permanently was reached in March between U.S. District Judge Frederic Moreno in Miami and the U.S. government, which had argued that the U.S. Coast Guard acted correctly in sending the Cubans back. Now all they lack is the so-called "white card," an exit permit Cubans must receive from the communist government to leave the island.

"All of us are desperate, they haven't answered us," Elizabeth Hernandez told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from a small town in Matanzas Province nearly 100 miles east of Havana.

Fourteen of the original 15 have humanitarian visas from the American government to emigrate to the United States. U.S. officials did not give a visa to the 15th, reportedly for giving them false statements.

The migrants have quit their jobs as instructed by Cuban authorities in preparation to leave for the United States.

Under the United States' "wet foot/dry foot" policy, most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to remain, while those intercepted at sea are generally sent home.

U.S. Coast Guard officials determined the old bridge in the Florida Keys did not qualify as dry land because parts are missing and it no longer connects to U.S. soil.

But the repatriations caused an uproar in South Florida's large Cuban exile community.

The Cuban government has never publicly commented on the details of the case. However, when asked about the migrants earlier this year, National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon criticized U.S. immigration policies that he said encourage Cubans to make the risky sea journey.

Jamaica Gets Cement Shipment From Cuba

KINGSTON, Jamaica, 26 (AP) -- A shipment of 8,000 tons of cement arrived in the Jamaican capital from Cuba on Sunday -- some two months after officials expected it would arrive.

The cement, which will help ease a shortage that has slowed construction on the island, will be issued for local distribution on Monday, said Commerce Minister Phillip Paulwell. It was not clear why the shipment was delayed.

Paulwell said it is the first of several shipments expected from Cuba to ease the cement shortage.

Jamaica began negotiating with Cuba to supply cement after the main local producer, Caribbean Cement Company Limited, temporarily suspended production in March following claims of substandard product.

An internal inquiry later revealed that the company had distributed some 551,000 tons of faulty cement since November, according to Trinidad Cement Limited, the company's major shareholder.

Cuba hails 'plantibody' breakthrough for hepatitis vaccine

By Carlos Batista. AFP Saturday June 24, 2006.

HAVANA (AFP) - In what scientists billed as a breakthrough, Cuba has developed the first monoclonal antibody from transgenic plants -- dubbed a "plantibody" -- used in making a human vaccine.

The antibody, CB-Hep.1, is from an "ancestor" of the tobacco plant.

It replaces an antibody obtained from mice in Cuba's manufacturing of the hepatitis B vaccine, researchers told reporters in Havana Friday.

Carlos Borroto, deputy director at Cuba's Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Center (CIGB) here, said the plantibody had won approval from Cuba's medication quality control agency, part of the public health ministry.

CB-Hep.1 is the first plantibody authorized anywhere in the world for manufacturing a vaccine. It is just the second approved for human use, after one approved in the United States for treating tooth decay.

The plantibody won approval back on April 11 and is already being used in manufacturing the vaccine, though Cuba only made the announcement Friday.

Borroto said since the breakthrough was achieved, "145 million doses have been exploited and not a single problem in their use has been reported."

Antibodies used to date in making therapeutic vaccines for humans have been obtained from fermentation of mammalian cells, a time-consuming, costly method that generates very small quantities.

Using plantibodies in contrast is hailed as a breakthrough in dramatically reducing costs but most importantly in boosting the yield of antibodies, which makes it easier for vaccines to be produced.

Barroto said that Cuba has several plantibody projects in advanced stages, including one to be used as a cancer treatment, from the same plant.

"Approval of the first CIGB plantibody clears the way for many potential uses of this alternative in manufacturing molecules important in the fight against devastating diseases," Barroto said.

He said the "ancestral" tobacco plant in question was a noncommercial variety, with thicker leaves, grown in an inert environment, without soil, which helps ensure biosecurity.

"A number of major international companies are looking for a partnership with us," Barroto addes, without naming the companies. "We are pleased with how those contacts are proceeding."

Cuba Plans to Increase Ethanol Production

By Andrea Rodriguez, Associated Press Writer, June 21, 2006.

HAVANA (AP) -- Cuba is investing in its ethanol refineries with hopes of increasing its production of the renewable fuel fivefold as it bets on growing ethanol demand in the face of rising petroleum prices, a leading sugar expert said Wednesday.

Luis Galvez of the Cuban Research Institute for Sugar Cane Derivatives said by 2010 Cuba hoped to be producing 500 million liters (about 130 million gallons) of ethanol annually, which he said would be a fivefold increase of what it produces now.

Galvez spoke to about 200 representatives from a dozen countries at an international congress on sugar and its derivatives. He did not give a current production figure for Cuban ethanol, but did say the island had 17 distilleries capable of producing up to 180 million liters (about 48 million gallons) annually.

To increase production, Galvez said, Cuba must modernize 11 of those existing plants and build seven additional new ones. He did not say how much the improvements would cost.

"We are going to significantly improve the capacity we have now," Galvez said.

Peter Baron, president of the London-based International Sugar Organization, told the sugar congress on Tuesday that Cuba, which gets most of its petroleum on favorable terms from its political ally Venezuela, could benefit by producing ethanol for its own use.

Cuba has been looking for alternative uses for sugar in recent years as the crop has become less important for the island's economy, and harvests have dropped dramatically.

Cuba's 2004-2005 sugar harvest was dramatically lower than in recent years, estimated at 1.5 million metric tons.

No figures have been released for the 2005-2006 harvest that wrapped up in recent months, but they are believed to be even lower.

Woman accused of being spy for Cuba freed

By Curt Anderson, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 21, 2006.

MIAMI - A woman accused of spying for the Cuban government has been freed on bond after five months in jail.

Elsa Alvarez left the Federal Detention Center in Miami on Monday after family members put up their homes as collateral for her $400,000 bond, but her movements are restricted.

Alvarez and her husband, Carlos, a Florida International University professor who remained jailed, are charged with failing to register as agents of a foreign government. Prosecutors contend they spied for Cuban President Fidel Castro's government for decades, mainly reporting on activities of Miami's large Cuban-American exile community and U.S. political developments.

They were arrested in January and have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In a ruling releasing Elsa Alvarez, a federal judge said prosecutors don't have a convincing case against her.

The U.S. attorney's office in Miami declined comment Wednesday.

Alvarez's lawyer, Jane Moscowitz, said her client suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic pain illness, and was resting at home.

Elsa Alvarez, 55, is a social work program coordinator at Florida International University, where Carlos Alvarez is a psychology professor. The charges against them include allegations they used their university positions as cover to travel to Cuba, Mexico and within the United States to meet Cuban intelligence agents and exchange information.

Steven Chaykin, attorney for Carlos Alvarez, said his client also was seeking to be released on bail.

"We think we have an equally compelling argument and are optimistic in light of the favorable ruling for Elsa," Chaykin said.

ACLU sues Fla. schools over Cuba book ban

By Laura Wides-Munoz, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 21, 2006.

MIAMI - The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to stop the Miami-Dade County school district from removing a series of children's books from its libraries, including a volume about Cuba which depicts smiling kids in communist uniforms.

The ACLU and the Miami-Dade County Student Government Association argued in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday that the school board should add materials with alternate viewpoints rather than remove books that could be offensive.

Last week, the board voted 6-3 to remove "Vamos a Cuba" and its English-language version, "A Visit to Cuba" from 33 schools, stating the books were inappropriate for young readers because of inaccuracies and omissions about life in the communist nation.

The book, by Alta Schreier, targets students ages 5 to 7 and contains images of smiling children wearing uniforms of Cuba's communist youth group and a carnival celebrating the 1959 Cuban revolution. The district owns 49 copies of the book in Spanish and English.

The school board also decided to remove 24 other books in the series, including ones on Greece, Mexico and Vietnam, "despite not having received a complaint about those books and without having reviewed the books in its administrative process," the suit said.

The ACLU noted the books have received favorable reviews in nationally recognized publications including Publishers Weekly and the School Library Journal. The suit also cites staff recommendations to keep the books.

"The Miami-Dade School Board's decision to defy U.S. law prohibiting censorship and ignore the recommendation of their own superintendent and two committees is a slap in the face to our tradition of free speech and the school board's own standards of due process," said JoNel Newman, an attorney working with the ACLU.

School district spokesman Joseph Garcia said the district will go to court to defend the board's decision.

The controversy began in April when a parent who said he had been a political prisoner in Cuba complained about the books' depiction of life under communist rule.

The lawsuit alleges the books' removal violates students' rights to a free press and that the volumes were removed without due process.

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