Yahoo! News. July 5, 2000
Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Proposes Trade With Cuba
Wednesday July 5, 9:03 am Eastern Time. Company Press Release. SOURCE: Georgia Department of Agriculture
ATLANTA, July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin recently proposed to establish agricultural trade relations with Cuba at the annual Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture's conference held in Louisville, Kentucky.
Irvin's proposal, which was overwhelmingly passed at the conference and subsequently sent to the U.S. State Department for consideration, corresponds with legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate called the Food and Medicine for the World Act.
Commissioner Irvin plans to head up a delegation for agriculturists to Cuba in the not too distant future.
``Our chicken is being diverted by Canada and sent down to Cuba already,'' he said. ``It's not good sense to let that continue.''
He also said that Georgia could benefit from importing some of Cuba's agricultural products during the state's off-season.
Irvin, who lobbied for the passage of permanent normal trade relations with China, said that during the Cold War he had been the first state agricultural commissioner to propose trading agricultural products with the then-Soviet Union and had encountered some hostility to his ideas. Now,
however, ``attitudes about selling to communist countries have softened,'' he said.
Mexico Election Changes Relations
By George Gedda, Associated Press Writer.
WASHINGTON, 5 (AP) - With the exception of Cuba, it was hard to imagine a country in the Western Hemisphere more unfriendly to the United States than Mexico not long ago.
During the 1980s, Mexico was supporting the leftist adversaries of the United States in Central America. For then-Secretary of State George Shultz, the mere idea of a meeting with his Mexican counterpart, Bernardo Sepulveda, caused him stress. At the State Department, anti-Mexican jokes were
commonplace and Mexico's corruption problems were discussed openly.
Those days are long gone, as a cooperative relationship that few thought possible is now in place. Frictions over Central America disappeared with the end of the Cold War. And then came Mexico's decision to join the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has boosted two-way trade to over
$200 billion from $80 billion in six years.
George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William and Mary, says a revolution has occurred in the relationship. ``It's really night and day,'' he says.
And with the election of opposition candidate Vicente Fox in Sunday's presidential election, President Clinton says the friendly ties established under President Ernesto Zedillo could well be enhanced.
Fox says he is committed to the counternarcotics struggle and to pursuing economic policies that will ensure that jobless Mexicans won't have to move to the United States in search of a better life.
In the run-up to the election, American officials were worried that a narrow victory by the ruling PRI party could trigger charges of fraud - and a possible full-blown political crisis. That did not occur, and all indications point toward a peaceful transfer of power on Dec. 1.
American officials become uneasy at the specter of unrest across the border because that can only mean more unwanted illegal migrants.
But just as the United States has a stake in a prosperous, stable Mexico, Mexico has a strong interest in an economically vibrant northern neighbor. This explains why Mexico has pushed the OPEC oil cartel to increase production. More oil on the market means lower oil prices and greater assurance
of continued U.S. prosperity. This, in turn, means continued strong U.S. demand for Mexican products.
One issue that continues to infect the relationship is the annual congressionally mandated U.S. evaluation of Mexico's counterdrug performance. In theory, economic sanctions could be imposed if Mexico's performance is deemed inadequate. But officials acknowledge that the possibility of a
``decertification'' of Mexico is unrealistic.
Some critics argue that, in the process, standards have been lowered, and that Mexico is being judged nowadays more by effort than by results.
But, as officials point out, a decision to decertify Mexico would touch off a nationalistic backlash that would nullify many of the across-the-board gains in cross-border ties.
Grayson says the ever-growing numbers of Mexican migrants who vote in U.S. elections also has had a salutary effect on Mexican-American ties because American politicians are less inclined to engage in Mexico-bashing.
He says the major political parties, taking their cues from Latino leaders, increasingly are turning a blind eye toward illegal immigration lest they pay a price on election day.
Even with the more neighborly relationship, resentments among Mexicans toward the United States persist in other areas.
As an example, there was a hue and cry last fall when Mexican authorities invited several dozen FBI agents to investigate a possible mass grave 20 miles south of the Rio Grande. The invitation was viewed by many in Mexico as kowtowing to Uncle Sam.
Another sore point is the emergence of vigilante groups, especially in southern Arizona, that prey on undocumented Mexican aliens. Mexico also has complained loudly about the increase in U.S. patrols at ``safe'' border crossings, forcing would-be migrants to risk their lives in more dangerous
areas. Hundreds have died in recent years.
The overall trend, though, is positive, especially now that Mexico seems unambiguously to be on the democratic path after long years of quasi-authoritarian rule.
Mexico has always been a neighbor but not necessarily a friend. It is now both, as Clinton noted on Monday.
EDITOR'S NOTE - George Gedda has covered foreign affairs for The Associated Press since 1968.
Elian Pays Visit to Hometown
By Vivian Sequera, Associated Press Writer.
HAVANA, 4 (AP) - Without the hordes of journalists who chronicled his movements in the United States, Elian Gonzalez on Tuesday made a quiet visit to his hometown for the first time since returning to Cuba last week, the government said afterward.
Accompanied by his father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, Elian visited the homes of his paternal and maternal grandparents in Cardenas, about 90 miles east of Havana, state television reported.
Elian also stopped by his school, where he will resume his studies in the fall, and played with several of his schoolmates before he and his family returned to Havana later in the day.
During the day trip, the 6-year-old also went swimming in a pool at a national park in the nearby tourist resort of Varadero, where the elder Gonzalez had worked when the national custody dispute began seven months ago, state television said.
``All of the steps have been taken to guarantee the maximum normality possible,'' said a statement read on a new afternoon public affairs program designed to inform Cubans about U.S. policies that affect the island.
``The people (of Cardenas), as expected, cooperated completely to prevent excessive crowds and contribute to the success of the visit,'' it added.
The government statement said that the visit was a necessary step in the child's readjustment after his seven months away. Elian had never left Cardenas in his life - not even to visit the capital of Havana - before his mother put him on a boat bound for the United States last November.
Two days after arriving in Havana on Wednesday, Elian asked his father ``when he could travel to Cuba,'' the statement said. For Elian, Cuba was Cardenas.
``Now he knows perfectly well that his homeland is much larger,'' the statement said. It characterized Elian as ``extraordinarily happy'' and described his health as ``excellent.''
``His schooling is advancing at the speed of light,'' it added. Elian attended school only sporadically when he stayed with his great-uncle and second cousin for five months in Miami and Cuban teachers are working with him to ensure he is ready to enter the second grade in the fall.
The boat carrying Elian to the United States sank off the coast of Florida, killing his mother and 10 others. After two men on a fishing trip found the boy floating on an inner tube, the child's Miami relatives received temporary custody.
The Miami relatives fought to keep Elian in America but lost the battle last week. The relatives sought a political asylum hearing for Elian, saying that the first-grader would suffer political persecution if returned to his homeland.
Gonzalez traveled to the United States to fight to be reunited with his first-born son and return with him to Cuba.
Elian and his family have been kept away from the media since shortly after their homecoming last Wednesday. Cuban officials all along said that they would fight to prevent the kind of massive media coverage that plagued the child during his stay in Miami.
In Cuba, journalists were allowed to document the arrival at the airport from a great distance, but police have kept them away from the specially prepared boarding school where Elian has been staying with his family since their return.
The government said that Elian and his family would live in the Havana boarding school for two to three weeks, then take a week's holiday before resuming their former lives in Cardenas.
President Fidel Castro for months has said that his government would strive to provide Elian and his family with a normal life as possible and forbade large public celebrations for their homecoming.
Saying that he did not want to cause the child to further trauma by making him a national spectacle, Castro opted not to greet Elian and his family when they arrived at the airport.
To satisfy the Cuban people's curiosity about the boy, the government announced that on Wednesday it would put on sale a special news supplement dedicated to the Elian case.
The 32-page supplement, entitled ``Elian in his homeland,'' was to hit the streets in the morning, Cuba's Prensa Latina news agency reported.
Cuba Aims Toward Self-Sufficiency
HAVANA, 4 (AP) - Cuba plans to become self-sufficient in the generation of electricity within five years fueling power plants entirely gas and oil from Cuban wells, officials said Tuesday.
Currently, about half the electricity on the island of 11 million people is generated at plants fueled by fuels mined domestically, said Eredio Puentes, head of business administration for the state's Western Oil Drilling and Extraction Company, or EPECO.
Puentes told journalists touring Havana province, which surrounds the capital city, that the other half of the fuel Cuba needs for power is imported. He did not provide details on where the crude comes from or how much it costs.
Puentes said the nation's goal is not to import any at all within four or five years
Cuba has moved toward becoming more self-dependent in petroleum and many other sectors of the economy in the decade following the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
When the Eastern Bloc fell apart, Cuba was dependent upon its former allies for most of its petroleum and the economically difficult years on the island that followed were marked by widespread blackouts caused by lack of fuel. Gasoline for vehicles was strictly rationed and streets were near
empty.
Before the collapse, Cuba consumed about 11 million tons of crude annually, Puentes said. The country has learned to live with less through aggressive energy-saving programs and now consumes about 8 million tons of crude every year, he said.
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