Yahoo News, march 20, 2000
Young Entrepreneurs to Have Chance for People-to-People Interaction
YEO to Visit Cuba for Educational Exchange
WASHINGTON, 21--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 2000--From March 29 through April 2, 2000, 150 U.S. members of the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization (YEO), a 3,000-member international educational organization headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, will have the opportunity to attend an exceptional
learning exchange program in Cuba.
The five-day program, ``The Cuban Experience,'' is designed to bring together YEO members with Cuban entrepreneurs to discuss issues of mutual concern and to learn about each country's inherent business challenges.
The trip, which was in the planning stages for nearly two years, was granted special permission last September from the United States Departments of the Treasury as well as from the Cuban government. In accordance with YEO's U.S.-approved license, the program was limited to only 150 young
entrepreneurs.
Learning about the daily realities of being an entrepreneur in Cuba are among the program's key highlights. During YEO's stay, attendees will have the chance to meet with representatives from Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation; visit local industries, factories,
agricultural sites and craft markets to meet with local entrepreneurs; and dine in ``paladares,'' restaurants in private homes that seat no more than 12 diners at one time. A highlight of the five-day event will be an opportunity to hear the unique business experiences of an English entrepreneur
living in Cuba.
``Entrepreneurship is expanding at an incredibly fast pace throughout the world,'' explains Maria Cintron Magennis, 2000-2001 YEO International President. ``By visiting Cuba, YEO members will learn more about this country's experiences, and be able to establish meaningful dialogues with leaders
of local industry to better understand the challenges local businesses there endure.''
Last October, a small three-member YEO delegation traveled to Cuba on a four-day licensed fact-finding visit to develop educational exchanges, which would provide learning opportunities on entrepreneurial issues and establish opportunities, which would ensure people-to-people contact for this
trip. The delegation met with independent entrepreneurs, academicians, delegates from the Canadian Embassy, third-country business representatives, officers of the U.S. Interests Section, as well as other senior government officials.
YEO is a global, nonprofit, educational organization for young entrepreneurs that since 1987 has helped its members build upon their successes through an array of educational and networking opportunities. With chapters in more than 103 cities, spanning 30 countries, YEO's rapidly expanding
membership includes entrepreneurs from every size and type of business. YEO membership has increased by over 35 percent last year, and now is more than 3,000 members strong. Membership in YEO is by invitation only and is subject to approval by both YEO International and the sponsoring local chapter.
Prospective members must be under 39 years of age and be a founder, co-founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a business with gross annual revenues exceeding (US) $1 million.
Copyright 2000 Business Wire. All rights reserved.
Judge Dismisses Asylum for Elian
By Alex Veiga. Associated Press Writer
MIAMI, 21 (AP) - A federal judge today refused to block efforts to return 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez to Cuba, saying only the U.S. attorney general can grant political asylum to keep the boy in the United States.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore's ruling dismissed the lawsuit filed by Elian's great-uncle, Lazaro Gonzalez, who wants to keep Elian, against the wishes of the boy's father in Cuba.
``Determination to grant asylum is a matter within the discretion of the attorney general,'' Moore wrote. The 50-page ruling came 12 days after Moore held a hearing on the case.
Telephone calls to the Gonzalez family home this morning were not answered, but Roger Bernstein, an attorney for Lazaro Gonzalez, said last week his client would appeal if the judge threw out the lawsuit.
The next step would likely be a petition for an emergency stay from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. If a stay was granted, the appeal would go before a three-judge panel of the appeals court.
Justice Department officials did not react immediately. They have made clear in the past, however, that they want to avoid any steps that would traumatize the child or provoke a confrontation with Miami's large Cuban exile community.
The U.S. government had asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit, which asked the court to compel the Immigration and Naturalization Service to give Elian an asylum hearing.
The judge wrote that the litigation was ``well-intended'' but it could bring about unintended harm because of ``the reality that each passing day is another day lost between Juan Gonzalez and his son.''
Elian was at school when the judge rendered his decision.
Elian's fate has been debated since he was found clinging to an inner tube off Florida on Nov. 25. His mother and 10 others drowned when their boat capsized during an attempt to reach the United States. The case has become a tug of war between the Cuban government and family members in the
United States who oppose the Cuban government's Communist ideology and want to raise the motherless boy.
In early January, the INS ordered that Elian be returned to his father, a decision backed by President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno. The order was put on hold pending the court fight.
Attorneys for Lazaro Gonzalez have argued that the INS violated the boy's rights by refusing to grant him a political asylum hearing when he was rescued.
But government lawyers said Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez, opposed asylum for his son, and that his wishes should be respected over those of the boy's great-uncle.
In addition, government lawyers said, INS officials conducted a thorough investigation, which was reviewed by Reno, and found no basis for an asylum claim.
While any alien may apply for political asylum, INS officials said Elian is too young and only a parent or guardian can file an application for him.
During the three-hour hearing earlier this month, Moore asked why the INS did not simply reject the asylum application filed on Elian's behalf by the great-uncle and return him to his father.
Government lawyers said the boy already was traumatized by his ordeal at sea and it made sense at the time to release the boy to the custody of relatives who showed up at the hospital.
The battle over Elian has divided the boy's relatives on both sides of the Florida Straits, and has taken on impassioned and often ugly ideological overtones that underscore the differences separating Cubans in the two nations.
Since his arrival in South Florida, Elian has captivated many Cuban-Americans, who say the boy is a symbol of the plight of Cuban people under Fidel Castro.
Cuban-American groups have held protests and lobbied presidential candidates and members of Congress to help buy time to keep Elian from being returned to his father.
In Cuba, tens of thousands have staged rallies and marches to demand the boy's return.
There was no immediate reaction from the Cuban government today. A spokesman in the office of Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly and the government's point man on U.S.-Cuba affairs, said that authorities were reviewing the ruling.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Sotomayor Drug Hearing Next Month
MONTE CARLO, Monaco (AP) - High jump world record-holder Javier Sotomayor of Cuba, suspended after testing positive for cocaine at last year's Pan American Games, will have his case heard April 7-8 by an IAAF arbitration panel.
The International Amateur Athletic Federation also set July 6-9 as the hearing dates for 1992 Olympic 100-meter champion Linford Christie of Britain, who was suspended after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone.
Two other Brits also facing nandrolone charges will have their cases heard on the same date: European 200-meter champion Doug Walker and hurdler Gary Cadogan.
All four athletes could face two-year bans.
Sotomayor was stripped of his Pan Am gold medal after testing positive for cocaine in July in Canada. Backed by Fidel Castro, Cuba's track federation refused to suspend Sotomayor and suggested he had been set up.
Last month, Sotomayor was scheduled to compete at an indoor meet in Greece. But he was dropped from the competition after the IAAF, closing a loophole that allowed athletes to compete while their drug cases were unresolved, suspended him pending the arbitration hearing.
The three Britons were cleared by UK Athletics - Britain's track and field governing body - but the decision was overturned last month by the IAAF, which sent the case to arbitration. Christie, 39, has retired from competition, but Walker and Cadogan still hope to compete in this year's
Olympics.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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