CNS News
Trade results in closer ties between Cuba, Vietnam
By Jim Burns, CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. December 07,
2001
(CNSNews.com) - A newly signed accord involving some 250,000 tons of rice
and a television set assembly line is bringing together two of the world's few
remaining communist governments.
Directors of the Cuban company Alimport and the Vietnamese company Vinafood
1 signed the agreement Thursday in Havana at a ceremony, according to a report
from Granma, the official Cuban Communist Party newspaper. The signing was also
attended from the leaders from both countries, Cuban leader Fidel Castro and
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
"The profound relationship that unites both nations is at such a high
level, it will be difficult to surpass," Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage
said. "Our peoples have endured the test of time."
Tan Dung said the objective of his visit was to increase the ties of
friendship and cooperation, especially in energy and commerce, as well as study
the Cuban experience of building socialism.
Under the terms of the agreement, Cuba is buying an estimated 250,000 tons
of rice from Vietnam, and both sides have agreed to a contract that guarantees
satisfactory prices and convenient payment terms for Cuba. Also, both countries'
ministers of agriculture signed an accord on a cooperative project to develop
family-based rice production in Cuba.
In addition, the directors of the Vietnamese electronics company Hanel, and
the head of the Electronics Group in Cuba signed a cooperative agreement that
includes the donation of a television set assembly line, a joint development for
the introduction of digital television in Cuba, and the production of television
sets for export to other Caribbean nations and Latin America.
The agreements come on the heels of the Bush administration's announcement
of its opposition to a Senate proposal allowing the private financing of U.S.
food sales to Cuba, a proposed part of a Senate farm bill that is being prepared
for floor debate.
In a statement, the White House said it "strongly opposes" any
change in economic sanctions against the Castro government.
"Because of Cuba's continued denial of basic civil rights to its
citizens as well as its egregious rejection of the global coalition's efforts
against terrorism, the administration strongly opposes a shift to allow private
U.S. financing," the White House said.
However, representatives from Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, Riceland Food
and ConAgra recently signed agreements with Cuba's Alimport to provide wheat,
corn, soybeans and rice.
Cuba must pay cash for its purchases.
Janet Reno can't shed Elian Gonzalez controversy
By Jim Burns, CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer. December 07,
2001
(CNSNews.com) - The Elian Gonzalez controversy continues to follow former
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, whose appearance before the Florida
legislature Thursday was met with a walkout by several Cuban-American state
lawmakers.
Reno is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor and hopes to oppose
incumbent Republican Jeb Bush next fall.
The lawmakers walked off the state House floor to protest last year's
federal raid, directed by Reno, in which armed agents removed Elian from the
home of his Miami relatives.
The little boy had been rescued off the Florida coast on Thanksgiving Day,
1999 following a shipwreck. Elian's mother and several other people, escaping
Cuba, had drowned before they could reach the U.S., but the little boy had clung
to an inner tube. A long custody battle ensued with Reno's Justice Department
siding with Elian's father who eventually took his son back to Cuba.
Elian celebrated his 8th birthday Thursday.
One of the legislators who walked out was Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican
state representative from Miami.
"[Reno] has the right to go watch the (legislative) proceedings but I
also have the right not to receive her. She was the attorney general under the
most corrupt administration in the United States," said Diaz-Balart in an
interview with CNSNews.com.
"She was the spearhead of the entire U.S. government that was doing
everything in its power to satisfy Castro's requests that denied a little boy
and his dying mother's wishes to live in freedom," said Diaz-Balart.
Reno defended her action, "I know they feel very strongly, but I made a
decision based on what was right for a little boy and his daddy. And I stand by
it."
As for her visit to Tallahassee, which occurred on the last day of a special
session dedicated to solving the state's $1.3 billion budget shortfall, Reno
insisted, "anyone who says I shouldn't come to the capital of my state
doesn't understand the principles of democracy."
State Rep. Annie Betancourt, of Miami, the sole Cuban-American Democrat in
the Florida House wasn't informed of the protest. Despite the fact that she
disagreed with Reno's action to remove Elian from his Miami home, she said she
wouldn't have walked out on the former attorney general.
No matter whom the Florida Democrats nominate for governor next year,
Diaz-Balart thinks the Elian Gonzalez case will not be forgotten, because of "the
fact that Janet Reno and the Clinton government, at Castro's request, sent the
kid back without giving the child the opportunity that every child has in this
country... going to a family court to determine what was in the best interests
of that child," he said.
Elian's case was fought in federal courts in Florida and Georgia and went
all the way to the United States Supreme Court in Washington, which ruled in
favor of Reno and sending the child back to Cuba with his father.
"There are lots of kids who have custody issues. There are lots of kids
whose parents are divided and lots of kids, unfortunately, who lose a parent,
but the whole force of the United States government does not fall on its face to
support those kids. The only reason it happened here was because Castro gave an
ultimatum to Clinton and his knees buckled," Diaz-Balart said.
Florida House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel is challenging Reno for the
nomination.
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