Yahoo! July 6, 2001
Pope Denounces U.S. Embargo on Cuba
VATICAN CITY, 6 (AP) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II denounced the
U.S. economic embargo against Cuba on Friday in a speech to Cuban bishops
visiting the Vatican.
"Restrictive economic measures imposed from outside... (are) unjust and
ethically unacceptable,'' said the pope, who has made similar statements in the
past.
The pontiff praised the bishops for their efforts to revive the Roman
Catholic faith on their island nation, saying the Cuban people have a spiritual
thirst unsatisfied by the secular world's "old ideologies.''
He recalled his visit to Cuba in 1998, which led Cuban leader Fidel Castro
(news - web sites) to grant more freedoms to the Roman Catholic Church and to
believers.
Much has been accomplished since then, the pope said, but much needs to be
done. He urged his listeners to redouble their efforts to recruit new priests
and nuns.
Church-state relations began improving markedly after John Paul's visit.
Christmas was reinstated as a permanent holiday and outdoor religious
processions, common before Cuba's 1959 revolution, were again allowed.
Cuba was officially atheist from the early 1960s until 1992, and religious
believers were banned from the Communist Party, the military and several
professions. Believers were granted permission to join the party after the 1991
collapse of Cuba's Soviet bloc allies.
Backstage at Havana's Fashion Show
By TONY SMITH, Associated Press Writer
HAVANA, 6 (AP) - The clothes are tropical chic, the music is Madonna, the
models are tall and tanned. On the catwalk at Havana Fashion 2001, Cuba looks
completely in touch with the world of fashion.
But walk backstage at Thursday's show and any similarities with the
glittering shows of Paris or Milan quickly fade. The Cuban fashion industry,
like the rest of this Communist-run island's economy, works by its own rules.
It took Omar Villalovos 20 days to put together a cool collection for
Caonex, a state-run firm in Camaguey, 320 miles east of Havana.
With streetwear in army camouflage Lycra for her and polyester safari suits
in khaki for him, the 37-year-old's offerings would not look out of place on
London's trendy King's Road. Not that he would know: he has no access to foreign
fashion magazines or the Internet.
He recalls once seeing some old copies of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, but "they
were very old, very outdated.''
A Havana company sells access to Promostil International, the fashion
world's trendsetting database, but only for hard currency and Villalovos says
Caonex can't afford that.
All its hard cash goes into buying the stretch materials Villalovos uses
from Italy.
"Cuba's fashion industry has improved a lot in recent years, there are
many more youngsters getting involved,'' said Rafael de Leon, one of the
country's top stylists who gets to travel "all over the place'' and for
whom Yves Saint-Laurent "is the maestro.''
After attending Havana's Higher Institute of Industrial Design, budding
designers get guaranteed work at one of the country's textile companies that are
controlled by the state-run association Boga.
Claudio Sosa, a local reporter at the show who was asked to "host'' The
Associated Press by organizers, said Cuba plans to export $15 million worth of
clothes this year.
That's progress. Cuba's economy was so ravaged in the early 1990s by the
collapse of its traditional ally, the Soviet Union, that the government
introduced food and energy rationing, and other belt-tightening measures.
At that time, a Havana fashion show paraded models wearing old magazines
from before the 1959 revolution, palm leaves and plastic bags.
Things were different at Thursday's show. One catwalk session was dedicated
to the fast-growing sector of uniforms and clothes for the hotel and restaurant
industries.
With hotels shooting up around the island as the tourist industry booms,
specialist garment maker Gala showed off its range of bellboys' tunics, chintzy
kimonos for Chinese restaurant staff, and skimpy dresses printed with tropical
fish, apparently what every cocktail waitress wants this season.
As Madonna's Ray of Light thumped in the background, the public cheered
wildly as a pristinely clad chef released a pigeon from a fish kettle. The
cheers were even louder when local models dressed as beige-uniformed customs
officers took to the catwalk with a confused-looking sniffer dog.
Sosa explained: The show's main sponsor was the Customs Service of the
Republic of Cuba.
Commercialism, almost invisible in Cubans' day-to-day life, couldn't be
banished completely: a few posters and television sets advertising Heineken beer
dotted the hall at Havana's Pabexpo exhibition center.
"My dream is to become a top model, become famous, sign a big
contract,'' said Alfredo Otero, 26, leaving the dressing rooms after the show.
Which agency would he prefer: Ford or Look Elite? "I don't really know.
We don't have either of them here in Cuba.'' | 
