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CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Cuba: U.S. inflated cases of visa denials
HAVANA - (AP) -- Cuba on Monday accused
the U.S. government of sharply inflating
a list of Cubans denied permission to emigrate
to the United States.
The Cuban government acknowledged that
196 Cubans had been barred from leaving
the socialist island on U.S. visas, but
it said a U.S. list of 636 such cases was
riddled with inaccuracies.
Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Relations said
that the number blocked was only about 1
percent of those who have emigrated and
it said refusal to let them emigrate was
based on Cuban law.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, said the names
are part of a running list that goes back
at least three years of people whose cases
have been brought to their attention. Cuban
authorities have not provided a response
on U.S. inquiries of the pending cases,
and unless migrants inform authorities at
the U.S. Interests Section in Havana of
their departure, there is no way of knowing
if exit permits were issued.
''We admittedly have imperfect information,''
said a State Department official. "They
hide the real facts and then get on their
high horse.''
Under 1994 and 1995 agreements meant to
discourage risky departures, the United
States agreed to accept at least 20,000
Cuban immigrants a year and Cuba agreed
not to punish those who were returned after
making illegal attempts to migrate.
Cuba says U.S. firms won sales race
at its fair
HAVANA - U.S. companies took the largest
share of sales contracts signed at the just-concluded
Havana International Fair, the Cuban government
announced on Monday.
The government purchasing company Alimport
said in a news release that it had signed
contracts worth $164.9 million during the
fair that concluded on Sunday. Thirty-six
of the 47 companies that won deals were
from the United States.
Sales with U.S. companies started in late
2001 after the U.S. Congress eased embargo
restrictions.
Among the deals signed Friday and Saturday
were $18.6 million worth of soybeans, soy
oil, soy flour and corn from Archer Daniels
Midland (ADM) of Decatur, Illinois, and
three chicken deals: for $4 million with
Louis Dreyfus Group, $2.7 million with Tyson
Foods (TSN) of Springdale, Ark., and $1.35
million deal with AJC International of Atlanta.
Cuba had earlier signed chicken deals for
another $3.1 million from Tyson and $1.8
million from Dreyfus.
Smaller contracts went to companies such
as Dean Foods of Dallas, Texas, ($162,470
worth of coffee creamer), Langdale International
Trading of Valdosta, Ga., ($135,000 worth
of wood), Adams of New Jersey ($163,300
worth of chewing gum) and Conagra Foods
of Illinois ($76,200 in meat products).
Cuba's attention to the U.S. companies
was heightened because of a drop in European
attendance. The European Union has reduced
contacts with Cuba, largely to protest the
jailing earlier this year of 75 dissidents.
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