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Cuba Studies Military Recruitment Plan

By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press Writer .Sat Jul 10, 2:41 PM ET

HAVANA - Cuba has ordered a study of its military recruitment program, hoping to enlist more young men in the armed forces during a period in which authorities say they are increasingly concerned about a U.S.-led military attack.

A special commission to "study, propose and control (military) recruitment policies and their ties with the nation's education program" will be created under a decree signed July 2 by President Fidel Castro and his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro.

"In the last years, the politico-military situation has deteriorated considerably, creating a new situation that has elevated international tensions against our country," the text reads.

Although the decree does not single out the United States, Cuban authorities in recent months have repeatedly expressed concern that the United States might attack.

Officials in Washington have repeatedly insisted that there are no plans for an American military attack on Cuba.

Current events have increased "the real possibility of an armed aggression, in whatever moment the enemy finds it convenient," the text adds, an obvious reference to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The decree acknowledges a drop in recruits for career military service in recent years, in large part because of increasingly lower birth rates over the past two decades and a shortened period of compulsory service for young men.

Under Cuban law, men 18 and older must serve in the military 24 months, or 12 months if already enrolled in university. Little more than a decade ago, young men had to complete 36 months of service.

Military service for women is voluntary.

The decree said military recruitment and service would be studied by a commission comprised of officials from numerous ministries, including defense, education, economy and finance and public heath.

Hernandez Pitches Yankees to Victory

By MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Sports Writer. Sun Jul 11, 6:40 PM ET.

NEW YORK - Orlando Hernandez returned to the mound for the New York Yankees on Sunday, coming off the disabled list to start against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Hernandez pitched in place of Mike Mussina, who missed his turn with a sore right elbow. To make room on the roster, the Yankees optioned right-hander Juan Padilla back to Triple-A Columbus.

Mussina had tests Saturday but is not expected to go on the disabled list.

"If I really had to, I probably could have gone out there today. But it wasn't necessary," he said.

Mussina thinks he might have tweaked his elbow while batting in an interleague game against the New York Mets. The right-hander will probably be pushed to the end of the rotation after the All-Star break.

"He's not concerned, so I'm not concerned," manager Joe Torre said. "We're not sure where we are yet. It's certainly not a DL thing, and he didn't do it pitching."

The Yankees got better news about Kevin Brown, on the disabled list since June 10 because of a strained lower back and an intestinal parasite.

Brown threw about 65 pitches in the bullpen before Sunday's game and said everything went well. He expects to have another side session Tuesday, then will go to the minors for a rehabilitation outing Thursday.

"It might not be a bad idea," Brown said. "I felt like I continued to progress today. It was better than the other day. I'm headed in the right direction. Hopefully, my strength continues to return."

Padilla was called up from Columbus on Thursday and never got in a game for the Yankees.

With Mussina ailing, Hernandez was scratched from his scheduled rehabilitation start Saturday for Triple-A Columbus so he could travel to New York.

Hernandez, believed to be 38, pitched the Yankees to a 10-3 victory over Tampa Bay, his first major league win since Sept. 5, 2002, against Detroit. He spent last year on Montreal's disabled list, missing the entire season after getting hurt in spring training.

The right-hander had shoulder surgery in May 2003 to repair a small tear in his rotator cuff. He returned to the Yankees in March, signing a $500,000, one-year contract.

After defecting from Cuba, Hernandez joined the Yankees for the 1998 season and helped them to three straight World Series titles and four AL pennants in five years. He went 9-3 with a 2.51 ERA in the postseason, winning the 1999 AL championship series MVP Award.

U.S. Humanitarian Group Arrives in Cuba

By VANESSA ARRINGTON, Associated Press Writer. Sat Jul 10, 9:59 AM ET.

HAVANA - Members of an American humanitarian aid group arrived in Cuba Saturday in defiance of U.S. law and wearing T-shirts calling for "regime change" in the United States.

About 120 volunteers with Pastors for Peace flew in from Tampico, Mexico, where they had loaded a caravan of 12 vehicles filled with goods including medicine, computers and bicycles onto boats bound for Cuba - all in violation of a long-running U.S. trade embargo.

"We know in our hearts and in our heads ... that the blockade is immoral, is illegal, is illogical and is unjust," said the Rev. Lucius Walker, a Baptist minister from New Jersey who founded Pastors for Peace.

The volunteers, who ranged in age from 10 to 91, came in from the United States and six other countries. They wore T-shirts reading "Regime Change in the US - Not in Cuba."

The Americans among the bunch were defying new U.S. measures that severely limit travel to the island.

"I think it's absolutely imperative for our citizens to claim their rights," said Alfred Dale, 78, a retired pastor from Bellingham, Wash. "If we don't claim them, we lose them."

The U.S. embargo against Cuba, which aims to squeeze the island's economy and push out Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites), is now in its fourth decade.

A new round of U.S. measures that took effect June 30 aim to further pressure Cuba's economy by cutting the amount of cash coming in from the United States and limiting visits to the island by cultural and academic groups as well as Cuban-Americans.

The relief trip marked the 14th straight year that Pastors for Peace has sought to bring supplies to Cuba in spite of the embargo. The group violates the embargo by refusing to apply for documentation to export to Cuba and by using Mexico to bypass U.S. restrictions to the island.

This year's goods, totaling 126 tons, were collected in 127 U.S. cities and three Canadian ones. School buses and other vehicles loaded with the medical and office supplies crossed the border into Mexico from Hidalgo, Texas on Wednesday.

Officials at the border handed out fliers warning that only three of the group's members were authorized to travel on to Cuba and the rest were subject to prosecution leading to jail time or fines if they went to the island.

"It has been a very long journey, a very tiring journey, but now that we are in Cuba, all our tiredness disappears," Walker said.

Other groups have also come in direct defiance of the new U.S. travel restrictions.

Seven members of the Virginia-based African Awareness Association arrived this week to show their solidarity with Cubans.

"Since the war against Cuba has been intensified, we wanted to make sure that as Africans in America we would not let Cuba down," Lee Robinson, the founder of the group, said as he waited at the airport to greet Pastors for Peace.

He said his organization is grateful to Cuba because the communist nation has consistently fought for the rights of Africans around the world and achieved much more success in eradicating racism than the United States.

Brigada Venceremos, a group of American activists, also arrived this week to the eastern city of Santiago to protest U.S. policy.

U.S. Women Volleyball Team Loses to Cuba

AP. Sat Jul 10,10:54 AM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand - The United States dropped the final two sets in losing to Olympic champion Cuba 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 15-13 in the World Grand Prix women's volleyball tournament Saturday.

In other action, Thailand defeated South Korea for the first time in history, winning 30-28, 19-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-8.

The United States will play Thailand, and Cuba will meet South Korea on Sunday.

The 12-team tournament is the final pre-Olympic competition for squads that have already qualified for the Athens Games. After three rounds of pool play, the top five teams and host Italy will advance to the championship round from July 27 to Aug. 1.

Climate changes force Cuba to scramble to adapt agriculture

Fri Jul 9, 2:36 PM ET - AFP

HAVANA (AFP) - Tropical storms and now drought that is gripping central and eastern Cuba have prompted authorities to rush to switch to heartier crops, Cuba's agriculture ministry said.

Officials also are seeking to use less fuel and irrigation water, even if modifications turn out to be costly, according to Granma Internacional, which quoted agriculture vice ministers Ruben Gomez and Juan Perez.

Plant varieties should be chosen according to their resistance to disease and drought, because high winds have destroyed standing crops and irrigation systems, the National Tropical Tuber Institute told legislators this month.

The agriculture ministry in the Americas' only communist-run country supported continued planting of vegetables in urban gardens, the weekly said.

About 70 percent of the island's reservoir water is used to irrigate farms. However, Cuba's 241 reservoirs were 39 percent full at the end of May, the report said.

Cuban farmers have lacked new resources, tools and fuel since the collapse of the Soviet bloc and since 1990 increasingly have returned to draught animals.

Officials have undertaken reforestation of 22,000 hectares (54,000 acres) of watershed and replanting 50,000 hectares (124,000 acres) of riverbank.

While six of Cuba's eastern provinces suffer the worst drought in 10 years, there is a 70 percent chance that at least one hurricane will hit the island before November 30, further damaging loose, dry topsoil.

In 2001 and 2002, three hurricanes caused two billion dollars in material damage in Cuba.

The United Nations warned Wednesday that thousands of people might be at risk due to the drought afflicting and approved an aid package for the affected provinces.

The UN said it fears acute food shortages in the provinces of Holguin, Las Tunas and Camaguey, where the drought has been intense.

Chiron Is Fined for Trading With Cuba

By PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer. Thu Jul 8, 2:01 PM ET

SAN FRANCISCO - Biotechnology company Chiron Corp. admitted it illegally exported goods to Cuba and paid the U.S. government $168,500 in civil penalties, the U.S. Treasury Department reported last month.

The Emeryville-based company voluntarily disclosed to the department that a European subsidiary illegally shipped two vaccines for infants to Cuba between 1999 and 2002.

"It was an inadvertent shipment on our part," said Chiron spokesman John Gallagher. He said Chiron is licensed to ship one type of pediatric vaccine through UNICEF to Cuba but inadvertently shipped two others not approved by the U.S. government.

Gallagher said Chiron reported the shipping error to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, which enforces the United States' 42-year-old embargo on Cuba and other economic sanctions against six other countries.

It's the second highest fine OFAC announced this year and the highest by a U.S.-based company. Panama City-based Alpha Pharmaceutical Inc. agreed to a $198,700 fine for also trading with Cuba.

In all, OFAC announced this year that 122 companies violated economic sanctions and were fined a total of $1.97 million for doing business with Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea (news - web sites), Sudan and Syria. Most of the violations involved dealings with Cuba.

What's more, 226 people have been fined a combined $348,000 this year for travel and currency violations. All but one of those people, who OFAC declined to identify, were fined for transactions involving Cuba.

OFAC was criticized earlier this year by senators from both political parties for dedicating more resources to enforcing the embargo against Cuba than in blocking terrorists' finances.

The agency supplied figures to the U.S. Senate that showed that at the end of 2003, OFAC had 21 full-time agents working Cuba violations and just four full-time workers hunting bin Laden's and Saddam's riches.

Since April 2003, OFAC has been publishing the names of companies it has fined, which have included Playboy Enterprises Inc., the New York Yankees and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

On the Net:
Office of Foreign Assets Control

Bush losing support among key Cuban-American electorate: survey

MIAMI, 9 (AFP) - Support for George W. Bush among Cuban-Americans has dropped significantly, but unlike his Democratic rival, the president still enjoys a strong approval rating among the key electoral group, according to a survey.

While Cuban-Americans in Florida voted 81 percent for Bush in 2000, 66 percent would support him if elections were held today, according to the opinion poll conducted by the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI) and Mirram Global, two leading Latino research groups.

But the drop in support for the Republican president does not automatically translate into support for Democratic candidate John Kerry (news - web sites), said WCVI president Antonio Gonzalez.

Only 16 percent of Cuban-Americans in Florida support Kerry, the survey showed. But Gonzalez said the Democrat could capitalize on Bush's drop in support by focusing more closely on the 1.2 million Cuban-Americans, most of whom live in the southeastern state that was decisive in the 2000 election.

A key issue could be the question of a recent tightening of travel restrictions to Cuba, which has polarized Americans of Cuban descent.

The survey shows that 38 percent of those interviewed believe Cuban-Americans should be allowed to visit relatives in Cuba without restrictions, while 36 percent oppose the idea.

"While intended to gather support, the president's measures are causing his most loyal base to consider other options," said Gonzalez.

Under travel restrictions imposed by Washington last week Cuban-Americans can now only visit close relatives on the island every three years, instead of every year, and can only spend 50 dollars daily, down from 165 dollars, during such trips.

"We feel these measures are cruel, unjust and basically un-American," said Alvaro Fernandez, who heads a group recently formed to oppose the travel restrictions.

"All they have done is continue to divide the Cuban community," he said at a joint news conference in Miami with Fernandez.

But the survey showed that while 47 percent of those interviewed considered a presidential candidate's policies toward Cuba to be "very important," the key issues were jobs and education.

"Cuban Americans share basic working class, populist concerns like other US Latinos. Their top issues have to do with bread and butter issues," said Gonzalez.

The survey also showed that one-third of Cuban-Americans are critical of the way Bush has dealt with key issues, with 35 percent giving a negative rating to his handling of the economy, and 34 percent giving a negative rating to the way he has conducted the war in Iraq.

The survey was conducted by telephone between June 29 and July 7 among 812 Cuban-Americans of voting age and has a margin of error of 3.4 percent.

There are an estimated 1.2 million Cuban-Americans living in the United States, the majority of them in Florida. A majority are US citizens and eligible to vote.

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