CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Cuban growers hope tobacco production
normalizes
By Lisa J. Adams, The Associated
Press. Posted on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004.
PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba -- Adela Pita Oliva's
hands move so fast they are almost invisible
as she deftly weaves a long needle attached
to twine through tobacco leave stems, stringing
lush green bunches along wooden poles to
be later hoisted to the rafters overhead.
From dawn to dusk each day, Pita, 44, works
in a curing shed of the Río Feo tobacco
plantation in Pinar del Río, among
thousands of workers laboring to harvest
leaves for the world's finest cigars.
Under a punishing tropical sun in the fields
outside, men and women in rubber boots,
bandannas and straw hats pluck broad, flat
leaves from neat rows and pile them carefully
into aluminum-sided carts to be hauled to
the shed by slow-moving oxen.
The late-winter/early -spring harvest in
Cuba's western tobacco-growing region of
Pinar del Río is an important annual
event.
Tobacco is the communist-run island's third-largest
export -- producing an average of 150 million
hand-rolled cigars worth about $240 million
a year -- and is recognized worldwide for
its quality. Cuba is to cigars as Russia
is to caviar, Japan is to sushi, France
is to champagne.
But this year's harvest is especially important.
GOOD YEAR
Fed by good seeds, rich soil and growth-favoring
humidity, there is a fertile optimism that
production levels will normalize after extensive
storm damage lowered tobacco yields a year
ago.
Hurricanes Isidore and Lili damaged or
destroyed 10,000 of more than 14,500 curing
houses for drying tobacco in the fall of
2002. Habanos S.A., the company that markets
Cuban cigars abroad, said most buildings
housing the harvested tobacco were unaffected.
But the Communist Party newspaper Granma
reported in February 2003 that the hurricanes
"destroyed the industry's infrastructure
and wiped out the seed nurseries, which
forced everyone to start again from zero.''
Cuba's tobacco crop averages about 40,370
tons annually.
At the Río Feo plantation, 2003
production was three tons less than the
year before, said Adela Pita's cousin, plantation
supervisor Juana Pita.
Down the road in San Luis, 84-year-old
Alejandro Robaina -- Cuba's unofficial tobacco
ambassador to the world -- smokes happily
on a fat cigar as he rocks on his front
porch next to alreadyharvested tobacco fields.
EXUDING CONFIDENCE
Robaina has an optimism about tobacco growing
that is as robust as the stogie balanced
confidently between his middle and index
fingers. The key to any harvest is not just
weather or good growing conditions, but
''love of tobacco and patience,'' he says.
Tobacco must be planted during a certain
phase of the moon, tended to by hand, not
machines, and handled delicately so precious
leaves are not bent or torn, Robaina and
Pita explain.
''You can't wear gloves or have long fingernails,
because they will damage the leaves,'' Pita
said.
Robaina's word is respected in Cuba, where
for decades he has been king of the island's
tobacco growers, traveling around the globe
to promote the important cash crop.
There is even a cigar brand that was created
in Robaina's honor -- Vegas Robaina -- and
last year he was guest of honor at Havana's
annual international cigar festival.
This year's sixth annual Habano Festival
was held Feb. 23, attracting hundreds of
people from nearly 50 countries who came
to visit plantations, taste new products
and buy the famous smokes.
Tobacco workers hold their own party after
the last leaves are finally hung to dry
in the wood and zinc curing houses dotting
Pinar del Río's green landscape.
Until then, though, much work must be done.
At the Río Feo plantation, the Pita
cousins and nine other workers labor eight
to 10 hours, six to seven days a week to
reach quotas.
''We have to make a strong effort, work
with all our strength for good results,''
said Pita Oliva. "That's what we're
fighting for.''
Kerry says Bush is soft on Chávez
By Peter Wallsten, pwallsten@herald.com.
Posted on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004.
Presumed Democratic presidential nominee
John Kerry is accusing the White House of
failing to promote democratic reforms in
Venezuela, focusing attention on an issue
that Democrats believe could hamper President
Bush's quest for Hispanic votes in Florida.
Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, issued
the statement on his campaign website, charging
that Bush's passive approach to backing
opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
reflects a larger record of "sending
mixed signals by supporting undemocratic
processes in our own hemisphere.''
The message from Kerry was an attack on
Bush's image on Latin America policy, but
strategists said Monday it was primarily
intended to further erode the president's
standing among Cuban-American voters in
Florida, who view Chávez as an ally
of Fidel Castro and support stronger U.S.
action to assist a recall vote against him.
Kerry has been under fire in recent days
for his shifting stands on Cuba -- including
his assertion in Florida recently that he
backed a 1996 law to stiffen sanctions on
the communist island even though he actually
voted against it on final passage.
In his new statement, Kerry lumped Castro
and Chávez together, accusing the
Venezuelan leader of punishing political
opponents and aiding drug traffickers.
''His close relationship with Fidel Castro
has raised serious questions about his commitment
to leading a truly democratic government,''
the statement said.
Kerry aides said Monday the statement was
timed to coincide with the deliberations
at Venezuela's high court over whether to
accept petitions signed by thousands calling
for a recall vote.
But Rand Beers, a former White House counterterrorism
official who quit the White House and now
works as Kerry's chief foreign policy advisor,
acknowledged in an interview that linking
Kerry's stern language on Chávez
to the political benefits among Florida's
key Cuban-American voters was a "fair
point.''
''The Bush administration has a somewhat
tainted record on Venezuela,'' Beers said.
"They've been unprepared to do everything
necessary to speak out on the issues of
democracy.''
Still, the unusual decision to quietly
drop a new policy pronouncement in an obscure
website posting -- leading to headlines
in Venezuela over the weekend -- indicates
the Kerry campaign is still testing the
effectiveness of the issue and the candidate
himself is not yet comfortable making an
aggressive pitch.
The Bush campaign, which has itself been
on the defensive on Cuba policy in recent
months -- even sending chief White House
political strategist Karl Rove to Miami
last week to vouch for Bush's sincerity
on fighting Castro -- waved off Kerry's
new attack as political gamesmanship.
''Tough talk just in time for a presidential
election does not make up for 19 years of
being soft on Castro,'' said Bush spokesman
Reed Dickens.
Still, Democrats believe the Venezuela
matter points to some glaring vulnerabilities
for a president who sells himself as a wartime
leader focused on the Middle East and international
terrorism but has been attacked for spending
little time closer to home as problems persist
in countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Haiti
and Bolivia.
On Cuba, Bush has been criticized for months
by some exile leaders for what they say
is a record of failing to deliver on his
campaign promises to get tougher on Castro.
At least eight in 10 of Florida's nearly
half-million Cuban-American voters backed
Bush in 2000, when he won the state by just
537 votes, but some recent polls suggest
the president's approval ratings are slipping
in that key bloc.
The latest survey, conducted by Florida
International University for the Sun-Sentinel,
showed that only about 60 percent of Cuban-American
voters in Miami-Dade and Broward counties
said they planned to back Bush, according
to a report in that newspaper Sunday.
Those numbers give Democrats hope that
they can peel at least a portion of traditionally
GOP voters away from the president as part
of a newly aggressive push by Kerry and
a coalition of political committees raising
money to target Hispanic voters in the state.
The Venezuela statement appears to fit
into that strategy, said Joe Garcia, executive
director of the Cuban American National
Foundation and one of the administration's
harshest critics.
''Not only has the president failed to
formulate a policy on Cuba,'' Garcia said,
"he's failed all of Latin America.''
For the full text of Kerry's statement,
please go to www.herald.com/news
and click on Politics.
Advisor affirms Bush's Cuba policy
Karl Rove, President
Bush's key political strategist, wins a
standing ovation when he promises a Miami
audience tougher sanctions on Castro.
By Peter Wallsten And Lesley
Clark, pwallsten@herald.com. Posted on Sat,
Mar. 20, 2004
With Democrats vowing to exploit a rift
between the White House and some Cuban-American
leaders, President Bushs top political strategist
assured Miami GOP activists Friday night
that the administration is committed to
economically strangling Fidel Castros government.
In a speech that seemed designed specifically
to soothe long-simmering tensions, senior
White House strategist Karl Rove devoted
more time to Cuba than any other issue --
drawing a standing ovation from the heavily
Hispanic crowd at a Miami-Dade Republican
Party fundraiser.
''Have no doubt, we will remain committed,''
Rove told the crowd at the Radisson Mart
Plaza Hotel and Convention Centre in west
Miami-Dade County. Referring to the president,
he added: "He knows, you know, we must
not waver.''
PROMISES
Rove unleashed a litany of promises to
tighten the grip on Castro, saying the administration
would find ''new and creative ways'' to
limit the flow of money to the island, punish
companies that do business there and crack
down on travel.
His strong language comes after months
of debate among Miami exile leaders, many
of whom have complained that Bush has failed
to deliver on campaign promises to crack
down on Castro.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee
John Kerry has said he intends to campaign
for Cuban-American votes, while a collection
of independent Democratic political committees
are planning a massive campaign to point
out Bushs failings on Cuba and key domestic
issues such as jobs and healthcare aimed
at Hispanic voters.
Roves message was a clear indication that
the administration is nervous about losing
support among Cuban Americans -- especially
given the importance of a key voting bloc
in the state that decided the 2000 election
by just 537 votes.
At the dinner Friday, Rove sat on the dais
with some of Miamis most influential Cuban-American
leaders: U.S. Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart,
Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
and former state Republican Party Chairman
Al Cárdenas.
ENCOURAGED
Rove also sat with state Rep. David Rivera,
the Cuban-American lawmaker who along with
his legislative colleagues mailed Bush a
letter warning that he risked losing Cuban-American
votes if he didnt move fast to crack down
on Castro.
Rivera said Friday he was encouraged by
Roves remarks -- especially his promise
that the White House would tighten travel
restrictions.
"If they follow through, that would
be huge,''
Speaking earlier in the day to Herald editors
and reporters, Rove said he was not concerned
about the presidents ability to win Cuban-American
votes -- especially once they learn about
Kerry.
''I think people at the end of the day
will look at the record of this administration
and look at the alternative, and I know
where they'll strongly be,'' Rove said,
contrasting a Sunday Herald report detailing
Kerrys shifting stances on key Cuba policy
issues to what he said was Bushs firm support
for stiff sanctions on the island.
''Its an important issue, a moral issue,
for this president,'' Rove said.
Rove will join the president in Orlando
today for the campaigns first full-scale
rally. GOP planners predict the speech will
draw 12,000 activists for an event designed
to showcase the ''grass-roots'' machine
being built in the state.
Speaking to The Herald, Rove said that
he had learned lessons from the Florida
experience four years ago, when Bush nearly
lost the state despite his brother serving
as governor and the Republicans apparent
dominance in state politics. But he declined
to say what those lessons were.
''Lots of things, and I aint going to tell
you,'' he said. "Were working on every
one of them.''
The presidents arrival was the focus Friday
of what is becoming a daily onslaught of
dueling press conferences featuring campaign
surrogates from both sides attacking each
other.
In Miami, Floridas two Democratic senators,
Bob Graham and Bill Nelson, joined U.S.
Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat, to
assail Bushs record on jobs and healthcare,
accuse him of misleading the public on Iraq,
and to make the case for replacing Bush.
''Florida wont ever forget what happened
in the last election,'' Meek, Kerrys Florida
campaign chairman, said, referring to the
recount battle that finally awarded the
states electoral votes to Bush.
The Democrats remarks drew scorn from Bushs
surrogate of the day, Christian Coalition
founder and leading GOP strategist Ralph
Reed, who said that Nelson and Graham were
merely looking to ''audition'' to be Kerrys
vice presidential nominee.
WHAT ABOUT JEB BUSH?
During the wide-ranging discussion with
The Herald in which he boasted of his intimate
knowledge of esoteric matters such as western
water wars and agriculture policy, Rove
sought to cast aside his reputation as the
White Houses all-powerful political puppet
master.
Asked about Democrats assertions that he
is involved in every major decision from
Cuba to Iraq, Rove shot back: "Im not.
My title is senior advisor to the president.
Most of the foreign policy things, Im not
within 100 miles of. I can tell you more
about financing of ag drought relief than
you can ever imagine.
And what about the presidents brother,
Gov. Jeb Bush? Would be be a formidable
presidential candidate in 2008?
''Im focused on 2004,'' Rove said. "Dont
get me in trouble with the governor of Florida.''
U.S. bans anti-dissidents
The United States will
deny entry to 300 Cubans identified by the
States as 'Cuban regime authorities who
are involved in acts of repression.'
By Nancy San Martin, nsanmartin@herald.com.
Posted on Sat, Mar. 20, 2004.
Some 300 Cubans who participated in the
''show trials'' of 75 dissidents a year
ago will be barred from entry into the United
States, U.S. officials said Friday. The
prisoners' wives held a rare march in Havana
to demand amnesty for them.
The U.S. ban is aimed at judges, lawyers,
police and witnesses who helped condemn
independent journalists, human rights activists
and other peaceful dissidents to prison
terms of up to 28 years following an island-wide
crackdown last March.
It covers some 300 Cubans identified by
the State Department, and close family members,
if they were to apply for U.S. visas. Authorities
are still reviewing Cuban court records
to identify others who also would be denied
visas.
''What this shows is the United States
takes notice of and action against Cuban
regime authorities who are involved in acts
of repression,'' said a State Department
official, who asked for anonymity. "These
people will not come to the United States,
period.''
In Havana, 15 dissidents' wives dressed
all in white met at the well-known Coppelia
ice cream restaurant in central Havana and
shouted ''Freedom for the 75 political prisoners!''
as they marched seven blocks to Department
of Prisons headquarters, The Associated
Press reported.
The women submitted a letter addressed
to the prison director and boarded a bus
for the Miramar neighborhood, where they
walked another 30 blocks down the main Quinta
Avenida thoroughfare until reaching headquarters
of Cuba's legislative body.
There, the women delivered another letter
addressed to National Assembly President
Ricardo Alarcon, asking for amnesty for
the 75 prisoners. Such a gesture ''would
be very well received by the Cuban people
and by the international community,'' said
the letter, according to the Associated
Press.
In trials that lasted no more than a day,
the dissidents were accused of working with
U.S. diplomats in Havana to undermine Cuban
President Fidel Castro's government. The
arrests sparked world-wide condemnation
and fractured Cuba's diplomatic relations
with the European Union.
The U.S. visa denial is part of the Bush
Administration's recently stepped up enforcement
of sanctions on Cuba. In recent months,
the administration has tightened travel
restrictions, stepped up enforcement of
commercial sanctions and threatened to prosecute
firms that do business with Cuba.
Havana has defended the crackdown, saying
it has the right to protect the nation from
foreign attempts to change its socialist
system.
Bush Hispanics wary over Cuba
Polling of Hispanic Republicans
shows strong support for President Bush
but concern over his policy toward Cuba.
By Oscar Corral, ocorral@herald.com.
Posted on Fri, Mar. 19, 2004.
A large majority of Hispanic Republicans
in Miami-Dade County support President Bush
in his reelection bid, but almost as many
feel that he needs to get tougher on Cuba
or risk losing their support, according
to a new poll.
The findings suggest that while the president
remains popular among Cuban Americans, there
is room for the Democrats to take advantage
of their frustrations and siphon off some
of their votes, the pollster says.
''The dissatisfaction with Bush shows that
people are unhappy with his Cuba policy,''
said Florida International University Professor
Dario Moreno, whose company, Campaign Data,
conducted the poll for BellSouth.
But Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee, "has not announced
a plan for the democratization of Cuba and
has not released what his Cuba policy is.
Until now, Cuban Americans don't have an
alternative.''
The questions on Bush and Cuba were part
of a larger poll that Campaign Data conducted
on state legislative issues -- such as healthcare
and education -- for BellSouth.
The company regularly sponsors polls on
public-policy issues. ''We are a highly
regulated industry and we like to keep a
pulse on the issues,'' spokeswoman Marta
Casas-Celaya said.
The poll of 600 registered voters has a
margin of error of three to five percentage
points and was conducted from Jan. 19-22.
It was released to members of the Republican
Hispanic Caucus. Only Miami-Dade Hispanic
Republicans -- mostly Cuban American --
were included in the results of the Bush
and Cuba questions.
In response to the question, ''How likely
are you to vote for the reelection of President
George W. Bush?'' about 88 percent of respondents
said they were likely or very likely.
Then another issue was raised: "In
August 2003, Miami's 11 Hispanic legislators
sent a letter to Bush urging him to take
a tougher line toward the Castro regime.
The letter warned the president that if
he did not toughen his stance toward Cuba,
he could not expect the strong support of
the Cuban community in the presidential
election.''
Seventy percent agreed or strongly agreed.
''My fear is that this poll is revealing
a growing indifference among Cuban Americans
that jeopardizes our goal of producing overwhelming
voter turnout and reelecting President Bush,''
said Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, one of
the state lawmakers who helped write the
cautionary letter to the White House. A
White House spokesman could not be reached
Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen, R-Miami,
said the poll worries her.
She noted that since the letter was written
to the president last year, Washington has
taken several steps to get tougher on Castro,
including indicting the Cuban pilots who
shot down civilian pilots in 1996 and expelling
alleged Cuban spies from the United States.
''I think the folks have gotten the message
in the White House that we want to energize
George Bush on Cuba policy,'' Ros-Lehtinen
said in an interview Thursday. "We
are pleased with the direction the Bush
administration is taking.''
However, state Rep. Manny Prieguez, R-Miami,
who chaired the state's Republican Hispanic
Caucus when the group wrote Bush the letter,
said Bush's actions to date aren't sufficient.
To send a clear signal that he is serious
about toppling Castro, Bush needs to suspend
money remittance and most travel to the
island, Prieguez said.
''That would guarantee the Cuban-American
vote in November,'' Prieguez said. "That
would put a big steak and potatoes on the
plate of Cuban-American voters. Right now,
we're on Weight Watchers.''
A ''pure Havana'' Renaissance man is
stoking up the Miami arts scene
By Fabiola Santiago.fsantiago@herald.com.Posted
on Mon, Mar. 22, 2004
Whether he's talking up avant-garde Cuban
films or the Chinese dances of Shen Wei,
cultural promoter Ever Chávez is
everywhere there's action in Miami-Dade.
On this Thursday night, he's standing outside
the Manuel Artime Theater in Little Havana
waiting for a flamenco fusion concert to
begin. But the energetic Chávez is
already on the next page, talking to cultural
connoisseurs about Shen Wei, the Chinese
choreographer coming to Miami Friday with
his fusion of dance theater, Chinese opera,
painting and sculpture.
''Tiene tremenda onda (It has a great groove),''
Chávez says in his typical habanero
lingo.
Only three years after arriving from Cuba,
Chávez is a program coordinator at
Miami Dade College's high-charged cultural
affairs department, which created the acclaimed
Cultura de Lobo Performance Series. Fresh
on the job last year, Chávez took
on the role of helping organize MDC's first
Cuban Alternative Film Festival, which screened
more than 100 movies, documentaries, video
clips and shorts from both Cuba and the
diaspora.
''Like most people, I had seen him everywhere
-- in the visual arts community, in the
performing arts community, behind the desk
at every event I thought was significant
in Miami,'' says his boss, MDC cultural
affairs director Michelle Heffner Hayes.
"We were lucky to get someone with
so much talent and energy on our team.''
When he's not working for MDC, Chávez
is a freelance producer and event coordinator.
Last month, he founded with friend Niurka
Márquez the nonprofit FUNDarte to
develop theater, film, dance, theater and
art projects.
He's got hustle when it comes to promoting
artists and has a keen eye for breakthrough
cultural acts, but call to interview him
and he confesses: "I have stage fright.
Really.''
Born in Havana to a bar and restaurant
administrator and his wife -- ''habanero
de pura cepa,'' he gloats, meaning he's
''of pure Havana stock'' -- Chávez
just turned 37 "intensely lived years.''
He left home at 13 in 1982 to study in
Russia.
"I wasn't sure whether it was my family
or the island, but I decided I had to leave.
I applied for a scholarship and I got it.
I studied radio communications with no vocation
whatsoever for it, but I had to study something
and that was the closest I found to my interests.''
'TOTALLY CONFUSED'
He returned to the island four years later
''already half Russian, half Cuban, totally
confused.'' He found his calling in 1993,
when he went to work as an assistant producer
at the newly founded theater company El
Público, under the direction of Carlos
Diáz, considered a top talent in
Cuban theater.
''The company produced work that was so
out there, very provocative in every sense.
From the esthetic to the political, it marked
a different standard for the theater being
done in Havana then,'' Chávez says.
"We were sponsored by the Ministry
of Culture, but because we were so peculiar
and the economy was going through such difficult
times, we looked for foreign financing wherever
we could get it, from the Spanish Cultural
Center to the U.S. Interests Section to
friends in Miami and Spain.''
In 1998 and 1999, Chávez went on
tour with the company to Spain, and from
there, was able to obtain a U.S. visa to
visit his brother in Miami. Here, he met
Márquez and arts promoter Susan Caraballo,
who was launching a project to bring arts
and culture to Little Havana. Although he
returned to the company's tour through Spain,
Portugal, France and Mexico, he fell in
love with Miami and its possibilities to
grow culturally.
''The only place where I saw my compatriots
prosperous was in Miami,'' Chávez
says. "I saw that everyone worked hard,
but there was possibility. All of it depended
on you -- that's perhaps even more difficult
-- but, I realized that I wanted to be a
part of it.''
WORK IN MIAMI
He came to Miami in April 2000, invited
by Caraballo's nonprofit Artemis Performance
Network and started promoting young actors,
musicians, artists, ''people who have talent
but no infrastructure to help them present
their work,'' he says.
He also worked for Teatro Avante, helping
produce the annual Hispanic International
Theatre Festival in 2001 and 2002. Then
came the MDC offer.
''I'm a bit restless,'' Chávez says.
"I get home at 5 p.m. and I start to
think about what else I can do. There's
a lot of talent spread out all over Miami,
a lot of lost artists that need help channeling
their work. I like to get involved in projects
that say something. You want to be entertained,
you go to Disney World. I like to break
molds.''
He's an advocate for a Miami that can be
''more cosmopolitan'' and less ''provincially''
focused on Cuban politics.
''In a little while, I'm going to the house
of a Haitian and a Colombian. To me, what
is interesting is the human being, not just
our Cuba problem. If you stay stuck on that,
you only limit yourself,'' he says. "We
have to cross borders because, after all,
the most delicious places in the world --
like Cuba -- became that way because of
la mezcla, the mix.''
Reputed Miami mob boss pleads innocent
Associated Press. Posted
on Tue, Mar. 23, 2004.
MIAMI - The 74-year-old reputed godfather
of a Miami organized crime family pleaded
innocent Tuesday to racketeering charges
from a wheelchair and agreed to a bond hearing
that fit into his dialysis schedule.
Jose Miguel Battle Sr. broke in on comments
by his attorney to say his worst ailments
are kidney and liver disease, in addition
to lung problems, diabetes, hypertension
and high cholesterol.
Defense attorney Jack Blumenfeld said jail
medical care "can be spotty at best,"
and Battle was "frankly threatening,
if he doesn't get enough dialysis, he won't
get any."
Battle and two dozen others were charged
last week with operating the Cuban Mafia
and decades of illegal gambling, murder,
drug running and money laundering in the
eastern United States.
"He hasn't been active in doing anything
for 20 years," Blumenfeld said. "I'm
not sure what great public need is being
served by this stroll down memory lane."
Evidence from about 30 wiretaps dates back
to the 1970s, he said. The indictment charges
the alleged racketeering conspiracy began
in 1964.
Investigators have chased Battle for 40
years, beginning several years after he
came here from Cuba. Agents liken him to
Al Capone, saying he's fought criminal competitors
in Florida, New York and New Jersey with
contract killings, firebombings and arson.
Battle's initial court appearance was delayed
by hospitalization. He was ordered to return
for a bond hearing Thursday on prosecution
claims that he is a flight risk and danger
to the community.
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