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Cuba Revokes Self-Employed Worker Licenses

By Vanessa Arrington, The Associated Press. June 20, 2005.

HAVANA -- Cuba's communist government has revoked some 2,000 licenses from self-employed workers across the island, part of a campaign to reassert state control over the economy, local media reported this week.

Those who lost their licenses were violating rules that allow a limited number of Cubans to work for themselves, Tribuna, a weekly newspaper, reported Sunday.

The government has repeatedly complained about growing inequality associated with self-employment, and officials say private workers often compete with the government or steal state goods. A private worker can earn more in a day than the $12 (10 euros) that the average state worker makes in a month.

The government stopped issuing self-employment licenses last fall for 40 categories of jobs ranging from computer programming to auto body repair. Self-employment in these professions was legalized only in 1993 during the severe economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Cuba's biggest source of aid and commerce.

New optimism based on oil prospects off Cuba's northern coast and strengthened economic ties with China and Venezuela has prompted President Fidel Castro to crack down on those working for their own financial gain.

The roughly 150,000 self-employed Cubans represent just 2.1 percent of Cuba's work force, and officials say the state system has recovered sufficiently from the shock of the early 1990s to absorb more workers.

Labor Ministry officials have been interviewing self-employed Cubans to determine how they obtained the materials and skills they are selling, Tribuna reported. The process will conclude at the end of the month and be repeated every two years, Odalys Gonzalez, a regional labor ministry director, told the newspaper.

Americans, Cuba to Discuss Business Deals

By Vanessa Arrington, Associated Press Writer

Americans From Trade Association to Discuss Future Business Deals With Communist Cuba

HAVANA, 22 (AP) -- A group of Americans from a U.S. trade association pushing for normalized commercial relations with Cuba were to arrive to Havana Wednesday to discuss future business possibilities with their Cuban counterparts.

The visit by delegates from the Washington-based U.S.-Cuba Trade Association comes as members of Congress consider amending a new U.S. Treasury Department rule that forces communist Cuba to make full payment for American farm goods before the cargo leaves U.S. ports.

A 2000 law that created an exception to long-standing U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba allowed American farm goods to be sold directly to the island on a cash-only basis. Since first taking advantage of the exception in 2001, Cuba has contracted to buy more than US$1 billion (euro830 million) in goods.

But sales are down this year due to the new U.S. restriction, implemented in February. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sales to Cuba from the first four months of 2005 are down 26 percent compared to the same period last year. Among the products most affected are pasta, soybean oil, rice, grapes and concentrated milk.

Sales of some products, such as cheese, fruit and vegetable juices and soups, have ceased altogether.

A letter sent to U.S. lawmakers this week by several U.S. companies united by the trade association said, "Sales will continue to decline dramatically in 2005 unless the Congress can find a way to quickly overturn this change in the payment requirements."

Pedro Alvarez, the chairman of Cuba's food import company Alimport, told The Associated Press his company was forced to purchase US$300 million (euro248 million) of wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, poultry and pork from other countries, including Canada, Argentina, and Brazil.

But Alimport wants business with the United States to keep growing, and Alvarez himself invited some 20 members of the trade association to come to Cuba. He said the island's budget for buying food products from abroad this year will be US$1.7 billion (euro1.4 billion), an increase from the US$1.4 billion his company spent last year.

Trade with Cuba benefits nearly 150 U.S. organizations of farmers, processors and shippers in 37 states, according to the association.

Cuba Dissident Family Faces Harassment

Associated Press Writer Andrea Rodriguez contributed to this report. Wednesday June 22, 2005.

It was supposed to be a friendly baseball game. But hours before a neighborhood youth group was to play a team from the U.S. mission in Havana, Cuban security agents confiscated the baseballs, bats and mitts.

The agents charged into the home of activist Marcos de Miranda to grab the sports gear, family members said, in the latest and among the most bizarre in a long history of harassment targeting this family of dissidents opposed to communist President Fidel Castro, himself a well known lover of baseball.

"It was to be a sports and cultural event _ nothing at all political," de Miranda, 28, said in his family's crumbling apartment. "We're denied even the right to play our national sport."

De Miranda's 59-year-old father, Roberto, was among 75 government opponents rounded up two years ago, though he was released for health reasons last year. His 54-year-old mother, Soledad Rivas, is a member of the increasingly audacious "Ladies in White" who have protested for the release of imprisoned dissidents.

They say their existence in Cuba is difficult. Speaking out against Castro and his government has brought a slew of punishments, ranging from lost jobs and social ostracism to prison time and death threats.

Of stout build and fiery eyes, Marcos de Miranda is a bundle of energy, a youth activist ready to take on the system. He says he's willing to go to jail fighting for a Cuba where citizens can say what they please and have economic and political freedom.

As a teenager, de Miranda was expelled from a military cadet school for refusing to denounce dissidents including his father. He says he has lost five jobs. His 26-year-old brother, Mikael, also lost a job hand-rolling Habanos at a cigar factory, apparently also because of the family politics.

"Keep in mind that we are peaceful opponents," de Miranda said. "We are fighting with our ideas, not weapons."

De Miranda founded a youth group in March, which he says has dozens of members across the island. While the core membership includes unabashed government opponents, the group also organizes nonpolitical activities _ like the baseball game.

The game, scheduled for June 12, was to include many non-dissidents from de Miranda's neighborhood, one of the city's poorest. They were to play a team mainly made up of U.S. Marines attached to the U.S. Interests Section. It had been advertised around the seaside diplomatic offices.

With U.S. policy toward Cuba increasingly rigid, relations between the government and the Interests Section are tense. Cuban dissidents who contact American officials are accused of receiving U.S. financial aid and opening themselves to manipulation.

Despite the fact the equipment had been confiscated, the Marines and others decided to play baseball anyway. But the group was turned away from three baseball fields.

The baseball equipment had been sent to de Miranda from an exile group in Florida. A bicycle, which he won in an essay contest from an anti-communist group in the Czech Republic, was also confiscated.

According to the family, state security agents arrived at the apartment the afternoon before the game. Marcos de Miranda was not there, but his parents were taken to government offices for questioning.

Roberto de Mirando said he was threatened with jail if he didn't control his son's activities. He said he was told the baseball game couldn't take place because the Americans hadn't gotten permission.

"I want them to leave this family alone!" said Rivas, the mother. "We are not going to change. Our ideas will stay the same."

Roberto de Miranda, who appeared weak from his ailments, said his family's resolve is unshaken.

"They want to silence this family, but I don't think that's possible," he said. "And as a father, I cannot tell my son to retreat from the opposition _ he's doing nothing wrong."

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