| CUBA
NEWS
The
Miami Herald
One-time rising political star in Cuba
going to jail
One of the youngest members
of Cuba's ruling Politburo was sentenced
to 12 years in prison for influence-peddling.
By Anita Snow, Associated
Press. Posted on Thu, Jun. 22, 2006.
HAVANA - A Communist official long held
up as an example of the island's future
leadership was sentenced to 12 years in
prison for influence-peddling, the party
said Wednesday.
Juan Carlos Robinson Agramonte, among the
youngest members of the ruling Politburo
before being kicked out of the elite body
and the party in April, pleaded guilty Friday
during a trial in Havana, the official Granma
newspaper said. Government prosecutors had
sought a 15-year sentence.
''It was demonstrated that Robinson Agramonte,
in the open process of his ideological weakening
and with abuse of his position, forgot his
high responsibilities and the integrity
demanded of a revolutionary cadre and used
his influence to obtain benefits,'' Granma
said.
It offered no specifics on what benefits
were obtained or how Robinson used his influence
to get them.
Cuban officials had once pointed with pride
to Robinson as an example of the island's
young black leadership.
Robinson, now 49, is from the eastern city
of Santiago -- Cuba's second-largest city
-- and had been the party's first secretary
for the Santiago Province since 1994.
But in late April, the Politburo announced
that Robinson was expelled from the party
for repeatedly failing to overcome ''errors''
such as abuse of authority and arrogance.
At the time, the party leadership said
Robinson had become "a lamentable and
unusual case of the inability of a political
cadre to overcome his errors.''
Cuba is striving to build up its younger
leadership to eventually take over for the
original revolutionary leaders, many of
whom are now in their 70s. President Fidel
Castro will turn 80 in August, and his brother
and constitutionally designated successor,
Defense Minister Raúl Castro, is
75.
''Criticized, warned and exhorted more
than once by the [party leadership] to overcome
his failings, he pretended to recognize
them and end them,'' the Politburo said
in April.
''But that wasn't what happened,'' it said.
The party leadership indicated Wednesday
that Robinson should serve as an example,
warning that "in our country, no one,
despite their responsibilities and merits,
can violate the law. He who does so will
inexorably receive the weight of revolutionary
justice.''
Cuba celebrates its place on U.N. rights
council
Cuba cheered its election
to the new U.N. Human Rights Council and
promptly criticized the United States, which
refused to join.
By Sam Cage, Associated
Press. Posted on Wed, Jun. 21, 2006.
GENEVA - Cuba on Tuesday welcomed the opening
of the new U.N. Human Rights Council, praising
its own election as a founding member of
the 47-nation body and the exclusion of
the United States, which declined to stand
as a candidate.
Cuba -- which has been criticized by the
United States and rights groups for its
record -- said its victory in the May election
was a reward for its humanitarian work,
including work by its doctors in 70 other
countries and free surgery by Cuban eye
specialists for patients from elsewhere
in the Caribbean and Latin America.
''Today is a particularly symbolic day.
Cuba is a founding member of the Human Rights
Council and the United States is not,''
Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque
said. "The absence of the United States
is the defeat of lies; it is the moral punishment
for the haughtiness of an empire.''
Velia de Pirro, political counselor at
the U.S. Mission, dismissed Cuba's comments.
''Cuba, rather than explain how it intends
to comply with its pledge, chose instead
to engage in gratuitous and unfounded attacks
against the United States,'' Pirro said.
"Perhaps it is because those pledges
sound hollow, especially in the ears of
the Cuban people.''
The United States opposed the creation
of the council, saying it did not do enough
to improve upon the discredited Human Rights
Commission that preceded it, and it declined
to run for a seat. However, Washington has
promised to help the council succeed.
The Cuban foreign minister said the election
of council members came at a time when the
United States was conducting ''an unjust
and illegal'' war in Iraq that was "concocted
to steal a country's oil and give away sumptuous
contracts to a group of cronies of the president.''
Japan, Canada, Finland and Switzerland
were also among those chosen to sit on the
47-nation body.
The first meeting of the council runs through
June 30.
Human rights groups say they are still
concerned about the makeup of the new council.
Cuba, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia won
seats, despite their poor human rights records,
although others -- notably Iran -- were
defeated.
U.S. visa call center back after overrun
HAVANA, 21 - (AP) -- A toll-free call center
to schedule U.S. visa interviews for Cubans
was back up this week, after collapsing
June 2 under the weight of more than a half-million
calls in a single day, the American mission
in Havana said Tuesday.
The U.S. Interests Section said in a statement
that the center had taken steps to ''enhance
the service's reliability'' and was operating
at full capacity after providing limited
service beginning June 9.
The call center had averaged about 3,000
calls a day since resuming partial service,
the statement said.
Through the new system, which launched
May 25, U.S.-based Cubans can schedule appointments
for relatives at the American mission in
Havana by calling a toll-free number. The
number cannot be accessed from Cuba.
The appointment service deals with visitor
visas, not immigration or refugee status
requests. It was created to make it easier
for Cubans to get appointments by streamlining
a frustrating process that can take days
or even weeks.
The U.S. Interests Section issues about
12,500 nonimmigrant visas to Cubans annually
out of about 30,000 requests, some of which
are multiple petitions from the same applicants.
Cuba loses fight to competitor over
its trademark cigar
By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Wed, Jun. 21, 2006.
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the
Cuban government's nine-year legal quest
to snuff out that other Cohiba: the Dominican-made
stogie sold by an American company.
The Supreme Court Monday let stand a New
York appellate court ruling that the U.S.
embargo prevents Cuba from obtaining a U.S.
registry for its famous Cohiba trademark,
cigars long favored by aficionados and even
Fidel Castro until he stopped smoking years
ago.
But the Cuban cigar company Cubatabaco
says it's not giving up and will press the
U.S. Department of Treasury for a license
that would allow Cuba to register the trademark
here. Since the embargo is the only legal
obstacle for Cuba, the Treasury license
would give Havana grounds to relaunch its
court battle, Cubatabaco attorney David
Goldstein said.
Although most people think of Cohiba as
a Cuban cigar first made in 1966, a stogie
by the same name has been manufactured in
the Dominican Republic and sold in the United
States dating back 25 years. It is the only
Cohiba that's legal to buy in the United
States.
General Cigar Co. first registered the
Cohiba name in the United States in 1981.
But cigar sales were lackluster back then,
and the company did little with the famed
name.
All that changed in 1992, when Cigar Aficionado
magazine extolled the wonders of the Cuban
Cohiba. General Cigar quickly filed to renew
its trademark and in 1997 -- with the cigar
business booming -- rolled out a new campaign
plugging its own Cohibas made from Dominican
leaves.
''We had that brand for more than 20 years,
and Cuba didn't say a word,'' said General
Cigar spokeswoman Victoria McKee. "They
are two different cigars.''
General Cigar uses a logo with a red dot
in the O of Cohiba, an emblem different
from the well-known yellow and black checker
board used by the Cuban company.
But the Cuban cigar company cried foul,
saying General Cigar was deliberately trying
to trick consumers into thinking they were
smoking the famous Cuban cigars.
'We acted in good faith at all times,'
said General Cigar attorney Ignacio Sánchez.
Cubatabaco sued General Cigar Co. in 1997
in a New York federal court. The Cubans
argued that Cohiba's famous name should
trump General Cigar's trademark registration.
A New York federal judge agreed in 2004
and ordered General Cigar to quit using
the name. But General Cigar successfully
appealed on the embargo argument.
''General Cigar intentionally exploited
the Cohiba theme, and the trial judge agreed,''
Goldstein said. "We will continue to
pursue our application for a license.''
The Cubans say the United States has a
broad obligation to protect ''well-known''
trademarks under the Paris Convention and
other treaties.
The company added that hundreds of American
companies have more than 5,000 trademarks
registered in Cuba,in spite of the U.S.
sanctions.
U.S. visa call center back after overrun
Posted on Wed, Jun. 21,
2006.
HAVANA - (AP) -- A toll-free call center
to schedule U.S. visa interviews for Cubans
was back up this week, after collapsing
June 2 under the weight of more than a half-million
calls in a single day, the American mission
in Havana said Tuesday.
The U.S. Interests Section said in a statement
that the center had taken steps to ''enhance
the service's reliability'' and was operating
at full capacity after providing limited
service beginning June 9.
The call center had averaged about 3,000
calls a day since resuming partial service,
the statement said.
Through the new system, which launched
May 25, U.S.-based Cubans can schedule appointments
for relatives at the American mission in
Havana by calling a toll-free number. The
number cannot be accessed from Cuba.
The appointment service deals with visitor
visas, not immigration or refugee status
requests. It was created to make it easier
for Cubans to get appointments by streamlining
a frustrating process that can take days
or even weeks.
The U.S. Interests Section issues about
12,500 nonimmigrant visas to Cubans annually
out of about 30,000 requests, some of which
are multiple petitions from the same applicants.
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