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Cuba Replaces Transportation Minister
AP, October 22, 2006.
The Cuban government named a new transportation
minister this week in the second Cabinet
change since Raul Castro took temporary
control of the nation while his brother
Fidel recovers from surgery.
The official Prensa Latina news agency
reported in a brief dispatch late Friday
that the new minister will be Jorge Luis
Sierra, a top Communist Party leader.
The government's ruling Council of State
made the decision to replace Manuel Pazo,
responding "to the priority that this
important sector requires," the news
agency said.
Cuba's transportation sector is still struggling
to recover from the severe economic crisis
after the Soviet Union's collapse. Cuba
recently purchased scores of Chinese buses
but most have been assigned to the tourism
industry while average Cubans can wait hours
for a crowded ride home on the city's older
buses.
In late August, Ramiro Valdes, a revolutionary
commander and former Interior Minister,
was named Cuba's new Minister of Information
Science and Communications _ another key
cabinet post.
Fidel Castro temporarily ceded power to
his brother Raul, the defense minister,
in late July after undergoing intestinal
surgery.
China, Cuba to launch biotech venture
in China
HAVANA, 19 (AFP) - Cuba and China have
agreed to launch a biotechnology venture
to develop neurotechnology products in China.
Raul Morgalo, deputy chief at Cuba's Neurosciences
Institute, and Xihong Wu, a representative
of the University of Beijing, signed a letter
of intent on the deal after two-day bilateral
talks here, the Cuban Communist Party newspaper
Granma reported Thursday.
The venture will be the third between the
two countries. The first two biotech ventures
produce and market products from Cuba's
Molecular Immunology Center and its Biotechnology
and Genetic Engineering Center.
China is communist Cuba's number-two trade
partner after Venezuela, and a main source
of its credit.
US diplomat gives Castro's post-operative
Cuba poor prognosis
WASHINGTON, 19 (AFP) - Cuba will never
be the same as it was before leader Fidel
Castro took ill in July and handed power
to his brother, according to the US pointman
to democratize the communist island.
"Cuba is not actually going to be
the same after July 27," said Caleb
McCarry, who was named Cuba Transition Coordinator
a year before.
McCarry spoke before Latin America experts
at an event sponsored by the Inter American
Dialogue, a Washington think tank, and Florida
International University, in Miami.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who
chairs the Commission for Assistance to
a Free Cuba along with Commerce Secretary
Carlos Gutierrez, recommended to US President
George W. Bush, who agreed, to spend 80
million dollars to help Cuba's opposition
make the transition to democracy.
Cuba promptly called the decision "arrogant"
and "shameful" and in "violation"
of international law. The opposition also
rejected the outside help, as "counterproductive."
Anthony Maingot, professor of sociology
at Florida International University, suggested
it "might be time to stop and listen"
to opposition leaders.
"You can't stand by and not help people,"
McCarry said.
"It's up to the Cuban people, but
we have to give them this opportunity,"
he said.
Fidel Castro, 80, communist Cuba's only
leader for nearly five decades, handed power
to his brother, Defense Minister Raul Castro,
75, before intestinal surgery in late July.
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