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NEWS
The
Miami Herald
Tribune reporter is ousted in Cuba
crackdown
By Frances Robles. frobles@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Thu, Feb. 22, 2007
Two months after announcing new controls
on the foreign press in Cuba, the island's
government has kicked out a reporter for
The Chicago Tribune and given him 90 days
to leave the island, the paper reported
today.
Veteran journalist Gary Marx has reported
from the paper's Havana bureau since 2002.
The Tribune is one of a handful of U.S.-based
news organizations with permission to work
in Cuba.
''They said I've been here long enough,
and they felt my work was negative,'' The
Tribune quoted Marx as saying. "They
did not cite any examples.''
In the past month, Marx filed reports about
young people's waning interest in communism,
a debate among intellectuals who feared
a government crackdown and a Catholic church
activist. He also wrote about a string of
Cuban doctors who defected.
In December, the Cuban government issued
an 11-page document that updated regulations
on the foreign correspondents based in Havana.
The document said the International Press
Center in Havana may temporarily suspend
or withdraw a reporter's accreditation "when
[the reporter] carries out improper actions
or actions not within his profile and work
content; also when he is considered to have
violated journalistic ethics and/or he is
not guided by objectivity in his reports.''
A flood of foreign reporters are expected
to converge upon Cuba upon the death of
Fidel Castro, who ceded power to his brother
in July. When Castro first announced his
illness, several reporters who lacked Cuban
journalists' visas were turned back at the
airport.
The Miami Herald has historically been
denied both journalists' visas for reporting
visits and Cuban permission to set up a
bureau in Havana.
''We're very disappointed and concerned
by the news that the Cuban government has
decided to not renew our correspondent's
credentials and has asked him and his family
to leave the island,'' George de Lama, Chicago
Tribune managing editor for news, told his
paper.
"Gary Marx is an accomplished, veteran
journalist who has consistently given our
readers accurate, incisive and insightful
coverage from Cuba, working under sometimes
difficult conditions.''
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, owned by
the Tribune Co., also has a reporter on
the island.
Commerce secretary: Tough stance on
Cuba won't change
The Bush administration
will not soften its stance on Cuba, said
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, the
top Cuban American in the administration.
By Pablo Bachelet, pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Thu, Feb. 22, 2007
WASHINGTON - Commerce Secretary Carlos
Gutierrez had some straight talk Wednesday
for lawmakers and business groups pressing
for a softer approach toward a post-Fidel
Castro Cuba.
The Bush administration won't waver from
its tough stance toward Havana, he said.
''The question is not when will the U.S.
change its policy. The question is when
will the Cuban regime change its policy,''
said Gutierrez, the highest ranking Cuban
American in the Bush administration and
co-chairman of a high level government commission
that makes recommendations on Cuba.
He dismissed Cuba's argument that the U.S.
sanctions against the island are to blame
for its hardships. The United States, Gutierrez
noted, supplies one-third of the island's
food and medicines, and millions of mostly
Canadian and European tourists have traveled
to the island but there's been no improvement
in the plight of the Cuban people.
Apparently directing some of his remarks
to Cubans on the island, he added that President
Bush "has no imperialist intentions.
We have no military intentions to occupy
the island. We will not confiscate property
or support any arbitrary claims for property.''
In a jab at some Democrats who oppose free-trade
agreements because they do not sufficiently
promote labor rights, Gutierrez said foreign
companies in Cuba pay the Cuban government
for their employees in U.S. dollars, but
the workers receive only a fraction of that
money in pesos.
''And pity the worker who dares talk openly
about the need to organize and operate unions,''
he told a gathering at the Council of the
Americas, a group that advocates more U.S.-Latin
American business engagement.
''The topics of trade, globalization and
the working conditions of foreign laborers
are being discussed . . . debated regularly
in Washington, D.C.,'' he said. "But
why do labor conditions lose relevance when
it comes to Cuba?''
Gutierrez described as ''naive'' talk that
more U.S. contacts with the island would
weaken the Castro government. Dealing with
Fidel's brother and interim leader Raúl
would be a "tragic mistake.''
Congress has before it several bills that
seek to relax travel and trade sanctions
against Cuba. Democratic control of Congress
for the first time since 1994 gives hope
to opponents of U.S. policies toward Cuba
that some restrictions could be relaxed.
Many observers believe that a bill repealing
restrictions on Cuban American travel to
the island backed by some Cuban-American
groups stands the best chance of passing
Congress and surviving a veto threat by
President Bush.
Gutierrez gave no indication the administration
would change its stance toward Cuban-American
travel, noting that the money spent there
ends up in government hands. ''We believe
our policy is correct,'' he said.
Pair charged with violating Cuba travel
ban
By Alfonso Chardy, achardy@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Thu, Feb. 22, 2007
Criminal charges were filed in Fort Lauderdale
federal court today accusing two Florida
men of obtaining licenses for religious
travel to Cuba on behalf of nonexistent
churches and then illegally using the licenses
to sell trips to Cuba to about 4,500 people,
charging each a $250 fee.
David Margolis of Fort Lauderdale and Victor
Vazquez of Winter Garden were charged with
conspiracy to violate Cuba-related travel
regulations. Vazquez was also charged with
making false statements in applications
to obtain religious travel licenses to Cuba.
The case is the first criminal prosecution
of violations for Cuba travel since the
formation in October of a special team of
federal and local law enforcement investigators
assigned to root out breaches of the 43-year-old
trade embargo against Cuba.
Senior federal law enforcement officials
today credited the Cuban Sanctions Enforcement
Task Force with discovering the alleged
scheme attributed to Margolis and Vazquez.
Alex Acosta, the U.S. attorney in Miami,
said the special task force and the case
unveiled today demonstrate the commitment
of the American government to tightly enforce
the trade embargo against Cuba as a way
to ''hasten'' democracy in the communist
island.
''That so many agencies have come together
to enforce the Cuban sanctions program,
I think, is unprecedented and shows the
commitment that we have to ensure that these
sanctions programs are in fact enforced,''
Acosta told a news conference at his office
in downtown Miami. "Vigorous enforcement
of economic sanctions against the Cuban
regime is important to help hasten a transition
to democracy on the island.''
Alicia Valle, a spokeswoman for the U.S.
attorney's office in Miami, said Vazquez
and Margolis had made initial appearances
in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
Chávez close to Castro in politics,
not economics
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chávez may be more politically
than economically aligned with his mentor,
Cuba's Fidel Castro.
By Steven Dudley. sdudley@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Wed, Feb. 21, 2007
CARACAS - As analysts try to dissect the
latest twists in Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez's quixotic revolution and
fiery rhetoric -- which have included favorable
references to Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and Mao
-- one name keeps popping up: Cuban leader
Fidel Castro.
Analysts say the question isn't whether
Chávez is emulating longtime mentor
Castro, but exactly what pieces of Castro's
regime is Chávez trying to reproduce
in Venezuela.
The issue has taken on added importance
because of Castro's illness and disappearance
from public life since July, Chávez's
acceleration of his own ''21st Century Socialism''
at home and his seeming attempt to inherit
Castro's mantle as leader of the Latin American
left.
But while analysts believe that Chávez's
intention is similar to Castro's, in that
he seeks to create a single-party state
where he has total control, they add that
he faces obstacles the Cuban leader did
not when he seized power in 1959.
''The model is totalitarian, headed by
one person,'' said Américo Martín,
a former leftist Venezuelan guerrilla who
spent years in Cuba and now opposes Chávez.
''It's getting close to this model, but
this train is going to fall off its tracks
before it arrives at the station,'' he added,
referring to resistance he expected Chávez
will face at home.
CLEAR DIFFERENCES
To be sure, Venezuela is still much different
from Cuba. Venezuela's National Assembly
recently handed Chávez the power
to rule by decree for the next 18 months.
But prior to that, Chávez had won
three elections and a recall referendum,
all of them with international oversight.
There are opposition parties and a vibrant
news media with critical editorials, as
well as frequent street protests.
Even Chávez's recent announcement
that the government would seize the telecommunications
and electricity industries, and assume majority
stake in all oil-related projects, is not
a complete departure: In the 1980s, the
Venezuelan state controlled those industries.
''The origin of Cuban socialism is completely
different from that of Venezuelan socialism,''
Venezuela's ambassador to Cuba, Alí
Rodríguez, recently told state television.
Chávez has mirrored Castro by moving
to assume total control of the Central Bank
and confiscate ''idle'' lands and factories.
The Venezuelan president has also said he
would seek to end presidential term limits.
Chávez also has moved to consolidate
the leftist factions that support him into
one party and has said he will not renew
the license of the country's most prominent
private television station.
The moves -- alongside Chávez's
steady attacks on the United States and
interminable speeches -- have reminded many
of Cuba in the 1960s, when Castro created
a one-party system and seized all private
industry, businesses and news media.
''This is a type of caudillo politics,
and you see it in Fidel as well,'' said
Teodoro Petkoff, a longtime leftist and
former guerrilla who is now editor of the
TalCual newspaper and a Chávez critic.
However, analysts note that the context
of Chávez's policies is significantly
different from the Cold War world of the
1960s, a factor that they say permitted
Castro to accelerate his process in Cuba.
There are more human rights and media watchdog
groups scrutinizing governments, and business
interests, especially those tied to Venezuela's
oil industry, which make it difficult for
Chávez to push too quickly or boldly.
Indeed, the U.S. government, Chávez's
principal foe, remains Venezuela's top oil
client, and longtime ties to U.S. private
oil companies operating in Venezuela would
make any separation messy and expensive.
''What we're seeing is a regime that wants
to integrate changes,'' said Agustín
Blanco Muñoz, a political science
professor and biographer of Chávez.
"But what we can't forget is that this
regime is intimately linked to capitalism.''
Chávez's moves toward ''socialism''
have investors on the run. Foreign direct
investment is down 81 percent through November
2006 compared to 2005, according to the
government's superintendent of foreign investment.
CAPITALIST NATION
But Venezuela remains a largely capitalist
nation with consumerist tendencies that
surpass most in Latin America. In Caracas
alone, four shopping malls are under construction,
including one touted as Latin America's
"largest.''
Chávez seems to understand some
of his limitations, and his rhetoric is
often stronger than his deeds.
His recent announcement of plans to nationalize
telecommunications and electricity companies
scared many business interests. But in the
first of the nationalizations, his government
and the U.S. owners of the Caracas power
company reached agreement on compensation.
His aides have said it will not expropriate
any company without compensation. What's
more, it appears that there is still room
for private investors, especially in the
oil sector, where the government has said
it hopes for $50 billion in foreign investment
through 2012.
Chávez's ''revolution'' more closely
mirrors Cuba's on the political side, analysts
say. His administration has expanded the
government's presence in the media by funding
a regional news television station, Telesur,
and using the government-owned TV, radio
and newspapers to spread his ideology.
Chávez also has politicized the
armed forces by rewarding loyalty to him
and creating a parallel reserve force directly
under his command. And like Cuba, Venezuela
has trained civilians to prepare for any
possible U.S. attacks.
Chávez has refashioned his own party
several times and now is warning his allies
that those who do not join his new party
will be left behind in the revolutionary
process. And Chávez has called for
''socialist'' education for youth.
The National Assembly, whose 167 members
all support Chávez, has passed legislation
curbing the activities of nongovernmental
institutions and may pass similar legislation
to control sports organizations in what
Petkoff says is a concerted effort by the
government to oversee all the cultural and
political space in Venezuela.
Chávez has also said he would accelerate
the move toward participatory democracy
via ''communal councils.'' Analysts fear
the councils would eliminate the need for
mayors and governors and give Chávez
more overall control -- à la Castro.
''He's bent on doing away with representative
democracy,'' said Demetrio Boersner, a history
professor and former diplomat. "Theoretically,
communal councils are controlled from the
bottom up, but really they're controlled
by the party, which . . . controls the people
from the top down.''
Cuba extends hours of some state offices
Posted on Tue, Feb. 20,
2007
HAVANA - (AP) -- Cuban officials are tackling
problems such as child care, poor lighting
and insufficient transportation for workers
so they can keep some government offices
open later, the Communist labor newspaper
reported Monday.
The goal is to have offices open at times
when people can use them before or after
their own eight-hour workdays, taking advantage
of an expanding economy.
Trabajadores, published by Cuba's Communist
Party labor federation, reported that some
notaries and civil registries in Havana
are already working until 8 p.m. and officials
hope to expand hours at least some days
of the week at child care centers, primary
schools, hair dressers and workshops.
The effort is linked to a government campaign
for greater discipline among workers, with
a crackdown on absenteeism, overlong lunch
breaks, sloppy work and theft.
Officials were working to overcome problems
such as insufficient lighting and transportation
at night while supplying meals and child
care at different times for workers, Trabajadores
reported.
The communist government has been gradually
expanding services as its economy recovers
from the shortages of the early 1990s, caused
by the loss of Soviet bloc aid and trade
that were once crucial.
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