Archive - Sep 2009

Bisa Williams, acting deputy assistant secretary, met this week with Deputy Foreign Minister Dagoberto Rodriguez during a six-day trip to Cuba, Assistant Secretary P.J. Crowley said.

Interviews with U.S. officials and Cuban affairs experts indicate the U.S. recession, more stringent enforcement in the Florida Straits, tougher immigration policies in Mexico's and less restrictive U.S.-Cuba relations are all playing parts in the slowing flow of immigrants, the Herald said.

The businessmen, who asked not to be identified, said they were increasingly frustrated because the Communist authorities refused to offer explanations or solutions for the situation, which stems from a cash crunch in the Cuban economy triggered by the global downturn and heavy hurricane damage last year.

William A. Messina Jr., of the University of Florida's Agriculture Science Institute, said that the communist island "has such good soil and it represents a challenge of such magnitude that, with the end of the embargo, the agricultural market impact on the continent would be larger that of the Free Trade Treaty."

Bruno Rodriguez said Obama had taken "positive" steps" by allowing Cuban Americans to travel and send money freely to the communist-ruled island. But he said many other issues had not been addressed, above all the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which the Cuban government blames for most of its economic problems.

The public mea culpa came in a full page spread Monday in the state-run Granma newspaper, which acknowledged that the issue is a main cause of discontent in the countryside. It said that after an enormous effort to repay farmers that began in 2004, the problem has come up again.

State-run Suntine International-Economic Trading Company of China and Cuba's Cubanacan hotel group are partners in the project, which will be a 600-room luxury hotel, the sources, who asked not to be identified, said over the weekend.

Ministers, communist officials and police are switching their Ladas, with its stiff manual steering, for the smooth hydraulics of the Chinese-made Geely CK, a modern sedan that symbolizes the island's new alliance with Beijing. But Ladas still have their fans among the people.

Critics of Cuba's communist-style collectivist agriculture system say that the country should be a virtual Eden, given its rich soil and abundant rain, and should not have to import tons of dried peas from the imperialist aggressor to the north. So now they are trying to grow their own vegetables.

The USA successfully defended their title, defeating Cuba for the second time in four days and reeling off 13 straight wins. Cuba's second straight silver comes after nine consecutive titles while Canada defeated Puerto Rico 6-2 to take bronze.