US travelers predicted to flood the island after restrictions end An estimate of 1,798,000 tourists from the US will visit Cuba annually within two years of the end of travel restrictions.
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) testified to the US International Trade Commission on April 24 that by conservative estimates 1,798,000 Americans will visit Cuba annually within two years of the end of travel restrictions.
Paul Ruden, ASTA's senior vice president for Legal and Industry Affairs, predicted there would be 835,000 recreational visits by air, 480,000 cruise visitors and 482,000 family visitors. He noted that another study had estimated 2.8 million total visits annually.
ASTA was invited to testify as the representative of the travel industry because at the request of Congress the USITC is preparing a report on the economic impact in the US of its unilateral embargo of Cuba.
The report will add impetus to the debate on Capitol Hill about ending travel restrictions this year. A bill introduced in the House in January (HR 654) has gathered 103 cosponsors. Similar legislation submitted in the Senate in March (S 721) has twenty cosponsors.
John McAuliff, facilitator of the ad hoc Travel Industry Committee on Cuba,
warned that, "Congress could focus on easier humanitarian legislation that
permits only family reunion visits by Cuban Americans if the nationwide travel industry does not make its interests known by June."
http://travelvideo.tv/news/more.php?id=11475_0_1_0_M> More Info The Sunday Telegraph, Australia
Chinese defense minister visits Havana
CHINA'S Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and Cuba's acting president Raul
Castro met overnight at the start of an international tour.
Mr. Cao is the second senior Chinese figure to visit Cuba in less than a
month.
On April 21, Wu Guanzheng, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee
of the Communist Party of China, held talks with convalescing Cuban
President Fidel Castro.
After almost five decades at the helm of the only communist country in
the Americas, Fidel Castro underwent intestinal surgery last July and
temporarily handed power to his brother Raul, the defense chief.
China is Cuba's second-most important trade partner after Venezuela, with
two-way trade close to $US2 billion ($2.42 billion) in 2006, and is one
of Cuba's main sources of credit.
After Cuba, Mr. Cao was due to visit Argentina, Chile and Greece
http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,22049,21711526-5012774,00.h
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The Union-Tribune
Michael Moore victim of censorship and embargo
Cuba characterized American filmmaker Michael Moore as a victim of
censorship and the U.S. trade embargo as it reported Friday on a U.S.
Treasury Department probe of his March visit here for his upcoming
health-care documentary, "Sicko."
Moore took the trip, for a segment in the film, with about 10 ailing
workers
involved in the rescue effort at the World Trade Center ruins.
The Communist Party daily Granma called the 45-year-old U.S. travel and
trade sanctions "a criminal action that has cost lives and grave
consequences for the inhabitants of the island," as well as Americans.
"Any resemblance to McCarthyism is no coincidence," the newspaper opined,
referring to the political witch hunt that U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy
carried
out against suspected American communists in the 1950s.
The U.S. government's targeting of Moore "confirms the imperial
philosophy
of censorship" by American officials, it added.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which
oversees
U.S. sanctions against other nations, sent a letter to Moore on May 2,
notifying him of a civil probe for possible violations of the U.S. trade
embargo.
Treasury officials in Washington said Friday they would have no comment on
the contents of Moore's letter, citing a policy against discussing specific investigations.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20070511-1322-cuba-moore.html>
More info New York Times
U.S. Fugitives Worry About a country Without Castro
These are uneasy times for a man on the lam in Havana.
Charlie Hill, an accused murderer and admitted hijacker, has lived 36
years
as a fugitive of American justice. With the Cuban government providing him an offshore safe haven, he has managed to live a life beyond the reach of the F.B.I.
But the years are catching up with him. Some of his fellow fugitives have died recently, forcing Mr. Hill, a 57-year-old grandfather whose hair, once
a black afro, is now closely cropped and grey, to confront his own mortality.
Inextricably linked with his fate is that of his patron, Fidel Castro, who
is 80 and in failing health. For obvious reasons, Mr. Hill and other fugitives who have long been protected by Mr. Castro are hoping for the longtime leader's recuperation and for a continuation of the Communist government that has long butted heads with Washington.
"I don't think there will be much change if Fidel dies," Mr. Hill said. "There might be, but I think its 60-40 that not much will happen. If it does, well, what can I do?"
The United States also shelters fugitives wanted abroad - most notably the
anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles - but the American government puts
the number of people wanted by its law enforcement agencies hiding out in
Cuba at about 70. Those who have called the island home since the 1960s
and '70s are far fewer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/world/americas/12cuba.html?hp> More
Info
The Statesman
Cuba wages 'Battle of Ideas'
They call it the "Battle of Ideas," but it's more than just a propaganda
war against Cuba's archenemy, the U.S. government.
In the past decade, what started as a political slogan has turned into a
campaign to refurbish long-neglected houses, schools, hospitals and other
buildings, as well as a guiding principle for the transformation of
Cuba's educational system and other institutions.
"The Battle of Ideas is more than just ideological," said Dr. Francisco
Blardoni, director of the Fructoso Rodriguez Orthopedic Hospital in
Havana, which was expanded as part of the campaign. "You must have action and a
basis in reality. All of these works are being done to improve the situation of the Cuban population."
Propaganda campaigns have always been a staple of life in communist Cuba.
Instead of advertisements for consumer products, billboards carry revolutionary sayings, portraits of fallen heroes and calls to defend Cuba against imperialism.
But the Battle of Ideas has become something more. It has a high-level minister in charge, with broad powers extending to every corner of Cuban society, from the reorganization of universities to the refurbishing of Cuban weather stations.
At the heart of the campaign is Cuba's aging communist leader, Fidel Castro,
80, who reportedly was immersed in the details of the program before he fell
ill last summer and turned over power to his brother, Raul.
gn.html> More Info
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/05/12/12cubacampa
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gn.html>
Channel News, China
Havana eyes Asian economies
Communist Cuba is stepping up contacts with Asian nations, most of which do not share its political views but have the potential to invest heavily in the communist-run island.
Just a few days ago, Chinese Defense Minister Cao Ganchuan and Singapore's
Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar found themselves in Havana at the same time, a coincidence that reflected a recent flurry of diplomatic activity between Cuba and Asia.
"Asia is the area of the world that has the most recently successful economies, and Cuba needs to diversify its ties," said Marifeli Perez-Stable, a Cuba expert at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think-tank.
She also believes the diplomatic activity could signal an eventual shift by Cuba toward a more open economy under acting president Raul Castro, who has officially led the country since his older brother Fidel Castro underwent surgery in July.
"I see it as a hopeful sign Cuba might slowly reorient its foreign policy toward its economic interest," said Perez-Stable.
Earlier this month, Japan's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Midori Matsushima held talks with senior Cuban officials during a rare visit by a Japanese official to the communist-run Caribbean nation.
