miércoles, 31 de mayo de 2006

Cuba-UE crece exportacion de carbon vegetal a Europa

UE - Mercosur – 30/5/2006 17:58GMT
Cuba-UE: crece exportación de carbón vegetal a Europa

LA HABANA, 30 MAY (ANSA) - Cuba exportó más de 3.200 toneladas de carbón
vegetal a países de Europa, en especial Italia, a partir de una
experiencia que desarrolla desde mayo de 2005 en la provincia de Ciego
de Avila, centro-este de la isla.

La iniciativa, según medios locales, es impulsada por la Empresa
Provincial de Cítricos, que comercializa el producto elaborado por
leñadores locales con marabú de primera calidad.

Para la obtención del tradicional combustible los carboneros emplean
únicamente ese tipo de madera, que procesan en áreas de los territorios
de Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spíritus y Camagüey.

El impulso en la venta de carbón vegetal cubano se sustenta en el
interés de empresarios italianos de utilizar el carbón de marabú en
hornos pizzeros, ya que con este tipo de energía el alimento aumenta sus
propiedades, porque su cocción es más lenta.

El propósito de la entidad es completar al cierre de este año unos 300
contenedores de 20 toneladas cada uno, de los cuales enviaron hasta hoy
163 a Italia.(ANSA)

http://www.ansa.com.br/html/e_materia.asp?id_editoria=33&materia=32618

A punto de concluir cosecha de azucar de Cuba sin cumplir metas

A punto de concluir cosecha de azúcar de Cuba sin cumplir metas
Fecha: 30/5/2006 Fuente : EFE

La Habana, 30 may (EFECOM).- La actual cosecha azucarera cubana, a punto
de concluir, puede que sólo cumpla el 90% de la meta de 1,5 millones de
toneladas prevista para este año, indicó hoy el diario "Granma".

El incumplimiento de la producción programada se atribuye a retrasos en
la entrada en funcionamiento de varias fábricas de azúcar, demoras en
las reparaciones e inestabilidad en las labores agrícolas por la llegada
tardía de algunos suministros básicos, indicó el órgano oficial del
Partido Comunista de Cuba.

"Eso se tradujo en azúcar dejada de fabricar", subrayó el diario.

Asimismo, indicó que el azúcar que produzcan los once ingenios
azucareros que aún están moliendo caña "podría mejorar el cumplimiento
del plan y llevarlo más allá del 90%".

La actual cosecha azucarera cubana debe concluir este mes, después de
aprovechar el período en que la caña alcanza un mayor porcentaje de
azúcar, en abril, según analistas del sector.

El presidente cubano, Fidel Castro, anunció el pasado 1 de mayo que
hasta ese momento la producción ascendía a 1,1 millones de toneladas de
azúcar crudo, lo que supone un ingreso de 200 millones de dólares para
la economía de la isla.

El Gobierno ha promovido en esta cosecha una estrategia para elevar al
máximo la eficiencia industrial y aumentar su producción, aprovechando
la subida de los precios internacionales del azúcar, que ronda los
veinte centavos de dólar la libra.

El impulso del sector se produce después de que las autoridades
decidieran someterlo en 2002 a una reestructuración general que implicó
en una primera fase el cierre de 71 de los 156 ingenios azucareros
existentes en la isla.

La industria azucarera cubana se deterioró progresivamente en la última
década y su producción se redujo hasta 1,3 millones de toneladas en
2005, la peor en un siglo.

Cuba consume unas 700.000 toneladas de azúcar anuales y vende unas
400.000 toneladas del producto sin refinar a China, que ya ha anunciado
que necesita incrementar sus compras para atender la demanda interna.

Sin embargo, en abril Cuba sostuvo conversaciones con Bielorrusia sobre
la posibilidad de comprarle a la ex-república soviética unas 50.000
toneladas de azúcar refinado.

La industria azucarera, que durante varios siglos representó el sector
más boyante de la economía cubana, llegó a dar empleo a unos 400.000
trabajadores y a involucrar a unos dos millones de personas, de manera
directa o indirecta, de los 11,2 millones de habitantes que tiene el país.

Cuba alcanzó su récord de producción en 1970, cuando logró 8 millones de
toneladas de los 10 millones que se había fijado Castro como meta para
ese año. EFECOM

rmo/jlp/map/hma/jla
http://www.invertia.com/noticias/noticia.asp?subclasid=&clasid=&idNoticia=1546247

martes, 30 de mayo de 2006

La aduana decomiso en 2005 casi 24.700 cajas ilegales de habanos

La aduana decomisó en 2005 casi 24.700 cajas ilegales de habanos

Más del 80% de los decomisos se registró en el Aeropuerto Internacional
de La Habana.

Agencias

martes 30 de mayo de 2006 12:43:00

AFP/ La Habana. Las autoridades aduaneras de Cuba decomisaron en 2005 un
total de 24.690 cajas ilegales de habanos, como parte de la cruzada que
libran desde 2003 para detener el creciente tráfico ilegal del producto,
informó este lunes un alto funcionario local.

El jefe de la Aduana General de Cuba (AGR), coronel de brigada Pedro
Ramón Pupo, indicó que las cajas de puros se decomisaron principalmente
en los aeropuertos de Holguín, Santiago de Cuba, Varadero y La Habana.

Pupo, citado por la oficialista Agencia de Información Nacional (AIN),
precisó que "más del 80% de los casos se detectó directamente en el
aeropuerto internacional de La Habana con destinos preferenciales a
México y Panamá".

"Se observa el crecimiento constante del tráfico ilegal a fin de
introducir embarques de tan codiciado artículo en el mercado
internacional", expresó el jefe de la AGR, quien subrayó que también
fueron decomisados ese año de 335kg de sellos, anillas y otros elementos
para puros.

Entre los viajeros que trafican puros se encuentra los clásicos
contrabandistas, quienes buscan ofertas a bajo precio en el mercado
negro local para luego vender en el exterior a un valor mucho más alto.

Según la AIN, con la incorporación de tecnologías de punta y un novedoso
sistema automatizado, la Aduana General de Cuba perfecciona la
aplicación y control de las regulaciones que dispuso en 2003, con el fin
de detener el tráfico ilegal hacia y desde la Isla.

Ese año la AGR limitó a 23 unidades por persona el número de habanos que
se puede exportar libremente desde la Isla. A partir de esa cifra, los
puros deben estar en envases originales, con las habilitaciones
oficiales, incluido el nuevo sello holográfico y la factura de la
empresa Habanos S.A.

La empresa cubano-franco-española, que tiene el monopolio de la
comercialización de los famosos habanos, facturó 350 millones de dólares
en 2005, tras comercializar unos 160 millones de unidades en 120 países,
según cifras oficiales de la empresa.

URL:
http://www.cubaencuentro.com/es/encuentro_en_la_red/cuba/noticias/la_aduana_decomiso_en_2005_casi_24_700_cajas_ilegales_de_habanos

lunes, 29 de mayo de 2006

Un ALBA Muy Oscuro

Un ALBA Muy Oscuro
2006-05-28

El pasado 22 de mayo, el investigador y profesor de Historia de la
Universidad de La Habana, señor Carlos Oliva, brindó una conferencia en
la universidad de Estocolmo. El tema era el ALCA y el ALBA. La
intervención del catedrático cubano pude escucharla en la páigna Web de
Misceláneas de Cuba , así como también los comentarios y preguntas de
varios asistentes, entre ellos los de Alexis Gainza, director de la
revista homónima.

Confieso que no era de mucho interés para mi escuchar al ponente cubano,
pues conozco el arenal de palabrería hueca hecha para mentalidades de
izquierda tercermundista, que utilizan estos señores cuando abordan el
asunto; no obstante, me interesaban más las preguntas del público.
Realmente debo reconocer que el cinismo de estos personajes es algo a lo
que nunca me acostumbro. Pretender brindar como alternativa al ALCA, un
modelo socioeconómico cercano al que ha impuesto tanto dolor y
privaciones a los cubanos es no sentir respeto hacia los pueblos
latinoamericanos.

Un momento para mi interesante fue el comentario y la pregunta de Alexis
Gainza, quien provocó, en varios de los presentes —latinoamericanos de
izquierda la mayoría--- reacciones airadas, molestos ante las verdades
que sobre el régimen cubano expuso nuestro compatriota. La respuesta del
historiador cubano, no fueron otras que evasivas y apresuradamente
distanciarse de lo expuesto por Gainza. En otro momento de sus palabras,
el señor Carlos Oliva manifestó que “en la diversidad está la riqueza”.
Sin lugar a dudas, la desfachatez de los defensores del régimen que
tiene más presos de conciencia del mundo, no tiene límites.

Otro argumento del catedrático cubano, muy utilizado por otros
apologistas de la dictadura cubana, es que en la isla “hay dificultades
como en cualquier sociedad del mundo”, argumento inconsistente si se
tiene en cuenta que los principales voceros del Gobierno repiten que
Cuba es la sociedad más justa y humana del planeta, solo que
evidentemente la “dificultad” más incompatible con el totalitarismo
comunista es la libertad.

Por otro lado, al escuchar las intervenciones de la mayoría de los
asistentes, no queda menos que sentir pesar por el futuro de
Latinoamérica ante una izquierda que, lamentablemente tiene aún fuerza y
logra engañar a sectores populares agobiados por la pobreza. Es esa
pobreza precisamente la que se ayudaría a combatir con políticas
económicas como las que propone el ALCA, que ha demostrado ser eficaz en
otras partes del mundo. Pero esa es una realidad que se niegan a ver
esos antinorteamericanos viscerales.

Tanto en lo expuesto por el conferencista cubano, como en los
comentarios de los que le secundaron, no se escucharon propuestas
realmente de tipo económico para levantar e impulsar las deterioradas
economías del continente. En todo momento, se podía percibir la
intención de mostrar al sistema cubano como un modelo alternativo. Ahí
estaban los datos de los miles de estudiantes pobres de Latinoamérica
que estudian en la isla, sin aclarar que uno de los fines principales de
esa supuesta solidaridad es la propaganda para ser utilizada en
ocasiones como ésta, y para formar a esos jóvenes como defensores y
partidarios del modelo castrista que rechazan la mayoría de los propios
cubanos que sí lo conocen y lo padecen.

El sectarismo de la izquierda latinoamericana es proverbial; pero es
además perverso desde las comodidades de Europa seguir proponiendo
formulas ideológicas a sus compatriotas que viven en la miseria y lo que
nesecitan es progreso económico. Yo les propongo a todos que vayan a
vivir y conocer de primera mano en La Habana cuál es el modelo que ellos
defiende y promueven ante el ALCA, allí tendrán, viviendo como los
cubanos, una información más objetiva, y , al mismo tiempo, una actitud
más consecuente al defenderlo y promoverlo desde Estocolmo.

A un representante del mundo académico cubano se le pudieran hacer
muchas preguntas que no nesecitarían comentarios. He aquí algunas :
Cuándo permitirán que los universitarios cubanos escuchen en la colina
a, por ejemplo, Mario Vargas Llosa, exponer su visión de este tema y
hablarles de liberalismo? Cómo es posible que, si en la diversidad está
la riqueza, varios estudiantes de universidades de la isla recientemente
fueran expulsado por algo tan absurdo como “conectarse clandestina e
ilegalmente a la Internet”? Cómo puede haber diversidad y riqueza en una
universidad que es “solo para los revolucionarios”? Si usted es capaz,
como afirma, de tener buenas relaciones con académicos norteamericanos a
pesar de que no comparte sus puntos de vista, como no las puede tener
con los cubanos que tampoco opinan como usted y a los que se les niega
ejercer el magisterio por “problemas ideológicos”?

Lógicamente, la repuesta sería que el tema era otro, es decir, el ALCA
y el ALBA. Obviamente, para promover una propuesta como el AlBA, la Cuba
real no es el mejor ejemplo. Sin embargo, a pesar de los espacios que
aún tienen quienes se empeñan en confundir y engañar al mundo sobre la
realidad de la mayor de las antillas y enarbolan un empolvado discurso
antinorteamericano, la realidad se impondrá, y las victorias que estos
puedan tener, servirán de lecciones de lo que son las peores soluciones
para los males de nuestros pueblos.

http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=5626

Cuba to host International Congress on Sugar

Cuba to host International Congress on Sugar
May, 25 - 2:38 PM

HAVANA.– The 14th International Congress on Sugar and its By-products,
"Diversificacion 2006," will be held in Havana June 19-22, with debates
on the current situation in the sector.

The event will include a workshop on the uses of sugar cane´s ethanol,
with analysis on prospects of that product, which has been increasingly
used as motor fuel.

Experts from Cuba, Brazil and other countries will attend the workshop,
and debate the ethanol world market and current technology used in its
production.

Diversification 2006 will session at the Habana Libre Tryp Hotel, and is
sponsored by the Cuban Sugar Ministry, the National Sugar Cane Research
Institute (ICIDCA), and the World Sugar Organization, among others.

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=13825

The Comandantes Reserves

The Comandante's Reserves

From CUBA MONTHLY ECONOMIC REPORT
SPECIAL ISSUE, August 1997
October 20, 1997
Archives
Research Dept.
La Nueva Cuba
May 29, 2006

The lack of transparency of Fidel Castro government in Cuba is very well
known. Information about the inner workings of the government, however,
is becoming available, though in a fragmented way as high Cuban
government officials defect and freely report their experiences in Cuba.
The information reported in this special edition of the Cuba Monthly
Economic Report comes from just such a source—Jesus M. Fernandez, who
left Cuba in May 1996 after holding important positions in the Cuban
government, including Secretary of the Food Committee of the Cabinet and
Secretary of the Foreign Exchange Commission of the Food Group.

The July 28, 1997, issue of Forbes magazine lists Fidel Castro as one of
the richest people in the world, with a net worth of $1.4 billion.
Forbes' estimate of the funds that Castro controls may be low, however;
it merely assigns to him 10 percent of an estimate of Cuba's gross
domestic product. In fact, in addition to controlling the Cuban economy,
Castro possesses and personally controls international bank accounts and
large amounts of gold and commodities, and has done so virtually from
the start of the Revolution.

"Fidel's Checking Account"

What today is referred to in the innermost circles of the government as
"the Comandante's reserves" had its origin in 1959 in the famous
"Fidel's checking account." From this account—which proved to be an
administrative nightmare to Cuban fiscal authorities, being subject to
no control or budget—Fidel Castro drew funds with which to satisfy all
manner of needs and requests throughout the Island, instantly creating
an image of himself as powerful benefactor. It was then that it was
decided to create an account in Castro's name, not related to his
official titles, that he would personally manage without giving an
accounting to anyone. This account, which was in pesos, served as
precedent for later creating a dollar account to finance international
transactions, primarily of a political nature. This dollar account was
used to finance subversion in other countries and propaganda activities
such as the meeting of the Tricontinental Assembly.

Though the amounts involved are not known, the account was financed from
state funds and from the forced exchange of dollars from Cuban workers
at the American Naval Base in Guantanamo. In that account were also
deposited foreign funds whose purpose was to finance insurrections in
Latin America.

In 1970 it became known that the proceeds from the sale of cattle to
Canada—the intermediary for which was Merejo Curbelo, brother of the
Minister of Agriculture, Comandante Raul Curbelo—were deposited in
Castro's account. The magnitude of the sale has been estimated at
between $5 million and $10 million. Sales of cattle have continued to
this day and have included Venezuela as a buyer. The cattle come from
another of Fidel Castro's exclusive reserves, which contains some 50,000
head of cattle.

Also in 1970, Emilio Quesada Rey, excolleague of Fidel Castro at the
University of Havana, created an integrated system of reserves under
Castro's exclusive control. These reserved consisted of automobiles,
trucks, tractors, and other wheeled vehicles, and general construction
equipment. By then, reserves of housing, also managed by Fidel Castro,
were in existence. From these reserves Castro assigned resources to
productive enterprises without any sort of plan and provided gifts to
many of his collaborators and allies, both at home and abroad.

The Comandante's Reserves

In 1976, the State Committee for the Provision of Technical Material was
created under the direction of Provisions of the Central Planning Board
(JUCEPLAN). Irma Sanchez, a member of the Central Planning Board, was
placed in charge of the new committee as Minister-President. The new
committee would become the most powerful organ of the Cuban government,
since it centralized control of the country's physical resources, with
the exception of foodstuffs, clothing, and shoes. The resources it
managed included equipment and machinery, petroleum, and construction
and raw materials.

The new committee expanded the reserves personally controlled by Fidel
Castro. By then~, those who knew of them at JUCEPLAN referred to them as
"the Comandante's reserves." The reserve of automobiles, for example,
came to number 7,000 units, which were stored outside in the area of
Managua, south of Havana. The reserve of trucks, which also numbered in
the thousands, was kept in Alberro, in the area of Cotorro in the
province of Havana. These reserves were administered by Castro
separately from the planning system, which he himself did not trust; he
assigned resources and equiment only to projects he initiated and
directed. This system caused a great deal of discomfort among the
middle-level economic planners, and it generated friction and strong
disputes among Vice Minister of the Central Planning Board Luis
Gutierrez, Irma Sanchez, Emilio Quesada, Osvaldo Dorticos (in charge of
the Central Planning Board), and Fidel Castro himself. By then the lines
that could have separated what was public property managed by Castro and
what was de facto private property had been erased.

At the start of the war in Angola, in the middle of the 1970s, Castro's
financial reserve was funded in part by monies from the Soviet Uluon and
the rest of the Soviet block for financing Cuban military operations in
that country. The same was true with respect to the war in Etiopia.

At the same time, the Cuban armed forces accumulated large quantities of
canned goods. These reserves were located in Cuba and were maintained at
great cost to the country because of the need to renew them frequently
to keep them fresh. These reserves are currently being turned over to
military personnel as compensation for their lack of access to dollars
and because they cannot be maintained fresh as before given the economic
crisis. The reserves were never used to supply the civilian population.

Castro's Enterprises

At the beginning of the l980s, the sources of funds for the Comandante's
reserves were diversified. Of unknown ownership, they were enterprises
created to generate finds outside the planning system, as if they were
the private property of certain government officials. These enterprises
also served to launder drug money, which became known during the process
leading up the execution by firing squad of General Arnaldo Ochoa in
1989. The most important of these enterprises are the following.

The Corporation CIMEX was founded by Jose Luis Padron, a Colonel who was
assistant to Jose Abrahantes, the Minister of the Interior who was
arrested along with General Ochoa; by Orlando Perez, expresident of the
National Bank; by Regino Boti, ex-minister of JUCEPLAN; and by Emilio
Aragones, ambassador to Argentina and one of the persons closest to
Castro on financial matters since the days of the Sierra Maestra. This
corporation is a conglomeration of export and import enterprises that
currently has chains of stores in Cuba that only sell in dollars. The
most important of these is the chain Panamericarna, which has sales of
$1 million a day. Part of CIMEX is the Treviso company, initially run by
Colonel Tony de la Guardia, who was shot with General Ochoa in 1989. The
firm sells tobacco products, shellfish, and construction materials. It
also produces knock-offs or adulterations of high quality international
goods, such as Chivas Regal whiskey or Levi's pants.

From this enterprise, the now defunct Department MC (for convertible
money) in the Interior Ministry was created. This was a secret operation
designed to get around the U.S. embargo on Cuba. This department
generated several million dollars a year, which was presented to Castro
on his birthday, every August 13. The largest amount we know of involved
a "gift" of $10 million, delivered in a suitcase full of bills by Jose
Abrahantes during one of Castro's birthday parties in the 1980s. Part of
this money came from drug trafficking.

Independent of the net earnings of MC, CIMEX should generate a minimum
of $50 million a year, possibly much more. There is information that on
one occasion, toward the end of the 1980s, the enterprise suffered a
lose of several million dollars speculating on the London financial
markets. On that occasion, Raul Castro became involved, severely
criticizing functionaries of CIMEX for playing at capitalism, but no one
was seriously punished.

Cubanacan is a group of enterprises founded by Abraham Masiques, a Cuban
entrepreneur who is a friend of Castro's. Cubanacan is the enterprise
that open the door to foreign investment in tourism. Like CIMEX it has
several chains of stores that sell in dollars. Cubanacan controls
approximately $600 million in foreign capital, primarily from Melia, LTI
International, TRIP, Delta International, Golden Tulip International,
Cosmo World, and Super Club. It is estimated that Cubanacan currently
contributes around $30 million a year to "the Comandante's reserves."

EI Palacio de Convenciones (literally, The Convention Palace)
contributes its net earnings to the Comadante's account. Its eamings are
generated ty international events held there, many of a political
nature. The earnings it generates are on the order of $3 million to $5
million a year.

Cubalse consists of a single store that was originally dedicated to
selling to the diplomatic community. It is now open to any member of the
general public who has dollars. It is the only store that always has
beef, which it sells at monopoly prices. The beef comes from Castro's
cattle reserve. Cubalse's net eamings go to enrich Castro's reserve. It
is estimated that it can generate net earnings on the order of $30
million a year.

Medicuba, which sells pharmaceutical products manufactured in the
country, especially vaccines, generates an unknown amount of revenue
that is estimated to be several million dollars. Fidel Castro is the
principal investor in the biotechnology sector. He is kept informed of
rescarch on AIDS and other programs in this field.

Other Revenue Sources

In addition to the earnings of these enterprises, the Comandante's
reserves are also supplied from other transactions, possibly the largest
of which was the sale of rum factories and distilleries under the Havana
Club name to the French firm Pernaud Ricard. The sale price has been
estimated at $50 million, an amount that reportedly was deposited in its
entirety in the Comandante's reserves.

Instrurmental in this transaction were Alejandro Roca, Minister of the
Food Industry; Miguel Castillo, personal administrator of the
Comandante's reserves; and Jose Alberto (Pepin) Naranjo, chief of staff
to the commander in chief. This transaction continues to generate
earnings for the Comandante's account through commissions from the sale
of Cuban rums and through the currency exchange from the salaries of
Cuban workers.

A part of the net eamings of several foreign enterprises engaged in the
growing of citrus also goes to the Comandante's reserves Very gross
estimates place these contributions at not less than $10 million or $15
million. One of the best known entrepreneurs in this sector is Max
Marambio, chief of Salvador Allende's guard. Another is Angel Domper,
who is married to one of the Che Guevara's daughters. These Chilean
businessmen are believed to be millionaires.

Another source of income to the Comandante's reserves comes from loans
that Castro makes to the national economy from these funds. Whenever
there is a shortfall in the flow of foreing exchange—something that
occurs frequently in the importation of food and oil-- government
officials in charge of payment submit requests for loans through Carlos
Lage, Prime Minister of Cuba. If Lage passes on the request, Castro
generally approves the loan, noting the date the loan is due and the
interest to be paid. The latter is normally 10 percent, regardless of
the length of the loan. We know of two specific transactions, one of $20
million and the other of $30 million, for imported foodstuffs, mostly
cereals, and there have been other occasions involving the import of oil.

Back in the days when the Soviet Union allowed Cuba to sell for dollars
its oil surplus, part of the proceeds from this implicit subsidy were
suspected of making their way into the Comandante's reserves. The reason
for this suspicion is that it became established custom at JUCEPLAN that
the dollars from nonconventional exports would go to such reserves.

Cuban Banking

In 1984, the Banco Financiero Internacional was founded, becoming the
first Cuban entity operating with dollars in complete autonomy from the
state system. It operates as a corporation whose owners are the Cuban
government and some foreign investors who are suspected of acting as
stand-ins for other persons. This enterprise is located in the CIMEX
corporation. The apparent objective of this bank was to remove from the
National Bank of Cuba actions that were intended to 1eave no trace. The
main clients of this bank, which has 16 branches in Cuba and an unknown
number abroad (we know they exist in the United Kingdom and in Canada),
are the same firms associated with the Comandante's reserves.

E1 Banco de Inversiones, SA is located in the Someillan building in
Havana and forms part of an important mechanism that makes loans to the
Cuban government at high interest rates. It is run by Hector Rodriguez
Llompart, ex-president of the National Bank of Cuba, and a Swiss-Israeli
citizen named Andre. It is suspected that this bank's capital comes from
the Banco Financiero Internacional.

The operations of these two banks are so secretive that they give rise
to many suspicions, including that they are involved in the laundering
of drug money. The scandal involving the Grupo Oasis of Spain, which
operated the tourist center at Cayo Largo, planted the seeds of this
suspicion.

The Comandante's reserves, both financial and physical, also benefit
from many of the foreign donations Cuba receives, including, for
example, the World Food Program of the FAO, which made many donations of
milk to Cuba between the 1970s and 1990s. The milk was intended for
infants in the eastern provinces of Cuba, but was diverted intead to
Nicaragua for political purposes.

Institutional Evolution

The above information appears to confirm that the Cuban economy is
undergoing a major institutional evolution, in which four economic
subsystems are emerging. The first is Fidel Castro's economy, with his
enterprises, financial institutions, and virtually absolute control of
the country's resources. The second subsystem, in parrnership with
Castro's economy, conists of the foreign enterprises, allowed to
generate and repatriate earnings at th cost of helping Castro's own
finances. The third system is the remains of the old planned economy and
public enterprises, including the sugar industry, still struggling for
survival but in a general state of neglect and decay. The fourth system
is the Cuban marginal private sector, consisting of those who are
falling outside the other three systems (mainly the self-employed) and
those who, though still working in the public sector, do not earn enough
to make ends meet. It appears that the first two subsystems are
thriving, while the latter two are carrying the burdens imposed by
predatory economics of the first two. In the aggregate, everything seems
to indicate that the Cuban economy is in a freefall, with no visible
solution, something similar to what happened to Zaire (now Congo) under
Mobutu Sese Seko.

Dollar remittances from exiled Cubans to relatives in the island are
playing an important role in helping some weather the current economic
crisis. However, the remittances, combined with the alleged foreign
investment activity in Cuba, are offering Castro an excellent vehicle to
hide money laundering activities. Forbes' estimate of Castro's fortune
may very well fall short of the reality.

http://www.lanuevacuba.com/archivo/the-comandantes-reserves.htm

El 30% de los turistas que visitan Cuba se alojan en hoteles de Sol Melia

El 30% de los turistas que visitan Cuba se alojan en hoteles de Sol Meliá

MAURICIO VICENT - La Habana
EL PAÍS - Economía - 29-05-2006

La cadena Sol Meliá se consolida como el primer operador turístico en
Cuba. A las 8.345 habitaciones hoteleras que en la actualidad administra
la empresa mallorquina -un 20% de las 41.000 que existen en la isla-, se
sumarán a finales de este año las 925 habitaciones del nuevo Meliá Las
Dunas, un cinco estrellas situado en Cayo Santa María, mientras está
previsto otro complejo de 300 habitaciones de lujo en Cayo Largo. Con
los dos nuevos establecimientos, Sol Meliá llevará la gestión de 23
hoteles en Cuba, convirtiéndose en líder del sector turístico cubano. En
2005, más del 30% de los turistas que visitaron la isla se alojaron en
instalaciones del grupo español, que lleva 15 años en el país.

"El pasado año visitaron nuestros hoteles 754.000 turistas de alrededor
de medio centenar de naciones, principalmente de Canadá, Reino Unido,
Alemania, España, Italia, Francia, Rusia, Argentina, Suiza, México,
Portugal y Holanda. Quienes nos eligieron representaron el 33% de los
2,32 millones de visitantes foráneos que viajaron a esta isla", afirmó
el director general de Sol Meliá en Cuba, Rafael Villanueva, durante el
acto de presentación del grupo español en el marco de la 26ª Feria
Internacional de Turismo celebrada recientemente, informa Europa Press.

Ni a esta presentación de Meliá ni a las actividades de la feria
-excepto a su inauguración- fueron invitados los corresponsales
extranjeros por el Ministerio de Turismo de Cuba, que sólo ha autorizado
la presencia de un pequeño grupo de revistas especializadas y de
periodistas seleccionados en la feria.

El miércoles, según Europa Press, el titular del Ministerio de Turismo,
Manuel Marrero, ofreció una conferencia de prensa en La Habana en la que
afirmó que pese a la "propaganda contra Cuba" que realizan "ciertos
medios de comunicación en España politizando" los asuntos cubanos en el
ámbito nacional, en 2005 visitaron la isla 192.000 turistas españoles,
30% de crecimiento respecto al año anterior.

A juicio del ministro, estas cifras prueban que el estrecho vínculo
histórico y afectivo entre ambos países "es más poderoso que cualquier
noticia que un día pueda salir equivocada o tendenciosa a confundir".
Marrero dijo que Cuba espera recibir este año 2,5 millones de turistas
extranjeros, mientras los primeros cuatro meses de 2006 reportó un alza
del 3,3% de visitantes respecto a igual periodo del año anterior.

El ministro puso como ejemplo de publicaciones tendenciosas la revista
Forbes, que en uno de sus últimos números sitúa a Fidel Castro entre los
hombres más ricos del mundo. A juicio de Marrero, es "una gran mentira".

http://www.elpais.es/articulo/economia/turistas/visitan/Cuba/alojan/hoteles/Sol/Melia/20060529elpepieco_11/Tes/

Alianza Gasifera entre Cuba Bolivia y Venezuela

Alianza Gasífera entre Cuba, Bolivia y Venezuela
categorias: Política - Internacional

El Presidente de Venezuela Hugo Chávez y el Presidente de Bolivia Evo
Morales, junto al Vicepresidente de Cuba, Carlos Lage estrecharon una
alianza estratégica como alternativa al Tratado que impulsa EE.UU. en la
región.

Escrito por Gloria Delucchi

Con críticas de la oposición boliviana, por la injerencia en asuntos
internos, el Presidente venezolano, Hugo Chávez formuló una denuncia
contra el mandatario de EE.UU., George W. Bush, manifestando que “ya dio
luz verde” para conspirar contra Evo Morales, de Bolivia, llamando a los
militares a defender al gobernante y a los bolivianos a tomar las calles
para arremeter contra los posibles golpistas.

La reunión se realizó en la zona del Chapare, corazón cocalero de
Bolivia, y ha tenido por objetivo sellar una alianza con el Presidente
Morales y la firma de acuerdos en varios proyectos de hidrocarburos. En
la cita participó, además, el Vicepresidente de Cuba, Carlos Lage.

El ministro de Energía y Petróleo venezolano Rafael Ramírez, confirmó
que Petróleos de Venezuela planea invertir, a lo menos US$ 1.500
millones en varios proyectos de hidrocarburos en Bolivia, en sociedad
con la estatal boliviana Ypfb.

Los Presidentes Chávez y Morales firmaron cinco acuerdos adicionales al
Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos (TCP), que habían suscrito junto al
Presidente cubano Fidel Castro, en abril pasado, en La Habana. Uno de
estos acuerdos establece una inversión de US$ 100 millones para la
industrialización de la hoja de coca que Bolivia exportará a Venezuela y
Cuba.

CHAVEZ EN BOLIVIA

Esta es la tercera visita del Presidente Chávez a Bolivia, estrechando
cada vez más sus vínculos con el Presidente Morales, lo que ha provocado
resquemores en la región por el protagonismo del mandatario venezolano,
que sólo dos días después del anuncio de la nacionalización de los
hidrocarburos viajó a apoyar al Presidente Morales, asegurando “en el
fondo somos y constituimos un solo proyecto Bolivia y Venezuela”,
reconociendo también que técnicos venezolanos están trabajando en el
área gasífera.

Por su parte el Presidente Morales calificó los acuerdos con Venezuela
como la “verdadera integración latinoamericana” y dijo que los acuerdos
energéticos que firmó con Venezuela permitirán la industrialización de
los hidrocarburos, lo que de acuerdo a su opinión no lograron otros
gobiernos.

CAMPAÑA DE MORALES

Además de los acuerdos de cooperación firmados con Venezuela y Cuba, el
Presidente Morales lanzó una campaña pata obtener una mayoría del 70% u
80 % en la futura Asamblea Constituyente que definirá grandes cambios en
Bolivia. Al efecto, llamó a sus adherentes a concurrir de forma masiva a
la elección de constituyentes el 2 de julio, en una concentración
popular en la región cocalera del Chapare.

La redacción de la Constitución es un largo anhelo de los movimientos
sindicalistas bolivianos y una promesa de campaña de Evo Morales, que
pretende refundar Bolivia.

Hugo Chávez manifestó que a base de la experiencia desarrollada en su
país, se debe otorgar todo el poder a esta instancia y subordinarla a la
soberanía del pueblo.

El presidente Morales dijo que “quiero decirles que estoy amarrado de
manos para hacer algunas cosas. Las leyes no se pueden cambiar
fácilmente, y cuando quieres gobernar con decretos, los partidos
neoliberales demandan tu decreto de anticonstitucional y perjudican el
trabajo”, agregando “Esa elección de constituyentes es más importante
que las elecciones nacionales”.

Es necesario recordar que el mandatario boliviano llegó al poder con un
respaldo en las urnas de un 54%.

Última Actualización: 29 de Mayo 2006 11:53:34 AM

http://www.elmorrocotudo.cl/admin/render/noticia/4253

Lentitud de servicios dana a la economia cubana segun diario

CUBA-ECONOMIA
Lentitud de servicios daña a la economía cubana, según diario
Fecha: 28/5/2006 Fuente : EFE

La Habana, 28 may (EFECOM).- La baja calidad y la lentitud de los
servicios, especialmente en la Administración, afectan a la economía
cubana por las horas que deben perder los trabajadores en realizar
trámites, informa hoy el diario oficial "Juventud Rebelde".

Leocadio Pascual Díaz, especialista principal de la Dirección Jurídica
del Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, reconoció al diario que
los actuales horarios, coincidentes con los laborales, propician que
muchos trabajadores se ausenten de sus puestos de trabajo para hacer
trámites.

"El plan de la economía nacional se estructura sobre la base de que cada
trabajador de este país trabaje, al menos, ocho horas al día, 44 a la
semana y 196,5 al mes. Si por cualquier motivo el trabajador se ausenta
de su puesto, eso incide directamente en el rendimiento económico del
país", dijo Díaz.

"Juventud Rebelde" afirmó que "como están diseñados los horarios de
atención a la población (...) ello conspira contra la puntualidad y
permanencia en los centros laborales".

El diario indicó que "todo se complica" si a la lentitud y deficiencia
de servicios y trámites se les suman "las múltiples dificultades de
transporte y lo intempestivos y cortos que resultan los plazos para
adquirir muchos alimentos y otros productos,

"Vas al trabajo o haces la cola para no perderlos", agrega "Juventud
Rebelde", al considerar que "ha llegado el momento de revisar el
concepto rígido y sobreprotector con que se han establecido la mayoría
de los servicios".

"Hay muchas colas fortuitas por ahí que son resultado de la ineficiencia
reinante detrás del mostrador o en el buró", indicó.
EFECOM

jlp/tg/jlm
http://www.invertia.com/noticias/noticia.asp?subclasid=&clasid=&idNoticia=1544468

Cambian segundo ministro en Cuba en una semana

Cambian segundo ministro en Cuba en una semana
Bitácora Cubana, 28 de mayo de 2006 - La Habana (AP)

El régimen cubano designó como ministro de la Industria Ligera a José
Hernández Bernárdez, en un segundo cambio de gabinete en menos de una
semana. Una escueta nota oficial publicada el sábado en el periódico
oficialista indicó que por decisión de Consejo de Estado -encabezado por
Castro- Hernández sustituirá a Estela Domínguez Ariosa.

El cambio tiene por objetivo "fortalecer el trabajo del ministerio",
expresó el comunicado que no especificó el nuevo destino de Domínguez.
Por su parte, con 55 años de edad, el flamante ministro se había
desempeñado hasta ahora como vicetitular en la cartera de Economía y
Planificación.

La sustitución se produce cuatro días después de otra, en el Ministerio
de Control y Auditoría, una dependencia clave pues actualmente la isla
se encuentra enfrascada en una campaña anticorrupción.

http://www.bitacoracubana.com/desdecuba/portada2.php?id=2155

sábado, 27 de mayo de 2006

Some are worrying Bolivia has sold soul to Venezuela

Posted on Sat, May. 27, 2006

SOUTH AMERICA
Some are worrying Bolivia has sold soul to Venezuela
Deals brokered by Hugo Chávez of Venezuela have some wondering if his
political ally Evo Morales is signing away too much of Bolivia's freedom.
BY TYLER BRIDGES
tbridges@MiamiHerald.com

EL ALTO, Bolivia - Air Force conscript Máximo Paco beamed as he showed
off the national ID card that he had long wanted but just received under
a new program financed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.

''I'm very thankful for the help from Venezuela,'' Paco said as he
surveyed a table bedecked with a laptop, two laser printers, a webcam
and a card laminator -- part of a massive ID system launched in Bolivia
two months ago but modeled after one begun by Chávez in Venezuela two
years ago.

The Bolivian ID card effectively recognizes Paco's citizenship, secures
his right to vote and makes him eligible for an array of public
services. But the program also has raised concerns in Bolivia because
Chávez allegedly used the system to pack Venezuela's voting rolls with
his supporters.

The ID card program here is only part of an aggressive effort by the
leftist Chávez to use his oil riches to help his political ally,
Bolivian President Evo Morales, and help spread his leftist-populist
agenda beyond Venezuela.

The overall effort, estimated at more than $1 billion, also includes the
construction of radio stations, an airport and several roads, resettling
landless poor, the purchase of banks and joint ventures in education,
healthcare, natural gas and mining.

The new Chávez-Morales friendship has drawn concern in Washington, which
sees Chávez as a troublemaker for the region, as well as in Brazil,
Spain and Great Britain, where officials believe Chávez pushed Bolivia
to adopt a harsher natural gas nationalization decree than expected.

Chávez and Morales sealed their new alliance Friday by signing some 200
economic and cultural agreements during a ceremony in central Bolivia.

''Bolivia and Venezuela are embracing forever, taking the path of
equality and justice,'' Chávez told tens of thousands of Bolivians in
the Chapare, the country's coca growing region.

Many ordinary Bolivians, like Paco, give high marks to Chávez. But his
activities deeply worry others.

''I'm afraid we are going on a path of becoming a colony of Venezuela,''
said Fernando Messmer, an opposition member of Congress.

Besides the ID card program, Venezuela is also financing the following:

• Construction of a petrochemical plant and a gas processing plant with
YPFB, Bolivia's state-owned energy company, and 14 gas stations to be
operated jointly by YPFB and PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company.

• A joint PDVSA-YPFB natural gas production and exploration venture that
will cost at least $400 million.

• Dozens of advisors from PDVSA sent here to strengthen YPFB, which,
under the nationalization decree, is taking over operations previously
in private hands.

• The installation of 30 rural radio stations to be run by indigenous
supporters of Morales, at a cost of $1.5 million.

• Construction of a new $100 million airport in the city of Sucre.

• The purchase of two banks.

• $100 million in credits to provide technical assistance to poor
peasants who will receive land under a new government program.

• Construction of a Venezuelan-Bolivian asphalt plant.

• Measles vaccination and literacy programs, both in conjunction with
Cuban personnel.

• The donation of 520 computers to Bolivian schools and 1,000
scholarships for Bolivians to study in Venezuela.

Venezuela also is sending diesel fuel to Bolivia in exchange for
soybeans, and the two countries signed a trade accord with Cuba aimed at
offsetting free market trade deals between the United States and other
Latin American countries.

Chávez has also supplied Venezuelan aircraft to ferry Morales on his two
trips to Europe since his December election. Presidential spokesman Alex
Contreras has denied the widespread belief in La Paz that Venezuela is
even supplying bodyguards for Morales.

Many Bolivians welcome Venezuela potentially replacing the United States
as the main benefactor of South America's poorest country. U.S. aid --
currently $150 million a year -- has mostly financed the antidrug war.

''We're convinced that assistance from the U.S. has come with strings,''
said Dionicio Gutiérrez, an Indian leader in the eastern city of Santa
Cruz. ``Venezuela is giving us assistance without any demands.''

But other political and economic sector leaders have a darker view.

''Chávez is influencing Evo to the point where I'm beginning to not like
what I'm seeing,'' said Enrique Menacho, who heads the oil and gas
chamber of commerce in Santa Cruz. ``It's an open romance.''

Indeed it is.

Morales and his government have openly touted the role of Venezuela in
financing the program to provide national ID cards to the estimated one
million Bolivians who lack them, out of an estimated population of 8.5
million.

'The Venezuelans' help was key, the program was new to us,'' said Percy
Paredes, vice minister of internal security. A poster of Chávez adorned
one wall of his office, a photo of Ernesto ''Che'' Guevara another.

Paredes acknowledged the program has failed to meet early expectations
for issuing massive numbers of ID cards. Only 52,000 ID cards have been
handed out in an ongoing program. Some 5,000 people were registered to
vote before the registration cut-off for the upcoming July 2 elections
for a constituent assembly where Morales is expected to push for
profound changes.

Paredes said Venezuela donated 900 laptops, along with the printers, the
other equipment and $900,000 in cash to pay for meals, transportation
and lodging of Bolivians and Venezuelans who work on the program.

In Venezuela, the program awarded national ID cards to some two million
people, and registered most of them to vote, over a six-month period
just before a recall referendum in 2004 handily won by Chávez. Critics
have said Chávez used the program to pack loyalists into the voting
lists. The Venezuelan government has denied that was the intent.

Morales opponents in Bolivia note that his electoral campaign office in
Santa Cruz served as an office for Bolivia's ID card program until a
news report prompted the government to shut it down the next day.

''It was an error,'' said Paredes, who emphasized that the program was
designed to bring into the mainstream of Bolivian life those who had
never obtained national IDs.

Gastón Nuñez, director of the state television and radio network, also
denied any propaganda role for the 30 Venezuela-financed radio stations,
to be run by indigenous supporters of Morales.

''In this new era, Indians should have the right to decide what they
want to listen to,'' Nuñez said, adding that the stations would inform
listeners of community health, education and civic programs. ``The
existing stations have marginalized indians.''

He said the first station would open in June in Orinoca, the mountain
town where Morales was born 47 years ago.

Special correspondent Phil Gunson in Caracas contributed to this report.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/14681001.htm

Brazil has energy woes, too

Brazil has energy woes, too

The Providence Journal

Brazil, led by moderate-leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has
had an unpleasant lesson in the vagaries of the energy business.

Bolivia, run by new leftist-leftist President Evo Morales, has
nationalized its natural-gas sector, which supplies half of Brazil’s
natural-gas consumption.

And some assert that the nationalization was engineered by Venezuela’s
leftist president, Hugo Chavez, whose best pal is apparently Cuban
dictator Fidel Castro. Chavez, of course, is throwing his weight around,
what with Venezuela’s huge oil and gas reserves and current high energy
prices.

Brazil, to its credit, makes much of its fuel from sugar cane. And to
reduce its dependence on oil, many Brazilians have replaced their
gasoline-powered vehicles with those running on natural gas.

But the huge country, like the United States, is still far too dependent
on the whims of other countries – in this case, Bolivia – for its
energy. Brazil’s state-owned energy company, Petrobras, had invested
$1.5 billion in Bolivia, and now that nation demands 60-percent price
hikes for its gas.

There is an irony here in that Brazilians are complaining about their
state-run firms’ assets being seized by another state. In a freer-market
system, these problems would be more localized. But when the government
gets involved, such problems get very big.

When it comes to fuel supplies, you can never be diversified enough! One
wonders about the assertion by Americans that we needn’t worry about our
natural-gas supplies: The Canadians will keep sending the gas to us. Or
will they?

Meanwhile, widespread violence in Sao Paulo has resulted in many deaths.

It has indeed been a very bad month for Brazil.

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060526/OPINION04/105260017/-1/OPINION02

Chavez Increases Grip in Bolivia With $1.5 Bln Plan

Chavez Increases Grip in Bolivia With $1.5 Bln Plan (Update5)

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pledged to step
up investment in Bolivia's energy industry and protect its citizens from
``American imperialism,'' moving to strengthen his grip over the Andean
nation.

Chavez, 51, today used a visit to South America's poorest country to
promise more than $1.5 billion of new investments for Bolivia and other
assistance, from diesel fuel to no-interest loans. He also embraced Cuba
as a partner to help Bolivia's healthcare and education systems.

The growing alliance between Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales
is part of a wider Venezuelan effort to challenge U.S. policy in the
region and curb the role of multinational oil companies. Morales on May
1 seized international oil company assets in Bolivia and gave producers
180 days to renegotiate agreements with the state oil company, mimicking
Chavez's own policies.

``We must save the world from American imperialism,'' Chavez, bedecked
with flower garlands and dressed in native Bolivian clothes, told a
crowd in Shinahota, Bolivia in a more than hour- long speech.
``Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia embrace forever.''

By stepping up investment in Bolivia, Chavez also will limit Brazilian
control of the country's energy industry, said David Fleischer, a
political science professor at the Federal University of Brasilia.
Brazilian state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA is Bolivia's biggest
company.

Undermining Brazil

``The main objective here is for Chavez to undermine Brazil's leadership
in South America and reinforce his anti-U.S. bloc,'' Fleischer said in
an interview.

Venezuela's state oil company plans to form joint ventures with its
Bolivian counterpart and invest in a natural gas separation plant and in
oil and gas exploration. Along with representatives from Cuba, they also
plan projects in health, chemicals, mining, trade and road construction,
Chavez said.

Chavez, whose country is the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, also
said he will provide 200,000 barrels a month of diesel to Bolivia,
create the BancoSur to make no-interest loans to the poor and give $100
million of credit to small farmers in Bolivia. Venezuela and Cuba agreed
to pay for training of 10,000 doctors.

Venezuela, Cuba and Bolivia's Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas
and People's Trade Treaty are aimed at countering U.S. efforts to expand
the U.S., Mexico and Canada trade area to the rest of the hemisphere.

``We don't want our alliance to benefit the world market,'' said Carlos
Lage, Cuba's vice president, who was in Bolivia for today's meetings, in
an interview on Bolivia's TVB television network. ``The Bolivarian
alternative is based on solidarity, not profit.''

Cubans

The Cubans have sent 750 people to Bolivia, 600 of them doctors, to set
up 20 hospitals and open free health clinics across the country, Lage
said adding that Cuba is helping set up 30,000 video learning centers to
fight illiteracy.

``A certain emperor, or I should say president, is watching,'' Lage said
at the Shinahota, Bolivia event that was originally called to promote
Bolivia's plan to rewrite its constitution. U.S. President George W.
Bush ``should come here and see how the people of this region embrace
Hugo and Evo,'' he said.

Petroleos de Venezuela plans to set up a joint venture with Bolivian
state oil company YPF Bolivianos SA and invest $1.5 billion to explore
for oil and gas and to build 14 service stations, a petrochemical plant
and a facility to separate petroleum liquids from natural gas to feed
vehicle fuels refineries, according to Bolivia's presidential press office.

The joint venture will be 51 percent controlled by YPF Bolivianos. The
amount Petroleos de Venezuela plans to invest is about equal to what
Brazilian state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA has spent in the
country since 1995.

The countries also plan to create Cia. Mineira del Sur, a
Bolivian-Venezuelan venture aimed at helping Bolivia take control of its
mining resources

Bolivia's biggest company, Petrobras, the most traded foreign company on
the New York stock exchange, produces most of Bolivia's gas, refines all
its gasoline, 60 percent of its diesel fuel and pays a quarter of all
Bolivian taxes.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jeb Blount in La Paz jblount@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 26, 2006 16:38 EDT

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=aMVIHFjkxoUg&refer=news_index

Venezuela aids Bolivia gas nationalization

The Associated Press/SHINAHOTA, Bolivia
By VIVIAN SEQUERA
Associated Press Writer

Venezuela aids Bolivia gas nationalization

MAY. 26 3:59 P.M. ET Oil-rich Venezuela's increasing influence in
Bolivia will be sealed with a penstroke Friday when presidents Hugo
Chavez and Evo Morales sign another set of accords, this time to secure
Venezuela's role in Bolivia's recently nationalized energy industry.

"Bolivia and Venezuela are embracing forever, taking the path of
equality and justice," Chavez told crowds in tropical heat, dressed in a
traditional Bolivian poncho and wooly hat identical to Morales.

The two leftist leaders are creating a joint mining company called
Minesur and a fertilizer company called Fertisur, and Venezuela is
pledging more university scholarships, asphalt to pave Bolivian roads,
credit for businesses and trees for reforestation.

Advertisement

But Bolivia's huge natural gas reserves are the real prize, and Morales
clearly needs outside help. Negotiations with a half-dozen foreign
energy firms have slowed since Morales nationalized the industry earlier
this month, sending in troops to occupy energy installations, and
Bolivia's cash-strapped state energy company won't be able to extract
and profit from this resource without major new investments.

Venezuela will sink $500 million into Bolivia's gas industry in the
short term and up to $1.5 billion long term. Rich with petrodollars and
eager to expand Venezuela's economic reach throughout Latin America,
Chavez has already pledged more than $140 million in donations and loans
to Bolivia. Venezuelans are helping provide national identity cards for
those who don't have one and will pay for 109 rural radio stations.

"Like never before in history, a foreign country is here visiting,
orchestrating and deciding on issues that belong to Bolivians," said
Fernando Messmer, a former foreign minister and opposition congressman.

Now Chavez is pledging even more support, promising to make Venezuela's
state-owned energy firm, PDVSA, a minority partner with Bolivia to
explore for gas and certify Bolivia's reserves, as well as build a gas
processing plant and three asphalt factories. They will also help run
state-owned gas stations in a venture to be called Petroandina.

In exchange for all this largesse, Bolivia will send Venezuela soy
beans, as well as pay some cash for diesel shipments and fertilizer.

The deal is so lopsided that critics suspect Chavez is seeking other
advantages at the expense of Bolivia and other South American countries,
using his largesse to exert influence over Morales and strengthen his
role as a regional energy player. Chavez and Morales say that's
nonsense, and that both countries will gain plenty.

But Bolivia has long been dependent on foreign aid, and the money always
causes political repercussions.

The United States, for example, remains Bolivia's largest donor, giving
approximately $150 million annually. But much of the money is tied to
the war on drugs, which Morales has said unfairly targets poor coca leaf
farmers and gives the U.S too much sway with Bolivia's military.

Chavez is more interested in Bolivia's gas. While Brazil's Petroleos
Brasileiro SA is Bolivia's largest investor, Petrobras has frozen its
investments since the nationalization and now says it's seeking natural
gas elsewhere.

Friday's accords could be Venezuela's most assertive move yet to
challenge Brazil's energy dominance in Bolivia, although Chavez also
denies this.

While some critics say Chavez is encroaching upon Bolivia's sovereignty,
others say he's helping to lift the poor Andean nation out of poverty by
helping Morales follow through on his pledge to fight corruption and
inequality.

"He very much believes in what Evo is doing -- Chavez has a vision of an
independent Latin America that has growth and development and is based
on solidarity," said Mark Weisbrot, an economist at the Washington-based
Center for Economic and Policy Research.

The strengthening alliance prompted President George W. Bush to say
Monday that he's "concerned about the erosion of democracy" in both
Bolivia and Venezuela.

But Washington's words don't weigh as heavily as they once did in the
region.

"The reality in Latin America has really changed dramatically," Weisbrot
said. "The availability of alternative sources of credit and finance
have contributed to a drastic drop in U.S. influence."

And Chavez is not just threatening U.S. power -- he's also challenging
the region's established leaders, Brazil and Argentina, with his
constant advice to Morales, who also nationalized the Bolivian
operations of Repsol YPF, the Spanish-Argentine energy company.

"It has to do with a strategic dispute in the world about the energy
resources in the long term," said Horst Grebe, a social scientist and a
former Bolivian economic development minister.

And that's because Venezuela could eventually become Bolivia's top
competitor in feeding gas-hungry Brazil and Argentina. Venezuela has the
continent's largest natural gas reserves, followed by Bolivia, and
Chavez would like to send Venezuelan gas to Brazil and Argentina in a
proposed multibillion dollar natural gas pipeline.

For now, they insist they're the closest of allies. Morales calls Chavez
a "tutor," and refers to his alliance with Chavez and Cuba's Fidel
Castro as an "axis of good."

------

Associated Press Writer Carlos Valdez in La Paz contributed to this report.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HRLSKG0.htm?sub=apn_home_down&chan=db

Morales y Chavez aplican acuerdos economicos con Cuba contra EEUU

bolivia-venezuela 27-05-2006

Morales y Chávez aplican acuerdos económicos con Cuba contra EEUU

Los presidentes de Bolivia, Evo Morales, y de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez,
firmaron 16 convenios de cooperación, en aplicación de un acuerdo
tripartito con Cuba, y se unieron para anunciar que los tres países
están empeñados en el socialismo para combatir la política 'imperial' de
Estados Unidos.

Chávez firmó este viernes los compromisos de su gobierno, en diversas
áreas, que serán financiados por Venezuela en beneficio de Bolivia, en
un acto en el que también participó el vicepresidente cubano, Carlos
Lage, en el Palacio de Gobierno de la ciudad de La Paz.

Los tres mandatarios culminaron así una intensa jornada que se inició en
la región cocalera del Chapare, en el centro del país, donde el
gobernante boliviano inauguró la campaña electoral de su partido hacia
la Asamblea Constituyente.

Entre los convenios destacan la compra de bonos del Tesoro General de la
Nación de Bolivia por parte de Venezuela, por un valor de 100 millones
de dólares, y la conformación de una sociedad entre las estatales
petroleras de ambos países para explorar y explotar hidrocarburos en
territorio boliviano.

La empresa Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) prometió realizar las
inversiones en una sociedad de partes iguales a la vez que otras
entidades del Ejecutivo de Caracas darán asistencia técnica a
estudiantes, profesionales y militares bolivianos en varios sectores.

Morales insistió en defender la nacionalización de hidrocarburos dictada
hace tres semanas en Bolivia y recalcó que es una medida que no tiene
regreso porque fue un ejercicio de la soberanía y que servirá para
'acabar la bancarrota' en Bolivia.

Reiteró que su administración está preparando 'nuevas sorpresas', para
la recuperación de los recursos naturales, como la tierra y el agua, en
beneficio de los pobres.

'Esta lucha va a continuar, hay mucho que hacer, y quien dice que se
deteriora la democracia, está equivocado', sostuvo en alusión al
presidente George W. Bush, de EEUU, de quien dijo que 'parece que quiere
ver a la democracia boliviana sometida'.

Sin mencionar nombres, Morales también repitió su creencia de que existe
una conspiración contra su gobierno. 'Sí quieren intentar, quieren
provocarnos', señaló, confiado en que los pobres lo defenderán.

Chávez, a su turno, dedicó la mayor parte de su discurso de una hora a
advertir al gobierno estadounidense de que no se atreva a intervenir en
los asuntos internos de los países latinoamericanos.

El polémico líder venezolano fue tan directo que confirmó que los tres
países están 'construyendo socialismo, todos los días, y derrotando el
capitalismo', en una 'gran estrategia'.

'No tengo duda de que seguiremos consolidando este camino y conformando
una gran estrategia. El ALBA (Alternativa Bolivariana para las Américas)
y el TCP (Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos) forman parte de una gran
estrategia que estamos concibiendo en el tablero de América Latina',
precisó.

Chávez hizo un llamamiento a 'enfrentar al imperio, para derrotarlo este
año', aunque aclaró que se refería a este siglo para lograr ese
objetivo, como única forma de tener patria y paz.

Al dar por hecha la alianza tripartita, Chávez aseguró que, 'si por
desgracia ocurre' una invasión estadounidense a Cuba o Bolivia 'correría
sangre venezolana también' para defender a los gobiernos de Fidel Castro
y de Morales.

'Tendrían que invadirnos a nosotros también, así que serían dos planes'
los que necesitará Estados Unidos, recalcó el férreo impulsor de la
unidad latinoamericana, sobre la base de las ideas del libertador Simón
Bolívar.

Antes, el vicepresidente de Cuba alabó los acuerdos
boliviano-venezolanos y sostuvo que, contra los males del capitalismo,
las revoluciones cubana, bolivariana y de los movimientos sociales de
Bolivia 'prueban que otro mundo es posible, necesario y urgente'.

Terra Actualidad - EFE
http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/morales_chavez_cuba_eeuu_900811.htm

Fidel miente al retar a Forbes

Posted on Sat, May. 27, 2006
ERNESTO F. BETANCOURT

Fidel miente al retar a Forbes

La revista Forbes reportó que estimaba la fortuna personal de Fidel en
$900 millones. Me imagino que mucha gente en Cuba debe haber hecho la
comparación entre la miseria en que viven y la opulenta fortuna que se
atribuye a Fidel. Eso parece ofendió a Fidel, quien convocó a una Mesa
Redonda en la cual el presidente del Banco Central, Francisco Soberón,
su cómplice en el manejo de las finanzas internacionales, y otros,
juraron y perjuraron que Fidel es un hombre honesto incapaz de usar
dinero del pueblo en beneficio propio. Fidel ofreció renunciar al cargo
si el gobierno de EEUU podía citar una sola cuenta con un dólar a su
nombre en un banco internacional.

Estoy seguro que ya Soberón se ha encargado de que no haya cuentas a
nombre de Fidel. Los mecanismos de encubrimiento existentes ofrecen una
explicación a dicha oferta. Por otra parte, el silencio inexplicable de
la administración de Bush en revelar los detalles del escándalo de
lavado de dinero de UBS por el monto de $3,900 millones ofrece
seguridades a Fidel de que no sufrirá el engorro de revelaciones
embarazosas.

En primer lugar, quiero aclarar que considero el método utilizado por
Forbes totalmente inadecuado a la situación de Cuba. Fidel no es un
hombre de negocios, sino un gobernante feudal. Por tanto, para evaluar
su riqueza sería más apropiado tomar en cuenta la totalidad de la
riqueza de Cuba, ya que Fidel es dueño y señor de vidas y haciendas en
la isla. O sea, en mi opinión, la gente de Forbes se queda corta. Ni los
critico ni cuestiono sus números. Hacen lo mejor posible con la
información disponible.

En 1959, fui director del Fondo de Estabilización de la Moneda dentro
del Banco Nacional. Era el primer año de la revolución en el poder.
Fidel tenía el control de las cuentas que se abrieron, principalmente en
Nueva York, para depositar los pagos al Movimiento 26 de Julio por
impuestos de los azucareros. Celia Sánchez era quien manejaba esas
cuentas entonces. Nunca rindieron cuentas al Banco Nacional por las
mismas. Cuando vinimos en el viaje a los Estados Unidos en abril de
1959, Celia traía un cartucho con miles de dólares, que usaba para pagar
gastos de la comitiva y para hacer compras. Hubo muchos comentarios
sobre cómo usó ese dinero para pagar los vestidos que se compró en la
lujosa tienda Garfinckels de Washington. Nada personal, saben. Todo en
aras del servicio a la patria.

A Rufo López Fresquet, ministro de Hacienda, le molestaba que Fidel
usaba unas chequeras que le había dado para hacer toda clase de pagos y
él sólo se enteraba cuando al final del mes le llegaba el estado de
cuenta del banco. Según comentaba el ministro, algunos de los cheques
eran por cientos de miles de pesos y no había partidas en el presupuesto
nacional para ellas. O sea, Fidel se cree que la nación es de su propiedad.

Muchos años después vinieron las revelaciones de Jesús Marzo Fernández.
El fue secretario de la Comisión de Divisas del Grupo de Alimentación
del Consejo de Ministros y desertó a mediados de los noventa. La
información que trajo fue recogida en la edición de agosto de 1997 del
Cuba Monthly Economic Report, que producía el Dr. Jorge Sanguinetty. Por
primera vez se mencionaron las llamadas ''reservas del comandante'', que
incluían las cuentas de cheques de Fidel así como las otras reservas de
autos, camiones, casas, etc. que maneja Fidel sin darle cuentas a nadie.
Para algo es el señor feudal. Las usa lo mismo para hacerle préstamos al
propio gobierno cubano como para hacer regalos a sus secuaces, sobornar
a gobernantes, pagar por actividades terroristas en cualquier lugar del
mundo o hacer compras para su uso personal.

Finalmente, María Werlau, en un documento presentado en la XV Reunión de
la Asociación para el Estudio de la Economía Cubana, ofrece la
recopilación más completa que conozco de información sobre lo que ella
denomina Fidel Castro Inc.: A Global Conglomerate. Ella apunta la
coincidencia de muchos desertores del régimen al describir los
procedimientos para depositar en las cuentas internacionales de Fidel.
También menciona una variedad de usos de las cuentas similar a la citada
por Marzo Fernández.

Así, Fidel, que cuentas sí ha habido. Por favor, no mientas. Puede que
ya no estén a tu nombre, pero tú eres el dueño. Como de todo, viejo.
¡Ah! Eso sí, si la gente de Bush va a responder a tu reto, no lo sé.
Posiblemente sigan calladitos. Como hasta ahora.

http://www.miami.com/mld/elnuevo/news/world/cuba/14678054.htm

Chavez y Morales ponen en marcha plan petrolero

Chávez y Morales ponen en marcha plan petrolero

Este proyecto cuenta con una inversión inicial de 1.500 millones de dólares.

Por Coco Cuba
Bolivia, AFP
Los presidentes Hugo Chávez y Evo Morales se reunieron ayer en la región
cocalera del Chapare, en un encuentro destinado a ratificar lazos entre
Bolivia y Venezuela en materia petrolera, y avanzar en acuerdos que
incluyen también a Cuba.
En presencia del vicepresidente cubano, Carlos Lage, los mandatarios de
Bolivia y Venezuela, enfundados en un poncho andino y un ‘lluchu’
(gorro) de lana a pesar del intenso calor de la zona cocalera, echaron a
andar en Shinaota, unos 700 km al este de La Paz, un proyecto energético
binacional de gran envergadura, que será oficializado en la noche en La Paz.
Este proyecto, con una inversión inicial de 1.500 millones de dólares,
implica la construcción a corto plazo de plantas de refinación de crudo,
de petroquímica y fertilizantes, además de producción de gas natural y
petróleo en diversos puntos del país andino, donde 20 poderosos
consorcios mundiales gestionan hidrocarburos desde 1996.
Para hacerlo realidad, la estatal venezolana Pdvsa y la boliviana
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPFB) se asociarán para
industrializar el gas natural, principal riqueza de Bolivia, dueña de la
segunda reserva de Sudamérica (1,55 billones de m3) en el marco de la
reciente nacionalización de hidrocarburos ordenada a principios de mayo
por Morales.
Bolivia y Venezuela prevén asimismo desarrollar junto a Cuba una empresa
agropecuaria, además de firmar una serie de convenios de cooperación en
áreas de minería, salud y educación principalmente.
Se trata de un emprendimiento “con solidaridad, para beneficiar a
pueblos y familias” pobres de Bolivia, apuntó Lage durante un contacto
con los periodistas.
Un ambiente de fiesta rodeó el encuentro de los tres dignatarios. Unos
50.000 indígenas se concentraron en Shinaota para la ceremonia, en la
cual Chávez denunció que Estados Unidos “ya dio luz verde” para una
conspiración para derrocar al gobierno boliviano del izquierdista Evo
Morales.
Además felicitó a Morales “una vez más -pero hacerlo aquí tiene gran
significación- por el gesto histórico, por la decisión valiente y
corajuda de nacionalizar los hidrocarburos para ponerlos al servicio del
proyecto nacional de desarrollo de pueblo de Bolivia”.
“Cuente Bolivia con nuestro apoyo en este proceso social, en este
proceso político, en este proceso económico”, agregó Chávez. El
vicepresidente de Cuba, por su parte, elogió los acuerdos de cooperación
suscritos entre Venezuela y Bolivia.
“Estamos aquí para trabajar juntos para fundar una nueva alternativa
ante las políticas neoliberales, ante los acuerdos y tratados de libre
comercio”, señaló.
La multitudinaria concentración además sirvió para impulsar la campaña
política del partido del presidente Morales a la próxima Asamblea
Constituyente, que se elegirá el 2 de julio, en medio de vítores al
nombre de Fidel Castro y evocaciones al guerrillero Ernesto Che Guevara,
asesinado en 1967 en Bolivia.
Esa Asamblea, según palabras de Morales, está destinada a refundar el país.
Desde el jueves miles de cocaleros provenientes de diversos lugar del
Chapare han llegado por todos los medios, montados en camiones,
autobuses, motocicletas y bicicletas hasta el lugar del acto central.
“Hombres valerosos”, “bienvenidos presidentes”, rezaban decenas de
letreros colocados en diversos pasos de la carretera de esta zona del
trópico cocalero boliviano.
En su llegada a la región este viernes, Morales calificó de históricos
los convenios que iba a suscribir con Chávez y Lage.
“Histórico. Es para mí una gran alegría, me siento orgulloso”, recalcó
el gobernante boliviano en declaraciones a los periodistas en la pista
de aterrizaje del aeropuerto de la base antinarcóticos de Chimoré, a 20
minutos en automóvil de Shinaota. Morales destacó que con Chávez y Lage
se inicia la era de industrialización de los hidrocarburos, inédita en
Bolivia.
“Primera vez en toda la historia, que Bolivia va a empezar a
industrializar los hidrocarburos”, puso de relieve Morales.
También es la “primera vez en la historia boliviana que mediante Estados
y presidentes se da un acuerdo para industrializar la hoja de coca”, apuntó.

http://www.elheraldo.com.co/hoy060527/inter/noti2.htm

Morales y Chavez alientan ingreso de Humala a su alianza con Cuba

bolivia-venezuela 27-05-2006

Morales y Chávez alientan ingreso de Humala a su alianza con Cuba

Los presidentes de Bolivia, Evo Morales, y de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez,
alentaron hoy la posibilidad de que Perú se integre a la alianza de
ambos con Cuba, en un mensaje de apoyo al candidato nacionalista peruano
Ollanta Humala.

Los mandatarios no ocultaron su respaldo al postulante presidencial de
Perú, sobre el que dijeron imaginar como futuro miembro del grupo
conformado por ellos y el líder de Cuba, Fidel Castro, en caso de ganar
la segunda vuelta de los comicios peruanos, previstos para el 4 de junio.

Chávez y el vicepresidente cubano, Carlos Lage, llegaron el viernes a
Bolivia invitados por Morales para el lanzamiento de la campaña del
partido gubernamental, el Movimiento Al Socialismo, para los comicios
que conformarán la Asamblea Constituyente boliviana.

Posteriormente, el mandatario venezolano firmó varios convenios de
cooperación con el Gobierno de Morales, en los que ambos afirmaron estar
construyendo un modelo socialista para enfrentar al capitalismo
'imperial' de Estados Unidos.

'Ojalá podamos contar con nuevos gobiernos cada día más comprometidos
con su pueblo y que se vayan sumando al ALBA (Alternativa Bolivariana
para las Américas) y el TCP (Tratado de Comercio de los Pueblos) que hoy
estamos demostrando el potencial que tienen', sostuvo Chávez.

El ALBA fue lanzado por el gobernante de Venezuela, en 2001, mientras el
TCP es una idea del presidente de Bolivia, de hace dos meses, como
mecanismo opcional al Tratado de Libre Comercio sugerido por EEUU.

Por su parte, Morales declaró que las naciones sudamericanas tienen 'la
obligación' de buscar la unidad.

Asimismo, elogió el próximo acuerdo que firmarán Venezuela y Ecuador
para que el gobierno de Quito pueda refinar una parte de su petróleo en
instalaciones venezolanas, a fin de paliar sus necesidades de combustibles.

'Siento que estamos recuperando algunos gobiernos. El pueblo hará
reflexionar a sus gobiernos. Siento que eso va avanzando en todo América
Latina', expresó confiado el mandatario boliviano.

Terra Actualidad - EFE
http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/morales_chavez_humala_cuba_900809.htm

Carlos Oliva Investigador de la Universidad de La Habana Toma Partido entre el ALCA y el ALBA

Carlos Oliva, Investigador de la Universidad de La Habana, Toma Partido
entre el ALCA y el ALBA
2006-05-27


Carlos Oliva. Foto: Julio González Mendinueta.
El pasado 22 de mayo, Carlos Oliva, profesor, historiador e investigador
del Departamento de Historia de la Universidad de la Habana, discurrió
en la homóloga de Estocolmo sobre el tema América Latina: Entre el ALCA
y el ALBA. Dicha plática, sostenida en idioma español, tuvo lugar en la
biblioteca del Instituto de Estudios Latinoamericanos, entre las 18.00 y
las 19.30 hora local de Suecia.

Tras ser presentado por Mona Rosendahl, Directora del Instituto,
alrededor de 50 asistentes –la mayoría de evidente procedencia
latinoamericana- escuchamos la charla por espacio de una hora, dándole
más tarde paso a la habitual ronda de preguntas. El seminario contó con
la presencia de Jorge Payret Zubiaur, Plenipotenciario del Gobierno de
Fidel Castro en Suecia, así como probablemente de otros funcionarios de
la misión diplomática caribeña.

Por el exilio cubano afincado en Suecia, hicieron presencia cívica en el
recinto académico, Julio González Mendinueta (autor de las imágenes que
ilustran esta pieza), Pedro Álvarez Peña y quien suscribe esta nota,
todos miembros de la redacción de la revista Misceláneas de Cuba y de la
asociación homónima.

Pinchando el enlace que sigue, Ud. puede escuchar la grabación (en
formato mp3) de la exposición del investigador Carlos Oliva y las
preguntas que le acompañaran:

Charla de Carlos Oliva y ronda de preguntas en el seminario América
Latina, Entre el ALCA y el ALBA
http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/media/audio/20060522CarlosOliva.MP3

Si desea escuchar la intervención de la única voz discordante y
disidente –con obligada pausa intermedia motivo de la interrupción de
molestos circunstantes-, le remitimos al segmento de la grabación que va
del 01 h. 10 min. 10 seg. a 01 h. 14 min. 40 seg.

Un reportaje a fondo –narrativo y analítico- verá prontamente la luz en
este medio informativo.

http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=5621

viernes, 26 de mayo de 2006

CUBA AND CHINA WHY IS ECONOMICALLY SUCCESSFUL CHINA INTERESTED IN THE ECONOMICALLY FAILED CUBA AND VICE VERSA?

CUBA AND CHINA WHY IS ECONOMICALLY SUCCESSFUL CHINA INTERESTED IN THE
ECONOMICALLY FAILED CUBA AND VICE VERSA?

By William Ratliff
Latin Business Chronicle
Infosearch:
José F. Sánchez
Bureau Chief
Cuba
Research Dept.
La Nueva Cuba
May 25, 2006

Cuba survived a decade of economic crisis in the 1990s after the
collapse of its Cold War support network, the Soviet bloc. Now the
Maximum Leader is building a new network, stretching from Caracas to the
People's Republic of China (PRC), that he thinks will get him through
his economic foolishness in the years ahead.

William Ratliff is Adjunct Fellow at the Independent Institute, Research
Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, and a frequent
writer on Chinese and Cuban foreign policies.

Fidel's affair with Venezuela's volatile President Hugo Chavez is a
match made in Castroite heaven, but the relationship with China is more
complicated. Why is the enormous Middle Kingdom, with its explosively
growing economy, interested in an ancient dictator on a tiny Caribbean
island who is mindlessly bound to failed statist economic policies? And
vice versa?

In 1960, Cuba was the first Latin American country to recognize the PRC.
Still, relations were often hostile for several decades because only the
Soviet bloc could provide both sufficient economic aid to sustain
Castro's always-failing economy and a military shield against his chosen
enemy, the United States.

With the lapse in the Sino-Soviet dispute in the 1980s, Sino-Cuba
relations began to improve. In June 1989, the rapprochement fast-tracked
when Cuba strongly endorsed Chinese repression at Tiananmen.

T oday Sino-Cuba links fall into three broad categories: political,
economic and strategic. Cuba benefits most from China's often
overlapping political and economic support, while China wins most from
obtaining intelligence on the U.S. through the Cuban government.

Fidel and Raul Castro, and most other top Cuban leaders, have visited
China one or more times. Two Chinese presidents, most recently Hu
Jintao, in November 2004, and many other top Chinese leaders, have
visited Cuba. Besides pro forma calls for world peace and development,
the two governments support each other on such issues as condemning the
U.S. embargo of Cuba and supporting China's 2005 anti-secession law
aimed at Taiwan.
Looking beyond Fidel, many other current Cuban leaders are fascinated by
the "Chinese style" economic reforms that Fidel rejects: political
control and market-oriented economic reforms.

Economically, Beijing is a pragmatic, quid pro quo ally. While China
looks to eventually receive significant quantities of nickel from Cuba,
in general Cuban exports to China are insignificant. But China is Cuba's
third largest trading partner, behind only Venezuela and Spain. In
varying degrees, China supports Cuban education, oil exploration, nickel
mining, technological development and transportation infrastructure.

Looking beyond Fidel, Raul Castro, the heir apparent, and many other
current Cuban leaders, are fascinated by the "Chinese style" economic
reforms that Fidel rejects. That is, maintaining considerable political
control but undertaking some serious, systematic market-oriented
economic reforms to escape perpetual economic malaise.

The payoff for China is a very welcome window from which to observe the
United States. Consider that Washington watches China from military
bases all over Asia, space satellites and surveillance planes, one of
which was forced to land on the Chinese island of Hainan in early 2001
and precipitated the first Bush Administration showdown with the PRC.
China, however, has no military bases abroad and no planes flying along
U.S. coasts.

Also consider that while the U.S. complains about China's military
modernization and possible future aggression abroad, China has solid
evidence of actual U.S. military aggression against sovereign countries,
whether Americans approve the actions or not, by Bill Clinton in
Yugoslavia in 1999 and George Bush in Iraq in 2003. Add to that the
sophisticated arms Washington sells to Taiwan, an island both Beijing
and Washington (and Taipei, until recently) consider part of "one China."

U.S. officials will not talk seriously about Sino-Cuban strategic
issues, though they do say China is involved in developing capabilities
in intelligence, cyber warfare and communications that may affect the
region. Sometimes citing unevenly reliable press reports as evidence,
the specific areas of concern seem to be Lourdes and Bejucal, both near
Havana.

Lourdes, for decades the largest Soviet overseas espionage base, now
seems to be mainly a new University of Information Sciences (UCI) . Hu
Jintao visited the campus in 2004 and said that most of the thousands of
computers there are from China. The unanswerable questions are what else
at UCI comes from China and what the PRC gets in return.
Future Sino-Cuban relations will depend on unpredictable developments in
China, Cuba, the U.S. and beyond.

The base at Bejucal may have Chinese as well as Cuban agents, but at
least some of the published information is overblown. For example, a
widely circulated photograph of awesome golf-ball shaped radar domes,
allegedly at Bejucal, are in fact a U.S. facility at Menwith Hill
Station, UK.

Washington and Beijing have not ranted at each other since the Hainan
EP-3 incident almost five years ago. Why? Perhaps because both have
decided the current placement of surveillance networks is a tolerable
tradeoff for now in a dangerous, suspicious, imperfect world.

Future Sino-Cuban relations will depend on unpredictable developments in
China, Cuba, the U.S. and beyond. They could range from China's more
intensive use of Cuban bases and contacts in the Americas, particularly
under a post-Fidel authoritarian government, to Bejing deciding Fidel is
too much of an expense and embarrassment to support, particularly if
facilities in Cuba could be traded off in a deal with the U.S. on Taiwan.

http://www.lanuevacuba.com/archivo/notic-06-05-2520.htm

Venezuela Oil Sales To Cuba At 98,000 B/D In 2006-Oil Min

Venezuela Oil Sales To Cuba At 98,000 B/D In 2006-Oil Min
05-23-06 07:48 AM EST

CARACAS -(Dow Jones)- Venezuela's crude sales to Fidel Castro's Cuba
stand at 98,000 barrels a day, the oil minister said late Monday.

"They stand at 98,000 b/d and they should remain there this year," Oil
Minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters.

The figure is slighly higher than the 90,000 barrels a day announced in
early January, and an indication that Venezuela's economic ties with the
island nation continue to strengthen.

Oil sales to Cuba increased to 90,000 b/d last year, sometimes reaching
92,000 b/d in some months, according to government estimates.

Venezuela's total trade with Cuba reached $1.76 billion last year, of
which oil and crude products amounted to $1.62 billion, according to
figures from state-run export bank Bancoex.

Oil ministry officials have long insisted that Cuba pays international
prices for Venezuelan crude and receives the same benefits offered to
other Latin American countries.

Castro in turn pays for oil shipments partly with cash and part with
services rendered by thousands of Cuban doctors that tend to the poor in
Venezuelan barrios.

President Hugo Chavez has worked to cement relations with Cuba and to
further integrate both economies.

Doing business with the island, Chavez has said, is a legitimate right
his government has and is part of a campaign to foster a multipolar
world with reduced dependence on the U.S.

--By Raul Gallegos, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-212-564-1339; raul.gallegos@
dowjones.com

Corrected May 23, 200608:13 ET (12:13 GMT)

Venezuela's total trade with Cuba reached $1.76 billion last year, of
which oil and crude product sales stood at $1.62 billion, according to
figures from state-run export bank Bancoex.

(In the item "Venezuela Oil Sales To Cuba At 98,000 B/D In 2006--Oil
Min", published at 7:48 a.m. EDT, it misstated the dollar amount of
total exports to Cuba.)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-23-06 0748ET

http://news.morningstar.com/news/DJ/M05/D23/200605230748DOWJONESDJONLINE000356.html?Cat=Americas

Off-coast drilling will happen let's get in game

OIL

Off-coast drilling will happen; let's get in game
By Larry Craig

May 26, 2006

Last week I, along with nine other Republican senators, including the
chairman of Energy and chairman of Intelligence, and three influential
Democrats, introduced the Western Hemisphere Energy Security Act. In
light of our current energy crunch, this bill would allow U.S. companies
and producers the opportunity to compete with the likes of China, India,
France and others who are exploring and extracting oil resources 50
miles off our southern coast in some potentially lucrative waters in the
north Cuban basin.

Under current law, U.S. companies cannot drill in these international
waters. Congress seeks to change that as Americans have had enough of
dependence on foreign sources of oil and $3 gas.

First, the public wants our country to diversify our resources and
become less dependent on Middle East oil. Second, experts in Latin
American politics make a strong case that our disengagement policy
toward Latin America is having serious consequences for U.S. economic,
national security and resource interests in the Western Hemisphere. In
particular, the names of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of
Bolivia are becoming common in public discussion, and we have seen a
radical change in Latin America, where countries are turning to leftist
and socialist governments.

These developments do not serve our economic or national security
interests, with the nationalization of industries in several Latin
American countries. However, they do serve the very interests of
countries around the world with similar governments and policies. In
particular, China is aggressively exploiting these developments right on
our doorstep.

Just recently the Bush administration's National Security Strategy has
pointed to China's extreme resource hunger with concern, because China
is "acting as if they can somehow lock-up energy supplies around the
world or seek to direct markets rather than opening them up."

I could not agree more, especially as Chinese oil drills are about to be
planted 50 miles off our coast and Venezuela purchases 18 oil rigs from
China. In fact, Chávez has stated numerous times that he seeks to divert
his oil exports away from the United States to China. Should this ever
occur, it goes without saying that it could have devastating impacts on
our economy.

So today, we must re-evaluate our failed policy of disengagement, which
limits our ability to diversify our resources and compete with China,
India and others. Disengagement also dooms the governments of Latin
America to repeat their failed history, rather than join the community
of modern and progressive democracies.

Anyone who fears the small island of Cuba shows no faith in the great
concepts of America, capitalism, the power of engagement and a human's
will to be free.

Clearly, those who do fear Cuba, Venezuela and others must understand
that such isolation has only resulted in creating a vacuum, which China
has eagerly stepped in to fill. I, for one, can no longer stand by and
let fear dictate our foreign policy. Sitting on the sidelines promotes
stagnation, not change, and only diminishes our influence in the region.

Practically speaking, Cuba is an irrelevant factor in the world of
foreign and global affairs. This may be why consecutive administrations
and Congresses have allowed a small group of people with a special
grudge against Cuba, legitimate or not, to have free rein on U.S.
foreign policy toward Cuba for domestic political purposes.

For the sake of our national and economic security, this is wrong.
Enough is enough, and that is clearly evident by the quick, diverse and
vast support in the Senate for my bill.

It isn't as if Cuban oil won't be extracted if U.S. producers do not
participate. It will be; there is no debate.

So if this is to happen, Floridians ought to demand it be done by the
best, most environmentally responsible companies in the world. China's
inexperience in this area and poor environmental record is troubling at
best.

As President Bush said recently, "China is not our enemy." He is
absolutely right. China isn't our enemy; we are our own worst enemy.
While we debate endlessly about energy independence and diversification,
China is locking up oil plots right off our coast. Let's get in the
game, so the job is done right.

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig is a Republican from Idaho.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-35forum34may26,0,5493651.story?coll=sfla-news-opinion