February 2012 Issue

BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA

Next month, Cuba will celebrate a mile-stone in the island’s history: on Mar. 26,Pope Benedict XVI is set fly from Mexico

to Santiago de Cuba, kicking off a 48-hour whirl-wind tour of the island.

After saying Mass at the city’s Antonio Maceosquare, he’ll visit the cathedral of Cuba’s patronsaint, La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre, as partof celebrations marking the 400th anniversaryof the discovery of the virgin’s image.

The visit, which concludes with an outdoorMass at Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución, willmark only the second papal tour to Cuba sincethe 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro topower (Pope John Paul II came in 1998).

“We think his visit will spread a message ofhope, peace and moral values, in sharp contrastto what Cubans experience on a daily basis,”said Tony Jiménez, co-founder of the Miami-

based student organization Raíces de Esperanza.“It’s an opportunity for Catholics and others tosee what’s really going on in Cuba.”

Besides the spiritual rewards, the Pope’s up-coming trip could especially prove to be fruitfulfor travel agencies specializing in Cuba — withsome charging well over $2,000 per person for afive-night stay at a major Havana hotel.

Charter airlines also expect a mini-bonanza.“We have been inundated with requests by

large and small religious groups who want tovisit Cuba during the Pope’s visit, as have all thetravel service providers,” says Bob Guild, vice-president of Marazul Charters Inc. in NorthBergen, N.J.

“There are special extra charter flights fromMiami and New York traveling to Santiago deCuba and Havana for the two masses,” Guild toldCubaNews. “This is in addition to many groupsalready scheduled to visit Cuba in March.”

BY ANA RADELAT

Mitt Romney has come a long way since2008, when he offended Cuban-Amer-ican exiles in Miami by ending his cam-

paign speech with “¡Patria o muerte, vencere-mos!” — Fidel Castro’s traditional signoff.

Exit polls showed Romney the clear favoriteamong Cuban-Americans who voted in Florida’sJan. 31 Republican presidential primary. He wonMiami-Dade County, home to many Cuban-Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin over his top rival,former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Romney’s decisive win in Florida — a big im-provement over four years ago, when he camein second to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — is theresult of better advice on how to win the votes ofCuban-American conservative voters.

Romney’s top advisors are among the embar-go’s fiercest defenders. These include Reps. Ile-ana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Díaz-Balart, bothCuban-American Republicans representingheavily Hispanic districts in South Florida.

Díaz-Balart, who did not support Romney inthe 2008 presidential race, now says the formerMassachusetts governor is “super solid.”

“He clearly understands that appeasing statesponsors of terrorism is a recipe for disaster,”Díaz-Balart said. “He has a very strong positionon denying hard currency to the regime.”

Romney’s views on Cuba are importantbecause, although he’s dogged by several GOPrivals, conventional wisdom says he’ll eventual-ly become the GOP nominee for the WhiteHouse. It’s also likely he would select FloridaSen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American andstrong supporter of Cuba sanctions, as his run-ning mate.

If Romney wins the nomination and goes onto defeat Obama in the November presdientialelection, Romney has vowed to:

n Reinstate Bush-era restrictions on traveland remittances to Cuba that Obama abolishedin 2009. The restrictions allowed Cuban-Ameri-cans to visit family on the island only once every

In the News

Still no ferryRival firms wait for OFAC approval on Fla.-Cuba overnight ferry service ......Page 3

National conferenceGathering of Cuban Communist Party of-ficials yields few surprises ...........Page 4

Political briefsCuban 5 lawyer prepares last-ditch appeal;Cuba hopes to be at OAS meet ...Page 5

Taiwan’s miracleIn 1960, Cuba and Taiwan were both poor.Today, Taiwan is booming and Cuba isn’t.Any lessons to be learned? ...........Page 6

Food prices up 19.8%Trend is bad news for Raúl, who’s forcedto import more commodities .......Page 7

Tourism mapDouble-page map pinpoints location, statusof Cuba’s top resort projects .........Page 8

NewsmakersCarlos Alzugaray, a former diplomat andnow scholar, talks to CubaNews about thesorry state of bilateral ties ..........0

Special reportLatest Havana house collapse exposes Cu-ba’s critical housing shortage .....Page 12

Business briefsRepsol begins offshore drilling; Cuba stilla market for Texas farmers ........Page 15

See Pope, page 2

CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthlyby CUBANEWS LLC. © 2012. All rights reserved.Annual subscription: $398. Nonprofit organizations:$198. Printed edition is $100 extra. For editorial in-quires, please call (305) 393-8760, fax your requestto (305) 670-2229 or email [email protected].

Pope’s visit boosts U.S. interest in Cuba;charter airlines pray for mini-bonanza

See Romney, page 3

Cuban-American exiles fill policy rolesin Mitt Romney presidential campaign

Vol. 20, No. 2 February 2012

2 CubaNews v February 2012

See Pope, page 3

Pope — FROM PAGE 1

Olga Machado, whose West New York, N.J.-based Peerless Travel and Tours has been of-fering such trips for 10 years, told CubaNews:“We already have one religious group fromthe Bronx and one from Brooklyn traveling toCuba during that time. We also expect to havebookings from New Jersey to see the Pope.”

And a staffer from Aspa Travel of Hialeah,Fla., told CubaNews she expects another waveof young travelers flying to Cuba that week.“Believe it or not, spring break will take placeat that time too, so we will have many youngpeople traveling to Cuba because of that.”

Despite the generally positive buzz thePope’s visit is generating, one travel agency,Ya’lla Tours USA, said the Vatican’s announce-ment of the trip just two months beforehand islimiting the number of potential visitors toCuba from the United States.

“I wish we had more time to get the newsout,” said Ronen Paldi, president of Portland,Ore., agency. “Usually, Catholic passengersthat take pilgrimages to Israel with us needmore than two months to plan their trip, andwith this economy, it is even more crucial.”

POOR SALES DELAY BWI-HAVANA FLIGHTS

Meanwhile, to accommodate increasedCuban-American ethnic travel to the island —as well as trips by students, researchers, jour-nalists, humanitarian groups and otherlicensed travelers — the White House lastyear dramatically expanded the number ofU.S. airports allowed to offer direct charterservice to Cuba to more than a dozen, includ-ing Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, FortLauderdale, Houston, New Orleans, Pitts-burgh, Tampa and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Until last year, such charter flights couldoriginally only from Miami, New York JFK orLos Angeles.

Earlier this month, the first charter flight toCuba took off from Houston’s Bush Intercon-tinental Airport, carrying 80 passengers —mostly business people authorized to connectwith professionals in Cuba.

Similar service was scheduled to beginMar. 21 from Baltimore-Washington Interna-tional to Havana, but William Hauf, presidentof Island Travel & Tours, said he’s beenforced to postpone such flights until the fall.

“We were premature in establishing thedate of Mar. 21 because the demand for theseflights has not yet reached a level where theycan be self-supporting,” Hauf told CubaNews,adding that only three tickets had been soldas of Feb. 15.

“It’s going to take some time to mature tothe point where the community is fully awareof these flights,” he said, adding that at $895 aticket for the BWI-Havana round trip, at least80 seats must be sold just to break even.

“The plane itself costs $50,000, and thatcombined with airport taxes, landing fees andcommissions to be paid to the travel serviceproviders bring the total costs over $70,000,”he explained. “This is a very expensive opera-tion, and we don’t want to happen to us whatwe’ve seen with other cities, where they start-

ed prematurely and demand didn’t grow.”Charter airlines have already been forced

to scale back Cuba-bound flights fromChicago, New York’s JFK, Atlanta and SanJuan, after the demand was just not there.

At present, Miami offers 60 flights a weekto Cuba; in second place is Tampa, with fourflights a week.

Demand out of Tampa has been so high, infact, that airlines reportedly have had to stag-ger the number of passengers per flight inorder to make room for all the gifts and bag-gage they’re taking with them to Cuba.

Meanwhile, one Canadian agency, A. NashTravel Inc., has already advised its customersthat all hotels in Havana and Santiago deCuba “will be at high season pricing for theperiod Mar. 25-31, 2012.”

Those rates are fixed,” Paldi said. “Minturthen tells the receptivos to charge the Ameri-cans a markup of 70-80%. Then those recep-tivos add their own markup. Havanatur beingcrooks, that one is the highest.”

The European travel agency we spoke toconfirmed these observations.

“This has been the modus operandi of theCuban government for many years,” said theagent. “In 1999, Meliá almost got hit with aprice fixing or anti-trust fine in Europe forabiding by Mintur’s pricing policy and charg-ing French agents more than Spanish agents.

“Back then, it was thought that Meliá wasfavoring their fellow Spaniards but, in reality,it was Mintur dictating [illegally under EUand most international law] different pricesper nation. After this close brush, Mintur har-

While that shouldn’t surprise seasonedinternational travelers, some might be dis-mayed to learn that Cuba’s Ministry ofTourism (Mintur) is behind discriminatorypricing policies that force U.S. visitors to paymore than their Canadian and Europeancounterparts for the same services.

Two travel agencies — Ya’lla Tours USAand a European agency that asked not to benamed — complained to CubaNews that Min-tur imposes three different rates dependingon the nationality of the traveler.

TRAVEL AGENTS SAY MINTUR DISCRIMINATES

“After we had already gotten out the word tothe churches and had them registered, wewere advised that Mintur had advised thehotel [in Cuba] to increase the rates by 25%for the week of the Papal visit, which killedmany potential travelers from traveling toCuba,” said Paldi of Ya’lla Tours.

He added: “Mintur instructed the threelocal agencies that handle U.S. passenger traf-fic [Havanatur, San Cristóbal and Amistur] tohave three levels of prices that they charge.”

Cheapest rates are extended to travelersfrom most countries, he said, with minor fluc-tuations from one country to the other.Cuban-Americans pay more, and Americansnot of Cuban origin pay the highest — insome cases 70% higher than foreigners.

“The way it’s done is very simple. Thehotels do give the different Cuban inboundagencies rates for the season and the year.

monized European pricing and stopped the‘per nationality’ pricing but continued tocharge Europeans more than Russians, SouthAmericans less than Russians and Canadiansless than just about anyone else.”

Mintur representatives in Havana didn’t re-spond to requests for comment for this story.

U.S. citizens get ripped off most of all, theEuropean agent told CubaNews. “I am awarethat Mintur is conspiring to milk Americans,”he said. “A simple look at some tours wouldmake a European operator cringe. Thesesame tours are sold in Europe for less thanhalf the amount being charged to Americans.”

PRICING POLICIES RAISE QUESTIONS

He added, however, that “this price-fixingisn’t limited to hotels. Struggling Havana-based agencies waiting for the U.S. market toopen have had their loyalty to Cuba rewardedby an outright ban on sales to Americans. Ifan American is found to have used their serv-ices, they will receive one warning, then havetheir license revoked by Mintur.”

That same agent described to CubaNewsthe politics behind such unfair practices.

“The Cubans have orchestrated a ‘closedmarket’ where only Cuban enterprises cansell directly to Americans,” he said. “Thismeans that the bookings from OFAC travelservice providers (TSPs) must use only thedesignated Cuban [government-run] agents.

“Havanatur no longer [belongs to] Cimex,

Pope Benedict XVI will spend 48 hours on the island; his trip is limited to Santiago de Cuba and Havana.

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February 2012 v CubaNews 3

Romney — FROM PAGE 1

three years, among other things.n “Strictly adhere” to the 1996 Helms-Bur-

ton Act, including Title III, “to place maxi-mum pressure on the Cuban regime.” Title IIIof the act allows Americans to sue people orcompanies who use Cuban property seizedafter Castro’s 1959 revolution. But no lawsuitshave been filed because U.S. presidents con-sistently waive enforcement of Title III.

n Demand the immediate release of AlanGross, a 62-year-old American arrested morethan two years ago for distributing high-techcommunication equipment in Cuba throughaU.S. Agency for International Development“democracy building” program.

In this regard, Romney is following in thefootsteps of President Obama, who also askedfor Gross’s immediate release.

n Fully fund and effectively implementdemocracy promotion programs to supportCuba’s “brave pro-democracy movement.”

What Romney means is he’ll ask Congressfor generous funding of the controversialUSAID program, which Cuba condemns as anattack on its sovereignty. But it’s up to Con-gress to decide what to do with the program.

Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee, frozeUSAID’s Cuba policy money last year.

n Order effective use of Radio and TVMarti’s broadcasts to the island and “employrobust Internet, social media and other inno-vative steps to bring information to the Cuban

people and help them send information out.”Breaking Cuba’s blocking of Radio and TV

signals are prohibitively expensive, especiallyas Congress looks to cut money from the fed-eral budget. And smuggling high-tech com-munications equipment to Cuba is risky, ascan be seen by the Alan Gross case.

n “Publicly identify by name those policeofficers, prison officials, judges, state securitypersonnel, and regime officials who mistreat,torture, and oppress the Cuban people sothey know they will be held individuallyaccountable.”

n Explore all avenues — including criminalindictment — to ensure that Fidel and RaúlCastro are held accountable for the killing offour Americans in the downing of theBrothers to the Rescue airplanes.”

Yet it’s unclear how a U.S. court could trythe Castro brothers for the 1996 shootdown ofCuban exiles in Cuban airspace, or who wouldextradite the Castros for trial.

CANF DISMISSES ROMNEY ‘CAMPAIGN RHETORIC’

Francisco “Pepe” Hernández, president ofthe Miami-based Cuban American NationalFoundation (CANF), said some of Romney’sproposed Cuba policies are merely campaignrhetoric that would be discarded if he everentered the Oval Office.

Implementation of Helms-Burton’s Title IIIwould be “very upsetting to the Europeans,”Hernández said, and not likely to happen.

“I honestly believe this is just a campaign

promise,” he told CubaNews. “Candidatesoften say things to get the votes of Cuban-Americans that is very different from whatthey do after they get elected.”

Yet Hernández said Romney would proba-bly use his authority as president to follow therecommendations of Ros-Lehtinen, Díaz-Balart and other Cuba hardliners to roll backCuban-American travel and remittances andend Obama’s policy that encourages “pur-poseful’ travel to Cuba.

“And that would be very, very unfortunate,”Hernández said of the rollback.

Romney has tapped a Bush administrationofficial, Clifford Sobel, former U.S. ambassa-dor to Brazil and the Netherlands, to help himshape his policy toward Latin America.

Ray Walser, a Foreign Service veteran whois a senior policy analyst at the conservativeHeritage Foundation, is also helping shapeRomney’s Cuba policy.

And there are several Cuban-Americanhardliners on Romney’s “Hispanic OutreachSteering Committee” including Carlos Guti-érrez, who was secretary of commerce in theBush administration.

Gutiérrez also served as the co-chair of theU.S. Commission for Assistance to a FreeCuba, a panel that recommended the rollbackof travel and remittances. Former Sen. MelMartínez (R-FL), Ros-Lehtinen and Díaz-Balart are also on the outreach team. q

but is a division of Mintur, which — since thearrival of [current Tourism Minister Manuel]Marrero has slowly shut down, taken over orfused any company related to tourism toMintur and thus the military.”

The agent noted some flagrant examples ofthis: Havanatur, Cubacar (previously part ofMitrans), Havanautos (previously Cimex),Palco Car (previously Cubalse) and REX (pre-viously a joint venture with Mitrans).

“Cuba probably has the only ministry oftourism on the planet that owns all the busi-nesses associated with tourism. They go togreat lengths to portray Mintur as a ‘promo-tional entity’ and hide/disguise the massivecentralization of the industry to one entity —the Castro regime.”

But these pricing policies — which have ap-parently infuriated non-Cuban hotel industryofficials who’d like to bring more Americanvisitors to the island — are done behind thescenes, not blatantly during check-in.

Asked about such practices, New Yorklawyer and embargo foe Tony Martínez hadthis to say: “I have traveled in groups manytimes to Cuba and did not experience theprice discrimination you refer to. Neverthe-less, thankfully we have the Civil Rights Act of1964, which protects us from that kind of dis-crimination based upon national origin.” q

Pope — FROM PAGE 2

Vito Echevarria, a New York-based freelancejournalist, writes regularly for CubaNews aboutbusiness, e-commerce, the arts and entertainment.

Could 2012 be the year that companiesseeking to run ferries between Floridaand Cuba finally get U.S. approval?

Leonard D. Moecklin Sr. hopes so. Fornearly two years, he’s been waiting for U.S.permission to start up Cuba service for hisFt. Lauderdale-based outfit, Havana FerryPartners. He plans to operate a ship thatwould carry 500 to 600 passengers per trip,likely leaving Port Everglades at night andarriving in Havana the next morning.

Trips would cost at least $50 less thanFlorida-Cuba charter flights and allow pas-sengers to haul more luggage than theycan on planes, he said.

Moecklin needs the go-ahead fromWashington as an exemption to the 50-year-old embargo. He already knows the ropeson this topic. For years, Moecklin sold U.S.grain to Cuba through Miller Farms Ex-ports under a loophole. He’s visited Cubamany times and has family living there.

For the moment, Moecklin is urging theTreasury Department’s Office of ForeignAssets Control to approve at least a trialrun to ferry passengers to Cuba for theMar. 26-28 visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Hefigures an initial run will show it’s time toauthorize scheduled service.

But not so fast in a presidential electionyear, caution executives in the know.

They say the time for OFAC to havegranted ferry licenses was 2011, whenWashington authorized a dozen more U.S.airports to offer charter flights to Cuba.

Chances for U.S. approvals of new Cubabusiness are dim in an election year, whenpoliticians fear alienating conservative Cu-ban exiles who support the embargo andcould tip election results in Florida.

Bruce Nierenberg, founder of Orlando-based United Caribbean Lines, said he isn’texpecting OFAC approval for his Florida-Cuba ferry plan this year. Instead, he hopesto start ferry service between Tampa andCancún, Mexico, with routes to Cuba later,should approval come after the elections.

At least two other firms are eyeing simi-lar ferry service: Paris-based Unishippingand Spain’s Balearia, which just beganFlorida-Bahamas ferry operations.

Of course, U.S. approvals are only halfthe story, since such ferries also needHavana’s permission.

Cuba has a decades-old rule that barsCuban-Americans from arriving by ship,though Moecklin said he’s received assur-ances that Cuban authorities will waive thatrule once the ferries obtain OFAC approval.

But like Nierenberg and others, Moeck-lin still waits.

– DOREEN HEMLOCK

Fla.-Cuba ferry operators await OFAC blessing

Washington-based journalist Ana Radelat hascovered Cuba-related issues on Capitol Hill forCubaNews since the newsletter’s birth in 1993.


PCC’s national conference: Old melodies in a new settingBY DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI

The Cuban Communist Party’s nationalconference, held Jan. 28-29 in Havana,was a disappointment for rank-and-file

party members and average citizens alike.After the Sixth Party Congress in April

2011, the implementation of many of its keydecisions and President Raúl Castro’s promis-es last year, expectations were naturally quitehigh — despite the official emphasis on inter-nal, organizational party issues.

Indeed, Cubans were eager to see discus-sion on a host of pending subjects linked toimplementation of the Lineamientos, as well asa new approach to legislation on foreigninvestment, salaries, prices, currencies, taxa-tion, the remains of forced procurement(Acopio) and the expansion of supplies to theself-employed and small businesses.

Other issues of interest included the clos-ing down of bankrupt industries and services,greater support to various forms of coopera-tive associations, the promotion of new facesto the Central Committee and the Politburo,the potential role of Cubans abroad, andmuch-awaited changes on immigration.

However, none of these issues were dealtwith by the 811 delegates at the conference —the first of its kind in the party’s 50-year exis-tence. Nor was there much discussion on

what should be expected in coming months.Regarding leadership, it was agreed that in

the near future — just this one time — theCentral Committee would be given a mandateto co-opt to its ranks 20% of new members.

The conference itself focused entirely onhow the PCC and its members must “update”the socialist model, and how the party shouldinteract with the UJC (Communist Youth), theunions and other mass organizations. It alsobeseeched party members to follow stan-dards of honesty, morale and dedication.

‘DUSTING OFF’ OLD IDEAS ISN’T ENOUGH

Yet despite Raúl’s recent sweeping reforms— something any visitor to Cuba can see andfeel — most of the wording and rhetoric thatprevailed throughout the conference’s fourcommissions were the same ideas, concepts,principles and policies debated 40 years ago.

As one delegate put it rather mildly, “All weneed to do is follow what has been written formany years.” In his closing remarks, Raúlsaid exactly the same thing, recalling the FirstParty Congress in 1975.

One of the best examples was the debate onmedia and public information. Everythingthat was said had already been debated in1968. Forty-four years later, aside from a sig-nificant improvement in Cuban TV programs,the same problems are still there.

POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Former Cuban intelligence officer DomingoAmuchastegui has lived in Miami since 1994. Hewrites regularly for CubaNews on the CommunistParty and South Florida’s Cuban exile community.

President Raúl Castro’s Jan. 29 closingspeech to the national conference ofthe Cuban Communist Party touched

on many points. His arguments are brieflyparaphrased as follows:

Cuba’s system of one-party rule mustprevail due to the historical circumstancesin which the Cuban Revolution emergedand has managed to survive until this day— in spite of the systematic aggression andhostility of the United States and its allies,and representing the national unity of themajority of the Cuban people.

The world needs to understand thatCuba is not a country living under normalconditions; it’s a country under siege.

Cuba’s enemies and even some of itsfriends are still demanding that Cuba dis-mantle its political system and restore themultiparty model that existed when Cubawas a U.S. neocolony. To renounce the one-party system would mean leagalizing theparty or parties of U.S. imperialism.

With all due respect for all other coun-tries that have a multiparty system, Cubademands the same respect for its politicalchoice based on the principles of self-deter-mination and non-intervention.

The party leads the workings of the state

and government by way of controlling itthrough checking, examining and review-ing their activities, not by intervening, com-manding nor interfering with their activi-ties and responsibilities. We need to put anend to the still-prevailing style of “mandon-ismo” (meaning the party constantly com-mands the state and the government).

Corruption is the crucial issue andthreatens to undermine, as never before,the very foundations of the Revolution. It’seven worse than the multimillion-dollarprogram sponsored by the United States tooverthrow the Revolution.

Therefore, every party member mustreinforce his or her moral authority.Several investigations have recently beenconducted; their results will soon be dis-closed to the public.

Frequently, those involved in corruptioncases under investigation have been partymembers. Besides the legal sanctions, anyparty member involved in corruption willautomatically be expelled from the party.

If the Revolution should someday fallinto the hands of corrupt individuals andcowards, it would cease to exist without theenemy having to fire a single shot.

– DOMINGO AMUCHASTEGUI

Excerpts from Raúl’s closing speech

Another good example: the decision tokeep party “instructors.” This has nothing todo with Marxism or Leninism, but was rathera Stalinist creation aimed at monitoring allparty organizations, deciding right fromwrong. The concept was exported to Cuba inthe 1970s, causing friction and discontentamong average militants.

Nor does it have much to do with Raúl’sclosing remarks, in which he stated that“what we need to do is promote the greatestdemocracy in our society, starting by settingan example within the ranks of the party.”

In short, the criticism of this meeting in2012 could have taken place just as easily in1975, 1985, 1991 or 1995. The difference com-pared to the past is that the economic, socialand political setting is completely differenttoday, and much more demanding in terms ofthe role of the party and its new leadership.

Clearly, the Partido Comunista de Cuba,with more than 800,000 members and an or-ganization (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, orUJC) to which more than 600,000 belong, willnot be able to tackle Cuba’s many challengesmerely by “dusting off” old papers and ideaswritten 40 years ago. Time will tell. q

Delegates to the Jan. 28-29 CommunistParty national conference expressed manysentiments, including the following:

1. When a party leader starts imposinghis views, the party suffers the consequen-ces; it weakens its political authority.

2. If joining the party is a volunteer deci-sion, then the decision of a party memberwho wishes to resign must be respected.

3. Too frequently, young people do notidentify themselves with the codes of thecurrent political discourse.

4. The growing “non-state” sector willforce changes to Cuba’s current labor codeas well as its constitution.

5. No more prejudice and discrimination,especially policies that exclude people dueto race, religious beliefs, sexual orientationand gender identity.

6. No more gaps in public informationand media, no more self-censorship, andgreater scrutiny of public officials.

7. Although women today represent 37%of positions in the central government and41% of the legislature, relatively few wom-en have been promoted to leadership posi-tions since 2002 in most provinces.

8. A progressive and sustained effort —not just words — must be made to pro-mote women, blacks, mestizos and youngpeople to key positions of leadership.

PCC: CRITICAL REMARKS

‘

“I’m willing to do everything possible to convey what I remember well. I haveto seize the opportunity now because my memory is fading.”— Fidel Castro, speaking at the Feb. 6 unveiling of a two-volume memoir called “El

Guerrillero del Tiempo” that covers Fidel’s life from childhood until December 1958.

“If in 1998 the charismatic Pope John Paul II, so loved and respected aroundthe world, couldn’t move the needle on freedoms, what can this pope do? Whatcan he achieve with a visit if the image that comes to mind from the last visit isthe cynical Fidel Castro sitting in the front row at Mass, playing along with thecharade of reverence to the God he expelled from the island 50-some years ago?”

— Columnist Fabiola Santiago, writing Jan. 10 in the Miami Herald.

“Nothing about USAID’s Cuba programs is covert or classified in any way. Wesimply carry out activities in a discreet manner to ensure the greatest possiblesafety of all those involved. For USAID, our democracy programs in Cuba arenot about changing a particular regime. That’s for the Cuban people to decide,and we believe they should be afforded that choice.”

— Mark Lopes, deputy assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for InternationalDevelopment, commenting Feb. 12 on the imprisonment of Alan Gross in Havana.

“Of course, this is covert work. It’s about regime change.”— Robert Pastor, former Latin Amercan advisor to President Jimmy Carter, who now

directs American University’s Center for Democracy and Election Management.

“It was pure chance that she came at this time, but people had hoped formore. I would’ve hoped for a small wink, a phrase with a double meaning thatwe could interpret, and that the government could interpret too.”

— Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, who tried but failed to arrange a meeting withBrazilian President Dilma Rousseff during her official trip to Cuba earlier this month.

“They’re still very restricted, but it’s a great opportunity for cities like Houstonto establish some relationships there that have been difficult to do in the past.”— Genaro Peña, air services development director for Houston Airport System, com-menting on the Feb. 2 launch of direct charter flights between Houston and Havana.

“The countries that have joined Castro and Chávez in an alliance they callALBA are not peaceful, prosperous, or friendly, because they are not free ...Every day drug traffickers and human smugglers violate our borders with theircargo. They can just as easily bring explosives of unimaginable destructivepower and terrorists into our territory. This alone is reason to be surroundedby friendly nations, unlike the nations of the Castro-Chávez alliance.”— Otto Reich, former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, speaking Feb. 13 at the annual

Conservative Political Action Conference on a panel entitled “From Fidel to Chávez:How Do We Stop the Resurgence of Socialism in Latin America?”

“We need to figure out what we can do to inflict maximum pain, maximumpunishment, to bleed Repsol of whatever resources they may have if there’s apotential for a spill that would affect the U.S. coast.”

— Rep. David Rivera (R-FL), testifying Jan. 30 before a congressional subcommittee.

“Sensible politicians ought to be pushing for greater engagement and dialoguebetween Cuba and the United States. Cuba is changing, and we shouldn’t spendthe next 50 years standing on the sidelines.”

— Geoff Thale, director of the Washington Office on Latin America, noting the 50thanniversary of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

“I don’t think the embargo is killing us or doing as much as the governmentsays. If they did away with the embargo, our government would have no one toblame for the way things are, and we would have the possibility to say to thegovernment ‘now what are you going to do? How are you going to fix it?’”

— Rachel, a teacher in Havana who refused to give her last name. She wasquoted in a Feb. 7 Reuters story on how ordinary Cubans view the embargo.

In their own words …


FEINSTEIN: CUBA COULD BECOME U.S. DRUG CONDUIT

A California senator who chairs a congressionalcaucus on international drug trafficking warnsthat Cuba could become a significant hub for ille-gal drugs entering the United States in the nearfuture, the Miami Herald reported Feb. 10.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) made the re-marks during a hearing on what several observ-ers consider the growing possibility that the Car-ibbean could become an even larger transit zonefor illegal drugs, given the increased pressureinternational law enforcement is placing on violentdrug cartels in Mexico and Central America.

Feinstein, leading the hearing of the SenateCaucus on International Narcotics Control, saidCuba is not immune from the problem.

“Just 90 miles from Florida,” she said, “Cubahas the potential to be a major transshipmentpoint for illicit drugs.”

The statement comes just weeks after Cuba’sstate-run newspaper, Granma, reported that theregime seized more foreign-borne drugs in 2011than in any time during the past seven years.

CUBAN 5 ATTORNEY PREPARES LAST-DITCH APPEAL

A lawyer for five Cuban agents sentenced tolong jail terms for spying in the United States toldthe Associated Press on Feb. 8 he is preparing alast-ditch appeal, arguing that one of the menreceived bad counsel and that the jury for all fivewas prejudiced because the U.S. paid several jour-nalists who covered the trial.

Thomas Goldstein said he would submit theappeal Feb. 15 before U.S. District Judge JoanLenard, who can either rule on the matter, ask tohear arguments or order a full evidentiary hear-ing. Four of the men have been jailed since 1998.

The fifth, René Gonzlez, was released last yearafter 13 years in jail, but must remain in theUnited States while he serves out his probation.

González’s lawyer, Phil Horowitz, said he wouldalso appeal that probation decision shortly. Hesaid his 55-year-old client is working as a caretak-er at a private home, but would not reveal thelocation out of concern for González’s security.

CUBA HOPES TO ATTEND OAS SUMMIT IN CARTAGENA

Colombia’s foreign minister says Cuba wants toattend the upcoming 34-nation Summit of theAmericas, an idea immediately dismissed by theU.S. on the grounds the island nation isn’t demo-cratic, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 9.

“Obviously, that they’re interested in attending,”Colombian Foreign Minister Maria AngelaHolguin said in Bogotá upon returning fromCuba, where she met with President Raúl Castro.

Colombia will play host to the Organization ofAmerican States summit Apr. 14-15 in the Carib-bean resort city of Cartagena, and PresidentBarack Obama is expected to attend.

It’ll be the sixth such hemisphere-wide gather-ing of heads of states going back to the 1990s.Cuba has never been invited, although it some-times has sent representatives who hold their ownmeetings and protests outside the gates of theofficial event.

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa,called on left-leaning nations in the region to boy-cott the OAS summit if Cuba isn’t included.

POLITICAL BRIEFS


Taiwan’s economic miracle: Any lessons here for Cuba?

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

BY DOREEN HEMLOCK

When analysts talk about the Chinesemodel for Cuba, they usually refer tomainland China. But why not look

instead to Taiwan, home to a vibrant democ-racy and one of Asia’s strongest economies?.

Scholars explored Taiwan’s developmentand its lessons for Cuba during a Feb. 11 eventat the University of Miami’s Institute of Cubanand Cuban American Studies (ICCAS).

The seminar featured professors fromTaiwan and a speech by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), chairwoman of the HouseForeign Affairs Committee.

Participants cited many similarities be-tween Cuba and the Republic of China. Bothare relatively small island nations that sit ac-ross straits from big powerful countries. Bothhave colonial histories and have chafed underauthoritarian regimes. And in 1960, both hadroughly similar per-capita income levels.

But differences abound. Taiwan now is arich nation, with per-capita income of $35,700a year, more than triple the level in Cuba. Itsits on $385 billion in foreign-exchangereserves, while Cuba is strapped for cash.

Taiwan boasts Taipei 101, one of theworld’s tallest skyscrapers, and Kaohsiung,the world’s sixth-busiest port, with high-speed rail links. Cuba in contrast has no sky-scrapers to speak of, and its ports and high-ways are antiquated.

Taiwan’s multiparty democracy has trans-ferred power peacefully between its politicalparties twice since 2000. Cuba remains a one-party state.

How did Taiwan do it, and can Cuba repli-cate that success? Some of Taiwan’s experi-ence may apply in Cuba, but some won’t, pan-elists acknowledged at the half-day event co-sponsored by ICCAS and the Taiwan Founda-tion for Democracy.

ECONOMIC GROWTH FIRST, DEMOCRACY LATER

Certain conditions behind Taiwan’s move tomulti-party democracy don’t transfer. Taiwanshifted partly because of rising pressure fromthe Taiwanese majority against the Chinesemainland minority.

The minority had imposed its one-party willin 1949 — first under exiled anti-communistleader Chiang Kai-shek and after his death,under his son, Chiang Ching-kuo.

Cuba’s one-party government, in contrast,is homegrown and not an outside occupier.

Chiang’s son also encouraged elections as away to reduce the military’s clout, ending 38years of martial law in 1987. But in Cuba, therelative who succeeded the longtime ruler isbolstering military power instead.

Raúl Castro, who is both president and de-fense minister, keeps Cuba’s armed forces inkey roles in the communist party and stateenterprises.

“There’s a big difference between Raúl Cas-tro and Chiang’s son,” said Carlos Alberto

Montaner, a Havana-born writer who has longchampioned multiparty democracy and politi-cal freedom for Cuba. “Raúl Castro does notwant any kind of political change. He justwants economic change.”

In Taiwan’s case, authoritarian leadersfocused on strong economic growth first —

much as China’s communists now are doingand as Chile’s right-wing dictator, Gen.Augusto Pinochet, did upon taking office in1973. Political reform came later, and onlygradually.

The first transfer of power from Taiwan’sruling Nationalists came in elections in 2000,more than half a century after Chiang and twomillion Chinese fled to Taiwan, panelists said.

That two-step process — economic growthfirst, democracy later — rankled manyCuban-Americans attending the conference.Some advocated for both economic and politi-cal change at the same time. And some calledfor political change first.

“If you can do both at the same time, con-gratulations. But it’s very difficult,” said Dr.Yih-chyi Chuang, dean of the College of Soc-

ial Sciences at National Chengchi Universityof Taipei. The professor, who holds a doctor-ate from University of Chicago, said politicalreform can’t be sustained without a strongeconomic foundation.

Taiwan’s one-party rulers adopted econom-ic policies that were dramatically different

See Taiwan, page 15

than those in Cuba. Their early agrarianreform shared farmland and fostered foodproduction. The Taiwanese received hefty aidfrom the United States and mobilized thosefunds and strong domestic savings to helpdevelop an export-based economy starting inthe 1960s. Government also invested heavilyin education to move up the high-tech ladder.

By contrast, Cuba’s agrarian reform creat-ed large state farms, forcing the island toimport most of its food, said Jorge Salazar-Carrillo, director of the Center of EconomicResearch at Florida International University.

A new government in Havana would needat least $10 billion in global aid for at least fiveyears to modernize Cuba’s flagging economy,he estimates.

Taipei 101 (above); bronze-cast soldiers stand guard at the open-air Juming Museum in Jinshan (aboveright); panoramic view of Taipei (center right) and shoppers at Taipei’s Shihlin night market (below right).

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While all Cubans get a subsidized monthlyfood ration, it is not enough to get by, so theymust purchase additional food at the producemarkets or other places not included in thestatistics office report.

The increased prices are sure to have a bigimpact on the estimated 40% of the populationwho rely on state wages or pensions and donot have access to other sources of income,such as remittances from relatives abroad.

The average wage rose only a few percent-age points to the equivalent of $19 per monthin 2011, the government reported, while pen-sions, which average just over the equivalentof $10 per month, remained the same.

“There is no doubt prices are rising, andfrom what I can see on the news the problemis worldwide,” said Yoandry Leyva, who sellsplumbing supplies in Santiago de Cuba.

“But I live in Cuba and the problems aremine. Every day the prices go up and I keepearning the same. I hope they settle downbecause every day is more difficult.” q

Rising prices have provoked much grum-bling from Cubans, whose buying power hasshrunk under Castro’s changes.

“Everything is going up, except wages.What I bought yesterday for a peso, todaycosts 1.10 pesos or 1.20 pesos, but I continueto earn the same,” said a Havana office work-er who gave her name only as Angelina.

LET’S GO GROCERY SHOPPINGPRICES IN LOCAL CUBAN PESOSpork meat (lb) 28-30.00lamb meat (lb) 30.00rabbit meat (lb) 50.00chicken meat (lb) 25.00black beans (lb) 10.00red beans (lb) 20.00white beans (lb) 20.00chickpeas (lb) 20.00split peas (lb) 5.00imported rice (lb) 5.00local rice (lb) 3.50small bag of potatoes (each) 20.00malanga (lb) 6.00sweet potatoes (lb) 0.40mandioc / cassava (lb) 1.00peppers (each) 15.00garlic (can of clean heads) 10.00garlic (non-clean bunch) 2.50onions (lb) 8-10.00carrots (lb) 10-15.00eggplant (each) 4-5.00tomatoes (lb) 6.00cabbage (each) 10.00cucumber (lb) 4.00beetroot, small bunch (each) 10.00bananas (each) 1.00plantains (each) 2.50peanuts (lb) 12.00lemons (lb) 15.00bitter oranges (each) 1.00guava (lb) 4.50papaya (lb) 4.00pineapples (lb) 5-15.00lettuce (per bunch) 10.00coffee, mezclado (lb) 5.00homemade sausages (each) 5-10.00cooking oil (1-liter bottle) 25.00pork lard (lb) 15.00vinegar (1-liter bottle) 10.00ham (lb) 30.00clean pork steak (lb) 40.00bacon (lb) 20-25.00smoked pork (lb) 20-25.00sausage groundbeef (lb) 10.00smoked pork (lb) 20-25.00smoked quarter chicken (lb) 23.00smoked pork ribs (lb) 35.00

PRICES IN CONVERTIBLE PESOS (CUC)rabbit meat (lb) 2.00imported premium rice (kg) 1.95premium-quality coffee (lb) 14.00fresh fish (lb) 1.00olive oil (1-liter bottle) 11.80*prices compiled in early Feb. 2012 by our Havana correspondent

Cuban government says food prices jumped 19.8% in 2011

AGRICULTURE

Cubans paid almost 20% more for food in2011 as economic reforms, reducedimports and stagnating farm production

touched off price inflation at the island’s manyproduce markets, Reuters reported Jan. 31.

Cuba’s Oficina Nacional de Estadísticassaid on its website (www.one.cu) that meatprices rose 8.7%, while produce prices wereup 24.1%, for an average of 19.8%.

The report was bad news for PresidentRaúl Castro, who’s been loosening the state’sgrip on farming and retail food services andsales as it seeks to reform its Soviet-styleeconomy by allowing more private initiativeand market forces to kick in.

The changes are part of some 300 reformsadopted by Cuba’s Communist Party last yearto “update” the economy, which authoritieshave warned will entail a difficult transition.

Similar reforms in other state-monopolizedeconomies have proved inflationary in theearly stages, but the Castro regime hoped in-creased output would mitigate price hikes.

Raúl has made agricultural reform andincreased food production a top priority sincetaking over for ailing brother Fidel Castro in2008. But agricultural output increased just2% last year, after falling 2.5% in 2010, andremains below 2005 levels.

At the same time, Castro has cut foodimports to reduce spending by the debt-rid-den government.

Because of low farm output, Cuba importsa budget-busting 60 percent to 70% of the foodit consumes. Castro also has allowed farmersto sell a growing percentage of their produc-tion for whatever price the market will bear.

Fruits and vegetables are for sale in local pesos only.

Cuba’s 2011-12 coffee crop at 6,000 tons

Cuba’s 2011-12 coffee crop will weigh inat around 6,000 tons of semi-processedbeans — similar to the previous harvest

— according to Reuters, quoting reports fromthe island’s main coffee-producing provinces.

Santiago de Cuba officials say that provinceexceeded its plan of 1.6 million cans, followedby Guantánamo province with 895,000 cans,Granma with 370,000 cans and Holguín with240,000 cans. The local media reports saidharvesting continued in the area with hopesof picking another 50,000 cans.

Cuba reports output in cans, with 550.6cans equivalent to one ton; the eastern provin-ces account for more than 85% of the crop.

In central Cuba, where the island’s highestquality beans are grown, Cienfuegos provinceharvested 63,000 cans, Sancti Spíritus 68,000and Villa Clara was expected to harvest be-tween 60,000 and 70,000 cans, for a total ofaround 356 tons.

Lesser amounts of coffee are produced inwestern Cuba. Picking begins in August andends in March, though most beans are har-vested from October into January.

Cuba’s plantations, which at the time of the1959 revolution produced 60,000 tons of cof-fee, have steadily declined ever since.

Cuban President Raúl Castro, in efforts toboost food production and slash massive im-ports, has pointed to coffee as a crop ripe forincreased attention and growth. In 2010, Cubaimported 18,000 tons of semi-processedbeans from Vietnam at a cost of $38 million.

The state has leased abandoned coffeeplantations over the last few years to hun-dreds of individuals to grow coffee and hasnearly tripled the price it pays farmers fortheir beans. Cuban farmers are now growingcoffee in the lowlands with the aim of bothselling to the state and directly to consumers,according to local media.

Plans call for producing 22,000 tons in 2015and eventually 28,000 to 30,000 tons a year,equal to levels in the 1970s.

Cuba’s 35,000 growers, in exchange forlow-interest government credits and subsi-dized supplies, must sell all their coffee to thestate at prices that historically have been be-low what the beans fetch on the black market.

TOURISM

NOTE TO READERS: The above map, prepared by cartographer Armando Portela, is being republished in this issue of CubaNews as a refer-ence for our subscribers. More than a year ago, we began a series of articles looking at the leading luxury golf and marina developments now invarious stages of planning across Cuba. In November 2010, we took a look at Bacunayagua, along Cuba’s north coast between Havana and Vara-dero, while our December 2010 issue examined La Altura, a similar project east of Pinar del Río in the new province of Artemisa. Likewise, the


February 2011 issue of CubaNews offered a detailed look at Leisure Canada Inc. (now VOX 360) and its three luxury hotel projects planned forHavana, Jibacoa and Cayo Largo. In April 2011, we reported on Esencia Hotels’ massive planned Carbonera golf resort near Varadero, and inAugust, we profiled a plan by Canada’s Standing Feather International (a venture formed by the Mohawk and Dene Indian tribes) to build a golfresort on Guardalavaca beach in Holguín province. Please stay tuned for breaking news related to each of these important tourism developments.



His grandfather was the prominent attor-ney Carlos Martín Alzugaray Lavaggi. And inthe 1940s, his father Mario Alzugaray RamosIzquierdo co-founded, along with EduardoChibás, the revolutionary Partido del PuebloCubano, also known as the Orthodox Party.

In 1959, Fidel Castro named him ambassa-dor to Japan, during which time he got the Jap-anese to sign a contract guaranteeing the pur-chase of 500,000 tons a year of Cuban sugar.

Ex-diplomat Carlos Alzugaray seeks better U.S.-Cuba tiesBY LARRY LUXNER

Cuban diplomat-turned-academic CarlosAlzugaray Treto has a love-hate relation-ship with the U.S. State Department.

On one hand, the folks at State considerCuba — along with Iran, Syria and Sudan — agovernment sponsor of terrorism, a positionAlzugaray clearly despises.

“On the other hand, I have to thank theState Department because they gave me avisa,” he told us with a grin. “Otherwise, Iwouldn’t be here.”

Alzugaray, 68, is a retired career diplomatwhose last posting was Brussels, where hewas Cuba’s envoy to the European Union. Hespent two years there, then switched careersand became a scholar at Havana’s InstitutoSuperior de Relaciones Internacionales.

Back in the 1990s, traveling from Cuba tothe United States was no big deal, even de-spite the lack of full diplomatic relations.

“Up until 2002, I used to come to the Statesonce or twice a year,” he told us. “Then theBush administration cut off almost all acade-mic exchanges, and for some reason or anoth-er, I was denied visas to come to the UnitedStates in 2003, 2004 and 2005. It was only in2011 that I got a visa again for the first time.”

ALZUGARAY: TAKE US OFF THE BLACKLIST

Alzugaray returned to Havana this monthafter a lengthy stint as a visiting professor atNew York’s Queens College. Before leaving,he spoke to CubaNews at Washington’s UnionStation, following a Center for InternationalPolicy seminar on how to get Cuba removedfrom the State Department blacklist.

“That will depend to a great extent on theObama administration,” he said, respondingto a question on whether such a move is like-ly to happen anytime soon.

“They’re the ones who have to take thisstep,” he said. “I don’t think politically that it’sa major problem, though there’s going to beresistance from the Cuban-American right-wing Republicans.”

The bottom line, says Alzugaray, is that “noserious scholar believes Cuba is in any waylinked to terrorism.” Even so, taking Cuba offthe hated blacklist could go a long waytoward improving the current dismal rela-tions between Washington and Havana.

“Some people think Obama could do muchmore in the framework of the Helms-Burtonand Torricelli laws, but the fact is, he hasn’t.Or maybe he can’t. That’s a question for legalspecialists. But regarding the terrorist list, itwould simply be a question of signaling toCongress that he wants to do that,” he said.“That would facilitate many things, and wouldbe interpreted as a positive gesture.”

One of the things such a move might facili-tate, the former diplomat suggests, is therelease of Alan Gross.

Bilateral relations clearly took a turn for the

NEWSMAKERS

worse the moment Gross, a 62-year-oldMaryland subcontractor for the U.S. Agencyfor International Development, was arrestedin December 2009 as he was trying to board aflight out of Cuba.

Charged with “crimes against the state” forhaving smuggled satellite phones and com-puter equipment into the island in violation ofCuban law, Gross was sentenced to 15 yearsin jail and has lost some 100 pounds behindbars. Alzugaray said thereis absolutely no truth tothe State Department’sinsistence that the USAIDoperative was merely try-ing to connect Cuba’s Jewsto the Internet.

“That’s bullshit, and theJewish community hascome out very openly andsaid they were satisfiedwith the level of communi-cations they had. That’snot what he was doing,”Alzugaray told CubaNews.

“He was under contractby a company that had adeal with USAID to pro-mote democracy. Youmight say 15 years is toomuch, but there’s no doubthe broke Cuban law.”

What about a prisonerswap with the Cuban Five?

It’s a possibility, thoughAlzugaray doesn’t see ithappening anytime soon.

“These guys have beenin prison for a long timealready. It’s not like theyhaven’t paid sufficiently forwhatever violation of Ame-rican law they committed,”he said. “They were agentsof the Cuban governmentworking in the U.S. That, Igive, but two life senten-ces? It was hardly proventhat Gerardo [Hernández]had anything to do with the decision to bringdown the planes.”

Nevertheless, he added, “obviously, theJewish lobby is interested in getting Grossout. But to get Gross out, you have to makesome kind of deal with the Cuban govern-ment. Our foreign minister expressed thisposition during his recent visit to the UN.”

BUILDING BRIDGES BETWEEN U.S., CUBA

“He said the only thing Cuba asks for is ahumanitarian gesture from the U.S. govern-ment, saying ‘we might liberate Gross if youdo something similar for us.’ I don’t thinkthat’s going to happen, but I’d like to leave thedoor open.”

Alzugaray comes from a well-to-do family.

Carlos Alzugaray, Cuba’s former envoy to the European Union, talks onU.S.-Cuba ties at a recent Brookings Institution seminar in Washington.

The younger Alzugaray studied at bothTokyo’s Sophia University and the Universityof Havana, earning bachelor’s degrees in dip-lomacy (1965) and the history of Cuba (1989),as well as a master’s in contemporary history(1999). His doctorate dissertation was on theEisenhower administration’s policy towardCuba from 1958 to 1961.

Alzugaray’s diplomatic career began at theCuban Embassy in Tokyo and included post-ings in Bulgaria, Argentina, Canada, Ethiopiaand Belgium. He’ snow a lecturer on interna-tional affairs at universities from Mexico Cityto Madrid, and his columns appear in newspa-pers throughout Europe and Latin America.

“My number-one priority is explaining

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See Alzugaray, page 11


“I’m sure they hate me. These guys have the idea there shouldn’tbe any contact [between Washington and Havana], and that anyCuban who comes here is an agent of the Cuban government.”

— CARLOS ALZUGARAY, CUBA’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

Alzugaray — FROM PAGE 10

Cuban foreign policy to future Cuban diplo-mats and foreign audiences, including Ameri-can students at U.S. universities,” he said. “I’malso trying to build bridges between Cuba andthe United States. That implies two things: ex-plaining Cuba to Americans devoid of stereo-types, and trying to explain the United Statesto Cubans, also without using stereotypes.”

One bright spot, he says, is President RaúlCastro’s insistence on taking responsibility forthe country’s economic problems.

“Up until now, many people in Cuba have

the Cuban government — except, of course,the ones they like.”

Alzugaray argues that by not having betterrelations with Cuba, U.S. officials have effec-tively isolated themselves from the mostimportant actors in Cuba.

“They’re out of the loop,” he told us. “Whenthe interests sections were opened [in 1977],U.S. diplomats had a lot of access to Cubansociety. But as they started to focus only onthe dissidents, they were cut off from the rest.

“Some people in the U.S. government esta-blishment think this is crazy. They have noway of influencing or having a say — andCuba is very happy with that. I think the

blamed everything on the United States, butRaúl has signaled that blaming the U.S. forour inefficiencies won’t do anymore,” he said.

Given Alzugaray’s past as a Cuban diplomatand top government official, we asked if he’sas free to criticize his own government as heis to criticize the U.S. government.

“I have absolute, complete freedom to saywhat I want,” the academic responded, but headded that he has to be careful around Cubanexiles — especially when in South Florida.

“I’m sure they hate me. These guys havethe idea there shouldn’t be any contact, andthat any Cuban who comes here is an agent of

Cuban government has evolved from a posi-tion in which it denounced American policycompletely, to an ‘I don’t care’ kind of policy.”

Alzugaray, who has every intention of com-ing back to this country, said he enjoys thediversity of American society, and that despitethe “very strong conservative forces” that op-pose better U.S.-Cuba relations, very strongprogressive forces are also present. “We’renot searching for a fight with the UnitedStates, except on issues that really matter.” q

The Association for the Study of theCuban Economy is accepting nomina-tions for the 2012 Jorge Pérez-López

Student Award Competition.Anyone can nominate original papers

authored by undergraduate and graduatestudents in good standing. The papersshould address topics related to Cuba'sdomestic issues, its foreign relations, orCuba in comparative perspectives.

Papers cannot be co-authored with an in-structor. At a minimum, all papers must out-line a thesis statement, present evidence ordata supporting it, and not exceed 5,000words. They must follow one of the stan-dard academic writing and citations styles.

Self-nominations are also welcomed. Allcorrespondence must be accompanied by aletter stating the name, school affiliation,mailing address, phone number and emailof the nominee, as well as a brief statementdescribing the merits of the nomination.

For graduates, first prize is $150, up to

$600 in travel expenses and publication inCuba in Transition. For undergraduates,first prize is $100, up to $400 in travel, andpublication in Cuba in Transition. For bothgroups, second prize is honorary mention.

All students who enter the competitionwill receive a one-year complimentarymembership in ASCE, which entitles themto receive its publications and newsletter.

If students wish to attend ASCE’s annualmeeting in Miami, they will also receive acomplimentary conference and key speak-er luncheon invitation (but no travel allow-ance, except to the first-prize winners).

Papers must be received by May 20, 2012to be considered. Winners will beannounced in June. Please send an elec-tronic MS Word document or PDF attach-ment of the paper to either email below.

Details: Dr. Enrique S. Pumar, StudentAward Committee, ASCE, Washington. Email:[email protected] or [email protected].

ASCE to award prizes for student papers

ETECSA: 1.2m CELLPHONES NOW IN SERVICE

Cuba’s number of mobile phone lines inservice jumped by 33.3% in 2011, reaching1.2 million subscribers and surpassingfixed-line density for the first time ever.

That 1.2 million figure is six times thenumber of subscribers in 2008, when Pres-ident Raúl Castro opened the door for ordi-nary Cubans to sign up for wireless service.

Up until that point, such service had beenreserved exclusively for foreigners.

Mayra Arevich Marín, president of statetelecom monopoly Etecsa, told JuventudRebelde that various promotional efforts anda steep drop in tariffs led 300,000 new cus-tomers to sign up service last year.

Arevich said that in 2011, Eteca installed43,632 fixed lines, a 3.8% rise over the yearbefore, bringing the total number of fixedphone lines in Cuba to just under 1.2 mil-lion. Of that, 53,290 are public phones.

At present, total phone density in Cubarose by 21.49% last year. By contrast, inMarch 2008 there were only 198,000 cell-phones in service. Even now, phone pene-tration in Cuba is the lowest in the hemis-phere, with only one line per 10 inhabitants.

In Cuba, activation prices have fallen dra-matically, from $120 to $30 today. Even so,that’s nearly twice the average monthlywage of $17. For this reason, Cubans gener-ally use their cellphones as beepers or tosend and receive SMS text messages,rather than conduct conversations.

Businesses can contract service fromEtecsa, though private people can only buyprepaid cards valued at $10 or $20.

CUBA MULLS SUGAR-BASED ETHANOL PLANTS

The Cuban government is beginning toconsider large-scale ethanol productiondespite Fidel Castro’s objections, says theBrazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.

Investment opportunities for Braziliancompanies in ethanol production in Cubaare about to open up, said Foreign Ministryspokesman Tovar Nunes after the visit ofForeign Minister Antonio Patriota to Cuba.

“Fidel’s resistance in this field is beingovercome,” Nunes said. Castro has repeat-edly warned in his columns that crop-basedethanol puts pressure on food productionand food prices, thus hurting the poor.

Cuba could produce close to 2 billion gal-lons of ethanol a year, says Cuban-born re-searcher Jorge Hernández Fonseca of Bra-zil’s Universidade do Estado do Pará. Thiswould make Cuba the world’s #3 ethanolproducer after Brazil and the United States.

Cuba’s sugar industry has undergone amassive restructuring since 2004, with clos-ings of more than half the country’s sugarmills and reduction of cane cultivation.

As part of the restructuring, the govern-ment has touted production of sugarcanebyproducts, with the exception of fuelethanol. Thanks to more than 30 years ofmassive ethanol production, Brazil-basedcompanies are world leaders in that field.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Larry Luxner is a longtime freelance journalistand photographer based in Bethesda, Maryland.He has been editor of CubaNews since May 2002.


SPECIAL REPORT: CUBA’S HOUSING CRISIS

Latest building collapse exposes Cuba’s housing shortagemous, making the construction and home im-provement business one of the most poten-tially lucrative sectors on the island.

According to government figures releasedby Cuba’s Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda(INV), the island has a deficit of 600,000 hous-ing units. But independent analysts say thatnumber is closer to 1.7 million dwellings.

Given the size of the average Cuban house-hold (3.1 people), that translates into between1.8 million and 5.3 million inhabitants needinga place to live.

Havana’s housing shortage has gone practi-cally unnoticed for decades. But it’s nowbecome so acute that authorities, and com-mon people too, fear a major catastrophe willbe unleashed in the event of a direct hurri-cane strike on the capital.

Anyone strolling through Havana’s oldestbarrios — where thousands of buildings areprecariously held in place with wooden beams— would agree that those fears are valid.

Fifteen years ago there were some 60,000to 90,000 dwellings in poor condition, or 11%

See Housing, page 13

of the 1921 building, across the street fromthe Capitolio, without water, electricity or anyother basic conveniences.

“What we’re seeing is a sign of what is hap-pening to the government, slowly crumbling,”dissident Martha Beatríz Roque told Miami’sEl Nuevo Herald newspaper by phone fromHavana. Roque’s informal Cuban Network ofCommunity Communicators recently pub-lished a report showing that 80% of Havana’s178 movie theaters were in very bad shape.

According to El Nuevo Herald, Campoamorwas the site of many performances by famousCuban and foreign artists. It was later turnedinto a movie house, and in the 1970s becamea warehouse for theatrical equipment.

Blogger Ramón Díaz Marzo, in a columnposted Aug. 30 in Cuba Verdad, complainedthat the government wasn’t keeping up withthe decay of many Havana buildings like theCampoamor. He argued that while it takesworkers in Hong Kong two years to build a 25-story skyscraper, the overhaul of Havana’sHotel Capri was only in its second year.

Cuba’s housing shortage is indeed enor-

BY ARMANDO H. PORTELA

Building collapses in Havana are so fre-quent that rarely do people other thanthe tenants themselves even notice

them. But last month, when five dilapidatedmulti-story structures crumbled in the spaceof 10 days, the resulting headlines finallyfocused attention on one of Cuba’s worstproblems: its desperate housing shortage.

On the evening of Jan. 16, an old three-story apartment building — which hadreported several partial collapses in therecent past and had been labeled unsafe byauthorities — fell apart, killing four teenagersand injuring five more who were studying fora math exam.

One youngster miraculously escaped in-jury because he went to use a bathroom aminute before the collapse in the only part ofthe building that remained intact.

Only a week later, the once-elegant TeatroCampoamor, which had been closed since themid-1970s, also collapsed, killing 47-year-oldRicardo Riquene Anaya. Apparently, four fam-ilies had been living in the dilapidated interior


to 16% of the city’s total housing stock. At thetime, there were reports up of to 1,500 total orpartial collapses per year. Some 75,000 build-ings were braced to avoid collapsing, andnearly 10,000 people were living in shelters.

More recent figures mention 28,000 peopleliving in buildings in critical condition. In ad-dition, 68,000 Havana’s residents or 3.1% of all

Housing — FROM PAGE 12

See Housing, page 14

habaneros live the nearly 200 slums that havesprouted throughout the city since the 1990s.

However, Cuban figures for housing areextremely scarce and often contradictory.

Other than rare media reports or a vaguereference in academic papers, it is hard to finda trustworthy account that addresses keyquestions such as the size of Cuba’s housingdeficit, what are its most critical needs, whatis the true condition of the island’s housingstock, the average number of people per

dwelling or the real number of housing unitsbeing built annually.

A study of Old Havana’s Jesús María neigh-borhood — a blue-collar district built at theturn of the 20th century a couple of blocksfrom Havana’s port and a number of factories,shows the true state of housing there.

Represented in red (see map, opposite page)are all dwellings — usually two- or three-storybuildings — in poor condition. Purple repre-sents dwellings in critical shape. The map,based on Luís Muñoz’s “Evaluación de mapasde riesgos y recursos de la problemática actualen el Municipio de La Habana Vieja,” shows aswath of red dotted with purple, while green(which represents dwellings in good condi-tion) is the alarming exception.

QUESTIONABLE GOVERNMENT STATISTICS

The findings of this study sharply contrastwith other sources. The INV’s “40 años de lavivienda en Cuba” (1999) concluded that 13%of all urban dwellings were in poor conditionin 1998, down from 47% in 1958.

The INV also claimed that 60% of urbandwellings were in good condition as of 1998,compared to 13% in 1958.

This contradiction underscores anotherchallenge when viewing Cuban housing sta-tistics: Standards are variable, and currentbenchmarks for good, fair, poor or critical areapparently very tolerant. Anyone walkingthrough Havana or Cuba’s many provincialcities and towns will notice the obvious lack ofpaint on buildings.

In many homes, a closer look might revealplumbing leaks, structural damage, a confus-ing jumble of electricity lines, decaying car-pentry and roof sealing problems, not to men-tion the malfunctioning elevators in Havana’sfew tall buildings — and other conditions indi-rectly affecting the neighborhoods such aslack of adequate paving, street illuminationand public services.

Also unclear is the concept of adequate

Workers restore a house on Calle de los Mercaderes, but the Old Havana tourists don’t see is decaying.

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Europe quickly became apparent. Tiny apart-ments, shabby furniture and poor applianceswere the rule rather than the exception incities from East Germany to Siberia.

In Cuba, in the 14 years preceding the 1959revolution, the average construction rate was3.5 dwellings per 1,000 inhabitants annually,

housing, or the minimum acceptable condi-tion of a dwelling as defined by Mario Coyulaand Jill Hamberg in 2004 (www.drclas.har-vard.edu-/files/.pdf) as a 269-sq-foot surfacewith three separate rooms and equipped withbasic utilities.

“A majority of the units built under individ-ual initiative probably failed to comply withthis standard,” says Cuban-American scholarSergio Díaz-Briquets, writing in “The EnduringCuban Housing Crisis” (Cuba in Transition,ASCE, 2009).

CUBA’S PERENNIAL CONSTRUCTION DEFICIT

Former Vice President Carlos Lage, thenCuba’s third most powerful man, referred tothe 111,373 newly built dwellings reported in2006 as a bureaucratic bluff — a deliberatelyinflated number meant to hide the truth,which was significantly less impressive.

Indeed, it’s hard to understand how theCastro regime managed to keep house con-struction to a relatively high level in the1990s, when cement output was at one-thirdthe level of the 1980s and a significant part ofnational production was either exported ordiverted to hotel construction for tourism.

In the 1990s, a new concept — “low con-sumption houses” — was invented in refer-ence to small dwellings built with a mixture ofmortar and cement, zinc roofs, panel windowsand rudimentary restrooms.

In some cases, these tenants were givenunfinished houses to repair on their own. Andmany Havana motels that decades ago rentedrooms by the hour have been gradually con-verted to permanent one-room residences.

Notably, after the 1989 fall of the BerlinWall, housing conditions throughout Eastern

Housing — FROM PAGE 13

Havana-born Armando Portela has contributedto CubaNews since the newsletter’s birth in 1993.Portela, who has a Ph.D. in geography from theSoviet Academy of Sciences, lives in Miami, Fla.

while between 1959 and 1970 it was less thana third of that. The apparent constructiondeficit was excerbated by the high number ofCubans fleeing the island, which in those yearsleft probably over 150,000 vacant homes.

Gradually the construction of new homesimproved and by the 1980s the number of newdwellings rose to 5.3 per 1,000 inhabitants.

The economic collapse unleashed after thefall of the Soviet bloc in the 1990s took a dra-matic toll in housing. Construction of newhomes dropped to 3.5 per 1,000, improvingslightly in the 2000s to 3.7 new dwellings perthousand inhabitants. q

Laundry hangs over a balcony railing in Old Havana.


BUSINESS

But times have changed since Taiwan’seconomy took off in the 1960s and ‘70s, mak-ing its economic model tougher to replicate,scholars said. Prospects for massive U.S. andEuropean aid are now clouded by sluggishgrowth in those donor nations.

And competition is stronger, especially withmainland China now an export powerhouse,participants said.

Though the reform steps will vary, Ros-Lehtinen said she draws inspiration for hernative Cuba from Taiwan’s transition todemocracy and prosperity. She’s planning atrip to Taiwan in May, an anti-communistnation she calls a U.S. “strategic ally.”

Her inspiration goes beyond the 23 millionpeople living in Taiwan, double the number inCuba. She also takes heart from theTaiwanese who live in the United States.

“Just as Taiwanese-Americans played a crit-ical role in Taiwan’s democratic transition,”Ros-Lehtinen said, “the Cuban-American com-munity will continue to support those advo-cating freedom and democracy in Cuba.” q

Taiwan — FROM PAGE 6

ROSSON: CUBA A MARKET FOR TEXAS FARMERS

Though tightly controlled, opportunitiesabound for Texas farmers and businesses tocapitalize on potential food exports to Cuba,says a noted expert on the subject.

Dr. Parr Rosson, AgriLife Extension econ-omist and director of the Center for NorthAmerican Studies at Texas A&M Universityin College Station, said Cuba’s fragile econo-my has held its own amid global turbulence.

Under the Trade Sanctions Reform andExport Enhancement Act of 2000, U.S. busi-nesses may export food, agricultural andforestry products and medicines to Cuba.

Texas currently supplies the Caribbeanisland with several export items, includingchicken leg quarters, corn and wheat.

U.S. corn exports to Cuba saw more thana 200% increase in value in 2011 to $109 mil-lion during the January-November period asCuba used more corn products for poultryfeeding operations and other uses.

“We’ve begun to see some higher qualitybeef cuts enter the Cuban market as well,”said Rosson, quoted Feb. 10 by SouthwestFarm Press. Pork, cotton and dairy productsproduced in Texas are also exported there.

“Pears, apples, raisins and dry pinto beanswere exported in 2011, along with corn chipsand potato chips,” Rosson said. “These areproducts that we are seeing more interest indue to the growing tourism market in Cuba.”

Revenue from tourism exceeded $2 billion,providing more money for imported fooditems. Canada is the top visitor, Rosson said,with 900,000 going to Cuba in 2011.

“Those resorts serve many items, includ-ing chips, fresh fruit and table cuts of beefand pork,” he said. “The downside is thatCuba is attempting to implement several eco-nomic reforms and design a new more mar-ket-oriented path for their economy. It cre-ates some instability and uncertainty.”

CUBA TO OVERSEE VENEZUELAN DRUG FACTORIES

Venezuela agreed to put Cuba in charge ofmedical purchases for an expansion of itspharmaceutical industry, CubaStandard.comreported, quoting Telesur.

One of 12 health-related agreements signedduring a meeting of the bilateral commissionin Havana puts the Cuban government incharge of purchases for the construction ofdrug facilities in Venezuela, said that coun-try’s health minister, Eugenia Sader.

The bilateral commission agreed Dec. 19 on47 joint projects worth $1.6 billion, includingin energy and agriculture. Neither govern-ment released any details.

As part of an effort to substitute medicalimports, Venezuela’s Servicio Autónomo deElaboraciones Farmaceúticas (Sefar) said lastyear it was planning to build a joint-ventureplant with Cuba for various basic drugs, andanother with Portugal for antibiotics. Sefarsaid on its website that it’s planning to pro-duce atenolol, vitamin C, ethambutol,ibuprophene, loratadine and other drugs.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

Cuba ended 2011 with an infant mortali-ty rate of 4.9 per 1,000 live births, withseven provinces reporting figures belowthe national average, according to theMinistry of Public Health.

For the past four years, Cuba tops the listof Latin American and Caribbean countrieswith less than 5.0 per 1,000 infant mortali-ty — the same as Canada — according tothe Communist Party daily newspaperGranma. In 2008, infant mortality was 4.7,in 2009, 4.8 and in 2010, only 4.5 per 1,000.

With 5,317 more births compared withthe previous year, the province with thelowest rate was Las Tunas, with 3.5.

Other provinces with below-averagerates were Artemisa (3.9), Pinar del Ríoand Holguín, (4.0), Havana, (4.3) andCiego de Avila and Granma (4.4).

The newspaper also notes that 17 of theisland’s 168 municipalities registered zeroinfant mortality, mostly in the easternprovinces. Average world infant mortalityrate is 49.4, reports the United Nations.

Infant mortality rate falls

Doreen Hemlock, former Havana bureau chiefand now business writer at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, is a regular contributor to CubaNews.

Repsol begins Cuba offshore drillingCuba has said it may have 20 billion barrels

of oil in its northern waters, which are its partof the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. GeologicalSurvey has estimated it may have 5 billionbarrels of oil, but its study does not includethe entire Cuban gulf zone.

Meanwhile, experts at two Florida universi-ties and others are concerned an oil spillcould cause catastrophic damage to the coastfrom South Florida to the Carolinas.

Researchers at Nova Southeastern Universi-ty (NSU) and Florida International University(FIU) are researching steps to prepare for therisk of a spill, and develop and implement along-term response plan.

Richard Dodge, dean of NSU’s Oceanogra-phic Center, John Proni, executive director ofFIU’s Applied Research Center and other ex-perts recently testified before the House Com-mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

“This is a very serious issue to the U.S.,”said Dodge. “There are gaps in prediction andshould there be an oil spill, we need to knowhow to handle it, take mitigation measuresand be ready. Without the information, we’dbe reactive instead of proactive.”

Additional risks from the rig include drill-ing-related pollutants affecting shallow anddeep ecosystems near the coasts.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, whose district in-cludes the Florida Keys, near where Scarabeo9 is operating, has expressed concerns overthe leverage Cuba has gained by developingits own oil exploration and drilling, and its pos-sible environmental impact on the region. q

Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF SA hasbegun drilling the first well in Cuba’slong-awaited exploration of offshore oil-

fields that the communist country says holdboth billions of barrels of oil and the key togreater prosperity, industry sources toldReuters on Feb. 2.

The massive Scarabeo 9 drilling rig, whicharrived in Cuban waters two weeks ago,began drilling into the sea floor about 30 milesnorthwest of Havana, sources said.

A Repsol spokesman said the companycould not comment on “operational details.”

The newly built, high-tech rig is operating in5,600 feet, or what the oil industry calls “ultra-deep water,” in the Straits of Florida. Sourcesclose to the project said such wells generallytake about 60 days to complete.

Repsol, which is operating the rig in a con-sortium with Norway’s Statoil and ONGCVidesh, a unit of India’s Oil and Natural GasCorp, has said it will take several months todetermine the results of the exploration.

The well is the first of at least three that willbe drilled in Cuban waters with the Scarabeo9, which was built in China and is owned bySaipem, a unit of Italian oil company Eni.

Sources said that Repsol will drill the firstwell and then the rig will go to Malaysia’s Pet-ronas in partnership with Russia’s GazpromNeft and then back to Repsol for the 3rd well.

It isn’t clear what happens after that, thoughsome sources have said Repsol, which is leas-ing the Scarabeo 9 for $511,000 a day, willmove the rig to Brazil for exploration there.


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If your organization is sponsoring an upcoming event, please let our readers know!Fax details to CubaNews at (3 0 1 ) 9 4 9 -0 0 6 5 or send e-mail to [email protected].

Feb. 9 -Mar. 4 : “Ana en el Trópico,” Gala Theatre, Washington. “A lector reads from a Tols-toy novel, unleashing forbidden passions among Cuban factory workers in Ybor City, Fla., in1929, when cigars were still rolled by hand.” Pulitzer Prize-winning play is in Spanish, withEnglish subtitles. By Nilo Cruz; directed by José Carrasquillo. Tickets: $25--38. Details: GalaTheatre, 3333 14th St. NW, Washington, DC 20010. Tel: (202) 234-7174. URL: www.galatheatre.org.

Feb. 16 : “My Decision,” University of Miami. New documentary by filmmaker Agustín Bláz-quez about the life of singing sensation Luisa María Güell, who left Cuba in 1968. Screening isin Spanish with English subtitles; both Blázquez and Güell will be present at event. Donation:$10. Details: Vanessa López, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, Casa Bacardi, 1531Brescia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33146. Tel: (305) 284-5386. Email: [email protected].

Feb. 21 : “Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba,” University of Miami. Keynote speaker: TomGjelten, correspondent for NPR and PBS-TV’s “Washington Week,” will speak about his highlyacclaimed book. Concurrent with his lecture is the Cuba photography exhibit “100 Cameras.” .Cost: $20. Details: Vanessa López, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, Casa Bacardi,1531 Brescia Avenue, Coral Gables, FL 33146. Tel: (305) 284-5386. Email: [email protected].

Feb. 25 : 2012 Cuba Infrastructure Challenge, Casa Bacardi, Miami. Students will present pro-jects at this free event, which is co-sponsored by the Cuban-American Association of Civil En-gineers and the Association of Cuban Engineers. Please RSVP by Feb. 15. Details: Yuray Rod-ríguez, University of Miami College of Engineering, 1251 Memorial Drive, McArthur EngineeringBuilding, Room 252, Coral Gables, FL 33146-2509. Tel:(305) 284-2908. Email: [email protected].

Apr. 17 : “Cuba in the 21st Century,” International Institute for the Study of Cuba, Universityof London. Keynote speakers: Carlos Alzugaray Treto (University of Havana) and Dr. RafaelHernández, editor-in-chief of Temas magazine (Havana). Alzugaray, Cuba’s ex-ambassador tothe EU, will speak on Cuban foreign policy economic reform. Hernández will speak on “Cuba:In Transition to What?” Cost: £25. Details: Olga Jiménez, IISC, PO Box 1406, Tring, Herts, GreatBritain. Tel: +44 795 638-1640. URL: Email: [email protected]. www.cubastudiesjournal.org.

Apr. 18 : “Cuba: Today and Tomorrow,” Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy,The New School, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011. Keynotespeakers: Harvard University professor Jorge Domínguez and Bob Kerrey, former U.S. sena-tor and governor of Nebraska. No charge; limited seating. Details: ASCE, PO Box 28267, Wash-ington, DC 20038. Email: [email protected]. URL: http://cubatodayandtomorrow.eventbrite.com.

Apr. 20 -2 4 : “Culinary Tour of Havana.” Join Chef Guillermo Pernot and his wife Lucia on atrip to Cuba, meet the chefs that inspired the new menu at Washington’s Cuba Libre bar andrestaurant. Dine at Bar Oviedo, El Gijonés, La Cocina de Lilliam, La Guarida. Travel providedby Insight Cuba, a licensed provider of people-to-people travel. Cost: $4,000 per person, dou-ble occupancy. Details: Emily Jarmuth, Sales & Marketing Director, Cuba Libre Restaurant, 8019th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001. Tel: (202) 408-1600. Email: [email protected].

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

February 2012 Issue

Documents

Transcript of February 2012 Issue