Subject: M-G: U.S.-Cuba crank up rumor mill... From: companiero-AT-gbso.net Date: 14 Dec 1997 11:46:10 U.S.-Cuba meeting cranks up rumor mill By JUAN O. TAMAYO Herald Staff Writer Sparking murmurs of a shift in U.S. policy, the top American diplomat in Havana and the CIA's chief Cuba analyst have told the Cuban government that President Clinton wants to mend relations if the island embraces reforms. The Americans, at a meeting two weeks ago in Havana, also told a Cuban Foreign Ministry official that Clinton's recent positive comments on President Fidel Castro meant that ``now would be the time to respond in a positive way,'' said U.S. officials and Cuban-American sources in Washington. Top U.S. officials confirmed that the meeting took place but insisted the Americans merely repeated the U.S. policy of promising improved relations if Cuba adopts significant economic and political changes. ``They carried no special message. No special message was intended,'' said one official involved in Cuba policy. ``They used the exact, public formulation of our policy: If you are prepared to take substantial, fundamental steps . . . we are prepared to make positive responses.'' But Cuban Americans and others who oppose any warming of U.S.-Cuba ties complained that the Americans appeared to have effectively made a peace overture to Havana by offering a change in policy. ``It sure seems they might be trying to sneak through a change,'' said one Cuban-American source who saw the diplomatic cable filed by the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to report on the meeting. At the meeting were Michael Kozak, head of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana; and the CIA deputy national intelligence officer for Latin America, a career agency man who until recently was assigned to Cuban issues at the National Security Council in the White House. The Herald agreed not to print his name. When U.S. officials set up Havana appointments for the CIA man, they identified him to the Cubans only as an analyst on a routine get-acquainted visit, ``but of course the Cubans knew who he was,'' a Washington source said. The Americans met with Carlos Fernandez de Cosio, head of the Foreign Ministry's North American Department. ``His response was negative, that nothing could be done until the United States, and these were his words, halts the `economic aggression' against Cuba,'' said one Cuban-American source. U.S. officials said the Americans' comments were unusual only in that such broad statements of policy are usually made in public or to very high Cuban officials, rather than to working-level officials. ``At such levels we usually deal with specific issues,'' one official said. ``Such a broad statement is less than usual, but totally within the limits of what the policy has been for years.'' Visits by CIA analysts to Cuba are definitely less common, the official added. But senior White House officials said they were not even aware that the CIA analyst was going to Havana. And he certainly was not delivering any message from the Clinton administration, they stressed. Washington has been rife with talk of a possible shift in policy toward Havana since Clinton made two unusually positive statements on Cuba and Castro that seemed to widen the door for improved relations. While visiting Argentina in October, he said that ``if there could be some signal that they want to open up and change direction, then I think even the hardest-line people in the Congress, even the hardest-line people in Miami, who are basically responsible for the policy, would be open to a different approach.'' Clinton added that he supported the Cuban Democracy Act, ``that basically said . . . the U.S. will attempt to work out an accommodation with Cuba in which, as they become more open, we will take more . . . steps to reach out to them.'' Three weeks later, Clinton told NBC's Meet The Press that there could be an ``opening'' toward Havana, if only Washington could get a signal >from Castro. ``He's a highly intelligent man,'' Clinton said. ``But we have to have some basis for opening. It can't be a one-way street. There has to be some sense that there's an evolution going on in Cuba.'' Talk of a shift in policy picked up speed after the death of Jorge Mas Canosa, chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, appeared to leave the Cuban-American lobby weakened and leaderless. And now the report of the Kozak-CIA meeting with the Cubans has unleashed ``a huge amount of speculation'' based on a routine session at which longstanding policy was reaffirmed, one Washington official said. ``People are putting two and two together and coming up with six,'' the official added. At the heart of the controversy is the inside-the-beltway debate over U.S. policy on Cuba. Castro critics insist the policy must be governed by the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, which froze the U.S. embargo in place and appears to require Castro and his brother Raul to leave power before the U.S. government can establish any relations with Havana. Yet Clinton's comments in Argentina and on Meet The Press appear to hark back to the pre-Helms Burton policy of ``carefully calibrated steps'' -- measured U.S. rewards for significant Cuban improvements. ``On two separate occasions . . . President Clinton repudiated the [Helms- Burton Act] . . . that he signed into law on March 12, 1996, and retreated to his policy of constructive engagement,'' complained the Nov. 30 issue of U.S.-Cuba Policy Report, a Washington journal that tracks the issue. RUSSIA SEEKS TO REACTIVATE TRI-LATERAL ACCORD WITH VENEZUELA TO SUPPLY OIL TO CUBA Caracas, December 12(RHC)-- Russia is negotiating with Venezuela for the resumption of a triangular trade agreement to supply oil to Cuba next year. According to Russian First Vice-President Boris Nemtsov, currently visiting that South American country, Venezuela would supply some one million tons of oil to Cuba, while Russia would do the same for Venezuela's customers in Europe. The agreement had been suspended after the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The accord offered important savings for Venezuela, Russia and Cuba due to the elimination of high shipping costs. CUBAN AND MEXICAN EDUCATION MINISTERS MEET IN THE MEXICAN CAPITAL Mexico City, December 12(RHC)-- Mexican Public Education Secretary Miguel Limon met in Mexico City with Cuban Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez to exchange views on bilateral relations in the area of education. The Mexican Education Ministry issued a statement revealing that the two officials agreed to hold the Bilateral Mixed Commission for Educational and Cultural Cooperation in Mexico City from March 9th through the 11th next year. At the gathering, education representatives from the two countries are scheduled to review and increase juridical instruments to expand cooperation in the sphere. At the end of the meeting, the two ministers stressed the importance of bilateral agreements on the mutual recognition of studies and senior high school and university diplomas. They also stressed the need to look for other academic and cultural formulas to broaden educational relation between Mexico and Cuba. ONE MILLION 200,000 TOURISTS WILL VISIT CUBA THIS YEAR Havana, December 12(RHC)-- A Cuban Tourism Ministry source says that one million 200,000 foreign tourists will have visited Cuba by the end of this year -- 20 percent more than in 1996. Some 1,000,4336 foreign visitors toured the Caribbean island last year. That number of international tourists will have generated revenues worth 1.75 billion dollars in 1997. As of November 15th, one million people had visited the island. Havana ranks as the island's main tourist destination with 55 percent of the tourists coming to the country -- followed by Varadero beach resort, located 120 kilometers east of Havana. Vacationers come mainly from Italy, Canada, Spain, France and Germany. CUBAN FRIENDSHIP INSTITUTE MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MEETING BETWEEN CUBA AND ITS EMIGRES Havana, December 12(RHC)-- The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People -- ICAP -- is sponsoring a conference this month to mark the 20th anniversary of the first meeting between Cuban authorities and Cuban emigres. The head of ICAP's Cuban Emigres Department, Juan Carlos Marcial, said that the forum will take place in Havana >from December 19th through the 22nd, attended by representatives of various Cuban organizations abroad and Cuban emigres residing in the United States. Marcial noted that the forum will present lectures on the origin of progressive groups within the Cuban Community in the United States, anti-Cuba initiatives introduced in the U.S. Congress and Cubans as an immigrant minority in the United States. Organizations such as the Alliance of Cuban Workers, Casa de las Americas of New York, the Antonio Maceo Brigade, the San Carlos Club in Key West and others will take part in the event. Participants will also be briefed on the island's current situation, including issues such as democracy and elections, as well as the Cuban economy and its prospects. At the conclusion of the forum, participants will travel to the central city of Santa Clara, where they'll pay tribute to legendary Heroic Guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara and his comrades-in-arms at the mausoleum dedicated to them. They'll also visit sites related to Che's life there. December 22nd marks the 20th anniversary of the first encounter between the Cuban government and Cuban emigres. That meeting in 1977 was organized by the Antonio Maceo Brigade. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| |||| ***Cuba Information Access *** |||| The current events in La Republica de Cuba, from the C.I.A. |||| Where else are you going to get it ? |||| <companiero-AT-gbso.net> |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| --- from list marxism-general-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005