File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/marxism-general.9712, message 227


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.
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