Yahoo! March 28, 2001
Cuba issue shakeup suddenly, a more level playing field in the debate
over Cuba
Wednesday March 28, 9:30 am Eastern Time. Press Release.
SOURCE: Cuba Policy Foundation
New 'Cuba Policy Foundation' Announced Today, Led by Senior Diplomats In
Republican istrations, in Favor of Lifting Embargo Against Cuba
President of Organization, a Top Latin Americanist Under First President
Bush, Housed Elian Gonzalez Last Year While He Lived in Washington
WASHINGTON, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Vowing to play a significant role in
the national debate over U.S.-Cuban relations, a new nonpartisan organization
led by former State Department officials in Republican istrations -- the
Cuba Policy Foundation -- was announced today. To be located in Washington, DC,
the Cuba Policy Foundation will educate Americans on why the U.S. should end its
embargo against Cuba and normalize relations completely, based on the costs of
the current policy to the American economy and other important U.S. national
interests.
Because of the stature of the Cuba Policy Foundation's leaders -- a stature
that cuts across partisan and ideological lines -- the organization's ability to
educate, especially in Washington, will be unique.
Serving as President and day-to-day leader of the Cuba Policy Foundation
will be Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal, a senior diplomat with vast experience
mostly under Republican istrations.
Ambassador Cowal's 23-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service includes posts
as Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. under
President Reagan; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
under President George Bush; and Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago under
Presidents Bush and Clinton.
Ambassador Cowal housed Elian Gonzalez and his father Juan Miguel last year
while they lived in Washington, D.C. during the legal battle over Elian's return
to Cuba. The Ambassador was president of the international student- exchange
program Youth for Understanding, based in Washington, when she offered one of
the organization's homes to Elian and his dad. She became friends with them
during their stay.
Serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cuba Policy Foundation
will be the Honorable William Rogers, Assistant Secretary of State for
Inter-American Affairs under President Ford.
"The Cuba Policy Foundation is not just a nonpartisan organization,''
Ambassador Cowal said. "It is a decidedly centrist organization.''
"The Cuba Policy Foundation,'' she said, "will reject the
approaches of the far-left and the far-right and simply present the facts to the
American people, which we believe are on our side. While we agree with the need
for democratic reform, the U.S. embargo of Cuba has achieved nothing for 40
years except hurt America's own economic and national interests.
"Our businesses, cities and ports are losing millions of dollars every
year because of the embargo, while families with relatives both in the U.S. and
Cuba are being kept apart.
"So why continue a policy that is only hurting ourselves?''
In her first act as president of the Cuba Policy Foundation, Ambassador
Cowal today sent a letter to the president of the Cuban American National
Foundation, Jorge Mas Santos, proposing that the two of them hold a series of
t forums to debate the merits of lifting the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
"We will be aggressive in presenting the facts to the American
people,'' Ambassador Cowal said. "No one can objectively dispute that the
embargo has failed to produce change. No one can objectively dispute that the
embargo has hurt American businesses. And no one can objectively dispute that
there are a whole host of economic, diplomatic and humanitarian considerations
that point to the need for a different approach.''
Ambassador Cowal said the Cuba Policy Foundation will have a high public
profile not just in Washington, but nationally. To educate Americans on how they
are being hurt by the current U.S. embargo, she said, the Cuba Policy Foundation
will hold press conferences in four cities over the next two months -- which,
she added, will be just the start.
Serving as Policy Director of the Cuba Policy Foundation will be Manny
Hidalgo, the founding executive director of the Miami-based organization Cubans
and Americans for Educational Exchange. Manny, whose family left Cuba 40 years
ago, was born in the United States and spent much of his youth in Miami. He is a
graduate of Georgetown University and will receive his M.A. from Florida
International University in Latin American and Caribbean Studies this spring.
His academic research has focused on the role of the Catholic Church in bridging
the Cuban and Cuban-American communities.
Handling communications for the Cuba Policy Foundation will be the public
affairs firm Attention America. The firm's chairman, Steven Goldstein, will be
the Communications Director and press for the Cuba Policy Foundation.
Goldstein did the public relations for the 40,000 plaintiffs suing Exxon over
the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and was a senior staff member in the U.S. House and
Senate.
Initial funding for the Cuba Policy Foundation was made possible by the Arca
Foundation, which has funded several organizations that have done educational
work related to Cuba.
Broad National Coalition Asks President Bush To Implement Law to Allow
Food and Medicine Sales to Cuba
Wednesday March 28, 9:16 am Eastern Time. Press Release.
SOURCE: Americans For Humanitarian Trade With Cuba
WASHINGTON, March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is being issued today by
Americans For Humanitarian Trade With Cuba.
A broad coalition of more than 100 U.S. agriculture, ports, Cuban American,
religious, medical, former government leaders and others groups today called
upon President Bush to respect the intent of an overwhelming majority of the
U.S. Congress to open-up food and medicine sales to Cuba. A list of the
organizations and individuals that signed a letter sent to 20 istration
officials over the past month follows.
"Last year's Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement law mandated that
regulations interpreting the legislation be issued by February 26 of this year,
and we are still waiting,'' Audrae Erickson of the American Farm Bureau
Federation said.
"We are deeply disturbed by reports that the regulations are likely to
maintain existing U.S. restrictions requiring end-use verification on the export
of needed life-saving medical products to Cuba. Such an interpretation is
clearly at odds with Congressional intent, and we strongly recommend that sales
of medicine be permitted under the liberalized framework provided by the law,''
Stephen Northrup, Executive Director of the Medical Device Manufacturers
Association, said.
"We are confident that President Bush will how important sales
to Cuba are to Gulf Coast farmers and ports and that his regulations when issued
will reflect the overwhelming bipartisan consensus in Congress that food and
medicine should not be used as weapons,'' Gary LaGrange, President of the Gulf
Ports of the Americas Association, representing 29 U.S. ports, said. The Gulf
Coast Ports association ed a resolution last year calling for an end to the
food and medicine embargo on Cuba.
"Black farmers and small farm communities across the South have borne
the brunt of the embargo since it shut-down our natural market of Cuba 40 years
ago. We hope that the Bush istration will allow Americans who need it most
to access a piece of the $1 billion annual Cuban food market,'' Lloyd Moore,
Mississippi Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association and AHTC Mississippi
State Council Chairperson, said.
"Humanitarian trade with Cuba is of enormous importance to a broad
cross-section of Americans,'' Lissa Weinmann, Executive Director of Americans
for Humanitarian Trade with Cuba (AHTC), the group that coordinated the outreach
letter to the Bush istration, said. "We hope President Bush will put
his trust in the American people who wish to exercise their right to enter into
honest deals with Cuban counterparts and in the US Congress, which has made
crystal clear its intent to allow humanitarian trade to occur.''
AHTC, formed in January 1998, focuses on ending the inhumane US food and
medical embargo on Cuba. The fully bipartisan national coalition has grown to
include 26 State Councils representing religious, agricultural, labor, business,
medical, entertainment, Cuban American and former government leaders. Please
visit the AHTC website at www.ahtc.org for a full copy of the istration
letter, the Gulf Ports resolution and other information about the coalition. The
list of signatories follows:
Signatories Urging Bush to Implement Regulations to Allow Food and Medical
Sales to Cuba. March 28, 2001.
American Soybean Association
American Farm Bureau Federation
Archer Daniels Midland Company
Center for International Policy
Cuban
American Alliance of the U.S.
Cuban American Women of the U.S.
Iowa
Corn Growers Association
Farmland Industries, Inc.
Grocery
Manufacturers of America
Medical Device Manufacturers Association
Mississippi Black Farmers and Agriculturists
Mobile-Havana Sister Cities
Association
National Chicken Council
National Corn Growers Association
National Council of Churches of Christ U.S.A.
National Grange
National
Oilseed Processors Association
National Pork Producers Council
National Sunflower Association
Port of Freeport, Texas
Port of Greater
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Port of Lake Charles, LA
Rice Millers'
Association
Texas Farm Bureau
Texas Ports Association
The
Fertilizer Institute
USA Poultry & Egg Export Council
U.S.-Cuba
Sister Cities Association
U.S. Grains Council
U.S. Rice Producers'
Group
U.S. Wheat Associates
Wheat Export Trade and Education Committee
(WETEC)
Americans For Humanitarian Trade With Cuba Advisory Council Signees:
Carla Anderson Hills Chairman & CEO Hills & Company, Former U.S.
Trade
Representative, President Bush
Dwayne Andreas, Chairman Archer Daniels Midland Company
Phil Baum, Executive Director American Jewish Congress
Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. Former Treasury Secretary President under Clinton,
Former U.S. Senator, Texas Reginald K. Brack, Jr. Chairman Emeritus,
Time Inc.
Anne Tyler Calabresi Co-Founder Learning, Education, and Athletics in
Partnership (L.E.A.P)
Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, Director of Religion, Chautauqua Institution
Former General Secretary National Council of Churches
Frank C. Carlucci, Chairman The Carlyle Group Former NSC Chief,
President
Reagan
A.W. Clausen, Chairman and CEO (retired) BankAmerica Corporation, also
Former President World Bank
Francis Ford Coppola Producer / Director
Richard E. Feinberg, Director APEC Study Center University of
California,
Former NSC Chief for Latin America, President Clinton
Craig L. Fuller, Former Chief of Staff, Vice President Bush [AHTC
Co-Chair]
Sam M. Gibbons, Chairman Former 34-year Florida Congressman, Chairman
Ways
and Means Committee [AHTC Co-Chair]
Larry Gold, PhD Chairman and CEO SomaLogic, Inc.
Mark O. Hatfield Former U.S. Senator, Oregon Chairman Appropriations
Committee
Grazell Howard Coalition of 100 Black Women
David G. Kay Vice President General Manager Latin America / Caribbean,
American Rice, Inc,
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Dr. Paul McCleary, President For Children, Inc.
Bob Odom, Commissioner, Louisiana Department of Agriculture
Mario J. Paredes, Executive Director NE Hispanic Catholic Center
George Sturgis Pillsbury Chairman Sargent Management Company
A.J. Pete Reixach, Director Port of Freeport, Texas and Former
Julius B. Richmond, M.D. Professor of Health Policy Harvard Medical
School
Former U.S. Surgeon General
Dennis Rivera, President 1199, National Health & Human Service
Employees
Union
David Rockefeller, Chairman Rockefeller Center Properties, Inc. Trust
James Rodney Schlesinger Senior Advisor Lehman Brothers Former CIA
Director, President Nixon Defense Secretary, President Ford
Kurt L. Schmoke, Former Mayor Baltimore, Maryland
General John J. Sheehan (retired) Former Supreme Allied Commander,
Atlantic (NATO)
Sargent Shriver, Chairman of the Board Special Olympics International
Oliver Stone Producer / Director
Paul A. Volcker, Former Chairman Federal Reserve Board
Malcolm Wallop Former U.S. Senator, Wyoming
John Whitehead, Chairman Federal Reserve Bank of New York Former Deputy
Secretary of State
Silvia Wilhelm, Puentes Cubanos, Miami, FL
Jim Winkler General Secretary United Methodist Church, General Board of
Church and Society
Alliance For Responsible Cuba Policy Board of Directors Signees:
Hon. Beryl F. Anthony, Jr. Partner, Winston & Strawn US House of
Representatives (1978-1992)
Hon. Jack W. Buechner Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP US
House of
Representatives (1986-1992)
Hon. Arnold I. Burns Managing Director, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder,
Inc,
Deputy Attorney General of the U.S. (1986-1992)
Hon. Rod Chandler President, R. Duffy Wall & Associates US House of
Representatives (1983-1992)
Hon. Dennis DeConcini Parry, Romani and DeConcini, Inc. US Senate
(1977-1995)
Albert A. Fox Jr. Executive Director
Hon. Fred Grandy President and CEO Goodwill Industries International,
Inc. Former US Representative from Iowa
J. Paul McNamara President, Sequoia National Bank Washington DC
Hon. Bruce A. Morrison Vice Chairman, GPC International US House of
Representatives (1983-1991)
Ed Rabel Senior Vice President, Weber McGinn Communications Veteran NBC
and CBS Journalist
Hon. John Ray Partner, Manatt Phelps & Phillips, LLP District of
Columbia
City Council (1979 - 1997)
Hon. Walter J. Stewart Griffin, Johnson, Dover & Stewart Former
Secretary
of the US Senate (1987-1994)
Hon. Alexander B. Trowbridge President, Trowbridge Partners Inc. Former
Secretary of Commerce (1966-1968)
Former President National Assn. Of Manufacturers (1980-1990)
CANF Rips Bay of Pigs Conference as 'Shameless Propaganda Spectacle'
Tuesday March 27, 3:48 pm Eastern Time. Press Release.
SOURCE: Cuban American National Foundation
WASHINGTON, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cuban American National Foundation
today roundly criticized this past weekend's conference in Cuba on the 1961 Bay
of Pigs landing as a "shameless propaganda spectacle'' orchestrated by the
Castro regime and its sympathizers to boost its political fortunes in the eyes
of the American people.
"What we witnessed this past weekend was infuriating and, for me,
personally painful,'' said CANF President Francisco Hernandez, a veteran of the
freedom force that attempted to liberate the island from communist domination. "It
was a shameless propaganda spectacle orchestrated by the Castro regime for its
own political purposes, and it was painful because those American visitors and
the trailing national media walked all over the memories of many fallen friends
on those beaches.''
Billing itself as a bi-national conference to "objectively'' review the
events of that period, the meeting featured former U.S. officials, including
historian Arthur Schlessinger, and five of the Cuban exile force. It was
also heavy on the theme of "reconciliation'' between the exiles and the
Castro regime.
Hernandez said, "As if those Cuban officials could say or offer
anything that was not in the pre-planned script. Such a pretension to
objectivity and disionate historical review is ridiculous. All those who
participated from the U.S. side should be ashamed of themselves for lending
their names to this political sham.'' On the presence of five exile veterans,
Hernandez said he was "disappointed, but hardly surprised. Those particular
individuals long ago changed their views on what this struggle is all about.''
Hernandez lamented the fact that the U.S. media portrayed the five as
representative of the views of the exile force and were somehow seeking a
reconciliation with the Castro dictatorship. "Five out of the 900 surviving
veterans is statistically irrelevant and represents exactly what it represents
-- a miniscule viewpoint,'' he said. Hernandez pointed out the Cuban officials
themselves made a mockery of the theme of reconciliation, with defiant and
unrepentant rhetoric on behalf of the communist cause.
The 2506 Brigade, the Miami-based group representing the freedom force,
harshly denounced the meeting this weekend, calling it "an insult'' to its
fallen brothers, and said there can be no reconciliation in Cuba until Fidel and
Raul Castro depart the scene. It also criticized the five attendees at the
meeting as "marionettes'' in Fidel Castro's "puppet show.''
Hernandez said, "Castro's agenda in staging this elaborate production
should be obvious to any sensible person. This was to convey an image of 'moving
on,' 'get over it,' and to obscure the fact that the issues that divided the
Cuban nation in 1961-the lack of freedom and democracy for the Cuban people, the
systematic abuse of human rights-continue to remain unchanged to this day.''
Visa Gold begins expedition around the Isle of Youth
Tuesday March 27, 8:45 am Eastern Time. Press Release.
SOURCE: Visa Gold Explorations Inc.
TORONTO, March 27 /PRNewswire/ - Visa Gold Explorations Inc. (CDNX: YVL -
news) is pleased to announce that the Company's expedition program around the
Isle of Youth, Cuba is officially underway. It is estimated that hundreds of
ships sank in the southern waters of Cuba between 1515 and 1825.
Visa Gold's crew has been performing preliminary dives to examine and
several shipwreck targets. Identified through research conducted over the past
few months, the targets are in a specific shallow-water area close to the Isle
of Youth. The campaign is the first of two 22-day (approximately) campaigns the
Company has planned in the selected area.
The Company also reported on the status of its first successful discovery
and excavation project, the Palemon. Final documentation on Palemon artifacts
recovered to date is being prepared by a team led by Dr. Ovidio J. Ortega
Pereyra, the t venture association's head archaeologist and historian. A
wrap-up is expected over the next few weeks, during which time the Company will
be submitting an application to the Department of Patrimony for separation of
existing artifacts. Once completed and approved, Visa Gold Explorations will be
in a position to export its share of the artifacts.
"We are proud and excited to be the first foreign company to ever
embark on an exploration program in these waters - we are very optimistic of the
potential they could hold,'' stated Paul Frustaglio, President, Visa Gold
Explorations Inc.
ABOUT VISA GOLD EXPLORATIONS INC.
Visa Gold Explorations Inc. is party to a t venture agreement with its
Cuban partner, Geomar S.A., to search for shipwrecks in the coastal waters of
Cuba. Visa Gold has exclusive rights to prominent galleon wreck areas in the
northern and southern coasts of the island.
The Canadian Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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