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March 28, 2001



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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.

Copyright © Yahoo! Inc.
Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press.
Copyright @ 2000 PRNewswire.

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