5/27/14, "U.S. business leader praises growth of free enterprise in Cuba," Reuters, Daniel Trotta, Havana
"The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce praised the growth of free enterprise in Cuba upon his arrival in Havana Tuesday at the start of a three-day visit that was criticized by a leading supporter of the U.S. embargo in Washington.
Chamber President Thomas Donohue has long opposed the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba as an impediment to free enterprise for American companies that want to do business in the communist-ruled country.
Now that free market reforms in recent years under Cuban President Raul Castro have created a class of small-business owners and private cooperatives and the government is courting foreign investment, Donohue has returned for the first time in 15 years.
"I'm here because of the evidence that we're seeing in Cuba of an extraordinary expansion of free enterprise, the reduction in government jobs, and more private hiring, all of which is moving in the right direction," said Donohue, whose chamber is an influential lobbying group that bills itself as the world’s largest business organization.
"As you know the chamber for years has been opposed to the sanctions as they are used," he told reporters shortly after his arrival and before he met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.
Earlier this month an unprecedented group of 44 policy reform advocates and former U.S. officials signed a letter urging the White House to expand licensed travel for all Americans to Cuba and seek to promote the island's fledgling private sector. In February a public opinion poll found a strong majority of Americans favor loosening Cuba sanctions.
But in Washington, New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez expressed serious concern about the chamber's trip, fearing it would strengthen a government that "jails foreign business leaders without justification, violates international labor standards and denies its citizens their basic rights."
"Such conditions hardly seem an attractive opportunity for any responsible business leader," said Menendez, a leading Cuban-American voice for maintaining strict economic sanctions on the one-party state.
Donohue and a dozen others including a representative of U.S. commodities company Cargill [CARG.UL] planned to visit a private auto repair cooperative and the special development zone in the port of Mariel. Donohue was due to give a speech at Havana University on Thursday just before departing.
It was not known whether he would meet with Raul Castro, who ushered in the reforms after taking over for his ailing brother Fidel in 2008.
Donohue declined to say whether he expected any U.S. policy change toward Cuba, which Washington has sought to undermine and isolate since the island's 1959 revolution took it down the path of communism."
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Deals Tom Donahue gets if any won't be the result of free enterprise. Insider crony deals with governments are the opposite of free enterprise:
"Cuba almost always demands a controlling stake, which has
discouraged some companies from elsewhere in the world from investing. Imports to Cuba are administered by state holding
companies."...
.
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12/19/14, "Castro daughter: US 'dreaming' if they think Cuba will return to capitalism," UK Telegraph, by Telegraph Video, video source APTN
"The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro said on Thursday the United States "must be dreaming" if it thinks Cuba will return to capitalism after both countries agreed to normalise diplomatic relations."
.
"Speaking in Havana, Mariela Castro, said the island nation would not return "to being a servile country to hegemonic interests of the most powerful financial groups in the US".
"The people of Cuba don't want to return to capitalism," Mariela Castro, a member of parliament, told Reuters on Friday.
Cuba and the United States on Wednesday agreed to end more than five decades of animosity and re-establish full diplomatic relations. U.S. President Barack Obama also said he intends to remove some sanctions against Cuba and work with the U.S. Congress to end the economic embargo.
But even if all U.S. barriers to Cuba were lifted, any U.S. companies would still need permission from Cuba's communist government to do business on the Caribbean island.
"We've been at this 56 years and...we love saying that we are a country in revolution, trying to create socialism, and we form part of a single party called the Communist Party," Mariela Castro said.
Under Cuba's foreign investment law, overseas companies are welcome but need to negotiate agreements with Cuban state companies or the government to do business.
Cuba almost always demands a controlling stake, which has discouraged some companies from elsewhere in the world from investing.
Imports to Cuba are administered by state holding companies, meaning that U.S. companies would not be able to simply find a buyer and ship goods in.
"Sometimes people say Fidel is hard-headed, that the Cuban leaders are hard-headed, but experience has taught us something important, that we should never give in on our principles," Castro said outside parliament during a break in Friday's session."
.
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12/19/14, "Castro daughter: US 'dreaming' if they think Cuba will return to capitalism," UK Telegraph, by Telegraph Video, video source APTN
"The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro said on Thursday the United States "must be dreaming" if it thinks Cuba will return to capitalism after both countries agreed to normalise diplomatic relations."
.
"Speaking in Havana, Mariela Castro, said the island nation would not return "to being a servile country to hegemonic interests of the most powerful financial groups in the US".
US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the US is re-establishing
long-broken diplomatic relations with Cuba - a historic shift that could
revitalise the flow of money and people across the narrow waters that
separate the two nations.
.
.
Cubans welcomed Wednesday's announcement with optimism and a measure of
caution, especially among officials in the Castro Government.
.
.
The shift in US-Cuba policy was the culmination of 18 months of secret talks
between both countries that included a series of meetings in Canada and the
personal involvement of Pope Francis."
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12/19/14, "Cuba not returning to capitalism despite U.S. deal: Castro's daughter," Reuters, Havana, by Rosa Tania Valdés
.
"Cuba will defend its socialist
principles and will not return to capitalism just because it has agreed a
detente with the United States, the daughter of President Raul Castro
said, dispelling any notion that U.S. companies would be free to roll
into Cuba.===================
12/19/14, "Cuba not returning to capitalism despite U.S. deal: Castro's daughter," Reuters, Havana, by Rosa Tania Valdés
.
"The people of Cuba don't want to return to capitalism," Mariela Castro, a member of parliament, told Reuters on Friday.
Cuba and the United States on Wednesday agreed to end more than five decades of animosity and re-establish full diplomatic relations. U.S. President Barack Obama also said he intends to remove some sanctions against Cuba and work with the U.S. Congress to end the economic embargo.
But even if all U.S. barriers to Cuba were lifted, any U.S. companies would still need permission from Cuba's communist government to do business on the Caribbean island.
"We've been at this 56 years and...we love saying that we are a country in revolution, trying to create socialism, and we form part of a single party called the Communist Party," Mariela Castro said.
Under Cuba's foreign investment law, overseas companies are welcome but need to negotiate agreements with Cuban state companies or the government to do business.
Cuba almost always demands a controlling stake, which has discouraged some companies from elsewhere in the world from investing.
Imports to Cuba are administered by state holding companies, meaning that U.S. companies would not be able to simply find a buyer and ship goods in.
"Sometimes people say Fidel is hard-headed, that the Cuban leaders are hard-headed, but experience has taught us something important, that we should never give in on our principles," Castro said outside parliament during a break in Friday's session."
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Comment: "Small business owners" and a so-called Cuban "fledgling private sector"? Right. What chance would they have against a battery of insider Wall St. lobbyists and cronies?
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