Chronicle on Cuba - September 2008

Economy

September 1: Cuba said more than 90,000 houses were damaged or destroyed when Hurricane Gustav tore through the western province of Pinar del Rio with 150 mile per hour (240 km per hour) winds. Officials and state media said 80 percent of the province, which has about 750,000 residents, was without power after Gustav knocked down 80 high-tension towers with cables that distribute electricity throughout the region. State-run news agency AIN, in a story quoting Cuban vice president Carlos Lage, said 53 percent of the homes in the hardest hit areas were affected, most of them suffering roof damage. Power lines were knocked down throughout the stricken area in Cuba, many of them draping across roads and highways. Lage said during a trip to the worst-hit Pinar del Rio towns that power supply was a "very grave and urgent problem." "It doesn't have to do with repairing a few towers, it has to do with constructing a new electricity network, because much of the network is on the ground," he said. State television said tobacco warehouses in Pinar del Rio, the main growing region for Cuba's famed tobacco, had been damaged. AIN also reported heavy damages to hotels and thousands of buildings in Pinar del Rio's Vinales valley, a popular international tourist destination known for its dramatic rocky outcrops and traditional architecture (Reuters, 1/9/08).

September 2: The rains of hurricane Hanna have directly affected the eastern Cuban provinces of Guantanamo and Holguin, as then storm moves towards the Central Bahamas. A report from Guantanamo’s Venceremos newspaper said that rains coming from the storm could be locally intense in some northern areas of the two eastern provinces, while winds are expected to blow at 60 to 70 kilometers per hour (ACN, 2/9/08).

September 2: The German cities of Frankfurt and Berlin got a sneak peak at the 29th International Tourism Fair (FITCUBA 2009), the biggest tourism trade expo and planned to take place in Cuba in October. Germany will be the guest of honor due to fact that it is the fifth main country from which tourists come to the Caribbean island. Cuba’s delegation to the pre-trade fair activities was headed by Deputy Tourism Minister Maria Elena Lopez; also present were several Cuban executives of hotel chains and tour operators (ACN, 2/9/08).

September 2: The Saturno motor vessel of the Cuban Revolutionary Navy is expected to arrive in Isla de la Juventud on September 4 loaded with materials for the reestablishment of the communications and energy systems in this area, devastated by hurricane Gustav.   The ship set sailed from the Haiphong terminal of Havana's port carrying four containers with power generators, communications equipment and liquid containers and 50 poles for the erection of electricity wires, according to statements by the ship’s commander Jorge Luis Mora Sotomayor to the Juventud Rebelde newspaper. The vessel is the first of several shipments to be sent by the navy to the island, located 44 miles off Cuba's mainland south-western coast and considered a special municipality of the country. Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces Ministry (MINFAR) has been closely involved with the recovery efforts of Pinar del Rio and Isla de la Juventud. Colonel Raul Perez Ramos, Head of MINFAR's Transportation Department said raw materials for basic industry and engineering equipment and bulldozers have been sent to those territories (ACN, 3/9/08).

September 3: Electrical line crews from several unaffected areas of Cuba are helping in the recovery of the power system in Pinar del Rio and Isla de la Juventud, the two areas most damaged by Hurricane Gustav. More than 100 workers from Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba and Villa Clara are supporting Pinar del Rio's efforts to reestablish the electricity services, while a crew from central Camaguey has been working on Isla de la Juventud since September 1st. Akdelay Ledouen, head of the workers brigade from Sagua la Grande, in Las Villas province, said his crew expressed their commitment to stay in the affected areas as long as needed. Meanwhile, the fifth plane loaded with food and water for the hurricane victims landed on Isla de la Juventud on September 2. The director of the Rafael Cabrera Montelier airport, Juan Corrales, told the press that airplanes with food have been arriving to the island since September 1st. Corrales said the airport suffered serious damage, especially the control tower, which left the terminal cut off (ACN, 3/9/08).

September 3: Guatemala's President Alvaro Colom announced that Mexico and other Central American countries are considering the purchase of Cuban pharmaceuticals, due to their low cost. During a press conference in Guatemala City, Colom said that at the initiative of his Panamanian counterpart Martin Torrijos the countries making up the Central American Integration System (SICA) plus Mexico are considering the purchase of as many pharmaceuticals as possible from the Cuban market. Cuba is producing lots of pharmaceuticals, which are cheap enough, said the Guatemalan President, as cited by different international news agencies. Colom pointed out that he is looking for more Cuban assistance in the health care field in order to increase the number of Cuban doctorsin his country, particularly in rural areas (ACN, 3/9/08).

September 3: Cuba and Mexico will analyze ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation, during the 4th Session of the Joint Commission for Development inaugurated in Havana with representatives from the two nations. The encounter will promote conditions to reinitiating mutual collaboration, said the vice-minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Orlando Requeijo. He also pointed out that Latin American and Caribbean countries are, like other geographic areas, facing the negative impact of climate change and the increase of food and oil prices, a situation that affects the economies and creates imbalances in trade in the region (ACN, 3/9/08).

September 4: Cuba and Mexico entered a new stage of mutual collaboration with the signing of the final statement of the 4th Joint Commission Meeting between the two countries that concluded in Havana. The document, endorsed by representatives of the two nations, includes proposals for collaboration in aquiculture, plague control,  epidemiological vigilance, general treatment of senior citizens, airport systems and the national environmental atlas. The statement also includes projects for the development of the biomedical applications-oriented nanotechnology, housing and public administration. The document was signed by Cuba's Deputy Minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration (MINVEC), Orlando Requeijo, and the head of the economic relations and international collaboration office of the Mexican Foreign Ministry, Luz Maria de La Mora (ACN, 4/9/08).  

September 5: Cuba's central bank has told creditors the country's foreign debt increased by $1.1 billion in 2007 to $16.5 billion, sources close to Cuban efforts to reschedule some official debt said. The increase came in Cuba's so-called "active" debt, on which it pays interest and principal, which rose from $7.8 billion in 2006 to $8.9 billion. Additional official and bank debt accounted for the increase. Cuba's active debt includes around $4.5 billion in official debt owed to other governments, $2.5 billion in supplier debt owed to traders, and bank debt of $1.86 billion owed to foreign financial institutions. Cuba's active debt is comprised of money borrowed since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Its "inactive" debt is the debt it is not paying interest on and which was built up after Cuba defaulted on its obligations in the 1980s. Cuba reported a $488 million balance of payments surplus in 2007, but higher costs for food and fuel imports this year, and lower prices for its main export, nickel, have led it to seek some restructuring with Japan and other creditors. Cuba is not a member of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank or other multilateral lending institution. Cuba last reported its inactive debt as $7.6 billion in 2006. The central bank said there was little change in that part of the debt, the sources said (Reuters, 5/9/08).

September 8: The Cuban Ministry of Finances and Prices announced new gasoline and diesel prices, which will be updated every three months in accordance with price fluctuations on the international market. A note published by Granma news daily recalls that gasoline prices have tripled in the past three years and that Cuba cannot keep on charging the same prices that it did three years ago to the public. “In spite of this situation, the prices of domestic sales remained unchanged although this increase gradually reduced profits until it caused economic losses in the last months,” the note points out. The text adds that if prices remained unaltered, there would be economic losses to the tune of 388 million CUCs (1 CUC approximately equal to 1  Euro), which would be unsustainable for the country’s economy (ACN, 8/9/08).

September 8: Hurricane Ike has caused major damage to homes and agriculture in the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguin and Las Tunas, according to local preliminarily reports. Col. Jose E. Betancourt, head of the Risk Reduction Department of the National Civil Defense Council, noted that in spite of the loss, measures taken to preserve human life and to minimize the negative effects on the economy have been effective. Santiago de Cuba's municipalities of Guama and Segundo Frente are cut  off by rivers that have flooded several localities in the area. Of the nine reservoirs in the area, seven are releasing waters, as an average of 96 percent of the total capacity has been already collected. Northern coastal towns in Las Tunas, Jesus Menendez, Puerto Padre and Manati were also severely hit by the hurricane. Ike's winds caused serious damage to houses, banana plantations, schools and health centers and buildings related to the local economy (ACN, 8/9/08).

September 8: Eastern Cuban province Holguin is one of the most severely affected by the passing of Hurricane Ike, which greatly damaged communications, power supplies and tourist facilities in its territory. Miguel Díaz- Canel Bermúdez, First secretary of Holguin Communist Party reported over the phone to the National television program Round Table, the amount and severity of damages in the eastern province. Díaz- Canel highlighted that the territories affected the most by the winds and rains are Gibara, Moa, Rafael Freyre, Banes and the capital city municipalities. Among the main damages caused by the meteor are fallen trees blocking roads, and power interruptions. Also the communication systems suffered damages, especially the transmitting towers, which wreaked havoc in the mobile phones. Hotel facilities were affected in the tourist pole of Guardalavaca and Pesquero Beach (ACN, 8/9/08).

September 8: Hurricane Ike seriously affected the province of Camaguey during the seven hours it took to cross the province- it finally moved west by way of a point on the southern coast close to neighboring Ciego de Avila. The hurricane severely damaged homes, schools, warehouses, and service and productive facilities, said local civil defense authorities. Electric poles and transmission towers were also heavily affected as  well as communication lines and antennas. In the city of Nuevitas, to the north coast of Camaguey, both homes and the port's warehouses suffered great damage, while hotels and tourism-related facilities were also severely affected at Santa Lucia Beach (ACN, 8/9/08).

September 9: Easternmost Guantanamo province’s reservoirs are almost at the top of their capacity (348 million cubic meters) and the two most important of them are downloading at the moment, reported the Province Hydraulic Resources Institute. The contribution to the filling up of the Guantanamo province reservoirs is the only good thing done by the passing of Hurricane Ike close to this Cuban territory, which caused considerable damage to housing and social and economic facilities in the Baracoa municipality and other mountain areas. Due to the heavy rains associated with the storm, that is still battering Cuba’s territory, the La Yaya and Jaibo reservoirs in the Niceto Perez and El Salvador municipalities respectively with 280 million metric cubic combined capacities are shedding surplus water. Also shedding excess waters is Los Asientos reservoir, located in the Cuajeri Valley, an agriculture center in the San Antonio del Sur municipality, whose meteorological station reported high levels of precipitation related to Ike. This valley is the only place in Cuba where vegetables can be cultivated  in spring and summer and besides it has the Pozo Azul reservoir, at 60 percent of its capacity at this moment (ACN, 9/9/08).

September 9: Cuba said that Hurricane Ike did no serious damage to its nickel mines and processing plants and it expected to restart production of its top export in a few days. The damage "won't prevent renewal of production in the next few days," the Ministry of Basic Industries said in a communique read on state television. Cuba is one of the world's top nickel producers and operates three mines, one in association with Canadian firm Sherritt International. It shut production at the nickel facilities before Hurricane Ike made landfall with 120-mile-per-hour (195-kph) winds in the eastern province of Holguin, where the mines and plant are located. The government did not say what the damages were, but the Communist Party chief in the province of Holguin, where the mines are located, said on radio the Ernesto "Che" Guevara plant had suffered roof damage (Reuters, 9/9/08).

September 10: Hurricane Ike limped out of Cuba, leaving behind $3 to $4 billion in damage to homes, agriculture, public buildings and the electrical grid, the United Nations said. More than 140,000 structures were damaged, Elisabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at a news briefing in Geneva. Ike ripped across the Caribbean island, damaging an economy already strained by Hurricane Gustav and the soaring cost of imports. The central bank had already asked various creditors to restructure debt due to this year's spike in fuel and food prices and a fall in the price of nickel, Cuba's main export. "If we were cash short before, you can imagine now. There is little liquidity for recovery, let alone anything else," said a Cuban economist who asked not to be named. Communist-ruled Cuba, under an economic embargo imposed by Washington more than 40 years ago, is not a member of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank or other multilateral lending institution with a US presence that could help bail it out. Ike struck near Cuba's nickel-producing region in eastern Holguin province and roared nearly the entire 700-mile (1,125-km) length of the island, flattening sugar cane fields and toppling decrepit buildings in the capital. There is also likely to be an impact on the tourist industry. Damage from Ike could hit $3 billion to $4 billion (1.7 billion to 2.3 billion pounds), according to "some official sources" in Cuba, Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said at a briefing in Geneva (The Miami Herald, Reuters, BBC, 10/9/08).

September 10: The picture was dire across the island after the passing of hurricane Ike. In Villa Clara, 70 percent of crops were destroyed, including 80 percent of banana trees, news anchor Randy Alonso said. In Camagüey, the Cuban state newspaper Adelante said damage was ``principally to the electrical and telephone system, industrial and tourist facilities, schools, homes, warehouses of different uses and forestry.'' The city was completely without power after the north and south coasts were flooded by sea surge and three rivers overflowed inland. A second evacuation operation was under way in Camagüey, where up to 4,000 people were being moved due to rising waters. ''After bidding farewell to this unwelcome visitor, another equally damaging one arrived: the flooding due to the overflowing rivers,'' the newspaper said. Authorities also reported heavy damages in Nuevitas, on the northern coast. ''Everyone is volunteering how they can -- some are cutting up the wood, some are taking out the trash, everyone is pitching in,'' Zuliemy Garcia said by phone from Nuevitas. ``When we looked outside and saw what happened to our city, a lot of people were crying.'' Cubaencuentro website reported heavy damage to the town of Chaparra in Las Tunas, saying 80 percent of homes were damaged. In Ciego de Avila, the state government news agency said the largest fruit company in the country, La Cuba, was severely damaged. Television footage showed widespread destruction to nearly all the buildings and gas stations. ''The sea wall is completely destroyed,'' said Dennys Rodríguez Guilarte, 44, who runs a guest house in Baracoa, Guantánamo. ``The winds pushed the sea onto the people who live there. Now there's a hurricane of people trying to recover everything from the debris.'' Mudslides and flooding blocked La Farola, the main road between Baracoa and Guantánamo. In Granma province, 150,000 banana plants fell in Laguna Blanca, and Guama, Segundo and Tercer Frentes are unreachable by land because of flooding on the main roads, the state media reported. Television reports showed helicopters attempting to rescue people trapped there by landslides. At least nine reservoirs in the southeast filled, creating what the state press called ''a tense panorama'' in Yerba de Guinea, where the reservoir rose 11 inches in just four hours. In Guantánamo, two reservoirs were being vented (The Miami Herald, 10/9/08).

September 11: Cuba's already hurricane and plague-damaged citrus industry took a hard hit from Hurricane Ike just one week after Hurricane Gustav felled fruit and damaged groves and processing plants, state-run media reported. Workers rushed to salvage for processing and animal feed at least 50,000 tonnes of downed grapefruit ready or near ready for harvest, while tonnes of immature oranges were declared a total loss. "Once again citrus has been battered by a hurricane," the official daily Granma reported from the 23,000-hectare state-run Jaguey Grande orchard in western Matanzas province. "This time the storm felled 35,000 tonnes of grapefruit and around 3,500 tonnes of oranges," it said. Category-four Gustav destroyed processing facilities and groves and wiped out the entire crop on the Isle of Youth less than two weeks ago, while felling tonnes of fruit in western Pinar del Rio and Havana provinces, the state-run media reported at the time. Ike entered eastern Cuba, felling fruit, damaging trees and a processing facility in the entire eastern part of the country, according to local sources. In central Cuba, tonnes of fruit were downed in Ciego de Avila, where a processing plant reported only light damage. The government reported a 2007 citrus crop of 469,000 tonnes, compared with more than 800,000 tonnes in 2004. Output from January through April of this year declined around 35 percent from with the same period in 2007, the National Statistics office recently reported. In the 1980s Cuba was the world's biggest citrus fruit exporter, producing more than a million tonnes of mainly oranges and grapefruit on 120,000 hectares, most destined for the former Soviet Union (Reuters, 11/9/08).

September 11: Cuba began moving students and workers into eastern Cuba's mountains to clear roads and coffee plantations of trees and save what it could of the crop hit hard by Hurricane Ike this week, state-run media said. "Brigades of forestry and agricultural workers, supported by mountain road repair crews, are working to clear access to plantations and trees that have fallen on the coffee plants," the official daily Granma said. Ike slammed into Eastern Holguin Province as a powerful Category 3 Hurricane, its winds covering eastern Guantanamo, Granma and Santiago de Cuba provinces as well, home to 85 percent of the crop. Torrential rains followed for four days, washing away fallen beans and causing serious flooding that cut mountain roads. Local media reported at least a tenth of the crop on the ground, and a similar amount in need of immediate picking, but camps for the thousands of students who harvest the crop and the rest of the infrastructure were seriously damaged. "Many local producers are trying to save what they can of the fallen beans, while working to repair damage to 44 student camps, 32 coffee processing plants, dryers and lunch rooms," Granma said of Guantanamo province. Cuba produced a record low 4,200 tonnes of semi-processed coffee the previous harvest and said output would increase by 30 percent this year (Reuters, 11/9/08).

September 12: Hurricane Ike flattened 156,000 hectares of Cuban sugar cane and flooded more when it churned along the island for two days this week, state-run radio reported.  Cuba harvested 330,000 hectares of cane during the 2008 harvest, producing almost 1.5 million tonnes of raw sugar. There are 700,000 hectares devoted to sugar cane in the country. The president of the Cuban sugar technicians said the preliminary figures would no doubt increase as workers gained access to plantations where roads were washed out. "The data is still preliminary and is going to increase (…) I saw today a figure of 15,000 hectares flooded," Tirso Saenz told Radio Progresso. Saenz said he was more worried about the flooded cane than that which was flattened, but that both situations were serious. Top sugar reporter Juan Varela in his weekly radio program said there was extensive damage to infrastructure. Varela said at least 700 kilometers of plantation roads were washed out and 14 rail and highway bridges linking plantations to mills. Earlier reports had 100,000 pieces of roofing blown off sugar industry mills and other installations (Reuters, 12/9/08).

September 12: The Cuban government began distributing state emergency reserves across the country in the areas hit hard by Hurricane Gustav and Ike. In statements published in the Granma newspaper, Major General Carlos M. Lezcano Perez, president of the National Institute of State Reserves, said the areas with the heaviest damage will receive priority. "Every year, the government outlines a plan to increase its reserves of food, fuel, building materials, medicines, etc.," explained the official, "but it would be naïve to believe that the reserves created by a small country like Cuba, with limited financial capacity and more than a half-century of economic war [with the US], would be enough to meet the demands after a disaster of the magnitude caused by Ike and Gustav,"  reads the statement (ACN, 12/9/08).

September 12: Oil Refinery is warming up its equipment to refine 65 thousand barrels a day, after stopping work because of Hurricane Ike’s passing through Cuba. Hector Rodriguez Cabrera, operations chief of this facility explained to the press that the mandatory stoppage due to the closeness of the hurricane started with a gradual cooling down of the engines, and later with the shutting down of the furnaces and processing plants and finally they had applied the contingency plan. The refinery suffered just mild affectations to five meters of the thermal insulation in the atmospheric distillation tower, which is about to finish its repairs. During the passing of Ike the refinery workers just kept the small power plants that supply energy to the residual treatment lagoon activated,  so it would not burst its banks and pollute the bay (ACN, 12/9/08).

September 12: The Cuban government was scrambling to salvage battered crops, and many towns across the island remain inaccessible due to flooding brought on by swollen rivers and overflowing reservoirs in the wake of hurricanes Ike and Gustav. Authorities also continued their frantic efforts to assess total damage and direct aid to the neediest areas after admitting that the country's reserves will not be enough to deal with the devastation. The death toll is now at least seven. Víctor Ramírez, President of Cuba's National Housing Institute, warned in the TV program Mesa Redonda that ``we must be prudent in the distribution of materials. The hurricane season is not over yet. We can't let our guard down.'' There will be massive mobilizations to pick the coffee crop ''before it rots,'' Cuban TV said. In Holguín Province in eastern Cuba, about 50,000 acres of crops, mostly plantains, were first battered by hurricane winds and then washed over by continuing torrential rains. Hurricane Ike also flattened 385,000 acres of sugar cane, out of a total of 1.7 million planted across the island. All grove crops in the Isle of Youth, off Cuba's southwest coast, were decimated when Gustav rumbled through August 30 as a Category 4 hurricane. A German nongovernmental organization, Agro Acción Alemana, which has worked in Cuba for 15 years, estimated that at least 75 percent of the island's agriculture suffered some damage, according to news reports. Agro Acción Alemana also warned that the food situation is ''truly difficult'' and that the damages ``leave the country vulnerable to nationwide food uncertainty in the next six months'' (The Miami Herald, 13/9/08).

September 14: Cuba's nickel industry, damaged by Hurricane Ike, has resumed some production, state-run media said, quoting basic industry Minister Yadira Garcia on a tour of the plants and mines. Garcia said the state-owned Pedro Sotto Alba plant in Moa Holguin was operating and another state-owned plant in Nicaro Holguin was preparing to open. Garcia said the joint venture Ernesto Che Guevara plant with Canadian company Sherritt International in Moa Holguin had suffered the greatest damage and gave no date for a restart there. Cuba is one of the world's top nickel producers at 75,000 tonnes of unrefined nickel and cobalt per year. Nickel is the country's top export. About half the output comes from the joint venture plant with Sherritt, which was also undergoing an expansion. The Category 2 storm entered Cuba at Holguin's northern coast last Sunday, where the nickel industry is located, seriously damaging housing and buildings and swamping the area with torrential rains and a storm surge. Cuba said at the time that damage was not serious and production would be renewed "in the next few days." The government has not specified damage to the plants and other facilities, all located on the northern coast of Holguin (Reuters, 14/9/08).

September 15: Cuban Minister of Domestic Trade Marino Murillo said that preliminary figures show that more than 4,000 tons of foodstuffs were damaged by Hurricane Ike as it ripped off roofs of warehouses during its trajectory over almost the entire country. Speaking from the province of Santa Clara the minister said that just 10 days before Ike 1,300 tons of food was lost in the province of Pinar del Rio and the Isla de la Juventud with the passing of Hurricane Gustav, reported Granma newspaper. Murillo reported that the entire country suffered damage to the warehouses that supply all Cubans with basic foodstuffs such as rice, beans, sugar and salt, but noted that the provinces of Holguin, Las Tunas and Camaguey were the most seriously affected (ACN, 15/9/08).

September 15: Starting September 17, Cuban farmers, agricultural associations, enterprises and cooperatives farms interested in cultivating fallow public land can submit their requests to the government. “This is a strategic effort to face the food crises (…) and is also motivated by the urgent and additional need to recover from the devastating effects of hurricanes Gustav and Ike,” reads a communiqué from the Cuban Agricultural Ministry published Monday in the Granma newspaper. According to a decree issued in July 2008 by the Cuban government, farmers who do not own land will have the opportunity to receive use rights on up to 13.4 hectares, and those who already have a producing lot can be leased up to 40.3 additional hectares (ACN, 15/9/08).

September 15: Cuba's entire sugar crop was flattened and flooded by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav this month, according to a preliminary government report on the two storms damage to the country, broadcast by state-run television. "There were 156,600 hectares of cane flattened and 518,879 flooded," the report said. Cuba harvested 330,000 hectares of cane during the 2008 harvest, producing almost 1.5 million tonnes of raw sugar. There are 700,000 hectares devoted to sugar cane in the country. The harvest is still three months away and flattened cane often recovers with some loss in yield, while flooded cane needs to be drained within two weeks to avoid significant losses. The report, read on the evening news, did not indicate how much of the flooded area had been drained (Reuters, 15/9/08).

September 16: Losses from two back-to-back hurricanes in Cuba that wiped out housing, crops, electrical lines, schools and hospitals from coast to coast will cost about $5 billion, the Cuban government announced. An approximately 3,000-word statement published in the Cuban newspaper Granma marks the first time the Cuban government has quantified the nationwide damage of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The figures published paint a daunting figure for a nation that was already facing a housing crisis, low agricultural production and shortages of key materials (Información oficial; The Miami Herald, 16/9/08) .

September 16: The poultry industry in the westernmost Cuban province of Pinar del Rio was devastated after the passing of two major hurricanes within two weeks that damaged 39 large facilities to some extent, reported Granma newspaper. Up until the end of August, the average monthly egg production in Pinar del Rio was between 20 and 22 million eggs, half of which was sent to Havana city to supply domestic needs. Calculations made after the passing of Gustav and Ike shows that in September, production will not surpass 10 million, and that is only if the chicken feed is steady, something that has not been the case in the first half of the month. “We hope to cover the quota for the province, but we are no longer sending to the capital,” said Victor Fidel Hernandez, director of the Pinar del Rio Poultry Company. Damage occurred in 298 of the 390 laying facilities (93 totally destroyed). More than 290,000 birds died and many others had to be killed ahead of schedule. The feed processing industry was also  seriously affected. “We had not suffered something similar since the founding of the  National Poultry Center (CAN) in 1964. These two hurricanes destroyed the efforts of many people during all this time,” he added (ACN, 16/9/08).

September 17: Eighty-eight percent of the Cuban population has electricity service said Electric Company executive Ricardo Gonzalez on the TV show The Round Table. The electric company official said that all consumers in the provinces of Havana, City of Havana, Ciego de Avila and Granma have service and that by September 19, work should be completed to provide renewed service in Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. Gonzalez said the places with the greatest difficulties to restore the service are in Las Tunas, Holguin and Camaguey and to a lesser extent in Pinar del Rio and Isla de la Juventud (ACN, 17/9/08).

September 18: Cuban media said more than 5,000 people have applied to farm idle plots of government land as the island struggles to recover from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. The Communist Party newspaper Granma says 5,515 Cubans requested farm plots, part of a program to boost food production that is being sped up after the twin hurricanes devastated Cuban farms this month. The communist government also is under pressure to reduce food imports expected to cost US$2 billion this year. It hopes that letting thousands of private farmers operate on state land will be the answer. Landless Cubans can apply for about 33 acres (13 hectares), while existing farmers can increase their holdings to 100 acres (40 hectares) each (AP, 18/9/08).
 
September 18: Cuban agriculture officials said they expect a six-month food crisis after hurricanes Ike and Gustav ravaged 30 percent of the island's crops, and they are moving to increase domestic production and control prices to ensure no one goes hungry. Cuba, which spends up to US$2 billion annually on food imports, already was struggling to increase its historically paltry domestic production when the twin storms destroyed large amounts of staples such as rice and beans, plantains and Cuban sweet potatoes. "We need to see what food is available and where it needs to go," Agriculture Vice Minister Alcides Lopez told international journalists. "We have six hard months to go," he said. But he added that "no Cuban will die of hunger." Thousands of acres of crops were destroyed earlier this month when the twin storms struck the island with heavy rains and high winds. Agriculture officials said the egg and dairy industries also were hit hard, with a production loss of 70 million eggs and 790,000 gallons (3 million liters) of milk in recent weeks. Lopez said authorities are rushing to recover as much of the damaged crops as possible, and to repair salvageable farm equipment. Priority is being placed on short-term crops such as salad greens and on restoring electrical power to food processing plants, Lopez said. The vice minister said he could not rule out the possibility of price limits at the country's supply-and-demand farmers markets, where small producers have long sold their products at market prices (AP, 18/9/08).

September 21: Cuba and Venezuela are studying the "possible reactivation" of a 189-kilometer (117-mile) pipeline linking the north and south coasts of the island that would make it easier to distribute oil from a jointly operated refinery in the city of Cienfuegos, the official Prensa Latina news agency reported, citing officials. The pipeline "would free up space on two piers" at the Camilo Cienfuegos refinery, located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Havana, Jose Suarez, a manager with the joint venture, told the news agency. The refinery joint venture was formed in April 2006 by Cuba Petroleo, or Cupet, which has a 51 percent stake, and Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, which holds a 49 percent stake in the project. The pipeline would run from the city of Matanzas, on Cuba's northern coast, to the refinery in Cienfuegos, which is located on the island's south coast, Suarez said. The official said the pipeline, which has been inactive for more than 15 years, was being inspected for "possible damage." Energy officials are also looking at dredging new areas, building another pier in Cienfuegos Bay and constructing a floating dock on the high seas, Suarez said. The Camilo Cienfuegos Refinery was constructed in the 1980s and closed in 1995 due to the economic problems experienced by the island in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. The refinery was inaugurated in December 2007 following a $166 million renovation project (EFE, 21/9/08).
 
September 22: Vietnamese Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUD) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Cuba’s Palmares Group on HUD’s investment to build a 36-hole golf course and tourism-service-apartment complex in Bauta, Havana province. The project is expected to cover an area of 300-400 ha, including a 180 ha lake. A joint venture will be established to run the project, in which the Vietnamese and Cuban sides each hold 50% of chartered capital for 50 years. Cuba’s Palmares will hire consultants to assess the value of the land plot, which will be considered its capital contribution. Palmares is a big group comprising 18 companies running restaurants, entertainment venues and golf courses with 1,000 business points.   The Vietnamese side has also negotiated with Palmares about a second golf course in Varadero, Matanzas province. Besides the cooperation with Palmares, HUD has also talked with Cubanacan, the leading tourism group in Cuba, about investment in a five-star hotel with 800 rooms which is expected to be located on a 9.22 ha land plot in Santa Lucia, Camaguey province (VietNamNet Bridge, 22/9/08).  
 
September 22: The second of three Cuban nickel plants was scheduled to open this week, according to local radio reports, as the industry struggles to resume full production after taking a direct hit from Hurricane Ike. "Repairs are moving forward at the Rene Ramos Latourt plant of Mayari ... it's hoped the plant can resume nickel production on the 25th," state-run Radio Angulo reported. The state-owned Rene Ramos Latourt is Cuba's oldest and produces around 10,000 tonnes of nickel plus cobalt per year. The Pedro Sotto Alba plant in Moa Holguin, a joint venture between state-run Cubaniquel and Canadian Sherritt International, resumed operations a week ago. The Pedro Sotto Alba plant is Cuba's largest and most efficient, producing 33,000 tonnes of unrefined nickel plus cobalt per year. The state-owned Ernesto Che Guevara plant in Moa Holguin, with a similar capacity, suffered the greatest damage from the storm and it was not clear when it would open. The Caribbean island is one of the world's largest nickel producers, at 75,000 tonnes per year, and supplies 10 percent of the world's cobalt, according to the Basic Industry Ministry (Reuters, 22/9/08).

September 22: Cuba and Vietnam will analyze the state of economic relations at the 26th Session of the Intergovernmental Commission underway in Hanoi, presided over by Cuban Government Minister Ricardo Cabrisas. The meeting focuses on the economic and commercial ties established at the previous meeting held in Cuba in 2007. Among the topics under discussion are the definition of deadlines for the completion of pending projects, and the outlining of new goals. During his visit to Vietnam, Ricardo Cabrisas will meet with several top-government and Communist Party officials, including First Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung (ACN, 22/9/08).

September 23: Cuba will exhibit its tourism products in a stand that will be open to the public until September 26th as part of the International Leisure Fair that began in Russia. According to Prensa Latina news agency, the fair, which has the Krocus Expo in Moscow as the main venue, is the second most important tourism event held in Russia and Cuba is participating with a large delegation headed by representatives from the Cuban Tourism Ministry (MINTUR). The Director of the MINTUR office in Moscow, Carlos Oscar Hernandez, said that this fair is very important for Cuba because one of the main goals  of the event is to negotiate the winter market, as it is the season when Russian tourists travel to the tropical regions (ACN, 23/9/08).

September 24: Cuban and Vietnamese officials are working in Hanoi to draw up a strategy for mid and long term cooperation in various key economic sectors. During the 26th Session of the Cuba-Vietnam Intergovernmental Commission for Collaboration, the deputy prime minister of the Asian country, Nguyen Sinh Hung, said the most important sectors for cooperation are the gas and oil industries, tourism and production for national  consumption. Cuban Minister of Government Ricardo Cabrisas, who is heading the island’s delegation to the meeting, said the working sessions are very important for increasing collaboration, especially in the rice and cereal production, which are vital for the Cuban food security (ACN, 24/9/08).

September 24: The Cuban ambassador in Angola, Pedro Ross Leal, announced that cooperation between the Caribbean and the African nation will significantly increase in different areas in the last quarter of 2008. Speaking to reporters in a press conference, the diplomat said that the presence of Cuban doctors, teachers and technicians in Angola will  increase as a result of an agreement signed recently between the two countries. According to Prensa Latina news agency, Ross announced that a Cuban-made antidote to cholera will soon be used in Angola. He added that a campaign against malaria will also be carried out in this African country with the assistance of Cuban health personnel (ACN, 24/9/08).

September 25: All three Cuban nickel plants were back in operation, state-run radio reported, just short of three weeks after taking a direct hit from Hurricane Ike. "The three Cuban nickel plants in Holguin are now in action," state-run Radio Rebelde said. "In the next few hours, nickel production will be stabilized at what it was before the hurricane." The Caribbean island is one of the world's largest nickel producers, at 75,000 tonnes of unrefined nickel per year, and supplies 10 percent of the world's cobalt, according to the Basic Industry Ministry (Reuters, 25/9/08).

September 25: Zarubezhneft is ready to consider launching oil exploration projects in Cuba and will propose setting up a joint venture, the Russian company's general director said. "We have a proposal to make and we hope to start prospecting works inland and later on the shelf," Nikolai Brunich said during a meeting with Cuban Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia Vera in Havana. Zarubezhneft is Russia's leading foreign trade company in the oil and gas sector (RIA Novosty, 25/9/08).

September 25: Cuban tourism products were promoted in Japan during the annual International Fair, JATA 2008, in an effort to boost the Japanese market. Representatives of Cuban tour operators Cubanacan Viajes, Cubatur and Havanatur participated in the fair, in a delegation headed by Miguel Figueras, Tourism Ministry Advisor, reported the Cuban Foreign Relations Ministry on its website (ACN, 26/9/08).

September 26: A protocol on the exchange of goods for 2009 was signed between Cuba and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). The protocol was signed by the DPRK foreign trade ministry and a Cuban government economic delegation, according to a KCNA official report. The news release did not include the details of the deal. The Cuban delegation is led by ambassador to the DPRK Jose Manuel Galego Montano (ACN, 26/9/08).

September 26: Cuba and Brazil signed three cooperation agreements on mining geology, water resources and commercial bank. During the meeting held in Havana, the representative of the Brazilian Agency of Cooperation, Andreia Rigueira, said the agreements will be carried out soon. "The new agreements will give more possibilities for the application of the geo-statistics in the mining exploration in Cuba," Rigueira said during the Seventh Meeting of the Technical Cooperation Work Group. "The agreements will also enhance the technical exchange on the management of water resources," Rigueira said. Rigueira said the agreements will help "train directors and experts from the banks and other financial institutions" (Xinhua, 27/9/08).

September 26: Russia and Venezuela agreed to create a joint oil company that will invest ``tens of billions of dollars'' to develop fields in Latin America and beyond, Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, will be joined in the venture by Russian oil companies OAO Gazprom, OAO Rosneft, TNK- BP, OAO Lukoil and OAO Surgutneftegaz, Shmatko said, speaking after a meeting between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez in the southern Russian city of Orenburg. Venezuela will control the new oil company, Shmatko said, adding that a draft agreement will be ready for submission to both countries' governments by the end of October. The Russian producers will likely participate on an equal basis, according to Shmatko. “We're going to work in Cuba, Bolivia and other countries,'' he said. ``I think the geography could later be expanded'' (Bloomberg, 26/9/08).

September 27: Cuba expects tourism to increase 13 percent this year despite destruction from hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which damaged colonial and coastal towns, and hit picturesque hideaways in the tobacco-growing west even harder. Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said that officials believe foreign visitors will top 2.3 million in 2008, up nearly 200,000 from last year. The sector is "bursting with vitality despite the passage of these hurricanes," he said during an event at the University of Havana. Cuba had previously announced that tourism rose 15 percent in the first quarter. Marrero said that dipped only slightly after Gustav smacked western Cuba in late August. Ike hit eight days later, slamming into the island's eastern tip and moving west over much of Cuba. Marrero said hotels and other tourism infrastructure were damaged in the provinces of Camaguey and Holguin and in tobacco-growing Pinar del Rio, home to the limestone mountain-flanked town of Vinales. But the beaches most popular with international visitors were largely spared. Foreign visitors to Cuba peaked at about 2.3 million in 2005 but slipped to 2.1 million last year — dealing a financial blow to a nation that relies on tourism for much of its hard-currency revenue. Tourism brought in some US$2.2 billion last year (AP, 27/9/08).

September 29: The Cuban nickel industry is still operating at below capacity more than three weeks after taking a direct hit from Hurricane Ike, according to local media from the nickel region of eastern Holguin province. Luis Garcia, director of the Ernesto Che Guevara plant in Moa Holguin, told the local Communist party newspaper Ahora that capacity was gradually being restored since opening last week, but was yet to be fully reached. "We never thought an event of Ike's magnitude would strike. First we were without water, then the winds took off the roof and rain fell on the controls," the paper quoted him as saying. Ahora reported the plant lost 12,000 square meters of roofing and walls. Alberto Panton, director of state-run Cubaniquel, told Ahora, "We emphasized checking the automatic controls, the electrical systems, and communications, because the worst damage was to the roofs of the plants and workshops and that humidity got into the technology. Days before, the government said all three plants were operating (Reuters 29/9/08).

September 29: Cuba announced price freezes at all farmers markets, promising to punish any vendors charging more for hard-to-find fruits and vegetables as food reserves dwindle due to the destruction caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike. A decree occupying the entire front pages of state-run newspapers said prices at agricultural markets will remain fixed at levels set by regional communist committees, and that supply-and-demand farmers markets will have prices revert to pre-hurricane levels "for a group of basic products." The government also warned of a crackdown on those who steal food and construction materials from work and sell them on the black market, a common practice in Cuba, which is plagued by shortages from cement to breakfast cereal. "Any attempt to violate the law or social norms will be met with a quick and energetic answer," it said. The move seemed aimed at reassuring Cubans that basic food prices will not rise even though the storms ravaged 30 percent of the island's crops and officials have warned of food shortages that could last six months. The announcement was met with some skepticism by Cubans, already outraged that private transportation costs have soared since the government raised gasoline prices September 8 - the same day Ike tore across the island (AP, 29/9/08).

September 29: Workers from different sectors responded to a call by the Cuban Central Workers Confederation to volunteer in the harvest of coffee beans in the areas hit by Hurricane Ike. According to the Juventud Rebelde daily, the goal is to collect more  than 60,000 bushels of coffee in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo, which is the largest producer of the bean for exports in the country. Preliminary assessments report that Guantanamo lost over 170,000 bushels of coffee, and the roofs of coffee farms were damaged. Emilio Rivera, with the Province’s Coffee Production Office, assured that much of the fallen beans could be recovered if they are picked and processed before they rot. The enterprise thus works to clean access roads to the coffee plantations in order to take out the collected beans as quickly as possible (ACN, 29/9/08).

September 29: Cuba can't pay its foreign debt because of the damage done by the 46-year-old US economic embargo, the island's communist government said on an official Web site. The embargo keeps Cuba from "receiving sizeable revenues from exports of goods and services," said the article published on the Web site Cubadebate. According to the National Statistics Office, Cuba had in 2006, the last year for which official data are available, a foreign debt of $7.79 billion. "Up to December 2007, according to conservative estimates, the criminal siege led by Washington has caused economic damage to the Cuban state worth more than $93 billion, some 12 times the amount of the foreign debt," the article said. The article, signed by journalist Patricio Montesinos, was sent by e-mail to foreign correspondents accredited in Havana. "The economic, trade and financial war pursued by the United States is aimed at despoiling Cuba of its income from exports of goods and services, blocking access to sources of financing, as well as causing an increase in its expenditures," Montesinos said (EFE, 29/9/08).

September 30: Over 270 metric tons of lobster were captured in September by crews belonging to the Gerardo Medina Cardentey Fishing Compound in westernmost Pinar del Rio province, according to an official report issued by this company. Luis Leonel Lima, deputy director of this compound located in La Coloma town, reported that the planning up to September was to capture 58.8 tons of lobsters, but even after the devastation caused by hurricanes Ike and Gustav to the infrastructure, especially in the roofing of the storage facilities, they were able to increase the level of capture four times. This compound completed the year’s plan with 1,045 tons. Lobster’s capture must stop now due to the beginning of the close season in October and November. Japan and the European Union are the main destination for this product (ACN, 30/9/08). 

September 30: Havana's farmers markets reacted with empty shelves, stalls without any supplies, and predictions that the situation "is going to get a lot worse," after the decision by Cuba's communist government to crack down on price increases. The day after international finance markets fell drastically due to the U.S. Congress' rejection of the bailout plan presented by President George W. Bush, Cuba's farmers markets, which up to the day before were allowed to set their prices, were having their own "Black Tuesday." The government announced the day before that food markets will "provisionally" have to sell some basic products at the prices they were before Hurricanes Gustav and Ike devastated Cuba. According to an official communique, "any attempt to break the law (...) will receive a quick, energetic reply." The response was not long in coming and some of Havana's most important markets on Tuesday had about 80 percent of their stalls empty, while products like peppers, onions, garlic and cucumbers were nowhere to be found. "Peppers? Forget it, you're not going to find any, don't waste your time. There aren't any," a produce vendor at the main farmers market in the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado told the press. The government chose to tighten regulations when price increases in the markets and for some products soared by as much as 300 percent. At the same time, it launched a campaign in the official media harshly attacking "hoarders" and "speculators who traffic in stolen goods" (EFE, 1/10/08)

September 30: Cypriot Foreign Minister Markos Kipryanou said in Havana that he supported strengthening economic ties between his country and Cuba to raise them to the same level of political ties. After meeting with the Cuban minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, Marta Lomas, Kipryanou told ACN that the two parties identified areas to increase cooperation, including public services, healthcare, tourism, energy and agriculture. The Cypriot minister said that a basic bilateral cooperation accord will be signed from which economic ties can be increased. “There’s great potential to improve current ties; I will ask the ministers of Finances and Trade in my country to examine the material and put into practice the results of our meetings [in Havana ]” (ACN, 1/10/08).