U.S. indicts most wanted Cuban
Luis Posada Carriles
On April 8 a US federal grand jury in El Paso, Texas accused a Cuban-born Venezuelan, Luis Posada Carriles (81), a former CIA employee and confessed terrorist, of lying about his involvement in a string of 1997 bombings against tourist spots in Havana, Cuba. The latest ruling is the first time Posada Carriles has been accused in the US of involvement in the bombings. The US judicial case against the exile, driven by the Justice Department, is slowly gathering momentum. In theory, the latest ruling could eventually pave the way towards his extradition. That could represent a significant political gesture on the part of the US, which has previously refused to extradite him on the grounds that he could face torture in the petitioning state (Venezuela). For the new US president, Barack Obama, who is facing pressure to alter US-Cuba policy, the ruling is nicely timed.
Can Cuba cope with an onslaught of Americans?
HAVANA – A push in Congress to do away with U.S. travel bans on Cuba could set off a flood of American visitors to the long-forbidden island.
But many wonder if a country where foreigners have long complained about lousy food, sluggish service and iffy infrastructure is ready for an onslaught of Americans unseen since the days of Meyer Lansky and Al Capone.
Cuba has about as many hotel rooms as Detroit and most are already full of Canadians and Europeans.
Experts say droves of Americans could drive up prices, unleash calls for more fl ights and cruises than Cuba can handle and force the government to tighten visa restrictions to regulate the stampede.
“There is great pent-up demand,” said Bob Whitley, president of the United States Tour Operators Association, which opposes the travel ban. “It will have to be controlled by offi cials in Cuba, but also by U.S. tour operators to make sure the infrastructure is up to it.”
Obama’s first regional summit sees Cuba on the agenda
When the fifth Summit of the Americas takes place in Port of Spain on April 17-19, U.S. President Barack Obama’s first formal encounter with the region’s leaders as a group will be hallmarked by an important change in hemispheric relations: he will be the representative of one of only two countries that do not have diplomatic ties with Cuba — and the other one, El Salvador, is only a few months away from restoring diplomatic relations with the island. Behind this is another, related change: the repositioning of Cuba vis-à-vis Venezuela.
How Latin America fits into the “New World Order” and the challenges ahead
The British Prime minister, Gordon Brown, announced the creation of a “New World Order” at the conclusion of the summit of the 20 leading economies (G20) in London last week to discuss solutions for the global economic crisis. It is an overblown epithet, of course, as misleading as the headline-grabbing promise of US$1.1 trillion funding for the IMF, most of which consisted of old commitments. But, the three Latin American nations present Argentina, Brazil and Mexico – emerged content that IMF conditions for loans, such as deeply unpopular fiscal adjustments, would be removed, and the Fund reformed to make it more meritocratic. They also hailed (somewhat woolly) promises to clamp down on tax havens and eschew trade protectionism. (Latin news and Associated Press contributed to this report).
