Aluta Continua: Cuban Updates... issue #5

Large UK trade mission in Cuba
AFPTuesday, November 16, 2004
HAVANA (AFP)

Britain's largest trade mission ever to visit Cuba arrived yesterday, one day ahead of a key European Union (EU) meeting in Brussels on future European relations with the communist island.

The 40 visitors include potential investors in tourism, biotechnology, agriculture, education and energy, said Lord Colin Moynihan, the head of the UK- Cuba Initiative.

The common EU policy since 1996 conditioned better political ties on political changes in Cuba.Relations, however, have been strained since a Cuban crackdown on political dissidents in 2003.

However, the Socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is seeking to change the common policy, arguing that the sanctions are not effective. Britain has stated it supports Zapatero's proposal.

The size and scope of the British trade mission clearly shows the strength of ties between Havana and London, said Moynihan upon arrival.

The trade mission will stay until Friday, he said. The British trade mission follows a brief visit to Havana ending November 4 by a group of five EU lawmakers aimed at improving diplomatic ties.

The EU lawmakers met with top Cuban officials, but did not meet with dissidents who represent the outlawed Cuban opposition.


Spain and UK press for a thaw in EU diplomatic freeze on Cuba

EU Seeks End to Diplomatic Freeze in Cuba


DaimlerChrysler fine may damage US-EU relations
By Inígo Moré in Madrid
Published: November 16 2004 02:00 Last updated: November 16 2004 02:00

DaimlerChrysler, the German car manufacturer, has been fined by the US for breaking the embargo on Cuba, it emerged yesterday.


US Treasury officials told Expansión, the Financial Times' Spanish sister paper, that DaimlerChrysler was guilty of "exporting goods to Cuba". The case was settled last month, after the company paid a fine thought to be $30,000 (€23,200, £16,200).

The dispute threatens further to undermine ties between Washington and Berlin, which were strained last year during the Iraq war. Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, was one of the strongest critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The penalty was imposed on DaimlerChrysler North America Group, the US subsidiary of the company, because of exports by DaimlerChrysler Vehículos Comerciales, the Mexican subsidiary of the German manufacturer.

The officials said that Daimler had paid the fine, without admitting to any wrongdoing. People close to the settlement said that although the fine was relatively small, it was intended as a warning to other companies against doing business with Cuba.

According to US Treasury documents, Mercedes-Benz México, since renamed DaimlerChrysler Vehículos Comerciales, exported goods to Cuba in 1999. It is unclear why the company was fined five years after the event.

DaimlerChrysler is represented in Cuba by MCV Comercial, a joint venture that supplies spare parts for vehicles on the island.

The penalty follows another high-profile fine, imposed on Iberia, the Spanish airline carrier, which agreed two months ago to pay a fine of $8,000 after the US government accused it of breaking the embargo on Cuba. It had carried a 480kg shipment of Cuban cigars bound for Costa Rica via Florida. The US Treasury has imposed penalties on 60 companies this year for breaking the embargo legislation.

The latest episode could force the European Commission to make a fresh protest to Washington after a confrontation a few years ago over the application to third countries of the US embargo.

DaimlerChrysler was not available for comment last night.