Mercosur's Numbers

It's interesting (but frustrating) to follow American reporting on Chavez' efforts to organize new (or steer existing) blocs away from American-style "free trade," because the press here often fails to distill the specific differences. Mostly, reporters spend their precious space repeating that Chavez dounces the US approach.

Anyway, here are the size differences from Dow Jones,

The addition of Venezuela gives Mercosur a combined market of 250 million people and a combined output of $1 trillion in goods and services annually, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva during Friday's summit. The other members are Paraguay and Uruguay.

NAFTA, combining the markets of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, has 450 million consumers and a combined gross product of about $14 trillion.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20060722-700169-search.html?KEYWORDS=cuba&COLLECTION=autowire/6month

The status of Cuba's main industries

Tourism. Now the economy's largest source of revenue, tourists—primarily from Canada and the European Union—bring some $2.1 billion into the country.

Remittances. Academic sources estimate remittances total between $600 million and $1 billion a year, most coming from families in the United States.

Nickel. Cuba has the third-largest nickel reserves in the world. Nickel is currently the country's biggest export, bringing in roughly $800 million in
2004.

Sugar. Sugar was long the primary industry in Cuba, but production has plummeted due to outdated factory equipment. In 1989, production was more than 8 million tons, while the harvest in 2004 was only 2.3 million tons.

Foreign investments. Cuba receives hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign investments from Venezuela (some $900 million in 2004), Spain ($700 million), and China ($340 million).

Which I got from the following link, a short, solid summary of US/Cuba international relations:

http://www.cfr.org/publication/11113/

Cuban Cubans on the Embargo

The Associated Press reports that dissidents within Cuba think the recommendations on how to enforce the embargo are counterproductive:

"I really appreciate the solidarity of the United States government and people, but I think that this report is counterproductive," said dissident journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe. "It supports the government's hard-line sector to justify repression."

"I don't doubt the report's good intentions, but it just adds kindling to the fire," said longtime activist Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission on Human Right

From the WSJ,

UPDATE: US Panel Urges $80M Spending To Speed Cuba Change

DOW JONES
NEWSWIRES
July 10, 2006 5:32 p.m.

HAVANA (AP)--A U.S.
presidential commission on Monday urged Washington to spend $80 million to help nongovernment groups hasten a transition to democracy in Cuba, but some dissidents here said the move would do them more harm than good.

The recommendations by the Presidential Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba come just as Fidel Castro's Cuban government is moving to strengthen its leadership and institutions to ensure the status quo.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the commission's report during a Washington news conference that international journalists in Havana followed by teleconference.

Rice said the report's recommendations "reflect America's resolve to stand with Cuba's brave opposition leaders: men and women who speak for those Cubans who are forced into fearful silence but who remain free in their hearts and in their minds.

"We are increasing our determination to break the regime's information blockade," Rice said. "And we are offering support for the efforts of Cubans to prepare for the day when they will recover their sovereignty and can select a government of their choosing through free and fair multiparty elections."

The $80 million in new funds, to be spent over two years, is to include $31 million to support independent civil society on the island, $10 million for scholarships in the U.S. and other countries, $24 million to "break the Castro regime's information blockade" and expand access to independent information including through the Internet and $15 million to support international efforts at strengthening civil society and in transition planning.

But some dissidents worried that the Cuban government could use the new funding as a pretext to harass or even arrest opposition leaders on the island. Communist officials accused 75 opponents rounded up in 2003 of being on the U.S. government payrolls. Both the dissidents and Washington denied the allegation.

"I really appreciate the solidarity of the United States government and people, but I think that this report is counterproductive," said dissident journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe. "It supports the government's hard-line sector to justify repression."

"I don't doubt the report's good intentions, but it just adds kindling to the fire," said longtime activist Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Commission on Human Right

Cuban Prisoners of Conscience

DOW JONES NEWSWIRESJuly 5, 2006 1:50 p.m.HAVANA (AP)--More than 300 prisoners of conscience are still held in Cuba despite a slight drop in the number of such inmates during the first half of 2006, a veteran rights group said Wednesday. The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation said in a
regular update that it had 316 documented political prisoners, down from 333 at the end of 2005. The new count reflects both new prisoners and people freed over the past six months. Commission head Elizardo Sanchez wrote in the report that the net drop of 17 inmates was "statistically irrelevant" and didn't indicate an improvement in human rights in Cuba. "Unless a miracle occurs, the international community should prepare itself, at least over the short term, to keep receiving only bad news when it comes to civil, political and economic rights in Cuba," the report said. Cuba's communist government denies holding prisoners of conscience, characterizing them as common criminals. A lesser-known Cuban rights group released its own list of political prisoners in recent days, saying it had documented 346 cases. Because there are no public records available about the prisoners, rights activists count on family members and others to bring cases to their attention. The Havana-based, non-governmental Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation for years has released its report every six months, confirming information about individual cases through inmates' families.

Let’s take the high number: 346, i.e. according to a “ lesser-known Cuban rights group.”--tough to check that source, eh?--there are 350 documented cases of people incarcerated in Cuba for their political views.

Never mind that the Cuban government disputes any claim that they’re jailing people for registering dissent, for we all know that’s not true--although the real question is What are the conditions that make it possible for the Cuban government to crack down on dissent?

But since we’re not comfortable with where that question leads us, let’s set it aside too.We know that the best and highest number the US Congress could come up with in 1995 was 700, which they got from Amnesty International and in turn the number on which Congress based Helms-Burton. Now, I’ll defer to the number crunchers, but I think that’s a drop.

My point is that Communists have trapped us in a numbers game. And right now, all they need to do is to stay near the number of persons that America illegally detains. If they’re under it, so much the better.

Moreover, when one puts that 350 number in context with the 3,000 or so acts of resistances that the Administration’s boy Christopher Sabatini swore under oath to Congress happened in Cuba last year, another point emerges: The Cuban government is achieving its control in other ways besides fear.

I’m not sure what it is, but it’s obviously not sufficient to say fear alone.