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Nice drop in the ask.. Hugo Still has not paid back the 10 grand loan to the shareholder who gave it to him in good faith... Typical run around...
A tad better thank you. $5.00 would put in the pink though.
FEEL BETTER Thinman
Easing of Restraints in Cuba Renews Debate on U.S. Embargo
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/world/americas/changes-in-cuba-create-support-for-easing-embargo.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20121120&
The New York Times
A pre-embargo car in Havana. With some new leeway for capitalism, more Cubans are asking that the United States encourage it. More Photos »
By DAMIEN CAVE
Published: November 19, 2012 52 Comments
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HAVANA — “If I could just get a lift,” said Francisco López, imagining the addition of a hydraulic elevator as he stood by a rusted Russian sedan in his mechanic’s workshop here. All he needed was an investment from his brother in Miami or from a Cuban friend there who already sneaks in brake pads and other parts for him.
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The problem: Washington’s 50-year-old trade embargo, which prohibits even the most basic business dealings across the 90 miles separating Cuba from the United States. Indeed, every time Mr. López’s friend in Florida accepts payment for a car part destined for Cuba, he puts himself at risk of a fine of up to $65,000.
With Cuba cautiously introducing free-market changes that have legalized hundreds of thousands of small private businesses over the past two years, new economic bonds between Cuba and the United States have formed, creating new challenges, new possibilities — and a more complicated debate over the embargo.
The longstanding logic has been that broad sanctions are necessary to suffocate the totalitarian government of Fidel and Raúl Castro. Now, especially for many Cubans who had previously stayed on the sidelines in the battle over Cuba policy, a new argument against the embargo is gaining currency — that the tentative move toward capitalism by the Cuban government could be sped up with more assistance from Americans.
Even as defenders of the embargo warn against providing the Cuban government with “economic lifelines,” some Cubans and exiles are advocating a fresh approach. The Obama administration already showed an openness to engagement with Cuba in 2009 by removing restrictions on travel and remittances for Cuban Americans. But with Fidel Castro, 86, retired and President Raúl Castro, 81, leading a bureaucracy that is divided on the pace and scope of change, many have begun urging President Obama to go further and update American policy by putting a priority on assistance for Cubans seeking more economic independence from the government.
“Maintaining this embargo, maintaining this hostility, all it does is strengthen and embolden the hard-liners,” said Carlos Saladrigas, a Cuban exile and co-chairman of the Cuba Study Group in Washington, which advocates engagement with Cuba. “What we should be doing is helping the reformers.”
Any easing would be a gamble. Free enterprise may not necessarily lead to the embargo’s goal of free elections, especially because Cuba has said it wants to replicate the paths of Vietnam and China, where the loosening of economic restrictions has not led to political change. Indeed, Cuban officials have become adept at using previous American efforts to soften the embargo to their advantage, taking a cut of dollars converted into pesos and marking up the prices at state-owned stores.
And Cuba has a long history of tossing ice on warming relations. The latest example is the jailing of Alan Gross, a State Department contractor who has spent nearly three years behind bars for distributing satellite telephone equipment to Jewish groups in Havana.
In Washington, Mr. Gross is seen as the main impediment to an easing of the embargo, but there are also limits to what the president could do without Congressional action. The 1992 Cuban Democracy Act conditioned the waiving of sanctions on the introduction of democratic changes inside Cuba. The 1996 Helms-Burton Act also requires that the embargo remain until Cuba has a transitional or democratically elected government. Obama administration officials say they have not given up, and could move if the president decides to act on his own. Officials say that under the Treasury Department’s licensing and regulation-writing authority, there is room for significant modification. Following the legal logic of Mr. Obama’s changes in 2009, further expansions in travel are possible along with new allowances for investment or imports and exports, especially if narrowly applied to Cuban businesses.
Even these adjustments — which could also include travel for all Americans and looser rules for ships engaged in trade with Cuba, according to a legal analysis commissioned by the Cuba Study Group — would probably mean a fierce political fight. The handful of Cuban-Americans in Congress for whom the embargo is sacred oppose looser rules.
When asked about Cuban entrepreneurs who are seeking more American support, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Florida Republican who is chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, proposed an even tighter embargo.
“The sanctions on the regime must remain in place and, in fact, should be strengthened, and not be altered,” she wrote in an e-mail. “Responsible nations must not buy into the facade the dictatorship is trying to create by announcing ‘reforms’ while, in reality, it’s tightening its grip on its people.”
Somebody tap that 1.00 and make me feel better.
"OnCuba is an opportunity to feed the soul" by: Ingrid González Fajardo from either side of the shore Cubans Latinos equal. Island with his spell of hundreds of years, captivates even the most innocent mortals. Those who love this made country song, emotions, intense green, not we premeditamos, we only feel it vibe of men and women who love their idiosyncrasies, which tied in some way may not disconnect. In the presentation of the number 9 Oncuba, the monthly magazine that published in United States is inspired by the Cuba of today to build bridges of love, airs of restoration, breathed maybe because his dedication he provided voice to Eusebio Leal and his magnanimous contribution to the conservation of the heritage of the city of Havana. Perhaps because in his next 500 years there will not be another site like that, in which every Cuban, capital or not, feels owner of its destination, its light. So feel Hugo Cancio, President of the publication, and one of those men who believes in the lineage of Cubans and Cuban contra viento y marea. "I promote Cuban culture for more than 25 years. I have all the important artists of Cuba carried United States as Silvio Rodríguez, Los Van Van, Pablo Milanés, I have filmed movies and even so, whenever someone tries to pinch for one reason or another that gesture of cultural exchange. OnCuba gives us an opportunity to present to Cuba and that nobody can be pinched because it is that belongs to all of us, is the Cuba of all. This is the Cuba that nobody can deny that it exists. "This is one excellent complement to my career for many years to trying to promote my culture, my country, my roots, which I love as Cuban. "Oncuba is a chance for those who do not know our country better, understand it the Cuba that I believe that it is true, that has always existed and will exist above our differences political and ideological, beyond those things that separate us and still have not been able to reconcile." "It's also my chance to learn about the country of which I left 32 years ago. I knew of Havana City where I was born; and Varadero, where I grew up; then I also am knowing my country, after 32 years of having emigrated. "The magazine is an opportunity to feed the soul of those people who have always loved his country and that for some reason or another have not returned. "And for those who do not know it because OnCuba offers them the possibility of encounter with our country". With that tenacity to test seas in Cancio has not diminished his delivery by show the world the "sincere material" of those who live on this island, of which each day we propose be better even in very encouraging circumstances. Why is born a magazine like this with a team "as professional whose work has won the heart of the distributors, which wanted to help us and we are currently in the most important shops of all United States". At the start of his pilgrimage, the publication was distributed from hand to hand in dealing with flights from United States to Cuba; today is the official magazine of more than 80% of those flights and is marketed in 198 stores throughout the U.S. territory. "In the month of February 40 most significant airports in the country will be included in this distribution, so Cuba will have an extensive presence in these places". With these 9 numbers, do you think that the magazine already has a place, having to talk about Cuba is speak of OnCuba? "It's interesting because I think Yes." It is amazing to arrive at an airport in Las Vegas and before boarding an aircraft see in an OnCuba magazine shop with a sign that says "Monthly magazine about Cuba", that no one not imagined it was a year ago. "The same thing happens in Puerto Rico that may happen in Los Angeles, in Oklahoma, Chicago, and Miami as a natural market because we all know that it is an extension of our country". (Translated by Bing)
Translated:
Havana, Nov 18 (Prensa Latina) Cuban traditional music scenarios reach U.S. during 2013, as part of a cultural project that develops several years Cuban promoter Hugo Cancio.
In exclusive statements to Prensa Latina, the executive producer of the popular film Sapphire Blue Madness (1997), said that after an intense cultural activity 2011, where clusters of Cuba salsa popular scenarios enlivened the northern nation, the coming year is intended to provide another view of indigenous music.
This intends to boost the performance of groups like The Santiaguero Septet, with the aim of bringing the American public to the traditional rhythms of the island.
For over 25 years, Cuban culture encourages Cancio abroad, especially in the U.S., which has led to that country shows with renowned artists and groups such as Silvio Rodriguez, Los Van Van and Charanga Habanera, among others.
As part of its commitment to offer a different picture about the Cuban reality created OnCuba, a magazine that is now distributed in 198 large U.S. stores and in 98 percent of flights from that country to the largest island of the Antilles.
During the presentation here of the November issue, dedicated to 493 anniversary of the founding of the old town of San Cristobal de La Habana, Cancio announced that from January 2013, the publication will be present in 40 U.S. airports.
Oncuba he said, is the ideal opportunity to offer the true face of Cuba, beautiful and profound that the American media are busy twisting and that many of its citizens want to know.
In its pages prevails love my culture and my country, while feeding the soul and encourages reconciliation among Cubans here and there, he said. Through its content can know what we stand for and what we are, in addition to providing readers the vast culture that treasures this island, concluded Cancio.
Another Cuba news website with an article about our CEO and his work with Cuba.. Simply impresive.
http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&idioma=1&id=720951&Itemid=1Llegará música tradicional cubana a escenarios de EE.UU. en 2013
Por Nubia Piqueras Grosso
La Habana, 18 nov (PL) La música tradicional cubana llegará a los escenarios estadounidenses durante el 2013, como parte del proyecto cultural que desde hace algunos años desarrolla el promotor cubanoamericano Hugo Cancio.
En declaraciones exclusivas a Prensa Latina, el productor ejecutivo del popular filme Zafiro, locura azul (1997), dijo que tras un 2011 de intenso quehacer cultural, donde las agrupaciones populares salseras de Cuba amenizaron escenarios de la nación norteña, el venidero año pretende ofrecer otra mirada de la música autóctona.
Para ello tiene previsto impulsar la actuación de grupos como El Septeto Santiaguero, con el objetivo de acercar al público estadounidense a los ritmos tradicionales de la isla.
Desde hace más de 25 años, Cancio fomenta la cultura cubana en el exterior, especialmente en Estados Unidos, para lo cual ha llevado a ese país espectáculos con reconocidos artistas y agrupaciones como Silvio Rodríguez, Los Van Van y La Charanga Habanera, entre otros.
Como parte de su empeño en ofrecer una imagen diferente sobre la realidad cubana creó OnCuba, una revista que en la actualidad se distribuye en 198 grandes tiendas de Estados Unidos y en el 98 por ciento de los vuelos desde ese país hacia la mayor isla de las Antillas.
Durante la presentación aquí del número de noviembre, dedicado al aniversario 493 de la fundación de la antigua villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana, Cancio anunció que partir de enero de 2013, la publicación estará presente también en 40 aeropuertos estadounidenses.
Oncuba, aseveró, constituye la oportunidad ideal para ofrecer el verdadero rostro de Cuba, hermoso y profundo, que los medios de prensa norteamericanos se afanan en tergiversar y que muchos de sus ciudadanos desean conocer.
En sus páginas prevalece el amor por mi cultura y mi patria, al tiempo que alimenta el alma y fomenta la reconciliación entre los cubanos de aquí y allá, precisó. A través de su contenido podemos saber qué representamos y qué somos, además de brindarles a los lectores la vasta cultura que atesora esta isla, concluyó Cancio.
ls/npg
I'd love to see an earnings report soon. I'm sure OnCuba is generating some income through advertising services, but how much? It's a great looking publication - very clean design with excellent artwork and articles throughout. Hugo is on to a very good thing here, and is in position to get on to much more.
While I'm not a fan of Obama, I am looking forward to the benefit that CBDG, FUGI and Cuba will realize from his administration.
I've been in this stock for two years and have zero plans of exiting any time soon. Excited to be a part of this slowly-developing gem.
Best of luck!
U.S. Magazine Pays Tribute to Havana on its 493rd Anniversary
Sábado, 17 de Noviembre de 2012 22:21 |
HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 17 - The presentation on Saturday of the latest issue of the U.S. magazine OnCuba became another tribute to the 493rd anniversary of the founding of the Villa de San Cristobal de La Habana. At the Carmen Montilla Gallery, in the historic center of the capital, Magda Resik, director of Habana Radio, thanked the publication for having dedicated the November issue to this city, to build a bridge with beautiful words for those in different parts of the world who admire it, the Cuban News Agency reported.
With a modern and refined design, a rigorous photographic selection, and the cooperation of excellent journalists and writers, the 9th issue of OnCuba invites readers to discover and explore the Havana that everyone loves, dreams about, suffers for and enjoys, Resik considered.
Published since March 2012, OnCuba provides every month a look at the island’s reality from the most intimate side of its protagonists: the richness of its culture in its broadest sense, the events marking the country's history, the current economic changes, and the daily life and customs of Cubans.
The magazine reflects the land we all love, in spite of the distances and differences that may separate exiles, emigrants and residents from those who live on the island: "it’s a bridge between the country where I have lived for 32 years and the land where I was born, which I love dearly,” said its president, Hugo Cancio.
At present, OnCuba is the publication on board of Skyking, the airline carrying out more than 80 percent of flights between the U.S. and Cuba. It’s also sold in six Books and Books stores and in more than 55 of the Barnes and Nobles publisher, throughout the northern nation.
http://www.radiococo.icrt.cu/index.php/english/32512-us-magazine-pays-tribute-to-havana-on-its-493rd-anniversary
This stock FUGI record speaks for itself... NOTHING ever proved to be profitable over the years... All longtime shareholders know what I am talking about... To put salt on a wound Hugo did a R/S.. NOW WHY DID HE DO THAT WITH ONLY AROUND 45 MILLION SHARES ISSUED.. Now we have this new spin that you place some value on... Well if a 10,000 loan is just to hard to pay back I can pretty much figure out FUGI's financial condition... If the US embargo gets lifted there are plenty of Companies out there with strong financial positions CASH BEING ONE to take advantage of it.. The only avenue FUGI has on hand is stock. I myself know the end result of that..
FUGI IN POST EMBARGO ERA COULD BE A BIG PLAY..IT IS POSSIBLE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL END THE EMBARGO, NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT IS OBSOLITE, BUT BECUASE OF PREASURE FROM BIG COMPANIES THAT WANT TO DO BUSINESS IN CUBA. PLEASE READ.
HAVANA (AP) — Kellogg's. Gatorade. Hormel. Hunt.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-11-10/stagnant-us-exports-to-cuba-belie-fairs-optimism#p2
Many of America's best-known brands were on display at a Havana exposition center this past week as representatives hawked some of the few U.S. products that can legally be exported to Cuba, thanks to an exception to the U.S. embargo allowing cash-up-front sales of food, agricultural goods and medicine.
But cold numbers belie the enthusiasm on the convention center floor. Cuban purchases of U.S. goods have plunged as the island increasingly turns to countries like China, Brazil, Vietnam and Venezuela, which offer cheaper deals, long-term credits and less hassle over payment and shipping.
"The pattern that we see is it's just continuing to either be lower each year, or if it does increase, it's just not a lot at all," said John Kavulich, senior policy adviser to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council. "No executives should be going to a travel agent and buying a ticket to go down to Havana thinking that there's going to be a change."
U.S. sales of food and agricultural commodities to the communist-run island began more than a decade ago with the Trade Sanctions Reform Act enacted in 2000 under President Clinton. Modest sales of $138 million the following year rose steadily to a peak of $710 million in 2008, according to statistics calculated by Kavulich's group.
The value of U.S. exports to Cuba has since plummeted to just over half that last year at $358 million. It was $250 million through the first six months of 2012, with no sign of improvement.
It's been a tenuous trade from the beginning, partly due to U.S. rules requiring cash payment before goods can even be shipped. Payments must be made through third-party banking systems that take a hefty cut of each transaction, besides the fees levied on multiple currency swaps. Shipping is complicated by U.S. embargo regulations. Moreover, the PR value of buying Made In America faded for Cuba as it became commonplace to see Coca-Cola in tourist hotels and Miller beer on store shelves.
So when a plunging global economy pulled Cuba down with it five years ago, Havana had every incentive to hunt for a better deal from friendly nations where government-run companies offer better terms and often won't complain publicly about rolling over late payments. Even private-sector companies in those countries may be more pliant, counting on guarantees by their governments.
"Cuba can still never beat the U.S. for many of the products — not all, but many," Kavulich said. "But when you add into the equation the lack of ability to directly have payment terms, the inability to use more efficient transportation systems between the two countries and the lack of political benefit, then the Cuban government will turn elsewhere."
As the fair opened this week, state-run food purchaser Alimport calculated it will spend $105 million more than necessary on U.S. imports due to unfavorable credit terms, currency exchanges and logistical losses in shipping.
"Since vessels from other countries that dock in Cuban ports must wait six months to go to the United States, the shippers charge high freights," Alimport vice president Eidel M. Mussi Velazquez said.
The company projected $440 million in U.S. purchases this year, well off the $960 million reported in 2008. The Cuban statistics don't compare directly to the Trade Council's since they apparently factor in the extra expenditures, but they trace the same depressed pattern.
By comparison, according to Cuban figures for 2010, the most recent year available, commercial trade with Venezuela nearly doubled from the previous year to a little over $6 billion. Chinese trade was still down from pre-crisis levels but trending upward to $1.9 billion in 2010.
While purchases of some U.S. goods have held steady, such as poultry and soybeans, others have tanked, including branded processed foods and grains.
The Spartan booth manned by Kevin McGilton, vice president for sales of Arkansas-based Riceland, was a case in point.
U.S. rice exports to Cuba totaled 20,000 to 30,000 metric tons a year before the economic crisis, but were zero last year, he said. Vietnamese government rice companies, which have long beat out U.S. suppliers, offer "broken" rice that doesn't look as pretty as U.S. rice but is cheaper. The country also has been extending multiyear credit terms.
Cuba "didn't have the hard currency to pay cash in advance, which is what they have to do with U.S. companies," McGilton said, adding that the only promising leads he had during the trade show this week came from other countries, such as Mexico.
Still, those doing business with Havana kept up a cheery tone at the fair, which included 500 exhibitors from overseas and ended Saturday.
The pavilion that housed U.S. delegations bustled as workers in matching T-shirts dumped fistfuls of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups into the hands of conventioneers and handed out canvas bags stuffed with Skittles candies. Cubans took turns posing for pictures with a person dressed as an oversize Hershey's chocolate bar.
Conventioneers praised Alimport for professionalism and savvy, and played down the importance of the credit restrictions.
Richard N. Waltzer, president of Procurement Systems Inc., said a recent U.S. policy allowing Cuban-Americans to send more money to islanders has increased their ability to purchase the U.S. brand names his company distributes.
PSI's Cuba business has grown 30 percent a year for the last decade, and Waltzer was optimistic about Cuba's expanding tourism industry and growing small private enterprise under President Raul Castro's reforms.
"They're modeling their new economic model after Vietnam and China, so in the future it's opening up for capitalism," he said. "And bringing in these great American brands, I believe, is going to take it to the next level."
Todd P. Haymore, secretary of agriculture and forestry for Virginia, which shipped $65 million in agricultural goods to Cuba last year, said the island is a consistent top 15 market.
But businesspeople back home see bigger possibilities if embargo rules are simplified.
"They feel like you might lose out on a sale or capturing additional sales because of these additional fees, additional turns of currency. ... Every time you go from one country to the next there's always a loss," Haymore said. "Someone's gaining a piece of that pie that's not going into your back pocket."
Those at the fair were also jockeying to be in position for an unknown future date when the U.S. sanctions might disappear altogether.
"Cuba is becoming a more and more important market for U.S. companies. ... Everybody wants to have some kind of presence," said Hector Rainey, managing director of Intervision Foods of Atlanta. "If something changes all of a sudden, they have an angle here."
___
Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi
previous
previous
First foreign investment in Cuban sugar industry
2012/11/11
by OnCuba
http://oncubamagazine.com/en/content/first-foreign-investment-cuban-sugar-industry
Foreign investment reached the Cuban sugar industry in the hands of Brazilian giant Odebrecht, whose subsidiary Companhia de Obras e Infraestrutura (COI) (IOC) today signed a management contract of the 5 de Septiembre sugar mill, located in Rodas, in the central province of Cienfuegos.
For 13 years, IOC will make investments to recover sugar cane production of the agro-industrial complex built in the19 80s and whose capacity was 90,000 metric tons (MT) per season, while in the latest harvest that figure dropped to less than third of it.
The contract with the Brazilian company opens to foreign capital the depressed Cuban sugar industry, whose production has dropped from about 8 million tons in 1970, up just 1.4 million tonnes in the last harvest, and its exports account for only 5% of national income in hard currency.
Hipolito Rocha, director general of the Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brasil), recently told Reuters that his country is planning an initial investment of USD 60 million as part of the management contract that sugar mill, located approximately 226 kilometers southeast of Havana.
"Brazil has the potential to contribute much to Cuba in terms of technology, equipment, modern machinery, and the priority is there, in the fields of agriculture, food," Rocha said to the British agency.
To complement the actions towards Cuba develops to boost production this Thursday AZCUBA business group also agreed with a UK company to create a joint venture for the building of a bioelectrical plant.
This plant will generate 30 megawatts-hour from cane waste, and marabou, and is nestled in the central areas near the Ciro Redondo sugar mill, in the province of Ciego de Avila.
The Foreign Investment Law (Law 77), does not limit the participation of foreign capital in what was Cuba's first industry long time ago, but so far this had not happened, and international analysts suggest that it is a symptom of flexibility and openness to foreign investment.
Recently, at least two other Brazilian companies announced their decision to set up factories in the Special Development Zone of Mariel, where infrastructure works are carried out in collaboration with Brazil and will create the first industrial park, an instrument under the Cuban law.
Law 77 leaves open the possibility of creating these manufacturing zones by government decision, which will have a special system in customs, taxation, labor, capital investment and foreign trade, to develop productive activities with participation of foreign capital.
Several Cuban officials claimed at various events that before the end of this year, a new law will pass to replace the one in force since 1995, raising expectations among investors
Cuba continues to make rapid changes, this is getting better and better for FUGI
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/cuba-announces-pilot-program-leasing-state-restaurants-to-employees-independent-management/2012/11/09/cb00c348-2aba-11e2-aaa5-ac786110c486_story.html
Cuba announces pilot program leasing state restaurants to employees’ independent management
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By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, November 9, 6:00 PM
HAVANA — Cuba’s government will begin renting state-owned restaurants to workers who want to run them independently, authorities announced Friday in the latest step of President Raul Castro’s economic overhaul.
Interior Commerce Vice Minister Ada Chavez Oviedo said a pilot program will begin Dec. 1 at restaurants with up to five employees, according to an article in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
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“A new system of economic management with the renting of state-run locales for independent work in food services will take place gradually,” Chavez was quoted as saying.
She said the program initially will be tried in three of Cuba’s 15 provinces — Artemisa, Villa Clara and Ciego de Avila.
The measure is similar to management models already under way at beauty salons and barber shops. The workers will assume responsibility for maintenance, repairs and utilities and must enroll in the country’s nascent tax system, Chavez said.
The independent restaurants will still have access to tobacco products at wholesale prices for resale to customers.
State-run restaurants are often bland affairs that suffer from poor quality, listless service and pilferage by employees for their own consumption or for sale to the black market.
The idea behind the new measure appears to be that turning workers into stakeholders can solve those problems.
“This new model attempts to stimulate the quality of food services,” Granma wrote.
Initiated in 2010, Castro’s economic changes have allowed greater space for private enterprise that was stigmatized for decades after the 1959 Cuban Revolution when the state ran practically all aspects of the economy.
In “updating” its model, as officials call it, Cuba has also legalized home and car sales, increased private and cooperative farming and announced the end of the exit visa that all islanders must apply for to travel abroad.
Future plans call for cooperative midsize businesses, extensive layoffs of public-sector workers and the progressive elimination of government subsidies.
Still, Castro insists Cuba will remain socialist and says key sectors will be kept under state control.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Believe it or not FUGI is basically a post-embargo stock.
CBDG shareholders will receive FUGI shares at 1:1 but I believe they will not sell any share into the market during pre-embargo period. So yes in paper FUGI is being diluted but in real world Hugo and his family have not sold any single share.
I think Herzfeld Fund and other CBDG shareholders are long term investors here.
So FUGI float is more likely to remain same. When volume will come FUGI share price will skyrocket in a heart beat.
You have to wonder who is buying up FUGI shares now at $1. IHUB will not buy this stock at this price.
BUYING is coming from somewhere else.
Once US embargo gets lifted I see only 2 Cuban stocks skyrocketing...
CUBA
&
FUGI
Cheers my friend.
Relevant news for our company as they are making a strong move into the private sector in Cuba.
New Gov’t Measure will Expand Private Sector in Cuba
2012/11/09
by Venus Carrillo Ortega
http://www.oncubamagazine.com/en/content/new-gov’t-measure-will-expand-private-sector-cuba
In another attempt to reform the national economy, the Cuban government again expands the range of private sector, this time by leasing food and drink establishments to their own workers, who will join the private sector.
The new management model of these premises will start on December first in three Cuban provinces: Artemisa, Villa Clara and Ciego de Avila, according to officials from several Cuban governmental entities.
Ada Chavez, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade (MINCIN), said the system approved last July, will come into force in small one-two workers establishments, who, on their own will, decide to become “self-employed”.
But those who don’t wish to join this program can apply for the treatment of available workers as regulated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security by Resolution 34 of 2011, explained by its Maria del Carmen Rodriguez part, an official of the sector.
Priority will be given to workers employed by the entity indefinitely and those who are doing their social service, making emphasis on women's representation.
The activities established by the resolutions are: producer-seller of food and beverages by rations (paladares); retail processor-vendor food and non-alcoholic beverages (cafeterias), and workers for hire.
Leasing contracts with the domestic trade and gastronomy companies of the area in which the unit is located will be made individually by each holder of the authorization, Chavez stated. This contract is up to 10 years, and can be extended by agreement between the parties.
The property, equipment and other facilities available in the unit remain the property of the State, but the maintenance costs and these repairs will be borne by the workers, as well as the electricity, water, telephone, and advertising bills, at the residential rate.
A constant among those already engaged in this activity in Cuba, is the creation of a wholesale market to ensure supplies of essential perishables. But, regarding that issue, officials said they are “working on it.”
They said these new self-employed people will get a discount only in the case of rums, cigars and cigarettes, in order to protect consumers from high prices on these items.
In case the leasers pay the repairs their new places need, they will exempted from paying taxes for a year, but only for the first time.
The government will evaluate the results of this measure before extending it to up to five worker facilities. The ones approved now are 1183 establishments all over the country, a 14 percent of all food and beverage places in Cuba.
Of taxes and payments …
The Provincial Administration Councils will be authorities in charge of implementing a procedure to determine and approve the local rental rates.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Provincial Administration Councils will establish such municipal rates based on a norm issued by the Ministry of Finance and Prices (MFP).
As Rafael Carlos Gonzalez, from the tax studies group of the MFP, explainedthat those who enter the new management model will pay taxes according to respond to the same system established by resolution 248, 2011. Hence, they must pay taxes on public services and personal income and for the hiring of force work, in addition to the social security contribution, once he is registered as self-employed.
Taxes must be paid within the first 20 calendar days of the subsequent month.
The legal regulations governing the agreement are resolutions 241, 349 and 46 of the Ministries of Internal Trade, Finance and Prices, and Labor and Social Security, respectively, published in the Gazette of the Republic on November 6.
These measures are based on a program that began in an experimental way in barbershops and hairdressers in April 2010, aimed at reducing the bloated state payroll and make Cuban economy efficient.
Can you base that claim on verifiable Fact... Your predictions on projected price before the r/s never panned out.. Do not take this as attacking you just stating a fact based on your past record of price predictions on this forum before the r/s..
The owner of this Company cannot even pay back a 10,000 loan to a SHAREHOLDER... I have another friend that is sitting at a loss of over 35 grand after the r/s..
I would be interested in who received the CBDG shares. Were any of them shareholders of record in FUGI, back when the CBDG dividend was announced?. Also when and how were those CBDG shares distributed that conveniently just appeared as stated in FUGI's recent press release. Shareholders of record that were suppose to acquire CBDG shares A FEW YEARS BACK should spend their effort pursuing legal answers instead of listening to price projections based on wishful thinking and no current filings..
FUGI can trade at $10 post-embargo period with little float available.
jmo
Either company or big Cuban boys are buying up the floats.
This is not IHUB stock.
Re-electing Obama is a good thing for the future of FUGI and cuba relations. We're in the right stock here. Bright future for FUGI and CBDG over the coming four years.
They're not buying mine. They want to squeeze me out they'll do it at a profit to me or they won't get the shares. Unless of course they do another reverse split, but that would piss off the new CBDG investors and I'm betting they're a lot wealthier and more unforgiving than any of us. You screw people like that and things happen, if you know what I mean.
Company buying up all the remaining floats???
That's crazy.
IT SAYS IT IS IN ETRADE
Is this a marginable security?
blocking a margin call is still my guess
Somebody's hitting the Ask with some $$$. Odd.
I look forward to seeing what my little investment here does, and will happily hold on tight. Hugo has spent many years strategically positioning all of his affairs - and we are now only scratching the surface of Cuba-America relations. Yep, I'm holding nice and tight.
CUBA REPORT
OFAC lets up a bit on P2P Cuba licenses, but U.S. regulations still frustrate TSPs
Cuba, eager for overseas remittances, drops draconian exit visa requirement
The 50-year-old U.S. travel ban against Cuba, along with Europe’s crippling eco- nomic crisis — which has denied thou- sands of would-be vacationers the chance to visit the island — has nevertheless failed to put a dent in Cuba’s tourism industry.
In fact, thanks to a steady stream of freezing Canadians flocking south in search of sun, sand and salsa, the numbers are up rather than down (see related story, page 2).
At the same time, more Cuban-Americans are visiting the island of their birth than ever before, thanks to U.S. regulations that encour- age such trips even while making them difficult for Americans who lack family ties to Cuba.
Worldwide, the top sources of tourism to Cuba, said the Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas (ONE), are Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Argentina, Germany, Russia, Spain and Mexico. Yet according to the latest government statistics from Havana, the island was visited by 397,886
Cubans living abroad — up from 375,431 in 2010 and 296,064 in 2009. Most of them are believed to be Cuban-Americans.
Add to that the thousands of Americans not of Cuban origin who visited the island, and it’s entirely possible — despite all the restrictions imposed by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — that U.S. citizens are now the most common foreigners in Cuba after Canadians.
“The only solution is to get OFAC out of it entirely,” said anti-embargo activist John Mc- Auliff, executive director of the New York-based Fund for Reconciliation and Development.
“There’s a general travel license for Cuban- Americans. Nobody asks if they ever see their family when they’re in Cuba. Nobody asks to prove that they actually have a cousin in Cuba,” he complained. “It’s a trust situation — a calcu- lation that if 5% are cheating, the other 95% are to our benefit. Any university can send students, and any religious organization can send people without any bureaucracy.”
See OFAC, page 2
Finally, after two years of speculation and pronouncements that came to nothing, the government of President Raúl Castro has enacted a new migration law in hopes of receiv- ing more remittance money from abroad.
The new law replaces a series of abusive and useless migration laws from 1961, 1976 and 1978, along with other regulations and restric- tions involving letters of invitation, confiscation of property and the like.
“These measures are truly substantial and profound,” said Col. Lamberto Fraga, Cuba’s No. 2 immigration official, in a Havana press conference following the announcement. “What we are doing is not just cosmetic.”
Reaction from the United States was swift and generally favorable, though cautious.
“For 50 years, Cubans have been prevented from leaving their country by an anachronistic
and repressive travel policy that has aptly been compared to a paper version of the Berlin Wall,” said the Los Angeles Times. “The announcement that [Cuba] plans to end this inhumane system was long overdue and more than welcome.”
Roberta Jacobson, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, was enthusias- tic yet chose her words carefully when address- ing the subject at an Oct. 18 press briefing.
“We don’t yet know how those changes that were announced are going to be implemented,” she said. “It is, of course, of great interest to ... policymakers at the State Department and else- where throughout the U.S. government what the change means, how it will be implemented, and what we may need to do to respond to that.”
Jacobson, profiled by CubaReport in Septem- ber, said it’s too early to determine if the U.S. In- terests Section in Havana will need additional personnel to handle a rise in visa applications.
See Migration, page 14
2
TOURISM
Arrivals up despite eurozone troubles
CubaReport v October 2012 OFAC — FROM PAGE 1
And while Washington does everything it can to discourage American tourists from lolling on Cuban beaches, “people-to-people” exchanges are something different.
Shortly after President Barack Obama took office, he reversed policies imposed by the Bush administration which had restricted Cuban-Americans to visiting their families in Cuba to just once every three years.
Now, those with family on the island can visit as often and for as long as they wish.
People-to-people travel to Cuba has also opened up, allowing Americans without fami- ly connections the possibility of visiting the island as long as they’re engaged in “pur- poseful travel” rather than outright tourism.
“The president, the secretary of state and
Signs guide tourists to 3 popular hotels in Havana.
myself obviously feel really strongly that peo- ple-to-people is the right thing to do — for U.S. citizens to be able to interact with Cuban citizens,” Roberta Jacobson, assistant secre- tary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told CubaReport in an interview last month.
“What we all want is a free and democratic Cuba. It is not subversion and it is not regime change, but an effort to open Cuba to the world and tr y ver y hard to engage the people of Cuba, because our engagement with the government of Cuba is fairly unproductive.”
RUBIO: TOUR OPERATORS ABUSE THE LAW
Yet Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) have demanded that OFAC get tough with tour operators.
“This is tourism for Americans that, at best, are curious about Cuba and, at worst, sympa- thize with the Cuban regime,” Rubio recently told Fox News Latino.
Specifically, these lawmakers want the agency to crack down on companies that fly Americans down to Cuba not to spread demo- cracy or learn history, but mainly to lounge on Varadero Beach, enjoy Havana’s spectacu- lar nightlife and spend dollars in the island’s state-controlled economy
“There is no doubt there’s been some abuse of that opening,” said Jacobson. “OFAC has sanctioned organizations and will contin- ue to sanction others if they are found to be promoting straight tourism to Cuba,” she pro- mised. “I know Sens. Rubio and Menendez get upset about that, and we do too. We make
Exactly 2,021,649 foreigners landed on Cuban soil during the first eight months of 2012 — a 5.2% rise over the same peri- od in 2011 — despite the savage European financial crisis which has made a Caribbean vacation impossible for thousands of Span- iards, Italians, Greeks and others.
That’s largely thanks to Canada, which has sent more than 800,000 of its citizens to Cuba so far this year.
In fact, since 2007, arrivals from Canada have gone up by 10.3% annually. At that rate, more than two million Canadians will be visiting the Caribbean’s lar- gest island every year by 2018.
In second place was the 27- member European Union. EU nations sent a combined 425,000 vacationers to Cuba between January and August 2012 — a 5% drop from the year-ago period.
Worldwide, the top sources of tourism to Cuba, said the govern- ment’s Oficina Nacional de Esta- dísticas, are Canada, Great Brit- ain, Italy, France, Argentina, Ger- many, Russia, Spain and Mexico — with fewer numbers coming from the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria.
No one knows for sure how many Cuban- Americans visit the island, because ONE does not mention figures or separate this group by origin. Rather, it lumps exiles in the “other” category, which shows 504,407 visitors in the first eight months of 2012, up 4.9% from the 480,985 visitors in the year-ago period.
Yet a big chunk of these “others” — a cate- gory that comprises 25% of all visitors — are
believed to be Cuban-Americans, as well as U.S. citizens not of Cuban origin who are either traveling illegally to the island — or legally as participants in people-to-people ex- changes, humanitarian missions and the like.
Therefore, despite all the travel restrictions imposed by Washington’s 50-year-old embar- go against Havana, Americans may very well
be the most common foreign- ers in Cuba after Canadians.
It’s no surprise that tourist arrivals closely track the mag- nitude of problems back home.
While British, French and German visitors keep coming (and those three countries en- joy the strongest economies in Western Europe), tourist arri- vals from Spain and Italy have dropped off dramatically.
In Spain’s case, arrivals in the first eights months of 2012 tumbled by a whopping 23%.
Spain now accounts for only 2.8% of all visitors to the island — a figure that hardly corre- sponds to the stereotype of the typical foreign tourist in Cuba: a middle-aged Spaniard male traveling alone or in a group.
Similarly, arrivals from Italy have fallen 5% this year. But the Italians, unlike their Spanish counter- parts, have been traveling to Cuba in lesser numbers since 2005 and today represent only
3.8% of all tourists coming to Cuba. Greece, Ireland and Portugal — three other EU members whose economies are in huge trouble — were never big sources of tourism to Cuba, and ONE doesn’t break out
data from those three countries. q
See OFAC, page 2
OFAC catches heat over tourist card rule
The delay by Treasury’s Office of For- eign Assets Control in granting or re- newing people-to-people licenses was frustrating enough.
But one travel ser vice provider (TSP) who sends many Americans to Cuba told CubaReport that a much bigger problem has received virtually no attention in the press: that of tourist cards.
“By raising the P2P issue, they [OFAC] are diverting attention from a much more severe step relating to the TSP and charter companies’ ability to provide legal passen- gers with a blank tourist card — which is a visa we purchase from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington,” said the TSP, who declined to be identified.
“As of now, this is forbidden, and OFAC wants each passenger to personally contact
the Cuban Interests Section in Washington and apply for the tourist card.”
Such a solution is “impossible,” the tour operator told us, because the Cuban mis- sion in D.C. “is not equipped to deal with the public — let alone gringos. They do not answer any emails nor their public phone number. By this step, OFAC is truly crip- pling legal travel of Americans to Cuba.”
He continued that OFAC “is using this bureaucratic administrative step to virtually cut U.S. traffic to Cuba, and there is no log- ical reason for it.”
Neither OFAC nor Cuban diplomats in Washington could be reached for this story, though CubaReport can vouch for the fact that the Cuban Interests Section rarely answers its switchboard at (202) 797-8518 and almost never returns our messages. q
October 2012 v CubaReport 3
in four- and five-start hotels in the northern keys of Villa Clara, Ciego de Avila and Camagüey provinces. And that’s just part of an ambitious development plan to include more than 45,800 hotel rooms throughout the northern coast by 2030.”
CUBA IN HOTEL-BUILDING FRENZY
Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero, speak- ing at the recent 32nd annual Feria Interna- cional de Turismo in Havana, said the island now has 58,626 rooms, of which 63% are in four- and five-star hotels. Of that total, 71% are dedicated to sun-and-beach tourism, 23% to city tourism and 2% to ecotourism.
More and more of those hotel rooms are being filled by locals. Government statistics report 579,924 domestic tourists in 2011, up a whopping 111% from 439,581 the year before.
But there’s little doubt that the current hotel expansions taking place are aimed at a soon-to-be massive flow of U.S. tourists.
In fact, a recent study by IMF expert Rafael Romeu indicates that “if restrictions on travel were removed, perhaps 3.5 to 5 million U.S. residents would visit Cuba annually.”
Yet of far more immediate concern is the November elections.
Mindful of Florida’ 29 electoral votes and its perennial importance in national elections, few presidential candidates dare to advocate lifting — or even easing — the embargo while campaigning in the Sunshine States. But after the elections are over, President Obama — assuming he’s re-elected — could decide to relax the regulations further, allowing more and more Americans to travel there.
The Republicans, on the other hand, specif- ically oppose easing U.S. travel restrictions as long as the Castro family remains in power.
“Mitt Romney has committed himself to the hardest-line [embargo] people in Miami,” said McAuliff, “If Romney wins, it’s a disaster.” q
OFAC — FROM PAGE 2
a very clear distinction between purposeful travel and tourism.”
In fact, it was Rubio — a staunchly pro- embargo Republican from Florida — who threatened to derail Jacobson’s confirmation in the Senate until the White House promised to get tough with companies that were using their privileged Cuba travel licenses to bring Americans to Cuba for what he said were “questionable” purposes.
In May 2012, at the senator’s urging, OFAC tightened requirements for people-to-people licenses and renewals by making applicants submit an onerous explanation and itinerary of activities for their planned visits to Cuba.
Some of these applications ran over 100 pages. In one extreme case, Joe Scarpaci, director of the Virginia-based Center for the Study of Cuban Culture and Economy, origi- nally submitted to OFAC a 17,000-word appli- cation for a license renewal, and had to file a 25,000-word revision before receiving his approval last summer.
Before Rubio’s intervention, a six-page application for such licenses — consisting of a sample itinerary and abbreviated explanation of trip activities — was sufficient.
CENTER FOR CUBAN STUDIES ‘ALMOST BROKE’
Two months before OFAC’s stricter licens- ing requirements went into effect, the New York Times Travel Show became a showcase of the people-to-people policy, with agencies like Insight Cuba and C&T Charters promot- ing their Cuba travel services to eager would- be customers.
“We’re basically broke right now,” said Sandra Levinson, director of the New York- based Center for Cuban Studies, which has led educational trips to the island for decades. “We had 36 trips from November 2011 until June 2012. We can’t take any money until we get a new license.”
Levinson’s office is now forced to conduct fund-raising drives to keep the lights on in her office until OFAC eases its licensing policy.
“A handful of new or renewed people-to- people licenses were issued at the beginning of June, and then a freeze went into effect for the months of July and August,” said Bob Guild, vice-president of Marazul Charters Inc., a New Jersey-based company that since 1979 has operated direct charter flights to Havana from both Miami and New York.
“After the situation became publicized at the end of August, another handful of re- newed licenses was issued.”
OFAC LIGHTENS UP IN RECENT WEEKS
Guild added: “It is a day-to-day situation for the dozens of organizations with pending license applications. Each week we are forced to release hotel and flight space for groups which have not yet received their licenses 60 days prior to their scheduled arrival in Cuba. Hundreds of travelers have had their trips cancelled as a result.”
It now seems that OFAC has lightened up. In late September, Insight Cuba received its
renewal license and plans more than 100 de- partures for the remainder of 2012 and 2013.
The New Rochelle, N.Y., tour operator had brought about 3,000 Americans to Cuba be- tween August 2011 and June 2012, said presi- dent Tom Popper, but eventually cancelled 150 trips and laid off 22 staffers when its OFAC license lapsed.
In addition, several other companies have received OFAC’s blessing to extend or inau- gurate Cuba tours, including Friendly Planet, Grand Circle Foundation, Geographic Expe- ditions and MotoDiscovery.
Canadians face no obstacles from their own government when attempting to visit Cuba, which is why planeloads full of tourists keep landing in Havana and Varadero on daily non- stop flights from Toronto, Montreal, Vancou- ver, Calgary and Winnipeg.
It also helps that the Canadian economy is relatively strong, with the country’s GDP like- ly to finish 2012 with growth around 4%.
To keep pace with increasing tourism, the Cuban government plans to add 5,500 rooms
Larry Luxner is longtime editor of CubaReport. New York-based freelance journalist Vito Eche- varria contributed significantly to this article.
CUNY GRADUATE CENTER
4 CubaReport v October 2012
POLITICS
Viera: Corrupt investors offered kickbacks, fake contracts
Judy Gross lobbies for release of husband jailed in Cuba
BY VITO ECHEVARRÍA
One of Cuba’s most seasoned diplomats was the guest of honor at a recent event at New York’s CUNY Graduate Center.
José Raúl Viera Linares was Cuba’s first deputy minister of foreign affairs from 1981 to 1990, and counselor at the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in the late 1960s.
Cuban officials who have landed in jail as a result of President Raúl Castro’s anti-corrup- tion drive “have been taking kickbacks,” said the former diplomat.
“Sometimes they have even gone further, and they have signed phony contracts,” he told his audience Sep. 27. “They had two dif- ferent sets of books in not reporting the exact earnings of [these] enterprises.”
Viera dismissed any suggestions that the foreign investors and Cubans awaiting trial on corruption charges committed low-level offenses, such as paying workers an extra $100 a month as incentive bonuses (which is illegal in Cuba).
Police closed the Havana offices of the Bri- tish investment and trading firm Coral Capital Group Ltd. last October — more than a year ago — and arrested chief executive Amado Fakhre, a Lebanese-born British citizen.
A month earlier authorities shut down one of the biggest Western trading companies in Cuba, Toronto-based Tokmakjian Group, after doing the same in July 2011 to another Canadian trading firm, Nova Scotia-based Tri- Star Caribbean.
Reuters reported that their ongoing legal limbo “has put a behind-the-scenes strain on Cuba’s relations with their home countries — Canada and Great Britain — where the legal process protects suspects from lengthy incar- ceration without charges.”
Reuters correspondent Marc Frank wrote Oct. 9 that Cy Tokmakjian, chief of Tokmak- jian, and Sarkis Yacoubian, CEO of Tri-Star, were arrested and confined to safe houses when their businesses were closed, but earlier this year both were transferred to La Conde- sa, a prison for foreigners just outside Havana.
ple, traffic violations or a murder.” Viera Linares, meanwhile, says his govern-
ment is trying to improve the foreign invest- ment climate by increasing transparency.
Raúl, he said, “works by the book” — in contrast to his larger-than-life brother Fidel, who treated his own word as law. This explains why, for example, Chilean investor Max Marambio never encountered any legal issues in Cuba as long as his good friend Fidel was running the country.
However, when Raúl assumed power in 2008, his “by the book” approach resulted in an anti-corruption probe against Marambio.
That led the Chilean — who was off-island at the time — to abandon his stake in two lucrative Cuban ventures in order to avoid jail: the Sol y Son tourism agency, and the Alimen- tos Río Zaza fruit juice business.
In late August, three former vice ministers in Cuba’s Basic Industry Ministry and nine nickel industry executives were sentenced to long prison terms for corruption.
The officials and a former head of negotia- tions for state nickel entity Cubaniquel got sentences of 6-12 years for “crimes associated with corruption during the negotiation, con- tracting and execution of the expansion of the Pedro Soto Alba plant,” in eastern Cuba, said Communist Party newspaper Granma.
The Holguín facility is a joint venture be- tween the government and Sherritt Interna- tional Corp. The three vice ministers included Alfredo Rafael Zayas Lopez, who served in that capacity from 2004 to 2007, Ricardo Gon- zález Sánchez (2001-04) and Antonio Orizon de Los Reyes Bermudez (1980-99).
Respectively, they received sentences of 12 years, 10 years and eight years. The Cubani- quel executive, Cristobal Saavedra Montero, was sentenced to six years in prison. q
Ex-diplomat José Viera Linares speaks in New York.
Coral Capital’s Fakhre was recently trans- ferred to a military hospital when he fell ill after months in prison. His company’s chief operating officer, British citizen Stephen Purvis, was arrested in April and is in Havana’s Villa Marista prison, sources said.
Asked at a Havana penal conference when charges might be filed against the business- men, Cuban Attorney General Dario Delgado told Reuters the investigation had not con- cluded because of the complicated nature of the alleged crimes.
“The cases are in the investigative stage and still have not been presented to the court, but I can guarantee they are proceeding according to Cuban law,” he said. “There isn’t the slightest reason for concern. These cases, which involve economic crimes, are very complicated. They do not involve, for exam-
BY ANA RADELAT
Judy Gross, the wife of an American im- prisoned in Cuba, was on Capitol Hill Sep. 19 to pressure the Obama administration
to hold direct talks with Cuba in order to free her husband.
“He worked for the U.S. government, so they should do more to get him out,” she told CubaNews.
Alan Gross, 63, was a subcontractor for a U.S. Agency for International Development program aimed at destabilizing the Castro regime. He is serving a 15-year prison sen- tence for smuggling into Cuba sophisticated communications equipment that could help the island’s dissidents.
Judy Gross was accompanied on Capitol Hill by Jared Genser, the managing director of Perseus Strategies, a Washington-based company that bills itself as a lobbying, human
rights and legal organization. She and Gensler met with Sen. Jerry Moran
in a Senate building hallway, asking the Republican from Kansas to support a letter to the State Department asking for direct talks with Havana over Alan Gross’ case.
“If the U.S. government doesn’t directly talk to them, how are they going to get Alan out of prison?” Gensler asked.
Moran, who supported easing the embargo to allow Cuba to buy food from the United States, was sympathetic, saying “no American should be abandoned by their government.”
Judy Gross and Gensler are also frustrated by the official attitude in Havana.
Last week, Cuban Foreign Ministry official Josefina Vidal said in a statement that “Cuba reiterates its willingness to talk with the United States government to find a solution in the case of Mr. Gross and continues to await an answer.”
But Gensler said Cuba has made no offer to consider releasing the Potomac, Md., resi- dent since it tendered an exchange for the “Cuban Five,” who were convicted and impris- oned in the United States for espionage. The Obama administration rejected that deal.
“What we really want is for the Cuban gov- ernment to put an offer on the table,” Gensler said. “They’ve been asked and asked what else other than the Cuban Five and they’ve said nothing.”
While Judy Gross can count on Moran’s help, other lawmakers have turned her down, including two Cuban-American senators: Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Marco Rubio (R-FL). Both men oppose all diplomatic talks between Washington and Havana.
Aides to Menendez and Rubio didn’t return calls seeking comment. Gensler said he isn’t concerned the two are withholding support
See Gross, page 6
October 2012 v CubaReport 5
POLITICAL BRIEFS
FLORIDA BUSINESS GROUP OPPOSES LAW ON CUBA
The Florida Chamber of Commerce is asking a federal appeals court to continue blocking a law that prevents state and local governments from contracting with firms that have business links to Cuba or Syria, reports the Fort Myers News-Press.
The chamber filed a brief Oct. 22 in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that says the law — passed this year by the Florida Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott — would have “far- reaching implications and unintended conse- quences that will irreparably harm Florida busi- nesses and the state’s economy.”
The state is appealing a Miami federal judge's decision in June that granted a preliminary injunction against the law, which the judge said likely violated the U.S. constitution.
Odebrecht Construction Inc. filed the suit be- cause its Brazilian parent company has another subsidiary involved in the expansion of the Cuban port of Mariel — an affiliation that, under the new law, would prevent Odebrecht from bid- ding on government jobs in Florida.
In the brief, the chamber said the law would discourage foreign investment in the state and strain relations with Brazil and Canada.
“If the Cuba Amendment is enforced, its impact will reverberate far beyond the borders of the Sunshine State,” the brief said. “Democratic for- eign governments and their businesses will be reluctant to do business in Florida. These are the very foreign companies that Florida has worked so hard to attract.”
CUBA TO HOST COLOMBIA PEACE TALKS ON NOV. 15
Colombian and FARC rebel negotiators will meet in Cuba in mid-November to start substan- tive peace talks to end almost half a century of bloody conflict, according to Reuters, quoting a joint declaration issued in Norway on Oct. 18.
The talks, which move to Cuba on Nov. 15, are the latest in a long history of attempts to resolve the war which has left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced from their homes since the establishment of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in 1964.
“The peace process will be successful if it’s serious, realistic and efficient,” top negotiator Humberto de la Calle said in Norway. “The pro- cess that starts today is different from the past.”
CASH-STRAPPED CUBA CLOSES HOSPITALS, CLINICS
Cuba shut hundreds of medical facilities in 2011 — including 54 hospitals — as the island reorga- nizes its health-care sector, AP reported Oct. 10.
The number of medical installations nationwide fell from 13,203 in 2010 to 12,738 last year, a 3.5% drop, according to Cuba’s Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas (ONE). The reductions include ev- erything from general hospitals to family clinics.
Health care budgets have been shrinking in recent years under Raul Castro, though authori- ties exhort doctors to do more with less amid promises there will be no elimination of services.
ONE says the number of doctors in Cuba rose from 76,500 in 2010 to nearly 78,700 in 2012. Over the same period, technicians and support staff dropped sharply, from 87,600 to 76,000.
In their own words ...
“I like to write. I like to study. There is much to do in the area of knowledge. Never, for example, have the sciences advanced at such a stunning speed ... I’ve stopped publishing my reflections because it’s clearly not my place to occupy the pages of our press, dedicated as it is to other tasks the country requires.”
— Fidel Castro, explaining in an Oct. 22 article that he plans on receding further from the limelight. The article was accompanied by a photo showing Fidel — rumored to be near death — examining vegetation on a farm with the aid of a walking stick.
“This move is incredibly significant. Taking a further step back from public life Fidel reinforces for Cubans — wherever they may live — that his days of forming even a slice of the public consciousness are ending.”
— Julia Sweig, director of Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“The reflections were useful, but apparently he is not going to continue them. We will have to get used to not knowing what he is doing every day.”
— Héctor Casamayor, a Havana transportation worker, quoted Oct. 26 by Reuters.
“We are facing something new, a positive step in that doors have been opened in terms of job training and job formation for the Cuban labor force. The poten- tial for migration is going to increase, but in an optimal scenario for Cuban poli- cy, without reaching destabilizing levels.”
— Arturo López-Levy, a Cuban economist who lectures at the University of Denver, commenting Oct. 21 to the Washington Post about Cuba’s new migration law.
“I reiterate that we will have news from Cuba in the next few days. The delay is not my fault. I am sorry.”
— Nelson Bocaranda, columnist for Venezuela’s El Universal, in an Oct. 15 Twitter post. That followed an earlier tweet in which the famously plugged-in gossip colum- nist claimed that “in 72 hours will we know of the death of Fidel Castro? I think so.”
“In the Caribbean, [Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez] has all this collection of little countries who are not important in terms of the economy ... they survive because of these subsidies from Chávez. But guess what they also do: They vote with Chavez when it comes to an important U.N. vote, and Chávez knows that.”
— Eduardo Gamarra, Latin American studies professor at Florida International Uni- versity, on how crucial Venezuelan petroleum is to Cuba and its Caribbean neighbors.
“I have to submit a humanitarian request so that someone can decide whether to allow me to return to where I was born? ... Big deal!” — Juan Antonio Blanco, former analyst with the Cuban Communist Party now living in
Florida, commenting Oct. 26 to the Miami Herald about Cuba’s new migration law.
“I don’t think it will make that much difference. It won’t change much for me or my family. Now I'm considered a traitor. What I would like to see is for people like me to be allowed to go back to Cuba to visit.”
— Dr. Lisset Oropesa, who arrived in the U.S. in 2008 after studying in Belgium.
“It is time to do justice to the poorest of the migrants, the rafters, even if this will generate tens of millions for the government in passport and other fees.”
— Pedro González Munne, a Miami businessman who monitors travel to Cuba.
“Last week, this newspaper criticized my opposition to enriching the regime with U.S. tourism dollars while reiterating your unconscionable position of sup- porting an Obama administration policy that helps fund the regime’s repressive machine. It was an editorial the tyrants in Cuba surely delighted in reading.”
— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), in an Oct. 28 opinion piece published in Tampabay.com.
“It used to be that a university education, in one form or another, was almost a sure thing. Now you have to struggle. I understand it was impossible to maintain everyone studying, but I still want to see my son go to the university.”
— Havana architect Alejandro Padrón, on Cuba’s cutbacks to education.
Who thinks this is NOT a scam? Surely no one. A $100k investment is now for just over a grand? After RS, my math is correct right? Hugo scammed us all and you know it deep down in your gut. Its THAT plain and simple! He never pulls through with what he says starting with the CMKX dvd on down to owing an investor CASH he BORROWED and is NOT paying it back. He needs arrested or at least stopped. He is NOT acting in the best interest of anyone.
Call me anytime Hugo. But understand I think you are full of crap and a liar.
unless you are related to Hugo
that has to be the dumbest thing ever posted here
a 75/1 RS followed by a merger where all the new shares were post split means nothing except everyone holding before the RS has been double screwed
so I assume you aRE RELATED TO hUGO?
Reverse Splits Aren't All Bad
By Rick Aristotle Munarriz | More Articles | Save For Later
March 20, 2012 | Comments (2)
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Dig deep into the pool of laggards and you will find companies giving reverse splits a bad name.
Unlike a traditional stock split -- where a company seeks to lower its share price by multiplying the number of shares outstanding -- a reverse split aims to prop up a stock's price by exchanging a set number of shares into a single new share.
Forward and reverse splits are zero-sum games. If a company has 100 shares at $100, it's worth exactly as much as having 1,000 shares at $10 through a 10-for-1 split or 10 shares at $1,000 through a 1-for-10 reverse split.
The math is fair, but good luck telling some investors that. Folks still often ask when companies with high share prices will declare forward splits. Penny stock speculators dread the moment when their companies resort to reverse stock splits.
Shifting into reverse
I got blasted two years ago when I suggested that Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI ) needed a reverse stock split. The stock was trading at $1, weaving its way in and out of exchange compliance.
Many Sirius XM investors hated the idea. There was no logical explanation for the displeasure. Would it have made a difference if Sirius XM had 6.5 billion shares at $1 or 650 million shares at $10? It would still be a $6.5 billion company. A higher price would have resulted in broader institutional ownership, but many felt that having broader speculator ownership was more appealing.
Thankfully for Sirius XM and its investors, no one's talking about a reverse split at Sirius XM anymore. The company has gone on to more than double. The satellite radio giant is consistently profitable, growing its subscriber base, and generating a ton of cash flow.
It will obviously take a long time for Sirius XM to get to double digits. Revenue would have to spike dramatically from its $3 billion annual pace to justify a $65 billion valuation. However, even skeptics have to admit that Sirius XM continues to take steps in the right direction with every passing quarter.
What if Sirius XM had executed a 1-for-10 reverse split when the company's board had approved the consideration two years ago? Would Sirius XM shares be worth more or less than $22.80 with 650 million fully diluted shares outstanding?
Before arguing that it would be worth less -- suggesting that Sirius XM would be less valuable than the $15 billion company it is today -- let's go over a few success stories.
In defense of reverse splits
Move (Nasdaq: MOVE ) went for a 1-for-4 reverse stock split four months ago. On Nov. 21, every four shares of Move at $1.54 were swapped out for a single share at $6.16. Easy. Zero-sum game!
A reverse split may be a sign of desperation, but is the parent company of Realtor.com and other real estate-related websites regretting the move? Probably not.
Move closed yesterday at $9.60, a healthy 56% pop since the reverse split four months ago.
It's not the only company that has gone for a reverse split and lived to tell the tale.
Shares of Coeur d'Alene Mines (NYSE: CDE ) have soared 74% since the silver miner executed a 1-for-10 reverse split at $1.40 three years ago.
Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH ) turned to a 1-for-10 split in 2000. Things have gone so well that it went on to declare a pair of forward splits after that.
The market applauds priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN ) as the leader among travel website operators, but how quickly have we forgotten its 1-for-6 reverse split in 2003. The stock is a 27-bagger since its reverse as of today!
Splitting headache
Cynics will argue that I'm only highlighting the exceptions to the rule, and that's fair. They aren't the only companies to beat the market since declaring stock splits, but there are far more losers than winners after going for reverse split makeovers.
Then again, isn't that to be expected? A company declares a reverse because its share price is unacceptably low -- and that doesn't happen by accident. There are plenty of companies declaring desperate reverse splits on the way to zero. However, that was going to happen with or without the exchange adjustments. Wasn't it?
Reverse splits aren't all fatal.
If you want to see your money multiply without any split tricks, find out The Motley Fool's top stock for 2012. It's a free report, but only for a limited time so, check it out now.
The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?
Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!
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Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings and priceline.com. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz calls them as he sees them. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
Do Reverse Splits Ever Work?
By Dan Caplinger | More Articles
July 2, 2009 | Comments (3)
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When stocks perform well, an announcement of a coming stock split can make investors even more optimistic about the future. In the uncertain market environment we're facing now, however, many companies either have already made or are considering reverse stock splits to boost their share prices from extremely low levels.
Still, investors have to wonder: Will reverse splits do any good, or are they basically the kiss of death for a company?
A sordid history
AIG (NYSE: AIG ) is the latest company to implement a reverse split, but it won't be the last. With many major companies trading in the single digits, reverse splits may be necessary to boost stock prices back up to a level at which they don't look like penny stocks.
By themselves, splits shouldn't make any real difference. Whether regular or reverse, a split simply changes the number of shares outstanding. Offer two shares for every one existing share, and the price for each should get cut in half. Issue one new share for every 10 currently outstanding, and each share's price should multiply by 10. The net value should remain the same.
Nevertheless, reverse splits have not worked out well for many companies that have used them in the past. Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: JAVA ) , for instance, did a 1-for-4 reverse stock split back in November 2007. A year later, the stock had dropped more than 85% before it turned around. Even after Oracle's (Nasdaq: ORCL ) takeover bid for the stock, shareholders stand to receive less than half of what shares traded for at the time of the reverse split.
Similarly, in September 2006, Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN ) made a 1-for-7 reverse split. Although shares are currently back in the double digits, they're still down more than 65% from when the split took place.
Bright spots
As it turns out, not all reverse splits have been failures. Take a look at these stocks, which successfully recovered from reverse splits:
Stock
Date of Reverse Split
Return Since Reverse Split
Palm (Nasdaq: PALM )
Oct. 15, 2002 (1-for-20)
633%
priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN )
June 16, 2003 (1-for-6)
347%
Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH )
May 4, 2000 (1-for-10)
330%
Corrections Corporation of America
May 18, 2001 (1-for-10)
483%
Brightpoint
June 27, 2002 (1-for-7)
1,788%
Source: Yahoo! Finance.
More broadly, however, recent research suggests that investing in a company that has just done a reverse split is a losing proposition. According to a 2006 paper that looked at 1,600 reverse-split stocks between 1962 and 2001, such stocks substantially underperformed the overall market during the three-year period following the reverse split -- by an average of 1.3 percentage points per month.
Focus on fundamentals
None of this should come as any great surprise. For a company's stock to trade low enough that it'll even consider a reverse split, it typically has to endure a terrible period of financial results. The split itself doesn't solve the operational problems a company faces, so companies that can't find a way to recover simply fail. The few that do find permanent solutions to their problems may have spectacular runs, but from an overall return perspective, they simply can't outweigh the vast majority of firms that fail.
Stocks that choose to undertake reverse splits brand themselves with a red flag. Given their reputation as wealth-killers, reverse splits simply drive away many investors from ever considering a given stock. If that aversion proves to be irrational -- that is, if investors abandon the stock for dead, even after its business prospects revive -- then it can be potentially quite lucrative for those who keep their eyes open to the opportunities it presents.
All other things being equal, though, companies that get themselves into a position where they need a reverse split have a lot against them from the start. Except in the most extraordinary cases, therefore, investors may be smarter to seek better investments elsewhere.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/07/02/do-reverse-splits-ever-work.aspx
A new section called: Business and Economy. The magazine is educating americans how to do business in Cuba.
http://www.oncubamagazine.com/en
Miami Business people are getting ready to do business in Cuba. Cancio and his ( our) CBDG are leading the way.
Miami federal judge blocks new Florida anti-Cuba law from taking effect
A federal judge ruled against a law banning governments from awarding contracts to companies whose affiliates work in Cuba. Gov. Rick Scott had caused an uproar when he signed the law in Miami but warned it was likely unenforceable.
Buy Photo
Odebrecht USA has been involved in some of South Florida's most visible projects, including the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami. HECTOR GABINO / EL NUEVO HERALD
BY PATRICIA MAZZEI
PMAZZEI@MIAMIHERALD.COM
A Miami federal judge on Monday blocked Florida from enforcing a new state law that prohibits governments from hiring companies with business ties to Cuba.
A temporary injunction, ordered by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, prevents the law from taking effect on Sunday as scheduled. And it deals a blow to the politicians who backed the legislation, which was sponsored by Miami-Dade lawmakers, approved by a near-unanimous majority of the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott.
After an hour-long hearing late Monday, Moore ruled from the bench in favor of Odebrecht Construction, the Coral Gables-based subsidiary of a Brazilian engineering and construction giant.
“It’s not as if there isn’t some precedent there and there hasn’t been a run at this effort in the past,” the judge said, referring to previous failed legislative efforts to make it difficult to conduct business with Cuba.
Odebrecht USA sued the Florida Department of Transportation earlier this month over the new law, which would ban state and local government agencies from awarding future contracts worth at least $1 million to U.S. firms whose foreign-owned parent companies or affiliates conduct business in Cuba or Syria. A subsidiary of Odebrecht USA’s parent company is expanding the Cuban Port of Mariel.
Odebrecht said the state law would prevent it from bidding on $3.4 billion in FDOT contracts this year, and that the company had already suffered “irreparable harm” because the law spooked potential business partners and employees.
Though the judge’s order was directed at FDOT, it is highly unlikely that any other state or local government agency would try to enforce the law while the injunction is in place.
The judge agreed with Odebrecht’s contention that the law conflicts with the federal government’s power to set foreign policy. The state, Moore said, would “inject itself into foreign affairs matters, which are traditionally under the prerogative of the executive branch.”
Moore’s ruling, while temporary, foreshadows that he is likely to issue a permanent decision that the law is unenforceable. The judge wrote in his order that Odebrecht “has demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success with respect to its claims.” He did not set a new hearing date, and told the parties to work out a resolution.
In a statement, Odebrecht USA, which has been involved in some of South Florida’s most visible projects, including the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts and AmericanAirlines Arena, said it was “very gratified” by Moore’s ruling.
“We are extremely proud of our 21-year track record of performance and community involvement in Miami-Dade County and throughout Florida,” the company said.
“We will continue to defend our right to serve the state of Florida and its local governments, and remain fully committed to complying with all local, state and federal law, and dedicated to working with our partners to provide outstanding service to each of our clients.”
FDOT’s attorney, Paul J. Martin, had argued that the state is allowed to set parameters for how to spend public money. He also made a complicated argument that the state law does not run afoul of federal law because the Florida statute does not allow anything that U.S. law prohibits.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/25/2867901/miami-federal-judge-blocks-new.html#storylink=cpy
Hugo has been dealing with Cuba since 1998,
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/20/arts/critic-s-notebook-cuban-bands-find-us-fans-as-curbs-relax.html
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK; Cuban Bands Find U.S. Fans As Curbs Relax
By PETER WATROUS
Published: April 20, 1998
As the sun went down on another sluggishly blissful Miami day, a few dozen demonstrators yelled insults at the 700 or so people who had come to see a screening of Hugo Cancio's movie on the Cuban doo-wop group Los Zafiros. The audience, young and old, black and white, filed into the Guzman Theater in downtown Miami on Thursday night as the underwhelmed police contingent, perhaps 10 in all, watched the demonstrators to see they didn't cross the street. None did.
Inside, the extraordinary Cuban vocal group Gema 4, an a cappella quartet, sang a song, ''Habana,'' originally sung by the Zafiros in the early 1960's. Mr. Cancio, 33, a Cuban American, shot his film, ''Zafiros, Locura Azul'' (''Blue Madness''), in Havana with Cuban actors.It had the audience moaning with laughter and remembrance. In Havana it has broken all attendance records and won a prize at the Havana Film Festival. For the Miami audience, it was like going home.
Mr. Cancio brought the film's actors to Miami in from Havana, along with Gema 4 and members of Havana's hottest band, La Charanga Habanera, on their way to play in Northampton, Mass., as part of the Fiesta Cubana of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts. Their appearance would have been impossible even a year ago because of pressure from right-wing Cuban exile groups. After the film, the actors and musicians went to a Miami club, Starfish, where the musicians played for dancers with a local group, just as they might have anywhere else in the United States.
''A lot of things, big and small have happened over the last year or so,'' said Manning Salazar, a young Cuban American music promoter who is active in the Miami underground's effort to promote Cuban culture. ''Jorge Mas Canosa, the leader of the right-wing Cubans died. The first Latin Midem last year, a music convention, was controversial about its caving in to the demands of local government to ban Cuban music. This year's Midem will have a Cuban band playing. And the singer Carlos Varela played here in a semi-public performance recently with no problems at all.
''So Hugo's movie, and the lack of response from the right wing, is more proof how far Miami has come. Now many institutions are open to things like this. It was an unthinkable event a year ago, and now it seems like the future.''
The event's success has emboldened Mr. Cancio, a businessman who also runs a music production company, to throw the first full-fledged post-revolutionary Cuban pop music concert in Miami. Tomorrow night, the Cuban singer and band leader Issac Delgado will perform at Club Onyx in Miami Beach with full government approvals from both sides of the mango curtain that divides the United States from Cuba. There have been no bomb threats; there were no demonstrations waiting Mr. Delgado's arrival at Miami International Airport on Friday, nor were there any for the arrival of the three bands that were on their way to play in Northampton, and continue on their limited tours.
''The concert needs to be done,'' said Mr. Cancio. ''A concert done in Miami by Cuban musicians means that things are changing in Miami, things that need to be changed. A concert is a normal thing, it's not out of the ordinary, and people should be able to go out and enjoy some of the best music on earth.''
And on Friday night at the Academy of Arts in Northampton, where the idea of a right-wing demonstrator was thoroughly beyond the pale, another kind of history was being made and another kind of future predicted. The Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts convened Gema 4, Jose Maria Vitier's group and Charanga Habanera to give a three-day demonstration of the great variety of Cuban music. Playing to a mostly English-speaking audience drawn from the five colleges that inform the intellectual life of the area, the 30 or so musicians were meeting one of their logical future target audiences. Nothing like this had ever been done since before the Cuban revolution, and there was a sense among the people who had put it together, along with the musicians, that history had been made.
Gema 4 opened the show with a series of ballads and Afro-Cuban songs that brought the North American vocal group traditions of groups like Take 6 and Lambert, Hendricks and Ross to the Caribbean material. Gema 4, an all-female group whose sheer excellence, musicality and range of techniques brought the material to life, had the audience going wild. The group received three standing ovations at the end of its set, and had people who hadn't heard of the group stunned.
Mr. Vitier, the pianist and composer, used a small group of two percussionists, a violinist and a cellist to rework Cuban forms like the danzon in the same way that the Argentine composer and arranger Astor Piazzolla reworked the tango. Mr. Vitier, who is best known for his film scores (like ''Strawberry and Chocolate'') along with an Afro-Cuban Mass, used jazz ideas and Afro-Cuban montunos. When the singer Xiomara Laugart came out to sing a poem by the poet Virgilio Marti, the audience broke up again, with continuous standing ovations.
If Gema 4 and Mr. Vitier played with suggestions of the street and the African in Cuban life, all filtered through the rigorous Cuban musical education, the Charanga Habanera brought the Cuban street to Massachusetts. The band plays as hard a form of dance music that has ever been played, a sort of Afro-Cuban version of the George Clinton's funk aggregations, and it uses an endless stream of choreographed tricks, with wild wordplay and dancing. The group is hard and loud, and by midnight the aisles were filled with people dancing.
''I went to Cuba recently,'' said Donald Sanders, the executive artistic director of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, and a playwright. ''I was knocked out by the depth and range of Cuban music, how varied it is, and how little we know about it. Because of politics, it's been concealed from the American public. So we decided to do the Fiesta Cubana, and our audience is perfect for the music, inquisitive and intelligent and open minded.''
The festival had also planned for the groups to play in Springfield, Mass., half an hour down the road, which has a large Hispanic population. On Saturday night there, at Symphony Hall and at a club called Razzls', the bands performed again.
After the concert at Symphony Hall, a Hispanic resident of Springfield, a judge, came up to Mr. Sanders and said: ''Don, you've changed, in one evening, the perception of our people. Thank you.''
Mr. Sanders asked her what she meant.
''The music had so much sophistication, so much power,'' she said. ''And remember, we Hispanics are known in America at large as the ones that throw trash out the car window. So things like this make a difference.''
But at Razzls', after Charanga Habanera finished up, history wasn't so much the point. And the audience's reaction was no less telling: people, having loved the show, wandered off to the disco in the club, or had a beer, and treated the event just like any other Saturday night spent listening to a good band and dancing.
Photo: An education in Cuban music: The singer Xiomara Laugart with Jose Maria Vitier at the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts in Northampton. (Alan E. Solomon for The New York Times)
Real thin stock now.
Looking good.
Very good if company is buying here.
If buying continues like past few days we may see PPS settling down in $2-$3 range.
Amazing Article, everyone should read it.. Our company FUEGO/CBDG will benefit tremendously from doing business in Cuba.....The time is NOW.
Check out the latest issue of National Geographic.
CAN FUEGO DO THIS WITH CUBA BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT GROUP?
I SAY IT IT POSSIBLE.
MURPHY OIL CORPORATION ANNOUNCES PLAN TO SEPARATE U.S. DOWNSTREAM BUSINESS INTO INDEPENDENT COMPANY AND AUTHORIZATION OF A $2.50 PER SHARE SPECIAL DIVIDEND AND $1 BILLION SHARE BUYBACK PROGRAM
EL DORADO, Arkansas, October 16, 2012 – Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) (“Murphy”) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a plan to spin off to its stockholders its U.S. downstream subsidiary, Murphy Oil USA, Inc. (“Murphy USA”), into an independent and separately traded company, and has also authorized a special dividend of $2.50 per share for a total dividend of approximately $500 million and a share buyback program of up to $1 billion of the company’s shares of common stock. Murphy also reaffirmed the plan to divest the U.K. downstream operations and stated that it is continuing to review possible options with respect to selected assets.
Spin-off to Create Two Distinct Companies
Murphy believes that creating two publicly traded companies would offer a number of advantages:
Each business would focus on its strategic priorities with financial targets that best fit its own market and opportunities; Each business would be able to allocate resources and deploy capital in a manner consistent with its priorities; and
Investors, both current and prospective, would be able to value the two businesses based on their respective financial characteristics and make investment decisions based on those characteristics.
more....
Murphy USA
Murphy USA will continue to be a flexible, low-price, high volume fuel seller with key strategic relationships and experienced management. Murphy USA’s business will consist of retail marketing of petroleum products and convenience merchandise through a large chain of retail gasoline stations. Additionally, Murphy USA’s assets will include seven product distribution terminals and two ethanol production facilities in North Dakota and Texas.
Murphy
Murphy will become an independent exploration and production company with principal activities focused in the United States, Canada and Malaysia. The Company will continue its exploration program and offshore development projects complemented by predictable growth in its North America onshore businesses primarily in the Eagle Ford Shale and Seal areas. The United Kingdom downstream operations will remain with Murphy until such time as these assets are fully divested.
Spin-off
The spin-off of Murphy USA will be subject to customary conditions, including confirmation of the tax free nature of the transaction and receipt of customary regulatory approvals. The spin-off will be effected through a distribution of the shares of Murphy USA pro rata to all Murphy stockholders as of a record date to be established by Murphy’s Board of Directors. The spin-off of Murphy USA is expected to be finalized in 2013.
more
Page Two
Special Dividend and Share Buyback
The Board of Directors of Murphy also approved a special dividend of $2.50 per share for a total dividend of approximately $500 million. The dividend is payable on December 3, 2012 to holders of record as of November 16, 2012. This is in addition to the dividend of $0.3125 per share previously announced and also payable on December 3, 2012 to holders of record on November 16, 2012.
Furthermore, the Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program of up to $1 billion of the company’s shares of common stock. Murphy may utilize a number of different methods to effect the repurchases, including but not limited to, open market purchases, accelerated share repurchases and negotiated block purchases, and some of the repurchases may be effected through Rule 10b5-1 plans. The timing and amount of repurchases will depend upon several factors, including market, financing and business conditions, and the repurchases may be discontinued at any time.
“Today’s announcements are consistent with our commitment to creating value for shareholders,” commented Claiborne Deming, Chairman of the Board of Murphy. With regard to the spin-off, he added: “Separating these two businesses will allow each to unlock its own potential for growth. We have built two strong but distinct businesses. Murphy will be a pure-play exploration and production company with strong returns and attractive investment opportunities, while Murphy USA will be a leading retailer with over 1,100 retail gasoline outlets. Given its existing positioning in the market, I am confident that Murphy USA will continue to grow the business and drive shareholder value
Buyback shares purchase news would be great now.
And in case Hugo is buying some shares in the open market, reporting of that will boost investors confidence.
It is true there are not too many shares available now in the free float.
IT SEEMS THE BIG PLAYERS HAVE CUBA AS A TARGET MARKET FOR OPPORTUNITIES.
The Americas Group Cuba Business Enterprise
Volume 20160 October 30, 2012
“Cuba Watch”
“A weekly newsletter from The Americas Group Cuba Business Enterprise”
Hurricane Sandy hits Cuba, leaving destruction and 11 dead
Hurricane Sandy hit eastern Cuba on Thursday with 110 miles per hour winds and heavy rains that claimed 11 lives and caused serious damage to Santiago de Cuba, the island's second-largest city, and several other provinces, reports CNN and Reuters. The category 2 storm moved quickly through the Granma, Holguín, Las Tunas and Santiago de Cuba provinces early Thursday morning. Torrential rains and strong winds cut power lines, ripped roofs off homes and left the streets strewn with downed trees and debris.
"Everything is destroyed in Santiago. People are going to have to work very hard to recover," Alexis Manduley, a resident of the city, told Reuters in an interview.
In much of eastern Cuba there is no power, no water and very little transportation. While tomato and coffee crops were affected by the storm, the damage to crops was milder than expected, reports Associated Press.
Fidel Castro makes public appearance, criticizes death-bed rumors
In an article published in Granma on Monday, Fidel Castro said he is in good health, and denounced rumors that surfaced last week stating that that he was on his deathbed, reports Associated Press The former President was quoted saying that he "doesn't even remember what a headache feels like."
The article was accompanied by photos of Cuba's former president standing amid moringa trees and holding Monday's edition of Granma. On Saturday, he made a public
appearance when he met with former Venezuelan Vice President Elias Jaua for several hours at the Hotel Nacional, according to Havana Times. Last week, we reported on speculation surrounding Castro's health, including a rumor that he suffered an embolic stroke, a rumor stoked by a physician who had previously made unsubstantiated claims about the health of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez.
Later in the week, the leader once known for lengthy public speeches informed the Cuban public that he will no longer be writing his regular column called "Reflections" in the official newspaper because he feels it is not his place "to occupy the pages of our press, dedicated as it is to other tasks the country requires," reports the Financial Times.
Cuba to allow many who had left illegally to return
Rafters, doctors, and athletes who left Cuba illegally will be permitted re-entry, Cuba's government announced Thursday. In statements on national television, Homero Acosta, Secretary of the State Council, said those who left as minors under age 16 or who have humanitarian reasons for coming home to Cuba would also be allowed to return.
Between 70,000 and 300,000 Cubans are expected to benefit from the reform, reports the Miami Herald.
Individuals who defected via the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo will still be banned "for reasons of defense and national security." According to last week's announced migration reforms, those who "organize, encourage or participate in hostile actions against the political, economic and social basis of the state," can also be excluded.
This announcement comes as a follow-up to the migratory reforms announced last week that President Raúl Castro says are designed to contribute "to the growth in the links between the nation and the communities of its emigrants." Progreso Weekly analyses what it means for the diaspora and its "émigrés".
Cuba holds municipal elections
Municipal elections were held in Cuba on Sunday, with 8.1 million Cubans participating, reports Café Fuerte. Voters cast ballots to elect candidates for the municipal assemblies that head local governments, reports the Associated Press. Overall voter turnout during this election was 91.9%, a 4.9% decrease from the 95.8% voter turnout in 2010. Compared to the last election, there was an increase in blank ballots, with 396,900 people submitting blank ballots, and a total of 356,400 votes annulled.
Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, the president of the National Electoral Commission, announced that of the 13,127 delegates elected to municipal assemblies, 33.5 % are women and 14% are young people between 16 and 35, Granma reports. 1,410 candidates, who did not receive at least 50% of the vote, will participate in runoff elections on October 28th.
Modified agricultural reforms to benefit independent farmers
Cuba's government has published a law to modify the rules governing the delivery of fallow government land to farmers, according to Granma, the state-run newspaper.
Decree-Law 300, which will go into effect December 21, will allow independent and cooperative farmers to hold up to 67.10 hectares of government land, an increase from the current maximum of 40 hectares. The new law's primary goal is to encourage sustainable production on previously idle land and it also allows farmers to build homes on land leased from the government, reports the Associated Press.
Authorities to allow Cubans to reclaim "undue" taxes on packages
Cuban authorities responded to complaints that have arisen since new import tax laws took effect, by establishing a process to reclaim overpaid import tariffs, reports Café Fuerte. While Cuban citizens and residents are supposed to pay in Cuban pesos (CUPs), and foreigners are meant to pay in convertible pesos (CUCs), cases have occurred in which travelers are charged in the wrong currency, which the new process intends to resolve. The measure stipulates that travelers will have up to one year to request repayment.
Cuba reopens national library
On Monday, the José Martí National Library in Havana reopened its doors, after undergoing a million-Euro renovation financed by Spanish investors, reports EFE. The first phase of this extensive reconstruction project focused on fire prevention, rehabilitating the plumbing network, and making the library more easily accessible to those with disabilities, reports Havana Times. The library, frequently referred to as the "Cathedral of Culture," will undergo a second phase of renovation in which the focus will be "digitizing everything that is possible to scan," according to Eduardo Torres Cuevas, director of the institution.
Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, commander in the Cuban Revolution, dies
Revolutionary commander Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo, known as "el gallego" for his Spanish roots, passed away last week in Cuba. He died of a heart attack in a Havana hospital at the age of 77, according to the Associated Press.
Gutiérrez Menoyo was a commanding officer in the Cuban revolution, but later turned against the revolutionary government. In 1961, he moved to Miami and began organizing a violent overthrow of the new government, returning in 1964 with hopes of launching an uprising. He was eventually arrested and spent 22 year in prison. Upon release in 1986, he lived briefly in Madrid and then in Miami where he founded Cambio Cubano in 1992, an organization aiming to promote peaceful dialogue between all Cubans and their government. In 2002, Menoyo traveled to Cuba to visit family and decided to stay despite his differences with the government.
Trade with Ecuador doubles in 2012
Antonio Carricarte, Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, said that trade between Cuba and Ecuador is on track to grow two-fold this year, reports Prensa Latina. According to Carricarte, significant gains are expected in the export of services, including medical assistance like disease control in Ecuador. He also announced that trade with Ecuador this year had already surpassed 2011 levels by August.
Cuba and Mexico take steps to expand bilateral trade
Last Saturday, representatives of Cuba and Mexico met in Havana to discuss expanding trade between the two countries, reports EFE. The talk could lead to an update of the existing free trade agreement, in place since 2001, particularly in the areas of market access, technical barriers to trade, and health regulations, according to the Mexican Economy Secretariat. Between 2000 and 2011, trade between Cuba and Mexico grew by about 40% and Cuba currently ranks 14th in the region for investment from Mexico.
State Department official responds to Cuba's new travel law
Last Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson gave a press conference in which she addressed the possible implications of Cuba's new travel law for U.S. policy. Jacobson said the State Department is paying close attention to the implementation of Cuba's new law eliminating its exit visa requirement, in order to assess "what we may need to do to respond." While calling the change "a very good thing," she specifically questioned the role of passport renewal and the restrictions that Cuba's government could place on travel by controlling the passport process.
Responding to a separate question, Jacobson cited Alan Gross' detention in Cuba as being very significant to the future of U.S.-Cuba relations, but rejected a comparison between the case of Ángel Carromero, the Spaniard charged and sentenced to jail time in Cuba for his role in the crash that killed Oswaldo Paya and that of Alan Gross. She repeated the State Department's previous call for Gross to be released "on humanitarian grounds."
A transcript of the press event, which was featured as a preview of the upcoming Pathways for Prosperity/America's Competitiveness Forum in Cali, Colombia, is available at the State Department website.
Florida Chamber of Congress stands against anti-Cuba contracting law
Florida's Chamber of Commerce has joined the legal effort to prevent Florida from punishing foreign firms that do business with Cuba or Syria, reports the News Service of Florida.
The case arises from the enactment of a law by Florida's legislature which prohibits state and local governments from giving contracts to foreign companies that are also working in Cuba and Syria. A Federal judge in Miami blocked implementation of the law earlier this year, and the case is now before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Chamber's brief says the law would have "far-reaching implications and unintended consequences that will irreparably harm Florida businesses and the state's economy...Democratic foreign governments and their businesses will be reluctant to do business in Florida. These are the very foreign companies that Florida has worked so hard to attract."
As we reported previously, the Federal judge acted after a lawsuit was filed by the Miami subsidiary of the Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht's against Florida's Department of Transportation. The law would have prohibited the company from bidding on over $3 billion in contracts from the department this year. The U.S. district court judge declared the law unconstitutional because it deals with a matter of foreign affairs, which is the prerogative of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government. Odebrecht owns a subsidiary that operates in Cuba.
Content © 2012 The Center for Democracy in the Americas. For personal, non- commercial use only; not for further distribution.
Any idea on Cuba Financial Fund about possible taking a stake in FUGI/CBDG??
TIA
Northwest winds
2012/10/27
by Carlos M. Álvarez
www.oncubamagazine.com
Breezes you have the secret of the two swells,
The chill of the dew on the skin...
and the detachment of the body of another nailed body.
Lezama Lima.
If there is a change with equal impact both in the real and the symbolic world, that is the immigration reform that from next January will be in force in the country.
Just when we least expected it, not at a session of National Assembly or anything like that, the Cuban government jumped into the ring and published a set of measures that modify the existing immigration law and that with certainty bring some relief to the lives of Cubans, expand their possibilities of success, and their sense of autonomy.
Being islanders, a too literal concept in the past decades, was costing us dearly. This is a logical step, essential, within the urgent updating of economic, social and of all kind sectors that the government has been promoting in the past three years. If a visa is denied now, which it will surely happen, it will be by foreign embassies. In real terms, we still lack the economic resources to travel. But in terms of politics and credibility, the migration reforms are a balm for the Cuban socialist project.
In an interview granted to the Cubahora website, prestigious Cuban-American lawyer José Pertierra who lives in Washington, say something important: “We’ve been expecting this announcement for years. It is wise to have children requesting for parental authorization to go out for a walk, but adults shouldn’t be restricted that way. The requiring of an exit visa and letter of invitation are examples of excessive paternalism that did nothing but create unneeded resentment among the people”.
Later he explained: “the Cuban migration phenomenon looks likes all others. It is mainly economic: migrants are people who decide to migrate to improve their economic situation in another country where they might have better chances to make a better living”.
Two key issues: we mixed up, or better yet, we turned for too long simple personal reasons into political issues, and the quest for prosperity into ideological conflicts.
These measures, if we check on the facilities both for emigrants and Cubans residing in the country, a jump ahead that should translate into happiness. Though there are still some limitations for professionals. Understandable since when it comes to human capital none Third World country can match Cuba’s. But, it is likely that if there is a restructuring of the country’s labor force, we will have too many engineers where, due to the prevailing chaos, we seem to be short of. Then engineers, architects and maybe even teachers could find employment abroad without renouncing their citizenship or residency.
We have done something clever in political terms. We lifted the blame from our shoulders. We have done something that in civics is understood as basic principle. We now we have the right to leave and enter the country as we please.
There are people who will never travel abroad, and there will others that will do to never return. In any case, there will be no “higher power” to stop them. And I am saying: that’s enough.
and fuego will sell magazines
Given the historical and geographical connection between Cuba and the United States, it is clear that at some point the economies of these two countries will become interlinked. Cuba will be a bridgehead and hub linking the US with the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America. Telecommunications, aviation, shipping and even LPG gas terminals will radiate out from Havana as so many spokes from a wheel. Millions of US tourists will visit each year with hundreds of new hotels being built to accommodate them, airports will be expanded, infrastructure upgraded and replaced. The US will become an important market for Cuban resources, cigars, rum and biotechnology products while Cuba will purchase heavy machinery, foodstuffs and financial products from its giant neighbor.
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Date | Insider | Shares | Transaction | Value | ||||||
10/24/08 | CANCIO, HUGO M., Chief Executive Officer | 275,000 | Buy at $0.06 per share. | $16,500 | ||||||
8/4/08 | CANCIO, HUGO M., Chief Executive Officer | 6,900 | Buy at $0.14 per share. | $966 | ||||||
4/3/08 | VOS GROWTH CORP, | 875,000 | Proposed Sale (Form 144) | N/A | ||||||
8/7/07 | AES CAPITAL PARTNERS LP, | 361,111 | Proposed Sale (Form 144) | N/A | ||||||
6/5/07 | CANCIO, HUGO M., Chief Executive Officer | 12,500 | Buy at $0.22 per share. | $2,750 | ||||||
12/8/06 | CANCIO, HUGO M., Chief Executive Officer | 74,738 | Buy at $0.15 per share. | $11,211 | ||||||
12/1/06 | CANCIO, HUGO M., Chief Executive Officer | 100,000 | Private Buy at $0.20 per share. | $20,000 | ||||||
8/25/06 | CANCIO, HUGO M., Chief Executive Officer | 50,000 | Private Buy at $0.015 per share. | $750 | ||||||
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Your one stop resource for all things about Fuego Entertainment, Stock Symbol: FUGO. FUGO.OB is no longer valid. It has changed to FUGI.PK.
Fuego Entertainment, Inc. is a media and entertainment company primarily in the production, distribution and broadcasting of entertainment products
such as films, documentaries, television shows and music.
Fuego Entertainment, Inc. is a media and entertainment company primarily in the production, distribution and broadcasting of entertainment products such as films, documentaries, television shows and music. The Company also produces filmed content and manages a music record label, Fuego Entertainment Music International (FEMI),
Following our continuing success in marketing entertainment products to the Latin markets, the Company is expanding its content for the English market. Through acquisition of new media outlets, continuing expansion into new entertainment markets, increasing aggressive marketing of our existing products, and production of new entertainment content, we are dedicated to grow the Company by increasing revenue streams and maintaining low overhead.
Most recently, Fuego President and CEO, Hugo M. Cancio, has formed a private exploratory group, the US-Cuban Investment Committee. Fuego Entertainment is positioning itself for such opportunities as music publishing, catalogs and film libraries that are currently owned by the Cuban government. Being both a native Cuban and US citizen who has maintained close ties with the business community and entertainment industry in Cuba, Mr. Cancio is uniquely qualified to direct this exploratory group.
In anticipation of the inevitable political and economic transformations soon to occur in the post- Fidel Castro era, the eyes of the world investment community are watching Cuba closely. Fuego intends to participate in these positive changes.
Mr. Cancio comments:
The potential transformation of the Cuban economy will be driven by the culture of its people. I am very proud of my heritage and hope to become a leader in the expression of Cuban media and entertainment to the world. While our ultimate involvement is far from certain, on a timeline perspective and a business focus, we are preparing ourselves for the possibilities that can arise in the near term.?
Our long-term goal is becoming a media and entertainment conglomerate.
Fuego Entertainment Inc. is engaged in the production, acquisition, marketing sales & distribution of entertainment products such as short films, documentaries, television shows, music, and tour productions. Also, through it's subsidiaries, provides management and development of television stations, recorded music and music publishing services worldwide. Its recorded music operations includes the discovery, production and development of artists, and marketing, distribution, and licensing of the recorded music by the artists. The company also markets it's music catalog through compilations and re-issuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as licenses tracks to and from other producers/record labels for various uses, including film, documentaries, short films and television soundtracks.
Fuego Entertainment currently manages its own music catalog and is seeking to develop additional artists to expand its music library. The Company develops new and existing talent, networks with music producers to explore potential collaborations, and pursues the expansion of its distribution network. Fuego has an in-house distribution network with over 100 clients across the globe, including Specs Music Stores, Reyes Records Distributors, DLN Distribution, H&L Distribution, Sony Music, and Universal Music. These clients are distributors of the Company's music products through independent record stores and record labels. The company distributes it's music catalog through most major on-line track and CD download sites. The Company also licenses products from Sun Flower Publishing, receiving royalties for record sales, radio and television play and other licensing opportunities. The company was founded in December of 2005 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
Most recently, Fuego President and CEO, Hugo M. Cancio, has formed a private exploratory group, the US-Cuban Investment Committee. Fuego Entertainment is positioning itself for such opportunities as music publishing, catalogs, and film libraries that are currently owned by the Cuban government. Being both a native Cuban and US citizen who has maintained close ties with the business community and entertainment industry in Cuba, Mr. Cancio is uniquely qualified to direct this exploratory group. The exploratory group may be contacted directly via email at: uscubaninvestmentcommittee@yahoo.com
www.uscubaninvestmentcommittee.com
In anticipation of the inevitable political and economic transformations soon to occur in the post- Fidel Castro era, the eyes of the world investment community are watching Cuba closely. Fuego intends to participate in these positive changes.
Fuego Entertainment is an operating entity involved primarily in music distribution, concert promotion and all aspects of the entertainment business. The parent company Fuego Enterprises is a Nevada corporation publicly trading on the Over The Counter Pink Sheets under the symbol FUGI.
Institutional Investors
The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund Inc.
Investor Relations Contact:
Dan York
phone (214) 675-2531
email ir@fuegoentertainment.net
Corporate Office:
8010 NW 156 St
Miami Lakes, Florida, 33016
(305) 823-9999
SHARE STRUCTURE AS OF DEC. 31, 2010
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May 26. 2010 - Fuego Enterprises Announces Cuban Folk Icon Silvio Rodriguez Performance Sold Out at Carnegie Hall
Feb. 9, 2010 - Fuego Enterprises Announces Increasing Revenues From Tours and Live Performances of Music Groups
Oct. 15, 2009 - Fuego Enterprises Does Spin Off of Cuba Business Development Group
Sept. 18, 2009 - Fuego Enterprises, Inc. Updates Shareholders On Its Decision Not to Continue as a Reporting Company
July 7, 2009 - Fuego Enterprises Announces a Major Development in Its Substantial Investment in Beverage Plus
June 23, 2009 - Fuego Enterprises, Inc. Announces Name Change to Define Its Expanded Role in Non-media Business Activities
June 23, 2009 - Fuego Enterprises, Inc. Launches Operations in the Telecommunications Industry
Fuego Entertainment's website may include a number of "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements reflect management's current views with respect to future events and financial performance and include statements regarding management's intent, belief or current expectations, which are based upon assumptions about future conditions that may prove to be inaccurate. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, among other things, the volatile and competitive markets in which we operate, our limited operating history, our limited financial resources, our ability to manage our growth and the lack of an established trading market for our securities. When considering forward-looking statements, readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures, including risk factors and their cautionary statements, made by Fuego Entertainment & Fuego Enterprises in our press releases and in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
home | about us | company profile | investor relations | business
projects | media gallery | store | contact us
© 2005 Fuego Entertainment, Inc.
Maintained by Fuego Entertainment.
Please direct problems or comments regarding this site to: web@fuegoentertainment.net
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Fuego Entertainment Acquires 15 "Lost", Never Before Released, Recordings by The Beatles
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080110/0346908.html
Jeffrey Collins, Beatles Tapes on the Today Show
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22965189#22965189
Fuego Entertainment Announces Acquisition of Jimi Hendrix Live Performance Music Library
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/080111/0347466.html
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Fuego is a fully reporting OTCBB stock. Absoultuely new trader absent any dark clouded history or reverse mergers.
Associates:
Fuego Entertainment Media Group, LLC
Fuego Entertainment Music International (FEMI)
Fuego Entertainment Publishing Group (FMP)
Ciocan Entertainment and Music Group, LLC
Investor Relations Contact:
Dan York
phone (214) 675-2531
email ir@fuegoentertainment.net
Corporate Office:
Fuego Entertainment, Inc.
8010 NW 156 St
Miami Lakes, Florida, 33016
(305) 823-9999
Press Releases:
http://www.fuegoentertainment.net/investor.html
3/27/2008 - Fuego Entertainment Releases Over One Hundred CDs for Digital Sales and Distribution
3/26/2008 - Fuego Entertainment Digital Distribution Continues to Expand Throughout the World
3/25/2008 - Fuego Entertainment Announces $425,000 in Advertising Revenue From Beverage Plus
1/29/2008 - Fuego Entertainment Announces New English Music Release Schedule of Fourteen Albums Over the Next Four Months
1/11/2008 - Fuego Entertainment Announces Acquisition of Jimi Hendrix Live Performance Music Library
1/11/2008 - Fuego Entertainment Taps Into the Advertising Arena and Announces $300,000 in Advertising Revenue in the First 10 Days of 2008
1/10/08 - Fuego Entertainment Acquires 15 "Lost", Never Before Released, Recordings by The Beatles
1/09/08 - Fuego Entertainment Announces Joint Venture, Echo-Fuego, With Legendary Music Producer and Promoter Jeffrey Collins and Makes a Cross Over Into the English Music Market
12/5/07 - Fuego Entertainment Closes $340,600 in Private Placements
10/31/07 - Marc Bodin Joins Fuego Entertainment's Board of Directors
10/23/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces the Release Date of The Viashow Inc. Song "FuegoLatinFire" Remixed by Luny Tunes and Various Other Acquisitions of Music and Video Content
10/11/07 - Fuego Entertainment Enters the Digital Music Download Retail Market
10/10/07 - Rene Lavandera and Bernardo Maurovich Join Fuego Entertainment's Board of Directors
9/25/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces Production Agreement with Award-Winning Music Producers Luny Tunes
9/24/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces New Digital Distribution Deal in Central and South America via Movistar.
8/22/07 - Fuego Entertainment Acquires More Music and Video Content; Executes Exclusive Music Publishing Agreement with Europe's Music Publishing Giant, Ediciones Musicales Clipper's S.L.
7/24/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces a Distribution Agreement to Promote and Distribute Dr. Joe Vitale's Revolutionary Sugarless Margarita Mix, Fit-a-Rita™, in all Spanish-Speaking Countries Worldwide.
6/18/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces Three New Album Releases, Including the Long Awaited CD Release, Habia Una Vez, La Caperucita, from the Popular Music Phenomenon Clan 537, Baby Lores & Insurrecto
6/14/07 - Fuego Entertainment Acquires All Music Assets From Sunflower Publishing and Launches Its Own Publishing Division, Fuego Music Publishing
6/13/07 - Fuego Entertainment continues to Acquire More Music and Video Content; Executes Exclusive Artist Representation and Distribution Agreement with the Popular Latin Music Group, Tecupae
5/29/07 - Fuego Entertainment Acquires More Music and Video Content; Executes Exclusive Agreements With Nine World Famous Latin Artists, and Enters the Christian Music Market
5/1/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces the Acquisition of Adriano Tota Productions' Media Library and an Exclusive Production Agreement With Adriano Tota
4/18/2007 - Cuban-American Film, "Zafiros Locura Azul," to Be Screened at the Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles
4/17/2007 - Fuego Entertainment Announces New Sales Revenues From Its Music Content
3/16/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces the Acquisition of the Cuban-American Film, The Bases are Loaded
3/14/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces An Exclusive Agreement With Digital Music Group, Inc., a Global Leader in the Digital Distribution of Music, TV, and Film Catalogs
3/12/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces the Release Date of the Popularly Acclaimed Cuban Film, Zafiros Locura Azul
3/8/07 - Fuego Entertainment Announces the World Release of the Much Anticipated Cuban Music CD "Algo Ritmo" by Fuego Entertainment Music International (FEMI)
3/7/07 - Parnell Francois Delcham Joins Fuego Entertainment's Board of Directors
SEC filings:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?company=Fuego%20Entertainment&CIK=FUGO&filenum=&....
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FUGI - Daily Candlesticks
FUGI - Daily Candlesticks
*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** SEC Filings = http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/FUGI/financials
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