Cuba and U.S. Cooperate on Forecasting

Cuba and U.S. Cooperate on Forecasting
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press Writer

August 31, 2006, 2:49 PM EDT


MIAMI -- The U.S. and Cuban governments avoid talking politics or religion, but as with every strained relationship, the weather is usually a safe topic.

For decades, the two countries have quietly worked together to track tropical storms and hurricanes in hopes of saving their citizens' lives.

The two sides share meteorological data on storms. Cuban forecasters have received training in the U.S. And earlier this week, eight U.S. Air Force C-130 planes crossed into Cuban airspace to gather information on Tropical Storm Ernesto's wind speed, center and other information.

In an unusual public acknowledgment Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center commended Fidel Castro's communist government for its assistance.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-cuba-weather-cooperation,0,7227835.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

after these people for coming out and praising Cuba's cooperation.

"Cuban forecasters have received training in the U.S."

That Simply Can Not Be!!!!

EVERYONE knows that as soon as ANY cuban steps foot in the paradise that is called the U.S., they become rabidly anti-castro, disavow the hellhole their homeland has become, join CANF, and join the republican party.

Do I really need that silly sarcasm thingie here?

Just in case: :sarcasm:

in the U.S. and eat his weight in Big Macs, but Fidel Castro was keeping his mother and father hostage. That's how these dictators operate!

He wanted Juan Miguel to bring Elián back to Cuba so he could use him as a Santería sacrifice. I know that because I started the rumor!

I just discovered 130's have been a bone of contention in earlier times! From the original article:

The two sides share meteorological data on storms. Cuban forecasters have received training in the U.S. And earlier this week, eight U.S. Air Force C-130 planes crossed into Cuban airspace to gather information on Tropical Storm Ernesto's wind speed, center and other information.
(snip)~~~~~~~~~~~

While looking for something completely unrelated a moment ago, I ran across this mention of the C-130's in this context:

US Use of Warplanes Adds Dangerous Element to Cuba Relations
5/12/2004 Prensa Latina: "The decision of the Bush administration to use C-130 Air Force military planes to increment subversive broadcasts to Cuba raises the temperature of already heated bilateral relations. Although all the new destabilizing measures are aggressive, use of a warplane is especially alarming due to the real risk of incidents on the maritime frontier between the two countries… Steffan also reported that in 1989 a retired US admiral revealed many practice attacks on Cuba, including one when 80 fighter-bombers with live ammunition flew in attack formation to Cuba to test the efficiency of Cuban radar. Had Cuba fired a rocket or done something similar, they were to have attacked, he reported. In this context, Cuban analysts have warned of the danger of C-130s flying in anti-Cuban actions, including the risk of a mechanical difficulty or other accident that could provoke an unforeseeable outcome."
(snip)

It really makes one wonder just why _Bush has been determined to keep pushing these war planes into Cuban air space, when undoubtedly they would have a large variety of others the Cuban government would feel more comfortable with. It almost makes you think he may be trying to lull them into a false sense of security by insisting they will be used in connection to weather forcasting! (Very damned odd, isn't it?)

Cuba has been seeking cooperation for years and years from the U.S. in creating a mutually useful team to combat drugs in the Caribbean, considering a lot of the drug runners go around Cuba transporting their stuff from Colombia. Cuba has been snubbed again and again on this issue, and the American people have been basically unaware of Cuba's efforts unless they have been looking for news on Cuba personally. Here's a reference to the ugly problem:

Bush Goes from Illogical to Ridiculous on Cuban Drug Issue
4/26/2004 Prensa Latina: "Cuba is well aware of its dangerous geographic position, and for that reason is evaluating a Caribbean Regional Maritime Cooperation Agreement for international cooperation against drug traffic and has repeatedly offered to sign a bilateral cooperation agreement with the US to combat such drug traffic. Although the US has refused to consider these offers, even with the courtesy of a negative, the Cuban Coastguard has systematically informed the US Coastguard 7th district of pertinent information that has allowed them to frustrate 16 drug operations and capture 35 drug traffickers, 13 speedboats and two airboats since July 2000."
(snip)

http://www.afrocubaweb.com/news/cubauspolicynews.htm

You also probably remember that Cuba offered to send a LOT of doctors and nurses, bringing with them drugs to work with the victems of Hurricane Katrina last year. _Bush turned a very cold shoulder on that idea.

Immediately after 9/11, Cuba publicly offered to let the U.S. use its Havana airport to handle emergency air traffic, and was ignored. Some of Cuba's finest jazz musicians were in Los Angeles to attend the Latin Grammys as nominees, and before returning to Cuba, they stayed in California and each one gave blood.

Just start reading more on Cuba and you will start seeing a whole DIFFERENT picture forming before your eyes over time, far different from the one you've been given. You heard it here. It happened to me.