U.S. halts some humanitarian aid missions to Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Wed, Sep. 24, 2003

U.S. halts some humanitarian aid missions to Cuba
BY CARA BUCKLEY
Knight Ridder Newspapers

KEY WEST, Fla. - (KRT) - He shipped medicine to Cuba, but in the U.S. government's eyes, he shipped tourists, too.

Whenever John Young was contacted by boaters wanting to go to the island, he supplied the license, and often the goods: aspirin, antibiotics and defribrillators that can shock failed hearts back to life. Young's nonprofit organization, Conchord Cayo Hueso, was federally licensed to run the trips, and over a dozen years, Young estimates its 600 members shipped 150 tons of supplies.

But when the Bush administration started clamping down on humanitarian and educational trips to Cuba last year, claiming their licenses were being abused, Young knew his organization was in jeopardy.

Last week, federal agents tracked Young down in a laundromat in Key West, Fla., and handed him a letter saying his license was void and that the trips had to stop. (snip/...)

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/world/6848372.htm


On edit: Stow away link!

(snip) Animal once thought extinct found in Cuba
Copyright © 2003 Nando Media
Copyright © 2003 AP Online


The Associated Press


A stuffed 'almiqui,' an insectivore native to Cuba, is shown at the Cuban Museum of Natural Science on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003, in Havana, Cuba.
HAVANA (September 23, 11:13 a.m. ADT) - A living example of an insectivore native to Cuba - but believed for years to extinct - has been found in the island's eastern mountains, a Cuban news agency reported.
The discovery of the male insect-eating mammal known as an almiqui (pronounced ahl-mee-KEE) raises hopes "that it will not wind up in the catalog of the irretrievable animals disappearing from the face of the Earth," Prensa Latina said in reporting the discovery.

The creature looks like a brownish woolly badger with a long, pink-tipped snout and can measure up to about 19 inches, according to Prensa Latina's Monday dispatch.

The nocturnal animal burrows underground during the daytime, explaining why it is rarely seen by people. After the sun goes down, it emerges to root out worms, larvae and insects. (snip/...)



A stuffed 'almiqui,' an insectivore native to Cuba, is shown at the Cuban Museum of Natural Science on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2003, in Havana, Cuba.

http://www.adn.com/24hour/healthscience/story/1007709p-7075392c.html