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American Morning

Baseball One of Several Common Features Between U.S. and Cuba

Aired May 15, 2002 - 09:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to turn to last night's historic speech by former President Carter to the Cuban people, which he did in Spanish. He spoke live on Cuban TV and called for democracy in the island nation and also for an end to the 40-yearlong U.S. economic embargo, which the Bush administration basically says no way.

And while Carter's last night may have fostered good will between the U.S. and Cuba, it may not last long. President Bush is actually expected to make things a lot tougher in a policy speech that he will deliver about Cuba early next week.

And joining us now from Havana is CNN's Kate Snow. She is actually going to show us some of what you can see, if you could get in to the country right now on the tourist front. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty years ago, it was a playground for rich Americans. Twelve miles of white sand called Baradero (ph) Beach. These days, you don't find many U.S. citizens here; the U.S. travel ban keeps them away. More than half of Cuban tourists are Europeans. Twenty percent come from Canada.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The food is wonderful. The people are so friendly and sweet, and they're genuine. I mean genuinely beautiful people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're very happy. If you look in their eyes, everyone smiles, everyone singing -- all the time. The atmosphere is best in the Caribbean area.

SNOW: Cuban officials love to hear that. They've mounted an aggressive campaign to attract more dollars to the island. At this convention, investors from outside Cuba visit with airlines, state-run tourism outfits and hotel chains.

Cuban hotels are officially owned by the government, but about half are now managed by international companies. Spanish company Sol Melia will run two dozen hotels in Cuba by the end of the year.

GABRIEL GARCIA, SOL MELIA: See when we arrive in 1999, you see the things were done through lots of kindness, you see. And they put a lot of interest in which they still have, but now things have got much more professionally organized. SNOW: Things will be even better, say Cuban officials, when the U.S. allows Americans back.

(on camera): The Cuban government says some 80,000 Americans visited here last year illegally. If the travel ban were lifted by the U.S., it's estimated a million Americans might show up on the island in the first year alone.

IBRAHIM FERRADA GARCIA, CUBAN TOURISM MINISTER (through translator): It's possible even more will come, whether it's out of curiosity or because they've been restricted from traveling here for all those years.

SNOW (voice-over): American tourists would be a boom for what's become Cuba's number one industry. But what about that Cuban charm all the tourists talk about?

(on camera): Do you think it would be ruined if Americans came here?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honestly?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want us to be honest?

SNOW (voice-over): Nelson Rios Cordero says he's not afraid of Americans trampling the place. A former agricultural engineer, he makes more money now in tips handing out towels. But no matter how much he makes, like most other Cubans, he can't stay at the nicest tourist hotels. "If the Americans came," Rios says, "maybe things would change."

NELSON RIOS CORDERO, HOTEL WORKER (through translator): Once the economic situation changes, of course, I think so. If the salary you make is enough you'll be able to stay.

SNOW: Then maybe he could finally be a guest at the beach resort where he works.

Kate Snow, CNN, Baradero (ph), Cuba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And we catch up with Kate Snow now live in Havana -- good morning, Kate. I guess I'm always amazed when you talk about the power of the dollar and the economy, because I know my last trip there, the statistics they threw out was the average doctor makes $20 a month. And yet you have this guy you introduced us to making sometimes as much as 10, $20 a day in tips.

SNOW: Exactly. He quits his job as a mechanical engineer to be a towel guy because it's a better-paying job. You know a lot of tourists come down here where we are, we're at the Parque Central, the Central Park. But I want to just quickly show you something we promised to show you earlier. It's called the hot corner. If we turn our camera this way, we're right in front of the corner. I'm going to get close, Paula, so you can hear -- if I move this way, you hear people yelling? I don't know how close I have to get. They're going to stop if I get too close. But they've been yelling all morning. No, don't stop --don't stop.

They're yelling about baseball mostly. They come down here to have discussions, they talk mostly about Cuban baseball, Paula. But I'm told they also know all the American players, El Duque and some of the other Cuban players that are in America. And they tell me they follow U.S. baseball, as well as Cuban baseball. Just showing you one of the connections that the two countries have: baseball -- and these people love to scream about it. They stopped screaming since I'm standing here, but they were yelling before.

ZAHN: I'm wondering what the reaction was from some of these folks to the fact that Fidel Castro and the former president attended a game together. What do they think of that?

SNOW: Oh, I'm sure they loved that they went to the game together. They told me they arguing, though, over the result of the game. The easterners won last night and some of them are not fans. I'm not going to ask them. I was just going to ask if they were fans of -- Los Orientales (ph)? Si? OK, they're fans of the eastern team, which is the one that won the game last night. Anyway, they have been discussing that, sure.

ZAHN: You did a great job our special last night. Thank you, Kate. I watched and enjoyed that little tour of Cuba. Boy, those beaches are spectacular -- thanks. See you a little bit later on.

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