Dozens of Cubans, hoping to use their private cars as taxis, lined up outside the Transport Ministry’s office today in central Havana. They were waiting to apply for a taxi license, an option that hasn’t been available to Cuban citizens in a decade. According to sources, Cuba stopped granting new licenses for private taxis […]
HAVANA – Cuban Vice President Juan Almeida Bosque, a revolutionary commander who fought alongside Fidel Castro to bring down a pro-American dictatorship, has died. He was 82. An official communique issued through state media said Almeida, the number three official in the Americas’ only communist regime, died late Friday from cardiac arrest. […]
MIAMI – Imagine a ferry from Miami to Havana that costs far less than a flight. Cuban-Americans, who can now visit the island without restriction, could eat lechón on deck, and then deliver a shipping container of food to needy relatives by morning. Armando Ruiz, 72, a Cuban exile and former concert promoter, has […]
Conceptually some guy who happens to be a Singer is holding a concert right? I can´t help but wonder what all the hoopla is about. But, then again maybe I can. If the concert was in any other city we´d learn little about it unless we lived there. It’s a bit like Sun City, Moscow […]
Back in the early nineties a report was submitted to Fidel Castro concerning the threat against national security the growing dependence on foreign remittances was becoming for Cuba´s economy. The main preoccupation stemming from a government sanctioned ban on approved US remittances by George Bush. In many respects this transpired under Bush who capped remittances […]
In yet another sign that Cuba is impatient to heel to the US and, probably more related to financial needs than actual desire, Raul Castro repeated with and air of impatience on Saturday that he is ready and willing to talk to the US….Again. It is now common knowledge that Cuba´s finances may not […]
For those Cuban´s who use bicycles as their only means of transport the absence of the Ticker at the US interest section in Havana, erected in 2006, is a disaster. Used as a distance calculator during blackouts it emitted crimson light along the Malicon on the dangerous corner at Tangana. Its conspicuousness also touted the brazenness […]
A story came across the McClatchey wire on Friday night that felt like a punch in the gut. It read like the President had joined the conditionality caucus (see my previous post). However, either the reporter misunderstood or her Miami Herald editor had an agenda. Thanks to Phil Peters on the Cuban Triangle blog we […]
Nelson from Miami sums it all up “they used to need money for Chinese Panda TV´s, Rice cookers and Electric Fans, now it’s all inclusive stays in Cayo Santa Maria” For those receiving remittances, this year’s trend in Cuba is weekends in all inclusive hotels and stays at mid level resorts across the […]
The signs are evident and, despite Cuba needing to change from within and allow free enterprise it is unmistakable that the US embargo must end. The basics of the embargo are now weighting down Cuba´s people as much as its economy in the most grotesque way. Limitations attached the embargo impeding everything from money […]
Shocking News from Valencia Spain reveals today that 90% of companies who have exported goods to Cuba have not been paid in over 12 months. This situation, which has also occurred in other areas of Spain, appears to be the knock on effect of Cuba stripping its banks of money from foreign company´s accounts. […]
On this hot summer day the tensions are palpable at Banco Financieros 5th avenue branch, foreigners outside chat between themselves using words like “incredible”, “diabolical” and even “bank fraud”. Their chagrin being something that few are willing to talk about in open through fear of reprisals on their accounts or total loss of their deposits. […]
More Cubans than ever are bidding farewell to their nation through mass migration to countries such as the US, Canada, Spain and other nations so now the government has introduced another decree, this time allowing Cuban´s to maintain more than one government job at a time, essentially attempting to fill positions of those professionals who […]
It’s a narrow road and one that can bring about severe hardship for those living in the nation. Iceland is a good example. Icelanders are basically bound to their nation for the longer term as their currency has become relatively worthless. What ‘bankrupt’ means is just that: The country cannot pay back its external […]
During the early nineties Hasbro executives, makers of games such as Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly, were apparently summoned to the white house for what would be the creation of a new board game to be played by both democrats and republicans in their spare time between sessions in the senate, house of representatives and even […]
Between 1990 and 2000 the Cuban government offered its citizens a new phrase “periodo especial” or in English the “special period” to officially recognize a period of extreme strife and apparent restructuring of the Cuban economy. Cubans quickly adopted the phrase “Periodo Especial” as the motive for 12 hour daily power cuts, reduced food rationing, […]
Now, let me look at today’s blogs, tweets and reflections…Reflections? One could be mistaken for considering Fidel’s Blog Posts (reflections) as simply a regular blog post but on the government websites. Yes, Fidel Castro posts as often as Ashton Kutchner or Perez Hilton but the world appears to be waiting for each post with […]
At TheCubaBlog we always enjoy a foray into the bizarre so what about this hypothesis. The retired Myers, lacking the perceived power of his State Department business card and lacking the excitement his past employment provided, decided to create a real life novel while talking to the undercover FBI agent. After all, there´s nothing […]
