We Reported: July 15th 2009 & July 11th 2009 Today’s news from Reuters September 29th 2009 * Many foreign business accounts blocked in Cuba * Businessmen complain government offers no explanations * Cash squeeze after global downturn, hurricane cleanup HAVANA – Many foreign suppliers and investors in Cuba are still unable to repatriate […]
US and Cuban diplomats grow closer to a diplomatic understanding after a high level diplomat spends an extra 5 days in Cuba after the much anticipated direct mail service talks. It is expected that the talks are nothing more than a preparation between the two countries than, preliminary talks on how to lift […]
If America’s spy satellites are trained on Cuba at this very moment, they’re likely to reveal local tourism officials puffing away on celebratory Cohibas. The reason? While tourism is down big-time across the rest of the Caribbean, tourist arrivals to the Communist isle are up 3.1 percent, year to date. Compare that with […]
Me llamo José Fernández González. No hay nada peculiar en mi nombre, en mis apellidos o en mis antecedentes familiares. Nací hace 56 años en España, mi país, y allí viví y trabajé honrada y exitosamente hasta que cometí un error romántico: hace un poco más de 20 años, en 1980, me enamoré de […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
In 2000 the buzz word was the “Chinese are coming” as Cuba´s Ministry of foreign Investment (MINVEC) signed deal after deal with Chinese groups. The Marina Hemingway Chinese restaurant being the first joint venture used frequently to court other such deals. Then there was the development of the sea front in the Marina Hemingway where […]
In an unusual twist right out of a badly written novel, Sol Melia denied access to the internet on camera to two Cuban citizens this past Sunday. In itself a remarkable decision by the Spanish chain with more hotels in Cuba than any other. The video shows a Melia employee alleging that both Etecsa and […]
A termination fee is the charge imposed by telecommunications operators to allow a call to end on their network and the receiving person’s handset or ground line. These fees are generally higher when ending on a cell phone network. Cuba charges one of the highest rates in the world to allow people outside Cuba to […]
Time Magazine from 1999 during the Clinton era along with Obama´s 2009 Clinton era Cuba policy…”we´re going to travel like it was 1999″ The White House announced Monday that it is abandoning long-standing restrictions on family travel, remittances and gifts to Cuba, and also is taking steps to open up telecommunications with the island, […]
