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 […]
This isn’t the first time foreigners have been hypnotized by the mystique surrounding Fidel Castro. The surprising aspect of this case is just how long Walter Myers and his wife Gwendolyn Myers allegedly managed to remain operatives of the Cuban intelligence while seemingly managing their lives as Agents for the US and nobody there being […]
Worldwide coverage ignited by the Melia Hotel Chain surrounding the secret videotaping of two Cuban nationals being abruptly refused internet access deemed by the Melia employee as “only for foreigners” appears to have induced a “quiet” annulment of the said new government directive to all hotels. Bloggers on the island are reporting that the ban […]
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 […]
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 […]
With the landscape of tourism set to change, possibly forever, Cuba´s state owned Transtur, sole national car rental company which collectively controls brands such as REX, Havanautos and CubaCAR is furiously working to modify its 2009 new car purchase allotment to include a high percentage of automatic vehicles. Unlike European tourists who predominantly drive stick […]
The sun seems to be shining on Cuba of late. Not even the pro embargoers can fight off a wry smile. As the saying goes “any press is good press” and Cuban officials are basking these days in the limelight as the world’s newspapers fire out the next articles like bullets from a soviet era […]
President Raúl Castro dismissed President Obama’s changes in policy toward Cuba as “achieving only the minimum,” and said Wednesday that it was up to the United States – not Cuba – to do more to improve relations. The State Department shot back that the onus was on Cuba to show it was serious about meaningful […]
NEW YORK TIMES PIECE WASHINGTON – Seizing the momentum from recent meetings with Latin American leaders, the Obama administration is quietly pushing forward with efforts to reopen channels of communication with Cuba, according to White House and State Department officials. The officials said informal meetings were being planned between the State Department and Cuban diplomats […]
Cuba ready to send prisoners to USA with families in exchange for the Miami five For what would appear like a thawing in dialogue and a possible opening of meaningful and constructive dialogue both nations, for the first time in President Raul Castro’s presidency, direct exchanges have begun after Obama took the lead in a […]
Vietnam and China are OK, now Cuba will also be on the “OK list” for US tourist dollars Latest from Washington — A bipartisan group of senators predicted Tuesday that Congress was ready to pass legislation to allow all Americans to travel to Cuba. Removing the travel ban would produce a burst of tourism, create […]
NEWSWEEK March 2009 For years, two tidbits of conventional wisdom have dominated debates among Cubanologists (a tropical subspecies of former Kremlinologists). First, that Deputy Prime Minister and economic czar Carlos Lage has been in charge of running the island economy since the early ’90s, and, despite differences of opinion regarding his performance, was seen as […]
The US Congress has turned back time on Cuban American Travel to Cuba to around the year 2000. Back then, in the booming pre crisis days, Cuban Americans were able to visit family once a year. President Bush, along with other draconian measures on sending money to family members, stemmed travel to Cuba by the Cuban […]
Today has seen both ex officials hand in their figurative notices to the party they once were emblematic figures of.
Felipe Perez Roque and Carlos Lage slated as “undignified” but why? The foreign minister and cabinet chief ousted in Cuba’s political shakeup were driven by ambition to “undignified” behavior, ex-president Fidel Castro said, adding that he was consulted on the changes. In the biggest cabinet reshuffle in Cuba’s 50 years of communist history, President Raul […]
Felipe Perez Roque who had been Havana’s chief diplomat since May 1999, was replaced by his deputy, Bruno Rodriguez. Carlos Lage, a vice-president who had far-reaching economic powers, was also removed from his post as executive secretary of the Council of Ministers, but it was not clear whether he would stay on as […]
El Chavito El 8 de noviembre de 2004, el dólar de los EE.UU. dejaron de ser aceptadas en Cuba al nivel nacional y, poco después, la multa para la conversión de dólares a CUC se introdujo. Cabe señalar que sólo los dólares de los EE.UU. están sujetos a este gravamen, pero hay otras cosas […]
From March 27 to April 30, 2009, the 10th Havana Biennial, an event featuring visual artwork from both Cuban and international artists, will be held at various sites within the Cuban capital, organized by the Wilfredo Lam Contemporary Art Center. When the Havana Biennial first took place in 1984, its agenda was to drum up […]
While watching my daily FOX news fix yesterday, I was overwhelmed with the day’s content. First of all there was all the news about the government nationalizing the banking industry, or thereabouts. Then came the part of the labor unions that, via income from their members’ monthly dues, finance numerous ads in the American […]
