By the Cuba Journal Staff Image by: Big101big The soil of Pinar del Río, a province located in Cuba’s southwest, nourishes the distinctive flavor and mystique that has defined the island nation’s image as a producer of the world’s best cigars. Fidel Castro made a special effort to brand himself as a cigar-chomping revolutionary in … Read more
By the Cuba Journal staff A new Fort Lauderdale Company is launching a service called SMS Cuba, which will allow Cubans to send text-messages at a much cheaper rate than ever before, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Behind this endeavor is telecom entrepreneur Frank S. Caruso, who began working on the concept after a … Read more
By the Cuba Journal staff Cuba has announced that it will be broadening public internet access capabilities by equipping government-run internet centers with Wi-Fi, according to CBC. It will also be reducing the cost of the use of such sites by over 50-percent, and while a $0 per hour fee will remain, this price cut … Read more
By the Cuba Journal Staff. Image by: Migdiachinea The Cuban government announced in 2013 plans to end the country’s dual-currency system. Normalization of relations with the United States will likely allow a new currency plan to succeed this year. Today, most Cubans are paid in the Cuban peso, or CUP, while the majority of the … Read more
By the Cuba Journal staff Cuba has reached an important first step in its debt negotiations with the Paris Club, according to the Voice of America. The two sides have agreed that the Caribbean island owes $15 billion relating to a default in 1986. “The final amount of $15 billion has been approved by both … Read more
By the Cuba Journal staff Philippe Pouletty had a proposal for a vaccine to treat chronic Hepatitis B. His idea was to work with the Cuban government to float a company on Euronext, with the government as shareholder, according to Reuters. But it’s a little too soon for these kind of “capitalist proposals,” as Pouletty … Read more
Despite President Obama’s recent initiative to normalize bilateral relations, US Congress remains a major obstacle to Cuba’s decades long political and economic estrangement. The Helms-Burton Act in particular requires outstanding claims against Cuba to be resolved before sanctions are lifted – and also limits executive authority to fully lift sanctions until Cuba’s government is democratically … Read more
Above: the Melia Cohiba hotel in Havana By the Cuba Journal staff Is now the time to invest in Cuba? The answer is yes, but with conditions; investment will take time to materialize, it seems. An event this week at the Brookings Institution, “Rethinking Cuba: New opportunities for development,” assembled high-level Cuba experts to look … Read more
Above: an Airbnb unit in Havana By the Cuba Journal staff What’s it like to rent an Airbnb unit in Cuba? The Associated Press recently did just that, chronicling the various ways Airbnb listings in Cuba are “a little different.” “For one thing, most Cubans don’t have easy email access. So it can take days … Read more
Above: Havana By the Cuba Journal staff Canada is expanding its air links with Cuba, according to a government statement. Canada’s Ministry of Transport, Lisa Raitt, announced an expansion of the Canada-Cuba Air Transport Agreement, which will allow for more airlines to operate between the two countries. The agreement builds on the 1998 Canada-Cuba Air … Read more
