Cuba news.
According to a report by AP, Artisanal charcoal will become the first legal Cuban export to the U.S. in decades under a deal between Cuba’s government and the former lawyer for imprisoned U.S. government contractor Alan Gross. Attorney Scott Gilbert, who has sought to build economic ties between the two countries since Gross’ release, said … Read more
Alaska Airlines launched today its first flight from Los Angeles to Havana. The airline’s new service is part an agreement to normalize regularly scheduled commercial flights between the two nations. The agreement was negotiated in 2016 under Obama’s broader policy of engagement with Cuba. Alaska Airlines won the only West Coast route awarded in 2016 … Read more
A newly unified The Associated Press (AP) Caribbean Bureau, headquartered in Havana, will be headed up by Michael Weissenstein, a veteran correspondent and editor who currently serves as Cuba bureau chief. Best thing I’ve seen all week. Power-mower a lo Cubano handmade out of baby-carriage wheels and half a water pump. Ingenious. pic.twitter.com/M0jiDzgwye — Michael … Read more
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated retired Marine General John Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly has accepted the offer according to media reports. Kelly’s qualifications for the job appear to stem from his time as the head of the U.S. Southern Command from 2012 to 2016, which helps take a more humanitarian … Read more
At the height of the Cold War, and following the Cuban government’s expropriation of U.S. properties and its move toward adoption of a one-party system of government, the U.S. imposed an embargo on Cuba in 1960 and broke diplomatic relations in 1961. On December 17, 2014, President Obama announced a new chapter in U.S.-Cuba relations. … Read more
Raul Castro permanently succeeded his elder brother as Cuba’s president in 2008, but he is believed to have led the communist country for more than a decade prior to Fidel’s death last month. Although Raul was part of the revolution that brought Fidel to power in 1959, he remained in the political background, holding several … Read more
Today marks two years from when President Obama announced the normalizing of relations with Cuba. Hear from Julia de la Rosa, a Cuban entrepreneur, on how her life was changed by the President’s actions. Here is a profile the White House shared: My name is Julia de la Rosa, and I am a Cuban cuentapropista — or … Read more
Cuba’s Cimavax gained media attention last month when Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved clinical trials there as part of a collaboration with Cuba’s Center for Molecular Immunology. But there are actually two parallel medical initiatives pursuing commercialization of the human cancer … Read more
According to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, Americans still favor ties with Cuba after Castro’s death and events surrounding the U.S. election. Yet the U.S. public remains skeptical about whether the island nation will become more democratic in the coming years. Three-quarters of U.S. adults (75%) approve of the decision last year … Read more
Cuba and Vietnam share important similarities. From a shattered society burdened by poverty and food shortages, to a middle-income country and World Trade Organization (WTO) member, Vietnam’s authoritarian socialist regime has overseen huge change since Saigon fell to communist troops four decades ago. Both countries formed socialist regimes rooted in a struggle for independence from … Read more
