Ten days after Fidel Castro’s death, Cuba gets serious with the cruise industry. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. yesterday revealed two of its brands will be sailing to Cuba. Separately, Norwegian Cruise Line yesterday announced that it has received approval from Cuba to operate cruises to Cuba, beginning March 2017. Royal Caribbean received approval from Cuba’s … Read more
It’s the most famous hotel in Havana: the Hotel Nacional, where the ghosts of legends still roam the halls. And while it’s mostly celebrated for its imposing architecture and its long history of famous guests, there’s one major reason to come here, whether you stay the night or not. It’s Bar Rosa Nautica, the tiny … Read more
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have made five sets of amendments to their respective Cuba sanctions regulations since the various Cuba policy changes announced by the President beginning in 2014. OFAC introduced a provision in 2015 … Read more
Renewable energy is a priority for Cuba as the island nation copes with power shortages and a dependency on foreign sources of crude oil. One British firm has been working on a project to exploit the energy value of sugarcane since 2012. Havana Energy, led by former Labour trade secretary Brian Wilson, is to build … Read more
Today, Engage Cuba and the US Agriculture Coalition for Cuba released a comprehensive report on the benefits that increased agriculture trade between the US and Cuba. Engage Cuba and the US Agriculture Coalition for Cuba are the he two leading groups working to end the embargo on Cuba. The report finds that six state have significant room … Read more
This week a baseball trainer and a sports agent in Florida pleaded not guilty in US federal court to charges linked to the smuggling of top Cuban baseball talent out of the island nation and into the US. Julio Estrada, owner of an athletic training business in Miami, who was arrested Friday, pleaded not guilty … Read more
US President Barack Obama begins his historic visit to Cuba on Sunday, the first visit to the island by a sitting US president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. So what will the Obamas be up to? Continuing his trend of Medium pieces on Cuba, US White House Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications & … Read more
While Barack Obama’s announcement of a planned trip to Cuba next month wasn’t a surprise, it still sent shockwaves throughout the region. But how did Cuba respond? The early returns seem positive, according to Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, director general of the US section of Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, who said Obama would be “welcomed by the government … Read more
For the first time, a Cuban delegation will attend the annual Caribbean regional security conference in Jamaica later this month. Cuba’s decision to attend the three-day conference in Jamaica, which is co-sponsored by the U.S. military’s Southern Command, follows several small forms of military engagement since the normalization of relations in December 2014. The conference … Read more
The Cuban tourism boom is everywhere — not just Havana. After Cuba reported significant growth in Cienfuegos, the country’s Ministry of Tourism is now reporting a record year in Jardines del Rey. The destination, which first launched as a commercial tourist destination in 1993, received more than 400,000 visitors in 2015. The increase in tourist arrivals … Read more
