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
Havana Club Rum is a Cuban icon known by rum enthusiasts worldwide – except in the U.S. where its importation is restricted by the U.S. embargo and its trademark is the subject of an epic legal battle with spirits giant Bacardi. What’s not well known is the taste of Cuban culture the Cuban rum brand … Read more
Havana Club®‘s trademark’s history is the envy of any enterprising trademark attorney. When Jose Arechabala S.A. was nationalized after the Cuban revolution, the Arechabala family fled Cuba, stopped producing rum and in 1973 allowed the U.S. trademark registration for Havana Club to lapse. Taking advantage of the lapse, the Cuban government registered the mark in … Read more
According to Cuba’s tourism ministry, the Caribbean island attracted a record 4 million foreign visitors in 2016, an increase of 13% over last year. The ministry attributed the tourism boom in part to the resumption of diplomatic relations with the U.S. RELATED: The Outlook for the Cuban Cruise Industry 2017 “The regions that contributed most … 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
A computer factory is planned for Cuba. The facility, said to be able to produce up to 120,000 tablets and laptops every year, is being built by Chinese company Haier. This marks the island nation’s latest foray into technology and will soon give residents a new way to obtain personal computing devices. According to state-run media, … Read more
According to official Cuban data, the island nation’s economy fell 0.9% in 2016. A political and economic crisis in key trading partner Venezuela is to blame, according to President Raul Castro at a speech at Cuba’s National Assembly on Tuesday. He predicting a slightly brighter outlook for 2017. The impact of Cuba’s sharp economic contraction … Read more
It is no surprise, given both the historic and present context, that Cuba earns an outsized impact at one of the world’s most important film festivals by punching way above its weight. This year, Cuba’s gifts will even brighter at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to two documentary premiers, the island nation will … 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
