The state of Latin America has changed a great deal since the start of 2009. The fate of many nations in the region have been affected by recent losses in oil revenues, problems with financial liquidity and questions about the future of populism in recent economic crisis. Economics, while always an issue in the region […]
The most common argument against easing US regulations on travel to and trade with Cuba is misleadingly convincing: opponents of US policy change say that the Cuban state has done nothing to deserve a unilateral friendly move by the United States, and that there is no sign from Cuba of willingness to reciprocate. On these […]
The non-partisan Latin America Working Group will begin its two-day “Cuba Consultation 2009” tomorrow. The focus of the Group’s event is on loosening travel restrictions, which, as they point out, is a concern that unites all sectors from academics to farmers, Cuban Americans to religious organizations, and travel service providers to performing artists and curious […]
Havana is currently playing host to its 11th International Meeting of Economists from March 2-6. This year’s conference is on “Globalization and Development Problems,” zeroing in on the current fiscal and economic crisis. Apparently, the event has drawn around 1,500 participants from 50+ nations. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in attendance (and provided the opening […]
For months, Raúl Castro has denounced the inefficiency of the Cuban government and pledged to streamline and improve its functioning. He began preparing himself to fulfill this promise today with a grand (and in some ways, surprising) restructuring of his cabinet. The shakeup does not introduce all new or necessarily progressive individuals to these high […]
For those who missed today’s protest in New York: Credit: El Cafe Cubano blog Protestors in front of the Cuban mission to the United Nations today included Cuban exiles asking only for the right to travel freely to and from their country, and to have the right “to choose to be a normal country.” […]
Credit: El Nuevo Herald Previous posts in this blog detail the attention that think tanks, Congress and other policy-makers and opinion-shapers have given to Cuba in the past several weeks, despite the current economic and financial crisis, continuing conflict in Iraq and the large number of other challenges facing the Obama administration. Most recently, […]
The Cuban Catholic Church has announced its support of US dialogue with Cuba, secondary, of course, to national dialogue in favor of change on the island. New leadership in each country—Raul Castro in Cuba and Barack Obama in the United States—will not alone erase a painful and conflictual history of relations between the two nations, […]
We are prisoners of history. Or are we? -Robert Penn Warren, Segregation The U.S.-Cuba relationship is openly characterized by distrust, contradictions and mutual recriminations, but the wounds are deep and the important issues are more complicated than simple judgments based on limited knowledge of current events. The Cuban-American community had reasons, and still has reasons, […]
The Havana Journal provides a helpful outline of the bills related to the Cuba embargo that are currently sitting in Congress, awaiting judgment. H.R. 188 and H.R. 874 are described in more detail in a previous post, but new to readers might be the Baseball Diplomacy Act and the Pursuit of International Education Act of […]
Even as Cuba continues to move toward greater political and diplomatic openness during Raul’s presidency, the Communist regime’s arbitrary detentions and other human rights abuses remain a serious issue—one for which the island regularly receives criticism from the international community. Cuban officials publicly declare to have a clear conscience and deny accusations of abuse, […]
Sen. Richard Lugar Senator Dick Lugar (R-Indiana) sent one of his senior Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff members to Cuba from January 11-14, 2009, charged with the task of evaluating U.S. policy toward the island. His staff’s interviews with government officials, foreign diplomats, members of the clergy, international media, Cuban entrepreneurs and Cuban citizens were […]
Both Granma and El Nuevo Herald (but oddly, not yet Venezuela’s El Universal newspaper) have revealed that Hugo Chávez arrived last night in Havana on an “unexpected” visit. The agenda for his visit has not been announced, but he is accompanied by Venezuela’s Secretary of Oil and Energy—the President of Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), the […]
Critics of the embargo have never been hard to find, but high-level dialogue in the United States has typically been cautious. Recently, however, outright denunciations and demands for the end of the embargo have become more common, and have been embellished with attitude. Tampa port commissioner Carl Lindell publicly called the embargo “insane,” and plans […]
One of the many regulations contained within the U.S. Helms-Burton Act of 1996 is a ban preventing Cuba’s use of a fiber-optic underwater cable that connects Miami and Cancun and runs only 32 kilometers from Havana. The ban thus severely limits Internet exchanges by users on the island because instead of the high-capacity cable, Cuba must use […]