Perhaps even more than Cubans would like to see normalization of relations with the United States, they would like to see full normalization of relations with Cuban emigrants—the friends and family members who have moved abroad but maintain connections to the island, and oftentimes send money and goods back to those who remain. For years […]
Amidst the horror, criticism, and yes, punditry, only cursory attention has been paid to the forces that made Haiti the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, even before the earthquake. Haiti’s woes were not a foregone conclusion: over two centuries ago it became the second independent country in the Americas. As a colony Haiti accounted […]
In the first days following the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, American media failed the public by misreporting or omitting entirely Cuba’s involvement in the relief efforts. Only two mainstream media outlets reported on Cuba’s response. One was Fox News, which claimed (incorrectly) that among the neighboring Caribbean countries providing aid, Cuba was absent. The other […]
For those who missed last week’s Foreign Policy Association event featuring Julia Sweig (in which she drew on her recently published book, “Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know”), check out the full footage from the event here.
(Story below from AFP) US and Cuban experts are teaming up to try to save the Cuba home where Ernest Hemingway lived for more than two decades and penned his classic “The Old Man and the Sea,” official media said Wednesday. Cuba’s National Patrimony office chief Margarita Ruiz inked an agreement with the private US Finca […]
This week Havana will hold the fifth Cuban Conference on Sexual Education, Orientation and Therapy, organized by the National Center of Sex Education (CENESEX) under Mariela Castro. Ms. Castro, notably, is the daughter of Raul and niece of Fidel Castro, and an outspoken rights advocate on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual Cubans. In […]
Canada keeps a much lower profile in the hemisphere than the outspoken United States; perhaps it is the simple comparison to Washington which allows it to maintain largely friendly relations with every government in the West. Still, it is interesting that Cuba’s two large northern neighbors would have such very different relationships with Havana. One […]
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The death last week of 26 patients in Cuba’s largest psychiatric hospital has stirred up considerable controversy on the island. Such a high number is extremely rare, but the cause is even less common on a Caribbean island—cold weather. More specifically, Boyeros, the Havana neighborhood where the hospital in located, experienced “prolonged low temperatures that […]
Early estimates place the death toll around 50,000 in Haiti, and another 3 million Haitians are feared to be injured or homeless. No one really knows, and casualties could rise if aid efforts are inefficacious. Several impediments are complicating aid delivery. Aid started arriving hours after the quake, but has just started to trickle out. […]
Few people are unaware of the earthquake to hit Haiti on Tuesday evening and information about the number of victims and difficulties in getting aid and assistance to Haiti in time in order to free those trapped under rubble, to give food and water and to give medical treatment is coming out by the minute. […]
The White House announced today that Cuba has opened its airspace—an area from which U.S. aircraft are usually restricted—for medical evacuation flights from Haiti. “We have coordinated with the Cuban government for authorization to fly medical evacuation flights from the U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Miami, Fla., through Cuban airspace,” a spokesman said. This […]
David Sussman of FPA’s Venezuela blog reports on Cuban (and other) doctors fleeing Venezuela over the past year. Cuban doctors in Venezuela, he says, are overworked and underpaid under the government-established health project Misión Barrio Adentro. Recently, seven such doctors paid bribes to Venezuelan and Cuban officials in order to secure a safe departure from […]
Yesterday evening, as Haiti was rocked by a devastating 7.0 earthquake and a number of further damaging aftershocks, a tsunami warning was issued to Jamaica and Cuba. Cuban authorities evacuated some residents as a precaution. In the end, no tsunami resulted and these islands remain safe, but the destruction and loss of life in Haiti […]
Martin Redrado was always an economist of great interest. In his first weeks in office I was lucky enough to see Mr. Redrado give a talk at the LSE on the many economic struggles faced by Argentina and Argentina’s central bank since 2001. A few key points were made at the beginning of his term […]