Transport
Billion-dollar Odebrecht scandal engulfs Latin America
Billion-dollar Odebrecht scandal engulfs Latin America Tupac POINTU AFP February 3, 2017 Montevideo (AFP) – For years, Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht landed huge public works contracts by paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes. Now, the company’s dirty dealings have caught up with it — and the fallout is spreading across Latin America, where […] Continue reading
OCCRP – 2 cubanos en la lista de los más corruptos y mafiosos del mundo
OCCRP: 2 cubanos en la lista de los más corruptos y mafiosos del mundo diciembre 30, 2016 Álvaro Alba Fueron finalistas para el premio que otorga anualmente el Proyecto de Informes sobre Crimen Organizado y Corrupción (OCCRP). El Presidente de Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, ha sido nombrado Persona del Año 2016 por el Organized Crime And […] Continue reading
Informe Otálvora – Castrismo procura preservarse en el continente
Informe Otálvora: Castrismo procura preservarse en el continente 23 de diciembre de 2016 – 17:12 – Por Edgar C. Otálvora El monto de las operaciones de “cooperación” entre Venezuela y Cuba habrían caído en los últimos años, pero el mecanismo se mantiene siendo parte esencial de la conexión umbilical entre La Habana y el régimen […] Continue reading
What Fidel Castro Left Us (Part 1)
What Fidel Castro Left Us (Part 1) / Iván García Ivan Garcia, 17 December 2016 — At the exit of the Bay Tunnel, the P-11 bus is packed with passengers. While the riders enjoy the view of the sea, the odor of saltpeter fills their noses. In this stretch of Havana’s geography, where Monumental Avenue […] Continue reading
Fidel’s best-sold myth
Fidel’s best-sold myth ROBERTO ÁLVAREZ QUIÑONES | Los Ángeles | 8 de Diciembre de 2016 – 01:47 CET. Free education and public health as the “genuine feat of the revolution” constitute, in my opinion, the best and most sophisticated (dual) myth that Fidel Castro has “sold” to Cubans and the world, among the many that […] Continue reading
Nothing but a jeep separates the sublime from the ridiculous
Nothing but a jeep separates the sublime from the ridiculous EUGENIO YÁÑEZ | Miami | 6 de Diciembre de 2016 – 14:11 CET. In Castro’s Cuba, a kind of Macondo in real time, anything can happen. For example, the jeep carrying Fidel Castro’s ashes can even broke down as it enters Santiago de Cuba, with […] Continue reading
Miami’s exile community is full of people whose paths crossed Fidel Castro’s
Miami’s exile community is full of people whose paths crossed Fidel Castro’s BY ANA VECIANA SUAREZ Miami’s tightly knit and often contentious exile community is full of people whose paths crossed Fidel Castro’s. They knew him when he was a college student struggling for attention, when he was holed up in the Sierra Maestra mountains […] Continue reading
In the Midst of a Hurricane, Mariela Castro Remodels Her Mansion
In the Midst of a Hurricane, Mariela Castro Remodels Her Mansion / Juan Juan Almeida Juan Juan Almeida, 3 October 2016 — At the same time that Hurricane Matthew is setting off alarms throughout the island, especially in the eastern part of the country, the wall of secrecy surrounding the Castro family is starting to […] Continue reading
Almendrón Driver – A Daily Thriller in Havana
Almendrón Driver: A Daily Thriller in Havana PABLO PASCUAL MÉNDEZ PIÑA | La Habana | 30 de Septiembre de 2016 – 09:51 CEST. The fact that Julio César, a 40-year-old freelance driver, glances into the rear view mirror of his car to ask his image “Are you talking to me?” does not mean that he’s […] Continue reading
Top Official Of The Ministry Of The Interior Implicated In Contraband Case – Crime Or Reckoning?
Top Official Of The Ministry Of The Interior Implicated In Contraband Case: Crime Or Reckoning? / Juan Juan Almeida Juan Juan Almeida, August 8, 2016 — This past July 18, in the Cuban capital, Lieutenant Colonel Rafael Mujica, the head of the Capdevila Special Command of Firefighters, Boyeros municipality, and of the prevention unit of […] Continue reading
Voices of Change in Cuba Could Emerge from the Private Sector
Voices of Change in Cuba Could Emerge from the Private Sector / Iván García Iván García, 30 July 2016 — One a hot afternoon in May, a Havana bicycle taxi driver became upset over a fine of 700 pesos and managed to overturn a government regulation which he considered arbitrary. This triggered a flawlessly prepared […] Continue reading
Travel, Whatever the Cost
Travel, Whatever the Cost / 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez The “last minute” terminal in Havana for the purchase of interprovincial bus and train tickets. (14ymedio) 14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 18 July 2016 – “Give me the suitcase, I’m off to the countryside,” says the chorus of a tune that gets more popular during the school holidays. […] Continue reading
The Military Takeover of Eusebio Leal’s Empire
The Military Takeover of Eusebio Leal’s Empire / Juan Juan Almeida Juan Juan Almeida, 14 June 2016 — Capitalizing on the ill health of Dr. Eusebio Leal* to further strengthen its commercial and business supremacy over every corner of the island, the state-owned tourism company Habaguanex will in one day, October 30, assume ownership of […] Continue reading
Hermano del general Luis Alberto Rodríguez López Calleja sale a relucir en ‘Los Papeles de Panamá’
Hermano del general Luis Alberto Rodríguez López Calleja sale a relucir en ‘Los Papeles de Panamá’ DDC | La Habana | 8 de Junio de 2016 – 1:24 pm. El Gobierno cubano utilizó a la firma Mossack Fonseca (MF) para crear sociedades anónimas en paraísos fiscales que le habrían permitido realizar operaciones comerciales al margen […] Continue reading
Panama Papers show Cuba used offshore firms to thwart embargo
Panama Papers show Cuba used offshore firms to thwart embargo At least 25 companies in tax havens had Cuban links A brother of Raul Castro’s son-in-law appears in the leaked documents Cuba was at the heart of a deal to export Russian oil that involves a Lebanese company NORA GÁMEZ TORRES ngameztorres@elnuevoherald.com The Cuban government […] Continue reading
Parientes de Raúl Castro saltan en Panama Papers
Parientes de Raúl Castro saltan en Panama Papers Martinoticias.com Al menos 25 compañías registradas en Bahamas, Panamá y las Islas Vírgenes Británicas fueron identificadas por sus vínculos con Cuba. Los Panama Papers salpican a familiares de Raúl Castro, incluyendo a un hermano del general Luis Alberto Rodríguez López Calleja, yerno del gobernante cubano y zar […] Continue reading
The Mariel Overruns
The Mariel Overruns PABLO PASCUAL MÉNDEZ PIÑA | La Habana | 12 Abr 2016 – 10:12 pm. From the town of Mariel, in the distance one can make out the giant cranes at the container terminal, like specters beckoning us over to hear their confessions, while Marcello, the character from the Shakespearean tragedy Hamlet, bursts […] Continue reading
Mariel a sobreprecio
Mariel a sobreprecio PABLO PASCUAL MÉNDEZ PIÑA | La Habana | 11 Abr 2016 – 5:56 am. Desde el poblado del Mariel, en lontananza y a golpe de vista, las gigantescas grúas de la terminal de contenedores parecen espectros que nos suplican aproximarnos para escuchar sus confesiones, al tiempo que Marcelo, el personaje de la […] Continue reading
Coffins First, Boxes Second
Coffins First, Boxes Second / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar Posted on March 8, 2016 14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 7 March 2016 — One’s last will reveals much about the life one had or wanted to have. Some ask for a glass of rum or a lit cigar at their wake, while others dream of returning their […] Continue reading
Pedaling to Survive
Pedaling to Survive / 14ymedio Posted on February 25, 2016 14ymedio, Havana, 23 February 2016 — Preferred by customers for short distance travel and demonized by motorists who consider them a danger to traffic, pedicabs are part of the urban landscape of Havana and many provincial cities. With their three wheels and their many decorative […] Continue reading
Cuban TV Highlights National Assembly Attacks on the Self-employed
Cuban TV Highlights National Assembly Attacks on the Self-employed / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos Posted on January 1, 2016 14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 1 January 2015 – December 29 was the National Assembly of People’s Power last day of work in its final session of 2015. Cuban State television highlighted two moments: the speech of a […] Continue reading
Why Cuban cab drivers earn more than doctors
Why Cuban cab drivers earn more than doctors by Johnny Harris on October 26, 2015 On his worst days, Rafa, a Cuban taxi driver, makes $60 from all his rides. A doctor in Cuba makes around $45 in a month. The colossal disparity between these two salaries is one of the many perplexing realities of […] Continue reading
Officials Arrested For Stealing Chemical Used To Fight Dengue Fever
Officials Arrested For Stealing Chemical Used To Fight Dengue Fever / 14ymedio, Fernando Donate Ochoa Posted on October 14, 2015 14ymedio, Fernando Donate Ochoa, Holguin, 14 October 2015 — Several directors and heads of health districts in Holguin have been arrested for their links with the illegal sale of permethrin, a chemical used to fumigate […] Continue reading
Million-dollar Robbery at the Cienfuegos Refinery
Million-dollar Robbery at the Cienfuegos Refinery / Juan Juan Almeida Posted on August 25, 2015 Juan Juan Almeida, 24 August 2015 — More than 500 barrels of fuel disappear daily from the terminals or storage tanks of the Camilo Cienfuegos refinery, located in the province of Cienfuegos on the south-central part of the island. The […] Continue reading
Could Cuba be Vietnam in the Caribbean?
Opinion: Could Cuba be Vietnam in the Caribbean? Richard E Feinberg Hanoi may have lessons for Havana What might Cuba look like a decade or two from now, when its ageing revolutionary leadership has faded from view? Consider the remarkable economic success of Vietnam, once a highly centralised planned economy as Cuba is today. Vietnam […] Continue reading
Trashcan City
Trashcan City / Fernando Damaso Posted on April 25, 2015 Fernando Damaso, 21 April 2015 — Half a century ago Havana was a clean city with an efficient system for trash collection and streets that were swept every day. Not only did mechanized sweepers ply the main boulevards and avenues, after midnight these thoroughfares were […] Continue reading
The Cuba-Iran-Venezuela Relationship: Implications for the United States
The Cuba-Iran-Venezuela Relationship: Implications for the United States* [25-02-2015 06:23:26] Jaime Suchlicki Director del Instituto de Estudios Cubanos y Cubano-Americanos de la Universidad de Miami (www.miscelaneasdecuba.net).- President Barack Obama’s announcement on December 17, 2014, about an improvement in U.S.-Cuban relations will have little, if any, impact on General Raúl Castro’s alliance with Iran, Russia and […] Continue reading
Investing in Cuba can be a risky business
Investing in Cuba can be a risky business BY FRANK CALZON FRANK.CALZON@CUBACENTER.ORG 01/29/2015 10:45 AM 01/29/2015 10:45 AM The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce holds its annual South Florida Economic Summit today. This is what businessmen should know about doing business with Cuba: From a business perspective, commercially engaging with Havana is different than doing […] Continue reading
White Flag to the Regime in Havana?
White Flag to the Regime in Havana? / Jeovany Jimenez Vega Posted on January 22, 2015 By: Jeovany Jimenez Vega — Those who advocate the elimination of the mechanisms of political pressure to which the Cuban government remains subject — I mean basically the United States Embargo and the Common European Position — often wield […] Continue reading
The Tokmakjian case and the snares of the law
The Tokmakjian case and the snares of the law / 14ymedio Posted on October 2, 2014 14ymedio, Havana, Ignacio Varona, 30 September 2014 – Few expected a magnanimous gesture from the Cuban courts toward the Canadian businessman Vahe Cy Tokmakjian. After he was arrested in September 2011, this 74-year-old man was turned into a test […] Continue reading
Cuba Tries Canadian Businessman
Cuba Tries Canadian Businessman June 16, 2014 by Café Fuerte HAVANA TIMES — The trial of Canadian entrepreneur Cy Tokmakjian, arrested more than two years ago on corruption charges in Cuba, has been underway since June 9th in a Havana court and is expected to extend for at least two weeks, said sources related to […] Continue reading