economy
The Morality of the Survivor
The Morality of the Survivor / Dimas Castellanos Posted on May 25, 2013 In the expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Friday May 13, the head of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment reported on the irregularities in the operation of businesses with foreign capital and international contracts; the Minister of Economy and [...] Continue reading
Cuba silent on Canadian’s corruption trial
Posted on Friday, 05.24.13 Cuba silent on Canadian’s corruption trial The Associated Press HAVANA — Official silence surrounded the case of a Canadian businessman targeted by a corruption probe in Cuba on Friday, as the initial trial of several foreigners suspected of graft entered its second day. Sarkis Yacoubian, 53, who partnered with the Cuban [...] Continue reading
Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba?
The Economist explains Why is playing golf a revolutionary pursuit in Cuba? May 23rd 2013, 23:50 by T.W. AFTER the 1959 revolution, Fidel Castro denounced golf as a “bourgeois” hobby. Though he once played a round with Che Guevara, the comandante preferred ordinary Cubans to participate in earthier sports, such as baseball. Despite demand from [...] Continue reading
A new course
Business in Cuba A new course A tale of politics, corruption and golf May 25th 2013 | HAVANA AFTER the 1959 revolution Fidel Castro declared that golf was a “bourgeois” hobby, unsuitable for communists. Most of the island’s courses were built on, and no new ones have been developed since. But the government has just [...] Continue reading
Canadian goes on trial in Havana for corruption scandal
Posted on Thursday, 05.23.13 Canadian goes on trial in Havana for corruption scandal By Julian Sher, Toronto Star And Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com When Sarkis Yacoubian walks into a court room in downtown Havana Thursday to face corruption charges that could send him to prison for 12 years the Canadian businessman will have a high-powered [...] Continue reading
Cuba readies corruption trials of Western businessmen
Cuba readies corruption trials of Western businessmen By Marc Frank HAVANA | Tue May 14, 2013 10:50pm EDT (Reuters) – Canadian and British executives of three foreign businesses shut in 2011 by Cuban authorities, ostensibly for corrupt practices, have been charged after more than a year in custody and are expected to go on trial [...] Continue reading
Cuba intensifies fight against corruption
Cuba intensifies fight against corruption IANSBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS Havana, May 14 (IANS/EFE) Corruption and illegal activities in areas like fuel distribution are of great concern for the Cuban government, the official media reported here Monday. Those issues were analyzed at a meeting of the Council of Ministers held last Friday at [...] Continue reading
Cuba government minister reports on corruption in international deals and gas
Posted on Tuesday, 05.14.13 Cuba government minister reports on corruption in international deals and gas By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com Cuban government officials must fight “a grand battle” against corruption in areas such as business deals with foreigners and the distribution of gasoline, according to an official news media report Monday. Rodrigo Malmierca, Minister of [...] Continue reading
Canadian jailed in Havana corruption scandal speaks out
Posted on Wednesday, 05.15.13 Canadian jailed in Havana corruption scandal speaks out By Julian Sher of The Toronto Star And Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@elnuevoherald.com Speaking over a scratchy telephone line from inside a Cuban prison, Sarkis Yacoubian’s voice goes suddenly silent. He’s crying. “I was so depressed at times, I wanted to commit suicide,” says [...] Continue reading
Cuba’s Democratic Left on State Socialism
Cuba’s Democratic Left on State Socialism May 9, 2013 | | Print Print | 0 5 11 32 HAVANA TIMES — A couple weeks ago we published a summary of an essay by Pedro Campos and Armando Chaguaceda on the inability of the State Socialist system that reigns in Cuba to carry out the changes [...] Continue reading
The Nature of Socialism
The Nature of Socialism / Rafael Leon Rodriguez Posted on April 23, 2013 The “handpicked” successor of the late comandante Hugo Chavez was elected and is not the new president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. Starting off, his first statements addresses the aim of radicalizing the revolutionary process. On the one hand [...] Continue reading
Changes In Cuba, I’ll Believe It When I See It
Changes In Cuba, I’ll Believe It When I See It / Juan Juan Almeida Posted on April 19, 2013 Many of you remember what happened in our country in the summer of 1989*. I’m referring to those trials that popular wits baptized, for the range of events and actors, “Tropicana show under the stars, first [...] Continue reading
Cuba and the Enslaving System of Two Currencies
Cuba and the Enslaving System of Two Currencies / Yusnaby Perez Posted on April 16, 2013 The dual currency system in Cuba is one of the major economic and social problems of the country. Don't take my word for it, on several occasions the president of the country, Raul Castro himself (and I have no [...] Continue reading
Afro-Cuban author who complained of racism demoted
Posted on Friday, 04.05.13 Afro-Cuban author who complained of racism demoted By Juan O. Tamayo jtamayo@ElNuevoHerald.com A black Cuban author, Roberto Zurbano, whose scathing criticism of racism on the island was published in The New York Times last month, has been demoted from his top job at the government-controlled Casa de las Americas book publishers. [...] Continue reading
No clear successor to Chávez as leader of Latin American left
Posted on Friday, 03.29.13 Latin America No clear successor to Chávez as leader of Latin American left By MIMI WHITEFIELD mwhitefield@MiamiHerald.com Venezuelans will head to the polls April 14 to elect a successor to the late President Hugo Chávez. While Nicolás Maduro, Chávez's handpicked candidate, is favored to win, it's not as clear who will [...] Continue reading
Total Alienation
Total Alienation / Miriam Celaya Posted on March 28, 2013 Presided over by Cuba's General-President, on Friday, March 15, 2013 there was an extended meeting of the Council of Ministers, which, in addition to resembling any other, at the same time typifies both the inefficiency of the entire government apparatus and the impossibility of renewing [...] Continue reading
The changing face of Cuba: Communism to capitalism
The changing face of Cuba: Communism to capitalism March 28, 2013 cuba For over half a century Cuba has been ruled by the Castro regime and has remained largely cut off from the rest of the world. The island's economy is in a state of collapse and still inhabits the crippling stranglehold of the US [...] Continue reading
Can Cuba survive the loss of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez?
Can Cuba survive the loss of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez? Many in and out of Cuba wonder if the loss of Chávez is the death knell of the Castros' Revolution, or if it could inject urgent momentum into Raul Castro's reform agenda, just in the nick of time. By Anya Landau French, Guest blogger / March [...] Continue reading
Analysis: Castro brothers’ successor may inherit a very different Cuba
Analysis: Castro brothers' successor may inherit a very different Cuba Fidel Castro, left, and his brother, Raul, are preparing to pass the torch of power to a new generation. By Carlos Rajo, Telemundo News analysis Raul Castro's recent announcement that he will leave power in 2018, and his appointment of 52-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel as first [...] Continue reading
Cuba-Venezuela ties tenuous
Cuba-Venezuela ties tenuous 06/03 00:24 CET Cuba is on Venezuelan economic life support. With leader Hugo Chávez dead, there is speculation that Cuba as we know it may not survive. Havana's options just got a lot thinner, and it hasn't had many of them for a long time. President Chávez venerated the father of Communist [...] Continue reading
Another December 10th
Another December 10th / Rafael Leon Rodriguez #Cuba Rafael Leon Rodriguez, Translator: Unstated Yesterday we commemorated the 64th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of Human Rights by the United Nations of that time, in the creation of which there was an outstanding Cuban representation. The authoritarian authorities of our country, who already for [...] Continue reading
Cuba’s Unanimity: Rest in Peace
Cuba's Unanimity: Rest in Peace December 6, 2012 Fernando Ravsberg HAVANA TIMES — My colleague Angel Thomas told me that during the early years of the Cuban Revolution, political debates were constant and many leaders — including Fidel Castro — used to go to the University of Havana to talk with students. Unfortunately I wasn't [...] Continue reading
Cuba: An Economy Does Not Rise Selling Croquettes
Cuba: An Economy Does Not Rise Selling Croquettes / Ivan Garcia #Cuba Ivan Garcia, Translator: mlk Some years ago, when the Politburo headed by General Raul Castro was studying alternative ways to apply reforms capable of reactivating the moribund island economy, Marino Murillo, fattened ex-colonel converted to the "czar of transformations" said that Cuba was [...] Continue reading
Change in Cuba: Less Costly Than Clinging to the Past
Change in Cuba: Less Costly Than Clinging to the Past December 6, 2012 Esteban Morales interviewed by Dmiti Prieto HAVANA TIMES — Esteban Morales is one of Cuba's most outstanding academics. An economist and a specialist on hemispheric policy, he is a grey-haired, tall, bearded black man with an air of being a taita, or [...] Continue reading
U.S. should approach Cuban embargo with caution
U.S. should approach Cuban embargo with caution Published: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 It has been more than 50 years since President John F. Kennedy signed a trade embargo against Cuba, mainly because of Cuba's relationship with Russia during the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The embargo restricts American companies from forming business relationships [...] Continue reading
An Assessment of the Cuban Government’s Management Over the Last Six Years
An Assessment of the Cuban Government's Management Over the Last Six Years / Dimas Castellano Dimas Castellanos, Translator: Unstated Four decades after taking power through revolution in 1959, the factors which made totalitarianism in Cuba possible have reached their limit. The populist measures imposed during the first years after the revolution were accompanied by the [...] Continue reading