Exploring and Living in Cuba

News about Cuba

By Jonathan J. Levin March 31 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House of Representatives may pass a bill next month that would ease restrictions on agricultural exports to Cuba and lift a ban on travel to the island, the measure’s sponsor said. Congressman Collin Peterson, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said he needs backing from one more lawmaker to assure the panel will pass the legislation. He expects to secure that pledge after Congress’s Easter recess, and for the measure to get approval by the full House. “Cuba used to be one of our big markets,” Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat, said in a telephone interview yesterday. The bill “would help us get those markets back.”
Thursday, 25 February 2010 15:30

Betting On Thaw In U.S./Cuba Relations

By Ben Dummett Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES TORONTO (Dow Jones)--Leisure Canada Inc. (LCN.V) hopes to start construction before the end of the year on what would be Havana's first hotel/conference center built to North American building standards, expecting a continued thawing in Cuba-U.S. relations to spur an influx of visitors to the Caribbean island. Located on the beach in the area of Havana known as Embassy Row, Leisure Canada's Monte Barreto development will consist of a 750-suite hotel, a conference center and vacation club, including a fractional ownership component. It will be built to Florida hurricane standards, and meet the room size and other standards used by the Hiltons and other well-known hotel operators, said Robin Conners, Leisure's chief executive.
Thursday, 24 December 2009 09:48

End the U.S. embargo of Cuba

The Seattle Times editorial board calls for the end of the U.S. embargo of Cuba. SEN. Maria Cantwell calls our attention to a law, signed by President Obama, allowing Cuba to buy U.S. farm produce and pay after the goods are shipped. The law reverses a Treasury ruling during the Bush years that Cuba had to pay in advance ˜ a ruling that stopped the trade altogether. This page favors the new law, which will allow a few of our state's farmers to make a little bit of money. But we would go much further. We would end altogether the embargo, which was imposed under President Kennedy almost a half-century ago.
By James Anderson (AP) August 28, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO DE PAULA, Cuba — New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that he's just a governor on a trade mission and carries no message from the U.S. government as he visits Cuba this week. But he does plan to report his impressions to President Barack Obama. Richardson spoke outside Havana while visiting Ernest Hemingway's former home, where he donated a replica of a telephone used by Hemingway to curators on behalf of his state. He said all U.S. citizens should be able to visit such cultural gems. "I think enhancing cultural and artistic and educational ties is a prelude to diplomatic and commercial ties. It always happens that way," Richardson told The Associated Press. "I'm for enhanced tourism travel for Americans." Richardson said that travel should go beyond the so-called people-to-people educational and cultural contacts promoted by the Bill Clinton administration.
Thursday, 04 June 2009 13:20

OAS ends Cuba suspension after 47 years

BY Anahi Rama SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras (Reuters) The Organization of American States lifted its 47-year suspension of Cuba on Wednesday in a move backed by Washington, but Cuban state-run TV said Havana had no interest in rejoining the group. "Cuba has not asked for nor does it wish to return to the OAS, which is steeped in a submissive and shady history," said anchorman Randy Alonso. There was no immediate reaction from officials of Cuba's communist-run government. But former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in April that Cuba had no desire to rejoin the OAS, which he has criticized as an instrument of U.S. policy, and did not want to "hear the vile name of that institution." The 34-member hemispheric body, meeting in Honduras, unanimously scrapped a 1962 decision at the height of the Cold War that barred Cuba as revolutionary leader Fidel Castro took it toward communism and an alliance with the Soviet Union. While leftists in Latin America hailed the OAS vote as a diplomatic victory for Cuba, Washington said it had succeeded in ensuring that Cuba could not rejoin the group without moving toward democracy and respect for human rights. U.S. President Barack Obama has taken…
Qatar and Cuba on Wednesday launched a joint $75 million project to create a five-star resort on the Caribbean island, officials said. The gas-rich Gulf state is set to become the first Arab country to invest in Cuba's booming tourism sector, after representatives inked the deal in Havana. The 450-room upscale hotel complex is to be built in the south of the island and is expected to be completed by 2015.While Cuba already receives millions of visitors from Europe, Latin America and Canada each year, officials hope improving ties with the United States will soon spell an influx of American tourists. U.S. citizens have effectively been barred from traveling to Cuba for nearly a half century. In 2008 the communist island received 2.3 million tourists. AFP.
By Doreen Hemlock | South Florida Sun-SentinelPresident Barack Obama's newly unveiled plans to ease U.S. travel and telecom links with Cuba drew widespread attention, but how much that translates into real business remains a question.A lot depends on how Cuba's communist government reacts to Obama's overtures and how much it opens to Cuban-American visitors and to U.S. travel and telecom companies, business leaders and analysts said.Companies also want to see the fine print from U.S. agencies on how the new programs will be implemented, since red tape has snarled their Cuba plans before, analysts add. "Potentially, the news is important for business, but right now, it's abstract," said Jake Colvin, vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council in Washington, D.C., a pro-trade group. "U.S. companies are generally taking a wait-and-see approach."
Guidebook

Official Guide to
Cuban Spanish

Official Guide to Cuban Spanish

For those who want to communicate with the locals and to develop basic Spanish survival skills, purchase our one-of-a-kind eBook which includes Cuban slang in English

BUY NOW

"I always keep this book on my tablet so that I can maneuver through Cuba’s linguistic maze."

Max Gómez, Cuba Scout, Travel Expert

Not ready to relocate to Cuba yet,
then check out 
Costa Rica Latin America’s #1
retirement haven
 
Live in Costa Rica

Disclaimer

Living and Investing in Cuba - Live in Cuba - Retire in Cuba - Retirement Tours in Cuba 

Information herein is authorized through the courtesy of Christopher Howard, author of the best selling Cuba information source, Living and Investing in the New Cuba. Please be aware that all information herein is protected by COPYRIGHT © and misuse of it will carry a penalty by law.