CUBA BUSINESS SECTION - Havana Journal
Mark Frank | Reuters
Retail outlets selling everything in Cuban pesos are popping up in Santiago de Cuba in what may be the Cuban government’s first steps toward phasing out its unpopular two-currency system.
The opening of the establishments mark a reversal of two decades of national policy that priced most goods and services in a dollar-linked convertible peso widely known by its acronym, the CUC.
“They have opened restaurants, pizzerias, cafeterias and pastry shops and set up areas across the city where they sell sandwiches, snacks and soda,” said retiree Pedro de la Fuente from Guantanamo, the capital city…
more…
Agence France-Presse
The Roman Catholic Church warned Sunday that Cuba is on the verge of an economic collapse that can only be prevented if President Raul Castro institutes sweeping economic and social reforms.
“The economic situation in Cuba has turned rather complicated with signs that it is close to free fall,” the Havana Archdiocese said in the latest edition of its “Palabra Nueva” (New Word) magazine.
Castro has responded to the crisis with “Utopian statements and readjustments along the lines of severe expenditure cuts that can lead to socio-economic collapse,” wrote economist-priest Boris Moreno.
Moreno said that there was “no…
more…
BY LOURDES PÉREZ NAVARRO | Granma
Rail workers, with the skill of knowing where to place their feet after constant work on the railroads, wedged the rail with a thick piece of timber and removed the deteriorated rail using a lever and a sledgehammer. They then changed it for a new one. They were encouraged by the strong purpose of putting the track two from the Los Elevados railtrack into function. This provides access to the Central Train Station in Havana City.
Jose Angel Reyes Guilarte, head of a Roads and Bridges Brigade from…
more…
Leisure Canada Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LCN) announced today that it has retained Dundee Securities Corporation (“Dundee Securities”) as its exclusive financial advisor as it implements plans to construct three 5-star resort hotel and vacation complexes in Cuba.
Dundee Securities will advise on corporate structure and assist in securing the financing for building on these sites. All three sites are currently leased by Leisure Canada on a long-term basis and are free of any claims by outside parties.
“We are moving forward rapidly with launching our hotel development projects in Cuba”, said Robin Conners,…
more…
Jenalia Moreno | Chron.com
For the first time in nearly half a century, a shipping line will provide weekly transport from Houston’s docks to Cuba.
Local officials view this as the beginning of increased exports to a Latin American nation that still faces a partial trade embargo with the U.S.
“What we’re witnessing is the important first step,” said Jeff Moseley, president and CEO of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Shipping company CMA CGM of Marseille, France, recently began hauling food, medical products and other items allowed by…
more…
Juan O. Tamayo | The Miami Herald
A group of foreign investors is seeking a U.S. government license to buy claims against Cuba, for American-owned properties seized in the 1960s, then swap them with Havana in a debt-for-equity exchange.
The settlement would resolve one of the oldest U.S.-Cuba disputes and perhaps open the way for other improvements in bilateral relations, according to the investors’ company, Clarinbridge LLC.
Clarinbridge requested the license in a July 17 filing with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which enforces U.S. sanctions on Havana. OFAC has not yet replied, said Tim Ashby, a…
more…
Once again, Cuba has to renegotiate its debts.
How can the Cuban government continue to bitch and moan about the US Embargo decade after decade when they have free trade WITH EVERY COUNTRY ON EARTH except the US?
Decade after decade the Castro brothers lie about Cuban business practices and steal money owed to foreign businesses.
Back in 2003 Cuba had to “discuss a repayment schedule” with Mexico. Well, even those negotiations took many years because more…
By Helen Popper | Reuters
Cuban farmer Saudiel Lazaro wears a broad smile under his wide-brimmed hat as he prepares two young oxen to plow fields newly leased as part of state agricultural reforms.
Reducing the Communist-run island’s heavy dependence on imports of staples like milk, corn and rice is at the heart of a farming shake-up ordered by Raul Castro since he took over as president from his ailing brother Fidel early last year.
In the verdant, palm-dotted countryside south of the capital Havana, farmers say there are signs of change despite frequent shortages of insecticides, fuel and irrigation…
more…
EFE
Some 58 percent of the water pumped by Cuba’s aqueducts is lost due to the distribution network’s poor condition, Vice President Ramiro Valdes said in an address to the National Assembly.
“Throwing water out costs us $500 million annually because we use electricity to pump it,” Valdes, who also holds the post of computing and communications minister, said.
Valdes and Basic Industry Minister Yadira Garcia, as well as other officials, told legislators it would be necessary to bolster measures to save energy, the official Prensa Latina news agency reported.
The assembly’s 12 sectorial committees began preparatory meetings Wednesday for…
more…
AP
Cuba built about 20,000 homes in 2009, meeting barely 60 percent of its modest annual construction goal and further exacerbating a severe housing crunch, the official press said Thursday.
A report prepared for Sunday’s session of parliament indicates that authorities missed by more than a third the target of building 32,000 homes this year.
There was no reason given for shortfall, reported in the Communist Party newspaper Granma. Cuba’s cash-strapped economy has been pummeled by the global economic crisis, however, causing officials to slash imports of food and other basics as the country’s foreign debt balloons.
In September 2005,…
more…
View all Havana Journal business articles in 2010
Didn't find the article you were looking for? You can SEARCH for it.
