The freedom to access health care… this is one freedom that Cubans do have that is seldomly given credit by critics in Washington. The Cuban government assumes fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of all of its citizens. Together with Havana’s medical diplomacy initiatives, this has made the country a perceived leader on health […]
Brazil’s economy is the ninth largest in the world—31 times the size of Cuba’s. Its territory makes up nearly half of the South American landmass—80 times larger than the small Caribbean island. And the value of Brazilian trade with the rest of the world is 25 times that of Cuba. So why does Cuba garner […]
At the risk of again being accused of “appealing to readers’ emotions,” I am posting the following story. It surprised me not because of the chain of events, but because the protagonist is a French student—not a journalist, not a political activist—just a graduate student writing her thesis on Cuban opposition and resistance groups. The […]
One significant topic is getting overlooked in all the excitement to open up travel and trade with Cuba: there are more than 5,900 current claims against the assets on the island that were seized (nationalized) by Fidel Castro soon after he overthrew Fulgencio Batista. The initial U.S. response to these appropriations—a large reduction in the […]
Demography updates of the day: Cuba ended 2008 with a population of 11.24 million; By 2025, the Cuban population will decline by 100,000; By 2032, it will drop below 11 million; The nation will officially have the oldest population in Latin America in only 15 years. The island’s National Statistics Office cited aging and lower […]
American car-makers have not shipped spare parts to Cuba since 1960, but an estimated 60,000 of these cars from the 40s and 50s still roam the roads of the island. Some operate as taxis and many have been carefully maintained over half a decade by individual owners. Watch an MSNBC video on this here. The […]
The BBC correspondent in Havana, Fernando Ravsberg, posted a blog entry last week titled “Pobrecitos los cubanos” (Poor Cubans). In it, he writes that the idea that Cubans live in poverty is a common misconception. Today, 50% of the population receives income beyond the oft-cited state salary of $17 per month, and some earn more […]
In the last few weeks, two prominent cases of spying for Cuba have made headlines and worried some about fresh roadblocks on the path toward increased U.S.-Cuba cooperation. First, a couple in the United States (the husband a State Department employee) was arrested and charged with passing classified information to the Cuban regime for thirty […]
Radio and TV Martí is a U.S. government-funded broadcaster that transmits Spanish-language programming to Cuba. Its declared mission is to break the “information embargo” imposed by the Castro regime by providing balanced news reporting on events around the globe. Supporters say the station offers Cubans essential information that the state-run media refuses to provide. Critics […]
From the Los Angeles Times: The Supreme Court will not review the ‘Cuban Five’ case The case of the Cuban Five (or the “Five Heros,” as Cuban officials call them) is one of the main stumbling blocks for the continued warming of U.S.-Cuba relations. If the Supreme Court had agreed to take the case, those […]
The present form and content of educational systems shapes the leaders of the next generation. Predictably then, the fact that Cuba is educating so many international students, particularly those from this hemisphere, makes some uneasy. From Andrés Oppenheimer’s Miami Herald piece yesterday: “While the United States remains the leading destination for students from Latin American […]
The Obama administration has acknowledged that environmental degradation and climate change are two of the most pressing issues for the contemporary global community. In response, a release from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) argues that if sustainability is really a concern of Washington’s, then that is reason enough to consider greater levels of cooperation […]
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