Another important “mutual concerns” pro-engagement argument is presented by the New America Foundation’s Anya Landau French in a recent Havana Note post. The jist: future prevention/mitigation of disasters like the April 20 explosion (and ongoing spreading mess of an oil spill) of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico is too important […]
We seldom post on Guantánamo and the US detention facilities there because most times (as below), the relevant stories and issues have little to do with Cuba per se, other than the fact that the property lies on the island. But every so often, a note on it is necessary, as the area and the […]
It used to be the case that new technology in Latin America and abroad would be seen as a threat to the new regimes in the region and in similar oppressive governments worldwide. One story that stood out in my mind was the description of the feared Fax Machine, one that was kept under armed […]
Remember the multi-syllabic deprived days of 2006? I sure do, and I don’t think I am alone. A good many people seemed to despair when an American leader stood up in front of an audience only to throw out some obtuse generalization. Awkward phrases and K-5 conceptualizations were par for the course. Then Bill Clinton […]
An interesting, mostly below-the-radar note (for some reason this story had little traction in the brief window of its relevance, and I missed it entirely until now): from April 2009 to March 2010, Cubans that owned cars were allowed to import new cars from abroad as replacements. The idea was to get some of the […]
Chances are not great for Congress to unite for much of anything controversial in the current partisan environment. But Cuba legislation is making its way around, and we continue to watch its path. The House this week mulled legislation that would lift the travel ban and remove some obstacles to agricultural sales. In a hearing […]
Another month, another chance to move forward on the US-Cuba relationship… Progress seems to have stagnated lately, and April’s comments by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predict more of the same. Clinton, speaking at the University of Louisville at the beginning of this month, answered a question from the press about Cuba by underlining the efforts […]
Just over a year ago the emergence of H1N1 stoked global hysteria; today it is all but forgotten. With the benefit of hindsight, I wonder, What lessons can be learned from the public health responses around the region? In considering this question I have focused on the region’s bookends, Mexico and Argentina. Mexico responded swiftly […]
Cuban voters have so far held over 21,800 assemblies to nominate candidates to the People’s Power Municipal Assemblies (local governments) for 2010 elections. The elections will be held tomorrow, and on May 2 where there will be a second round in the constituencies if none of those nominated wins over 50 percent of valid votes. […]
As the ash cloud ruins plans for many to attend the funeral in Poland and China becomes the next location which suffered from a major earthquake, Latin American leaders spent the last week and a half mostly in international summits in the region and in Washington DC. As a reflection of the region’s new found […]
To be honest, I do not know much about the Cuba Business Bureau, and cannot vouch for it. Anyone out there that can? Please feel free to leave info in the comment section. The group is new to me as of today. I do know that the Cuba Business Bureau conducted a survey, the results […]
In a previous post, we mentioned Raúl Castro’s April 4 speech to the Youth Communist League (UJC) in Cuba, focusing on its discussion of regime continuity in the coming years. But the speech merits revisiting in order to zero in on another topic: economic reform. Raúl’s discussion covered a number of familiar topics—the moral imperative […]
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