CUBA NEWS August 8, 2021 The last couple of months have been eventful in Cuba. On Sunday, July 11, 2021, several hundred-thousand and perhaps over a million Cubans staged the largest protests in over sixty-two years. Throughout the island people of all ages marched through the streets screaming for freedom and an end to communist rule. For several hours many of the protests were transmitted live on social media, but eventually the government shut-down the internet. The following day people took to the streets again, but they were met by the police and paramilitary forces who attacked them wit ..read more

SPECIAL PERIOD II, THE MONETARY ORDERING This year started with a “monetary ordering” in Cuba. That is the name given by the Cuban Communist Party to the process that they claimed would positively transform the Cuban economy. For over twenty-five years two currencies circulated in Cuba. The Cuban peso, CUP, and the convertible peso, CUC. The Cuban peso was exchanged at a rate of 25 CUP per one U.S. dollar, and the convertible peso was exchanged at .87 CUC per U.S. dollar. Yes, the Cuban convertible peso was worth more than the U.S. dollar, but only in Cuba. Most Cubans conducted transactions ..read more

CUBA'S SECOND "SPECIAL PERIOD" HAS BEGUN Cuba remains closed to travelers from the United States, and we do not plan to arrange travel to the island until October. Most businesses on the island are closed, including tourist attractions and restaurants, and there are serious shortages of food and basic necessities. Only a handful of flights are operating weekly between the U.S. and Cuba. American, JetBlue, and Southwest are each flying to Havana once a week. All passengers arriving in Havana from the U.S. must quarantine for at least a week in one of a handful of authorized hotels. Prices at t ..read more

Foreigners arriving to Cuba must still quarantine, unless they are arriving to one of the handful of closed-off resorts that are receiving guests. All others who arrive in Cuba must quarantine for approximately eight days. On April 14th , the Cuban government announced that in order to increase the number of cattle on the island it was eliminating the restrictions that had been in place for decades limiting the slaughter and sale of beef. Cuba’s designated president Miguel Diaz-Canel stated that Cuba must prioritize food production. Diaz-Canel failed to disclose how Cuba’s cattle herd or food ..read more

In late 2020 the Cuban government opened over one-hundred MLC food and consumer goods stores throughout Cuba. MLC are the initials in Spanish for Freely Convertible Currency, which is a convoluted term for U.S. dollars. The stores opened with much fanfare and controversy. Fanfare because they were stocked with a wide variety of goods, unusual in Cuba. Controversy because many Cubans publicly complained that they did not have access to U.S. dollars and therefore to the new MLC stores. The Cuban government did not create a mechanism for Cubans to exchange Cuban money into dollars. The stores ope ..read more

Cuba remains closed to tourists for all practical purposes. The Cuban government had been reporting dozens of new cases of COVID-19 daily throughout 2020, but in January 2021 the daily case count jumped into the hundreds and then into the thousands. Only a handful of flights a week are arriving in Havana from the United States, and all arrivals must quarantine. Cuban nationals must quarantine in facilities designated by the Cuban government, and foreigners must quarantine in authorized hotels. All arriving passengers will have two PCR tests administered, and only after the second test comes ba ..read more

CUBA NEWS WEEK OF NOVEMBER 22, 2020 Cuba’s main airport in Havana, Jose Marti International, reopened to regularly scheduled flights on Sunday, November 15, 2020. The airport had been closed for over seven months because of the Coronavirus. Foreign travelers arriving in Cuba must pay a $30 health surcharge to cover the cost of a mandatory COVID-19 test, with results due within forty-eight hours. Western Union will cease all money transfer transactions from the U.S. to Cuba on November 22, 2020. In October, the Trump administration gave Western Union notice that it had thirty days to find a fin ..read more

CUBA REOPENS TO AMERICANS! Cuba’s Civil Aeronautical Institute announced yesterday that Havana’s International Airport will open on Sunday, November 15th, 2020. The airport was closed in April in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement mentions that arriving passengers must pay a “sanitary tariff” to cover the cost of individual COVID-19 Tests that will be administered upon arrival, with results due in twenty-four hours. Some of the ten international airports on the island had reopened in September and October, but as of last year flights from the U.S. could only arrive and depart ..read more

The latest tweak in U.S. regulations dealing with U.S. to Cuba travel was announced on Thursday. This new “restriction,” which is as ridiculous as the others, prohibits private charter flights from the U.S. to Cuba. Without verifying FAA or Cuban civil-aviation documents, I am confident there weren’t more than three or four private charter flights to Cuba last year. I doubt there was even one. This move makes headlines in South Florida but has no effect. It is designed to guarantee some Cuban-American votes in South Florida, votes that were going to be cast for President Trump anyways. But thi ..read more

Last week the Cuban government opened several dozen grocery and consumer goods stores across the island in which all purchases must be made in U.S. dollars. It seems the Cuban government wants to receive hard currency in these stores to offset a monstrous budget deficit. But because of the current pandemic and the fact that there are no tourists on the island, just how Cubans on the island are supposed to get dollars remains a mystery. The move has been unpopular with the island’s population, because salaries are paid in Cuban money, and few people have the necessary currency to shop at these ..read more