Around a year after the end of the last pandemic measures in Cuba, many means of transport are still running on the back burner due to the economic situation. The number of passengers transported recovered last year, according to the statistical yearbook, but was still almost 45 percent below the level of 2019. Slowly, however, more movement is coming back to the island. According to Cuban media reports, numerous routes by land, air and sea that had been discontinued for years have resumed in recent weeks. Several train lines that were still suspended since the beginning of the pandemic in spr ..read more

For some months now, unusual sights have been reported from the streets of Havana: From time to time new vehicles from the United States are cruising in the Cuban capital, from General Motors pickup trucks to Jeeps and large trucks, various models are among them. The reason for this is relaxation of the U.S. economic blockade, which was passed in May 2022. They provide that private companies and self-employed persons can import vehicles from the United States, while state entities remain excluded from the relaxations. The first to receive a license to trade vehicles in May this year was the U ..read more

Cuba’s Central Bank (BCC) has announced new measures to increase the use of electronic channels for payment transactions “between all actors of the economy and the population”. The move comes amid an acute shortage of cash at ATMs and a desire to curb black market transactions and tax evasion. “We are accelerating a process that meets international standards, electronic payments are part of the everyday life of citizens in every country,” BCC Vice President Alberto Quiñones Betancourt said at a press conference on wednesday. As announced by the Central Bank, ATMs shall in the future be used ma ..read more

As usual in the run-up to the summer session of the Cuban parliament, some new announcements has been made. One of them concerns the area of foreign investment in trade. Since last August, the island has been looking for investors to expand its wholesale and retail trade amid the current supply crisis. Although the original timetable for the start of new bussiness in this sector in May could not be met, things seems to get moving. As Foreign Trade Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez announced to a parliamentary working committee last Tuesday, 10 contracts have now been signed and sealed: five for th ..read more

Parts of the Cuban capital have been cut off from the municipal water supply for several days and have to be supplied by tanker trucks. Until recently, 200,000 inhabitants were affected, especially in the west and the old town of Havana, but this number has since dropped to 77,000. As the city’s water utility explained, massive pumping system failures were the cause, contradicting an earlier report in the local newspaper Tribuna that cited low levels in the water reservoirs as the main cause. The city is working at full speed to repair the damage, local authorities stated. As a first step, the ..read more

Cuba’s state-owned enterprises are expecting to see major changes soon. After several gradual reform steps, a new enterprise law (“Ley de Empresas”) is going to be passed this year: It’s about to be nothing short than granting real autonomy for large parts of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), whose directors will be able to act independently instead of waiting for guidelines and allocations from ministries. Much of what has been announced for years as part of the country’s new economic strategy is thus to become the applicable norm. Representatives of the Ministry of Economy and involved economi ..read more

The energy situation will remain tense in Cuba this summer. However, after the “Antonio Guiteras”, Cuba’s largest power plant, was finally able to ingite last week after a false start, the daily generation deficit has been significantly reduced. The question is: for how long? As reported by Cuba’s state-owned electrical company UNE on June 20th, the deficit will be 90 megawatts. Yesterday, 390 megawatts were announced. Since the start of the “Guiteras,” the values have oscillated around this range. In practice, this means significantly fewer power cuts. Before the start of the Guiteras, the va ..read more

Almost a year after the devastating major fire at a fuel storage facility in the western Cuban province of Matanzas, reconstruction of the destroyed fuel tanks has begun. As reported by the news agency ACN, work is currently underway on the foundation of the first of four planned tanks. The new tanks are to have better protection mechanisms against fires and accidents, engineer Rigel Rodríguez of the state fuel company Cupet said. For example, they will have a floating aluminum membrane and a geodesic dome that is resistant to lightning strikes. The capacity will be 50,000 cubic meters, compar ..read more

Just over two years ago, on May 10, 2021, Cuba began its vaccination campaign against Covid-19 – with its own vaccines, something only a small number of countries can claim, including no other Latin American country. In the meantime, the pandemic has long since been replaced by other headlines. Time for a look back. Where do Cuba’s vaccines stand today, and what lessons can be learned for other countries from Cuba’s response to the pandemic? Finding its own way thanks to available biotech Know-how Cuba in spring 2021: The country is in lockdown (again). After cautious opening steps in the wint ..read more

The economic and supply crisis in Cuba continues. As the country begun a road of cautious recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Ian last fall, a renewed fuel shortage choked off economic development this spring again. According to the Consumer Price Index, inflation remained at a high 70 percent in April. A new development, meanwhile, are privately run grocery stores, which so far have sprung up mainly in Havana, selling products that were otherwise only available for foreign currency in pesos. They were made possible by the new import opportunities for private businesses. However, the price ..read more