Engineer, MBA, Cuentapropista, Podcaster
With fuel shipments dwindling, long lines at gas stations have been a fact of life for most of the summer, and in recent days they have become a fixture at bus stops because routes have been suspended to conserve diesel.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel appeared on state television last month to announce austerity and energy-saving measures in the face of what he called “temporary” shortages.
Article by Los Angeles Times here.
Trump, in a June 2017 speech in Miami, declared his new policies toward Cuba would bypass “the military and government to help the Cuban people form businesses and pursue much better lives.”
Many Cubans say, however, that their private businesses have slowed to a crawl as many relatively free-spending Americans are removed from the visitor mix.
Article by Los Angeles Times here.
In a new age of Cuban connectivity, Senator Marco Rubio is using Twitter to start a direct conversation with Cubans living on the island.
In his first tweet Thursday, under the name @MarcoRubioCuba1 , Florida’s republican senator told his more than hundred new followers the Cuba policies he supports in the United States Senate are motivated by one objective: so the Cuban people can elect its leaders the same way others countries do in the Western Hemisphere.
Article by WPLG Local 10 News here.
The overwhelming response — thousands of tweets under the hashtag #BajenLosPreciosDeInternet — became by some estimates the largest protest, albeit digital, to wash over the communist island in years. Dissidents long monitored by the government joined the cause. But so, too, did students, private-sector business owners and other Cubans who appeared to be anything but counterrevolutionaries.
Article by The Washington Post here.
Until just a few days ago Havana’s Old Town was swarming with U.S. visitors, mainly from cruise ships, who toured the zone to learn about its history, culture and heritage.
Private businesses in the area like restaurants, cafeterias, craft sellers and the iconic convertible vintage cars thrived with thousands of tourists supporting their activities and directly engaging with the booming sector which currently employs more than 584,000 Cubans.
However, that reality dramatically changed this week when Washington decided to abruptly end cruise ships to the island and people-to-people educational exchanges, the most popular category used by U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba.
Article by Xinhua here.
The Trump administration will tighten restrictions for Americans visiting Cuba. NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with Collin Laverty of Cuba Educational Travel about the impacts on travelers and businesses.
Full article by NPR here.
The new U.S. policy that limits visas for Cubans will hurt families and damage the emerging private sector there, several experts, activists and Cubans on the island told the Miami Herald.
Cubans began voting on Sunday in a referendum on a draft constitution to update its 1976 charter on the heels of significant economic reforms on the island over the past few years.
The new constitution, approved in the National Assembly late last year after a popular consultation, enshrines private property and promotes foreign investment. State enterprise remains the cornerstone of the economy, though the new constitution dictates state-owned companies have autonomous management.
Full article by Al Jazeera here.
Cuba’s ‘grandchild generation’ demands change but condemns new president’s reforms.
Article by The Telegraph here.