Havana is undoubtedly the main destination of the real estate market in Cuba. It shelters about 19% of the population residing in the country and 18% of the lodging capacities. In addition, it is the economic, political and social core of the nation and the principal target of domestic migration. In an analysis of more than 15,000 buying and selling online adsall over the island, more than 82% of sale ads and 89% of buying interests were related to Havana. These figures confirm Havana’s superiority as the leading actor in this market. Thus, for all those interested, the average value of a house in the capital city is 24,000 CUC (Cuban convertible pesos), which makes it the most expensive province in the country. Nonetheless, this value doesn’t apply in all its municipalities; in fact, there is a huge contrast in prices depending on locations. City map This contrast allows identifying two areas according to the values registered in the real estate market. In municipalities such as Playa and Plaza, average values duplicate the prices established in the rest of the territory. In the remaining municipalities there are three groups regarding their average values and number of offers, though in this...

In Cuba, for more than half century, Cubans used to make cessions and swap houses in order to transfer their properties “legally” in a market outside the law. However, this situation took a turning point in November 2011 when the Council of State changed the General Housing Law through Decree-Law 288 and other complementary ministerial resolutions; thus allowing the buying and selling of houses among Cuban natural citizens and foreigners with permanent residence in the country. Since the coming into force of the new dispositions, the emerging real estate market in Cuba has considerablygrown. According to Aniuska Puente Fontanella, a specialist from the Registration Office of the Ministry of Justice, by the end of 2013 there had been about 80 000 transactions resulting form the buying and selling of houses, a figure twice bigger than the previous year. Regardless of the fact that the volume of operations of this kind is constantly increasing, Cuba still doesn’t rely on a consistent public instrument to monitor these operations and to serve as a point of reference for the population; for instance, when setting prices or searching for a building that meet its needs or economic possibilities. How much is a house? How...

In the early hours of Friday , exactly at 6:23 am ( Cuban time ) , the third perceptible earthquake in 2014 took place, nearly 15 hours after another of magnitude 4.9 in the Richter scale was felt in regions of Havana , Matanzas and Villa Clara provinces. Given the concern of people inside and outside the island, Trabajadores newspaper contacted Central Station of the National Seismological Service Specialists of the country, located in Santiago de Cuba, who clarified some questions about a Special Newsletter. In Cuba, it is unusual to see this type of seismic events in the central and western parts of the country. What is the reason for these recent earthquakes? This seismic activity in this region is rare, but its occurrence is normal by the presence of seismic areas, which as the name implies, are areas with structures or tectonic faults with potential to generate earthquakes. Throughout the seismic history of our country there have been several earthquakes and some of them have been noticeable in places like Varadero , Sagua La Grande , Remedios and Caibarien The seismic areas that may be associated with these earthquakes are known as Cuban North and Hicacos that can...

At 15:57 (local time) this Thursday, the Cuban National Seismological Service Network Station reported a perceptible earthquake located at 23.39 North and 80.99 West, at 73.7 Km Northeast of Varadero, with a depth of 20 km and with a magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale, according to Griselda Despaigner, specialist of the Central Station of the aforementioned institution. So far, there have been reports of visibility in Havana, Matanzas and Villa Clara provinces. In Havana the quake was felt in the area of Jose Antonio Echeverria ​​Polytechnic Higher Institute (ISPJAE by its Spanish acronym), so students and teachers were evacuated. The floor began shaking. Nothing fell down, only a vibration was felt at about 4:05 pm. Students of the highest building of the Civil Engineering Faculty evacuated themselves, Raquel Quiroga Riverón, who is in charge of Protocol activities in the institution, told Trabajadores newspaper. There have not been reported human or material damages. Experts from the National Center for Seismological Research of Cuba are working in processing additional information on these events.

Until September 2011 , when Decree No. 292 of the Council of Ministers and other complementary ministerial resolutions entered into force, Cubans could only buy or sell cars manufactured before the Triumph of the Revolution , that is, before 1959 , many of them from the U.S. , popularly known as ' almendrones '. As part of updating the economic model of the country, the new provisions authorized the transfer of ownership of motor vehicles through the purchase; sale or donation among citizens living on the Island this answered one of the old claims of the Cuban population. The decree, however, did not satisfy everyone. While the sale of vehicles between individuals, retail thereof, regulated by the state, was limited to a certain group of people according to their “occupational categories " , as referred to in document. Thus, a portion of the Cuban population was excluded from access to the retail car market – let’s say mainly relatively modern and second-hand cars , while not working at subsidized prices , these are at least 'reasonable' . With that, a parallel market for private people was created, with prices outside of state regulations, in an environment conducive to speculation, illicit...

Telecom Agent will be the new form of self-employment that will come into force in the country since the second half of December, which was approved last Thursday in the Official Gazette No. 27, which includes the Regulation of Self-Employment Works. The new form of employment includes the “promoting and retailing of telecommunications products and services that are provided on a wholesale basis by Etecsa . " According to the website of the Company, is a “public telephone service staffed by an individual in his own home “who provide local calls, domestic and international long distance calls from his home phone” This person may also sell and reload prepaid fixed, mobile and Internet access cards as well as collect phone bills and provide business information of the Company. The agents, who must be licensed and pay taxes, earn a percentage of sales and Etecsa will provide them cards with a commission as well as the necessary training, explained to ahora.cu site Darquiris Sanchez, head of the Etecsa Commercial Department in Holguin. In the first stage of the recruitment process they will give priority to agents in existing centers, which already carried out some works in the fixed telephony system. Later...