Marino Murillo Jorge returns to his previous position. The government vice-president responsible for the changes in Cuban socialist system returns to the Ministry of Economy and Planning, which he left in 2011 to "concentrate" his efforts in monitoring changes in the economic model of the country. The decision meets the need to "harmonize and integrate to a higher level the process of updating the economic model and planning as principle of conducting the national economy," the government official note, read on national television at night September 25th, says. The information states that Cuba "delves into the most complex and deepest issues" of the economic reform initiated in 2011. In the past, the first vice president Miguel Díaz-Canel described monetary unification and the granting of greater autonomy to enterprises as "the most complicated issue" of the update process in the nation. According to the website of the Cuban government, the Ministry of Economy and Planning is the body responsible for directing, executing and controlling the implementation of the economic policy as well as the planning tasks. Murillo replaces in that Ministry Adel Yzquierdo, who happens to be first vice-minister of the sector, position he held prior to his appointment as minister...

Geographical distance is not a problem for South American exporters when exporting their agricultural products to Cuba, while farmers in the United States are seeing the goods from the southern hemisphere monopolize a market near their farms, in a country that they do not have full access because of the US embargo. Given this disadvantage, the American Soybean Association (ASA) announced the formation of a national coalition to liberalize trade between Cuba and the United States, according to a statement on its website. Along with soybean producers, the new alliance against the blockade has the support of "prominent members of the farming and food community in the United States." "The coalition members believe it is time to end the blockade and allow open trade and future investment," proclaimed the organization, adding that "the ASA will be actively involved in working to end the blockade against Cuba and normalize trade relations between two countries that are only 90 miles away and are natural partners.” ASA received in June 2013 the Head of the Cuba Interests Section in the American nation, José Ramón Cabañas Rodriguez, who offered information on "efforts, challenges and opportunities taking place in Washington DC concerning trade policy of...

Barack Obama extended fora further year the embargo by the United States against Cuba. Ina memorandum to theSecretary of State andthe Treasury Department, the American presidentrenewsthe application ofthe 1917Trade with the Enemy Act, a law from thetime of the FirstWorld War. Restrictionsin force would have hadexpiredon September14, 2014"Therefore, it determined that the continuationfor one yearof the exercise ofthese measuresregardingCubaisin the national interestof the United States," the document sent byObama tomembers ofhis cabinet reads. TheTradingwith theEnemyAct of1917, abbreviated as TWEA, gives thePresident of the UnitedStatesthe power to restrictsome orall trade witha country thatWashingtonconsidershostile. The White House renews the validity of such legislation each year in early September. Cuba is the only country subject to restrictions by this law, after North Korea saw the end of its trade restrictions with the United States in June 2008, by decision of the administration of George W. Bush. Obama renews TWEA ten months after his statements in favor of a change in relations with Cuba, just weeks before his shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro, who has said from the beginning of his term his desire for normalization of relations with Washington.

Like any Latin American country, Cuba receives from the United States millions of dollars through remittances from emigrants, a community whose numbers in 2011 was somewhere around 1,889,000, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. Out of them 801 thousand were born on U.S. soil as direct descendants of emigrants. But who send these remittances? 811,000 Cubans work in the United States (this includes both immigrants and their descendants). It is not an inconsiderable figure: were they on the island, it would represent about 16 percent of the workforce in Cuba. The amount of remittances from the U.S. to Cuba is not a public figure. The State Department estimated in 2013 that it ranged between 1.4 and 2 billion dollars, a figure that exceeds most of the areas of the Cuban economy other than tourism and the export of medical services. In this calculation, the remittances sent by the community of a hundred thousand Cubans living in Spain are not included. Remittances are a source of external financing contributing to the liquidity of the country, a direct injection of capital that doesn’t demand upfront investment or expenditure by the state or a foreign partner. The Cuban economist Pavel Vidal...

Rosneft, a state-owned Russian company will start searching and extracting oil in Cuba supported by an agreement signed with the Cuban corporation CUPET. Both companies will work together in ground and offshore projects in the promising Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, where last August, 2013, a Russian platform explored the marine subsoil in search for hydrocarbons. The agreement was signed at Havana’s Revolution Palace, before the Russian President, Vladimir Putin and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castor, during the twelve hour visit of the Russian representative to Cuba. As said by Putin, he came “to recoup lost opportunities”. Regarding investmentsin Cuban oil, he stated that “in the near future new oilfields will be taken in the Cuban maritime platform. Zarubezhneft S.A. and NK Rosneft S.A. have undertaken an active cooperation with CUPET for that purpose”. Starting on 2015, the Russian enterprises will take on three drilling projects in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, as had been previously announced by a high Cuban official. Rosneft has come to Cuba and it does not need to worry about the US blockade against Cuba: it has been already sanctioned economically by Washingtong. Igor Sechin, one of the signatories...

Before going to the final of the World Cup at the Maracana in Rio de Janerio, Vladimir Putin will stop in Havana at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro, according to a statement on the official website of the Kremlin. Cuba will be the first stop of the tour that the Russian President will take through Latin America starting Friday, July 11. In just one day of stay, Putin will have a series of activities, which would go from signing documents on economic cooperation to meeting with Fidel Castro, according to the Russian presidency. Former Cuban President regularly receives heads of state passing through Havana, although it is uncommon that visitors announce the meeting before having it. The content of the agreements to be signed is not clarified in detail. Exploration and extraction of oil in the seabed of the Cuban area in the Gulf of Mexico seems to be a topic of great interest. Russian President will come to Cuba just a month and a half after the signing of energy agreements in the context of plans to build a logistics base in the port of Mariel by one of the Russian oil companies. The oil negotiations...

The average salary in Cuba amounted to 471 Cuban pesos during 2013. At current exchange rate, that translates into 18.84 dollars. The number remains in slight growth trend of the national average wage, calculated by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information (ONEI) and published in an annual report. However, the official report mentions only earnings in Cuban pesos of workers in companies or budgeted entities. OnCuba found in September 2013 that extra payments in convertible pesos are not included in this calculation, an absence that limits the measurements of the avarage wage. The real average wage in Cuba would be an economic figure clarified after elimination of the dual currency. The statistical calculation does not include the self-employed sector, which gathers 6 percent of the labor force of the country where the wages, as a rule, are higher than in the state sector. The Cuban state compensates for low wages by large subsidies on electricity, food and other services. In 2011, the Deputy Prime Minister Marino Murillo said the government sells a year, through the "rationed family basket" goods worth a ​​billion dollars, but only collected 126 million, due to subsidized prices. In June 2014, Murillo himself also commented...

The United Stateshas Saturday Night Live, Argentina invented Caiga quien caiga and Cuba broadcasts Vivir del Cuento on Mondays at 8:30 p.m. through Cubavision. At present, it is the TV show with the highest audience rate (96%) in the country (but, where the hell did the remaining four per cent go to?). The popularity of Vivir del Cuentois already certified by winning an award as Cuba’s Most Popular TV show by a contest carried out by another TV show Enter Tu y Yo. Most Cubans, used to cutting down names to save time, refer to it as “Panfilo”, which is the name of the main character interpreted by actor Luis Silva. Every Monday evening this witty eighty-year-old men wonders about or answers different polemics on delicate issues such as dual currency or current economic reforms. In about 25 minutes, the show satirizes daily life in Cuba, a new business that doesn’t seem to prosper, an absurd situation resulting from the current legislation or any kind of trouble Panfilo and his friend Chequera only just walk out from, not to talk about the frequent references to and contrasts withthe 80’s. Without mincing his words, Panfilo has commented news from the Granma...

In football terms, the Cuban government got to the ‘first half’ of the year; terms have been extended and there will be no extra time. It seems “the match of the national economy” is not developing as expected. “(…) projected levels in the plan have not been met yet, which leads to a deceleration higher than expected” stated the Cuban minister of economy, Adel Yzquierdo, in the latest meeting of the Council of Ministers (government), held in Havana. The slow progress of the Cuban economy registered a speed of 0,6% during the first half of the year, a growth rate that would result in 1,4% by the end of the year, which is below the two percent initially anticipated. Once again, the real figure remains below the Plan, no matter how modest it may be, though this time it is close to recession (no growth). The Minister of Economy also pointed out the causes of shortages and the disappearance of some products in the market, “due to delay in imports of finished products and raw materials for national production”, as well as domestic inefficiencies and not meeting the expected external incomes. The weather also had a share on this: “adverse...

On Friday June 13th the Canadian Queen's University granted the Cuban singer Carlos Varela the title of Honorary Doctor of Laws, according to the official Facebook profile of the musician, who published several photos of the ceremony. "The music of Carlos Varela is dedicated to set bridges over the tensions between Cuba and the United States," said the website of the center of higher learning in announcing the grant recognition in February 2014. Varela was one of ten individuals chosen to receive this honor this year. In detailing why, the Queen's University highlighted his merits and his long history as an icon of the trova, "The continued success of the music of Mr. Varela, both internationally and in Cuba confirms his place as a symbol of his musical generation.” In 2009, thirty students from the Queen's University attended a special presentation of Varela, who was presented to them as "renowned singer, poet and social critic." One of the teachers of the center, the historian Karen Dubinsky, worked as compiler of Habaname, la ciudad musical de Carlos Varela, a book composed of several essays where the lyrics by this troubadour are interpreted and contextualized. Accompanied by an acoustic guitar, Varela sang...

I met Ruben Cortada once, when a friend of mine, television director, brought him to my house to offer him a job. He was offering the possibility of being the host of a variety entertainment program that would air in Cubavisión, on Sunday afternoons. The writer of these lines was involved in the idea; I was to be co-writer of that program. He wasn’t hired. My friend withdrew from the project, which evolved in another direction. Cubans finally saw it on their screens under the name "Todo con Tony" with another presenter. I only heard again of Ruben Cortada when I saw his name and face on the website of El Pais, which qualified him as an object of desire. Five minutes later, I discovered that this Cuban from isla de la Juventud had Spain in his pocket. The febrile review dedicated to him helped me understand that this alumnus from the Lenin Vocational School had seduced the Iberian hearts. A feat he achieved in the least opportune time. From being an immigrant in a country in crisis he has become the protagonist in the most recent success in Spanish TV. "His imposing physique went unnoticed among many other Cubans...

When you see a scene of Havana in an American film, unless it is a pre-1959 film you are watching a fake cinema. Since 1959 and until recently, no American filmmaker could bring its cameras to Cuba, without entering into a conflict with the Treasury Department, and all the sanctions set against those who travel to the island without the required licenses. Therefore, the director Bob Yari and the producer team of the film "Papa" opened a new era, when landing in Havana with all permits, but not to make just another a movie, but a biographical film about the American writer Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Cuba between 1939 and 1960, where he wrote his memorable "the Old Man and the Sea" and whose Virgin Patroness, Our Lady of Charity, he presented the medal of his Nobel Prize. Filming began in March and ended in late April this year. Before we started shooting, the film project caused a stir, because actress Sharon Stone said that Yari wanted to force her to travel to Cuba illegally to play the role of Mary Hemingway, fourth and last wife of the author of “A Farewell to arms. " The Stone went as...

Is there any oil in Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico? Geologists from several countries say yes, but still the first explorations give a result contrary to that statement. Exploiting the black gold beneath the Cuban seabed is still a gamble that nobody won ... so far. Russians are looking to succeed where others have failed. The oil companies Rosneft and Zarubezhneft signed two cooperation agreements with their Cuban counterpart Cubapetroleo , better known by its acronym CUPET . It is not just another protocol signing: it was initialed at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of the agreements is a "memorandum of cooperation on the implementation of projects within the territory of the Republic of Cuba. " Both Rosneft and Zarubezhneft are virtually SOEs, owned by the Russian government and have a long history of relations with Cuba. In November 2013, Cuban President Raul Castro met in Havana with the president of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. Meanwhile, Zarubezhneft claims to have worked in Cuba, according to the corporate history published on its website. A platform of the latter company conducted exploration work in the Cuban seabed in late 2012....

The Legal Department of the Ministry of Finance and Prices answered OnCuba via email, several questions about the 10 × 1, the assumed rate of exchange in effect from the adoption of Resolution 9 of that institution, which regulates the sale of agricultural products to tourism. As published, this proportion will also be used for the salary of the employees of Special Zone Development Mariel, who bear their salaries in national currency, although their employers will pay in hard currency. For ten being an almost equidistant number between twenty and one, the impression has spread among economists that this will be the amount by which the unifying rate will be set, from which all Cuban convertible pesos will be changed into pesos when we get to the Zero Day: the time the dual currency will be eliminated. The Ministry of Finance and Prices offers its perspective on the issue. - Is the provision of Resolution 9 a new exchange rate between the CUC and the CUP? Resolution No. 9, 2013, and Resolution No. 352 of the same year that repeals it, a "compensation" of 9 Cuban pesos per convertible one was established intended for tourist facilities in the acquisition of...

What is the Cuban government seeking with the approval of the new Foreign Investment Law? Is it a significant turning point or simply an updating of the legislative body? Will the largest Caribbean island open up to international entrepreneurship without restrictions? Cuba has not enjoyed much acceptance among businessmen and transnational corporations. This was acknowledged by the Cuban Minister of External Trade and Foreign Investment (MINCEX) himself, Rodrigo Malmierca, before the Cuban Parliament, when he stated that one of the obstacles to the application of the new law would be the “mistakes made in the past in this activity.” The sudden wish to receive between 2 and 2.5 billion dollars a year in external financing clashes with these antecedents. However, the new law and discussion process that accompanied its approval shed some light on the depth of the change. The first signal of transformation is found in the taxes eliminated for those established on the island: the personal taxes, customs, utilities (for eight years) and for the use of a workforce, as well as the fifty percent reduction of the tax on wholesales after the first year of operation (during the first twelve months its payment is exonerated). In addition,...

A resolution by the Cuban government with instructions on accountancy had never ever been a best seller. This year’s 12 edition (extraordinary edition) of La Gaceta Official (The Official Gazette) is sold successfully on Havana’s streets; newspaper seller announce it with the promise that it covers everything one needs to know about the elimination of the dual currency. The issue has not been very much covered by the Cuban press media. Apart from some explanations by journalist Ariel Terrero every morning in the Buenos dias news bulletin, humorist Luis Silva is the only one that tackles it while interpreting the character of Panfilo in the show “Vivir del cuento”. The newspapers have not said much either. This lack of information has paved the way without too much protocol to all kinds of speculations, rumors and misunderstandings. Those with bank accounts wonder what currency they should use for their savings, while others lining up outside CADECA (money exchange booth) long for the day they will no longer have to line up to change some Cuban pesos (CUP) in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC) or vice versa. In the midst of such uncertainty, banks or CADECAS are taken by assault by the shouting...

Everyone knows what Carlos Varela sings to. But, as in other matters of and in Cuba, there is complicity, a double sense, an alleged tolerance or what we might call ... the benefit of metaphor. That troubadour, with his typical black garments and his mystical projection, is already covered by the cultural haven of free interpretation. Completing his legend, Carlos Varela has a book with his name, published in Cuba by the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center. It is not an autobiography, not even a biography, but a kind of musical treatise written at sixteen hands (ie eight authors) in which the meaning and context of songs like “William Tell" or “La política no cabe en la azucarera.” The only words the musician wrote in " Habaname : the musical city of Carlos Varela " is the complete list of all the lyrics to his songs, including the end of the book, but also scattered throughout the articles that explain , narrate and confabulate about the artist and what 's behind his creations. The two specialists in charge of putting together the volume, María Caridad Cumana and Karen Dubinsky, admitted having collected texts dealing with music, " but...

Cuba is not going to seek foreign investment in Miami, Rodrigo Malmierca , Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment ( MINCEX ) said, Prensa Latina news agency reported. But the senior Cuban official also said that "the law does not prohibit it , the policy does not promote it ," when asked about the future presence on the island of Cuban investors living abroad , since Cuba consider foreign investor the natural person or legal established and with capital abroad . Malmierca made these remarks during a question and answer session with members of the National Assembly a few hours before the discussion and approval of a new legislation that will regulate the entry of foreign capital and entrepreneurs in Cuba. The explanation was offered to a question by MP and journalist of Cuban Television, Irma Shelton, who requested clarification on the possibility that Cuban-Americans can come and invest. In response, Malmierca said that everyone has the opportunity, "provided that they are people that do not have adverse positions the revolutionary process and are linked to the Miami terrorist mafia, and on the other hand offer a business of substantial interest to the country as the existing investment portfolio", according...

New details on the upcoming Foreign Investment Act became public, a few days after the discussion of the Draft in an unusual special session of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba. Article 20 of the law shall provide that the State shall authorize the entry of foreign capital that does not affect the defense and national security, national heritage and the environment, according to the Cuban News Agency after a meeting Deputy Jose Luis Santander, chairman of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs of the Cuban Parliament had with the press. Santander also explained that the legislation will grant priority to foreign investment in almost all sectors of the economy, especially in production. “It will also allow the establishment of a portfolio of investments, so that those who wish may know the areas of interest for the country.” The new framework for foreign investment also decree a substantial increase in the payment to the Cubans recruited by outsiders, as Deborah Rivas , an official of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Investment detailed. Already in the Special Economic Zone of Mariel, no worker will earn less than the average wage of Havana, an amount determined by the...

"There will be no concessions or setbacks" is the title of the first journalistic work published in the Cuban press on the new Law on Foreign Investment, which will be discussed in the Cuban National Assembly in the coming days. Deputy Jose Luis Toledo Santander, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs, gave an interview in which he gives some hints of the developments new legislation will bring: it reinforces the guarantees to investors and "sets the priority of foreign investment in almost all sectors of the economy, especially those related to the production. " All this is accompanied by “tax bonuses and total exemptions under certain circumstances, as well as easing the customs laws to encourage investment." Furthermore, they will establish "an investment portfolio, so that those who wish may know the areas of interest to the country. This folder will also bring a breakthrough in terms of the documentation that is required to make the investment, so that the process will be more agile. " The draft is being discussed at provincial level by Cuban deputies, who have expressed concerns about “the labor rights of Cubans who would work on these projects, the terms of...

A few days before making public the new foreign investment law, Cuban President Raul Castro visited the Mariel port again to catch up on investments that are still to be completed on that area. Much remains to be build, in the Mariel work continues and the pending list is not short, but the first phase of the container terminal was opened on January 27 in the presence of several Latin American presidents. This past Saturday it was announced that the railway with its perimeter fence will be completed on June 30. Granma newspaper reported that they are still missing to conclude “vials, water supply, telecommunications infrastructure, electricity, technical safety and security systems, as well as in the area of logistics activities and dredging of the bay.” As for the future of the entire infrastructure, the Cuban president said the maintenance policy designed for the container terminal should be respected, under penalty of increasing the cost of a project that still has not recovered the capital invested. In this regard, he said that Cuba should not raise a Pharaoh work in proportions that could not go on its own further: " If we build and we do not provide maintenance, gradually...

The Ministry of Finance and Prices of Cuba has published the rules determining the conformation of the retail and wholesale prices in the Cuban economy ... after day zero. What is Day Zero? The Official Gazette explains it will be the day prior to the time of the monetary unification, suggesting they will not keep absolutely secret the date of the end of dual currency in Cuba. Resolution 19 of 2014 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices gives a series of instructions on how State agencies must proceed when this occurs. The said time of disposal of the dual currency will be the moment when the unifying rate at which Cuban pesos will be listed comes into force, before one of them disappears. According to Vice President Marino Murillo, the Cuban peso (popularly called the national currency) is what will remain in circulation The new legislation gives no reason to make a run towards the banks and CADECAS . The resolution is limited to issuing an accounting standard that establishes “the elements for the accounting of the removal process of the convertible peso “on financial transactions between economic entities, and a methodology to implement the post -CUC Pricing Policy....

Get a website that ends in .cu must be quite a feat, since the Buena Fe duo booked the largest theater in Havana for three days, to give promotion with a trio of concerts to its going "online" from its new www.buenafe.cu website, which can be accessed, though it is not finished yet. Presentations are scheduled for next March 7, 8 and 9, in the Karl Marx Theater. "Buena Fe dot cu... finally we have it!" Israel Rojas, the vocalist, says in the promotional spot of the event that the EGREM label sent to the media. The duo's website suggests visitors to browse through the blogs Chiringa de Cuba and La Joven Cuba and Cambios en Cuba blogs. The biography of the group, its lyrics and its music are also included. So far, Buena Fe was publishing (and still publishes) its information, photos, videos and promotions on their official Facebook page, which announced in late February that buenafe.cu would be the title of the concert where they would present its website, announcing that "we will have fun time with YouTube, Facebook, twitter and all the cyber world that is so "easy " for us Cubans of Cuba." That much fuss...

Cuban President Raul Castro announced a wage increase for workers in the health sector, arguing that their services abroad are the main source of income of the country. Raul broke the news during the closing speech at the recent Congress of the Cuban Workers’ Federation (CTC by its Spanish acronym). He addressed in his speech the wages in the state sector, forecasting that there will be no immediate changes in the near future for other employees. The Cuban President was clear: you should not expect pay increases in the public sector at present, except among physicians, commenting that "we cannot plant in the population false expectations in the short term" in an economy whose growth slows progressively despite reforms and the changes implemented in recent years. Giving a reason, Raul Castro said that if the average wages grew faster than productivity, the effects on the economy and the people would be fatal, explaining that that would mean "eating the future" for the external debt would rise and generate a "inflationary spiral" if the salary increases were not properly supported by the increased supply of goods and services. "To distribute wealth, you must first create it," Castro said, repeating his call...

Over ninety -two thousand Americans visited Cuba in 2013, making the northern nation in the seventh largest emitting market of tourist to the island nation. With this amount, the presence of visitors to the United States exceeds that of Argentina, the Latin American country that sent most vacationers, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information of Cuba (ONEI). This represents a slight decrease of nearly six percent, compared to ninety-eight thousand who came in 2012. Still, American tourism is larger than the Spanish, which also declined last year by eleven percent. It is the first time the statistics of U.S. tourism in Cuba retreat since 2006. The behavior of the Americans was no different from the British, French and Italian major tourist markets for Cuba, which in 2013 also decreased on the emission of visitors. Also the number of travelers from Argentina declined. But the vagaries of these statistics may have little to do with the decline. The restrictions on the travel of Americans to Cuba, still standing, could have a negative impact, despite the statements made in November 2013 by the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, in favor of a greater presence of...