This November 9 in Havana, the sun combined with the cool breeze of the first winds from the North tempered the reactions of surprise and doubt caused by an apparently geographically and politically distant presidential election. The unexpected triumph of Donald Trump in the United States left in many people a strange confusion – or uncertainty – about what this still very weak process can mean for the future of the normalization of bilateral relations. One of the surprised persons is Cuban economist Juan Triana Cordoví, a University of Havana professor who waited until dawn, as many did, to be convinced of a result almost no one forecasted. “It’s clear that had a connection with many people. That way of campaigning attracted an important part of the U.S. idiosyncrasy. He won against the Democratic political machinery and even against the traditional Republican political machinery itself. I believe that we are all concerned about a deepening of reactionary attitudes in that country’s international projection,” Triana commented to OnCuba in a conversation mediated by a mixture of “U.S. and Cuban grocery store coffee.” “I, like almost all Cubans, had expectations that with Hillary the speed of the pace of normalization could increase....

Before the U.S. Sprint Company signed an agreement with the Cuban ETECSA, the cellphones of its clients who traveled to Cuba were only good for taking pictures and checking the time. But after the joint establishment of the roaming service, in November 2015, a new symbolic situation was established: the sensation of isolation when touching Cuban soil is no longer that big. The president of Sprint, Bolivian Marcelo Claure, wanted to be the pioneer in the field of joint telecommunication ventures and “rob the takeoff,” as is said in athletics, after President Obama relaxed the measures to establish business deals with Cuba. Minutes before signing the agreement in a crowded and hot room of the Havana International Trade Fair, Claure confessed to the journalists present there that the negotiations had taken place “surprisingly fast.” “At the beginning I thought, ‘My God, it’s the Cuban government, the negotiations are going to be slow’…but I was surprised and we signed an agreement in record time,” he affirmed. David Seleski also likes the adrenalin of races in the world of business. That’s why he did not doubt in taking risks with his bank (Stonegate Bank) where others are more cautious. First, it was...

Turbo is a small Colombian municipality located in the Darien jungle bordering Panama. Until a few months ago, it was just a stopping place for thousands of Cuban emigrants who wound their way due north, with their sights set on the United States. In recent weeks, however, Turbo has become the latest camping area and waiting point and for many of them. Ever since the Panamanian government stopped turning a blind eye and put an end to the unofficial transit of Cubans from South America to northern Mexico, the chances of completing an overland route to reap the benefits of the Cuban Adjustment Act have become scarcer and more dangerous. The small Colombian territory is now experiencing what Paso Canoas, in Costa Rica, Puerto Obladía and Chiriqui in Panama, and most recently the Arbolito Park in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital have lived through: hundreds, sometimes thousands, of Cubans camped there, in a stopover that becomes a demanding of permission to continue on your way or pressuring for flights that come close to your destination. But Colombia is not Costa Rica or Panama or Ecuador. President Juan Manuel Santos’ administration warns regularly that it will deport all persons who remain in...

All the coastal areas of the Cuban capital, above all the low-lying areas, have been taking beatings from large waves driven by the arrival of cold fronts to the country. The area near hotels Cohiba and Riviera has been one of the most affected. Last weekend was a quiet winter’s weekend everywhere else in the city, but near the Malecon seawall in Vedado the scene was very different. The flood occupied an area of approximately a square kilometre. Last Sunday, at about 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon, general uproar alerted people to a flash-flood, one of these that periodically submerge Vedado. Evelio, a salesman in the well-known Malecón Market on 1st and B, says he’s used to it. “Last week’s flood took us by surprise but this time we managed to get everything evacuated”, he says. Evelio tries to prevent the drains blocking further. Photo: José Jasán Nieves Camilo Blanco lives in the basement of a building that is on the front of the coast, just next to the Craft Market. With every harsh winter, with every change of the wind towards the north-west in the Gulf of Mexico, he gathers up his belongings. He already knows that the sea...

A group of nearly 2000 Cuban migrants is still stuck in Costa Rica, following a clash with Nicaraguan Police that impeded their pass through that country, as part of a journey whose intended destination is the United States. Nicaraguan forces welcomed the group of immigrants with plastic bullets and tear gas, turning them back to Costa Rica, from where they were coming after crossing all the countries between that country and Ecuador, where the trip started. The immigrants had been granted humanitarian visas in Costa Rica to give them enough time to get to Nicaragua, but had to turn back when Nicaraguan anti-riot troops attacked 700 of them who had advanced 4 miles from the border. Since Sunday, the Nicaraguan government has been blaming its Costa Rican counterpart for causing the conflict by giving Cubans permission to cross their territory. Photo: Josué Bravo, La Nación The images of the events are dramatic. The level of violence used by the Nicaraguan troops has shocked the relatives of the immigrants in Cuba, who fear for the fate of the loved ones. So far both sides have been issuing political statements, but there is not much information yet about the consequences of the crisis....

Morgan Creek is a name most Cubans won’t recognize just from hearing it, but seeing the logo can bring to mind movies that were very popular locally, such as The Last of the Mohicans, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, or Major League. Morgan Creek’s president, David Robinson, and a friend from the movie industry, Kim Hammond, have been walking around the streets of Havana over the last few days, excited about the changes underway and the potential they see on the island. “This is the third time I visit Cuba,” said Robinson at the beginning of an exclusive interview he granted OnCuba. “We both liked the Cuban zombie movie, Juan of the dead (Juan de los muertos), and I have taught production courses at the San Antonio de los Baños International Television and Film School.” Robinson and Hammond, who travelled to Cuba on the first flight of a new connection between Baltimore and Havana, are not looking to sign any immediate agreements, but rather exploring, getting to know the country, and interacting with local professionals. David Robinson (left) and Kim Hammond, during a visit to OnCuba’s news bureau in Havana. Photo: José Jasán Nieves “We are here because this is a...

The Catholic Church in Cuba is a historic institution, built on the very foundations of the archipelago’s culture. Established as the official religion with the arrival of Spanish colonizers, for four centuries it maintained control over the practice of faith, until Protestant and evangelical denominations began to make their appearance, and a lay republic was founded. Before 1959, Cubans’ identification with Catholicism was reflected among some 72.5 percent of the population, and after the social changes brought by the socialist Revolution, only estimates and scant studies of a limited scope have been available. Some of these studies say that more than 80 percent of Cubans claim to believe in God, and just 10 to 25 percent of them describe themselves as “Catholics.” Photo: Alain L. Gutiérrez Almeida As one of the roots of the nation’s founding, Catholicism gave way to more autochthonous religious expression by Cubans: a syncretic fusion of Christian doctrine and African deities maintained by black slaves. Today, we can talk about African-based Cuban religions as a result of that fusion. Recognized as just another religious denomination, with full rights like any other, the Catholic community includes some of Cuba’s most representative artists, intellectuals, leaders and thinkers. The...

A Jesuit priest has a rather daring and provocative thesis regarding the Pope’s imminent visit to Cuba: Francis will frustrate many of the expectations of those who await his tour of the island. “The government may be expecting his blessing for everything it is doing now, while those in the Church who do not sympathize with the government are likely expecting him to condemn Cuba’s political system. Francisco isn’t going to do either,” claims father Alberto Garcia, member of the Compañia de Jesus for more than 40 years, a priest who, following a long journey across the United States, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, was repatriated in Cuba a decade ago. Since then, he has worked with Catholic communities and promoted spiritual and thought exercises around the country. One is as likely to find him working with his congregation in Havana’s neighborhood of Vedado as at a gathering of social actors in Matanzas, sitting next to a Baptist pastor. “Of his own free will, Pope Francis comes to speak to a people who are hurt and to offer them words of consolation. He comes to speak on behalf of hope,” he points out. Alberto Garcia, a Jesuit priest. “Bergoglio’s appointment...

“In Cuba, there are people who believe the country can be transformed without legal reforms, or by implementing legal reforms later,” jurist and historian Julio Antonio Fernandez Estrada complains. It runs in the family: he is the son of the late Julio Fernandez Bulte, one of the most renowned of Cuban jurists, professor of several generations of law students at the University of Havana. Last Saturday, Fernandez Estrada opened a workshop titled Pasado, Presente y Futuro de la Justicia en Cuba (“The Past, Present and Future of Cuba’s Justice System”), organized by the Cuba Posible(“Possible Cuba”) project at the Centro Cristiano de Reflexion y Dialogo (“Christian Center for Reflection and Dialogue”) in Cardenas, Matanzas. His paper, El Derecho y la justicia en la identiad nacional (“Law and Justice in National Identity”) essayed a kind of summary of how national identity also draws from a certain conception of legality, stemming from Roman Law (which is at the root of Spanish Law), the persistently civic mindset of our first thinkers and independence war leaders, the constitutionalism of Cuba’s Mambi independence fighters and Jose Marti’s complex republican conception of “by everyone and for everyone.” “We have gradually lost the tradition of regarding jurists...

Nearly half of Cuba’s population carries more than a few extra pounds. The most recent study reports that 43{bb302c39ef77509544c7d3ea992cb94710211e0fa5985a4a3940706d9b0380de} of the population is overweight or obese as a result of sedentary lifestyles, high intake of fat-rich foods, sugar and salt and low consumption of fruits and vegetables. Because of the bad eating habits encouraged by parents and grandparents, ten percent of Cuban children today classify as “prematurely obese.” Excess weight also increases the risk of cerebral and cardiovascular conditions, which have become the second and third most common causes of death on the island. The 2011 “National Survey on Risk Factors and Activities that Prevent Non-Transmissible Diseases” conducted by the Ministry of Public Health revealed that Cubans ate fruits and vegetables only 3.2 days a week. It seems that the country’s ingrained nutritional habits are not helping. “You have to die of something!” says Orestes, reclining into a chair of his cafeteria. “Ok, go ahead and die, but try and die in peace and without all of the complications that come with obesity,” Dr. Alberto Quirantes, an endocrinologist at the Salvador Allende hospital (formerly “La Covadonga”), replies when told about Orestes’ remark, a justification that is fairly widespread. Quirantes is...

Although the end of the high season for Cuban tourism is near, renting a room in a hotel in Havana right now is extremely hard, if not almost impossible. The large number of tourists that have visited the city over the last four months has put the accommodation capacity of local hotels to the test -revealing a sort of preview of what could happen if an avalanche of American tourists arrived in the country following the end of travel restrictions someday. OnCuba found that only a few rooms are still available in some of the city’s main hotels. “If you want a room, hurry up and make your reservation right now,” said a saleswoman at an eleven-room hotel of the Habaguanex Company, on San Ignacio Street. “Old Havana hotels are almost sold out.” Completely sold-out are the Ambos Mundos, Terral, Habana Libre, Riviera, Telegrafo, Palco, Melia Cohiba and Melia Habana hotels. “There’s little availability,” some tour operators and sales agents said apologetically. Hotels are constantly receiving tourist groups from all over the world. Many of these visitors are coming to explore business opportunities “before everything changes”. The number of Americans that visited Cuba between January and February 2015 increased by...

Almost everything is ready for the US flag to fly in Havana. With just two details: the official agreement between the two countries to reinstate their diplomatic missions in perfect conditions, and the occasional hand-rust paint on the metal pole that will hold the banner of the Stars and Stripes. The mast of 1953 has not been used since 1961 when diplomatic relations were broken. These days it is seen surrounded by scaffolding suggesting preparations for a future ceremony. The condition of Interest Office host by the Swiss Embassy prevented until now the northern legation be represented by its flag. If it ever flies free will be another symbol of the pitch change in the relationship between the two governments. Although it is expected to do the same beat with hurricane gusts than with gentle breezes. Witnesses of the future restoration of the pavilion in the building now occupied by the SINA against Malecón, occupy their boxes sitting in the park Calzada and K. They are there waiting their turn to enter the "interview" after a visa to travel to the United States. "It's slow, very slow, I see nothing different," says Otto, a tall man, in his 50s, from...

In the Cuban slang a "bug" is someone with skills to sneak through the margins of the law and turn it into profitable illegal business. Some of these "skillful” have found a profitable gold-mine in the Adjustment Act, enacted in 1966 by the US government to provide benefits for asylum to Cubans over any other emigrant. Figures provided by the Sun Sentinel newspaper talk about two billion dollars stolen over two decades by Cuban citizens who after requesting political asylum obtained legal residence, or citizenship in the United States. The usual "modus operandi" of these people includes defrauding insurance companies with self-inflicted traffic accidents or collect bills of fake welfare systems to medical services like Medicare. When the scam is discovered, and as nobody was chasing these "exiles", a considerable number of them return to Cuba, to enjoy the ill-gotten money and escape from the northern bailiffs. The absence of diplomatic relations or close judicial cooperation between the two countries facilitates that, if not breaking the law in their countries of origin, the fugitives can live the rest of their days in apparent tranquility. But the situation appears to be changing. The Gilbert Man "case" The aforementioned police capture in...

The sudden entrance of Cuban customers as a sourceof incomes for the tourist industry in Cuba has regularized after the government decided to open this market for them in 2009. Even though specific numbers are not available, there has been in fact a sustainable growth. The number of guests in 2013 rose by 8% in contrast with 2012, and by the first quarter of 2014 it had increased by 28% in comparison with the same period last year. The exact meaning of these numbers is the thousands of Cubans than can afford it, “mostly self-employed workers and internationalists abroad; though there are all sorts of people”, noted sales representative Yana González Korucienko, from Cubanacan, in the province of Cienfuegos. She also recalled that back in 2009 their catalogue was barely one page long and now shemakes bookings in more than 100 hotels from 24 chains. On her desk, María de los Ángeles and Rafaelglance through the “book”. They own a guesthouse and they are taking this option for a second time, after the banning for national citizens to stay in hotels was lifted. “This time we are going because our daughter turned 15 and we had promised her we would”,...

"Other measures against could have been taken against who carry goods to Cuba for commercial purposes, provided in previous customs regulations, which only have to be enforced," explains a doctor working as a volunteer in Africa and adds that " the internationalists are not who keep the black market. " He reminds us all that "we must keep in mind the importance the Cuban cooperation represents for Cuba and the world “and explains that the cost this has "you must have been for five or more years in internationalist missions to know what it represents in family, personal and patriotic order. " He concludes by asserting "that these new measures will not put an end to the black market" and seems to be right if we go by the interview we made ​​to a "self importer" who works on a large scale, supplying the black market massively and constantly. "The business will continue" The new restrictions on import are meant to contain contraband trade and capital flight, redirecting the money toward the more expansive, inefficient and out of stock domestic markets. But there are always people who can find loopholes to any law, and so will happen; Emilio, a weather-battered...

They are the main diplomatic letter of Cuba, the most important source of income for the country, but nevertheless they were also affected by new customs restrictions that will come into force on September 1, 2014 Tens of thousands of Cuban collaborators in several continents will pay for the sins of other when it comes to financial and trade protection for the state. To them, they kept only the right to import electrical appliances and other household goods from home, in greater numbers than the rest of the travelers, but they may do so only at the end of their "mission". "I am a teacher working in Ecuador by an agreement between universities. In my case the new regulations do not affect me much, "Ernesto, professor at the University of Cienfuegos, in the south center of the archipelago explains. "Although there are reductions in the amount of items and change in prices, quantities are acceptable. Maybe we can point out some specific items, if the personal goal is 'supply' the family with things that are not there or are of poor quality, "he says. Instead, fellow citizens disagree more with the regulation, "How is it possible that the same treatment...

For years, the State sold used cars, dropped from rental agencies, through an official letter attesting that the holder had enough savings, foreign currency earned abroad. The queues were made of thousands of people, including diplomats, artists, journalists, health collaborators and sportspeople. And some had the idea that it might be a good business selling others the right to buy a car. That was the main reason given informally to finish overnight with the "letters" and to sell cars to unaffordable prices, when a normal Peugeot can cost up to $ 250,000. Cuban Independence Wars General Máximo Gómez used to say that Cubans fall short or go too far and his judgment seems still valid. However, no matter how extreme the response it was true that the business of the "letters" existed and here's an example: Story that is not a fairy tale Julia and Francisco had a car. But they wanted to have another. Cristóbal, a long time friend of the couple, recently had become a privileged man after being employed abroad under a contract managed by the Cuban government; he deserved a "letter", the administrative blessing, to acquire his own means of transport. But the promise that letter...

The city of Cienfuegos employs thousands of dollars each month to contain dirt and deterioration of public health caused by the negligence of many of its inhabitants and the material insufficiencies of its collection system. Authorities of the also known as the Pearl of the South (for cleanliness, among other values​​) that seek to maintain national "fame" promoting initiatives such as collecting "classified" garbage and construction of a new landfill. With money provided by the French NGO Cuba Cooperation, neighbors of the Punta Gorda tourism neighborhood received three separate containers: one for "organic" waste and other for recyclable and offal from cleaning gardens and yards; which are collected at the doors of the houses by the crew of a collector car. After eight months of its implementation some inefficiencies in the system are noticeable, but especially the survival of unhealthy habits in people who persist in creating "garbage dumps" in some corners of the community. "He who fails to comply with this is failing because he wants to" say Heberto and Grisel categorically, a retired couple who recently returned from a visit to Germany. "There have been very few days that the truck hasn’t shown up, and although it is...

In one of the groups that each week visit the city of Cienfuegos since the Obama administration reopened the People to People exchange program, came Mariessa Ryan, an artistic Minneapolis developer who insisted on taking up to her city a taste of what she observed in the Caribbean town. Two years after her first trip she is about to get her wish , since in the first days of June painters Adrian Rumbaut and Camilo Villalvilla , photographer Omar Valenti and troubadour Nelson Valdés will leave for the United States; the first group of Cubans who travels to American soil as part of the U.S. Cuba Artist Exchange initiative. Just in April Mariessa and several colleagues were on the island to refine the final details and complete the Cuban side of the exchange , playing rap and painting together a mural on the facade of the house of musician Valdés. Between April visitors were Dane Whitehead and Paul Irmiter , filmmakers who filmed that part of the story to complete it once the entourage lands in Minneapolis. “After being in Cuba this year we are more determined to create a long-term program that provides many opportunities for cultural exchange and...

Information from the Interior Ministry confirms that from May 9, 2014, in Cuba services of issuing passports and identity cards have been disrupted due to "technological difficulties caused by electrical faults" "For this reason and in order to avoid inconvenience to the public, it is suggested that those interested in doing paperwork (...)do not go to the units, pending report on the mass media of the restoration of these services, "says a note delivered to state media in the country. The note of the Identification, Immigration and Nationality Directorate, signed on May 14th, also ensures that specialists "are seeking to resolve the situation as quickly as possible," and apologizes "for the inconveniences that this may generate." It is relatively common that sometimes the "system crash" in these procedures in Cuba, which also includes change of plate and vehicle registration, although the latter continue to operate in the current circumstances as OnCuba could check. The weakness of the data transmission networks and congestion also cause falls in recharges and payments systems of the Telecommunications Company of Cuba, ETECSA, and the use of magnetic cards to withdraw money from ATMs or buy items in the hard currency stores. This glitch also comes...

The decapitalization of the Cuban manufacturing industry is touching bottom. Year after year, since the start of economic reform in 2011, the authorities recognize the urgency to revive the industrial sector as a way to increase the country's income from exports, in addition to meeting the demands of the domestic market. For the young Doctor in Economics Ricardo Torres, from the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, since the Guidelines were adopted, the authorities have taken important actions that seek to create a framework for later promoting specific actions. Among them are the creation of the Ministry of Industry and the adoption of policies for recycling, packaging, biotechnology and renewable energy; but he notes the need to launch more daring proposals, as fundamental premise to achieve new levels of development. “When you read the Guidelines, it seems that our main task on issues related to the industry should be rescuing the industry we had in the late 80s that we lost in the last 20 years. That means that the current Cuban manufacturing would have to look like that “and that is not shared appreciation, because national and world conditions have changed. The professor at the University of...

A new initiative increased business between state and private tourism entrepreneurs. Since December 2013 it is possible for travel agents to manage reservations for accommodation, food and transportation to a private provider of services. The move is another step toward the opening of trade relations of this kind in Cuba, for several decades limited when not prohibited. "The non-state accommodation houses have solved a major problem in this high season," the seller of the state agency Havanatur in the central Cuban provinces, Jose Diaz Guerrero, says and reveals that the diversion of customers to private hostels have solved the overbooking problem of state hotels. "Before we had to move groups of travelers seeking the city tourism to distant facilities, 15 and 20 kilometers away from the cities, besides changing their type of offer by the sun and beach modality," Yana Korucienko González, seller at the Cubanacan agency, said. "Now we can keep them in the cities and give them even more personalized treatment, because the hostel is very familiar," she added. The "safe" flow of tourists Villa Lagarto is a house for rent with four rooms, restaurant and private dock located a few hundred meters of the iconic Hotel Jagua...

The development of new technologies in Cuba moved the longstanding practice of informal exchange and black market into the digital arena. In the early 2000s distribution lists by email proliferated, where users sent their interests in buying or selling, but in a very precarious and disorganized way. “Revolico is born” Taking advantage of the situation, several national engineers settled abroad created a website that optimizes search. It was named "Revolico.com" appealing to a word much used in Cuba to describe the mess and clutter. The positioning of the site is high, because in the last 60 days accumulated 337,335 ads, but remains largely blocked from the public domain servers. To confirm its usefulness you just ask some Cubans. "When looking for an article the most effective way is to search in Revolico because at state stores they are too expensive or you don’t find them. I got my air conditioner for the off-line version of this site, “Sandy Azorin says. This worker of a bakery chain acquires digital files often sold illegally through hard drives, which in Cuba is known as "The Pack". Thus he gets from pirated films and soup operas to magazines in PDF or portable version of...

Electronic commerce adds a new facility for Cubans living abroad or interested in buying gift items within the country. TRD Caribe and Panamericanas chain stores offered from late 2013 the "virtual store" in various locations around the country. The association of the Cuban state stores with a Canadian company allowed the launching of the www.envioscuba.ca site, from which anyone interested can buy food, appliances and other items and pay with credit cards. "All that is there, is in existence," the head of a TRD Caribe commercial department of the province of Cienfuegos , Yanileysi López Sarria , told OnCuba and added that after every working day they update the available supply and offer information on the page. "In addition, the online store offers the option of home delivery or store pickup, although in both cases the act of sale proceeds equal: a clerk explains product features and complete warranty forms, in case is needed, " she adds . "We have already made transactions in our province, both home delivery sales and at the store and even offered discounts year-end," Yanileysi says. The site claims to have representation in nine provinces, although showing hyperlinks to markets in all territories. Maybe they...

In the next twelve months the Cubans will not experience a “quantum leap “in their lives, though, even without notice, they will be participating in real changes in the economy. I think Eduardo López Bastida , or Kuten , as he is known at the University of Cienfuegos , a ' economist by conviction " who began his career as a chemical engineer , became a doctor in this matter, an MA in energy and the environment and the other in integrated management of coastal areas. One day he liked the economy and went to make a living out of it, to defend the other side of that coin: the one that cares about the environment and social equity . "With the economy with environmental focus is that I see the explanation to the perceptions of people about slow changes which we live through. We are in a process that not only speaks of economic changes, but is at the same time preserving social equity and care for nature. Changing while keeping balance in these three items takes longer than entering pure and simple market laws, “he says. And he could be right if we look at China, with its...