A Skeptic’s View on the “Peace Dividend”
On July 20, 2010, President Juan Manuel Santos promised the 9 million voters who had just elected him to his first term that he would build on the foundation created “by a giant, our President Álvaro Uribe.”1 He declared that Colombia could now look to the future with hope, thanks to the multiple successes that … Read more
Double Trouble: Currency Unification in Cuba
After nearly 20 years, the dual currency system enacted by Cuba to help mitigate the economic shock from the collapse of the Soviet Union is set to be retired. As part of the government’s efforts to develop the country’s socialist economy, the Cuban government recently announced that it would unify its complicated currency system. In … Read more
Why Entrepreneurship Matters in Cuba
For almost two decades, I have watched entrepreneurship explode across Latin America and the Caribbean, empowering citizens, transforming economies and changing lives. In sectors ranging from restaurants and small manufacturing to high tech, entrepreneurs are changing the economic and social landscape of the region. Perhaps most important, they are also generating jobs. Across the region, … Read more
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Can Cuba’s Economic Reforms Succeed?
The impression most casual observers receive today from Cuba is that since Raúl Castro assumed power in 2006, the country has been going through a dramatic transition to a market economy. But while what the younger Castro brother has called “structural reforms” are important steps toward a market under Cuba’s revolutionary government, they are a … Read more
Cuba: The New Leaders
Yoani Sánchez smiles during a news conference that was part of her 80-day tour of South America, Europe and the U.S. in 2013. Photo: UESLEI MARCELINO/REUTERS. Read profiles of: Miguel Díaz-Canel Yamina Vicente MalPaso The Faculty of Economics Yoani Sánchez Miguel Díaz-Canel By Michael Voss Up from the provinces: Miguel Díaz-Canel waves to the crowds … Read more
Cuba’s New Business Class
A palpable energy is reinvigorating the once-stagnant Cuban economy. Entrepreneurial businesses—spanning all sectors and industries—are springing up across the island. Walking through the streets of Havana, Santa Clara or Camagüey, it’s hard not to trip over construction sites for private restaurants, or see the storefronts offering manicures, haircuts, cell phone repairs, or colorful artwork. View … Read more
UN Condemns Cuba Embargo in Near-Unanimous Vote
The United Nations General Assembly voted for an end to the U.S. economic embargo of Cuba for the twenty-third time on Tuesday. For the second year in a row, 188 countries voted in favor of a non-binding resolution calling for the end of the embargo, with Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia abstaining. Only two countries—Israel … Read more
Cuba and Colombia
Articles: published article?1 A Skeptic’s View on the “Peace Dividend” by Alberto Bernal The economic benefits are neither direct nor certain. The Obstacles to Political Integration Post-Peace by Juanita León The obstacles to political integration. Full text available. Law and Reconciliation in Colombia by Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes and Nelson Camilo Sanchez Here’s how to achieve … Read more
Monday Memo: Canadian Executive Jailed – Missing Mexican students – Venezuelan Bolivar – Murder Suspects in Peru – Colombian Hackers
This week’s likely top stories: Canadian businessman Cy Tokmakjian is sentenced to 15 years in Cuba; Mexico searches for 58 missing students; Venezuela’s bolivar hits a new low; Peru arrests two suspects in the murder of Indigenous activists; Colombian peace negotiator Humberto de la Calle says his e-mail was hacked. Canadian executive jailed in Cuba: … Read more
These Are a Few of My Favorite [AP] Words
If there are two things that inspire me it’s a ramped up, over-the-top, scurrilous AP story about democracy promotion and a Broadway musical–especially a Rodgers and Hammerstein production. So, here is my adaptation of the classic Sound of Music, “My Favorite Things,” based on the recent series of articles published by AP on USAID’s democracy … Read more
Cuba and the Summits of the Americas
If the U.S. wants to keep the Summit of the Americas process on track and regain some measure of influence in the hemisphere, it will have to change its Cuba policy, pronto. Reframing our policy and saving the Summit process isn’t as tough as it seems; it just takes leadership. In coming months, the United … Read more
Dear AP, Sometimes a Democracy Program Is Just a Democracy Program—Even in Cuba
For the past several years, with almost predictable regularity, The Associated Press (AP) has been producing a series of articles supposedly revealing the secret, unaccountable cloak-and-dagger misdeeds of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in its Cuba program. For all the implied sinister intentions, bureaucratic overreach and shades of John le Carré-like intrigue, though, … Read more
Monday Memo: USAID and Cuba – Mexican Energy – U.S. Immigration – Argentine peso – Bridge in Colombia
This week’s top stories: USAID is accused of running a secret program in Cuba; Mexican energy reform passes in the lower house; U.S. Republicans pass immigration bills before recess; the value of the Argentine peso drops over debt woes; a bridge in Montería, Colombia collapses. USAID and Cuba: In a statement this morning, the United … Read more
Arts Innovator: X Alfonso
The hippest place to be in Havana is an old olive oil factory once known as El Cocinero. Reincarnated this February as the Fábrica de Arte Cubano (Cuban Art Factory—FAC), it is the brainchild of Cuban rocker, rapper and filmmaker Equis Alfonso (“X”) and is already taking the Cuban arts scene by storm. Part Miami … Read more
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