Cuba

vivatifosi

Interesting report coming in overnight that the US may normalise its relations with Cuba.

Lots of potential economic impacts...

Cuban economy will fare better overall as a result of not being under sanctions.

Freer movement of capital for families that are divided, with members in the US and Cuba. Will be able to help relatives more freely.

Tourism dividend... many Americans would have liked to have visited Cuba but have not been allowed.

Impact on property... lots of property ownership is disputed as a result of Communist takeover, with Cuban-Americans losing property. Also, will Havana look the same or will it drive a massive facelift?

What will Cubans buy if they have freer access to markets? Will their quirky and iconic cars go?

What will happen to the bits Cuba is good at... e.g. it's healthcare system?

Will iconic Cuban products such as cigars and rum now be available in the US and what will that do for prices?

I think this is going to be an interesting story over the coming months.

Links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30516740
And one from Fox News saying that Republicans (and some Democrats) will try to block:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/12/17/american-alan-gross-released-from-cuban-prison-official-says/

michaels

Potentially good news but apparently it needs congressional approval.....

princeofpounds

Cuba will probably lose, over time, much of its individual identity. I'm not sure many ordinary Cubans will mind though!

I can see why they are trying it; the old exclusion policy hasn't worked for the last 50 years.

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

Potentially good news but apparently it needs congressional approval.....

My umderstanding - based purely on a couple of news articles so could be wrong -is that he can do some under Executive order, but to go the whole hog eg opening an embassy, requires congressional approval. It will be interesting to see how hard he pushes,

mystic_trev

vivatifosi wrote: »

Impact on property... lots of property ownership is disputed as a result of Communist takeover, with Cuban-Americans losing property. Also, will Havana look the same or will it drive a massive facelift?

I guess the Yanks will come in and ruin the place :mad: I think it was always going to happen once Castro died.

I traveled extensively round Cuba, 13 years ago, a lovely place and friendly people. I just hope they preserve Havana's old, historic and crumbling buildings.

purch

You can "experience" Cuba by visiting Ybor City in Tampa.

Brocato's on East Columbus does the best Cuban sandwich.

The ongoing close ties between the U.S & Cuba make this move more than decades overdue.

antrobus

The Cubans realised some time ago that their 50 year-old socialist experiment has failed. They are simply trying to work out a way of extracting themselves from the mess without ending up like Russia. US-Cuba relations were thawing anyway until Cuba arrested some American called Gross in 2009, and bogged everything up, forcing Obama to toughen up on sanctions. What is driving things at the moment is that the oil price has collapsed, and Venezuela will probably default soon, and Cuba relies on Venezuela for cheap oil.

Venezuelan aid has been the biggest single factor in helping the communist island emerge from the catastrophic slump that followed the demise of its previous sponsor, the Soviet Union, in 1991. Adult Cubans remember the early 1990s as a traumatic time of food and fuel shortages. Might such penury return?

http://www.economist.com/node/18928494

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Perhaps the Americans would like advice on how to provide a national healthcare system?

jjlandlord

As in many countries worldwide, the socialist revolution and socialist government in Cuba have not only been about socialism: It has been a reaction against a corrupt government and foreign aggression.

It is quite 'funny' that the US keeps repeating that they are about democracy and human rights in Cuba (and elsewhere).
If that had been the case in the first place there would likely never have been a socialist revolution there!

The US used the Spanish-American War to kick Spain of the Pacific and the Caribbean in order to take their place.
They basically annexed the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam. And kept Cuba as a puppet state.

When the Cubans tried to gained real independence, the US intervened and installed an American Governor for some time. After that it was just corrupt, puppet governments until Castro.

The US can have a huge positive influence, but they need to let people organise and rule themselves, even if they don't 'benefit' from the result instead of always taking the short-term approach and consider foreign countries as cash cows for American corporations.

In_For_A_Penny_2

It does make me wonder if this has anything to do with Russia. It is an eminently sensible and popular move but does make me wonder “why now?”.

I know that Cuba and Russia don’t share the economic ties they once did but on a purely symbolic level, for the US to chose now to reconcile with the major communist entity in the Americas does look like a move to further isolate Russia.

elsien

I think it was already happening anyway on some levels. When I was there despite all the talk of companies being sanctioned for trading with Cuba there were multinationals such as Nestle already there and selling existing products under new names.