Odds and ends
- President Obama, like Presidents Clinton and Bush did every six months, writes a perfunctory letter to continue the suspension of Title III of the Helms-Burton law. That’s the provision that would allow Cuban Americans to file lawsuits in U.S. courts against investors in Cuba when those investors’ businesses involve properties they held in Cuba.
- Reuters: Brazil’s Petrobras has done seismic work in the oil exploration bloc it has leased in Cuba, and is mulling next steps.
- Madrid’s ABC reports that exporters from Valencia are experiencing one-year delays in collecting payment from Cuba, and are calling for a line of credit to be established to hold them over until Cuba pays.
- AP and El Pais on the Royal Ballet of London’s performances in Havana.
The notion that the royal ballet is only for state elites in havana is patently false.
ReplyDeleteI have normal family members in Cuba. They were selling tickets to public, and not that long of lines. 15 cuban pesos for nationals, which is very affordable for those even without remittances, and 15 CUC if you were foreigner. It wasn't avertised that broadly, but the point is that at least 70 percetno f the viewing public for royal ballet will be average Cubans.
Thanks you Royal ballet and Carlos! for putting culture and humanity above rabid politics.
So what if the Valencian investors are getting stiffed by the Revolutionary Authorities.
ReplyDeleteDon't those silly capitalists know how the foreign investment process works in Cuba? (1) The eager investor sends money to the island, (2) the govenment pockets it, and (3) the investor, when he or she rudely demands profits, or at least the initial investment back, is told to drop dead.
As the old saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat, then don't stick your head in the oven."