Cuba is undertaking a profound transformation of its traditional economic structures. This transformation is the result of several factors, some apparently leading in different directions. First, the crisis generated by Cuba’s loss of the significant Soviet subsidies in the early 1990s. Second, the measures taken by the Cuban government to meet the crisis, especially the […]

In 1996, Havana Club Holding, S.A, and Havana Club International, S.A. (“Plaintiffs”), two corporations jointly owned by Cubaexport1 and the French firm Pernod Ricard, sued Galleon, S.A., Bacardi- Martini USA, Inc., Gallo Wine Distributors, Inc., G.W.D. Holdings, Inc., and Premier Wine and Spirits (“Defendants”) in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District claiming trademark […]

Many Cuba observers have mentioned that there will be no transition to a market economy in Cuba until Cuba’s current leadership passes away either physically or politically. This observation has served as an undercurrent in a variety of forums ranging from foreign policy position papers1 and think tank publications2 to more accessible publications such as […]

The current monetary system in Cuba has peculiarities that distinguish it from the systems in other countries, where dollarization has been largely a result of high inflation. Powerful political reasons have influenced the course of dollarization in the Cuban economy, and it is notably in the interest of the Cuban government to keep the dual […]

This work is part of a broader, ongoing study of the history and culture of the San Francisco Bay Area’s (Bay Area) Cuba solidarity movement that I began over two years ago. The original project is interdisciplinary in scope and delves into the Castro Revolution’s history of international solidarity as well as attempts to understand […]