On December 17, 2014 (17D), Barack Obama and Raúl Castro announced in simultaneous televised speeches the beginning of a historic process toward the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba after more than a half-century of unremitting hostility. The U.S. and Cuban presidents unveiled the decision to restore full diplomatic relations between their […]
The Current Situation of Foreign Investment in Cuba
Notes1 Since the early 1990s, Cuba has experienced serious economic problems that resulted from the demise of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), the economic and financial system in which the island was inserted. At end of the 1980s, some 81% of Cuba’s external commercial relations were […]
The Role of the United States in the Cuban Economy
Notes1 The collapse of the Soviet Union and its European proxies in the early 1990s inaugurated a very difficult period for Cuba and an unprecedented economic recession that seriously threatened the survival of the Castro government. The Cuban authorities were forced to loosen up their centrally planned economy, establish more developed relations with the capitalist […]
Foreign Investment in Cuba: Recent Developments and Role in the Economy
Notes1 Since the early 1990s, Cuba has suffered debilitating blows that resulted from the demise of the Soviet Union and the disappearance of the economic and financial system in which the island was inserted (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, or CMEA). The termination of traditional trade partnerships with the Soviet Bloc and the loss of […]
The Impact of the Helms-Burton Legislation on Foreign Investment in Cuba
Notes1 On March 12, 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signed the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms-Burton law. At a time when the Cuban government was struggling for survival and opening the island to foreign capital in almost every sector of the economy, the U.S. legislation appeared to be a […]