Invest in Cuba? Now is the time

As the Cuban economy begins a new phase of development and more opportunities are presented to potential foreign investors, it is important to get the best advice and have the assurance that if you do decide to invest, your money has the best chance of producing results for you - and Cuba.
On the face of it, it would appear that the recently established Cuba Financial Fund based in Holland and managed by people from the Romar group with 20 years of experience working there, might be a good place to start....Check out the website HERE

Things you won't read about in the Washington Post

While the Washington Post publishes unsubstatiated tittle tattle from disgruntled emigres who have nothing but hearsay evidence, news comes from Cuba of something worth reporting. The Western media is keen to keep the non-story of the death of the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya alive by giving scurrilous credibility to weird ideas that he was killed by the Cuban state, but meanwhile Cuba keeps on doing the truly amazing. Get this: According to the Cuban News Agency with the recent graduation of 8,000 Ethiopian doctors, Cuba has now educated more than 40,000 African health professionals from its Latin American Medical School (pictured) and is working to improve the lives and health of poor communities in 51 out of 54 African countries. That's news, but you won't read about it in the Washington Post.

Cuban ingenuity is truly remarkable

Everyone knows how the hard pressed Cubans made a virtue out of necessity and kept those old American cars running years beyond their sell by date by patching them up with all kinds of spare parts and botched engineering. Now it seems that Cuban ingenuity has been applied to 21st century technology. If this report in the San Francisco Chronicle is to be believed, Havana is the only place in the world where an Iphone that's been dropped in the bath can be repaired. Knowing the Cubans as I do, I would not be surprised.

Why this man could make history

For those who don't live in Florida, this affable-looking man pictured above is Joe Garcia, a Cuban- American businessman and the Democrats' candidate for Congress in South Florida, who is pitted against the Republican David Rivera in the upcoming election. It's the second time they have faced each other in South Florida and the Wall Street Journal reports that the fight this time will be really nasty. But although Joe lost last time he has a very good chance of winning this November.
This year, Democrats consider Rivera especially vulnerable. His tenure in Congress has been overshadowed by state and federal investigations into his campaign finances. Florida prosecutors closed their case in April without bringing charges, but a federal investigation is continuing.
If Garcia wins, he will make history becasue he will be the first Cuba-American Congressman ever elected who favours engagement with the island. Read this article he wrote in 2009 and you will see why, despite Joe's stated distaste for the government in Havana, folks who favour an end to the insanity of the US policy towards Cuba are raising money for him. Basically, if Joe wins in South Florida and Obama wins again, the embargo could well be history. Donate to his campaign HERE.

Sweet future for foreign investors in Cuban sugar?

Here's a report in the China Daily that highlights the extent of changes in the Cuban economy. It says the government has authorized the first joint venture in the sugar industry in a bid to boost efficiency, modern technology to revitalize the sector.
The state-run Sugar Group Azcuba was approved a month ago to create the first joint venture with foreign capital, to build a bioelectrical power station in the Ciro Redondo sugar factory, 45,000 km east of Havana.

Arts news

Revolutionary ballet school to be revived with UK's Lord Foster involved

The London Daily Mail, reports that the Cuban Ballet Star, Carlos Acosta, has enlisted the help of British Architect Lord Foster to restore the Ballet School at the national arts school complex in Havana that were planned in the 60s and never completed (pictured). Read the report HERE

Abstract expressionist, Viredo Espinosa dies

One of Cuba's lesser known painters, Viredo Espinosa has died aged 83. He was a member of the Group of the Eleven, who introduced non-figurative, abstract works into modern art in Cuba. His work was greatly influenced by his Afro-Cuban upbringing.

Viredo Espinosa, a member of a revolutionary group of artists in 1950s Cuba whose Abstract Expressionism expanded the scope of the country's modern art, died Sunday in Costa Mesa, California.  He was 83.

Espinosa, who left Cuba in 1969 and eventually settled in Southern California, died of natural causes at a nursing facility, said his friend Mariano Sanchez.