Subjectivist wrote:Plantagenet any idea what olive oil costs in Cuba? I was reading recently about low tech life where they were using olive oil for deep frying at moderate temperatures. After a week filtering it and using it as oil lamp fuel in place of kerosene. When you deep fry with olive oil you have to cook at lower heat for a longer time because of the lower smoke point.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Helen Coffey wrote:Airlines CANCEL flight services to Cuba – even though it’s SWAMPED with tourists
CUBA has had a recent tourist boom – so why are airlines cutting back on the number of flights they offer?
This week airlines Frontier Airlines and Silver Airways announced they were reducing the number of flights offered to Cuba, following in the footsteps of JetBlue and American Airlines.
“Other airlines continue to serve this market with too many flights and oversized aircraft, which has led to an increase in capacity of approximately 300 per cent between the US and Cuba,” a spokesperson for Silver told the New York Times.
“It is not in the best interest of Silver and its team members to behave in the same irrational manner as other airlines.”
Many airlines originally rushed to offer a large number of scheduled flights to Cuba when improved relations between Washington and Havana meant commercial flights could travel between the two countries for the first time in 50 years.
The flights recommenced from August 2016.
Experts anticipated demand would be huge – but has tourism in Cuba not taken off as predicted, hence the culled flight schedules?
Since 2014, when the old travel restrictions between Cuba and the US became more flexible, American visitors have flocked to the island in increasingly large numbers.
In 2016, a record four million tourists visited Cuba – a 13 per cent increase on the previous year.
In 2017, the Cuban Ministry of Tourism predicts an increase of a further 100,000 visitors.
Of those who visited the island last year, 614,433 were American according to Josefina Vidal, Cuba’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States. This is an increase of 34 per cent from the previous year.
Hotels in Cuba have been overflowing during the winter season, and as the demand for rooms increases, so hotel prices have soared to as high as $500 a night.
Increased visitor numbers also mean there are periodic shortages of beer and bottled water.
The Miami Herald reported that a Havana club, the Yellow Submarine, completely ran out of beer and ice one night in January.
The publication also claimed that the wait in the line to exchange money at Havana airport can stretch for hours.
Business definitely seems to be booming, so why the airlines’ cull?
Perhaps they’re taking inspiration from Donald Trump, who has said in the past that unless the US gets a more favourable arrangement in its dealings with Cuba, he might scrap the new travel freedoms.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Cog wrote:The previous administration's easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people, they only enrich the Cuban regime,
Cog wrote:eight more years of sanctions won't hurt anything.
Newfie wrote:I've yet to hear anyone who has significant first hand knowledge of Cuba, and who does not have some personal stake in the Castro regime, recommend a hard line. While they generally acknowledge some political difficulties and abuses they also generally feel very positive of the Cuban people and feel they have more to gain by engagement than by sanctions.
The Bendixen & Amandi poll showed 44 percent supported normalizing relations; 48 percent opposed it.
Those Cuban Americans born in the United States supported the normalization effort by 64-33 percent. Those born in Cuba opposed it 53-38 percent. Of those born in Cuba, those who emigrated before Mariel in 1980 opposed the deal 64-29 percent. Those who came after Mariel were split, with 45 percent in favor and 44 percent opposed.
Cog wrote:Perhaps Trump is more interested in the long term interests of the USA than his own party. Something I'm sure Obama never considered in his decision making process.
The oil rig was built mostly in China and drilled its first well in Cuba. Now it’s delivering a victory for Russia in its fight against U.S. sanctions. Italian oil giant Eni SpA and Russia’s state-controlled Rosneft PJSC are using the Scarabeo 9 ultra-deepwater rig to drill in water more than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) deep in the Black Sea. It’s the first well drilled by a western company at a Russian oil project that falls squarely under U.S. sanctions imposed on the sector in 2014. For Vladimir Putin, it’s a second energy-sector victory in a little over a week after the $27 billion Yamal liquefied natural gas project started shipping cargoes despite U.S. sanctions against its controlling shareholder. "It is important not because of the size, but from a geopolitical perspective it is key," said Alejandro Demichelis, director at boutique investment bank
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said his government’s last-minute changes to policies that went into effect on Friday following widespread criticism showed it listens to the people and were not a setback.
The Communist government this week watered down the most heavily criticized elements of new restrictions on free enterprise and promised to revise regulations accompanying a law on the cultural sector to address artists’ concerns.
The changes to policies published in July came the same week as Cuba finally launched mobile internet, a long-awaited service that many had been skeptical would ever arrive in one of the world’s least connected countries.
“There is no reason to believe the rectifications are setbacks nor to confuse them with weakness when one is listening to the people,” Diaz-Canel, who succeeded Raul Castro in April, tweeted. “None of us can do as much as we all can together.”
The government said on Wednesday it was lifting a cap of 50 seats for private restaurants and a ban on Cubans holding more than one business license.
Private sector workers, who make up around 13 percent of the island’s labor force, criticized the government for making such big changes so late.
Some restaurants had already shrunk capacity and fired staff, while many entrepreneurs had divested licenses or started the lengthy bureaucratic process of transferring them to others.
Overall they welcomed the move.
“I think it’s the first time they’ve really listened to the private sector,” said Mickey Morales, the owner of a 150-seat restaurant with panoramic views of Havana’s centuries-old port. “It’s a relief.”
On Thursday, the government also said it was consulting with artists on regulations on cultural activities to ease fears about increased censorship.
Ted Henken, a professor of black and Latino studies at Baruch College in New York, said Cuba’s unusual volte-face suggested it was becoming more open to feedback or less able to withstand growing discontent.
Diaz-Canel lacks the historic legitimacy of Castro, who fought alongside his older brother Fidel Castro for the 1959 revolution. He took power as the ailing economy faced dwindling aid from key ally Venezuela and a tighter U.S. trade embargo.
To date, Diaz-Canel has appeared to seek legitimacy through greater public interaction with Cuban citizens, companies and institutions than his reclusive predecessor, analysts say.
Until now, that change in style had not translated into substantive policy changes, nor had he openly met with private entrepreneurs or more critical actors of civil society.
“Hopefully this is the start of a change of course,” Ricardo Torres, an economist at a Cuban state-run think tank, wrote in a public post on Facebook, “where the rights and interests of the island’s inhabitants are adequately taken into account in the politics of the Cuban state.”
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Cog wrote:This is what the Democrat Party wants for you. About 14 minutes.
In before the usual defenders of communism say "This time we will get it right".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz6VJK3mS08
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