United States

Cuban drug trafficking organizations

January 23, 2012

The National Drug Intelligence Center of the U.S. Department of Justice released last year its annual report on drug trafficking operations within the continental United States. NDIC assessed the following on Cuban drug trafficking organizations for 2011: U.S.-based Cuban trafficking organizations and criminal groups are expanding their drug trafficking activities, especially in-door marijuana grow operations [...]

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Slow and cautious transitional measures

January 15, 2012

Stratfor‘s 2012 forecast for Cuba: Cuba’s slow and cautious transitional measures can be expected to continue in 2012. Key reforms such as making credit and private property available to individuals are under way, and similar reforms, including attempts to loosen travel restrictions, can be expected in the next year. Cuba’s ultimate international challenge is to balance the [...]

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Relying on central planning

July 30, 2011

Military strategist John Robb draws parallels between the decline of the Soviet Union and what the United States is experiencing today as the result of the misallocation of resources due to a reliance on central planning. Robb is the author Brave New War, a book that I highly recommend to CPD readers wherein he details a new form of [...]

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Brazil helps in small business creation

September 19, 2010

Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, met yesterday with Cuba’s de facto president Raúl Castro. Castro and Amorim discussed current international and regional issues, and characterized bilateral relations as excellent. Brazil has invested $1B in various projects in Cuba including the reconstruction of the Port of Mariel. And, Brazil has also extended lines of credit to the island as an [...]

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Diplomatic corner

July 2, 2010

The lease to the United States by the Government of Cuba of Certain Areas of Land and Water for Naval or Coaling Stations in Guantanamo and Bahia Honda was signed 107 years ago today. [Avalon Project] Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos will visit Cuba early next week (Mon. through Thurs.) to support dialogue between [...]

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Banned from military service and the death penalty

May 30, 2010

Esquire magazine takes a look at the statistics of countries that ban gays from serving in the military and that also embrace the death penalty. Cuba, along with 16 other countries (see above infographic), ban homosexuals from serving in the military and also execute people. The others are: China, Egypt, Iran, Jamaica, Nigeria, North Korea, [...]

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