It's insane how people's beliefs can be so disconnected from reality.

I want to visit Cuba. I am currently in Canada. I am an American citizen, not a Canadian citizen or PR.

Can I stay at the resorts?

Do I need a visa?

Will I have any issues when returning to the US?

Do I have to stay on the Canadian side for a certain amount of time?

Hi- travelling to Cuba next week (Havana) and would really like to see a baseball game. I can’t find a schedule posted anywhere but perhaps It’s offseason?

https://youtu.be/m14Z0Nlw6Vg?si=NJWLdWuiLZ8Qnb96

Fluid situation but things seem ok at the moment - for cuba.

Hello! I'm a social worker looking for a Spanish-speaking pen pal to work on my Spanish with. I am of Cuban descent and would like to talk to someone about the heritage and culture.

¡Hola! Soy una trabajadora social que busca un amigo por correspondencia que hable español con quien trabajar en mi español. Soy de ascendencia cubana y me gustaría hablar con alguien sobre el patrimonio y la cultura.

After the United Nation voted to end the embargo this is what The Hill posts. Shameful.

Thank you

If an American were to tip/pay with US $1 bills, would the banknote be appreciated/useful as is, or would the Cuban receiving the note eventually have to convert the note Cuban pesos?

Also, I've heard the official value of the US dollar is 24 CUP, but the real world buying power is 250 to 300 CUP, and that the average Cuban senior's old age pension is only the equivalent of $4 (four US dollars) per month. Are either of those statements true?

Thank you.

I would like to know if anyone could recommend a consulting agency to make an appointment at the Spanish consulate in Cuba, please.

Upon my return from Havana, (I returned 4 days ago and I spent 5 days) which I visited after the blackout and hurricane Oscar, I’ve reflected and compared my interactions, feedback and the opinions shared by so many different folk in the island and I’ve like to say in retrospect Havana, Cuba and its people have generated the most amount of confidence in me saying the island is extremely super safe.

I’ve visited over 50 countries so far and i started to travel internationally in 1992.

The people, bar tenders, servers, people at the bodegas, hotel workers, bus drivers, taxi, etc., inspired a sense of safety.

What triggered this analysis and desire to share my opinion, was caused because I was approached by people who read this thread and we took the conversation offline.

More importantly it was a group of potential female tourists who had the curiosity and desire to explore and see for themselves, the condition of the island, the potential of the experience.

I’ve asked those went with me on the most recent trip, to read this r/cuba and remember the comments and posts a lot of the people on here spew. We monitored it for a month, impressions were made and not once did anyone think about not going.

But it was a great lesson and amazing experience on the amount of disinformation, how disingenuous some posts are but overall I wanted them to see and realize how much effort is made by individuals driven by indoctrinated hate, ignorance and with the intent to gaslight people into a fear of not going.

On our direct fly from Havana to Miami, I asked them.

Who are you going to believe - what you are being fed/told or the beautiful and insightful experience we just had with great and amazing cuban people!

Never fear visiting Cuba because of it not being safe for anyone.

Wishing everyone an amazing experience in Cuba.

One might assume that with the abundant information available on the Internet, socialists would be accurate in their statements. But no, they consistently propagate false beliefs about Cuba and other socialist countries. Furthermore, they are notorious for shifting blame onto others instead of acknowledging the dictators they admire. Whenever Cuba's misfortunes are mentioned, they frequently resort to citing the embargo as the cause. Example:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CapitalismVSocialism/s/G7tzBmpy7v

The emphasis placed by socialists on the embargo is primarily motivated by their strong desire to assign blame for Cuba's issues to external factors, effectively absolving the Cuban government from any responsibility. This aligns with the very same strategy employed by the Cuban regime itself, thus making it nothing more than a form of propagandistic rhetoric.This is precisely why I have written this post, outlining several misconceptions that people tend to hold regarding the US embargo on Cuba.

1 - The embargo does not prevent trade between Cuba and other countries. Cuba has been a member of the world trade organization since 1995, and has formal relations with 160 countries.

Between 2000 and 2021 Cuba imported more than $150 billion and exported a total of $40 billion. Its main trading partners are China, Spain, Canada, Venezuela, Germany, United States, Brazil, Italy, France, Mexico.

The top exports of Cuba are Rolled Tobacco, Nickel Mattes, Raw Sugar, Hard Liquor and Zinc Ore, exporting mostly to China, Spain, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

The top imports of Cuba are Poultry Meat, Wheat, Concentrated Milk, Crude Petroleum and Rice, importing mostly from Spain, China, United States, Canada, and Italy.

https://oec.world/en/profile/country/cub?deltaTimeSelector1=deltaTime10&exportServicesYearsSelector=2014

One example of this:

#Spain:

Spain is the biggest trading partner of Cuba in the EU. and the third largest foreing investor in the island after Venezuela and China, with an estimated of 300 companies. The largest number of Spanish companies deployed on the island are all those related to tourism. These range from airline companies, such as IAG or Air Europa, to hotels, such as NH hotel, Hotel Barceló, Iberostar and Melia and banks such as BBVA and Banco Sabadell.

https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/economy/spanish-businesspeople-in-cuba-we-want-to-work-closely-with-cuban-entrepreneurs/

https://www.hosteltur.com/145502_las-empresas-espanolas-en-cuba-pendientes-de-la-situacion-en-la-calle.html

Exports from Spain to Cuba (2000-2021) $18 billion. https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/esp/cub/show/2021/

2 - "Ships that dock in Cuba cannot go to the US for 180 days". False. An exception to the 180 Day Rule has always been contained in 31 CFR 515.550, which excepted certain authorized shipments, as well as agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices that would be designated as EAR 99 under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, if they were located in the U.S. A further limited exception was introduced in March 2016 via an amendment to the License Exception AVS.

In October 2016, former President Obama issued a license permitting ships that had traded to Cuba to trade with the US without waiting 180 days, so long as the only freight delivered to Cuba was non-US origin goods, that would have been designated as “EAR99,” or subject to US commerce controls only for anti-terrorism reasons. “EAR99” is shorthand for category 99 of the “Export Administration Regulations” (EAR), and consists of US or US origin items that generally do not require an export license. Most US items are EAR99, especially since 2016, when crude oil was removed from the US commerce control list.

Trump didn't rolled back that rule. As a result, currently, ships that trade most goods to Cuba can call on a US port without waiting 180 days.

https://www.ukpandi.com/news-and-resources/news/2016/us-eases-180-day-rule-on-trade-with-cuba/

https://www.shipownersclub.com/latest-updates/news/ofac-clarifies-cuba-sanctions/

3 - Investment: Between 1990 and 2000, more than $3.5 billion was invested in the tourist industry. The number of rooms available to international tourists grew from 12,000 to 35,000, and the country received a total of 10 million visitors over that period.

Investment by foreign private-sector and government-controlled companies in Cuba from 1990 to March 20, 1999:

Canada $600 million

Mexico $450 million

Italy $387 million

Spain $100 million

Britain $ 50 million

France $ 50 million

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/cuba/stories/cuba072899.htm

Between 2014, the year in which the law of foreign investment was enacted, and 2017, 175 projects worth $5.5 billion were approved; 40 new projects were agreed in 2018 for $1.5 billion (plus 30 in process), a total of 245 projects and $7 billion for an annual average of FDI of $1.4 billion.

There is FDI in the Special Development Zone of Mariel (ZEDM). It was established in 2013 as a duty-free zone with an investment of $800 million from the Development Bank of Brazil executed by the Brazilian company Odebrecht. At the end of 2018, ZEDM had authorized investments of 41 users from 19 countries totaling $1.7 billion; out of a total of more than 400 proposals, only 15 had started operations and two had permits to start their project. According to the Cuban government, Cuba attracted nearly USD 1.9 billion in foreign investment in 2020, an increase from USD 1.7 billion in 2019. A major investment that took place was the purchase of 50% of Habanos S.A. and other premium cigar businesses for USD 1.22 billion by Hong Kong-based Instant Alliance Limited in October 2020.

In 2022 Cuba approved 30 businesses with foreign capital for an approximate amount of 402 million dollars, new businesses have been approved in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) and 13 Hotel Management and Marketing contracts. In addition, there are advanced negotiations for more than 50 new projects worth $9 billion. In general figures, since the approval of Law 118 in 2014, 272 foreign-invested businesses outside the ZEDM and 51 within it have materialized in the Caribbean nation. Of the 321 currently active, there are 104 joint ventures, 161 international partnership contracts, and 56 wholly foreign capital companies. All these investments have achieved a total amount of committed capital investment of more than 10 billion dollars, with companies from around 40 countries. Some companies working in Cuba include: Nestlé, Adidas, Huawei, Mercedes Benz, Sherritt International, Samsung.

https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2022/11/15/cuba-aprobo-30-negocios-de-inversion-extranjera-en-lo-que-va-de-2022

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-cuba-investment-idUKBRE88618E20120907

https://www.reuters.com/article/cuba-investment-idUSL5N1GM817

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-trade/cuba-seeks-8-2-billion-in-foreign-investment-for-326-projects-idUSKCN0ST06Q20151104

4 - Cars. "Cuba cannot import cars because of the embargo. That’s why they have to rely on old cars". False.

Cuba has imported $1 billion in cars since the late 90s.

https://oec.world/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/import/cub/all/178703/2021/

The goverment imports cars from China, France, Japan, Spain, Germany but priority is given to the tourist and diplomatic sectors. Shortly after coming to power in 1959, Cuba’s communist government led by Fidel Castro banned imports on both foreign cars and car parts. One of the inevitable effects of this policy was the deep-freeze of Cuba’s cars scene. Until 2011, cubans could only sell cars built before the 1959 revolution and needed government permition to buy modern cars from state sellers. Priority for the permits was given to people “in positions of benefit to the government”. Cubans and foreigners are not able to import their own cars.

In 2014 the government lifted its 50-year restrictions on new and used car sales. But, the state has a monopoly on sales, which means cars in Cuba are insanely expensive. While the average Cuban state worker makes roughly $20 a month in salary, one dealership in Havana is asking for $91,000 for a discontinued 206 economy car and a whopping $262,000 for a new 508 family sedan. For perspective, at $262,000, the Havana Peugeot dealer is asking more for a family sedan than its American counterparts are asking for a Bentley Continental GT ($180,000) or Ferrari 458 ($234,000), and a price on par with a new Rolls-Royce Ghost ($263,000).

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-25450026.amp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-25595674.amp

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1048911/cuba-cars-import-value-country/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.dw.com/en/imported-vehicles-go-on-sale-in-cuba-ending-decades-old-ban/a-17338972

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/01/09/261111796/cuba-land-of-the-250-000-family-sedan

5 - Internet: Cuban Internet is run by a state-owned company called Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA). ETECSA is the sole provider of Internet, WiFi, and telephone services in Cuba. The ICT sector remains dominated by government firms. Cubacel, a subsidiary of ETECSA, is the only mobile service provider.

Despite improvements to technical infrastructure, the International Telecommunications Union ranks Cuba as #135 on the Global ICT Development Index. That’s the worst in Latin America and the entire Western Hemisphere. Authorities both monitor usage and work to direct traffic to the government-controlled intranet. The state engages in content-manipulation efforts and blocks independent news sites. Political dissent is punishable under a wide range of laws.

In 2009, President Obama announced that the United States would allow American companies to provide Internet service to Cuba, and U.S. regulations were modified to encourage communication links with Cuba. The Cuban government rejected the offer, however, preferring to work instead with the Venezuelan government.

Until 2012, Cuba was connected to the Internet via old, Russian satellites—this made the connection slow and limited the amount of data that could be sent into and out of Cuba. However, in 2013 Cuba activated a fiber optic cable connected to Venezuela. On July 29, 2019, Cuba legalized private Wi-Fi in homes and businesses, although one must obtain a permit to have access.

Chinese companies have played a key part in building Cuba’s telecommunications infrastructure. China is Cuba’s primary technology providers for ETECSA. The chinese companies are; Huawei, TP-Link, and ZTE.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/is-there-internet-in-cuba-2017-1%3famp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35865283.amp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2015/10/5/9434407/cuba-internet-explained-castro

https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/how-china-helps-the-cuban-regime-stay-afloat-and-shut-down-protests/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-58255554.amp

6 - Trade between the U.S and Cuba: The United States allows for the export of agricultural products to Cuba in conformity with the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. The majority of the exports are in the agricultural sector and include chicken, soybeans and corn. In 2007, the U.S. was among Cuba’s top five trading partners, and in 2008, U.S. exports of agricultural products to Cuba peaked at $684 million. The U.S. has sold more than $10 billion worth of agricultural goods to Cuba since 2000.

https://www.fas.usda.gov/regions/cuba

https://www.fas.usda.gov/data/us-agricultural-exports-cuba-have-substantial-room-growth

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-usa-trade/cuba-says-u-s-climbs-to-5th-leading-trade-partner-idUSN1447847620080814

7 - Cuba is dictarorship. There is no democracy or different political parties. No civil, political or economic liberties. No freedom of assembly or independent press. No right to protest or speak against the goverment. This is simply the outcome of a communist regime that has held power for more than 60 years.

8 - Remittence: In order for remittances to be sent from the United States to Cuba, Western Union partnered with Financiera Cimex (Fincimex), Cuba’s largest commercial conglomerate. Fincimex was owned by Grupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. which is led by the Revolutionary Armed Forces. The military holding company controls a significant share of the Cuban economy, spanning from hotels, car rental companies, and gas stations, to almost all retail chains on the island. As a result, research shows that for every $1 of remittances sent via Western Union and later spent in GAESA shops, the military gains 74 cents, 61 cents of which comes directly from store sales.

Although a substantial amount of remittances flow into the country each year, this money often fails to reach its intended recipients and is instead diverted by the government and the military. Instead of hard cash, citizens are given electronic dollars, which can only be used at government-owned stores with exorbitant prices.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-policy-remittances-cuba-what-are-some-viable-options

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1164

https://cu.usembassy.gov/removing-cubas-military-from-the-remittance-process/#:~:text=Cuba%20is%20the%20only%20country,prices%20from%20government%2Dcontrolled%20stores

9 - Up until 2011 cubans could not travel abroad, buy a car, own a mobile phone, buy a computer, enter a hotel, sale their house or have Internet in their homes. After Raúl Castro eased some restrictions, buying a mobile line costed 40 dollars while the average cuban salary is of $20 per month. Until 2008, the ownership of DVD equipment was banned.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-reform-idUSN2815132920080331

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20130116-cuba-lifts-travel-restrictions

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/world/americas/cubans-can-buy-and-sell-property-government-says.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-reforms-idUSN1329909720080313

10 - The 11 July 2021 protests make the government lift its own “blockade” on the amount of food, hygine products and medicine travelers could bring into the country in an apparent small concession to demands by protesters who took to the street.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-lifts-food-medicine-customs-restrictions-after-protests-2021-07-15/

11 - The Cuban government consistently flouts the embargo. Until 1992, U.S. – owned foreign subsidiaries were allowed to trade with Cuba under license by the Treasury Department. Between 1980 and the end of 1992, the value of such trade was $4.6 billion.

However, in spite of the U.S. Trading With the Enemy Act, Cuba is purchasing American products through third-party countries. Brands like Nike, Colgate, Marlboro, Gillette, and Jordache are available, and not in some black-market back alley. They are are in the lobbies of gleaming government-run hotels. Wholesalers and distributors in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Canada routinely sell some of America’s most recognizable brands to Cuban importers.

Cuba has for years sought out American goods as a way of thumbing its nose at the embargo. The Cuban government itself still imports the vast majority of American goods. Cuba even sends delegations on “buying missions,” hunting for specific American products in third countries for resale back home. American companies don’t authorize the to sell or distribution of any of its finished products in Cuba. But the companies don’t have the authority to prevent these type of activities in countries where Cuban import-export companies are free to operate.

Cuba also uses shell companies to deride the embargo.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article250057944.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/04/27/cuba-used-noriega-to-obtain-high-tech-us-goods-defector-says/74493f3e-c19d-474c-8dac-4c2324267ae2/

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/14/business/worldbusiness/14iht-embargo.4.5704186.html

https://apnews.com/article/31de943001753447a216c507bb9c56ff

http://www.autentico.org/oa09537.php

12 - All the initiatives to lift the embargo and engage in cooperative efforts with Cuba have exclusively been taken by the United States, with no corresponding actions from the Cuban government. Obama’s policy of rapprochement with Cuba resulted in numerous concessions from the former, without Cuba giving in much. On the contrary, the Cuban leadership continued to criticize the US government.

During the "Cuban Thaw" at the request of the Cuban goverment, the U.S.:

Removed Cuba from the list of terrorist countries.

They stopped the "special visas" program for Cuban doctors working for the regime overseas so that they would not desert to the US.

They removed dry feet wet feet. A policy that stated that any Cuban that touched land in the U.S. was to be granted rights to stay.

The American embassy reopened.

Obama allowed US businesses to do business with Cuba.

How did the Cuban goverment respond? Fidel Castro made very clear in a letter to students at the University of Havana, on January 26, 2015, that he opposed negotiations with the United States. And in March of 2016, he said: “Each of us is supposed to be at risk of a heart attack when we hear these words from the President of the United States (…) Let no one be under the illusion that the people of this noble and self-sacrificing country will renounce the glory and rights, and the spiritual wealth that they have gained through the development of education, science and culture (…) We don’t need the empire to give us anything.”

Two months after President Barack Obama’s historic trip to the island the Cuban Communist Party’s Congress issued tough warnings about the need to maintain a defensive stance against what they called the United States’ continuing imperialist aspirations. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described Obama’s visit as an “attack on the foundation of our political ideas, our history, our culture and our symbols.” President Raul Castro described the U.S. as an “enemy” seeking to seduce vulnerable sectors of society, including intellectuals and members of Cuba’s new private sector.

13 - Money: In 63 years of revolution Cuba has received free of charge more than 300 billion dollars in cash, capital and consumer goods, "development aid", oil and gasoline, raw materials, machinery, technology and technical advice, weapons, donations.

The Marshall Plan that brought Western Europe out of the devastation after World War II amounted to $13 billion at the time, equivalent to $87.1 billion in 1990 when the USSR disappeared, and $204.62 billion in 2023.

Let's do the same with Cuba. According to the online calculator Money in Time, a 1965 dollar has a value of $9.74 in 2023. One from 1975 is equivalent to $5.70, and one from 1985, when Soviet subsidies reached their maximum level, is worth $2.85 today. So, if the value of the dollar is prorated year by year, we notice that the volume of financial resources given to Cuba easily triples the Marshall Plan.

Cuban emigrants alone have given 102 billion dollars to the Island since 1993, almost 90% from the United States. Of them, $52 billion in cash remittances, and $50 billion in packages with food, medicine and other consumer goods.

Soviet subsidies to Cuba were of 65 billion dollars between 1969 and 1990.

As for Soviet "military aid," the amount is around $45 billion, according to estimates from the State Department and the CIA. Bernard Aronson, Undersecretary of State in the Government of George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), estimated that between 1985 and 1990, Soviet military aid to Cuba averaged about $1.3 billion annually, when Fidel Castro was already attacking Gorbachev's perestroika and Moscow had reduced subsidies to Cuba.

Then came Venezuela. In 2012 alone the subsidies and investment of the Chavista dictatorship in Cuba reached 14 billion dollars. The Venezuelan government has given the Castros no less than 50 billion dollars. Mostly in oil.

We are disregarding the loans and credits extended by different countries to Cuba, which the Cuban government has not repaid. The estimated sum equals at least $60 billion.

I am not including the investments made in the Cuban economy, which total more than $40 billion since 1990. Additionally, I am not including the sales of Cuban goods in the international market. That despite being modest, have contributed to more than $50 billion to the Cuban economy since 2000. We are excluding also the revenue brouthg by tourism, which amount to billions of dollars each year.

In summary, we could state that the Cuban regime has received over $400 billion since 1960. Approximately 90% of this amount was given freely by different allies and Cuban emigrants. The question arises regarding the whereabouts of this money. How is it possible that despite injecting such a substantial sum into the Cuban economy, over 80% of its population remains impoverished? How can the deteriorating buildings, unclean streets, ration cards, and the overall disastrous performance of the Cuban economy be justified? How is it possible that after 60 years Cubans have the lowest wages in the region?

https://diariodecuba.com/economia/1696330703_50132.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2023-10-02-u1-e208512-s27061-regimen-cubano-habria-recibido-300-mil-millones-dolares

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba%E2%80%93Soviet_Union_relations

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba%E2%80%93Venezuela_relations

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.americateve.com/cuba/regimen-cubano-habria-recibido-300-mil-millones-dolares-remesas-y-subsidios-1960-n5357593/amp

https://cubanosporelmundo.com/2023/10/03/remesas-subsidios-regimen-cubano-recibido-millones/?amp

The cuban economy operates on a socialist planned system. Has this system been successful elsewhere? A common occurrence when implementing such policies is shortages and the use of ration cards. Additionally, the military owns and manages all the profitable sectors in the country, making it necessary for any operation or investment to go through their hands.

Cuba has 7 billion potential consumers for their products; however, their offerings are rather limited, consisting of tobacco, rum, and some nickel. Once again, this situation has nothing to do with the embargo, but rather stems from an inefficient and corrupt economy.

Let's consider a hypothetical scenario: what if the U.S. embargo on Cuba were lifted tomorrow? Would this action instantly resolve all of Cuba's longstanding economic and social issues? The answer is a resounding no. While lifting the embargo might lead to an influx of foreign investment and resources, it would not address the underlying structural problems that have plagued the Cuban economy and society for decades.

First and foremost, the existing government system in Cuba has been in power for over sixty years, and it is characterized by a centralized, state-controlled economy that is resistant to change. Lifting the embargo would likely inundate this system with a significant influx of money, but rather than catalyzing reform or democratization, it would reinforce the status quo. The entrenched oligarchic groups that currently control the economy, particularly the military, would be the primary beneficiaries of this financial windfall. The military not only manages the most profitable sectors of the economy, such as tourism and tobacco, but it also plays the role of shaping the political landscape of the country.

In a political environment where multi-party elections are banned and dissent can lead to severe repercussions, including lengthy prison sentences, the incentive for the government to create a more open and competitive economic system would be significantly dampened. Instead of fostering a climate of innovation and entrepreneurship, the influx of resources could further entrench the existing power structures, allowing the ruling elite to consolidate their control over the economy and suppress any potential challenges to their authority.

Moreover, lifting the embargo would lead to a scenario where the United States inadvertently becomes a financial lifeline for the Cuban regime. The resources that would flow into Cuba as a result of the embargo's removal would likely be funneled into the hands of the already affluent dictatorship, rather than being distributed to the broader population.

In essence, while lifting the embargo might provide a temporary boost to the Cuban economy, it would not address the fundamental issues of governance, democracy, human rights, and economic inequality that have persisted for decades. Without meaningful political reform and a commitment to democratic principles, the benefits of such a policy change would be concentrated among the elite, leaving the majority of the Cuban population to grapple with the same challenges they have faced for years. Therefore, any discussion about lifting the embargo must be accompanied by a broader conversation about the need for systemic change within Cuba itself, a conversation that the Cuban government has refused to have for years.

As to why there is an embargo. If you seize amercian property without compensation. Support communsit guerilla movements in Africa and Latin America. Formed alliances with Iran, North Korea, Russia and China. Give anti-american speeches throughout the world. Harbors Chinese and Russian spy bases. Destroy Venezuela and Nicaragua with your communist ideas and support Russia in the Ukraine war, it's only natural that the US would impose sanctions and restrictions to your country.

It is crucial to acknowledge that the United States has the ability to remove its embargo on Cuba; however, certain conditions must first be met according to the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996:

Waives sanctions against Cuba under this Act if the President reports to the Congress that Cuba: (1) has held free and fair elections conducted under internationally recognized observers; (2) has permitted opposition parties ample time to campaign for such elections and has permitted full access to the media to all candidates; (3) is showing respect for basic civil liberties and human rights; (4) is moving toward establishing a free market economic system; and (5) has committed itself to constitutional change that would ensure regular free and fair elections. Requires the President, if he makes such report, to take the following actions with respect to a freely-elected Cuban Government: (1) encourage the admission of such government to international organizations and financial institutions; (2) provide emergency relief during Cuba’s transition to a viable economic system; and (3) take steps to end the U.S. trade embargo of Cuba.

Hi everyone! My name is Sydney Reetz. I am a student at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, USA. I am currently working on a social product innovation project for my class in university regarding the food shortage in Cuba. I am researching and connecting with people, and I will be prototyping a product as the year goes on. I would really appreciate people who have passion towards the subject to be on a panel for my project. Being on this panel would entail offering insight and giving me feedback as my project develops. Please let me know if you would be interested in helping me with my project, or if you have any other contacts that would. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work with you. Thank you for your time!

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/4964334-mexico-supports-cuban-dictatorship/

My family in Cuba are saying they have gotten notice that they will have another 3 day black out starting tomorrow. If you have family there please let them know that this is a possibility and to prepare accordingly!

Hey guys - I posted before about my upcoming trip to Cardenas to visit my family there. Can anyone break down exactly how Cuban addresses work? Address is:

Avenida 42 entre 19a y 22
Edificio 9, apartamento 3, escalera 1010.

How do I read this? The neighborhood is called Reparto Fructuoso Rodriguez. I am a bit confused by the Escalera, I know they live on the ground floor of their apartment building - why is there more than just a building and apartment number?

I have noticed that Google Maps doesn't have all the streets labeled correctly. Is there a better app to use while I'm there that I can download offline maps of the area?