Entries by Havana Live

Cuba tells Google NO THANKS on free WiFi

HAVANA, July 13  (HT Fernando Ravsberg)  The second secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, 85, responded with a thanks but no thanks to Google’s recent offer to install WiFi antennas throughout Cuba for free. “Everyone knows why there isn’t more Internet access in Cuba, because it is costly. There are some […]

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Cuba to build 7 wind farms financed by foreign investors

HAVANA, July  13 (EFE)  Cuba plans to build seven wind farms financed by foreign investors under a program aimed at developing renewable energy sources in the medium term, Energy and Mines Minister Alfredo Lopez said. The project is part of an effort by the island to generate 24 percent of its electricity from renewable sources […]

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Miami-Havana daily ferry service gets US gov.approvel

HAVANA, July 12   The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has granted Attica Group approval to operate its American subsidiary, Superfast Ferries LLC, a marine route between the US and Cuba. Attica is still in the process of applying for approval from the Cuban government for its operation, which would […]

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First JetBlue direct flight from New York to Cuba left friday

HAVANA,  July  12  On Friday, JetBlue according to protocol begun its guide flying from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York to Cuba becoming the initial chief hauler inside the United states.S. to create the tangle his legs because of the fact that limitation on travelling to Cuba were really treated effectively through Obama […]

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UN launches project to feed 900,000 people in Cuba

HAVANA, July  11 The World Food Programme (WFP) applied a project in Cuba that will benefit 900,000 people in five provinces of the eastern region of the island, reported today in Havana officials of the UN agency. The initiative aims to ensure food and nutritional security of the three most vulnerable groups of the population: […]

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Cuban, U.S. scientists bond over large sharks

HAVANA, July  11 (AP)    Somewhere in the North Atlantic right now, a longfin mako shark — a cousin of the storied great white — is cruising around, oblivious to the yellow satellite tag on its dorsal fin. In mid-July, that electronic gizmo should pop off, float to the surface and instantly transmit a wealth […]

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Filmmaker Tomas Piard to Premiere in Cuba His Film ”La Ciudad

HAVANA, Jul 11. (PL) Cuban filmmaker Tomas Piard will premiere his latest feature film entitled “La Ciudad”, on July 14 at the Charles Chaplin movie theater in Havana. At a press conference, Piard offered details on the film that is divided into three true stories related to the topic of emigration, distance and reunions. From […]

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Colleges in US and Cuba form partnerships as travel restrictions ease

HAVANA, July 11   (AP)  As the U.S. and Cuba mend ties, colleges in both countries are forming partnerships that once were heavily restricted. Only months after the U.S. eased travel restrictions, several colleges have struck agreements with Cuban schools to create exchange programs for students and faculty. More American colleges are planning study trips […]

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Western Union film’s U.S. tv ads in Havana

HAVANA, July  10  Western Union is pushing money transfers to Cuba in a new series of TV spots produced on the island, which was recently opened to U.S. travel and business. The two Spanish-language ads are among the first to be filmed in Cuba by an American-based company since the 1962 U.S. embargo. “Cuba is […]

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Havana announces 5-fold spike in cruise tourism since 2012

HAVANA ,July 9  (AP Peter Orsi)  Cruise ship tourism to Cuba spiked more than five-fold over the last three years and is up even higher so far in 2015, government officials reported Thursday. In a statement published on the state-run website Cubadebate, the Transportation Ministry said the number of cruise ship port calls rose from 24 […]

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Europeans rush to seek Cuba deals

HAVANA,  July 9  (REUTERS)  European officials and businesses are visiting Cuba in unprecedented numbers, attracted by its market-oriented reforms and hastened to act by Havana’s improved relations with the United States. Seventy-five companies accompanied Spain’s Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism Jose Manuel Soria during his visit this week, and 140 Italian firms also visited […]

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Some of world’s best art is made in Cuba

HAVANA, July 9  (HuffingtonPost  Miles Mogulescu )  Cuban artists are creating some of the most exciting and innovative contemporary art in the world. The best Cuban art can stack up against the best contemporary art being created in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London or other world art centers, while still maintaining an essential Cuban […]

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Orlando airport’s new charter service to Cuba took off Wednesday

HAVANA, July 7  When Elisabeth Rodriguez and her mom landed in Cuba on Wednesday, was the first time in a year seeing most of her extended family. The 16-year-old was one of about 50 people to board one of the first flights to the island nation from the Orlando International Airport. “It’s so good,” said […]

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Che Guevara’s son on Cuba’s coming identity crisis

HAVANA,  July 8  When Omar Perez was 25, he found out his father was the revolutionary Che Guevara. For Perez — a poet, artist and musician — the revelation didn’t much change his outlook on life, or on Cuba. Jeffrey Brown talks to Perez in Havana about the Cuban Revolution, art and how closer ties […]

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Cuba’s new tourism industry is potentially bad news for the rest of the Caribbean

HAVANA, July  8  Officials at Caribbean tourist destinations popular with Americans have been up in arms over the budding relationship between Washington and Havana. Opening the island to American tourists, the officials say, would decimate tourism-dependent economies in places like cash-strapped Puerto Rico. They now have even more reason for worry. On Tuesday, Carnival Cruise […]

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With eye on future,Carnival Corp.will begin cruises to Cuba in 2016

HAVANA, July  7  With an eye toward one day having a variety of travel packages to the once-forbidden island, Carnival Corporation announced on Tuesday that it would begin offering people-to-people-exchange cruises to Cuba beginning next year. Carnival, the world’s largest cruise company, has secured approval from the U.S. Treasury and U.S. Commerce departments to offer […]

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Lebanese business leaders search investment opportunities in Havana

HAVANA, July  7  A recent agreement between the United States and Cuba to restore diplomatic ties by the end of July has further bolstered interest among U.S. investors who started scrutinizing business opportunities in Havana as soon as the country was crossed off the U.S. terrorism list almost a month ago. But U.S. investors are […]

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Ex-US diplomat looks back on 50 years of ties with Havana

HAVANA,  July 6  (AFP) – As the US diplomats headed out to sea, their embassy in Havana closed but still visible on the horizon, the lights in its windows flickered. One of the travelers that day in 1961 was Wayne Smith, who would later become head of the US interests section in Cuba. Smith has […]

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Guantanamo Naval Base accused of soil damage

HAVANA, July  6   (Havana Times)   According to a Cuban scientist, the Guantanamo Naval Base, operating on territory which the United States has leased from Cuba since February of 1903, is responsible for secondary salinization processes that are affecting soils and preventing adequate draining in the region. The Masters in Science Mario Montero claims […]

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Airbnb crack’s the Cuban market

HAVANA,  July  6 Nathan Blecharczyk, a co-founder of Airbnb, leafed through the guest book at one bed and breakfast that had joined the lodging company’s network, tried a Cuba Libre in the roof-top bar of one of the city’s most fashionable private restaurants and climbed a spiral staircase to view the roof terrace at another […]

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Marine embassy guards could be in Havana by August

HAVANA, July 5  The U.S. has formally announced its intentions to open an embassy in Havana, bringing the Marine Corps a significant step closer to deploying uniformed embassy security guards to the tropical Caribbean island. The decision to open formal diplomatic facilities was announced by President Obama July 1. While U.S. officials said they have […]

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How to tell if your Cuban cigars are real or fake

HAVANA,  July  4  Business Insider recently sent three reporters to Havana, Cuba to experience the city as tourists. One of the top priorities on our list was to buy some authentic Cuban cigars. We tried two different approaches. First, we bought a box at an authorized store inside the Hotel Habana Libre. Then we bought […]

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In clean car race to Cuba,China beats Prius and Tesla

HAVANA,  July 3  When Cubans open the flood gates to American tourists, the modern, electric vehicle fleets they see on the roads alongside the tradition cars from the 1950s would have been built in China and not Japan, not the U.S. On Friday, Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD (Build Your Dreams) said it will supply […]

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JetBlue’s First Direct Flight to Cuba Takes Off From JFK

HAVANA,  July 3   JetBlue officially began direct flights to Cuba out of New York’s Kennedy Airport Friday, becoming the first major carrier to make the trip after travel restrictions were eased by the White House earlier this year and making passengers who got to be on the virgin flight feel like part of history. […]

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Advertising giant reaches out to Cuba

HAVANA,  July 3  WPP, the world’s biggest advertising group, is to appoint an executive in Cuba, saying yesterday it would be the first major international communications services group to conduct business in Cuba. The move comes a day after the US and Cuba formally agreed to restore diplomatic relations on July 20. WPP, parent to the […]

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MSC Cruises home-port of MSC Opera in Havana in December 2015

HAVANA,  July 3  MSC Cruises has announced it will become the first mainstream cruise line to home-port in Cuba with MSC Opera calling Havana home for the winter 2015-16 season. The new itinerary will give holidaymakers from around the world the opportunity to visit Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico along with two nights and […]

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