Entries by Havana Live

Taxi to…HAVANA

A SOUTHGATE cabbie with a passion for the achievements of the Cuban revolution is donating his London taxi to a museum in the Caribbean island’s capital Havana. Tony Caccavone, 70, of Conway Road, is sending his Cuban-themed cab to the Havana Motor Museum in the heart of Old Havana after 16 years of service in […]

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Cuba Opens Home, Office and Commercial Rental Market

Cuban citizens may now turn to real estate agencies (both state and approved private) to rent buildings as dwellings or offices, commercial establishments and storage sites, the daily Juventud Rebelde reported on Wednesday. Until now, the state-run agencies could rent spaces only to foreign and state-run companies and to foreigners living in Cuba, not to […]

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Cuba sees “major role” for foreign investment

Cuba plans to open its economy to greater foreign investment under a new law to be taken up soon by its legislature, a report in state-run media said Saturday. Outside investment no longer would be merely a “complement” to Cuba’s state-run economy but “would occupy a major role” under the proposed law, said Pedro San […]

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Andrew Moore’s Cuba photos at Couturier Gallery in L.A.

In one of Andrew Moore’s photographs of Cuba, on display through Feb. 15 at Couturier Gallery in Los Angeles, a half-dozen men and women are hanging out at an aging ferry terminal. Their postures are casual and unself-conscious, yet they form a quasi-theatrical tableau. One couple appears absorbed in intimate conversation. A single man rests […]

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Start-up aims to put Cuba back on the coffee map

Former Treasury minister Philip Oppenheim has signed a deal with Cuba, which will allow his start-up business, The Cuba Mountain Coffee Company, to purchase high-quality coffee and invest into the Cuban agriculture industry. Before the revolution, Cuba was one of the biggest coffee producers in the world but the industry has shrunk by more than […]

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First American Paintings to Be Shown in Havana in 50 Years

Less than one month after the departure of the first commercial flight from Key West to Havana in more than 50 years, another kind of U.S.-Cuba exchange will begin: the first cross-cultural gallery exchange in just as many decades. In Havana, at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the project (dubbed One Race, the Human […]

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Cuba and the UK on Business Forum to Stimulate Links

Cuban and British entrepreneurs started a Business Forum in the Cuban capital Tuesday, with the objective to stimulate the economic and commercial relations between Cuba and the Great Britain. On the first day, Omar Fernandez, general secretary of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the importance of the presentations of this event on sectors of […]

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Exhibition of Bible-related Relics Inaugurated in Havana

An exhibit of bible-related millenary relics was opened in Havana, which also displayed a series of funerary face packs of ancient Egypt, papyruses and other archeological pieces. The sample, named: The Bible, the path of God on the path of Man, is being exhibited at Havana´s Cathedral till February 2 and it is made up […]

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University of Tampa baseball team arrives in Havana

University of Tampa baseball team catcher Nick Tindall holds 6-month-old son Maximus while Tindall and his teammates wait to check their bags at Tampa International Airport on Sunday before a weeklong trip to Havana. University of Tampa pitcher Jimmy Hodgskin adjusts items in his bag at Tampa International Airport on Sunday. About 50 people, including […]

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5.1 earthquake sways buildings in Havana

A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in the Straits of Florida off Cuba on Thursday, startling office workers in medium-rise buildings set swaying in Havana. There was no immediate word of any damage or injuries. The temblor occurred just before 4 p.m. about 106 miles (172 kilometers) east of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The […]

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Cuba to partially privatize state taxi service

Thousands of Cuban state taxi drivers will soon be leasing their vehicles and working on their own as part of a reorganization of the country’s taxi service aimed at improving efficiency, according to rules published today. The measure follows the similar transfer of barbers, beauticians, small cafeterias and other retail services by the state to […]

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Growing number of private operators in Cuban education

Cuba’s state education monopoly is increasingly sharing space with private operators, including churches and teachers working as tutors, which are filling in gaps and providing knowledge that has become necessary as a result of the country’s economic reforms, such as business management courses. “School is not enough these days,” said Raiza Martínez, the mother of […]

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Cuban hopes dashed as new and used cars go on sale

Cubans awoke on Friday for the first time in half a century with the right to buy new and used vehicles from the state without special permission, but markups of 400 per cent or more quickly dashed most people’s expectations. At the state-run Peugeot dealership in Havana on Friday morning, where prices ranged from $91,000 […]

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Cuba’s Santeria faithful ask for prosperous 2014

Cuban followers of the Santeria faith beat sacred drums, sacrificed animals and sang ceremonial songs in the Yoruba tongue Monday to give thanks for the year’s blessings and ask for prosperity in 2014. About 200 believers and onlookers thronged Havana’s most important market, Cuatro Caminos, for the ceremony dedicated to Eshu-Elegbara, the deity associated with […]

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First Flight From Key West to Havana Takes Off

The first commercial passenger flight from Key West to Cuba in more than 50 years has landed in Havana. The nine-passenger flight departed Monday morning, more than two years after U.S. Customs and Border Protection gave Key West the green light to resume flights to and from the island country. Charter operators have had difficulty […]

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Chines automaker planning assembly plant in Havana

As the Cuban government is gradually freeing new-car sales for individuals, Chinese automaker Geely, already the No. 1 auto seller on the island, is positioning itself for growth in Cuba and the wider region.The company is planning to establish a semi-knock down (SKD) assembly plant in Cuba, Shanghai Geely International Corporation,Geely’s international arm, announced in […]

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Cuban Rumba Artists Prepare Year-End Fiesta

Cuba will welcome in the New Year with three days of rumba and renowned celebrities, such as the nonagenarian poetry reciter Luis Carbonell and Juan Formell, leader of the legendary band Los Van Van. Performer Roberto Molina, also known as El Tio, confirmed this initiative, which will open doors to other artistic and musical expressions. […]

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Cuban and US Bartenders Share Common Experiences

Members of the Cuban Bartenders Association met in Havana with a delegation of US professionals in the field, who paid a friendly visit to the island. The gathering was held at the Caribbean Hotel in Havana, one of the facilities managed by the Cuban Islazul Tourist Group. Among their issues at the center of interest […]

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Cuba Launches New Line of Habano Cigars

The first line of Cuban Cigars known as Great Reserve Lusitania, a special production aimed at cigar connosseurs around the World, was presented in Havana by the world famous Partagas Brand. The cigars are hand rolled by veteran experts in environmentally controlled conditions, based on first grade leafs cultivated in selected Pinar del Rio plantation, […]

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Cuba’s Struggling Entrepreneurs

The dented metal pizza trays are packed away, so too the old blender that never worked when it was needed. Gone is the sweet smell of rising dough that infused Julio Cesar Hidalgo’s Havana apartment when he and his girlfriend were in business for themselves, churning out cheesy pies for hungry costumers. Two years on […]

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Soap operas from South Korea have a high demand in Cuba

For the past three decades, Brazilian telenovelas have helped Cubans forget their litany of woes for an hour a day. But today, dozens of South Korean soap operas are earning wide audiences. Following in the footsteps of South Korean films and K-pop, “doramas” – South Korean soaps dubbed into Spanish – first appeared on Cuban […]

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Cruise Ships to Increase Arrivals in Cuba

The number of arrivals of cruise ships at Cuban ports is expected to surpass the figure reported in previous years, said an executive in the specialized tourist sector. Norberto Perez, general director of the Aries Transport Company, in charge of commer- cializing cruise ships opera- tions in Cuba told reporters that a new company named […]

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Spaniard Starts Jet-Ski Journey from Cuba to Mexico

Spanish navigator Alvaro de Marichalar left Havana en route to Cancun, Mexico, to complete another stage of his jet-ski journey commemorating the 500 years since the discovery of the Pacific Ocean by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa. De Marichalar left Thursday on his jet ski “Numancia” from Havana’s Club Nautico Marina Hemingway headed for Mexico, a […]

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Cuba To Ease Curbs on Car Sales

First time since the 1959 revolution Cubans will soon be allowed to purchase new and used vehicles from government retailers without permission for first time since the 1959 revolution, state media announced Thursday. The move comes two years after a reform allowed Cubans to buy and sell second-hand vehicles from one another but stopped short […]

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Cuba confirms elimination of hard currency CUC

The Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC) will be eliminated in the process to reestablish a one-currency system on the island, confirmed VP Marino Murillo, during a plenary session of the Cuban Parliament on Friday. The hard currency CUC, pegged to the US dollar, joined the regular Cuban peso (CUP) in the harsh post-Soviet years of the […]

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Cuba To Ease Curbs on Car Sales

First time since the 1959 revolution Cubans will soon be allowed to purchase new and used vehicles from government retailers without permission for first time since the 1959 revolution, state media announced Thursday. The move comes two years after a reform allowed Cubans to buy and sell second-hand vehicles from one another but stopped short […]

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Musicians from 10 Countries to Attend Cuban Jazz Festival

Artists from 10 countries will perform here during the 29th International Jazz Plaza Festival Dec. 19-22, which will be devoted to great musicians of this genre in Cuba. Orlando Vistel, president of the Cuban Music Institute, said at a news conference that about 34 Cuban groups and soloists, along with 14 foreign guests, are involved […]

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First Restored ICAIC Newsreels Exhibited in Havana

The first 54 episodes of the newly-restored ICAIC Latin American Newsreel are being screened here at the 35th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. The newsreels, by the late Cuban filmmaker Santiago Alvarez, cover the period of 1960 to 1964. In June 2012, Cuba and France signed an agreement for the restoration and digitization […]

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