The Real Cuba | The Cuban Economy

February was the month of Cuba's largest volume food shopping in the US in more than a decade

12. April 2025 The Editor Rationing, Hunger and Suffering, The Cuban Economy (0)

The second month of 2025 ended with imports from the island of the order of $47,636,633.

The second month of 2025 was ranked as the month with the highest volume of US agricultural and food product purchases by Cuban authorities in that country since 2014, experiencing a 75.1% year-over-year increase.

Downloading in Cuba a U.S. ship with tons of frozen chicken.

According to figures published by the US Department of Agriculture, February closed with such a significant increase that imports from the island totaled approximately $47,636,633, more than $20 million above the $27,204,788 recorded in February 2024 and also much higher than the $24,592,601 recorded in the same month in 2023.

Official US figures indicate that in February 2014 these purchases reached $44,080,044, although the following month they soared to $53,021,705.

According to the New York-based Cuba-US Economic and Trade Council, which promotes increased business with the island, the February 2025 shopping basket includes $856,836 worth of rice purchased in the northern nation; $1,067,383 worth of used vehicles; $46,700 worth of trucks; $969,546 worth of motorcycles; and $7,468 worth of solar cells.

Regarding automobiles, from January 2023, when the US issued licenses for vehicle exports to Cuba, until last February, buyers on the island have spent $76,475,523 on new and used gasoline and electric cars, as well as trucks, motorcycles, and scooters.

Also in the second month of this year, Havana continued its purchases of medical supplies and healthcare products from the US, spending $19,848 on them.

Cuba is now the 44th largest market globally by volume of US food and agricultural purchases.

Despite the embargo, all exports are authorized under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA) of 2000. Since Havana made its first purchases under these regulations in December 2021, it has spent more than $7,638,295,560 in the US.

However, both the ruling elite and its media continue to blame the hardships suffered by Cubans on Washington's embargo against Havana.

Inside hungry, crumbling Cuba, where one in ten people have fled

11. February 2025 The Editor Cuban Exiles, Escaping from Cuba, Rationing, Hunger and Suffering, The Cuban Economy (0)

Ask the island’s rulers and they’ll say the revolutionary dream lives on. But to ordinary Cubans stricken by rocketing food prices, it has never felt further away

The road turns into a dirt track entering the town of San Felipe, home to those who can’t leave. In the main square, the only people around are a woman sitting on a bench in the shade of the ruined church and a group of five men hunkered down in the porch of a once-great mansion, trying to fix a bicycle with a hammer.

Sixty-six years after rebels led by Fidel Castro overthrew the brutal government of Fulgencio Batista, many Cubans say their lives are worse than ever, and that the island’s Communist rulers are growing ever more paranoid and repressive.San San Felipe
This time the threat to the Cuban revolution is not a US-backed invasion or the collapse of the Soviet Union, but a slow gutting of Cuba’s future as young people give up on its prospects. For decades, Cubans needed to apply for permission to leave the island, but since 2013 those restrictions have been lifted.

Between 2022 and 2023, one in ten Cubans — nearly a million people — left the island, mostly for the United States. In small towns such as San Felipe, an hour and a half from Havana, with a pre-pandemic population of 2,000, the only ones left are the very poor, the infirm, the elderly and the especially patriotic.

The exodus is primarily due to an economic crisis that has driven prices to impossible levels — a 5lb bag of pork now costs $16, as much as a junior doctor’s monthly wage — while incomes remain incredibly low. Institutions including Cuba’s once-famous health and education systems are imploding under the burden of international sanctions and endemic state mismanagement. The island’s jails hold hundreds of political prisoners. Anyone publicly criticizing the government, including on social media, risks joining them. More...

The Havana Biltmore Yacht and Country Club - Cuba

6. February 2025 The Editor The Cuban Comunists, The Cuban Economy (0)

The Havana Biltmore before the Castro disaster.

The failure of the 21st Century socialism that the Castro’s, Hugo Chavez and their inheritors have so touted are the result of a socio-political system, that controlled economic experiment through fear and repression, which has led to the the great disaster now haunting these countries. These images are from the 1950's era and we hope you can enjoy them.

(Source: The Real Cuba)

Cuba can trade with other countries?

27. January 2025 The Editor The Cuban Comunists, The Cuban Economy (1)

At a glance

While the nuances in the U.S. embargo can make it difficult for foreign companies to trade with Cuba, there is no evidence that they can’t. Experts and evidence shows that Cuba can and has traded with other countries. The UK and EU have blocking statutes which aim to protect legitimate trade with Cuba affected by the extraterritorial application of US law.
The US has imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on Cuba since 1962. Exports to Cuba and imports from Cuba are prohibited unless licensed.
The Real Cuba's position is that Cuba has enough avenues available to purchase whatever is needed for the population. The reason the suffering and deplorable conditions of the population continues is the failure of the Communist Government to enact an economic agenda for their benefit. Only the privileged Communist can have all the means and resources to have access to all resources.

Overview

UN Sanctions
There are no UN sanctions on Cuba. The UN General Assembly has frequently called for the US to end the Cuba embargo.

EU Sanctions

The EU does not impose sanctions on Cuba. The EU blocking statute aims to protect EU operators from engaging in lawful international trade from to the extraterritorial application of US law.

UK Sanctions
The UK does not impose sanctions on Cuba. The UK Protection of Trading Interests legislation aims to protect legitimate trade between UK persons and Cuba from the extraterritorial application of US law.

US Sanctions
The US has imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on Cuba since 1962. Exports to Cuba and imports from Cuba are prohibited unless licensed. The Cuba sanctions regime is the last regime authorized under the Trading with the Enemy Act, which means that sanctions also apply to entities outside of the US that are owned or controlled by US persons.

China & Russia
There are no Chinese nor Russian sanctions on Cuba.

Buses purchased from China's Zhengzhou Yutong Group Co., Ltd. the largest bus manufacturer in the world by sales volume for the use of Foreign Tourists transport.

Amid news surrounding protests in Cuba, a widely shared Facebook post asserts U.S. sanctions on Cuba restrict the country from trading with other countries, too.

"People are either unaware or being purposely obtuse about the U.S. blockade on Cuba," reads the post, a screenshot of a tweet. "Do you realize it doesn’t just mean they can’t trade with the U.S.? Cuba can’t trade with ANY country or ANY company whatsoever, threatening other people who may want to help."

The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed.

Experts who spoke to PolitiFact said the claim is wrong, misinterpreting some of the nuances of the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Cuba does trade with multiple countries, but the embargo can make it difficult for any foreign companies to do business in the country.

Protests flared in Cuba on July 11, when thousands of citizens went to the streets to call for action over shortages of food and medicine, protesting for freedom against the Cuban government. The Associated Press reported that the protests were the largest since Fidel Castro’s presidency. The number of people detained by the government is not clear, but Cubalex, an attorney group tracking arrests, estimated that as of July 19, 108 people were in detention, 78 people had been freed and 284 people’s whereabouts were in the process of being verified. President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed the U.S. government’s sanctions for the country’s economic troubles.

Jose Gabilondo, associate dean for accreditation and reporting and professor of law at Florida International University, said that while critics of the U.S. embargo tend to use the word "blockade" to describe the program, the official term for the sanctions is "embargo," according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control under the U.S. Department of the Treasury. That’s because the U.S. is not physically obstructing Cuba to prevent people or goods from leaving — which is what "blockade" means.

"There are many people who consider that the U.S.-Cuba sanctions program violates public international law, so they see it as an illegal program," Gabilondo said, "and they see it as illegal because the Cuba sanctions that are imposed by OFAC apply very broadly, not only to U.S. companies but also to foreign companies that are domiciled in other countries. So many people think that the sanctions amount to an illegal blockade."

The history of the U.S. embargo on Cuba

The U.S. initiated its embargo on trade with Cuba nearly 60 years ago, after Fidel Castro’s regime rose to power, and overthrew the country’s U.S.-backed government. Castro’s government increased foreign relations and trade with the Soviet Union, increased taxes on U.S. imports and nationalized American-owned properties. In response, President John F. Kennedy called for a complete economic embargo in 1962, prohibiting all trade of goods and services between the U.S. and Cuba and imposing strict travel restrictions.

Twenty years later, President Ronald Reagan designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terror following its support of Marxist movements during the Cold War. The Obama administration lifted the designation in 2015, along with relaxing some restrictions, including on American travel to the country. The change meant Americans could legally bring home Cuban cigars and rum. It also permitted Cuban pharmaceutical companies to do business in the U.S.

The Trump administration reimposed sanctions on Cuba and increased financial and banking restrictions on the country. On Jan. 11, 2021, days before Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration, the Trump administration put Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terror.

Cuba is permitted to trade with many other countries

Augusto Maxwell, an attorney at Akerman LLP and chair of their Cuba practice, said the first part of the claim isn’t accurate. Cuba can trade with other countries of its choosing — if those countries are willing as well. Some of Cuba’s trading partners include China, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity. Venezuela was one of Cuba’s key trade partners until its ability diminished amid its own economic turmoil. Cuba’s main exports include rolled tobacco, raw sugar, nickel, liquor and zinc. Top imports include poultry meat, wheat, soybean meal, corn and concentrated milk.

It’s worth noting that the OEC also lists the U.S. as one of the countries that exports goods to Cuba. Poultry counts for 90% of American shipments to the country, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

"It’s really to favor U.S. farmers and agricultural interests. (Cuba) was a very important market for U.S. farmers," Gabilondo said. "So even though the sanctions generally prohibit trade, there are some exceptions."

Maxwell said, despite these trade relationships, the U.S. embargo does have an impact on what goods Cuba receives from other countries. For example, if any trading good contains 10% of U.S. created content, it must go through U.S. law in order to be exported into Cuba.

"When you think of complicated things like airplanes or oil drilling platforms or scientific or medical equipment, sometimes those things are caught up in that 10%," Maxwell said. "And so U.S. law does not allow that to be exported to Cuba even though 90% or 89% was produced in France or Canada, or something like that."

For further information on what Cuba imports from the USA on a regular basis please see: 2023USExportsToCuba.pdf (300.17 kb) and MonthlyMarch2024.pdf (556.14 kb)

JANUARY 2024 FOOD/AG EXPORTS TO CUBA INCREASE 39.4% - Exports of food products and agricultural commodities from the United States to the Republic of Cuba in January 2024 were US$45,168,873.00 compared to US$32,394,196.00 in January 2023 and US$21,783,159.00 in January 2022.

Chicken Leg Quarters (Frozen)- US$11,150,925.00
Chicken Meat (Frozen)- US$10,649,852.00
Chicken (Offal)- US$7,605,353.00
Chicken Legs (Frozen)- US$3,288,831.00
Soybeans- US$2,853,680.00
Meat of Swine (Frozen)- US$802,746.00
Bovine Meat (Offal)- US$608,106.00
Meat of Swine (Fresh)- US$481,107.00
Whole Yong Chickens (Frozen)- US$317,407.00
Coffee (Roasted)- US$302,612.00
Ten-Largest U.S. Exports To Cuba- US$38,060,619.00
10 Largest As % of Exports To Cuba- 84.3%

January 2024 exports included: Chicken Wings, Turkey, Bacon, Eggs, Onions, Olives, Apples, Rice, Sausages, Pasta, Potato Chips, Peanut Butter, Ice Cream, Water, Paints, Perfumes, Shampoos, Floor Coverings, Elevator, Excavator, New Vehicles (US$27,400.00), Used Vehicles (US$3,071,032.00), New Vehicles (electric) US$34,000.00, Trucks (US$52,592.00), Umbrellas (US$4,887.00).

Total TSREEA exports since first deliveries in December 2001 exceed US$7,291,502,266.00

The data contains information on exports from the United States to the Republic of Cuba- products within the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA) of 2000, Cuban Democracy Act (CDA) of 1992, and regulations implemented (1992 to present) for other products by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the United States Department of the Treasury and Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the United States Department of Commerce.

The TSREEA re-authorized the direct commercial (on a cash basis) export of food products (including branded food products) and agricultural commodities from the United States to the Republic of Cuba, irrespective of purpose. The TSREEA does not include healthcare products, which remain authorized and regulated by the CDA.

The data represents the U.S. Dollar value of product exported from the United States to the Republic of Cuba under the TSREEA and CDA. The data does not include transportation charges, bank charges, or other costs associated with exports; the government of the Republic of Cuba reports unverifiable data that includes transportation charges, bank charges, and other costs.

(Sources: PolitiFact Global Sanctions)

A new luxury hotel towers over Havana as Cuba's economic troubles mount and tourism plummets

25. January 2025 The Editor Cuba Tourism, The Cuban Economy (0)

HAVANA (AP) — It’s impossible to miss. The huge rectangular mass of concrete and glass — the tallest building in Havana — dominates the city skyline, towering 150 meters (490 feet) above colonial homes with its 542 luxury rooms and majestic views of the city and the sea.

The Selection La Habana hotel, managed by Spanish chain Iberostar.

The Selection La Habana hotel, managed by Spanish chain Iberostar, has yet to be inaugurated but it is already the target of criticism — and not only for its unusual shape. Cubans are questioning the government’s allocation of millions of dollars towards luxury tourism while the island grapples with a severe economic crisis and tourism numbers plummet to historic lows.

“All that money could have been spent to build hospitals and schools,” lamented Susel Borges, a 26-year-old artisan, as she looked up to the towering edifice, known to locals as the “K and 23 building” because of its location.

Located near the legendary Habana Libre hotel and the iconic Coppelia ice cream parlor, the new hotel is part of a government plan to build a dozen luxury establishments — mainly in Havana — that did not stop even during the COVID-19 pandemic and while existing luxury hotels remained largely unoccupied.

For decades, tourism drove the Cuban economy, generating annual revenues of up to $3 billion. But in December, Cuban authorities said only 2.2 million tourists visited the island in 2024, a decrease of roughly 200,000 from 2023 and significantly lower than the 4.2 million tourists who visited in 2019.

The government attributes the decline in tourism to a “perfect storm” of factors including supply shortages, a severe energy crisis causing massive blackouts and a lack of personnel, due to emigration and low wages. Furthermore, the island is grappling with a surge in U.S. sanctions, including restrictions on travel by U.S. citizens, a ban on cruise ships and other measures specifically designed to stifle the growth of Cuba’s tourism industry.

“Tourism is gone,” said Julio García Campos, driver of a shiny red 1951 Pontiac with an original engine. “Tourists used to line up to get on one of these!” he said, recalling a bygone era when the island was bustling with American and European travelers following a removal of sanctions by then-President Barack Obama.

The new Selection La Habana, like all other hotels in Cuba, is state-owned and operates under GAESA, a conglomerate belonging to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces that has often been criticized because of the opacity of its businesses. As a military-run operation, it is exempt from audits by the Comptroller General’s Office and has not disclosed the amount it invested in the 40-story hotel.

Cuban economist Pedro Monreal notes the “incongruity” of investing capital in the tourism sector when very little is being allocated to strategic areas such as agriculture.

"With food insecurity a concern, it’s troubling that agricultural investment lags significantly behind tourism investment, remaining 11 times lower,” Monreal noted last year on social media.

Architects also expressed little enthusiasm for the new hotel, pointing at its disruptive appearance within the environment, its excessive height violating urban regulations and tall glass windows that are ill-suited for a tropical climate.

“This building serves as a perfect example in our classes of what should not be done in terms of bioclimatic design,” said Abel Tablada, an architect and university professor, adding it's "unforgivable" that the little money available to the Cuban state has been allocated to a building that does not add value to the city.

(Source: AP)