Old Havana’s La Luz Cafe Now in Hard Currency
By Elio Delgado Valdes
HAVANA TIMES — La Luz Cafe, located on Obispo Street, near the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old Havana, closed its doors to the public in December. It was the only place left in the area which offered these kinds of services in regular Cuban pesos (CUP).
Workers from Havana’s City Historian Office, passers by and people taking part in scientific events at the San Geronimo University in Havana, or those attending the Grandparents Association used to go there and have a good cup of coffee, which used to cost 1 CUP (0.04 USD), or to eat a ham sandwich, pastry or tuna, while others used to go to have lunch.
In January, the cafe reopened its doors and it had been completely transformed. There were napkins, tables outside, parasols, and to everybody’s surprise, everything on the menu was in CUC (the other hard currency we have here), so now it’s delicious coffee, every Cuban’s weakness, costs 0.75 CUC (equivalent to 18 CUP, more than many Cubans earn in a day).
Establishments like these that used to be under the Havana Historian Offic’s company Habanguanex are now controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), revealing once again their complete lack of respect for the Cuban people.
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Well nidal, as the restoration of Old Havana has been paid for as a UNESCO project the US as the major contributor to UNESCO ought perhaps fairly be allowed to use it as a film set. The same applies to Trinidad de Cuba, Vinales and Cienfuegos. Cuba contributes nothing to UNESCO.
I think you are in error in anticipating a collapse of the US dollar. It is probable that Janet Yellen will increase the interest rate in July, at which time one may anticipate a further increase in the value of the US dollar to the detriment of most other currencies.
I always understood that God forgives, but to do so with people like those of IS who show video of cutting off the heads of innocents must be difficult!
To find a police state it isn’t necessary to go beyond the subject country of Cuba. The ever present MININT goons, the State Police and all controlled by General Alejandro Castro Espin
son of the communist dictator Raul Castro Ruz.
Transition from one form a Society to another does not happen overnight , Havana specifically and all of Cuba have immense fantastic potential and the idea to let go and let it happen is disastrous some sort of control has to be there , I can imagine Havana and the rest of Cuba being the best deal for Hollywood in which will be one of the nicest most diverse open-air soundstage they can get their hands on for affordable rent , it is best for those who live it to decide what to do with it keep in mind that the United States of America is a police state and it is getting worse and worse specially with the anticipated collapse of the US dollar , God help us .
Yes Moses, using the same logic which you explain of linking a name in this case to Hussein, we ought to expect Michael Ritchie to be a drunken speech slurring, kilt wearing, disciple of John Knox and Presbyterianism staggering every Saturday night down Rose Street in Edinburgh.
But possibly that is a fair assessment?
Las Casitas Del Barrio Alto…….. Viva Victor Jara.
I’m guessing it’s because the former President of the United States is named Barack Hussein Obama. His expressed ignorance is based on his belief that people with Arab surnames must be Muslim. Worse yet, he is mocking the Arab faith, by calling Obama an Imam, a Muslim priest.
Little Miami.
I as an innocent bystander, could not comprehend why there was talk almost immediately following his inauguration of Donald Trump being impeached. But following his firings of top professional people, I am beginning to understand. In my view Barack Obama made the correct overtures to Cuba. It was the Castro family regime which outright rejected those overtures. Maybe Michael Ritchie is somehow trying to link the Castro decision to permit the construction of mosques with Obama’s endeavors – if so, he is way off the mark. The Castro regime is merely endeavoring to curry favour with their great friend and ally Bashar al-Asad – the one who used sarin upon his fellow Syrians.
Sky. You could not possibly be suggesting that a socialist regime could be corrupt are you? Look at the lily white Kirchners, at Lulu and Rouseff and now the example of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela? Could it possibly be that there could be any basis for suggesting any form of corruption by any of them?
I’m so happy for you!
The Cuban government know full well what is being done – those cruise ship passengers are lining government and certain private coffers. Anyone involved in tourism is eager for more of the same and don’t give a crap about anyone else.
Imam Obama?
Just a sign of things to come.
I’ve just returned from two weeks in Havana and can’t tell you how many massive cruise ships I saw pull into port, disgorging thousands of Americans into the streets of Vieja.
They are the market for the FAR and the Cuban government, not the Cuban people.
For years I’ve warned and asked all the Cubans I know to oppose opening Cuba to cruise ships. But few can resist the Cruise Lines’ siren song. “Low impact with high profit for the city,” they proclaim.
In fact, they produce pollution in Cuba’s waters, congestion on its streets and no respect whatever for the local residents. They just want another sucker port at which to dump their human refuse.
The future for Vieja? I’m not optimistic, unless President Trump reverses Imam Obama’s opening legislation.
Or unless the Cuban people and government soon realize what’s being done to their country. And it is their country.