Fernando Ravsberg

Price Gouging in Havana after Irma

These days I feel like I was living in Europe. I just bought one mango and half green at that, for the equivalent of US $2 at the market at B and 19th Streets in Vedado and street vendors in my neighborhood raised the price of a strand of onions to $8.

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Irma, Cuba, the Paris Club and Cuban Customs

Cuba has been badly wounded by Hurricane Irma, which swept across the island’s entire northern coast, destroying homes, laying waste to harvests and tourism infrastructure, severely damaging the national energy system and killing 10 Cubans.

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Cuba Reports 10 Deaths from Hurricane Irma

Cuban TV reported on Monday morning that ten people have died across the country resulting from Hurricane Irma’s destruction. The majority of these people reportedly died as a result of buildings collapsing and in some cases, for not having complied with evacuation orders that they received from Civil Defense troops.

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Does Cuba Sink When We Hear the Truth?

Arnaldo Mirabal announced on social networks that he is quitting journalism. He does so a few days after being threatened with being taken to court for writing about a case of alleged corruption of a political leader in the province of Matanzas. Meanwhile, the provincial authorities throw a blanket of silence over this case.

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Being in Cuba Between Hurricanes

Last year, I was destined to meet Hurricane Otto in Panama. The hurricane never entered Panamanian territory and it was tiny in comparison to the one heading towards Cuba this week, but it still left 9 people dead in that country alone. Fernando Ravsberg writes as Hurricane Irma moves through the Caribbean towards Cuba.

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The Future of Cuba Style Socialism

When Fidel Castro proclaimed that this model of socialism is of no use even for us, anyone would have thought that this would have been reason enough for his followers to start looking for another strain of Socialism that would serve the Cuban nation better.

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Why the Scooter Ban in Cienfuegos, Cuba?

The provincial newspaper 5 de Septiembre in Cienfuegos publishes a story about motor scooters secretly imported into the country. According to the newspaper article since August 1, the police forbade that these scooters, known as “motorinas”, circulate on the streets of Cienfuegos.

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