Latin America will soon have a new currency, the Sistema Único de Compensación Regional, or Sucre, for short. It’s no coincidence that the currency’s acronym is also the name of 19th century regional independence leader, Antonio José de Sucre, close friend and ally of Simón Bolívar, in whose name the currency’s proponents (members of the… [Read more]
Another week, another summit. This time around it’s the Organisation of American States (OAS) shindig in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and it appears as though US leader Barack Obama has already delivered the perfect Easter present to Cuba by allowing ‘unlimited’ family travel and remittances for Cuban Americans. While this move was hardly a surprise… [Read more]
The ‘low-key’ (almost anti-climatic) celebrations marking the 50th anniversary since the Cuban revolution on January 1 were highly symbolic of the republic’s current economic, social and political state of affairs. Cuba endured three devastating hurricanes in 2008 (Gustav, Ike and Paloma) incurring damages worth an estimated US$10bn, struggled with soaring fuel and food costs earlier… [Read more]