US Travel to Cuba Spikes to More Than 1,000 Daily

[Judi Lynn]

US Travel to Cuba Spikes to More Than 1,000 Daily
Published: Monday, 6 Dec 2010 | 2:27 PM ET
By: Reuters

More than 1,000 travelers from the United States are arriving every day in Cuba on average, most of Cuban origin, making Havana's long-time foe its second source of visitors after Canada, travel industry and diplomatic sources said on Monday.

U.S. charter companies flying to the Communist-ruled island say business has boomed since President Barack Obama's administration lifted restrictions last year on Cuban-Americans visiting their homeland, and also loosened curbs on academic, religious, cultural and other professional travel.

U.S. citizens are forbidden from traveling to Cuba without their government's permission under a wide-ranging U.S. trade embargo on the island imposed nearly five decades ago.

"There is a huge increase this year compared with 2009," said Armando Garcia, president of Marazul Charters, the oldest of a growing number of companies chartering flights to Cuba.

http://www.cnbc.com//id/40533574

[social_critic]

1. It's good to see Cubans from Miami travel to Cuba

The Cubans who are about to be left unemployed by the government need to learn a little bit about entrepreneurship and capitalism. It's evolution taking place, away from communism. And it's about time.

[Mika]

2. Which brother are you? Dumb or dumber?

You really are vacuous on this topic, as proven (again) in your post.

Cuban emigres living in the US were always allowed to travel to Cuba.
It was W Bush who issued the most severe restrictions on US/ Cuba travel and remittances.
In fact, Cuban citizens residing in Cuba used to be able to get US travel visas to come to Miami for a visit, and the numbers were not insignificant.


"And it's about time." :rofl:

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[social_critic]

3. Why insult me? There's no need to get uncivilized here.

Do you know what it's about time? The change that's coming in Cuba. You don't like it? Too bad.

[Mika]

4. Cuba has never been isolated.

Your post implies that Cubans have had no contact with foreigners espousing entrepreneurship and capitalism, and that only when Miami Cuban-Americans get to Cuba will there be any learning by Cubans on this topic.

You assumption is vacuous and ignorant - and an insult to the good people of Cuba.

Perhaps you've missed the last 50+ years or so of Cuban history, but Cuba has been undertaking constant change, post Revolution. I do like it.

Based on your posts, vacuous and ignorant on the topic as they might be, it seems as though you are the one who doesn't like Cuba's changes.






on edit: No insult intended. Dumb and Dumber was a hit comedy. Hilariously slapstick. Like your posts.

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[Judi Lynn]

5. Did you ever, by any chance, see a stand up comedian, Dr. Irwin Corey,

The World's Foremost Authority?

http://captaintumorman.com.nyud.net:8090/library/images/professor_irwin_corey-1.jpg

From a New York Times article on him:

A Distinguished Professor With a Ph.D. in Nonsense
By COREY KILGANNON
Published: April 14, 2008

~snip~
A staple of his routine is describing how he procured from the federal government a copy of the Declaration of Independence through the Freedom of Information Act. He pulls out the document, most of which is blacked out with marker.

Mr. Corey said he was discharged from the Army during World War II after claiming to be gay. He campaigned for president during the 1960 election on Hugh Hefner’s Playboy ticket. On “The Tonight Show” and other talk shows, he would ignore time limits, so stagehands began chasing him into the audience as part of the routine.

On one wall of the comedian’s home hangs a letter from Lenny Bruce, along with a photograph of Mr. Corey hugging Fidel Castro, during a visit to Cuba to donate medicine for children. Various books, including “The Big Book of Jewish Conspiracies,” sit on a table.

The day Mr. Corey was having lunch at the Friars Club, the comedian Stewie Stone stopped by his table and recalled his first sight of Mr. Corey, arriving to perform at the Playboy Club, elegantly carrying his tattered tailcoat on a hanger in a clear plastic dry-cleaning bag.

“He’s one of the great trailblazers in comedy,” Mr. Stone said.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/nyregion/14comedian.html

Here's a very short routine from an appearance on the Smothers Brothers Show:
Smothers Brothers Professor Erwin Corey
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHlLmYVCzKY

Professor Irwin Corey at the Cutting Room NYC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtN0xxzfsw&feature=related

[social_critic]

7. No

I love your posts, they're so eclectic.

[social_critic]

6. But the times, they're a'changing, dude - Raul is going capitalist

There's a significant change - don't forget the forthcoming layoffs of hundreds of thousands of government employees who are expected to become capitalist entrepeneurs. I don't know your background, but I'm Cuban. And one thing we always do is discuss what kind of business we would get into if we could get the commies to let us invest - we got ways to get around the US government. Now, this is something maybe you don't know about, or it only happens in certain circles which you don't enter, who knows?

The way I see it, there has to be a ton of guys running around figuring out how to get cash to their relatives to start up businesses there. The key of course is a sound business plan, which can only be prepared by the Cuban family side if the government gets the changeover properly. So one thing we got to do is educate them on how to make comments at the next Party Congress discussion rounds on the needs of the new business community in Cuba. Can't run a business properly if you're being squeezed by corrupt bureaucrats, and you know how it is.

This is a very important issue, when China started their shift to be capitalist corruption got really bad, they started executing corrupt officials, but it's still really bad - because the system has the built in rewards for crooks, it's like the "War on Drugs", it can't be won unless you legalize most drugs. They got to legalize a lot of things one has to do and which they consider "evil profiteering", or they'll get nowhere.

And of course we need a sound legal system, because they'll need to have real tort and labor laws. Which means they'll have to open a real Law School where they teach lawyers to draft civil contracts, dispute legal cases in civil court, etc. I anticipate nobody will want to hire anybody but relatives unless they got that worked out in detail.

Anyway, I'm going to go to Cuba sometime next year, and discuss with my cousins some business lines we talked about in the past. I'm pretty sure we'll get something started. I'll ship in the machinery and raw materials, they can run the business, make their profits, and this way I stop sending them money via Canada, which can be a real pain in the butt (banks take a cut, Cuban government takes a cut, everybody wants a cut). I was thinking, we can open a door and window factory. All those other Cubans in Miami and their relatives are gonna want to build aparments, so I'm going to focus on their inputs. And you know how communist housing is, it's ill maintained and needs work, so there's going to be a huge remodel market as well.

I can think of others business lines. For example, those funky Soviet style posters showing muscled workers holding a rifle, and things like that, they ought to sell well. I remember when the Soviet Union fell, one of the hottest items were Lenin busts. A friend of mine sold them at Ismailovsky market, and he made so much money he re-built a dacha near Gorky 10, rented it, and moved to Sweden to live like a pasha.