Akerman Practice Update: Law to Punish Companies with Cuba Ties Struck Down Reply

akermanlogoReposted from Akerman

Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami declared unconstitutional a 2012 Florida law intended to prevent foreign companies with ties to Cuba — or that are in any way related to a company that does business in Cuba — from being awarded contracts worth $1 million or more by state and local government agencies. The court ruled that the law violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and in doing so upheld an earlier injunction issued by the District Court for the Southern District of Florida that had barred the Florida State Department of Transportation from enforcing the provisions at issue. More…

Analysis: Raúl Announces Retirement, Appoints Likely Successor Reply

cuban-flag2Reposted from Akerman
By Matthew Aho and Pedro Freyre

Cuban President Raúl Castro’s announcement last Sunday that he will retire in 2018, coupled with his decision to promote apparent successor Miguel Díaz-Canel, 52, to first vice president of the ruling Council of State, is a major milestone for the island: there is now a next-generation leader—and a non-Castro—poised to take the helm of power in Havana and the Cuban government may be moving towards a collective leadership model similar to those in China and Vietnam. More…

What Does Obama’s Second Term Hold for U.S.-Cuba Relations? Reply

Cuba-About-3Reposted from Cuba Study Group
By Matthew Aho, Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin America Advisor

John Kerry is expected to be confirmed soon as U.S. secretary of state. During his tenure in the Senate, Kerry has criticized U.S. programs aimed at fostering democracy in Cuba and proposed opening up U.S. travel to the island. Will having Kerry as secretary of state affect U.S. relations with Cuba? Will President Barack Obama’s first-term moves to ease some travel and remittance restrictions for Cuban-Americans lead to additional relaxed restrictions in his second term? To what extent would looser restrictions toward Cuba present business opportunities for U.S. firms? Which industries could benefit? More…

Cuba’s ‘resale’ economics Reply

Market in Havana, Cuba

Market in Havana, Cuba

Reposted from Global Post
HAVANA, Cuba — Cracker Man’s cry echoes down the streets of Havana’s Buena Vista neighborhood, trailed by the clatter of his shopping cart over potholes.

“Crackers! Crackers!” he barks. “Fresh from the oven!”

He’s one of roughly 400,000 Cubans now working as state-licensed entrepreneurs in the communist country’s small but growing private sector. More…

Analysts: Higher speed Internet in Cuba show new fiber-optic cable appears to be working Reply

cuba carReposted from The Miami Herald
By Juan O. Tamayo

Internet analysts say higher speeds in Internet connections to the island show a new cable is in use but perhaps only for traffic coming into Cuba

A fiber-optic cable between Cuba and Venezuela, built to speed up Cuba’s access to the Internet but long delayed amid reports of corruption during construction, appears to have finally entered commercial use — but perhaps only for island-bound traffic. More…

Cuba’s easing of travel signals a sea change of hope Reply

Capital Building in Central Havana, Cuba

Capital Building in Central Havana, Cuba

Reposted from USAToday

MIAMI — The stories of past Cuban migrations to the United States are filled with harrowing tales at sea.

The 1980 Mariel Boatlift saw U.S. watercraft packed with more than 100,000 Cubans fleeing the island. The rafter crisis of 1994 saw tens of thousands more braving the 90-mile voyage across the Florida Straits on inner tubes, Styrofoam vessels and cars converted into floating barges. More…