Politics, Business & Culture in the Americas
cuba

The Trouble With Cuba’s New Economy

When Raúl Castro steps down as Cuba’s president in February 2018, he will hand off to his successor the unfinished task of reforming the economy. It is Cuba’s most urgent need and, at the same time, an increasingly controversial one. Castro succeeded his brother Fidel as president in 2008 amid serious structural economic problems on … Read more

tomemmer

Meet the GOP Congressmen Who Could Sell Trump on Cuba

Those hoping that President Donald Trump will continue his predecessor’s engagement with Cuba have found some unexpected allies. Republican Representatives Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Mark Sanford of South Carolina – all vocal supporters of the new president – have each this year re-introduced bills they wrote during the Obama administration … Read more

Yondainer

AQ Top 5 Jóvenes Emprendedores: Yondainer Gutiérrez

Este artículo ha sido corregido Este artículo es parte de un reportaje especial sobre los top cinco jóvenes emprendedores latinoamericanos seleccionados por AQ. Haga click aquí para ver el resto. Read in English Para muchos, la palabra “Cuba” evoca una era ya desaparecida: un lugar atascado en una época de autos clásicos y arquitectura descolorida. … Read more

Yondainer

AQ Top 5 Young Entrepreneurs: Yondainer Gutiérrez

Correction appended below This article is adapted from our AQ Top 5 feature on young Latin American entrepreneurs. To see the rest of our list, click here. Leer en espanol For many, the word “Cuba” brings to mind a bygone era: a place stuck in a time of classic cars and faded architecture. But bubbling … Read more

Afro_Cuban

How a Changing Economy Is Leaving Afro-Cubans Behind

Whether or not President-elect Donald Trump follows through on plans to reverse the U.S.’ economic opening with Cuba, entrepreneurship on the island will be hard to get rid of. Reforms enacted by President Raúl Castro in 2011 (three years before the U.S. rapprochement began) have already led to a boom in restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, private taxis and other … Read more

TrumpCastro

Here’s a Blueprint for a Trump-Castro Deal on Cuba

President-elect Donald J. Trump has vowed “to terminate the deal” that his predecessor in the White House negotiated with Cuba’s President Raúl Castro. Trump’s incoming chief-of-staff, Reince Priebus, last week added these details in an interview on “Fox News Sunday”: “Repression, open markets, freedom of religion, political prisoners – these things need to change in … Read more

Reinaldo-Arenas

Why Reinaldo Arenas Still Matters for Cuba’s LGBT Community

On Dec. 7, 1990, the Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, suffering from advanced AIDS, ended his life after a decade spent in exile in the United States. Arenas had become a vocal opponent of the Cuban government and, in his suicide note, personally blamed Fidel Castro for the poverty and displacement that defined much of his … Read more

Freyre

Book Review: Open for Business

It can be difficult to document a historic moment while it’s still unfolding, but Richard E. Feinberg has taken to the task with his book, Open for Business: Building the New Cuban Economy. In exploring how President Barack Obama’s opening to Cuba “fits squarely within a broader theme of his foreign policy,” Feinberg has provided … Read more

lage_top

AQ Top 5 Latin American Academics: Agustín Lage

See the rest of the AQ Top 5 When the world’s first therapeutic lung cancer vaccine was announced in 2011, it may have appeared to come from one of the least likely places: Cuba, whose access to investment and goods has been restricted by more than a half-century of harsh U.S. sanctions. But to anyone … Read more

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Telmary Díaz Demands That You Listen

This article is part of AQ’s debut culture supplement, Cultura. To see the rest of the issue, click here The worldwide influence of Cuban rhythms such as son and rumba can make it easy to overlook how music continues to evolve
on the island itself. Telmary Díaz’s 2013 sophomore release, Libre, is a showcase for this … Read more

Ibeyi

Ibeyi Is Ready for the World. Is the World Ready for Them?

This article is part of AQ’s debut culture supplement, Cultura. To see the rest of the issue, click here It wasn’t long after they released their eponymous debut in 2015 that the French-Cuban duo Ibeyi was catapulted into pop music consciousness by none other than the Queen B herself, Beyoncé. The reigning queen of pop … Read more

Yissi Top

“I Was Destined to Be a Percussionist”

This article is part of AQ’s debut culture supplement, Cultura. To see the rest of the issue, click here This interview originally appeared in Spanish in OnCuba magazine. Music flows through Yissy García’s veins. The daughter of drummer Bernardo García, founding member of the popular band Irakere, García was born in Cayo Hueso in Havana, … Read more

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