Cubatrade-June-Digital

TRUMP’S CUBA POLICY: WHAT IT MEANS FOR BUSINESS 

The Magazine for Trade & Investment in Cuba 

June/July 2017 

THE PROMISE OF ZED MARIEL 

Cuba’s special industrial zone 

THE NEW STAR OF HAVANA 

Kempinski’s grand opening 

BOOSTING NESTLE’S CUBA BRAND 

The Swiss firm doubles down 

TOBACCO COUNTRY 

Tourism transforms Viñales 

HOUSTON 

OUT 

FRONT 

A special report on the 

Texas metropolis and its 

outreach to Cuba 

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner

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Arkansas: Outfront on Cuba Trade 

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a natural for sprinting to the front of the pack when it comes to food-source trade with Cuba. 

In Arkansas, we’re proud to help our neighbors to the south by sharing our resources and our 

expertise — which in the end will help both economies to grow and prosper. 

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content 06/2017 

UP FRONT 

24 WASHINGTON REPORT 

In a sign of pragmatism, Trump’s 

fiscal 2018 budget cuts funds for the 

USAID democracy program for Cuba 

26 TRANSITIONS 

Russia’s rekindled interest in Cuba 

raises questions about the Kremlin's 

geopolitical ambitions 

12 PANORAMA 

Deals, events and transactions of note 

for trade and investment in Cuba 

16 INDEX 

With the advent of a private sector in 

Cuba, internal tourism has soared in 

the past decade 

28 SCIENCE 

Researchers think corals from Cuba 

might help reefs in the Florida Keys 

survive climate change 

36 LOGISTICS 

It’s not just U.S. cruise lines eyeing 

Cuba these days. U.S cruise suppliers 

also want in, and an Italian logistics 

company is opening that market 

38 ENTREPRENEURS 

From self-employed in Cuba to franchisor 

in the United States, Riudisver 

Pérez has a brand to push 

40 INVESTMENT 

The recent SAHIC conference was a 

who’s who of U.S. hoteliers looking for 

opportunities in Cuba. Will business 

follow? 

LIFESTYLE 

18 IDEAS + INNOVATION 

Baby boosts, baseball for the blind, 

and mechanical wizards 

DEPARTMENTS 

20 POLITICS 

President Trump finally announces 

his Cuban policy. Cuba Trade's take 

on the winners and losers. 

22 OPINION 

Trump's new Cuba policy is smaller 

than advertised, argues Cuban political 

analyst Arturo Lopez-Levy 34 TECH 

30 TRANSPORTATION 

One of the added expenses for U.S. 

commercial airlines serving Cuba is 

the necessity of bringing a mechanic 

onboard 

32 TOURISM 

Different polls suggest that interest 

in Cuba as a tourism destination is 

waning. Far from it, says the Boston 

Consulting Group 

NinjaCuba is the latest app in the 

country’s burgeoning private software 

industry 

92 REPORTERS NOTEBOOK 

A visit to the valley of Viñales is a 

great escape from the urban density of 

Havana 

FINAL WORD 

96 IN CLOSING 

The argument for Congress to open 

agricultural trade with Cuba now 

6 CUBATRADE JUNE/JULY 2017

features 

44 

Tours and Travel 

44 KEMPINSKI DEBUTS IN HAVANA 

Cuba’s first major luxury hotel opens its doors. Is it 

a sign of the times? 

49 THE HOUSTON REPORT 

How the Texas capital of energy, transportation, 

and medicine is positioning itself to be the gateway 

for trade and investment with Cuba 

49 

Your Cuba Travel Specialist 

69 THE NESTLÉ NICHE 

How the Swiss multinational has thrived in Cuba 

while protecting itself against the entry of U.S. products 

74 THE PROMISE OF MARIEL 

Cuba’s play to develop the next great shipping hub 

is an ambitious call to foreign investors. It has 

momentum, but still needs more capital 

82 THE CUBA ADVISORS 

Cuba Trade’s annual list of the leading legal and 

consulting firms for doing business in Cuba 

ON THE COVER 

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner 

Photo by Richard J. Carson 

8 CUBATRADE JUNE/JULY 2017 

74 

82 

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editors note 

Trump's Policy Blunder 

The wrong response, based on bad information 

I was in Havana on the Friday President Donald Trump 

announced his policy changes for Cuba. I was there to talk to 

Cuban citizens, and to gauge their reaction to the speech. 

Their typical reaction: Disbelief. Their typical concern: The 

reduced flow of U.S. travelers. 

“Does he think he will change our government by limiting 

the number of tourists?” asked one woman who worked in a 

cigar shop. “The government won’t change. But we will have less 

business. So why is he doing this? He’s crazy.” 

And so the reaction went, from street vendors to waiters to 

cab drivers, an across-the-board incomprehension. 

“To me it’s unnecessary,” said one cab driver. “We don’t have 

terrorists here. We don’t have nuclear weapons here. In fact, this 

is probably the safest place anywhere for tourists from the United 

States. Is it safer in Colombia? Or Brazil? Yes, this is the safest. So 

why stop them from coming? For me it just means less money.” 

On the one hand, we can be thankful Trump’s bark was 

worse than his bite. While telling a cheering audience in Miami 

that he was canceling all of Obama’s policies, he is in fact pulling 

back in just a few areas (see story page 20). 

But even with these policy changes, he is missing the mark. 

If his intention is to promote the private sector in Cuba, and 

choke the flow of cash to the government, his declaration of no 

business with any company linked to the Cuban military makes 

sense. But his decision to make it very hard for individual U.S. 

travelers to go to Cuba—leaving such travel instead to tour 

groups—makes no sense. 

Most tour groups book with large hotels, typically owned by 

the government, and military-controlled companies in particular. 

Individual travelers, on the other hand, are more likely to book 

with individual B&B’s, typically owned by private individuals. 

The genesis of this restriction is bad information. During 

his signing ceremony, Trump was surrounded by lawmakers with 

little firsthand knowledge of Cuba. None of the elected officials 

had ever visited the island. As Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner 

told me, the hardliners in his delegation to Cuba softened their 

stance once they saw what was really happening: The emergence 

of a private sector fueled by U.S. visitors. 

The best reaction to Trump’s policies came late Friday, when 

I was listening to a Cuban band playing traditional music in The 

Tavern in Old Havana. At one point the band leader asked a 

couple of girls in the audience where they were from. 

“California,” they said. 

“Oh,” he said. “We love your President Obama. He has done 

so much for us Cubans.” Then he stopped and looked around. 

“No, wait a minute. He’s not your president anymore! Ay no!” He 

then laughed and started the band up again. 

J.P. Faber. Editor-in-Chief 

Publisher 

Richard Roffman 

Art Director 

Jon Braeley 

Senior Writer 

Doreen Hemlock 

Copy Editor 

Larry Luxner 

Vice President Sales 

Sherry Adams 

Moore & Company, P.A. 

Editor-in-Chief 

J.P.Faber 

Chairman 

Todd W. Hoffman 

Director of Operations 

Monica Del Carpio-Raucci 

Production Manager 

Toni Kirkland 

Managing Editor 

Julienne Gage 

Associate Editor 

Nick Swyter 

Writers 

Suzette Laboy 

Arturo Lopez-Levy 

Victoria Mckenzie 

Emilio Morales 

Ana Radelat 

Ariana H. Reguant 

Mimi Whitefield 

Photographers 

Richard J. Carson 

David Ramos Casin 

Matias J. Ocner 

Mario Luis Reyes 

Thos Robinson 

Manager, New Business 

Development 

Magguie Marina 

Aviation Consultant 

Lauren Stover 

Maritime • Art • Aviation Law 

Cuba Trade Magazine (ISSN 2573-332X) is published each month by Third Circle 

Publishing, LLC, at 2 S. Biscayne Blvd., Suite 2450, Miami, FL USA 33131. 

Telephone: (786) 206.8254. Copyright 2017 by Third Circle Publishing LLC. All 

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panorama 

Deals, events 

and transactions 

of note for trade 

and investment 

in Cuba 

President Donald Trump signs a Cuba policy directive in Miami 

A Cuba crackdown 

Following a speech that blasted the Castro 

regime, President Donald Trump signed a 

policy directive to tighten restrictions on 

traveling to Cuba and bar U.S. business 

transactions with companies linked to 

the military. The policy keeps most of the 

Obama administration’s Cuba opening 

intact. Commercial flights and cruise 

ships can still serve Cuba. Remittance polices 

are unchanged. And Trump did not 

reinstate the “wet foot, dry foot” policy 

that gave Cubans who arrived on U.S. soil 

a pathway to permanent residency. More 

than 20 bilateral agreements that deal 

with topics such as scientific collaboration, 

oil spill cleanups, and human trafficking 

are still in place. 

Cuba responds to crackdown 

Granma, the official newspaper of the 

Cuban Communist Party, responded to 

Trump’s Miami speech by characterizing 

it as “hostile rhetoric” and a return to “the 

coercive methods of the past.” The newspaper 

suggested Trump was influenced by 

a handful of Cuban-American hardliners 

instead of the majority of Americans who 

support normalization. Despite the tough 

talk, the newspaper said the Cuban government 

is willing to maintain a “respectful 

dialogue” with the U.S. 

Trading jabs 

In a move that infuriated Havana weeks 

before his policy announcement, Trump 


issued a statement on May 20 to mark the 

115th anniversary of the Cuban Republic. 

Part of the statement said, “cruel 

despotism cannot extinguish the flame 

of freedom in the hearts of Cubans, and 

that unjust persecution cannot tamper 

Cubans’ dreams for their children to live 

free from oppression.” Havana responded 

by reading a statement on Cuban state 

TV calling Trump “ill-advised,” and 

described his message as “controversial” 

and “ridiculous.” 

Senate makes a push to loosen embargo 

The Senate will consider two bipartisan 

bills aimed at loosening the trade embargo. 

On May 25, Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) 

and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) reintroduced 

a bill with 55 co-sponsors to end travel 

restrictions on Cuba. One day later, Sens. 

Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Amy Klobuchar 

(D-Minn.), Flake and Leahy reintroduced 

a bill with 13 co-sponsors to eliminate 

export restrictions on Cuba. The 

2015 versions of the bills never reached 

the Senate floor for a vote. It’s doubtful 

the Senate’s Republican leaders will allow 

the latest versions to come to a vote. 

An answer to the stolen property problem? 

As part of proposed legislation, Rep. Rick 

Crawford (R-Ark.) is considering a 2 percent 

seller’s fee on agriculture exports to 

Cuba, which will be used to compensate 

people with certified claims of property 

seized by the Cuban government. Crawford 

reintroduced a bill to eliminate restrictions 

on financing agriculture exports 

to Cuba earlier this year, but it does not 

include the proposed 2 percent fee. Rep. 

Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), a Cuban-American, 

said he backs the proposal. 

Communist Party roadmap approved 

Cuba’s parliament unanimously approved 

documents that reaffirm the one-party 

political system and state domination of 

the socialist economy. The documents 

also contain the first government recognition 

of private businesses. Even though 

Cuba has allowed a “self-employed” 

sector to exist for years, the documents 

reinforce the legality of small- and 

medium-sized businesses. While the 

documents were drafted before Trump’s 

election, they send a message that the 

country won’t make concessions to the 

White House. 

A comrade comes to the rescue 

A tanker carrying 250,000 barrels 

of Russian oil arrived in Matanzas

in May. The move was vital to offset 

slashed oil deliveries from Venezuela, 

which have forced Cuba to ration 

electricity and fuel. Russian state-owned 

oil company Rosneft announced May 

3 that it will deliver 250,000 tons of oil 

and diesel to Cuba as part of a contract 

with state entity Cubametals. Little is 

known about the terms of the contract, 

but some experts estimate it to be worth 

$100 million. 

authorities even though the deadline for 

a response has passed, putting its legal 

status in limbo. 

Airbnb’s giant impact 

Cuban Airbnb hosts have been paid more 

than $40 million since the home-sharing 

platform launched its services on 

the island in April 2015, according to a 

new report. The company also said it has 

about 22,000 listings and that Cuban 

hosts have received about 560,000 guest 

arrivals. 

first term, according to a report by the 

anti-embargo Engage Cuba lobby. The 

report says the travel, tourism, farming, 

manufacturing, and shipping industries 

would be hit the hardest, and that U.S. 

cruise operators and airlines stand to lose 

around $712 million in annual revenues. 

NEW DESTINATION 

From Russia, with love 

Russia will help Cuba restore the 

gold-plated dome of Havana’s El Capitolio, 

according to Russian news agency 

Sputnik. A Russian state-owned company 

announced it is accepting proposals 

for the project, which will be funded by 

Russia’s federal budget. State-owned 

Russian Railways also said it may sign 

a $2 billion contract to upgrade Cuba’s 

railroad system by the end of this year. 

The company said it is currently negotiating 

the terms of financing. 

Venezuela’s crisis is hurting Cuba 

A UN report says Cuban exports of refined 

oil products fell a whopping 97 percent 

from 2013 to 2016. The drop happened 

largely because Venezuela slashed its crude 

oil deliveries to the island. The same report 

says Cuban service exports plummeted in 

2015, helping to push the Cuban economy 

into a recession in 2016. 

Cuba’s first private business group 

A group of Havana entrepreneurs has 

started Cuba’s first small business association 

to provide help, advice, training, 

and representation to members of Cuba’s 

burgeoning private sector. The group 

applied for government recognition in 

February. It has not yet heard back from 


Joining the fight for Havana flights 

United Airlines announced it is applying 

for six additional Houston-Havana 

daily flights, up from one weekly service 

now. FedEx is also seeking authorization 

for Monday-Friday all-cargo service 

between Miami and Havana. The 

moves come shortly after three airlines 

announced their plans to drop Cuba. 

American, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest 

have also applied for additional routes to 

Havana. 

Manufacturers send a message 

National Association of Manufacturers 

President Jay Timmons said Cuba 

could become a valuable export market 

if trade restrictions are lifted. He made 

the comments shortly after a NAM 

delegation visited the island to meet with 

government officials. He added that the 

Cuban government should make it easier 

for U.S. companies to trade directly with 

the country’s private sector. 

The cost of cutting ties to Cuba 

Completely rolling back the Obama 

administration’s Cuba opening would 

cost the U.S. economy $6.6 billion and 

affect 12,295 U.S. jobs through Trump’s 

Cuban tech experts in the spotlight 

A trio of Cuban entrepreneurs spoke to 

a crowd at Tech Crunch Disrupt in New 

York about how they are building businesses 

on the island. They said Cuba has 

excellent talent, but limited wifi connectivity 

continues to be an issue. The entrepreneurs 

encouraged U.S. internet companies 

to work closely with Cuban tech startups. 

A bookings boost 

Online travel services company Expedia 

has begun offering online bookings for 

hotels in Cuba. The company says it’ll 

book American guests who can certify 

that their trip falls under one of the 12 

categories of authorized travel to Cuba. 

Even more cruises 

Carnival Corp.’s Holland America Line 

and Victory Cruise Line received approval 

to begin sailing to Cuba. Holland 

America’s MS Veendam has several 

seven-day and 12-day itineraries that 

include stops in Havana and Cienfuegos. 

Victory Cruise Line President and CEO 

Bruce Nierenberg said he expects the 

company to call at Cienfuegos, Trinidad, 

Santiago de Cuba, and María La Gorda. 

Samsung sets up shop 

South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has 

opened a brand shop in Havana, selling 

TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, 

and smartphones. Samsung products 

have typically been sold in Cuba through 

local retailers. Samsung claims it’s the 

first global IT company to open a brand 

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INDEX 

Cuba’s Internal Tourism Boom 

With the advent of a private sector 

in Cuba, internal tourism has soared 

in the past decade 

By Emilio Morales 

Figure 1. National tourism hosted in hotels, 2010-2016 

Figure 1. Domestic tourists hosted in hotels, 2010-2016 

“One of the greatest impediments to doing business in Cuba 

has been the lack of thorough, objective and un-politicized 

market intelligence. The THCG Business Report changes 

that and provides investors and exporters with the 

crucial first blush of data and insight that they need.” 

John Price 

Managing Director at America’s Market Intelligence 

Much of the recent focus in tourism in 

Cuba has been about the increasing number 

of U.S. visitors. Less noticed has been 

the meteoric growth of national tourism 

within Cuba over the last decade. 

In 2016, more than 991,122 Cubans 

stayed in hotels on the island, a record for 

the country’s tourism industry. Less than 

a decade ago, in 2008, that number was a 

mere 61,508. 

This new growth in the number of 

internal tourists—now second only to 

Canadian tourists, at 1.2 million last 

year—is remarkable for several reasons. 

First, the increase has taken place despite 

hefty hotel price hikes brought about by 

the avalanche of North American tourists. 

Second, the hotels where Cuban tourists 

are staying are destined for international 

tourists, so they are paying the same prices 

as visitors from abroad, and competing for 

available rooms. 

Much of the costs for these hotel 

visits are paid by Cuban-Americans visiting 

relatives. It is currently estimated that 

about 45 percent of Cuban-Americans 

who travel to the island stay in a hotel 

with their relatives on the island for two 

or three days. 

Perhaps more importantly, the growth 

of Cuba’s private sector employment has 

also increased the purchasing power of 

hundreds of thousands of Cubans, reflecting 

just how much the new Cuban middle 

class has grown in recent years. H 

Source: Havana Consulting Group based on statistic published by the Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas e 

Figure 2. Domestic Información tourists who (ONEI). stayed in hotel chains, 2016 

Figure 2. Number of national tourists who stayed in hotel chains, 2016 

Source: Havana Consulting Source: Havana Group Consulting based statistic Group based published on statistic by the published Oficina Nacional by the de Estadísticas e 

Source: Havana Consulting Oficina Group Nacional based de Información on Estadísticas statistic published (ONEI). e Información by the Oficina (ONEI). Nacional de Estadísticas e 

Información (ONEI). 

Figure 3. Average nightly room rate in Cuba hotel chains, 2016 

Figure 3. Average annual price per room per night in Cuba hotels chains. 2016 

Figure 3. Average annual price per room per night in Cuba hotels chains. 2016 

“The Havana Consulting Group Business Report is the most in-depth business 

and legal analysis for planning market entry into Cuba I have ever seen. The research 

is detailed, analytical and directional, with interesting background and 

future projections data.” 

Tim Grainey, Founder 

Strategic Research Initiative LLC, Queen Creek, AZ 

“…THCG BUSINESS REPORT, is a full information report on 

Cuba. Frank, clear, and independent analysis and opinions 

based on the most recent information available. Anyone investing 

in Cuba must read it. Knowledge is the key. ” 

Hugo Cuevas-Mohr 

President and CEO of Mohr World Consulting 

OBTAIN STRATEGIC HIGH VALUE INFORMATION AND BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS IN: 

Remittances, Tourism, Real estate, Energy, Telecommunications, Retail market, Transportation, Automotive, Manufacturing, Cell phone market, Agriculture, 

Sugar industry, Infrastructure, Cruises market, Brands, Legal, Chicken meat market, Private sector, Biotechnology, Nickel, Payment networks, 

Care & hygiene products industry, Shoes production, Tobacco, Accommodation, Housing, Logistic, Income population in USD and other topics. 

To place your order please contact Monica Raucci at 786-206-8254. Ext 410 or email mraucci@cubatrademag.com 

Economist Emilio Morales is CEO of the Miami-based 

Havana Consulting Group 


Source: Havana Consulting Group 

Source: Havana Consulting Group 

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IDEAS + INNOVATION 

Photo by Jon Braeley 

BABY BOOSTS 

Like many advanced nations, Cuba is suffering a decline 

in birthrates due to women waiting until later in life. According 

to the CIA’s World Factbook, Cuba ranks 183 

out of 226 nations in terms of births per 1,000 inhabitants—putting 

it on par with countries like Switzerland, 

Russia, Denmark, Canada, and the Netherlands. Concerned 

with projections that 30 percent of the Cuban 

population will be 60 and over by 2030—up from 19.6 

percent in 2016—Cuba's Ministry of Labor and Social 

Security now grants maternity leave six weeks before 

and 12 weeks after birth. Parents or grandparents who 

are state workers and who become the primary caregiver 

can receive 60 percent of their salary for the first year 

of the baby’s life. And, for couples in their late 30s who 

are having difficulty conceiving, the state now operates 

four regional fertility clinics where in vitro fertilization 

is offered free of charge. 

Strategic Planning / Public Affairs Consulting 

BASEBALL FOR THE BLIND 

Baseball has long been a national passion for Cuba, but that passion 

has been off limits for the visually impaired. Now a program that 

was originally developed in Italy in the 1990s has spread across the 

island, according to a report by Reuters. The system works by using 

a baseball that has bells inside, so fielders can hear the ball when 

it lands. First base has a beeper, while teammates clap paddles at 

MECHANICAL WIZARDS 

“When it comes to the ratio of modified to stock cars, and 

the sheer resourcefulness and ingenuity of car owners and 

their mechanics, the number one place in the world for 

modified cars is Cuba.” So begins the narration for the 

half-hour documentary The Cars of Cuba, filmed by Australia's 

popular “Mighty Car Mods” program and available 

on YouTube. “Cuba’s car culture is a fascinating blend of 

crazy 1950s American excess and 1970s Soviet utilitarianism, 

colored by the locals' ‘can-do’ attitude to keep their 

aging cars on the road,” says the program. Calling them the 

“most resourceful modifiers of cars on the planet,” the documentary 

shows how Cuban mechanics refit their old cars 

with Kia and Hyundai diesel engines, Toyota truck engines, 

tractor engines, or even converted stationary pump 

engines, as they proudly pass their heirlooms down to the 

next generation. 


the other bases to orient runners. Players wear colorful blindfolds 

when playing; sighted people can join in if they also wear one. For 

obvious reasons, there is no pitcher. Batters toss the ball in the air 

and hit it, and fly balls are not permitted. Cuban coaches and players 

are now hoping that blind baseball will be included in the 2020 

Paralympics—so they can bring the medals home. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJPqe1baowA 

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POLITICS 

The Winners 

and Losers of 

Trump's Cuba 

Policy 

By Nick Swyter 

Following a June 16 speech in Miami 

that blasted Cuba for its human 

rights violations, President Donald 

Trump signed a policy directive to tighten 

restrictions on traveling to the island and 

conducting business transactions with 

companies tied to the military. 

The White House says the policy will 

empower the private sector while restricting 

the flow of money to the Castro 

government. 

However, while the speech itself was 

a fierce denunciation of Cuba’s government, 

the new policy leaves much of the 


intact. Embassies in both Havana and 

Washington will remain open. Commercial 

flights and cruises are still in place. 

Trump did not reinstate the “wet foot, dry 

foot” policy that gave Cubans who arrived 

on U.S. soil a pathway to permanent 

residency. Cuba is still off of the State 

Department's sponsors of terrorism list. 

And, more than 20 bilateral agreements 

signed in the last two years, including 

ones on drug trafficking and oil spill 

cleanups, were left untouched. 

WINNERS 

President Trump 

Trump is following through on a promise 

he made to anti-Castro Cuban-Americans. 

Even though the president said he 

was “fine” with the Obama administration’s 

Cuba opening early in his campaign, 

he told a Miami crowd in September 

Pen mightier than sword? President Donald Trump signs a policy directive on Cuba in Miami. 

2016 he would reverse the policies unless 

the Castro government gave political and 

religious freedoms to its citizens. 

Friday’s announcement is by no means 

the full reversal Trump promoted, but it 

has the stamp of approval from South 

Florida anti-Castro lawmakers Sen. Marco 

Rubio and Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart. 

Trump’s allies appear to know the 

timing is not right for a complete reversal 

of the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement. Raúl 

Castro is expected to leave the presidency 

in February, and even though he will likely 

continue to be the most influential figure 

in government, next year may be the first 

time since 1959 that a veteran of the Revolution 

will not officially lead the country. 

Trump’s speech also slammed Cuba 

for its human rights abuses. Trump now 

has the chance to use his tough talk on 

Castro to deflect accusations of being soft 

on authoritarians such as Russian President 

Vladimir Putin, Filipino President 

Rodrigo Duterte and Turkish President 

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. 

Sen. Rubio and Rep. Díaz-Balart 

Rubio and Díaz-Balart were among the 

most vocal opponents of the Obama 

administration’s Cuba opening, and they 

had significant roles in crafting Trump’s 

policy. In doing so, they earned roles in the 

spotlight and appealed to their loyal base 

of anti-Castro Cuban-Americans. 

The two lawmakers also got an edge 

by keeping policy deliberations private. 

Advocacy organizations, lawmakers and 

business leaders supporting the Obama 

administration’s Cuba policy were playing 

catch-up by the time news reports of a 

Miami announcement were made public. 

“Engagement” 

Hardliners are unlikely to admit it, but 

the Trump administration’s policy largely 

resembles the Obama approach that emphasized 

support for the private sector and 

keeping diplomatic channels open. 

The Cuba Study Group think tank put 

it best: “In statements defending the new 

policy, they adopted pro-normalization positions 

they once scorned: the importance 

of continued diplomatic engagement and 

of supporting Cuba’s private sector.” 

Photo by Evan Vucci/AP Photo 

Travel agencies and cruise lines 

The administration wants to make sure 

U.S. citizens don’t go to Cuba as tourists 

by tightening enforcement on the 12 

authorized categories of travel to Cuba. 

The Office of Foreign Assets Control says 

individual “people-to-people” trips, which 

give travelers the ability to set their own 

itineraries, will end. The administration 

will instead push group “people-to-people” 

trips, which typically have a schedule of 

activities and a company guide. 

Though it might dampen travel demand, 

this move plays well for tour companies 

and cruise lines, which specialize in 

giving travelers arranged activities. 

“If you are a cruise line, I think you 

are up and running, because cruise lines 

definitely fall under the rubric of group 

travel,” said Richard Feinberg, author of 

Open for Business: Building the New Cuban 

Economy. "But we do have to wait to see 

what the curtailed regulations look like." 

Cigar and rum enthusiasts 

For now, there are no changes to rules 

allowing U.S. travelers to bring back 

Cuban cigars and rum. That move seems 

odd, considering those products are largely 

controlled by state-run enterprises. 

LOSERS 

GAESA 

GAESA, Cuba’s massive military-run 

business conglomerate, is now in the spotlight 

for all the wrong reasons. The Trump 

administration’s ban on U.S. business 

transactions with military-run organizations 

will undoubtedly reduce the flow of 

money to GAESA companies. 

Perhaps more importantly, an administration 

review of GAESA will reveal 

more information about the conglomerate, 

whose holdings include hotels, retail 

chains, banks and remittance services, 

construction companies, import and export 

companies, tourist bus fleets, marinas, 

and more. An extensive report on GAE- 

SA could inform the Cuban public of the 

military’s participation in their economy. 

Cuban entrepreneurs 

Even though the Trump administration 

insists its policy helps Cuba’s private 

sector, the dampened travel demand likely 

to result will hurt entrepreneurs. Private 

restaurants, accommodations, taxi drivers, 

and souvenir shops are already competitive 

against their larger state-run counterparts. 

A steady stream of individual visitors 

helps entrepreneurs more than a U.S. ban 

on using the government competition. 

“There’s going to be less money to 

the state, but there’s also going to be less 

money to the private sector,” said Ted 

Henken, a Baruch College professor and 

author of Entrepreneurial Cuba. 

Additionally, by pushing U.S. travelers 

Obama Policies 

Comparing Trump’s Policy Changes in 14 Categories 

Renew diplomatic relations 

Reopen US Embassy 

Rescinded “wet foot dry foot” 

Opened U.S. travel to Cuba 

Allowed more leeway for U.S. 

companies to invest and operate 

Restored regular commercial flights 

Authorized cruise ship visits 

Remittances from Cuban-Americans 

Resumed direct mail service 

Allowed some imports to U.S. from 

private sector companies 

Allowed U.S. citizens to bring back 

Cuban rum and cigars 

Removed Cuba from list of state 

sponsors of terrorism 

Bilateral agreements for scientific 

research, protection of coastal waters, 

and police cooperation 

Expanded cultural, athletic, and 

educational exchanges 

to go on group tours, the administration 

may inadvertently funnel visitors to staterun 

businesses specializing in handing 

tour groups. “When you go on a tour, 

those big groups are almost always linked 

in business with the Cuban government,” 

Henken added. 

U.S. travelers 

U.S. citizens seeking to visit Cuba under 

the “people-to-people” and “education” 

categories will need to work harder to 

convince authorities they are not tourists. 

That convincing may involve keeping 

records of itineraries or going on group 

travel packages. For many potential travelers, 

those tasks will make a trip to Cuba 

less attractive. 

Starwood 

It’s not clear what impact Trump’s 

announcement will have on Starwood, 

a Marriott subsidiary that has managed 

the Four Points by Sheraton in Havana 

since 2016. The lone U.S. hotel in Cuba is 

Trump Policies 

Will continue 

Will stay open 

Will not reinstate 

Stops individual people-to-people travel 

Bars most business with companies 

controlled by the Cuban military 

Will continue 

Will continue 

Will continue 

Will continue 

Not addressed, but wants 

to support the private sector 

Not addressed 

Not addressed 

Not addressed 

Not addressed 

owned by Gaviota, a tourism group that 

belongs to the military’s GAESA conglomerate. 

Starwood also has two other 

hotels in Cuba in the pipeline. 

“It would be exceedingly disappointing 

to see the progress that has been made 

in the last two years halted and reversed,” 

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson wrote in 

an email. White House officials say the 

Treasury and Commerce departments will 

create regulations to determine Starwood’s 

future, but their intent “is not to disrupt 

existing transactions that have occurred.” 

The Congressional Push 

Several weeks before Trump’s announcement, 

a bipartisan group of 55 senators 

introduced a bill to end the ban on travel 

to Cuba. Another bipartisan group of 13 

senators introduced a bill to lift export 

restrictions. The new policy slows any 

momentum those bills had. The best shot 

at loosening the embargo may now rest 

with bills to lift restrictions on financing 

agriculture exports to the island. H 


JUNE/JULY 2017 CUBATRADE 

21

OPINION 

Trump's New 

Cuba Policy is 

Smaller Than 

Advertised 

By Arturo Lopez Levy 

THE PILLSBURY DIFFERENCE 

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“Those days are over. Now we hold the 

cards,” U.S. President Donald Trump 

proclaimed to the approval of a crowd of 

hardline Cuban exiles Friday in Miami as 

he signed a new directive aimed at rolling 

back Obama-era Cuba policies. And yet, 

there appears to be little bite in his bark. 

There are really just three changes: 

1) There will be more travel restrictions 

for U.S. Citizens without family in 

Cuba hoping to visit the island outside 

of a group people-to-people trip. 2) 

Trump returned to a short version of the 

Helms-Burton law’s prerequisites for normalization 

between Cuba and the United 

States. 3) U.S. citizens and companies are 

now barred from engaging in financial 

transactions with Cuban companies run 

by the country’s military. 

But the Trump administration has 

had to swallow a lot of other Obama-era 

achievements because reversing those 

advances could harm U.S. national 

interests and create tension with its allies, 

all of which reject American isolation of 

Cuba. The U.S. Embassy in Havana and 

the Cuban Embassy in Washington will 

remain open. Cuba will not go back on 

the U.S. State Department’s State Sponsors 

of Terrorism list. A memorandum of 

understanding to deepen law enforcement 

cooperation and information sharing is 

still intact. There will be no rollback of 

the precarious wet-foot, dry-foot immigration 

policy that gave all Cubans who 

reached U.S. soil a pathway to permanent 

residency. 

Trump’s new directive pauses, but 

does not end business and travel exchange 

opportunities with Cuba. His laundry 

list of pre-normalization prerequisites for 


the current and future Cuban leaders – 

including calling multiparty elections and 

releasing political prisoners- is the same 

tattered one used by administrations over 

the past five decades. It has never proven 

successful, and Cuba continues to refuse 

it. Perhaps Cuba could release those prisoners 

as a show of goodwill. But with the 

U.S. embargo in place, calling for multiparty 

elections under international scrutiny 

in the next six months is putting the 

cart before the horse. It would amount to 

political suicide for the Cuban Communist 

Party. Besides, modern global history 

has shown that while multiparty elections 

are the end goal of democratic transition, 

there are lots of earlier economic and 

political advances required to open and 

stabilize a nation. 

And then there’s the irony of the 

travel ban for Americans wishing to 

visit to Cuba on their own. Conservative 

Cuban-American congressmen like Sen. 

Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Mario 

Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), who pushed Trump 

to crack down on Obama’s policies, understood 

that limiting Cuban-American 

travel and remittances to the island could 

only bring them trouble. As such, that 

ban only pertains to Americans outside of 

those politicians’ own jurisdictions. 

But not all is lost for those Americans 

who weren’t blessed with being 

born in Cuba – or to Cuban families. 

Cuba, travel agencies, and airlines can 

still promote forms of travel that comply 

with new regulations. It might take 

some creative planning on the part of the 

travel industry and interested American 

citizens, but the massive influx of American 

travelers (540 000 in 2016) to Cuba 

suggests the interest is certainly there. 

Finally, prohibiting business transactions 

with companies owned by Cuba’s 

military is more of a gesture to Trump’s 

Miami cronies than a game changer for 

Cuba’s political structure. The Cuban 

armed forces will be a key player in the 

transition of power when current President 

Raul Castro steps down in 2018, 

so attempting to punish them will only 

provide a political opportunity for Cuba 

to denounce U.S. interference in Cuban 

affairs and unify the Castro bases with 

the armed forces. 

Limiting U.S. travel and business 

to Cuba is merely the first in a series of 

efforts Cuban-American hardliners will 

take to continue squeezing Cuba. With 

so much renewed American interest in 

Cuban business and travel, as well as a 

greater awareness of the ways U.S. policy 

inconsistently applies isolationist strategies 

in the name of international human 

rights and democracy, it’s hard to imagine 

they’ll have much success in reversing all 

of Obama’s achievements. As new electoral 

cycles approach, pro-Cuba engagement 

lobbyists in the business, humanitarian, 

and diplomacy sectors will need 

to work together to encourage a logical, 

moral strategy that truly supports greater 

prosperity and national security on both 

sides of the Straits of Florida. 

Dr. Arturo Lopez Levy is an author and 

lecturer of Latin American politics at the 

University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. He 

worked as a political analyst for the Cuban 

government from 1992 to 1994. 

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) counsel. Over 25 years’ experience 

advising on the practical implications of the FCPA and all aspects of compliance and 

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In a sign of pragmatism, Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget cuts 

funds for the USAID democracy program for Cuba 

Missing from the Trump administration’s 

proposed State Department budget for 

fiscal 2018 is funding for the U.S. Agency 

for International Development’s controversial 

Cuba democracy programs. Cuban 

officials have long accused such programs of 

attempting to destabilize their government. 

Under the Obama administration, 

these programs received $20 million in fiscal 

2016, with the same amount budgeted 

in fiscal 2017, though the State Department 

and USAID are still determining 

the final allocation of those funds. 

The Cuba cuts are part of a proposed 

State Department and USAID budget 

presented in May that whittles down 

overall spending by about 30 percent to 

$37.6 billion. In a letter to Congress justi- 

By Mimi Whitefield 

fying the proposed cuts, Secretary of State 

Rex Tillerson said that “U.S. diplomacy 

engagement and aid programs must be 

more efficient and more effective, and that 

advancing our national security, our economic 

interests, and our values will remain 

our primary mission.” 

Asked about the cut in Cuba funds, 

a USAID spokesperson said they resulted 

from a need to prioritize efforts to “allow 

us to advance our most important policy 

goals of protecting America and creating 

American jobs.” 

Despite the proposed cuts in 2018 

USAID funding for Cuba (as well as 

Ecuador and Venezuela), the programs can 

still be restored as the budget makes its way 

through Congress. South Florida Republican 

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has already 

vowed to work toward that. “The White 

House is obligated to provide Congress its 

budget request but Congress ultimately has 

the power of the purse,” she said. 

Calling the lack of funding for 

democracy building programs in the three 

countries “greatly troubling,” Ros-Lehtinen 

pledged to work with fellow lawmakers 

“in a bipartisan manner to ensure that we 

rectify this problem.” 

Funding for “dissident assistance” 

programs appears to be intact, however. 

A USAID spokesperson said these 

humanitarian assistance programs were 

fully funded with prior-year allocations. 

USAID recently advertised $6 million in 

three-year grants to groups that “provide 

Continued on page 42 

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TRANSITIONS 

From Russia. 

With Love? 

Russia’s rekindled interest in 

Cuba raises questions about the 

Kremlin's geopolitical ambitions 

Your Personal Concierge 

Service in Cuba 


Photo by Matias J. Ocner 

Golden Dome: A Russian state enterprise is accepting bids to restore the dome on Havana's Capitolio 

Russia threw a lifeline to Cuba on May 

10 by sending an oil tanker with nearly 

250,000 barrels of refined products to 

the island. The move was vital to offset 

slashed oil deliveries from Venezuela, 

which have forced Cuba to ration electricity 

and fuel. 

The May delivery is expected to be 

the first of many from Russia. Rosneft, 

a Russian state-owned oil company, announced 

May 3 that it will deliver 250,000 

tons of oil and diesel to Cuba as part of a 

contract with state enterprise Cubametals. 

Little is known about the terms of the 

contract, but some experts estimate it to 

be worth $100 million. 

The heavily sanctioned Russian 

economy, which contracted by 0.6 percent 

in 2016, is in no shape to offer Cuba 

energy deals that are as favorable as the 

oil deliveries from Venezuela. Russia also 

appears to be skeptical of Cuba’s ability to 

fund continued oil deliveries. “If financial 

resources are found, the companies will 

deliver. It’s not charity,” Russian Energy 

Minister Alexander Novak told the staterun 

TASS news agency. 

The shipments are, however, just one 

of several indicators that Russia is keen on 

expanding ties with its Cold War ally. 

State-owned Russian Railroads announced 

it may sign a $2 billion contract 

to upgrade more than 1,000 kilometers of 

Cuban rail tracks by the end of the year. 

A Russian state-owned enterprise is also 

accepting bids to restore the gold dome of 

Havana’s El Capitolio—a project that will 

take at most $354,000 out of Russia’s federal 

budget. But perhaps most importantly, 

Russia agreed in 2014 to waive a whopping 

90 percent of Cuba’s outstanding $32 

billion in Soviet-era debt. 

Russia’s renewed interest in Cuba has 

raised questions, but few answers, about 

what exactly the Kremlin hopes to gain 

from engaging the cash-strapped island. 

“I think Russia’s overtures, and more 

importantly the press coverage, is timed to 

coincide with the White House’s anticipated 

reversal of the Obama administration’s 

rapprochement efforts,” said Brian 

Fonseca, director of Florida International 

University’s Jack D. Gordon Institute for 

Public Policy. “Russia’s contemporary engagement 

in Latin America appears to be 

very opportunistic and it is likely attempting 

to capitalize on any adverse sentiment 

towards the U.S. in the aftermath of policy 

changes toward Cuba.” 

On the security front, Russia signed 

a deal in December to modernize Cuba’s 

defense industry through 2020. Russian 

Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov 

also spoke to the national parliament last 

year about plans to reopen a military base 

in Cuba that Moscow closed in 2002. 

While Russia’s exact motivations for 

expanding ties with the Cuban military 

are unclear, it has led to concerns in 

Washington. 

In April, two dozen retired U.S. 

military officials sent a letter to the 

White House urging it to continue the 


for national security reasons. “The Cold 

War might not be back,” part of the letter 

said, “but Cuba has returned as a national 

security battleground as Russia and China 

increasingly engage with Havana and seek 

influence on an island less than 100 miles 

from the U.S. mainland.” H 

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SCIENCE 

Cracking the 

Coral Code 

Researchers think coral from Cuba might help 

reefs in the Florida Keys survive climate change 

H 

Key West 

H 

Miami 


Guanahacabibes 

peninsula 

H 

Photo by Nick Swyter 

Undersea Solution: Marine biologist Andrew Baker inspects coral at the University of Miami 

Marine biologists from Miami will travel 

to Cuba this summer to learn whether 

corals from the island can help the Florida 

Keys adapt to warmer waters brought by 

climate change. 

As part of an investigation of corals 

around the Caribbean, Andrew Baker 

of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel 

School of Marine and Atmospheric 

Science will join a research expedition to 

collect and research samples in western 

Cuba’s Guanahacabibes region. Their 

research is important because some Cuban 

waters are about 2 degrees Celsius (3.5 degrees 

Fahrenheit) warmer than the Keys. 

“Corals in Florida are going to need 

to be able to adapt or acclimatize by about 

this amount over the course of this century,” 

Baker said. “So corals from Cuba may 

be able to help Florida’s corals achieve 

this.” 

Cuba’s corals have the added advantage 

of genetic similarity to those in the 

Keys. Baker wants to use DNA samples 

from the Guanahacabibes corals to 

investigate genetic links and see if they 

are sending their larvae downstream to 

the Keys. Showing a connection between 

the two systems would reduce the risk of 

introducing other non-native organisms 

into the Keys’ coastal ecosystem. “The goal 

is to accelerate the pace at which Cuba’s 

corals might help Florida’s reefs respond 

to climate change. To do this, it’s best to 

use our next door neighbors, not different 

coral species from faraway locations like 

the Red Sea or Australia,” Baker said. 

Once scientists learn how resistant 

Cuban corals are to the effects of climate 

change, it might then be possible to investigate 

the risks and benefits of cross-breed- 

Researchers at the University of Miami 

prepare coral for testing 

Photo by Nick Swyter 

ing Cuban and Floridian corals, and assess 

whether introducing these corals to the 

Keys might help its reefs survive. “There is 

a need to accelerate the natural connectivity 

between these ecosystems, because they 

are fast running out of time as the oceans 

continue to warm,” Baker said. 

Adding to the sense of urgency, 

last year Baker’s UM colleagues found 

that ocean acidification will likely accelerate 

the predicted deterioration of the 

Keys’ reefs. That’s bad news for the local 

economy, because UM estimates the 

region’s reefs generate $7.6 billion annually 

from the tourism and seafood industries. 

Depleted coral also makes Florida more 

vulnerable to hurricanes, since reefs protect 

some coastlines from storm surges. 

While normalized U.S.-Cuba 

relations have helped advance scientific 

exchanges, Baker admits his Cuban 

expedition has not been easy to arrange. 

Original plans were set for last December, 

but were pushed back to summer. “It takes 

time to build relationships that will last, 

and governments don’t always work as fast 

as individuals do,” he said. 

There is a need [for] connectivity between these 

ecosystems, because they are running out of time 

Andrew Baker, UM's Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science 

Beyond earning U.S. and Cuban 

government approval, conducting research 

on the island is itself challenging. 

Fernando Bretos, a Cuban-American 

marine biologist who will join Baker on 

the expedition, has conducted research 

in Cuba since 1999. He says he still faces 

challenges in communications, funding, 

transportation, and the scarcity of 

high-quality research vessels. “That’s the 

hardest part,” said Bretos. “There just aren’t 

that many boats you can use.” 

The upside of doing research on the 

island is collaboration with the Cuban scientific 

community, which Bretos says is resourceful, 

diligent, and can follow through 

on projects American scientists help devise. 

“We can go in and plan projects, and the 

Cubans can do a lot of that science at a 

very high-quality level,” Bretos said. 

Both scientists are optimistic about 

the future of these scientific exchanges, 

with Cuba. Baker says American scientists 

benefit from the experience of 

their Cuban counterparts and the ability 

to study Cuba’s relatively healthy reefs. 

Cuban scientists, in exchange, learn how 

to use new tools such as modeling and 

genomics to better understand how their 

reefs are connected. 

To really advance bilateral marine 

biology research, says Baker, some Cuban 

marine biology students should earn their 

PhDs at UM. That would allow Cubans 

to learn new methods and technologies. 

“That way they can take the lead 

in applying them to understanding and 

protecting their reefs, and be vested in 

the management of these valuable marine 

resources,” he says. H 



29

TRANSPORTATION 

Having Trouble Finding 

a Hotel In Havana? 

Bring your own 

Technicians 

One of the added expenses for U.S. commercial 

airlines serving Cuba is the necessity of bringing 

a mechanic onboard 


Photo by Jon Braeley 

Why Not See It Like a Native? 

Our apartments are in the Old Plaza (La Plaza 

Vieja) in the heart of Old Havana. Here, visitors can 

discover and get to know Cuba by walking the 

streets of its centuries-old capital—and feeling at 

home being taken care of by a friendly Cuban host. 

Among the many hurdles U.S. commercial 

airlines must navigate to serve Cuba, 

their planes must fly with maintenance 

technicians certified by the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) on board. 

The airlines can’t use Cuban technicians, 

because Cuba doesn’t have any with the 

proper certifications. 

“Currently, Cuba does not have any 

FAA-certified maintenance technicians,” 

wrote Southwest Airlines spokesperson 

Casey Dunn. “It is common practice for 

U.S.-based airlines to have an FAA-certified 

aircraft maintenance technician on 

board most flights to Cuba. This gives the 

airline the ability to quickly address any 

mechanical issues should they occur while 

in Cuba.” 

The island’s lack of FAA-certified 

mechanics appears to be unique for the 

Americas. Dunn says among all the 

destinations where Southwest flies in the 

Caribbean and South America, Cuba is 

the only country without them. 

Airlines were reassured they could 

fly with technicians on board without 


Safe Landings: An American Airlines flight touches down at the Holguín airport in eastern Cuba 

violating the U.S. embargo, thanks to an 

October 2016 Obama administration decision. 

At the time, the Treasury Department’s 

Office of Foreign Assets Control 

wrote it would allow “persons subject to 

U.S. jurisdiction to provide civil aviation 

safety-related services to Cuba and Cuban 

nationals aimed at promoting safety in 

civil aviation and the safe operation of 

commercial aircraft.” 

Currently, Cuba does not 

have any FAA-certified 

maintenance technicians 

Casey Dunn, Southwest Airlines 

U.S. commercial airlines will likely be 

keeping technicians on their flights for a 

while; the FAA doesn’t appear to be interested 

in certifying a repair station in Cuba. 

The only other way around that is for both 

countries to sign a bilateral aviation safety 

accord, said Christian Klein, an attorney 

with law firm Obadal Filler MacLeod & 

Klein, and executive vice-president of the 

Aeronautical Repair Station Association. 

Even though onboard technicians 

make flights safer, the practice has a few 

downsides. Technicians take seats away 

from potential customers, they get paid 

even when not working—and some tasks 

require transporting two maintenance 

workers. “The aviation maintenance industry 

is hurting for workers, so it presents its 

own challenges,” Klein said. 

Despite Cuba’s strategic location in the 

Caribbean, there also doesn’t appear to be 

any push from the U.S. maintenance, repair 

and operations (MRO) industry to provide 

services there for now. One reason? Most 

U.S. MRO service providers don’t work on 

Russian planes, notes Jim Sokol, president 

of MRO service provider HAECO Americas—and 

Cuba’s state-owned Cubana de 

Aviación operates an all-Russian fleet. 

“As things start to open up,” Sokol 

said, “we want to be a part of solutions.” 

For now, that means keeping U.S. airlines 

safe and sound. H 

• Accommodations for two, four or six people. 

• Reasonable rates. Breakfast included. 

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TOURISM 

TRAVEL TO CUBA FROM 2014 TO 2016 

(number of visitors in thousands) 

And the Survey Says… 

US Citizens 

Cuban Americans 

Canadians 

Other 

Total 

3,525 

4,035 

Different polls—and different 

headlines—suggest that 

interest in Cuba as a tourism 

destination is waning. 

Far from it, says the Boston 

Consulting Group 

2,532 

2,716 

2,839 2,853 

3,003 

1,901 

By J.P. Faber 

1,148 

945 

375 

63 

398 

74 

1,243 1,285 1,281 

1,002 

1,072 

1,106 

384 

98 

373 

92 

1,375 

1,175 

361 

91 

161 391 1,300 

1,673 

419 

285 

1,430 

2010 

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 

Source: Boston Consulting Group 

What, exactly, do Americans think 

about traveling to Cuba? That question is 

suddenly in the forefront, with the Trump 

administration's changes to U.S. policies 

making it harder to travel to the island by 

U.S. citizens. 

The answer, it turns out, depends on 

which poll numbers you trust—and how 

those number are spun by the media. 

When U.S. commercial airlines began 

reducing their scheduled flights to Cuba 

in March and April, the press had a field 

day with reports of a travel ‘bust.’ One 

survey by Allianz Global Assistance in 

May reported that 60 percent of Americans 

“would not like to travel to Cuba,” 

two points more than the previous year. 

Demand for visiting Cuba had obviously 

been greatly exaggerated, many news 

outlets reported. 

Not quite, says the Boston Consulting 

Group. According to a survey also 

released in May by the prestigious research 

organization, reports of the demise of 

U.S. demand for travel to Cuba have been 


greatly exaggerated. 

“As we looked into the data the 

idea of a ‘bust’ did not make sense,” said 

Marguerite Fitzgerald, author of the BCG 

study entitled Taking the Long View on 

Cuba’s Tourism Opportunity. “Our research 

confirms that there is strong and growing 

interest among U.S. travelers. We project 

compound annual growth rates of 20 percent 

to 50 percent in the number of U.S. 

visitors to Cuba through 2020.” 

Eight years from now, according to 

the study, the number of U.S. tourists to 

the island could crest 2 million, representing 

“a huge growth opportunity” for U.S. 

hospitality firms. 

A big reason for the perception that 

interest in visiting Cuba has declined was 

the roller coaster ride of U.S. commercial 

flights to the island—an initial burst of 

routes followed by a cut back. Rather than 

a response to waning interest, that was 

simply a matter of oversupply, Fitzgerald 

told Cuba Trade. U.S. airlines initially 

scheduled approximately 2 million annual 

seats for roundtrip flights to Cuba. Since 

then they have adjusted the supply to meet 

the demand, at approximately one million 

annual seats. 

The other problem with the polls is 

how they are conducted, and how they are 

spun by the press. The BCG study, for example, 

took the pulse of 500 U.S. ‘regular 

vacationers,’ defined as people who take 

vacations at least once every two years. 

The Allianz Global study took the pulse of 

1,514 people from the general population. 

As far as spin goes, Fitzgerald says the 

BCG study was “surprised that it was that 

many” when 30 percent of travelers said 

they were “definitely or probably” considering 

a Cuba trip in the next five years. 

Meanwhile, Daniel Durazo, director 

of communications at Allianz Global 

Assistance USA, said in a press release 

that, “Our survey found that merely two 

percent of Americans think they will go to 

Cuba in the next six months.” 

Merely? That would be 6.4 million 

American tourists.H

TECH 

A Network of Cuban 

Professionals 

NinjaCuba is the latest app in the 

country’s burgeoning private software 

industry 

Story and photo by Victoria Mckenzie 

Departures from Miami, Tampa and Key West. 

Operated by 

Programming on the Fly: Victor Moratón and Fabian Ruíz Estevéz in the La Timba neighborhood, Havana 

It’s a hot afternoon as we climb the 

steps of a walkup in Havana's La Timba 

neighborhood, where Victor Moratón 

runs NinjaCuba from the living room of 

an apartment he shares with his mother 

and grandmother. 

The two women ply us with smiles, 

cool drinks and strong coffee as Cuba 

Trade sits down to listen to a NinjaCuba 

strategy meeting. A minute later, partner 

Fabián Ruíz Estevez appears in the doorway, 

laptop in hand. 

“We are just trying, in our modest 

way, to use our knowledge to benefit society,” 

says Moratón, a young software developer 

and 2015 graduate of the Antonio 

Echeverría Higher Politechnic Institute of 

Havana (CUJAE). 

The NinjaCuba platform is Cuba’s 

first app to connect Cuban professionals 

with job opportunities and scholarships. 

It's aimed especially at skilled entrepreneurs 

leaving school who have been 

groomed for high-tech positions that don’t 

always exist in the state sector. Usually, its 

founders explain, computer science and 

engineering graduates end up working in 

other fields to support themselves. 

“On the one hand, there are not 

enough employment opportunities that 

match the qualifications of our university 

graduates, and on the other hand the salaries 

they earn are very low,” says Moratón. 

“So, professionals prefer to do contract 

work as freelancers, or work in other professions 

even if it isn’t what they studied, 

where they can earn more money.” 

NinjaCuba was a winner of 10x10K, 

a competition by the Cuba Emprende 

Foundation and #Cubanow that brought 

a group of 10 startups to the U.S. for twoweek 

accelerator programs in March. 

“Our visit to Stanford University and 

to the technology companies allowed us 

to see two things," Moratón said. "First, 

that we’ve already been using many of the 

same methods of work and organization 

used in Silicon Valley. And second, that 

the quality of Cuban professionals is on 

par with any professional around the 

world—and we know it, because there are 

many Cubans working at companies like 

Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Uber.” 

Ruíz Estevez, a 2010 graduate of 

Havana's Instituto Superior de Diseño 

(Advanced Institute for Design), says his 

job was to make the site clean, functional, 

and user-friendly, so that the platform 

meets global industry standards but 

remains pragmatic for Cuba’s internet 

limitations. 

“We take into account the particularities 

of our country—a slow connection, 

low connectivity, inconvenient internet 

access sites—in order to offer a service 

that is truly useful for the Cuban public,” 

he says. For now, the pair still must go to a 

public wifi hotspot to connect to the internet 

at $1.50 CUC per hour. 

Limitations notwithstanding, the demand 

for their service is apparent. Nearly 

400 Cuban freelancers have already 

joined NinjaCuba and created professional 

profiles, while 66 employers have 

begun posting jobs. The service is free 

for jobseekers and currently provides free 

information about employment opportunities, 

scholarships, and courses. To make 

it sustainable, Moratón and Ruiz Estevez 

plan to offer paid services to companies 

and employers. H 

Phone: 305-615-4151 


LOGISTICS 

Feeding the 

Cruise Lines 

With U.S. cruise lines expanding their itineraries 

to Cuba, the need for re-supply presents 

opportunities for land-based companies 

By Doreen Hemlock 

Photo by Matias J. Ocner 

Putting Stock in the Future: John Paul Brigneti in the Miami warehouse of Savino del Bene 

It’s not just U.S. cruise lines eyeing Cuba 

these days. U.S cruise suppliers also want 

in, and an Italian logistics company is 

opening that market, thanks to a new U.S. 

license—a cruise industry first. 

In late February, Savino del Bene, a century-old 

company from Florence that has 

become a global competitor with roughly 

$1 billion in annual revenues, completed its 

first trial run to deliver U.S. food products 

directly to a cruise ship in Cuba. The food 

traveled by container from Florida’s Port 

Everglades to Cuba’s Mariel seaport and 

was then transported to the ship in Havana—all 

within days, an executive said. 

“We’re expecting, hopefully, at least 

six containers a week” of fruit, vegetables, 

cheese, and other U.S. perishables sent from 

the U.S. to supply an initial two cruises 

in Cuba, said John Paul Brigneti, Savino 

del Bene’s Miami-based vice-president 

of global logistics for cruise and marine 

solutions. Those cruise ships now purchase 

their supplies from Mexico, Brazil and other 

nations outside the United States. 

Brigneti worked for more than two 

years to make the trial run happen. A 

veteran of the cruise industry, he joined 

Savino del Bene in 2013 to develop its 

cruise supply business and quickly saw 

opportunity in Cuba, the Caribbean’s 

largest island. 

From Europe, Savino del Bene 

already had been arranging deliveries of 

food, medicine, and other goods to Cuba 

for its customers since 2009—“a couple 

thousand containers a year,” he estimated. 

So, he sought to build on the company’s 

existing relationships in Cuba to start new 

U.S. operations. 

The problem, of course, was Washington’s 

half-century-old embargo on 

trade with the island. While an exemption 

allowed U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba, 

no U.S. cruises to Cuba were authorized 

back then. 

In 2015, as U.S-Cuba relations 

thawed, Brigneti visited Cuba to check 

out the market. He saw plans posted to 

develop the Havana waterfront for cruises, 

and soon began talks with Cuba’s government 

for a license to supply U.S. products 

to cruises on the island. 

That permission came within months, 

and approval by the U.S. Commerce 

Department’s Bureau of Industry and 

Security followed in June 2016—a first 

for a U.S. outfit to supply cruises in Cuba. 

That license remains valid under Trump's 

new Cuba policy. 

Now, Brigneti is working out pricing 

and other details to make sure the deliveries 

make financial sense for cruises based in 

Cuba. Ships that leave from U.S. ports generally 

stock up in the U.S. and would provision 

in Cuba only for emergency needs, he said. 

If all goes as planned, an extra 

half-dozen containers a week would be 

a notable bump in U.S.-Cuba container 

trade. Savino del Bene is working with 

Florida-based shipping line Crowley 

Maritime Corp., which now sends 40 to 

45 containers most weeks from Port Everglades 

to Mariel on the busiest scheduled 

U.S.-Cuba route, confirmed Jay Brickman, 

the Crowley vice-president handling Cuba. 

Brigneti sees supplying cruises as 

a foot in the Cuba door for Savino del 

Bene’s Miami unit, which now employs 25 

people and operates a 60,000-square-foot 

warehouse that offers foreign trade zone 

status. He hopes Savino del Bene’s other 

U.S. units can build on his relations in 

Cuba to start new ones later. H 


ENTREPRENEURS 

A Cuban Franchise... 

In the Other Direction 

From self-employed in Cuba to 

franchisor in the United States, 

Riudi Pérez has a brand to push 


Photos by Matias J. Ocner 

Making the Cut: Riudisver Pérez with the tools of his trade 

The Franchise Model: Pérez styles hair at a Ruidi Peluqueros salon near Miami International Airport 

Cuba’s private sector got one of its 

biggest boosts in 2010, when the government’s 

reform process expanded the categories 

of licenses for private employment 

and made them dramatically easier to 

obtain. In one year, the number of licenses 

authorizing cuentapropistas—the Cuban 

term meaning ‘self-employed’—jumped 

from 150,000 to 392,000. Today there are 

well over a half million. 

One area that boomed was beauty 

salons, rising from 11,125 licenses for specialties 

related to aesthetic salon services 

in 2010 to 17,837 by the end of 2015. Not 

only are more individuals pursuing the 

trade privately; the legalization of the previously 

prohibited practices of advertising 

and hiring employees has spawned over 

100 beauty salon brands since 2010, with 

entrepreneurs creating new shops with 

novel designs and increasingly specialized 

services. 

One of these brands, Riudi Peluqueros, 

has now made the jump from Cuba 

to the United States, where it’s expanding 

as a franchise—something it can’t 

do at home under existing regulations 

that make it hard to concentrate private 

wealth. In addition to its Havana flagship 

outlet, Riudi Peluqueros is now in Las 

Vegas and Miami, with plans to expand 

nationwide. 

A BOOTSTRAPPING TALE 

As a teenager, Riudisver Pérez knew the 

art of cutting hair. In Guaos, a small town 

just east of Cienfuegos, his uncle showed 

him how to use a comb and scissors, practicing 

on the heads of cousins and friends. 

He got additional tips from a local barber, 

his hairdresser aunt, and a hair stylist in 

his village. “The first techniques I learned 

by observing,” he said. 

From there, Pérez—popularly known 

as Riudi—began visiting Havana, where 

he had a sister who was married to a 

hairdresser. Eventually, he stayed on and 

took training courses in the capital. There, 

in 2006, he got a contract as a hairdresser 

on an Italian cruise ship. “Working on the 

cruise ship changed my life,” said Pérez. 

“From then on, my destiny changed.” 

He spent two years at sea, traveling 

first to the Mediterranean and then along 

South America’s east coast, seeing Brazil, 

Uruguay and Argentina. “I was exposed 

to different cultures, I learned about the 

world, how a beauty salon works, the 

meaning of competition,” said Pérez. “It 

was like being reborn, as if I had been 

blind and suddenly was able to see.” 

He added: “It was a great school for 

my future project. I learned something 

more than good haircutting techniques: 

how to operate a beauty salon, how to 

handle sales, marketing, how to deal with 

clients, how to manage a workforce. I also 

learned how to create attractive glamour 

and how to make money.” 

FROM BARBER TO BUSINESSMAN 

When he returned to Havana in 2008, 

Pérez opened his first salon, cutting hair 

in a room of his sister’s apartment in Old 

Havana, furnished with two used office 

chairs and an old shampoo bowl. He 

hired an assistant who helped him with 

the business end of the salon. Today, that 

assistant is his wife and partner. 

At the time, almost everything was 

clandestine. Although Pérez had a license 

to offer his services, he couldn’t advertise—not 

even hang a sign outside. It was 

all word of mouth. Not until Raúl Castro’s 

reforms of 2010 was Pérez able to expand 

by hiring employees and making use of 

advertising. The new laws also permitted 

Cuban citizens to own private property. 

By 2012, with his small shop running out 

of room, Pérez bought a house with part 

of his savings and created his first professional 

salon. 

Without knowing it, he had created 

a company. The problem now was how to 

manage it—how to deal with employees, 

organize customer appointments, ensure 

product supplies, and train the workforce 

on new techniques matching the style of 

Riudi Peluqueros, the brand name he gave 

his business. 

Pérez soon hired an accountant and 

a manager to run the salon so it could 

operate without his presence. This allowed 

him to open a second location in Vedado, 

one of Havana’s most prestigious areas. 

Under Cuban law, an individual may run 

only one company at a time, so the second 

location was put in his wife’s name. Today 

the Vedado location has eight hairdressers, 

two masseuses, two assistants, and one 

person in charge of maintenance. 

With two salons in Havana, one 

day Pérez asked his wife, ‘Why don’t we 

open a salon in the United States?’ That 

became his next objective, leading him to 

enroll in a course offered by Cuba Emprende, 

a nonprofit service administered 

by the Catholic Church to teach Cuban 

entrepreneurs how to open and run a 

business. 

MIAMI, BIRTH OF A FRANCHISE 

Despite his spectacular success in Cuba, 

starting from scratch in a different country 

was a new challenge that required a process 

of assimilation. In 2014, Pérez began 

working at a hair salon in the Miami 

suburb of Coral Gables, and after learning 

the ropes, he opened a shop just west of 

Miami International Airport. 

Within six months, Pérez doubled his 

staff from four to eight hairdressers, adding 

an accountant and manager. Learning 

from his word-of-mouth success in Cuba, 

Pérez used social media platforms like 

Facebook to spread the word, and was 

soon attracting customers from as far away 

as Orlando and Las Vegas. That led Riudi 

Peluqueros to open an outlet in Vegas 

that’s already doubling in size. 

With both the Miami and Vegas 

locations doing so well, Pérez has 

transformed his salons into an integrated 

franchise system. An expanded online 

platform has standardized offerings 

and prices, and Pérez is now developing 

a training and certifying course for 

hairdressers, manicurists, masseuses, and 

salon managers. The next steps are to 

open three to five more salons in Miami 

and then search for investors to expand 

to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. 

“The secret is passion, believing in 

what you do, persevering, not giving in to 

difficulties, offering good service, inviting 

the client to become part of the family,” 

Pérez said proudly. “These are the values 

I have always believed in and bet on. The 

result comes on its own.” H 



39

INVESTMENT 

TESTING THE 

HOTEL WATERS 

The recent SAHIC conference was a who’s who of U.S. hoteliers 

looking for opportunities in Cuba. Will business follow? 


Photos by Antonio Osa Ramirez/ 

SAHIC Cuba 

Photos by Antonio Osa Ramirez/SAHIC Cuba 

Leaders of the Pack: SAHIC 

founder Arturo Garcia Rosa 

(left) with David Scowsill (right), 

president and CEO of the World 

Travel & Tourism Council 

Just two years ago, it would have been 

unthinkable: a world-class hotel investment 

conference in Havana attended by top U.S. 

chains including Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham 

and Hyatt; leading hospitality consultants 

including EY and JLL; and major U.S. 

law firms including Greenberg Traurig. 

But with thawing U.S.-Cuba relations, 

Four Points by Sheraton already 

managing one hotel in Havana, and Cuba 

more aggressively seeking foreign partners, 

U.S. hospitality brass turned out in 

hefty numbers mid-May at the first Cuba 

edition of the respected Latin American 

Hotels and Tourism Investment Conferences, 

entitled SAHIC Cuba 2017. 

Cuba’s government went all out to 

impress the 200-plus attendees at the twoday 

event, even featuring legendary singer 

Omara Portuondo of Buena Vista Social 

Club fame at a reception at the Hotel 

Nacional. Officials offered detailed presentations 

for investors, with specifics on 

projects seeking overseas partners mainly 

though management contracts or joint 

Future Prospects: Cuban tourism officials on a conference panel at SAHIC Cuba 2017 

And sooner rather than the later, the embargo will be lifted, unleashing 

U.S. tourism to world heritage sites and pristine beaches 

ventures. Many Cubans were frank about 

problems, including the need to speed up 

approvals, improve airport service, and add 

cruise capacity. 

SAHIC founder Arturo Garcia 

Rosa said he organized the conference 

convinced that Cuba will emerge as the 

second largest travel destination in Latin 

America after Mexico. He sees Cuba hosting 

some 12 million international visitors 

by the 2030s, both at hotels and on cruises, 

up from four million last year. “And 

sooner rather than the later, the embargo 

will be lifted,” unleashing U.S. tourism to 

world heritage sites and pristine beaches, 

said Garcia Rosa. 

Executives from various U.S. hotel 

chains told Cuba Trade they were attending 

the conference to learn more about 

Arturo Garcia Rosa, SAHIC founder 

Cuba opportunities, meet Cuban officials 

and foreign hoteliers on the island, and as 

Wyndham’s regional vice president Luis 

Mirabelli put it, “understand all the complexities 

here.” But with the U.S. embargo 

still restricting U.S. tourism to Cuba, and 

new U.S. rules prohibiting deals with 

hotels owned by the military, “the opportunities 

are much more limited” for U.S. 

business short term, said David J. Tarr, 

Hyatt’s senior vice president for real estate 

and development. 

Yet Wyndham’s Mirabelli, at least, 

is preparing for a more open future now. 

“We’re looking into working through third 

parties—clients or partners elsewhere who 

are not banned from business in Cuba— 

and that could be a way to enter,” said the 

Argentina-based executive. 

JUNE/JULY 2017 

CUBATRADE 

41

Wyndham also hopes to sit down 

with Cuban state officials to begin talks 

on concrete projects, an option still permitted 

under U.S. law prior to making 

any deals, said Mirabelli. 

Cuba already works with foreign 

partners in tourism through more than 

two dozen joint ventures and more than 

80 management contracts. Among the 

busiest foreign hotel partners: Spain’s 

Melia and Iberostar chains, both active 

on the island since the 1990s, and Canada’s 

Sunwing, a vertically-integrated 

travel company that launched its Blue 

Diamond hotel division in 2011. 

Executives from these three chains 

spoke on conference panels, advising 

counterparts to accept Cuba on its own 

terms, adapt, and stay on top of local 

operations. “As Cubans say, tocar las cosas 

con la mano—touch things with your 

hand,” said Iberostar’s Cuba country 

manager Mateo Caldentey Llull. While 

a hotel’s general manager can be an 

expatriate, it’s best to keep a Cuban as 

deputy manager and work hand-in-hand: 

“The GM knows where we want to go, 

but the deputy knows how to get there. 

Without that teamwork, you can’t succeed,” 

said Melia’s Cuba deputy director 

Francisco Camps Orfila. 

Havana preservationist: Eusebio Leal Spengler 

Cuban officials announced new 

hospitality options open to foreign 

partners, including marina management, 

group management of multiple smaller 

properties, and infrastructure investment 

in projects such as water treatment 

plants. State companies are also keen on 

proposed golf hotel/vacation home complexes, 

some to cost billions of dollars. 

But even as Cuba tourism booms, 

some U.S. hospitality consultants worry 

about too many one-time visitors, 

complaints about service quality, and 

even terms for doing business in the 

communist nation. “The success Cuba 

has had so far is indisputable,” said Clay 

B. Dickinson, JLL Hotels & Hospitality 

Group’s managing director for Latin 

America and the Caribbean. “But it’s 

still not a place where it’s really clear 

what the rules are.” 

For Mark Lunt, a principal in EY’s 

real estate/hospitality group, woes about 

airport and transport services weigh 

heavily. “In other countries, there’s more 

transparency about how to get a deal 

done,” Lunt told Cuba Trade. 

The conference also offered an inspiring 

example in Eusebio Leal Spengler, 

the long-time preservationist who 

led the restoration of Havana’s colonial 

district and helped make Habana Vieja a 

major tourism lure. 

The 74-year-old recalled how people 

had dismissed him as crazy for aiming to 

return Old Havana to glory as a lived-in 

city with schools, theaters and homes, 

with tourism as its economic base. “The 

important thing is to persevere,” Leal 

told visiting Americans and others in his 

beloved capital city. “Nothing is impossible 

here." H 

Cuba "Aid" continued from page 22 

humanitarian assistance to political 

prisoners and their families, and politically 

marginalized individuals and groups in 

Cuba,” as well as a $754,000 program to 

bring young Cubans to the United States 

for internships. 

Assistance to Cuba is governed by 

the 1996 Helms-Burton Act and the 1992 

Cuban Democracy Act, which among 

many other things authorize donations of 

food to non-governmental organizations 

or individuals as well as other assistance to 

promote nonviolent, democratic change in 

Cuba. Such USAID programs have long 

been a sore spot between Washington and 

Havana. 

Among the more controversial US- 

AID programs for Cuba in recent years 

were a program to create a Twitter-like 

network in Cuba called ZunZuneo, a failed 

effort to co-opt the Cuban hip-hop scene 

in hopes of sparking a youth movement 

to oppose the government; and an event 

billed as an HIV prevention workshop 

that sent young Latin Americans posing as 

tourists to Cuba who were hired to scout 

for “potential social-change actors.” 

The Associated Press first disclosed 

these secretive projects in 2014. The goal 

of ZunZuneo—Cuban slang for the 

sound a hummingbird makes—was first 

to create a program for Cubans to speak 

freely among themselves and then funnel 

political content that could create political 

unrest, according to AP. At its height, Zun- 

Zuneo, which ended in 2012, had 40,000 

Cuban subscribers who had no idea the 

network was funded by the United States. 

USAID disputed ZunZuneo’s political 

nature, insisting its goal was to connect 

Cubans so eventually they could engage 

on topics of their choice. It said only tech 

news, sports scores, and trivia were sent 

out on ZunZuneo, but a report by the Office 

of Inspector General found some early 

messages contained political satire. 

ZunZuneo took off just as USAID 

subcontractor Alan Gross was arrested in 

Havana in December 2009 for distributing 

military-grade satellite equipment in 

Cuba to link with the internet. Sentenced 

to 15 years by a Cuban court that ruled 

that Gross intended to undermine the 

government, he was released after serving 

five years, part of the rapprochement 

between the United States and Cuba that 

began on Dec. 17, 2014. H 


THE STAR OF THE SHOW: 

KEMPINSKI DEBUTS IN HAVANA 

Cuba’s first major luxury hotel opens 

its doors. Is it a sign of the times? 


Roof with a View: Guests attend a 

pre-opening reception atop the hotel. 


Veteran hotelier Xavier Destribats strolls down the corridor 

of the new Gran Hotel Manzana Kempinski La 

Habana, straightening the furniture as he goes. He was 

given six months to open Cuba’s first major luxury hotel – far less 

than the usual 12- to 18-month time frame. 

But you’d hardly know Destribats has been under pressure. 

The French Basque exudes calm in his white linen guayabera, 

amiably fielding calls and talking with his team. In January, he 

left his job heading up 30 hotels in Europe for Kempinski—Europe’s 

oldest luxury hotel group—to run the group’s sole Cuban 

property and eventually, to develop the Kempinski brand across 

the Americas. It’s a huge challenge. 

Kempinski came to Cuba through a circuitous route: China. 

Cuban state tourism entity Cubanacan had teamed with a 

Chinese company in a Shanghai hotel, and the venture wanted 

a new hotel manager. The partners called in Kempinski, and the 

Shanghai hotel flourished. 

Gaviota, a separate Cuban tourism company, heard about 

that success, so it contacted Kempinski about managing a 246- 

room hotel it planned for a landmark square block in Havana 

Vieja that had been home to Cuba’s first European-style shopping 

arcade since the early 1900s. 

“Gaviota sought us out three years ago,” Destribats told 

Cuba Trade. At first, Kempinski said no. Although the Geneva-based 

group had pioneered luxury hotels in Russia, China, 

and other emerging markets such as Mongolia, Djibouti and 

Congo, it had no properties in the Americas and no plans to 

launch in the region. 

“But when we saw the location, the number of rooms and 

the opportunities, we became excited,” said Destribats. The 

five-story building was just the kind of site that Kempinski loves 

to manage. And Cuba clearly was gaining in tourism—with 

potential for a major luxury venue. 

As a private company not listed on a stock market and 

mainly owned by groups linked with Thailand’s royal family and 

Bahrain’s government, Kempinski had no market hurdles to cross. 

It soon signed a memorandum of understanding for the deluxe 

project, which was off-limits to U.S. hotel companies under terms 

of the embargo at that time, said Destribats. 

“We like to go to places where others don’t go or can’t go,” he 


CUBATRADE 

45

We’re going to have a good team. The Cubans 

are passionate. They smile. 

Hotelier Xavier Destribats 


said. “It’s in our DNA.” 

Yet negotiations proved lengthy. It took some 22 months 

to finalize the management agreement signed in late December. 

Kempinski insisted on many details to ensure luxury standards. It 

recognized that neither customer service nor luxury were hallmarks 

of the Cuban Revolution and that staff training would be vital. 

Gaviota assigned a mostly young team to Kempinski to learn the 

luxury ropes, and the chain is keeping a training manager in Havana 

for a year to help staff master its standards, said Destribats. 

“Any luxury brand would be pioneering in Cuba,” noted 

Scott Berman, principal for the hospitality and leisure group at 

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, based in Miami. “However, there is a 

desperate need for quality accommodations on the island, where 

demand exceeds supply.” 

Beyond service, Kempinski had other details requiring attention, 

too. While the hotel group arranged for most furniture to be 

made in Cuba, it also needed lots of imports—from high-quality 

bedding to expensive wines and spirits. Some of those imports 

have yet to arrive on the island, said Destribats. 

Then, there’s the issue of the internet. Kempinski spent 

months working to secure internet in every room, and only received 

set-ups through state telecom ETECSA mid spring. 

What’s more, Gaviota has been working mainly with tour 

operators, not directly with visitors. Tour operators typically 

quote rates for packages, including rooms and other services. So, 

there’s been a learning curve, for example, to make sure individuals 

can be quoted room rates within hours, he said. 

Washington’s embargo adds further complications. Kempinski 

uses Oracle, Microsoft and other U.S. software for its 

management systems globally, but because of the embargo, can’t 

use those systems in Cuba. So the company is figuring out how 

to use other software and meld it with Kempinski’s. 

Like other international hotel chains in Cuba, Kempinski is 

also trying to find ways to speed payments for American visitors 

at a time when they can’t use most U.S. credit cards on the island. 

Such details matter when guests value Kempinski’s high 

standards and pay handsomely for them. In Havana, list prices 

start at around $400 to $650 per night for a standard room, $700 

to $1,500 for a suite, and $3,000 to $5,000 for the presidential 

suite, says Alessandro Benedetti, a Kempinksi sales and marketing 

manager in Spain who helped with the Cuba launch. 

Destribats is working day and night to reach top standards 

as soon as possible. He draws inspiration from the history of 

the company, begun in Berlin in 1897 by Berthold Kempinski 

as a wine store and high-end delicatessen, and known for such 

innovations as wine by the glass. He’s seen the group develop to 

now span 70 upscale hotels and residences in Europe, the Middle 

East, Africa, and Asia. 

After a soft opening in May, the Havana hotel formally 

opened in early June, complete with restaurants, spa, rooftop pool 

and other amenities. Destribats knows the challenge won’t be 

what managers call “hardware.” To shine as a true luxury hotel, 

the key issue will be human “software:” customer service and care. 

“We’re going to have a good team. The Cubans are passionate. 

They smile. They’re friendly. They don’t get angry,” Destribats 

said with optimism. “I think that’s a good recipe for success.” 

Though President Trump signed a policy directive in June 

to ban U.S. business transactions with companies linked to the 

Cuban military, such as Gaviota, it's not clear whether regulations 

will specifically bar U.S. citizens from staying at the hotel. H 

Day and Night, In and Out: 

The Kempinski is Havana's 

first 5-star hotel 

Photos courtesy of Kempinski Hotels 


BEFORE THE EMBARGO, 

Cuba was the top 

destination for our rice. 

Cuba Trade Magazine 

HOUSTON: 

THE INTERNATIONAL 

GATEWAY TO CUBA 

How the Texas capital of energy, transportation, 

and medicine is positioning itself as the gateway 

for trade and investment with Cuba 

LET’S GET THERE AGAIN.

Celebrating the Connection: Council member Karla Cisneros, Mayor SylvesterTurner, airport director Mario Diaz, and economic development director Andy Icken 

By J.P. Faber 

The entourage that left from Bush Intercontinental 

Airport last September—an assemblage 

of 28 prominent citizens from Houston City 

Hall, the Port of Houston, the Houston Airport System, 

the Texas Medical Center, and companies such 

as Halliburton and Siemens—was not a trade mission 

headed to any of Houston’s top trading partners, 

countries like Mexico, China, Brazil or Germany. 

Instead, Mayor Sylvester Turner’s first overseas 

trade mission was bound for Cuba. 

“It made a big statement that the mayor’s first trip 

abroad was to Cuba,” says Felix Chevalier, a Houston 

attorney in that delegation. “Any new market, regardless 

of size, presents economic potential for U.S. businesses. 

In the case of Cuba, they are looking for more 

than $9 billion of foreign direct investments in 


CUBATRADE 

51

Houston: The Port City 

Houston attorney Felix Chevalier: Cuba presents economic potential 

industries like energy, healthcare, transportation, 

hospitality, and telecom. These 

are industries where Houston shines.” 

Indeed, the potential for trade and 

investment between Houston and Cuba 

seems almost perfectly aligned. Two of 

Cuba’s most pressing needs are Houston's 

strong suits: A wealth of expertise and 

equipment for energy development, and a 

muscular seaport and transportation hub 

for agriculture products. 

“There are a number of synergies 

between Cuba and Houston when it 

comes to energy, medicine, education, the 

arts—even in sports,” says Mayor Turner. 

“When I was there I gave the mayor of 

Havana my Astros baseball cap. We had 

more conversation about that baseball cap 

than anything else.” 

That sort of personal diplomacy, a 

hallmark of Mayor Turner’s sincere, eyeto-eye 

political style, is just what Houston 

wanted to bring to Havana, and the point 

of the mission: to begin a relationship with 

Cuba before the U.S. embargo against the 

island ends. 

“It takes a while to build relationship. 

It’s a step by step process. People have 

to get to know you,” says Mayor Turner. 

“Houston is an international city and 

you can’t be an international city without 

playing on an international stage. 

And you can’t do that effectively without 

building meaningful relationships.” As for 

the embargo, says the mayor: “Time will 

bring about a change, and those who will 

prosper will be those who are prepared for 

that moment.” 

For Houston, the relationship with 

Cuba is what in sports vernacular is called 

the long game. Maybe so, says Texas energy 

consultant Lee Hunt. But with enormous 

potential reserves under Cuba’s land and 

coastal waters, he says, “there is a lot of 

need in Cuba in their oil fields, for a lot of 

energy services… What they understand is 

loyalty. If you go help Cuba, even symbolically, 

at a time when help is not easy to get, 

the reward will be there when the opportunity 

arises.” 

THE PORT CITY 

Beyond the particular opportunities for 

individual firms and even whole industries 

in Houston, Cuba fits into the city’s grand 

strategy to position itself as the transportation 

and shipping hub between Latin 

The Port of Houston 

Cargo handled annually: 

163 million tons 

Number of jobs generated: 

652,000 

U.S. rank for export cargo: No. 1 

Annual tax revenue local & state: 

$5 billion 



At some point in time 

you have to break the 

curse. 

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner 

An Interview with Mayor Turner 

Shortly after becoming mayor in January, 2016, 

Sylvester Turner decided that Cuba would be his 

first international trade mission. Since then he has 

been an outspoken advocate of opening up relations 

with the Caribbean nation. Here are excerpts 

of Cuba Trade’s interview with the mayor. 

Q: Why did you decide to lead a trade delegation 

to Cuba, which is still under a U.S. embargo? 

Once the relationship between Cuba and the 

United States is normalized, when the embargo 

is lifted, I think it’s beneficial for relationships to 

already have been established. Once the embargo 

is lifted Houston has to be well positioned to 

engage in international trade with Cuba. 

Q: What were your impressions of Cuba? 

Very positive. In fact, they sang 'Happy Birthday' 

to me three or four times, because my birthday 

landed right in the middle of the trip. The people 

are very warm, very friendly. Certainly it was as if 

time stopped in 1960, so there is a great need for 

investment in infrastructure… There is no question 

that with investment in the infrastructure, it is 

one of those places that could become an oasis, a 

very beautiful place. 

Q: What can Houston hope to get or learn from 

Cuba? 

Their education system is free. The health care 

delivery system is impressive. We took with us 

Dr. Bobby Robbins, [former head of the Texas 

Medical Center] and we were talking about 

establishing some kind of collaboration between 

their health care delivery system and the Texas 

Medical Center. So, there are some synergies that 

can be established in medicine as well as from 

an agricultural point of view, where there can be 

some mutual benefits as well. 

Q: What do you think of US foreign policy and 

the embargo? 

I think I would say to the current administration 

and Congress what I say to the people of Houston—the 

only question that I need to be asking 

and answering is what is in the best interests 

of the people of the city of Houston. And I think 

the question is what is in the best interest of the 

people of the United States. And if the answer is 

that it’s in our best interest for us to get past the 

embargo and open up those relations, then the 

answer speaks for itself. 

Q: What about those people who remain bitter 

about what happened during the Cuba revolution, 

people who lost relatives or property? 

I am not naive. I understand the politics, I understand 

the history, and I understand why the embargo 

was put in place in 1960. I would have supported 

it then. The question is, where are we now? And 

what should be our position going forward? 

Bear in mind the history that I come from as 

an African American. The people in my background, 

my ancestors, they were slaves. So do you 

need to hate the people who enslaved the generation 

before you? Do you blame their children and 

their children’s children, for what their grandparents 

or great grandparents did? Or do we recognize 

the wrong that was done, but also recognize 

that there are opportunities for the children, and 

their children, to build an even greater society and 

establish even more productive relationships? At 

some point in time you have to break that curse. 

America, the Caribbean, and the United 

States. With Cuba’s Port of Mariel ready to 

become a major deepwater transshipment 

point for the region, an alliance with the 

mighty Port of Houston only makes sense. 

“Above all we view ourselves as a 

trading city,” says Andy Icken, head of 

economic development for the City of 

Houston and a close aide to the mayor. 

“We also have a natural affinity for anything 

in the Caribbean, Central, or South 

America. We like to think of ourselves as 

the gateway to the Americas. If we start 

with that as an overall theme, a place that 

has been left behind from our gateway is 

Cuba, for unique reasons.” 

Cuba, he adds, “has significant needs 

that are apparent now, and much of the 

commodities and other things [needed] 

are what Houston is known for, or else 

come through our port.” 

Today the Port of Houston is the second-busiest 

U.S. port in terms of tonnage, 

and the nation’s leading port in terms of 

foreign-bound tonnage. Originally located 

entirely within the city limits, the port’s 

facilities have since spread for miles down 

the channel that connects it to the Gulf of 

Mexico. On its banks are more than 150 

companies, with everything from oil refineries 

to factories for energy equipment— 

another advantage the Port of Houston 

has over its competitors vis-à-vis Cuba. 

“I think there are opportunities for 

[shipping] agricultural produce—grain, 

rice, beef, chicken—and of course petrochemicals, 

oil, and gas,” says Port of Houston 

Commissioner Dean Corgey, another 

member of the mayor’s mission. “But there 

is also what’s called project cargo, such as 

oil and gas equipment, power plants, water 

treatment facilities, sewage plants, things 

of that nature. There is a lot of manufacturing 

out there [along the channel] of 

those type of things, and it seems to me 

they are going to have to redo everything 

down there [in Cuba].” 

Corgey says Houston should also be 

the leading candidate for U.S.-Cuba trade 

tonnage because of its diversity. While 

some ports are strong in particular categories—Miami 

for container cargo, for example, 

or New Orleans for petrochemicals 

and bulk agriculture products—Houston, 

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The Air Link 

The Houston Airport System is a key part of the city’s 

transportation network. It could also be a part of 

Cuba’s system. 

“The international component [of the Houston 

Airport System, or HAS] is tremendously 

important,” says Mario Diaz, director of aviation for 

HAS. “Houston is one of only two cities in the U.S. 

that has two international airports inside its city 

boundaries.” 

Just as importantly, especially for Cuba, is 

that while Houston is a connecting point to both 

Europe and Asia, “we are the international portal 

to all Latin America,” says Diaz. “Cuba is a major 

developing opportunity in Latin America, so we 

believe it is important to develop that relationship 

with an air bridge.” 

So far, that air link consists of one weekly 

flight to Havana by United Airlines—a route that's 

doing so well that United has now applied for 

daily service between the two cities. 

For Diaz, however, the mission to connect 

Houston with Cuba has larger implications. 

Besides operating its three airports in 

Houston, the HAS corporate development system 

has now helped construct and operate several 

airports in Latin America, including those of San 

José, Costa Rica and Barranquilla, Colombia. Diaz 

says the most dramatic was the airport in Ecuador’s 

capital Quito, which opened in 2013. 


Aviation director Mario Diaz: We can help rebuild Cuba's airport system 

“It is amazing the impact an airport can have, 

not only for a city but a nation,” says Diaz. “Up 

until that time [Quito] didn’t have access to Asia or 

Europe. Now you can see an Emirates 777 bringing 

flowers back to the Middle East.” 

Houston would like to do the same for Cuba. 

“We would love the opportunity to help the government 

of Cuba to develop the José Marti International 

Airport in Havana,” says Diaz, who has discussed 

the offer with Cuba’s ambassador to the U.S., José 

Ramón Cabañas. After energy independence and 

internet access, Diaz considers such infrastructure 

development to be Cuba’s top priority. 

“If the country is going to develop its 

manufacturing base, you need the infrastructure 

to transfer the raw material, personnel, and products,” 

Diaz says. He envisions a complete upgrading 

and expansion of José Marti International, from 

adding new lighting and navigational systems, to 

replacing terminals and creating concentric rings 

of cargo facilities and industrial parks. He even 

foresees a light rail system linking Jose Marti to 

central Havana. 

“This is a very general plan that has worked 

in many other places around the world,” says Diaz. 

“It’s not just what they need. It’s what they want.” 

partly as a result of its size, moves virtually 

every type of cargo. And that same size 

means it can support regular shipping 

schedules. 

“If you are going to have good commercial 

service you need regular service 

you can depend on. It sounds simpler than 

it is,” says Corgey. “You have to make sure 

you can get down there to deliver that cargo, 

guaranteed. That is something Houston 

can do. And with that back and forth 

on a regular basis, it produces jobs down 

there as well as here… We can structure 

deals that are mutually beneficial for both 

countries.” 

THE INTERNATIONAL CITY 

Beyond providing the foundation for its 

global trade relationships, the Port of 

Houston was a historical game changer 

for the city's character. In many ways it 

defined Houston’s personality, and the 

swagger of its leadership. 

“You’ve got to go back to the history 

of the city,” says Icken. “Houston, without 

any port facilities of its own, depended 

on Galveston until the hurricane of 1900. 

The hurricane of 1900 devastated Galveston, 

basically eliminating it. So the leaders 

of Houston decided that it was time for 

the city to have its own port.” While 

Teddy Roosevelt was busy with the Panama 

Canal, Houston cut its own 25-mile 

long complex of channels to Galveston 

Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. It opened 

in 1914, three months after the canal. 

Both were officially opened by President 

Woodrow Wilson. 

The port not only allowed the city to 

prosper. It gave it a global outlook. 

“In some sense, internationalism 

has always been a part of Houston,” says 

Matthew Shailer, the city’s director of 

trade and international relations. “We 

developed from the very beginning with 

an international port and goods being 

shipped through Houston. It was agriculture 

in the late 19th century—cotton, 

sugar, rice—and later oil and oil equipment. 

The international element has 

always been there.” 

What has arrived later on was a truly 

From Houston to DC to Havana… 

Experience. 

Results. 

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www.chevalierlaw.com 

x

Economic development head Andy Icken: We are a trading city 

Senior BP counsel Yuliya Marcer: Legal systems need to converge 

Partnership CEO Bob Harvey: Houston needs to be global 

Texas Medical Center CEO William McKeon: Time to collabrate 

cated manufacturing, aerospace firms, and 

medical research, the jobs that needed 

filling were for engineers, scientists, and 

doctors. “These were filled by Asians and 

Africans with much higher levels of education 

than Anglos,” says Klineberg. Even 

the great stream of Latin immigration, 

much of it looking for blue-collar jobs 

requiring little education, brought with it 

an educated elite. 

Bob Harvey, president and CEO of 

the Greater Houston Partnership, sites a 

Brookings Institution report that identifies 

19 “knowledge capitals” around the world, 

recognized for innovative products and 

services, of which Houston is one. “You 

are a seeing a migration of talent to these 

knowledge centers,” he says. “Cities need 

to lose their provincial nature to be more 

global, to be more diverse, to have the 

personal connections between their city 

and cities around the world.” 

It is that combination of intellectual 

capital and international reach that 

international metropolis and population. 

“Houston was an international city early 

on because of oil and the ship channel. 

But it was Anglos here doing the commerce,” 

says Richard Klineberg, a professor 

at Houston’s Rice University and 

founding director of the Kinder Institute 

for Urban Research. 

For 36 years, Klineberg has researched 

Houston’s demographics. His 

conclusion: “Houston is now the most 

diverse city in America. All of America 

will look like Houston looks today in 25 

years.” 

While this is partly the result of 

geography, what really created Houston’s 

international community was a shift in 

the economy, says Klineberg. “No one 

planned it, no one expected it,” but in the 

wake of the 1982 collapse of the oil boom 

“all the growth was propelled by an influx 

[of immigrants] from around the world.” 

With Houston augmenting energy 

production and shipping with sophistimakes 

Houston such a potent potential 

trade and investment partner with Cuba. 

Houston also shares deep historical bonds 

with the island. 

“The connection between the Gulf 

of Mexico and Cuba since colonial times 

are very important. Don’t forget that the 

Spanish conquest of Mexico was launched 

from Cuba, and that Texas used to be part 

of Mexico,” says Dr. Luis Duno-Gottberg, 

chair of the Department of Spanish, 

Portuguese and Latin American Studies 

at Rice University. “People think of us as 

apart from the Caribbean but the connections 

historically are tremendous. Before 

Cuba existed as Cuba, and Mexico as 

Mexico, this area was connected.” 

Today that connection is being tangibly 

tightened. Among the few air routes 

to Cuba outside of Florida and New 

York approved by the U.S. Department of 

Transportation is a weekly United Airlines 

flight between Houston and Havana. That 

route has done so well that United has 

Our diversity is our strength, and opening doors 

to Cuba is another way to expand what is already 

a richly diverse community 

applied to expand to daily service. 

“That route is performing exactly as 

we expected,” says Darrin Hall, United’s 

Houston-based director of corporate and 

government affairs. “We are pleased with 

both the United service out of Houston and 

Newark, and in Houston so much as that 

we are looking to expand United’s offering.” 

Altogether, United offers 91 daily 

non-stop flights to 52 destinations in Latin 

America and the Caribbean. “Houston 

will be an important gateway for service to 

Havana, because it will directly connect 20 

markets across the central U.S. with just 

one stop,” says Hall. 

William McKeon, CEO of Texas Medical Center 

VALUE-ADDED MEDICAL RESEARCH 

Like the over-sized ambitions of the Port 

of Houston, the Texas Medical Center 

began with a big vision—118 acres purchased 

in 1945, initially for the construction 

of a 1,000-bed Naval hospital. Today 

it is home to 54 medical institutions 

that include 21 hospitals, eight research 

institutions, and four medical schools. 

TMC receives more than 3,000 patients 

a day and more than eight million a year, 

including 18,000 international patients. 

TMC staff, including then CEO Dr. 

Robert Robbins, visited Cuba with Mayor 

Turner, and since then the center's doctors 

and researchers have been exploring ways 

of collaborating with Cuba’s health system 

and biopharmaceutical institutions. 

“The medical center has been here 

for 70 years and it is now the biggest 

medical center in the world,” says William 

McKeon, TMC’s new CEO and an 

advocate of exploring relations with Cuba. 

“We have a highly diverse, educated talent 

base. Our diversity is our strength, and 

opening doors to Cuba is another way to 

expand what is already a richly diverse 

community.” 

The TMC expands by leasing acreage 

to new institutions for $1 a year; these 

new schools, hospitals, or research labs 

become members of the center and 

subsequently share in maintenance fees 

for things like road maintenance, lighting 

and security. “Whereas most cities would 

have fragmented hospitals across a major 

metropolis, here we have physicians in 

oncology, neurology, orthopedics, and so 



59

The Medical Link 

Of all the facilities at the Texas Medical Center, few 

show more potential of linking with Cuba than Baylor’s 

School of Tropical Medicine 

The first thing that Dr. Peter Hotez will tell you 

about working with Cuba in the field of tropical 

medicine is that is has already been done, and 

rather famously. When U.S. forces occupied Cuba 

after the 1898 Spanish-American War, Army physician 

Walter Reed confirmed the work of Cuban Dr. 

Carlos Finlay to solve the cause of yellow fever. 

“Dr. Finlay had this fantastical idea that 

yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes,” says 

Dr. Hotez, dean of the Baylor College’s National 

School of Tropical Medicine. Reed’s collaboration 

with Finlay was so successful it led to the 

resumption of work on the Panama Canal, were 

previously 10 percent of the laborers died each 

year from insect born diseases. 

“More than 100 years later we could be 

looking at a resumption of [U.S.-Cuban] relations 

in tropical medicine,” says Dr. Hotez. “The National 

School of Tropical Medicine is unique, the only 

one of its kind in North America. One of the few 

other places with centers of excellence for this is 

in Cuba.” 

These include the Kouri Institute of Tropical 

Medicine, and the Finlay Vaccine and Serum 

Institute, both in Havana. 

As Dr. Hotez sees it, the United States and 

Cuba share three areas of potential collaboration: 


Dr. Peter Hotez: Looking for a resumption of relations in medical research 

in clinical tropical medicine; in epidemiological 

investigation and surveillance, and in vaccine 

development for neglected diseases. 

“We currently work with centers all over 

Latin America,” says Dr. Hotez, including extensive 

programs in Mexico and Honduras. “We would 

welcome [Cuba] as a potential partner.” 

Adds Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, assistant dean 

for the school, “Some of these [collaborations] 

are for clinical research looking at the wellbeing 

of populations, others for building capacity to 

produce vaccines for tropical diseases. They learn 

from us and we learn from them.” 

While the school has had contact with 

Cuban scientists, and at least one faculty member 

has gone to Cuba, “clearly, lifting some of the 

restrictions would make it easier,” says Bottazzi. 

As it is, by an odd sort of collaboration the school 

has developed a better understanding of leishmaniasis, 

a disease leading to non-healing skin 

ulcers: Four Cubans who migrated to Houston 

via the jungles of Central America were treated 

at Baylor. 

“The message is that we could yet explore 

advances in tropical medicine together,” says 

Dr. Hotez. “Our vaccines could have commercial 

interest as well.” 

on, all of them on the same campus, like a 

university,” says McKeon. “The collision of 

their minds is what makes this an extraordinary 

center.” 

With Cuba’s prowess in advanced 

drug development, and U.S. regulations 

now permitting Cuba to test and market 

its drugs in the U.S., McKeon envisions 

building a “bio bridge” between the two 

countries, similar to what TMC has done 

with Australia, where top innovative companies 

are invited to set up shop in the 

campus incubator. 

“I think that is a great model for 

Cuba,” says McKeon. “It allows physicians 

[and researchers] with innovations 

to bring those innovations to market and 

get them supported. We provide all the 

services and don’t take any cut of their 

equity. We like it because it just adds to 

the diversity of the campus.” 

Another potential area of collaboration 

lies with the Cuban health-care 

delivery system, says Arun Rajani, head 

of Baylor College of Medicine’s global 

initiatives program. Baylor has developed 

modular health care facilities—fully outfitted 

high-tech shipping containers—that 

can be deployed anywhere. 

“Cuba has a well-developed physician 

work force,” says Rajani. “We at Baylor 

are experts in guiding and training, but we 

cannot provide human resources overseas. 

Cuba exports its doctors, so it might be a 

good opportunity for us to provide the facilities 

while local Cuban doctors provide 

the services.” 

All across the TMC campus, various 

institutions could interact with Cuba’s 

biomedical industry, from Baylor’s School 

of Tropical Medicine (see sidebar) to MD 

Anderson, the largest U.S.cancer research 

institute (Cuba has highly developed 

cancer drugs). 

THE ENERGY PLAY 

Even considering the value of Houston’s 

port and medical facilities, few areas offer 

the kind of explosive growth possibilities as 

does collaboration in the energy sector. No 

one knows just how much oil lies beneath 

Cuba and its coastal waters, but billions of 

barrels are potentially at stake—as well as 

hundreds of millions of dollars in support 

services. 

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It’s not just the expertise. As a hub for the transport 

of oilfield products, we are unparalleled 

Houston by Numbers 

“The oil reserves in Cuba are unproven. 

They have had mixed results [testing]. 

But the technology upgrade that is needed 

is phenomenal,” says Jonathan Newton, a 

partner in the Houston office of Baker & 

McKenzie who traveled with the mayor 

to Cuba. “I think oil and gas companies 

are interested in production—the clichéd 

people who take it out of the ground. And 

there is a lot of money in that. But there 

is also lots and lots of money in the whole 

stream of it, the oil field equipment and 

service providers, and all those folks see 

that opportunity.” 

While Newton thinks that it’s still a 

long way off, “In a best-case scenario you 

can see a pipeline going in between Cuba 

and the U.S. It’s only 90 miles after all.” 

Yuliya Marcer, the Houston-based 

senior counsel for global projects at petroleum 

giant BP, notes that 4,800 energy-related 

companies have a presence in the city, 

including nine of the top 25 publically 

traded energy companies—such as Chevron, 

ExxonMobil, and Shell. In addition, 

eight out of ten global oil companies have 

offices in Houston. 

“Houston has been for decades—and 

even more so now—the energy capital 

of the United States,” she says. “For BP, 

Houston is now our largest presence in 

the work, more than the UK. We have the 

most employees here.” 

Among other things, the presence of 

these firms has spawned a vast network 

of international lawyers in Houston, 

specialists who understand sanctions, 

trade restrictions, export control issues, 

anti-money laundering regulations, and 

the like. “Houston has a very deep bench 

of those kinds of lawyers, particularly in 

energy,” says Marcer, who currently chairs 

the international section of the Texas Bar. 

Marcer says she is “cautiously optimistic” 

about doing business with Cuba. 

“Even with sanctions aside, however, we 

Lee Hunt, Houston energy consultant 

are still looking at two very different legal 

systems. So, we still must figure out how 

to work together to allow businesses to 

develop and achieve their goals. There are 

still a lot of questions to be answered.” 

Regardless of the details, says consultant 

Lee Hunt, the affinities are compelling. 

“Everything you need to efficiently 

run an oil field is manufactured and inventoried 

in Houston,” says Hunt, whose 

firm Hunt Petty LP advise major oil 

firms. “It’s not just the expertise. As a hub 

for the transport of oilfield products, we 

are unparalleled.” That includes the ability 

to respond rapidly to oil spills and other 

crises in the gulf, “because everything is 

staged and mobilized here for international 

distribution.” 

Population 

Residents of City of Houston: 2.3 million 

Residents of Houston MSA: 

6.7 million 

Rank in population as a U.S. city: 4 th largest 

Number of Houstonians foreign born: 25% 

Race/Ethnicity of Houston MSA 

Anglo 37.3% 

Hispanic 36.5% 

Black 16.9% 

Asian 7.5% 

Global Presence 

Number of foreign consulates: 90+ 

Number of foreign banks: 19 

Number of foreign chambers: 35 

Firms with foreign ownership: 1,000 

Economy 

Current Houston MSA GDP: 

$500 billion 

Number of Fortune 500 HQs: 24 

Number of Engineers & Architects: 87,500 

Number of manufacturing jobs: 220,000 

The Houston Airport System 

Number of Airports: 3 

Passengers (2015): 

55 million 

Number of jobs generated: 

Contribution to local economy: 

230,000 

$27 billion 

The Texas Medical Center 

Size of all campuses: 

1,345 acres 

Number of medical institutions: 54 

Annual patient visits: 

8 million 

Annual international patients: 18,000 

Sources: 

The Greater Houston Partnership 

The Kinder Institute for Urban Research 

The Port of Houston 

The Houston Airport System 

The Texas Medical Center 


The Energy Link 

It may take a lifting of the embargo to fully engage 

Cuba’s energy sector, but cracks in the regulations 

offer opportunities even now 

“Houston is the oilfield technology capital of 

the world,” says Texas energy consultant Lee Hunt. 

“Everything you need to efficiently run an oil field 

is manufactured and inventoried in Houston.” 

Normally that would mean lots of contracts 

with Cuba, where substantial oil reserves are 

buried underground and offshore. But keeping U.S. 

energy companies out of that market is a hallmark 

of Washington's embargo. Cuba has been consistently 

hobbled by a lack of access to state-of-theart 

equipment, even when dealing with willing 

foreign companies. 

“I’ve talked to a lot [of foreign companies],” 

says Hunt. “They can buy embargo compliant 

equipment out of China, or other places, but the 

quality is not there. American [energy] companies 

have been so aggressive in buying up technology 

companies that everything they [foreign firms] 

want to buy has an American component.” 

And until recently, any firm using oil-drilling 

gear with more than 10 percent of American components 

could be fined for violating U.S. sanctions. 

That has now changed, as have other regulations 

under the Obama administration, providing 

what Hunt sees as opportunities for Houston oil 

companies. First and foremost are service and 

equipment sales for pollution control. 

According to Section 746.2 of the U.S. 


Energy consultant Lee Hunt: The time to negotiate with Cuba is now 

Commerce Department's Export Administration 

Regulations, exceptions to the embargo include 

“items necessary for the environmental protection 

of U.S. and international air quality, waters and 

coastlines…” 

That, says Hunt, opens the door. “Frankly, at 

least 50 percent of everything on a drilling project 

is for prevention of pollution and contamination.” 

So far, Houston’s oil companies aren’t jumping 

at the bait. “They are compliance oriented, 

they know what the law was, but they aren’t 

keeping up with the little commercial openings,” 

says Hunt. Even when they are, they are hesitant 

to act prior to seeing what the Trump administration 

policy will be for Cuba. 

That shouldn't stop Houston’s energy companies 

from negotiating with Cuba in anticipation of 

the embargo's end, however, legal under U.S. law 

as long as no concrete action is taken. “You can 

even sign contracts with the Cuban government 

or Cuban agencies, they just cannot be executed 

as long as the embargo is in place,” says Hunt. 

That sort of future focus is the best posture 

for Houston’s energy sector, says Hunt. “For the 

Houston guys I talk to, the metaphor that works 

is ‘a long putt with a slow ball,’” he says. “Nobody 

is in it for the money at this point. It’s all about 

occupying the space.” 

Moving beyond oil to natural gas, 

Houston is equipped there as well. Houston-based 

MODEC International, Inc., 

for example, builds and operates floating 

production vessels and floating power 

vessels that employ natural gas. 

“What MODEC is working on, and 

what we have spent a couple of million 

dollars on in research, is a floating barge 

powered on natural gas,” says Sam Webb, 

a project development manager for the 

company. “I think what Cuba needs is a 

natural gas power plant, instead of relying 

on diesel and heavy oil. We have the capability 

of bringing a floating power plant 

that can also desalinate water.” 

Webb has visited Cuba twice, once 

with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott before the 

mayor’s visit, and earlier this year with 

a mission organized by attorney Felix 

Chevalier. 

Chevalier, who many consider Houston's 

unofficial ‘soul of Cuba,’ is the son of 

Cuba parents who left the island before 

his birth. Among the many Cuba-related 

projects he's working on is a Houston 

leadership academy for young Cuban 

entrepreneurs, and trade missions to take 

clients beyond Havana to visit regional 

port cities, mining operations, industrial 

complexes, and agriculture centers. But it 

is in energy where Chevalier sees the most 

immediate impact, especially regarding 

influencing U.S. policy toward the island. 

“Generally speaking, I’ve found business 

in Houston to be open to the idea of 

a trade relationship with Cuba,” he says 

“However, uncertainty surrounding the 

administration’s plans for Cuba have put a 

bit of a damper on the progress made over 

the last couple of years.” Consequently, 

Chevalier plans to launch an association 

that advocates for trade with Cuba on 

behalf of the energy industry. “Similar 

to what we see in agriculture, I think a 

sector-by-sector approach to highlighting 

the financial impact of trade with Cuba 

may be the most effective way to move the 

chains on Cuba policy,” he says. 

Until that time, however, it may take 

the collective effort of leaders like Mayor 

Turner to move the process of engagement 

forward. 

Boldly moving 

forward 

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CHI St. Luke’s Health, Baylor College of Medicine®, 

and Texas Heart® Institute are making bold moves 

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we’re proud to welcome Dr. Joseph Lamelas to our ranks. 

With more than 10,000 open-heart procedures and 2,500 valve 

surgeries performed, Dr. Lamelas has played a pivotal role in the 

design of never-before-seen cardiac surgery methods. And now, 

he joins a team of world-renowned physicians and will contribute 

to a groundbreaking legacy of heart care. 

In partnership with Catholic Health Initiatives–CHI 

Learn more about Dr. Lamelas and 

the breakthroughs happening at 

Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center by visiting 

CHIStLukesHealth.org/BaylorStLukes

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If the leaders of Houston have anything 

to say about U.S. relations with Cuba, 

those connections will only grow stronger. 

That was a big aim for Mayor Turner’s 

trip to Cuba. As Icken puts it, “The mayor 

made a clear point that this is not just 

a one-time opportunity.” He also did it 

with a style that has been the hallmark of 

his political career, his enormous sincerity 

and the authenticity of his own journey. 

“He is very present in all his meetings. 

He is there with you. He really wants to 

understand where you are coming from,” 

says Shailer, something that comes from 

the Mayor’s own personal struggle as the 

youngest of seven children in a family that 

was “far from affluent.” By sheer determination 

and effort he became valedictorian 

of his high school’s first integrated class 

and ultimately graduated Harvard Law 

YUCATAN 

HOUSTON - CUBA CONNECTIONS 

School. 

“Cuba could appreciate that,” says 

Shailer. “It is a very hardworking country 

that believes what you put into people is 

what you can get out of them, one reason 

they have such a strong education system.” 

Indeed, Mayor Turner is a man who 

knows how to interact with people, and 

how to personalize any encounter. 

“He made some friends in Cuba, 

that is for sure. And that's what this was 

about,” says Dr. Laura Murillo, president 

and CEO of the Houston Hispanic 

Chamber of Commerce and another 

memer of the mayor’s delegation. 

"Relationships are built over time, 

and on a person-to-person basis," says 

the Partnership's CEO Harvey, whose 

organization co-sponsored the trip. Like 

other Houston leaders, Havey sees only an 

upside for a Houston-Cuba connection. 

"I think of Cuba just as a great opportunity. 

We think that the relationship 

between the U.S. and Cuba will improve, 

and we see a natural kinship there with 

Houston," he says. That kinship includes 

Houston's strong Latin heritage, its 

healthcare system, its emphasis on education, 

and above all, its energy expertise. 

Indeed, personal diplomacy aside, the 

mayor was also in Cuba to ask a specific 

favor for that sector. 

“One of the reasons we went to Cuba 

was because of the World Petroleum 

Conference in 2020, which we wanted for 

Houston," says Mayor Turner. Cuba, it 

turns out, is one of the countries that had a 

vote at the conference executive committee 

meeting in Bahrain in December. 

Houston beat Vancouver for the 

event, which is expected to draw 10,000 

visitors and have an economic impact of 

$60 million to $80 million. Says the mayor: 

“I thank Cuba for their vote.” H 

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The premier gateway to Latin America 

opens even wider for Cuba. 

market report 

The 

Havana 

Nestlé 

Niche 

How the Swiss multinational has 

thrived in Cuba while protecting 

itself against the entry of U.S. 

products 

IAH now offers nonstop service to HAV. 


Cuba may lie only 90 miles from the U.S. shoreline, but until recently it seemed a world away for most travelers. Bringing this 

world a bit closer, Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is now offering weekly nonstop service to Havana. 

IAH already serves 53 destinations nonstop across Latin America and the Caribbean, making it the premier gateway to Latin America. 

With this new flight, IAH ranks as just one of 10 U.S. airports with scheduled service to Cuba and one of two airports west of the 

Mississippi River with service there. The gate is wide open to a new world of opportunity for exploring this intriguing island nation. 

For more information, contact the Houston Airport System at HASAirService@houstontx.gov or +1-281-233-3000. 

Nestlé SA, the world's largest food company, 

intends to expand production by investing 

$60 million in Cuba’s Mariel Special Development 

Zone (ZED Mariel). The investment 

constitutes a strategic move by Nestlé to position 

itself in the Cuban market before the arrival of its 

U.S. competitors. 

fly2houston.com 


CUBATRADE 

69

Brand Command: Nestlé products in Cuba include Ciego 

Montero sodas and water, and its famous ice cream 

Taking advantage of Washington’s embargo, 

which for more than half a century has 

prohibited U.S. companies from investing 

in the island, Nestlé’s planned facility will 

produce coffee, biscuits, and cooking 

products. The firm has also extended its 

current contract by 20 years to expand 

the company’s existing factories in 

Cuba to produce ice cream, water, and 

carbonated soft drinks. 

The Swiss multinational, active 

on the island since the mid-1990s, 

now joins other large non-U.S. 

investors such as Unilever ($35 million) 

and Brascuba ($100 million) 

that are betting on the ZED Mariel 

(see story on page 74). 

In the beginning: mineral water, 

soft drinks, and ice cream 

Nestlé entered Cuba’s food and beverage 

market in 1999, when its Nestlé Waters 

unit bought out San Pellegrino’s share of 

Los Portales—a joint venture between 

the Italian sparkling water producer 

and Coralsa, a unit of Cuba’s Ministry 

of Food Industry (MINAL). 

Since then, Nestlé has managed the 

company’s brand strategy, production 

and marketing. 

Los Portales bottles carbonated 

soft drinks under the Ciego 

Montero brand (since 1994) as well 

as mineral water under the Ciego 

Montero and Los Portales brands 

(since 2002). Ciego Montero, the 

company’s top brand, controls 92 

percent of Cuba’s total mineral 

water sales, while sales of Ciego 

Montero’s 11 flavors of soft drinks 

exceed those of imported Coca-Cola 

and Pepsi. 

In 2015, Los Portales exceeded 

100 million CUC in revenues— 

roughly US $100 million. Production 

reached 200 million cans and 

58 million plastic bottles that year, 

though that was still not enough to 

satisfy demand. 

Nestlé also makes ice cream for the 

local market, under the Coralac SA joint 

venture formed in 1997 between Nestlé and Coralsa. Initially, the 

venture imported ice cream from Mexico, then built its own plant 

in 2003. But it wasn’t easy breaking in, since Cubans were long 

accustomed to their beloved local brand, Coppelia. The domestic 

dollarized economy was another challenge; back then, the average 

Cuban citizen’s purchasing power in dollars was very low. As a 

result, the market favored low prices over quality. 

At first, Nestlé produced only three flavors: chocolate, 

strawberry, and a “seasonal” flavor that rotated between almond, 

orange-pineapple, and vanilla. Nestlé refrigerators filled with 

ice-cream products helped promote the brand’s image in Cuban 

supermarkets; likewise, Coralac had its own network of refrigerated 

trucks to distribute products in retail chains and tourist 

outlets. Today, Nestlé is Cuba’s ice cream leader, yet—as is the 

case with mineral water and soft drinks—domestic production is 

not sufficient to cover demand. 

Coffee, cookies, and cooking products 

Nestlé’s new project targets coffee, cookies, and cooking products—all 

in high demand in Cuba. Local producers now face 

shortages of raw materials and the financing needed to boost 

production, often resulting in prolonged absences of products 

in Cuban retail chains. By moving production to ZED Mariel, 

Nestlé takes advantage of incentives such as a 10-year tax 

exemption on profits and zero tax on sales during the first year of 

operation, rising to only 1 percent after that. 

Various locally produced coffee brands are now sold in Cuba, 

though production is unstable. The most popular brands are 

Café Cubitas, Serrano, Indiana, Turquino and Cristal Mountain. 

Cohiba Atmósfera and Montecristo, produced on a smaller scale, 

are mainly aimed at foreign tourists who enjoy cigars. Imported 

brands include Nestlé’s instant coffee, sold under the Dolca and 

Classic varieties. Also present in the market are Gallego (Spanish), 

Bahia (Brazilian) and Mokarabia (Italian), though Cuban 

consumers—used to the flavor of strong local coffee—don’t 

particularly like these brands. 

Black market sales of coffee arriving to Cuba—either sent by 

emigrants to their relatives or brought back by Cubans visiting 

overseas—help make up for the shortage of local coffee. The most 

popular brands in the informal market are La Llave, Pilón and 

Bustelo, ‘Cuban’ coffee produced in the U.S. 

Coffee production in Cuba itself has plummeted in recent 

years, and by 2014 accounted for just over a third of total 

consumption. In fact, from 2010 to 2014, the island spent an 

average $31.2 million a year on coffee imports, which averaged 

11,434 tons annually. During this period, annual domestic coffee 

production averaged only 5,901 tons a year—less than a tenth of 

the 60,000 tons of coffee Cuba produced in the 1960-61 season, 

when it ranked among the world’s top coffee exporters. So, for 

Nestlé, there is an opportunity to replace all that imported coffee. 

Much of the raw material Nestlé is expected to use in its 

Photo by Larry Luxner 


future Mariel plant will come from the Cuba Mountain Coffee 

Company Ltd. (CMC). The British firm has contracted with the 

Cuban government and coffee processor Asdrúbal López to market 

and sell premium coffee produced in Guantánamo province. 

Nespresso, a Nestle subsidiary, has signed a memo of understanding 

with CMC to acquire coffee produced by the venture. 

Nestlé’s facilities at ZED Mariel will also make cookies—a 

consumer staple plagued by almost zero national production, 

little variation, and unstable supply. Cuba now imports cookies 

from a dozen countries including Brazil, Guatemala, Spain, Colombia, 

Vietnam, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvador, and the 

Dominican Republic. 

Besides coffee and cookies, Nestlé will also manufacture a 

variety of cooking products such as instant soups, condiments, 

and broths—widely used by cooks and food-service operators— 

as well as lasagnas, pastas, sauces, and other refrigerated and 

frozen products. At present, these products are imported, with 

Nestlé’s Maggi brand—especially the chicken and meat broths— 

quite popular among Cuban homemakers. Nestlé is also a key 

supplier of these products to the Cuban tourist sector, mainly 

restaurants in the island’s hotels. 

What’s driving Nestlé’s new investment? 

Cuba’s consumer market has exploded over the last eight years, 

thanks to liberalized U.S. trade policies and domestic reforms 

that have expanded Cuba’s self-employment sector. Four factors 

in particular are driving Cuban demand for food products: a 

jump in tourism; the growth of private food preparation businesses; 

the increase of cash remittances; and the burgeoning 

purchasing power of the Cuban people. 

Each of these has seen meteoric rises, beginning with the 

ballooning of tourist arrivals from 1.5 million in 2010 to four 

million in 2016. In tandem with that expansion, the number of 

privately run restaurants, or paladares, jumped from only 113 in 

2010 to 1,565 last year. 

People are also eating more thanks to remittances (up from 

$1.9 billion in 2010 to $3.4 billion in 2016) and the growing 

private sector, where workers earn 10 times what a state employee 

makes. Both have given Cuban citizens an estimated $4.8 billion 

worth of purchasing power in foreign currency, up from $2.6 

billion in 2010. 

All this has boosted consumption of cooking products in 

retail networks, since thousands of food preparation businesses 

need these products to make their dishes, which are gobbled up 

by Cuban customers as well as tourists. 

Nestlé knows this, and undoubtedly also benefits from its 

20-plus years of experience in the Cuban market. Even so, it is 

wary of large U.S. companies now exploring the Cuban food 

market. Virtually overnight, the United States has become the 

second largest source of tourists to Cuba, after Canada; in a few 

years, it could be the leader. This is a golden opportunity for U.S. 

food giants to market their products on the island. But for the 

time being, it will be European companies—especially Nestlé— 

that flourish in this market. H 


Imported vs. Locally Produced Coffee in Cuba, 2010-2014 

Coffee 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Average 

Imported (tons) 17,884 9,334 8,250 10,078 11,624 11,434 

Value ($USD thousands) 38,043 26,814 28,485 30,261 32,567 31,234 

National Production (tons) 4,400 6,000 7,100 N/D 6,105 5,901 

Source: Oficina Nacional de Estadística e Información (ONEI) and other sources. 

Variables that have most impacted on the growth of 

food demand in Cuba, 2010-2016 

Remittances and Purchasing Power (Millions) 

Tourism (Thousands) 

• Purchasing Power (Millions) 

• Remittances (Millions) 

Private Sector Food Processing 

Licenses (units) 

• Tourism (Thousands) 

• Private Sector Food Processing Licenses (M) 

Source: Compiled by the THCG Business Intelligence Unit from own data, data published by the 

National 

Source: 

Office of 

Compiled 

Statistics 

by 

and 

the THCG 

Information 

Business 

(ONEI) 

Intelligence 

and by 

Unit 

the 

from 

National 

own 

Taxation 

data, data 

Administration 

published 

(ONAT), 

by the National Office of Statistics and and Information other sources. (ONEI) and by the National Taxation 

Administration (ONAT) 

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THE PROMISE OF MARIEL 

Cuba’s play to develop the next great shipping hub is an 

ambitious call to foreign investors. It has momentum, 

but still needs more capital. 


Photos by Jon Braeley 

Ready to Ship: Containers recently 

unloaded at the Port of Mariel 


Forty-five kilometers east of Havana lies Mariel—a place 

that gained world fame in 1980 after Fidel Castro allowed 

about 125,000 Cubans to leave the island through the city’s 

port if U.S. vessels picked them up. Nearly four decades later, 

Cuba seeks to use Mariel for more lucrative purposes by courting 

overseas investors to use its deep-water port and fledgling special 

economic development zone, regularly referred to as ZED Mariel. 

A push for more foreign investment couldn’t come at a 

more opportune time for cash-strapped Cuba. The island’s GDP 

shrank by 0.9 percent in 2016, and there are few signs it will 

recover this year. Venezuela, Cuba’s largest trading partner, is in 

economic freefall and has slashed its precious oil deliveries to the 

island. Revenue from Cuban medical professionals serving abroad 

is stagnant because of economic difficulties in Venezuela and 

Brazil. President Donald Trump’s new policy to limit U.S. interaction 

with military-controlled firms also complicates matters. 

As a play to kickstart its economy, Cuba is betting on Mariel 

becoming the next industrial and transshipping hub of the 

Americas. About $1 billion was committed to modernizing the 

port and building a container terminal that opened in 2014. Brazilian 

development bank BNDES provided a development loan 

of about $700 million—a move that drew ire at home against 

former President Dilma Rousseff. 

“It makes sense from a logistical and an economic standpoint,” 

said Paolo Spadoni, an associate professor at Georgia’s 

Augusta University who specializes in Latin American politics 

and economies. “The benefits are there, and they are competitive.” 

The fruits of that investment are already visible. Most of 

Cuba’s shipping container traffic has moved to Mariel, freeing up 

much-needed space in Havana harbor for cruise ships. Thanks to 

dredging, parts of the bay are 17 meters deep, making it suitable 

to welcome the massive ships passing through the recently expanded 

Panama Canal. The container terminal also has four giant 

Chinese-built gantry cranes for moving containers from ship to 

shore. And once containers reach the shore, a new railway can 

transport them from Mariel to Havana. 

Right next door is ZED Mariel, a 180-square-mile development 

zone that also opened in 2014 and aims to attract foreign 

investors by offering them tax incentives and other benefits if 

they set up shop there. One of the zone’s primary missions is to 

use foreign direct investment to domestically produce goods that 


Cuba has imported for decades. 

Now that many of Mariel’s major construction projects are 

complete, the area must convince foreigners it’s worthwhile to 

put money into a country facing tight U.S. sanctions. Hordes of 

trade delegations visiting Mariel over the last few years demonstrate 

undoubtable interest in the area. But Mariel’s port and 

development zone officials are well aware that interest does not 

always translate to investment. 

“We’ve had a lot of visitors,” said Armando Mina, a commercial 

specialist at the container terminal. “I don’t know what 

they have been able to do with the information we provide them 

here, but they’ve been here and they keep on coming.” 

MARIEL AS A TRANSSHIPPING HUB 

Geographically, Mariel is well positioned to become a transshipping 

hub for the Americas. It has easy access to U.S. and Mexican 

ports in the Gulf. Ships that use the Panama Canal to get to and 

from the U.S. East Coast are also likely to pass near Mariel. 

In addition, Mariel is physically and technologically capable 

of becoming a transshipping hub. While many ports in the region 

are deep enough to receive post-Panamax ships, Mariel is one 

of the few that can handle those vessels fully loaded. The port’s 

modern cranes make it possible to unload those ships without 

making them turn around. 

“There would be no restrictions on those ships going into the 

Port of Mariel.” said Brendan Barry, a partner in the South Florida-based 

law firm Shutts & Bowen and a board member of the 

Port Everglades Association. He added that one of Mariel’s perks 

is that it can handle ships with larger loads than Port Everglades. 

Mariel’s modern container terminal is also guided with 

valuable foreign expertise. Singapore-based PSA International, 

the world’s largest port operator, has been managing the terminal 

since 2011. 

Those infrastructure and administrative improvements have 

led to a bump in container traffic over the last three years. But 

the port is still operating at less than 40 percent of its capacity of 

about 824,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. In 

2014, the port handled about 160,000 TEUs, more than doubling 

to 330,319 TEUs in 2015, before dipping slightly to 325,319 

TEUs in 2016. By comparison, last year the Port of Miami han- 

Chinese Cranes Add Lift: 

Armando Mina, a commercial 

specialist at the container 

terminal

ZED MARIEL APPROVED PROJECTS 

COMPANY INDUSTRY COUNTRY OF BUSINESS ALREADY 

ORIGIN STRUCTURE OPERATING? 

Richmeat Food & beverages Mexico Foreign capital No 

Devox Caribe Paint Mexico Foreign capital No 

BDC LOG Logistics Belgium Foreign capital Yes 

BDC TEC Technology products Belgium Foreign capital Yes 

COI Construction Brazil Foreign capital No 

FIDAS Logistics Brazil Foreign capital No 

Profood Food & beverages Spain Foreign capital No 

TOT COLOR Paint Spain Foreign capital No 

Bouygues Construction Construction France Foreign capital Yes 

Womy Equipment rental Netherlands Foreign capital Yes 

Thai Binh Hygiene products Vietnam Foreign capital No 

Arco 33 Medical equipment South Korea Foreign capital No 

Engimov Construction Portugal Foreign capital No 

Autocentro ZED Logistics Panama Foreign capital No 

BrasCuba Cigarettes Brazil Joint venture No 

Teconsa Construction Spain Joint venture No 

Logística Hotelera del Caribe Logistics Spain Joint venture No 

Financiera Iberoamericana Logistics Spain Joint venture Yes 

Unilever-Suchel Hygiene products Netherlands Joint venture Yes 

CMA CGM Construction France Management contract Yes 

Mariel Containter Terminal Shipping Cuba Cuban capital Yes 

Banco Financiero Internacional Finance Cuba Cuban capital Yes 

Servicios Logísticos Mariel Logistics Cuba Cuban capital Yes 

Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología Biotechnology Cuba Cuban capital No 

Deciding To Build: Wendy Miranda Borotto, director of coordination and formalities at ZED Mariel, and Andy van der Heijden, president of Womy 

dled over one million TEUs. 

Traffic at Mariel may be up this year, however, thanks to an 

October 2016 decision by the Obama administration to end the 

ban on cargo ships entering U.S. ports if they called on a Cuban 

port 180 days before docking. 

Even though Mariel operates well under capacity and uncertainties 

about the embargo remain, the port has a long-term 

plan to extend its wharf by 300 meters, and eventually by another 

1,400 meters—ultimately giving Mariel a capacity of 3 million 

TEUs per year. This dramatic expansion shows the port’s desire 

to establish itself as a regional transshipment hub—a transition 

that will be more difficult if the embargo isn’t lifted. 

“Even if they do not achieve the goal of three million 

[TEUs], it might still make a difference because it will position 

Cuba within the transshipment industry,” Spadoni said. “That’s 

really the biggest prize in the short to medium term.” 

Besides the embargo, several challenges stand in the way 

of Mariel’s lofty aspirations. Foreign companies must hire and 

pay workers through a government staffing agency, making 

labor costs higher than other countries in the region, despite the 

relatively low wages Cuban workers receive. The global shipping 

business also faces a gloomy outlook. Ever since the 2008 financial 

crisis, the industry has struggled to deal with overcapacity 

and falling freight rates. “There is a powerful worldwide crisis,” 

said Mina. “The boats will keep on getting bigger, but the amount 

of containers arriving keeps decreasing.” 

Mariel also faces the uphill battle of easing wariness from 

the business community about working with Cuba and its government. 

“In order for the Port of Mariel to be the transshipping 

port on the east side of the Panama Canal, I think there has to be 


more time, more comfort, and more confidence by the business 

community,” Barry said. “And I think that has to come from acts 

and behaviors from the Cuban government.” 

Adds Spadoni: “It will take some time for anybody to say 

whether that port is indeed a game-changer or not for the Cuban 

economy.” 

CUBA LOOSENS ITS RIGIDNESS 

A quick drive through ZED Mariel, the development zone 

surrounding the Port of Mariel, makes it clear that the global 

business community is only just starting to notice its potential. 

Construction crews are busy working on facilities for businesses 

that have already claimed their stake here, but the zone is far 

from sprawling. It has a few offices and temporary buildings, but 

most of the seaside land is untouched. “Right now we are in the 

launch phase,” said Wendy Miranda Borotto, director of coordination 

and formalities at ZED Mariel. 

Cuba has taken unprecedented steps to attract foreign 

investors to the nearly four-year-old ZED. These include 50-year 

contracts that can be renewed, 100 percent foreign ownership, 

and no tax on profits for the first 10 years of operation (and only 

12 percent after that). Various Cuban support services are also 

onsite to help investors develop their projects. More importantly, 

ZED Mariel has streamlined the bureaucratic procedures that 

have stalled investment in Cuba for decades. 

Andy van der Heijden, president of Dutch equipment and 

transportation company Womy, says those incentives influenced 

his company’s decision to build a $22 million facility in Mariel. 

Although Womy has been in Cuba since 1991, van der Heijden 

Wrapping It Up: Contractors 

work on a Womy equipment 

rental facility

Backhoe to the Future: Contractors building the infrastructure at the ZED Mariel 

Multimodal: Container leaving by road from the Port 

Heavy Lifting: Four Chinese-built gantry cranes move containers from ship to shore; a new railway can transport them from Mariel to Havana 

says “with the new development in Mariel, we got the possibilities 

to rent [more] equipment.” 

Yet while many of ZED Mariel’s incentives seem attractive, 

it hasn’t created the boom in investment Cuba desperately needs. 

So far, the zone has approved 24 projects from 11 countries, 

including four from Cuban state-owned enterprises. Only nine of 

those projects are now in operation. 

“On the ground you still have very little,” Spadoni said. “It 

raises questions of how long it will take to develop some sort of 

potential out of the special development zone and the overall 

Port of Mariel.” 

The approved projects demonstrate Cuba’s tepid interest in 

engaging in new forms of business with a wider array of partners. 

The zone hasn’t yet approved any projects from Venezuela, China, 

Canada, or even Russia—Cuba’s traditional trading partners. 

Instead, ZED Mariel has approved projects from Spain, Vietnam, 

Brazil, France, Panama, South Korea, Mexico, Belgium, Portugal, 

and the Netherlands. 

ZED Mariel has also given many projects full foreign ownership, 

a move largely unheard of in Cuba; 14 of the approved 

projects are 100 percent foreign-owned, five are joint ventures, 

four have 100 percent Cuban capital, and one has a management 

contract with a foreign firm. 

We have no preference between joint ventures 

and businesses with 100 percent foreign capital 

Wendy Miranda Borotto 

“We have no preference between joint ventures and businesses 

with 100 percent foreign capital,” Miranda said, adding 

that the only sector where ZED Mariel is more interested in 

establishing joint ventures than 100 percent foreign ownership is 

biotechnology, because of “Cuba’s potential in that sector.” 

Miranda said ZED Mariel isn’t picky about foreign ownership 

because it isn’t relevant to the zone’s goals. These include 

domestically producing goods that Cuba imports, creating jobs, 

boosting overall exports, and using clean, modern technologies. 

The zone aims to accomplish these goals by approving projects 

that fall under three “pillar industries”—advanced manufacturing; 

biotech and pharmaceuticals; and logistical services. 

One of ZED Mariel’s major obstacles is Cuba’s reputation 

for dragging its feet on the approval of foreign investment projects. 

Even though ZED Mariel is young, it hasn’t escaped this 

image. Van der Heijden says Womy’s application process took six 

to seven months, but admitted the process may have had delays 

because his company was one of the zone’s first applicants. “You 

need to be patient—decisions take longer than in Europe or in 

the United States,” he said. 

Spadoni agrees. “It all depends on how fast they want to 

move and their political will to accept different kinds of investment,” 

he said. 

The zone is aware of Cuba’s reputation for delays, and it has 

taken steps to streamline the approval process. Miranda’s job includes 

managing the zone’s “one-stop shop”—a single office that 

handles all the paperwork and approval processes for a potential 

investor. This office saves potential investors from communicating 

project plans to countless layers of Cuban bureaucracy. 

Miranda insists projects can be approved in 35 to 65 days, 

which is lightning-speed in Cuban business time. However, she 

said, the most tedious aspect of the approval process isn’t Cuba’s 

review of the project, but rather the time it takes a company to 

prepare the various application documents. “That’s the time they 

always add, which works against the approval time,” Miranda said. 

It’s still not clear when, or how frequently, new projects will 

start sprouting at ZED Mariel, and Cuban officials are tightlipped 

on specifics. Miranda declined, for example, to reveal any 

details regarding Nestlé's recent announcement that it was close 

to reaching a deal to build a $50-60 million factory in the zone. 

“We manage that information confidentially,” she said. 

THAT PRICKLY ISSUE 

No matter how modern and efficient Mariel’s port and development 

zone becomes, the facility still faces the daunting task of 

convincing businesses to invest in the blacklisted neighbor of the 

world’s largest economy. 

A Cuban trade delegation of Mariel representatives was 

forced to handle that conundrum when they toured U.S. ports in 

January. Shortly before delivering a presentation at Fort Lauderdale’s 

Port Everglades, Florida Gov. Rick Scott tweeted a threat 

to cut state funds to ports that do business with Cuba. Scott’s 

move effectively demolished the relevance of a pitch presentation 

that was already problematic, thanks to the trade embargo. 

Mariel’s port and development zone officials aren’t shy about 

criticizing the embargo, but they don’t seem hopeful it will end 

anytime soon. “While the blockade exists, there will always be a 

fear of investing and entering Cuba,” said Mina. 

For other officials, the embargo appears secondary to putting 

Mariel on the map for the rest of the world. “We are underneath 

an economic blockade by the United States. It still exists, and we 

created this zone under this scenario,” Miranda said. H 



81

THE CUBA ADVISORS 

Cuba Trade’s Annual List of the Leading Legal and 

Consulting Firms For Doing Business in Cuba 


They come in all sizes, from the full-service international 

firm to the sole practitioner who contracts others 

for projects as needed. Some work on a broad range of 

industries, others specialize in one or two. Some operate with 

offices around the world, and others keep a presence in a single 

city or state. 

Say “hola” to the Cuba Advisors, law firms, and business consulting 

firms in the United States that assist companies in doing 

Cuba business. Cuba Trade magazine reached out to dozens of 

firms known in U.S.-Cuba business circles and sent out requests 

via social media for input to compile this inaugural list. 

For any company interested in doing business overseas, 

it’s wise to check with experts. Laws differ, as do regulations, 

licensing, and business culture. With Cuba, complications are 

even greater. Because of the 55-year-old U.S. embargo on Cuba, a 

plethora of rules, regulations, and even licenses govern what U.S. 

business is allowed with Cuba; many activities remain off-limits. 

What’s more, Cuba’s ongoing transition from a centrally planned 

to a mixed, state-led economy presents its own special challenges, 

as Cuban laws and rules evolve, according to advisors. 

Knowing the rules is not enough. Relationships are key, says 

Houston attorney Felix Chevalier whose services were recently 

requested by a large U.S. energy firm. The company had applied 

for a license to do business in Cuba but got stuck in the process. 

An agency had asked for information on a form, but the company 

didn’t have it. “The only way to get the answers is having relationships 

in the Cuban government,” said Chevalier, who reached out 

to Cuban officials he knew. 

The advisors have seen many U.S. companies falter in 

attempting business with Cuba. Among the most common 

mistakes: Focusing on what their U.S. business needs and wants, 

and not checking how Cuba operates and what Cuba needs and 

wants. Some also underestimate the competition already present 

in Cuba from Canadian, European, Asian, and other non-U.S. 

rivals. 

Some U.S. multinationals also get snagged when subsidiaries 

or other affiliates outside the United States do direct 

business with Cuba. “Companies must consider all U.S. jurisdictional 

‘hooks’ that could implicate U.S. law, including where 

foreign persons re-export U.S. origin goods or even where U.S. 

dollar transactions are involved,” said advisors at New Yorkbased 

law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. 

Many advisors see strong opportunities for U.S. business 

in Cuba in those areas where U.S. law already allows, including 

U.S. food sales to the island, air and sea transport, and U.S. 

hotel management in Cuba. But the time is now to prepare for 

activities that could be allowed later, some advisors add. 

“Take advantage of the recent regulatory authorization to 

engage in business discussions and contract negotiations with 

Cuban counterparties on a contingent basis,” said Toby Moffett, 

co-leader of the Washington-based Cuba practice at law firm 

Mayer Brown. Once U.S. government approvals are needed later, 

such talks “may prove a very useful tool to better understanding 

the Cuban business environment and regulatory framework, 

as well as to building relationships and making strategic decisions 

in advance of U.S. policy changes toward Cuba.” 



83

Akerman LLP 

www.akerman.com 

Headquarters: Miami, Florida 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Advises 

clients with business interests in Cuba across 

various sectors, primarily in aviation, agriculture, 

hospitality, telecommunications, finance 

and real estate. 

Basics of firm: More than 650 lawyers and 

government-affairs professionals in a network 

of 24 offices across the United States. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Augusto E. 

Maxwell, chair of the firm’s Cuba practice; Pedro 

A. Freyre, chair of the firm’s international 

practice 

Location for key people: Miami 

Biggest mistake U.S. companies make in 

Cuba: U.S. companies sometimes assume that 

Cuba is like other Caribbean or Latin American 

countries and do not take the time to understand 

Cuba’s unique system of government 

and centrally-planned economy. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: We have 

been in the Cuba space for over 15 years. … 

We have broad and pioneering experience 

which includes agriculture, telecommunications, 

airlines, cruise lines, real estate, and hospitality 

clients. 

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP 

www.akingump.com 

Headquarters: N/A; largest office is in Washington 

DC 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Advocacy, 

aviation, biotechnology, energy, health care, infrastructure, 

international sanctions program, 

international trade policy, internet technology, 

manufacturing, public private partnerships, 

real estate and hospitality, telecommunications, 

and transportation. 

Basics of firm: More than 900 lawyers in 20 

offices in North America, Europe, Asia and 

the Middle East. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Scott D. Parven, 

partner, public law and policy practice; Wynn 

H. Segall, partner, international trade practice; 

Anya Landau French, senior policy advisor, 

public law and policy practice 

Location for key people: Washington DC 


Cuba: To assume that Cuba needs or wants 

assistance. Cuba is seeking trade and investment 

partners, and companies in the U.S. are 

well-positioned to respond to that interest. 

But we always advise our clients to approach 

Cuban counterparts with an open mind, and 

advise that they offer partnership, rather than 

help. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: To help 

them assess the landscape and opportunities in 

Cuba, to make connections and build relationships 

on the island, to help win U.S. approval 

Augusto E. Maxwell 

Akerman LLP 

Pedro A. Freyre 

Akerman LLP 

Scott D. Parven 


for their projects and to assist them with routine 

and complex transactions. 

Albright Stonebridge Group 

www.albrightstonebridge.com 

Headquarters: Washington DC 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Works with 

clients to navigate business in Cuba, from 

sanctions and policy monitoring, to market 

assessment, strategy and implementation. Advises 

and assists clients across sectors, including 

financial services and technology. 

Basics of firm: Consulting group of leaders 

from business, public and social sectors featuring 

more than 20 former ministers and ambassadors. 

Its network spans 180-plus experts 

in more than 50 countries. Has served clients 

in more than 110 countries. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Carlos Gutierrez, 

chair of the group and former U.S. Secretary 

of Commerce; Mark Feierstein, senior 

advisor; John Hughes, vice president; Karen 

Poreh, director 


Biggest challenge for Cuba business: The 

challenges are two-fold. The U.S. trade embargo 

continues to limit what U.S. companies 

can do, and Cuba’s decision-making process is 

bureaucratic and slow. Decisions are not made 

lightly or in haste. Successful engagement 

in Cuba requires great patience and an acknowledgement 

that despite an official policy 

welcoming commercial deals with American 

companies, reservations about the U.S. remain. 

Ambar Diaz, P.A 

www.adaizlaw.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Travel industry, 

humanitarian projects, artistic productions, 

Cuban law in general, and U.S. export 

and OFAC regulations. 

Basics of firm: Boutique firm. Diaz, with law 

degrees from Cuba and the U.S, has been 

working on Cuban issues for 14 years. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Ambar Diaz 


Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: Cuba's 

human resources. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Doing 

business in Cuba is like doing business in another 

planet. Be ready to learn new rules. 

Americas Market Intelligence 

www.americasmi.com 

Headquarters: Coral Gables, Florida 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Market intelligence 

in Cuba. 

Basics of firm: Provides market intelligence 

services across Latin American and Caribbean 

markets. Has offices and affiliates in Miami, 

Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Santiago, and San 

Francisco as well as stringers across 20 countries. 

Key people in Cuba practice: John Price, 

managing director 

Location for key people: Miami area 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: 

Tourism and anything tourism related, such 

as car rentals, hotels and high-end restaurants. 


Cuba: Rush in without coldly and objectively 

studying the viability of their plans. 

Ankura Consulting Group 

www.ankuraconsulting.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Geopolitical 

risk, research and analysis, market entry 

strategies, infrastructure, cybersecurity and 

technology, financing, energy and environment, 

tourism development. 

Basics of firm: More than 300 consultants in 

11 offices in the United States, focusing on 

five primary service groups: investigations & 

accounting advisory, litigation and disputes, 

regulatory and contractual compliance, as well 

as risk, resilience and geopolitical, plus turnaround 

& restructuring. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Jorge L. San 

Miguel, head of the Latin American practice; 

Michelle DiGruttolo, head of the geopolitical 

team 

Location for key people: Puerto Rico and 

Washington DC 


Medical tourism is one of the best hidden investment 

opportunities in Cuba. The potential 

for development of a trade corridor between 

Cuba and Puerto Rico would facilitate the establishment 

and rapid embrace of such mutually 

beneficial medical clinics. 


biggest hurdles include sanctions (which normalization 

could remedy), financing (based on 

legal and judicial structures), and upgrading 

essential public infrastructure, particularly 

21st century technology infrastructure. 

Antilles Strategy Group Inc. 

www.antillesgroup.com 

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Focus areas 

include agriculture, biotechnology, medical 

research, pharmaceutical manufacturing, nano-technology, 

hospitality, tourism, and cultural 

exchange. 

Basics of firm: Formerly called Taino-Caribbean 

services, the group has been working 

with Cuba for more than two decades and 

completed more than 200 missions to the 

island. Offers services in strategic planning, 

public affairs, and legal-regulatory issues. 

Wynn H. Segall, 


Anya Landau French 


Carlos Gutierrez, 

Albright Stonebridge Group 

Also facilitates travel, meetings, and relations 

in Cuba, the Caribbean, and South America. 

Has offices in Chicago, Washington DC, Miami 

Beach and in Santo Domingo, Dominican 

Republic. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Charles A. Serrano, 

managing director and director of Cuba 

trade & missions; John Edward Glennon, director 

of financing & development; David S. 

Rodriguez, director of licensing, regulations & 

legal 

Location for key people: Chicago and Miami 

Beach 


socio-economic and political idiosyncrasies 

unique to Cuba, due to its historical experience 

and context in the last 60 years and since 

1989, are fundamental for U.S. business people 

to know. Businesses must be aware of these 

aspects of Cuba as legitimate, and empathize 

them when exploring Cuba. Not considering 

these areas in a Cuba strategy results in impatience, 

lack of understanding of the “Cuban 

reality,” and failure to secure decision-making 

relationships. 


Cuba: U.S. business entities cannot expect to 

obtain positive and productive results if they 

incorporate customary U.S. business practice, 

process, negotiation styles and focused profit 

intentions in Cuba. There is a “Cuban reality” 

that is necessary to be adopted, assimilated, 

and integrated into a strategy to do business 

in Cuba. 

BG Consultants Inc. (BGC) 

www.bgconsultants.net 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Analyzes 

and evaluates the impact and risks of trading 

or investing. Areas of expertise include manufacturing, 

shipping, financial management, 

strategic planning and operations. 

Basics of firm: Providing strategic services 

related to Cuba since 1991, consultants are 

advisors, coaches, and specialists on Cuba’s industry, 

commerce, and emerging markets. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Teo Babun, 

CEO and managing director; Sumaya Davila, 

research associate; Sergio Casines, marine and 

maritime advisor, vice president of ATL Miami 

Inc.; Enrique Lopez, telecom and technology 

advisor, president of Gables Business 

Solutions Advisors. 

Location for key people: U.S. 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: Sectors 

such as infrastructure, housing, agriculture, 

tourism, consumer products, healthcare, 

and pharmaceuticals. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Uncertainties 

and risks inherent in an evolving economy. 

Those may require responses to complex 

regulatory barriers, corruption control, risk 



85

management, due diligence, and obtaining 

concessions from a Cuban partner. 

Caribbean Portal XXI 

www.cpxxi.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Consulting 

across a wide range of topics from the 

perspective of Cuban requirements. Work 

includes preparing industry-specific market 

surveys and analysis; staying up-to-date with 

the latest Cuban regulations relevant to foreign 

entities; registering and licensing companies; 

preparing and submitting documents for 

compliance with accounting, banking and tax 

requirements; securing approval for business 

travel, import, export, and immigration issues; 

strategic planning and business development; 

customary business practices in Cuba. 

Basics of firm: Led by three lawyers in Miami 

and two lawyers in Havana, with access to top 

Cuban law firms that engage with foreign investment, 

trade, and commerce. Also, features 

representatives from various industries including 

senior business executives, financial consultants, 

economists, accountants, engineers, 

and contractors. Has reach into all provinces 

in Cuba. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Manuel Supervielle 

and Antonio Zamora 


Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: The 

Cuban people. Tapping the vast potential latent 

in the Cuba population, especially the 

younger generation, represents a gold mine 

of talent not found on a per-capita basis anywhere 

else in the Western Hemisphere and 

perhaps, anywhere else on earth. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Development 

of a Cuban business culture is moving 

forward at a very slow pace. At times, it 

may feel like there is no progress at all. Thus, 

the key component for foreign investors and 

business people interested in Cuba is patience. 

… Foreigners may view the process as overly 

restrictive, cumbersome and antiquated, but 

there is no other way to engage in Cuba. 

Carlton Fields 

www.carltonfields.com 

Headquarters: Tampa, Florida 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Corporate 

and healthcare 

Basics of firm: 335 lawyers and consultants in 

10 U.S. offices, including five in Florida and 

one each in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, 

Hartford, and Washington DC. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Robert Macaulay 

and Irma Reboso Solares 



Medical tourism 

John Price 

Americas Market Intelligence 

Michelle DiGruttolo 

Ankura Consulting Group 

Robert Macaulay 

Carlton Fields 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Absence 

of a reliable legal system for enforcing 

contracts and property rights. 

Chevalier Law Firm PLLC, The 

www.chevalierlaw.com 

Headquarters: Houston, Texas 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Advises 

companies in various industries seeking to enter 

the Cuban market on the legal framework 

in the U.S. and the business, legal, and political 

landscape in Cuba. Also, provides clients cultural 

insight and on the ground guidance on 

conducting business in Cuba. 

Basics of firm: Offices in Houston and Washington 

DC. Works with others on projects, as 

needed. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Felix Chevalier, 

Tamika Spaulding 

Location for key people: Houston, Washington 

DC 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: U.S. 

firms have an opportunity to grow their businesses 

and enter a nearby market that has been 

virtually untapped by U.S. companies for more 

than 50 years. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: For relationships 

and on the ground experience. 

Guidance on whether Cuba is seeking the 

products or services that a U.S. company provides 

or how to seek U.S. government permission 

are important preliminary steps for doing 

business in Cuba. 

Coto & Associates 

www.crlawpr.com 

Headquarters: San Juan, Puerto Rico 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Foreign 

investment, trademarks, Cuban assets control 

regulations, construction. 

Basics of firm: Seven lawyers, one office in 

Puerto Rico. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Ramon “Chito” 

Coto-Ojeda, managing partner 

Location for key people: San Juan, Puerto 

Rico 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Normalizing 

relations with trading partners, travel 

restrictions, and regaining access to money 

markets. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: Protect 

and defend trademarks, learn about Cuban 

law and opportunities, develop their Cuban 

contingency plans. 

Cuba Strategies Inc. 

www.cubastrategiesinc.com 

Headquarters: Larchmont, New York 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Renewable 

energy, infrastructure. 

Basics of firm: Five consultants and two at- 

torneys in three offices. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Guennady Rodriguez, 

Juan G. Espinosa, Jose de Lasa 

Location for key people: New York, New Jersey, 

Miami 


Large-scale renewable energy projects. 


Cuba: Underestimate how much Cubans value 

their independence, something that will be 

reflected in any business consideration. 

Foley & Lardner LLP 

www.foley.com 

Headquarters: Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Construction 

and infrastructure work, compliance, U.S. 

trade and export controls, intellectual property, 

immigration, corporate and aviation law. 

Basics of firm: 840 attorneys in 19 offices 

worldwide. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Ralf Rodriguez, 

Laura Ganoza, Roy Barquet, Lauren Valiente, 

Kimberly Ashby, Christopher Swift, Gregory 

Husisian, Carlos Abarca, David Bannard 

Location for key people: Boston, Miami, Orlando, 

Tampa, and Washington DC 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: Under 

the current legal framework, construction 

and infrastructure work presents a huge opportunity 

– basically for humanitarian projects 

that improve the lives and welfare of the Cuban 

people. Likewise, the telecommunications 

and technology sectors appear to present large 

opportunities. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Trust 

and establishing norms of contact acceptable 

to both Cuban and U.S. entities for managing 

risk and resolving business disputes. Identifying 

and understanding the limits on Cuban 

business opportunities that can arise from domestic 

Cuban laws and reconciling any conflicts 

with U.S. law. 

. 

GrayRobinson P.A. 

www.gray-robinson.com 

Headquarters: Orlando, Florida 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Trade with 

and travel to Cuba, as well as changing U.S. 

laws and regulations. Helps clients obtain specific 

licenses for restricted activities, and advises 

in structuring business transactions permissible 

under U.S. law, among other activities. 

Basics of firm: Full-service corporate law firm 

with 300 attorneys and consultants in 13 offices 

across Florida. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Peter Quinter 

and Milton Vescovacci 


Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: International 

logistics and hospitality. 

Felix Chevalier 

The Chevalier Law Firm 

Laura Ganoza 

Foley & Lardner LLP 

Peter Quinter 

GrayRobinson P.A. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: To obtain 

a legal opinion about whether the proposed 

business activity is allowed under U.S. law and 

then, to obtain any U.S. government approval, 

if necessary. 

Greenberg Traurig 

www.gtlaw.com 

Headquarters: Miami 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Assists clients 

in obtaining U.S. regulatory clearance to 

do business in Cuba, including implementation 

of related compliance programs. Advises 

clients on Cuba’s foreign investment process. 

Has advised clients doing business across 

many industries, including hospitality, logistics, 

aviation, real estate, software, arts and entertainment, 

energy, and infrastructure. Team 

includes Osvaldo Miranda, a Cuban lawyer 

who served as a judge in Cuba and now, focuses 

his practice on advising foreign investors 

seeking to do business in Cuba. 

Basics of firm: An international, multi-practice 

law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers 

serving clients from 38 offices in the United 

States, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the 

Middle East. Founded in Miami, the firm is 

recognized for its Latin American practice. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Yosbel Ibarra, 

co-chair Latin American and Iberian practice; 

Kara Bombach, shareholder, export controls 

and economic sanctions practice; Carl Fornaris, 

co-chair, financial regulatory and compliance 

practice 

Location for key people: Miami and Washington 

DC 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: In 

the short term, tourism and hospitality, including 

commerce necessary to support those industries 

such as banking, telecommunications, 

and food imports. Longer-term, there could 

be opportunities in industries such as agriculture 

(including food processing), pharmaceuticals 

(both research and production), software 

development (happening on a basic level), and 

if the Port of Mariel is further developed, light 

manufacturing/assembly for export. 


Cuba: Frequently, U.S. companies focus on 

what they need to address regarding U.S. regulations 

and licensing requirements, almost 

to the exclusion of Cuban laws, policies, and 

practices. But a parallel track is required for 

exploring and managing the necessary approvals 

on the Cuban side. It can take a year to get 

an authorization from the U.S. government, 

but may take as long or longer to achieve an 

agreement with Cuban authorities. If not 

managed concurrently, a U.S. license may 

expire or need to be renewed. Consider both 

sides of the equation, and be prepared to be 

patient with both. 



87


www.thehavanaconsultinggroup.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Market 

intelligence in retail, tourism, automotive, remittances, 

financial, agriculture, tobacco, sugar 

industry, energy, real estate, private sector, 

industry, air transportation, transportation, 

telecommunications, investment, biotechnology, 

health sector, infrastructure, mining, oil, 

tech, and more. 

Basics of firm: A team of 14 international 

consultants with decades of experience studying 

Cuba and in all, has written more than 

100 books and 500 articles on Cuba’s economy. 

The group does fieldwork in Cuba and 

designs technology tools for data monitoring 

and data-base management. Consultants include 

programmers, market researchers, geographers, 

statisticians and pollsters. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Emilio Morales, 

president and CEO 

Location for key people: U.S., Canada, 

Spain, and Cuba 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: To understand 

the mechanics of doing business in 

Cuba, to have patience and a feel for a good 

market niche, to prepare the intelligence to 

minimize risks and better negotiate with Cuban 

counterparts. 


Cuba: They don’t do market studies, or prepare 

properly to negotiate with the government, 

they underestimate competitors from 

other countries … and think that they can do 

business in three months. 

Haynes and Boone LLP 

www.haynesboone.com 

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Aviation, 

joint ventures, financial services, mergers and 

acquisitions, and international arbitration. 

Basics of firm: Full service law firm with 

more than 575 lawyers in 15 offices in the 

United States, Mexico and China. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Alberto de 

la Peña, George Y. Gonzalez, Edward M. 

Labow, Larry Pascal, and Rick Martinez. 

Location for key people: Dallas, Houston, 

Washington D.C., and New York. 


strengthening of U.S.-Cuba ties offers significant 

business potential. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: Many 

of our lawyers have served in positions of responsibility 

for Latin America policy in the 

U.S. government as well as public and private 

organizations and companies that foster regional 

trade. 

Emilio Morales, 


Judy Kruger 

Kruger International LLC 

David E. Lewis 

Manchester Trade Limited Inc. 

Kruger International LLC 

www.kruger-international.com 

Headquarters: Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Market research 

and entry for all industries, Cuban business 

partner matches and executive in-country 

trips. 

Basics of firm: 10 consultants in the U.S. and 

Cuba, retained for projects as needed. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Judy Kruger, 

principal 

Location for key people: Michigan, Miami, 

and Havana 


Those patient with the slower Cuban process 

for market entry will be the first wave of U.S. 

or foreign companies to get in, hopefully faster 

than their competition. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: To navigate 

and strategize regulatory and timeline challenges. 

Manchester Trade Limited Inc. 

www.manchestertrade.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Business 

facilitation, trade/investment advisory services 

and policy advice covering pharmaceuticals, 

manufacturing, construction, energy, agriculture/food, 

as well as beverages/alcohol. Cuba 

expertise since 1984. Focuses largely on business 

delegations to Cuba and support/facilitation 

for businesses entering the Cuba market. 

Works with delegations from Puerto Rico and 

other Caribbean/Latin American markets, as 

well as U.S. clients. 

Basics of firm: Trade advisory firm for more 

than 30 years, focused on Latin America and 

Caribbean business development. More than 

100 associates worldwide in the Americas, 

Europe, Africa, and Asia. 

Key people in Cuba practice: David E. Lewis, 

vice president 



Travel and entertainment, including tourism. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Rule 

of law and transparent regulations for foreign 

business. 

Mayer Brown LLP 

www.mayerbrown.com 

Headquarters: N/A. 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Sanctions 

and export controls across all sectors. Transactional 

advice related to market entry of companies 

in the hospitality sector, as well as in 

retail, professional services and agro-food. 

Basics of firm: More than 1,500 lawyers in 24 

offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the 

Middle East. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Toby Moffett 

in Washington DC; Alejandro Lopez Ortiz in 

Paris, France 

Location for key people: Washington DC, 

Chicago, and Paris 


key is to identify those sectors in which U.S. 

policy overlaps with the interest of the Cuban 

government. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: Initially, 

to be sure they were behaving according to 

current U.S. rules and regulations. Now, because 

Mayer Brown has a Cuban lawyer who 

spends a great deal of time on the ground in 

Havana and who is licensed to practice law in 

the US. 

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC 

www.mcneeslaw.com 

Headquarters: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: A variety 

of areas, particularly related to nonprofit organizations 

seeking to support the Cuban 

people. 

Basics of firm: General business practice 

with approximately 140 lawyers in four offices 

in Pennsylvania and one each in Ohio, 

Maryland, and Washington DC. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Louis A. Dejoie, 

Meaghan Hill 

Location for key people: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 

and Washington DC 


unknown. Despite significant progress towards 

diplomatic normalization and market 

openings under the Obama administration, 

no one can predict how and whether these 

trends will continue. … A lot needs to be 

done before Cuba is truly open for business 

to U.S. companies. Nevertheless, given the 

enormous opportunities, U.S. businesses 

should do all they can to be ready. When it 

happens, it will happen quickly. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: Our 

clients are very interested in potential opportunities 

that the Cuban market can offer 

to them. While we most often see inquiries 

from nonprofit organizations which want to 

engage with the Cuban people, we are also 

fielding inquiries from agricultural, heavy 

equipment, and internet businesses. 

Moore & Company 

www.moore-and-co.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Marine and 

aviation. The firm has facilitated more than 

150 yacht trips to Cuba. It has worked with 

diving expeditions, documentary films, marine 

scientists, and others. 

Basics of firm: Law firm specialized in marine, 

aviation, and art law. The sole office has 

a staff of 14, but teams with others as needed. 

Alejandro Lopez Ortiz 


Toby Moffett 


Louis A. Dejoie 

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC 

It also acts as consultants on Cuba to lawyers 

worldwide. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Michael T. 

Moore, Clay Naughton, Laura Wisman 

Location for key people: Coral Gables 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: As 

specialists in marine law, the immediate business 

opportunity for our clients is legal yacht 

expeditions to Cuba. We will have facilitated 

more than 200 of these trips to Cuba by 2018. 

Our clients are now turning their attention 

to how they can more broadly support Cuba 

and its ongoing environmental, ecological, and 

educational needs and changes, related to protecting 

and preserving the waters around the 

island. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Continuing 

the progress to a less bureaucratic, adhoc 

system, to a more open and streamlined 

method of dealing with the applications of 

those who come to Cuba with projects. 

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 

www.morganlewis.com 

Headquarters: N/A 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Business, 

financial and corporate matters, particularly 

related to emerging opportunities and navigating 

U.S. legal and regulatory complexities. 

Focus areas include market entry strategy and 

planning; transactions and licensing for the 

telecommunications, travel and transportation 

sectors; investigations and external enforcement 

actions involving alleged violations of 

the U.S. embargo and U.S. Foreign Corrupt 

Practices Act; trademark protection in Cuba; 

filing claims with the U.S. Foreign Claims 

Settlement Commission; and monitoring U.S. 

regulatory and legislative developments related 

to the U.S. embargo. 

Basics of firm: International law firm with 

nearly 1,900 lawyers in 30 offices in North 

America, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Europe. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Carl A. Valenstein 

and Mark E. Zelek, co-chairs of the 

Cuba initiative 

Location for key people: Boston, Massachusetts 

and Miami, Florida 


potential liberalization of the Cuban economy 

following the retirement of Raul Castro in 

2018. There is hope that the country may at 

least follow the Vietnamese model of opening 

the economy to foreign investment, even if it 

decides to maintain a one-party communist 

political system. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: President 

Trump’s new directive on Cuba policy 

was to be a rollback of Obama’s liberalization. 

However, the actual actions taken - restricting 

self-directed people-to-people travel and transactions 

involving the Cuban military – were 



89

modest, not to mention subject to OFAC's implementation. 

That said, if the Cuban government 

is slow to address human rights and U.S. 

claims to confiscated property, the Trump administration 

may take further action, and this 

creates uncertainty in the market. 

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 

www.pillsburylaw.com 

Headquarters: N/A 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Travel/transportation, 

telecommunications 

Basics of firm: International law firm with 

about 700 lawyers and 21 offices around the 

world. Has a particular focus on the technology, 

energy and natural resources, financial services, 

real estate and construction, as well as the travel 

and hospitality sectors. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Christopher 

Wall, Stephen Becker, Nancy Fischer 


Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Companies 

need to think of all the angles when examining 

a potential opportunity in Cuba. The U.S. 

maintains a complex regulatory regime over 

business activities involving Cuba, including 

distinct rules enforced separately by the U.S. 

Departments of Treasury and Commerce. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: For handling 

export controls and sanctions matters, to 

help analyze potential business opportunities, 

to help prepare and procure licenses when required, 

and for the aviation practice to advise 

on compliance with Cuba sanctions, as well as 

other matters. 

Reneo Consulting LLC 

www.reneodc.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Trade and 

investment, strategic consulting, regulatory 

compliance, agriculture, energy and hotels 

Basics of firm: 27 attorneys/consultants; one 

office in Washington DC. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Scott D. Gilbert, 

founder and managing director; Craig J. Litherland, 

Emily P. Grim, Michael P. Hatley 



Though it may seem counterintuitive, one of 

the biggest opportunities relates to regulatory 

and other obstacles to doing business in Cuba. 

The obstacles, as frustrating as they are, act as 

a barrier to entry for competitors – often providing 

more far-sighted companies willing to 

master the intricacies…the opportunity [for] a 

foothold in the Cuban market uncontested. 


Cuba: They fail to take into account the additional 

stakeholders involved in any business 

venture in Cuba – which include U.S. regulators 

and Cuban government officials – and to 

Michael T. Moore 

Moore & Company 

Mark E. Zelek 

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 

Christopher Wall 

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 

adjust their project strategically, so that it sits 

nearer to the intersection of those often-competing 

interests. 

Richard Graves & Associates 

www.rgassoc.com; www.cuba-boating.com 

Headquarters: Fort Lauderdale, Florida 

Specialty area for Cuba practice: Marinas and 

tourism 

Basics of firm: Marina business development 

consultant, works with associates as needed. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Richard Graves 

Location for key people: Fort Lauderdale, 

Florida 


Tourism and related fields, such as hotels and 

marinas 


Cuba: Not taking the time to become familiar 

with the business culture of Cuba and the people. 

In my experience, to do business in Latin 

America, you must build a relationship. You 

are not going to do business by giving out your 

business card and brochure. 

Robert L. Muse, Law office of 

www.robertmuse.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: U.S. Treasury’s 

OFAC and U.S. Commerce’s BIS 

regulations, license applications, compliance 

advice, and business planning relating to authorized 

activities in and with Cuba. 

Basics of firm: Solo practice working on 

Cuba projects since 1989 and exclusively on 

Cuba since 1991. Has worked with universities, 

philanthropies, policy institutes, environmental 

groups and major travel and carrier 

service providers, among others. Has written 

and spoken on Cuba and legal issues for decades, 

especially on the broad power of the 

U.S. executive to “essentially end the embargo 

on Cuba.” 

Key people in Cuba practice: Robert L. Muse 



agricultural sector. A high priority of the government 

of Cuba is import substitution. They 

want to end the oddity of a fertile country importing 

more than 70 percent of its food. … 

So, the reconstitution and modernization of 

Cuba’s agricultural sector is the biggest business 

opportunity available to U.S. businesses. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: The most 

frequent inquiries I get are from U.S. companies 

seeking to do business in Cuba. The second 

most frequent inquiries are from companies 

in European countries that either are, or 

wish to be, involved in business in Cuba but 

seek advice on how to avoid violations of U.S. 

embargo laws and U.S. export restrictions. 

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. 

www.strtrade.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: U.S. export 

controls and import requirements administered 

by Customs and Border Protection 

(Department of Homeland Security), 

Bureau of Industry and Security (Commerce), 

Office of Foreign Assets Controls 

(Treasury), and the Department of State. 

Basics of firm: Since 1977, provides international 

trade-related legal and consulting 

services. Nearly 1,000 employees focused 

on international trade, customs and export, 

including about 70 attorneys. Offices 

worldwide in North and South America, 

Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Lenny Feldman 

and Steven Brotherton 

Location for key people: Miami and San 

Francisco 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: For 

U.S. companies to understand how to properly 

engage with, and import from, Cuban 

cuentapropistas (entrepreneurs) in order to 

conduct lawful transactions. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: One 

of the biggest reasons is to understand how 

U.S. laws and regulations affect U.S. companies 

whose foreign subsidiaries or affiliates 

are conducting business directly with 

Cuba. 

Shutts & Bowen LLP 

www.shutts.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: All areas 

of the law 

Basics of firm: Full-service law firm with 

more than 260 lawyers and seven offices 

across Florida. Established in 1910. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Aliette Del- 

Pozo Rodz, chair of Cuba task force 

Location for key people: Miami, Florida 


Cuba: Companies often times consider 

what is and/or what may work best for them 

without realizing that they need to visit 

Cuba, understand its market and learn what 

may work for Cuba, and what are its current 

needs. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: For business 

licenses, know-how of Cuba and requirements 

to ensure compliance with U.S. laws. 

Transnational Strategy Group 

www.transnationalstrategy.com 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Consulting 

for tourism-related activities, investment, and 

trade 

Scott D. Gilbert, 

Reneo Consulting LLC 

Aliette DelPozo Rodz 

Shutts & Bowen LLP 

Vicki J. Huddleston 

Transnational Strategy Group 

Basics of firm: A commercial, economic/political 

and policy consulting providing services to 

private and government clients. Approximately 

30 consultants, including former ambassadors, 

top officials, and senior executives, in offices 

worldwide. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Vicki J. Huddleston, 

former Chief of the U.S. Interests Section 

in Havana and former State Department 

coordinator of Cuba affairs, who has worked 

on Cuba for more than 25 years. 

Location for key people: Santa Fe, New Mexico 

Biggest opportunity for Cuba business: Tourism 

and services related to tourism, including 

transport, tours, communications, lodging, and 

food. 

Biggest challenge for Cuba business: Topdown 

decision making, communications and 

transport infrastructure, and government regulations. 

World Wide Title 

www.wwti.net 


Specialty area for Cuba practice: Title to 

property, mostly to land. 

Basics of firm: Set up decades back by a Cuba-born 

lawyer/consultant to support U.S. title 

insurance underwriters, the firm initially 

helped clients venturing into Mexico and other 

nations in such fields as resorts and light manufacturing. 

For more than seven years, it has 

focused on Cuba. 

Key people in Cuba practice: Jose Manuel Palli, 

lawyer and consultant. 

Location for key people: Coral Gables 


Cuba: U.S. companies (and U.S. lawyers) tend 

to see Cuba from an “America-centric” point of 

view, which is understandable culturally. But on 

Cuba, that “mistake” is magnified by the fact 

that most Americans – business people and 

lawyers alike – have been exposed to a heavy 

dose of biased and misleading propaganda for 

almost six decades. This is slowly changing 

for the better, due to the growing number of 

Americans visiting the island for the first time 

in half a century who are thus able to make 

their own assessment of what Cuba is - warts 

(and there are many) and all. 

Why clients come for Cuba advice: Some 

people want to see how they can plan ahead to 

get back the property their families owned before 

the Revolution came to power in 1959. But 

they are victims of the same “America-centric” 

bias, especially in their belief that the question 

of “who owns what in Cuba” in the future will 

be played out in U.S. courts under the U.S. legal 

system. In our view, this is nothing more 

than a delusion, which is why World Wide 

Title doesn’t have clients with those types of 

concerns. H 



91

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK 

TOBACCO 

COUNTRY 

A VISIT TO THE VALLEY OF VIÑALES IS A GREAT ESCAPE 

FROM THE URBAN DENSITY OF HAVANA 

A 

two-hour drive west from Havana, the breathtakingVallede 

Viñales National Park has a superlative reputation 

among Cubans and visitors alike. Here, you find Cuba’s 

best rock-climbing, most impressive caves—and, according to 

many, the best tobacco in the world. 

Named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, the 

Viñales valley is especially popular among European tourists and 

outdoor adventurers, as well as those wanting to escape urban 

crowds of Havana for a few days—or even just one. 

The valley’s karst landscape is characterized by sprawling tobacco 

fields and domed limestone mogotes, the rocky protrusions 

that jump up almost vertically from the alluvial plains. While 

the valley’s landscape remains untouched, the town has changed 

spectacularly since economic reforms allowed individual entrepreneurs 

to enter the services industry. 

“In Viñales, the state’s footprint is so light,” says Philip 

Peters, vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a conservative 

think tank. “There are 193 beds in the three small state hotels, 

and more than 1,100 private bed–and-breakfasts. If it weren’t 

for the private sector, it would be impossible for this amount of 

tourism to be going there.” How Trump's restriction of people-topeople 

travel by U.S. citizens will affect this remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile, private restaurants have also “exploded,” says 

Peters, who counted 28 on the town’s main drag earlier this year. 

“That was unbelievable to me, and it continues to expand. A 

huge number of building permits are active in Viñales, and that’s 

because of tourism.” 

Though the private service industry is well developed, the experience 

still feels small-scale and personal. A tourist can simply 

show up with little or no planning at all, and count on local family 

hosts to help arrange any number of tours, from inexpensive 

hikes around the lush valley to horseback riding, cave exploration, 

and beach excursions. 

Story and photos by Victoria Mckenzie 


Along for the Ride: A small group of tourists on horseback leaving the Valle del Silencio restaurant 

Tobacco Time: The leaves are first stored and dried... 

and then rolled into a completed cigar 

Walking Tour: Our guide heads toward a tobacco drying house 

Yusleidy “Yuya” Valdes Machin, a former social worker who 

opened a private B&B in the center of town two years ago, says 

the changes in Viñales have helped her community. “There are 

many more work options now,” she told Cuba Trade. She and her 

mother, a former seamstress who lives in the house next door, 

combined their homes into one guest house; her mother serves as 

chef. She offers a private room with air conditioning and a good 

shower for 25 CUC; an enormous home-cooked breakfast costs 

an extra 4 CUC. Within minutes of our arrival, Yuya arranged 

both a guided walking tour of the valley and transportation back 

to Havana. 

VALLE DEL SILENCIO 

Exploring Viñales can be as adventurous or easygoing as you like. 

On the more relaxed end, a guided walking tour through the Valle 

del Silencio (also known as the “Coffee, Cave, and Rum” tour) 

costs between 15 and 20 CUC, and will take you on a leisurely 

four-hour trip through sprawling tobacco fields and green-canopied 

mogotes. The sun is strong here, but several shady stops 

along the way offer chances to have a drink, talk to farmers, and 

sample their cigars, coffee and rum. 

Just beyond the entrance, José Aliesky, a young tobacco 

farmer, shows Cuba Trade around his family’s fields and drying 

house, giving us a private lesson on cultivation—from first planting 

to final cigar. 

Once the leaves are harvested, Aliesky strings them up to dry 

for four months in one of the distinctive “tobacco houses” that 

dot the western landscape; later, he rehydrates them in a cocktail 

of honey and aguardiente, and packages them in wide palm leaves 

to cure for another three months. 

“When the leaves are moist and flavorful, they are ready to 

smoke,” explains Aliesky, demonstrating how he peels away the 

central vein—which is high in nicotine—from the pliable leaf. 

“My cigars don’t cause addiction,” he says with an air of gravity. 

Unlike the government-produced cigars, his family does not add 

any chemicals to the leaves. 

Once Aliesky has rolled the cigar, he offers it for us to 

smoke, adding a dollop of honey on the tip as per local custom. 

The thin, flavorful honey comes with its own legend: according to 

locals, it is produced by a tiny species of black bee that burrows 

underground, its combs hidden deep between tree roots. Only 

one family knows how to extract the honey without destroying 

the comb, says the guide. 

While the private service industry is thriving in Viñales, 

tobacco is still a government monopoly. Independent growers 

must sell 90 percent of their crops to the government, keeping 10 

percent for their own use. According to Aliesky, farmers are still 

prohibited from branding homemade products, though visitors 

have ample opportunity to buy hand-rolled cigars directly from 

the growers. Aliesky sells his family’s cigars for 2 CUC a piece. 

BEATING THE HEAT 

The Viñales valley heats up quickly in the morning, and it’s best 

to start out early (and bring a good sunhat) in order to make the 

most of each stop along the tour. Walking through the fields, our 

guide points out crops of beans and yucca, and open pasture for 

grazing. Here, there’s almost no sign of the three-year drought 

that has plagued Cuba; horses and cows look fat and contented. 

The path dips down to follow a small shady stream, then 

re-emerges at the entrance to a cave. Tourists cluster around the 

entrance, paying 2 CUC to escape the sun and explore the inside 

of the mogote. 

At their base, the vertical faces of the limestone mogotes 

look impossible to scale. Yet the valley has over 250 climbing 

routes, according to Cubaclimbing.com. A glance at rock-climbing 

website MountainProject.com’s message boards shows a 

steady flow of serious U.S. climbers to Viñales, many of whom 

make a point of leaving gear behind to support the local climbing 

community. 

Our next stop is a thatched cabaña near a small lake, where 

visitors can swim and enjoy drinks in the shade. Several European 

women on a National Geographic tour are enjoying their 

walk without skimping on rum cocktails. Nearby, several tourists 

emerge on horseback from a small restaurant overlooking the 

Valle del Silencio. 

Our final stop includes a lesson on arabica coffee cultivation 

and processing techniques (though coffee is grown higher up in 

the mountains), as well as the history behind Guayabita del Pinar 

rum. Here, you can buy small bottles of arabica beans, coffee 

grounds, and bottles of rum. 

By the time we emerge from the park, the sun is at its peak, 

and the five-minute walk back to Yuya’s house feels Homeric. 

Other travelers wheel past on rented bicycles that can be found 

next to the Centro Cultural, or provided by B&B hosts. We arrive 

hot and dusty, and are grateful for the air-conditioned room 

and clean shower. H 



95

in closing 

A WIN-WIN 

SCENARIO 

The Argument for Congress 

to Open Agriculture Trade 

with Cuba Now 

American wheat 

growers stand ready 

to meet demand 

in Cuba. 

It’s time to end 

the embargo. 

By Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) 

Choosing Wisely: Crawford examines food at a market in Cuba 

Direct on-farm employment accounted for 2.6 million American 

jobs in 2015, about 1.4 percent of U.S. employment. Meanwhile, 

Cuba imports nearly 80 percent of its food, which includes 

about 400,000 tons a year of rice—an important crop grown in 

my home state of Arkansas. 

But instead of buying from Arkansas, Cuba currently 

imports its food from faraway countries like Vietnam. American 

farmers could provide cheaper, better quality goods in a matter of 

hours instead of weeks. And we now have the opportunity to ever 

so slightly alter our Cuba policy to create that economic opportunity 

for millions of Americans, as well as to offer better, cheaper 

food for the Cuban people. 

The kind of change I’m talking about wouldn’t repeal the 

embargo, nor would it change its structure. Simply put, this 

change would allow agricultural goods to be sold on credit. 

Producers can already trade agricultural goods with Cuba, but 

credit restrictions limit that trade to cash-only transactions. As a 

result, trading with Cuba is more difficult, especially considering 

that nearly all global trade relies on credit. By lifting the credit 

restriction, the United States would gain access to an important 

market 90 miles off the coast of Florida. 

My legislation, the Cuba Agricultural Exports Act, would 

provide new economic opportunities for U.S. agriculture by providing 

access to that market, which is worth over $1 billion per 

year. Producers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Kansas, Minnesota 

and other rural states would be the first to directly benefit 

from this change. 

Running on a platform of job creation and revitalizing rural 

areas, President Trump would like to fulfill his promise to rural 

America without angering Cuba hardliners by repealing the 

embargo. The Cuba Agricultural Exports Act would help him 

appease both groups. President Trump also loves a good bilateral 

trade deal, and that’s essentially what this bill would allow: fair 

trade between two countries that supports American jobs and 

puts America first. 

Some believe that trade with Cuba would only benefit the 

Castro regime, but the Cuba Agriculture Exports Act does not 

permit agricultural sales that would help the Cuban military, 

Communist Party or members of the Politburo. Any U.S. entity 

that violated these terms would be held liable under the Trading 

with the Enemy Act. 

If there ever was a time for this bill to move, it is now. Some 

Americans may not be ready to completely repeal the embargo, 

but if the United States wants to prevent nations like China and 

Iran from dominating Cuba’s future, then we must consider ways 

to increase our influence now, for both national security and 

economic reasons. 

After Fidel’s death, President-elect Trump said, “our administration 

will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally 

begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty.” Allowing agricultural 

trade on credit would be an undeniable victory for this 

administration: it’s a move that supplies the Cuban people with 

high-quality food and supports rural American jobs, all while 

respecting the sensibilities of embargo supporters. H 


EXPLORE CUBA. 

ALL OF IT. 

Now flying to six cities from Miami 

Whether you choose Havana, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Santa Clara, 

Varadero or Camaguey, now you can fly nonstop from Miami. 

With frequent daily flights, low fares and easy booking, 

American makes it easy to get there. 

Book today at aa.com or call your local travel agent. 

American Airlines and the Flight Symbol logo are marks of American Airlines, Inc. 

oneworld is a mark of the oneworld Alliance, LLC. © 2016 American Airlines, Inc. All rights reserved.

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