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editors note<br />
The Power of Misinformation<br />
It has been more than a month since President Donald Trump<br />
announced his <strong>Cuba</strong> policy. It will be many more months before<br />
that policy is precisely defined, with specific regulations to be<br />
issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. In the meantime, we are<br />
awash in misinformation.<br />
This is to be expected. The policy itself is based on misinformation.<br />
First, there is the assertion that most of the <strong>Cuba</strong>n economy<br />
is controlled by the military. It is repeated time and again by media<br />
outlets, that the <strong>Cuba</strong>n military “controls most of the <strong>Cuba</strong>n<br />
economy,” as the Miami Herald printed in a July 21 article.<br />
In actuality, as you can read in Nick Swyter’s story (pg. 22)<br />
this month, some analysts challenge that claim. More than one<br />
expert says enterprises controlled by the military only contributed<br />
about 20 percent of the country’s gross income in 2016.<br />
The next bit of misinformation underlying the new policy is<br />
the idea that prohibiting individual person-to-person travel for<br />
Americans will drain money from the military, since the military<br />
controls much of the tourism sector, and that this will also somehow<br />
help the <strong>Cuba</strong>n people.<br />
As Collin Laverty argues in our “In Closing,” stopping this<br />
type of travel will actually take money directly from the growing<br />
entrepreneurial sector that includes bed-and-breakfasts and private<br />
restaurants. Yes, they pay taxes to the government, so cutting<br />
their income reduces state revenue. But that revenue also pays for<br />
basic social services; even here the Trump policy hurts the people.<br />
Then there is the public and corporate misunderstanding of<br />
Trump’s policy, the next wave of misinformation washing ashore.<br />
Many Americans don’t realize, for example, that none of the<br />
current rules for travel have changed, at least not yet. You can still<br />
travel to <strong>Cuba</strong> with relative ease, and can do so until the rules are<br />
written, published, vetted, and signed into law.<br />
“The announced changes do not take effect until the new<br />
regulations are issued,” said a Frequently Asked Questions document<br />
posted July 25 on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s<br />
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). It also said those<br />
ammendents are expected to take months.<br />
Julienne Gage’s article (pg. 36) notes there is also trepidation<br />
about moving forward on the corporate side as well, especially<br />
for companies that have yet to establish a presence on the island.<br />
All transactions permitted under Obama, however, are also still<br />
permitted. As OFAC’s latest FAQ sheet says, deals cut before the<br />
new directive will be permitted “provided that those commercial<br />
engagements were in place prior to the issuance of the forthcoming<br />
regulations.”<br />
But, instead of taking advantage of the <strong>Cuba</strong>n opportunity,<br />
much of the public and corporate community instead is reacting<br />
to Trump’s blustery smoke about pulling back.<br />
Doing business in and with <strong>Cuba</strong> is already hard enough<br />
under the weight of the embargo. The added fog of misinformation<br />
only makes it worse.<br />
J.P. Faber. Editor-in-Chief<br />
Publisher<br />
Richard Roffman<br />
Art Director<br />
Jon Braeley<br />
Senior Writer<br />
Doreen Hemlock<br />
Copy Editor<br />
Larry Luxner<br />
Vice President Sales<br />
Sherry Adams<br />
Moore & Company, P.A.<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
J.P.Faber<br />
Chairman<br />
Todd W. Hoffman<br />
Director of Operations<br />
Monica Del Carpio-Raucci<br />
Production Manager<br />
Toni Kirkland<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Julienne Gage<br />
Associate Editor<br />
Nick Swyter<br />
Writers<br />
Ted A. Henken<br />
Suzette Laboy<br />
Victoria Mckenzie<br />
Emilio Morales<br />
Ana Radelat<br />
Photographers<br />
David Ramos Casin<br />
Matias J. Ocner<br />
Tom Kilroy<br />
Mario Luis Reyes<br />
Thos Robinson<br />
Manager, New Business<br />
Development<br />
Magguie Marina<br />
Aviation Consultant<br />
Lauren Stover<br />
Maritime • Art • Aviation Law<br />
<strong>Cuba</strong> Trade Magazine (ISSN 2573-332X) is published each month by Third Circle<br />
Publishing, LLC, at 2 S. Biscayne Blvd., Suite 2450, Miami, FL USA 33131.<br />
Telephone: (786) 206.8254. Copyright 2017 by Third Circle Publishing LLC. All<br />
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photograph or illustration<br />
without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited.<br />
8 CUBATRADE AUGUST 2017<br />
Postmaster: Send address changes to Third Circle Publishing, LLC, 2 S. Biscayne<br />
Blvd., Suite 2450, Miami, FL USA 33131. Subscription information domestic and<br />
foreign (786) 206.8254. Send general mailbox email and letters to the editor to info@<br />
cubatrademag.com. BPA International Membership applied for December 2016.<br />
<strong>Cuba</strong>trademagazine.com Thirdcirclepublishing.com<br />
www.moore-and-co.com
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