VENEZUELA’S CUBAN BURDEN Luis R. Luis It is well known that Venezuela and Cuba maintain close political, economic and military relations. Cuba’s dependence on Venezuela for its supply of fuel is well documented as is Venezuela’s use of Cuban professionals in its social programs and internal security apparatus. The economic transactions behind this relationship are […]

The island’s economy is neither efficient nor competitive. To move forward it must deepen and accelerate reforms. The market socialism model could provide a way. By Carmelo Mesa-Lago For the past 60 years, Cuba has been unable to finance its imports with its own exports and generate appropriate, sustainable growth without substantial aid and subsidies from […]

Cuba’s Petroleum Trade Statistics and the Impact of Cutbacks in Venezuelan Oil.[1] In a 2009 article, Jorge Perez-Lopez and Carmelo Mesa Lago suggested that Cuba’s official GDP data involved “…discontinuities, obfuscation and puzzles”. Something similar can be said about the statistics on petroleum trade published by the official Cuban statistical agency, ONEI. Cuban data for […]

The Exchange of Doctors for Oil and the Acceleration of Cuba’s GDP Growth since the Turn of the Century. [1] In an important article, John Devereux recently provided a thorough and critical examination of Cuban statistics on aggregate production.[2] Among other things, he drew attention to the sharp increase in Cuba’s real GDP growth (as […]

THE CUBA-US BASEBALL AGREEMENT: POSTING VS. FREE AGENCY Luis R. Luis   The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major Leagues Players’ Association (MLA) reached an agreement on December 19 setting up a framework whereby Cuban players can enter into contracts with US baseball teams.  This agreement sets terms under which […]