In fact, many are locked-up, imprisoned with no guarantee whatsoever of a fair trial and often with no clear knowledge of the charges. But easy money is quite a temptation for many. Extremely low salaries and no benefits for Cuban workers are the bait for profit hungry foreign investors. Ask REPSOL why they are risking so much money in oil exploration on Cuban shores after their negative experience with a much milder authoritarian scenario, such as Christina Kirchner's Argentina. The Economist analysis that follows is quite superficial but enough to make any investor aware that they are placing their money in the hands of the Castro brothers until they throw a tantrum for whatever reason they may fabricate!
(Swapping the Saratoga’s comforts for a cell in Villa Marista)
Foreign investment in Cuba
Havana, May 19.─ Last year Coral Capital, one of the biggest private investors in Cuba, released a glossy brochure for a property development. “Live in Havana,” said the blurb. “You know you want to.” It was anticipating a new law that, for the first time since the revolution, would allow foreigners to buy property, in this case around a couple of golf courses which the company was intending to develop. Now Coral Capital’s top two bosses, both British citizens, are under arrest, caught up in an investigation that has in equal measure bemused and alarmed foreigners doing business in Cuba.
Since last summer dozens of senior Cuban managers, in industries from nickel to cigars, have been arrested, along with some established foreign businessmen. They include two Canadian executives who managed trading companies. Another target was Max Marambio, a Chilean former guerrilla and friend of Fidel Castro, who made a fortune after setting up a fruit-juice company that was one of Cuba’s first joint enterprises. He was convicted in absentia.
Coral Capital says it has invested around $75m in Cuba, notably in doing up the Saratoga, Havana’s most luxurious hotel. Its chief operating officer, Stephen Purvis, was arrested as he was about to take his children to school ...
[ Full text ]




