Rum It Up

From the BBC:

"US-Cuba ties: Rules eased on cigars and rum"

American travellers to Cuba will now be able to bring back far more rum and cigars, after the Obama administration announced new trade measures. The previous $100 (£82) limit has been lifted, meaning most visitors could bring home up to 100 cigars and several bottles of rum. The latest measures reflect continuing moves by the former Cold War rivals to normalise relations after 53 years.  President Barack Obama paid a historic visit to Cuba in March. The latest raft of measures are in an administrative order by the president, meaning he can sidestep the Republican-controlled Congress. Analysts say he wants to cement the new trade relations before he leaves office in January.

Other measures in the latest batch include:

• lifting limits on cargo ship travel between the nations
• easing rules on joint medical research
• allowing export to Cuba of some US goods sold online
• allowing US firms to improve some Cuban infrastructure
• allowing Cuban pharmaceutical firms to apply for US approval

But the cigar and rum measures will be the most beneficial for Cuba. Given the high value of some cigars in particular, the Cuban government could benefit to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars annually.  Mr Obama said in a statement: "Challenges remain - and very real differences between our governments persist on issues of democracy and human rights - but I believe that engagement is the best way to address those differences and make progress on behalf of our interests and values." More than 160,000 Americans went to Cuba in 2015 and the figure could double this year. In July, Cuba and the United States formally re-established relations.

^ It seems that Obama is just getting himself ready to retire to Havana this January and wants to make sure he can have all the cigars and rum he wants. It seems that so far all this re-establishing of relations has been one-sided with the US giving Cuba everything. Regular Americans still can't go to Cuba without official US permission and I don't understand why anyone would want to. I would have liked to have gone to the Soviet Union before it collapsed, but that is different than Cuba. The USSR was a world Super Power and I am a Russophile. Cuba is just a sinking communist country that is struggling on with rafts (get the joke there) until communism there falls. I don't get what all the hype is about. If I go back to the Caribbean I would want to go to Bermuda, Montserrat or back to the Bahamas - definitely not Cuba. ^

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37659131