Mariel Special Development Zone in Cuba Languishes After Investing To Receive Large Boats, Which Still Don’t Arrive

14ymedio, Havana, September 25, 2023 — Several months after finally completing the dredging of the access channel to the port, work that started more than ten years ago to allow the entry of larger vessels, the directors of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) regret that not a single one of these vessels, up to … Continue reading “Mariel Special Development Zone in Cuba Languishes After Investing To Receive Large Boats, Which Still Don’t Arrive”

Cuba Has Approved 62 Businesses for the Mariel Special Development Zone

EFE/14ymedio, Havana, 11 July 2022 — Cuban state media reported on Sunday that the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), the government’s flagship project intended to attract foreign capital, currently has 62 approved businesses with more than three billion dollars in committed investments, a bit more than it was expected to attract annually. The figures were … Continue reading “Cuba Has Approved 62 Businesses for the Mariel Special Development Zone”

Cuban TV Documentary on Mariel Masters the Art of Turning Setbacks into Victories

14ymedio, Havana, January 5, 2024 — “Fresh currency.” For more than ten years that has been the slogan of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM). Its directors, senior Cuban officials and foreign investors bluntly admit it in “Prow to the Future,” a documentary taped using Geocuba drones and accompanied by an original score from the … Continue reading “Cuban TV Documentary on Mariel Masters the Art of Turning Setbacks into Victories”

The Cuban Regime Has No Solution for the Port of Mariel Crisis

14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 September 2023 — Cuban state press just released information on freight traffic through the port of  Mariel’s container terminal. Forecasts for this year point to around 300,000 twenty-foot container units (TEUs), a figure close to what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. But it’s too early to celebrate for … Continue reading “The Cuban Regime Has No Solution for the Port of Mariel Crisis”

Venezuela Will Build a Fuel Warehouse in the Cuban Port of Mariel

14ymedio, Havana, 9 August 2023 — Both the official Cuban and Venezuelan press have been secretive about the visit to the Island of Diosdado Cabello, the second man in the regime of Nicolás Maduro and the United Socialist Party of that country (PSUV). However, his tour this Wednesday through the port area of Mariel, where … Continue reading “Venezuela Will Build a Fuel Warehouse in the Cuban Port of Mariel”

Local Development Won’t Happen under Communist Collectivist Rules

Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 28 March 2023 — Local development projects are untenable in Cuba’s communist economy. They need a foundation and a substrate. What are we talking about? Much has been written about local development as a tool for spurring economic activity. Essentially, it is a complex process, a result of local initiative, whose … Continue reading “Local Development Won’t Happen under Communist Collectivist Rules”

No Money to Finish Construction on Mariel Housing Project

14ymedio, Natalia López Moya, Havana, May 18, 2021 — Some months ago the place was alive with construction activity. Now, however, there are no bricklayers or engineers anywhere in sight, and the din of building tools is nowhere to be heard. Construction of nine houses for senior executives of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) … Continue reading “No Money to Finish Construction on Mariel Housing Project”

After Six Years, Cuba’s Port of Mariel Continues to Move Little Cargo

14ymedio, Havana, 15 October 2020 — The Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) reported this Wednesday through its website that its container terminal has handled two million TEUs since its inauguration in January 2014 (the unit of measurement in maritime transport  that is equivalent to one 20 foot container). “A new milestone,” the official press said, detailing what … Continue reading “After Six Years, Cuba’s Port of Mariel Continues to Move Little Cargo”

The Ghost of The Special Period Threatens Cuba in 2019, Warns Report

EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, March 5, 2019 — The economic crisis Cuba is experiencing will worsen in the next few months and, if it doesn’t open itself to a market system, the country could fall into a new “Special Period,” the grave depression into which the island was sunk in the 90s, according to predictions … Continue reading “The Ghost of The Special Period Threatens Cuba in 2019, Warns Report”

Mariel, the Cuban Hong Kong That Never Became One

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 14 June 2018 — In 2014, Raúl Castro, who promoted the deepest economic reforms since the establishment of the socialist system in Cuba, surrounded by his allies Dilma Rousseff, Evo Morales and Nicolás Maduro, promoted the largest project of his mandate, the creation of a Special Development Zone in the Port of … Continue reading “Mariel, the Cuban Hong Kong That Never Became One”

Cuba’s ‘Special Period’: Past, Present and Future

Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 14 June 2018 — The terminology of officialdom has its euphemisms and its unknowns, among the latter is whether it is politically correct to speak of the ‘Special Period‘ as a thing of the past, an question that became clear in the review published on Tuesday by the state-run newspaper Granma, that discussed Raúl Castro’s … Continue reading “Cuba’s ‘Special Period’: Past, Present and Future”

Cuba’s Port of Mariel Lags Behind Panama Canal Expansion / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 25 June 2016 — “We want to be on the front pages of newspapers” claimed a taxi driver in the middle of heavy traffic on a Panamanian street after being asked about the leaked documents from the firm Mossacl Fonseca. A few weeks after that conversation, the media focused again on that country this … Continue reading “Cuba’s Port of Mariel Lags Behind Panama Canal Expansion / 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez”

Green Light in Mariel Special Zone for Five Foreign Companies and Two Cuban Ones / 14ymedio

14ymedio, 15 July 2015 — Seven companies received approval to open businesses in the port of Mariel and the nearby industrial area, as reported Wednesday the Associated Press. Since late 2014, the green light has been received by two Belgian companies, two Mexican, one Spanish and two Cuban, which will be dedicated to food, chemicals, logistics … Continue reading “Green Light in Mariel Special Zone for Five Foreign Companies and Two Cuban Ones / 14ymedio”

Wages in Mariel: One Good Thing and a Lot of Bad Things / Dimas Castellanos

In accordance  with the new Foreign Investment Law*, workers will be engaged by an State-run employing organisation. When you factor in the fact that the only union permitted is the one representing the interests of the State, we are looking at a capitalist-style relationship in which the workers have no-one to defend them. Although we … Continue reading “Wages in Mariel: One Good Thing and a Lot of Bad Things / Dimas Castellanos”

With the Port of Mariel, Cuba Reassesses its Geographical Position / Miriam Leiva

HAVANA, Cuba, 31 January 2014, www.cubanet.org – The position of the Port of Mariel has revalued the geographical importance of Cuba, lost with the end of the Cold War. The soldiers who for 46 years were the support of the government, when they began to direct everything in mid-2006 they found a country undercapitalized, productively … Continue reading “With the Port of Mariel, Cuba Reassesses its Geographical Position / Miriam Leiva”