Cuba News Roundup: October 15th, 2021 – Startup Cuba TV
Plus, Tampa didn’t invent the Cuban sandwich and Cuba and the Paris Club reach a deal to skip 2021 debt payment. 
We so wanted to share positive stories this week. But they were very few and far between. The most positive story we could find was a story, reported in the Tampa Bay Times, on a historian that says that the Cuban sandwich was not invented in Tampa. So, unless you live in Tampa, that’s kinda a positive story, right?
In other (sad) news reflecting the state of Cuba and US-Cuba relations, the LA Times reports on growing frustration with Biden’s delay in lifting Trump’s sanctions. A Cuban prosecutor is telling dissidents not to protest; they’ve been summoned and warned. The Hill reports on a Human Rights Watch report that says that abused demonstrators and a protestor is jailed for tearing a poster of Fidel Castro. Told you the news is depressing this week. Hoping for more positive news next Friday. In the meantime, see below for these stories.
By the way, none of the opinions in any of the stories shared on this page represent ours; we’re just sharing them with you. If you are a journalist or you have seen a story that you’d like us to consider for future weekly news roundups, please send us a note and a link to the story here. (Hero image: Alejandro Rojas)
One of Cuba’s most senior diplomats switches from Spanish to English when he describes the pace at which many Cubans expected a new President Biden to ease restrictions on the island nation. Read more at latimes.com.
Actor and playwright Yunior Garcia, 39, leader of the Facebook group called Archipelago speaks with journalists outside the prosecutor’s office in Havana, Cuba, October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
Cuban prosecutors on Thursday summoned dissident leaders from across the country who have called for protests on Nov. 15 over curbs to civil rights, warning them against convening the rallies under penalty of the law. Read more at reuters.com.
Photo: Martha Asencio-Rhine | Times
For a while, historian Andy Huse was the go-to guy for reporters looking for a quote about Tampa’s Cuban sandwiches. He fielded calls from The Wall Street Journal, Saveur and others. Read more at tampabay.com.
February 8, 2023
Havana Club is Cuba’s top selling and most popular rum but three other brands are also competing for the island’s #1 spot.
Various arms of Cuba’s government have “systematically” jailed and abused demonstrators who took part in July protests against the government, according to Human Rights Watch. Read more at thehill.com.
Photo: Agencia EL UNIVERSAL/Rebeca Argumedo. EGV. (GDA via AP Images)
Cuban judges have sentenced Roberto Pérez Fonseca, who protested against the government on July 11 and helped tear apart an image of the late Fidel Castro, to 10 years in prison. Read more at miamiherald.com.
February 10, 2023
Samuel Riera’s Art Brut Cuba opens channels for Outsider Artists to sell their art when they otherwise couldn’t earn a living from their work.
Photo: REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/Files
Cuba has reached a deal with the Paris Club of creditor nations to postpone an annual debt payment due in November until next year, according to diplomats from five of the governments involved, the latest sign the Communist-run country is suffering a grave foreign exchange crisis. Read more at reuters.com