I got your point about the Leftist media, but govts. have interest in the property. USSR had it last, right? Russia's economic woes hurt Cuba and last time I looked it was foundering. Why don't we take it, or someone else, or the Russkies fix it?
By all appearances, tourists and cubans are kept well away from each other, so people passing through don't have a clue as to what's going on.
Get a load of these suckers.
CUBA: HARD CURRENCY DEBT* (Dec. 2004)
CREDITORS BY COUNTRY DEBT (in US$)
Japan (1) $2.331 billion
Argentina (2) $1.967 billion
Spain (3) $1.765 billion
France (4) $1.316 billion
Venezuela (5) $992 million
China (6) $682 million
Mexico (7) $480 million
Italy (8) $447 million
United Kingdom (9) $371 million
Germany (10) $317 million
Netherlands (11) $295 million
Russia [post-Soviet era debts] (12) $235 million
Czech Republic (13) $226 million
Belgium (14) $221 million
Panama (15) $200 million
Canada (16) $90 million
Austria (17) $79 million
Brazil (18) $40 million
Trinidad & Tobago (19) $30 million
Uruguay (20) $30 million
Sweden (21) $22 million
Undisclosed Foreign Financing (22) $258 million
Other Historic Debt (23) $893 million (est.)
*On the basis of Nov. 2004 exchange rates and rounded to the nearest million.
TOTAL $13.288 billion (est.)
II. CUBA: NON-CONVERTIBLE DEBT (2004 Est.)
CREDITOR GOVERNMENTS DEBT (in Transferable Rubles)
Russia [Soviet-era debt] (24) 20.848 billion
Romania (25) 951 million
Hungary (26) 200 million
Poland (27) 70 million
TOTAL 22.069 billion