By Jon Tonti

A mere 230 miles from Miami, Havana’s ultra-attractive geographic positioning continues to push Cuba on to the radar of ‘what ifs’ when looking at explosive possibilities in the Nearshore services sector.

But before floating into dream land – let’s review the facts: Cuba’s BPO market today is nearly non-existent and the Cuban government is not focused on jump-starting it.  Despite an intelligent workforce that is increasingly exposed to private-run business, Cuba still has a long way to go to become viable for global services. We drew upon our pool of experts and did some poking around of our own to find that Cuba lacks a BPO scene because of the Cuban government’s preference for other industries, a weak technological infrastructure, a dearth of transparency, and political and workforce uncertainty.

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Source: The Miami Herald

 
While Cubans on the island celebrated the 85th birthday of Fidel Castro with a serenade concert, exiles in Little Havana wished the communist leader would not see another year. 

“He is a symbol of evil and what’s needed is for his life to end as soon as possible,” said Jesus Permuy, 75, as he gathered for coffee with other longtime exiles at Versailles on Calle Ocho. 

Permuy said he believes officials on the communist island are open to change — but not while the revolutionary icon lives. 

Castro still casts a long shadow over Cuban society and the government, though he is rarely seen in public these days. He marked his 85th birthday outside of the public spotlight Saturday. 

At Versailles, the political backdrop to Cuban exiles for 40 years, Castro’s birthday was not the main topic of conversation. Permuy and his colleagues talked instead of the …

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By Patrick Haller

When President Obama made a tour of Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March 2011, many saw this as a signal of his commitment to the region, and a positive sign that the US would be endeavoring to shore-up its trade relations there.

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Source: The Seattle Times

When Cuba legalizes the buying and selling of real estate by the end of the year — as the government promised again this week — many people expect a cascade of changes: higher prices, mass relocation, property taxes and a flood of money from Cubans abroad, including in the United States.

Experts say that even with some state controls, property sales could transform Cuba more than any other economic change announced by President Raúl Castro. José is an eager almost-entrepreneur with big plans for Cuban real estate. Right now he works illegally on trades, linking families that want to swap homes and pay a little extra for an upgrade.

But when Cuba legalizes buying and selling by the end of the year — as the government promised again this week — José and many others expect a cascade of changes: higher prices, mass …

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Source: Miami Herald

Cuba would plunge swiftly into chaos if Venezuela’s ailing President Hugo Chávez is replaced by someone less willing to subsidize Havana to the tune of $3.5 billion this year, analysts say.

Havana already is divided between older leaders determined to maintain a friendly regime in Caracas at all costs, they added, and others who view Chávez’ subsidies as disincentives to the profound economic reforms that Cuba desperately needs.

Chávez, who has been Cuba’s top ally and benefactor for nearly a decade and considers Fidel Castro as his top political mentor, announced from a Havana hospital Thursday that he has cancer, sparking immediate speculation about his and Venezuela’s political future.

A charismatic populist, he has no clear successor as head of the “21st Century socialism” also embraced in Bolivia and Nicaragua — and plenty of opponents ready to challenge his 12-year grip on power in presidential elections scheduled for next …

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SOURCE: BUSINESWEEK

U.S. tourism companies could take in at least $1.1 billion a year on trips to Cuba if Washington didn’t ban most of its citizens from visiting the island, officials said Wednesday during a videoconference with American tour operators.

That figure includes $600 million in sales by airlines, $300 million for travel agents and $200 million in U.S. tourism-related exports and services, including food and drink items that could be sold to Cuba as well as spending on advertising to promote Cuba as a destination, said Miguel Figueras, a top aide to Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero.

Figueras provided few details on how Cuba arrived at the numbers, but pointed to a previous study by the American Society of Travel Agents in asserting that without travel restrictions, 1.8 million U.S. tourists would come to Cuba annually. That includes some 482,000 Cuban-Americans visiting relatives on the island, he said.

More than 2 million …

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SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES

In what seems like one step forward for freedom of expression on the island of Cuba, on Wednesday a blogger in Havana named Yoani Sánchez has published President Obama’s replies — in Spanish and English — to seven questions she put to him on relations between their countries.I

Ms. Sánchez explained on her blog, “Generación Y” (the English-language version of site is “Generation Y“), that it took a while to set up the exchange: “After months of trying I managed to send a questionnaire to the American president, Barack Obama, with some of the issues that keep me from sleeping.”

The American president congratulated Ms. Sánchez on the Maria Moors Cabot Prize, which she won this year for her efforts to foster understanding among countries in the Americas. Mr. Obama wrote to Ms. Sánchez: “You richly deserve the award. I was …

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NSAM EXCLUSIVE GUEST POST

By Peter Ryan, Lead Analyst – BPO and Contact Center Outsourcing & Services, OVUM

Since Fidel Castro’s relinquishment of power to his brother, Raul, many Nearshore outsourcing speculators have been wondering aloud whether Cuba could be the next big thing for contact center services into North America.

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SOURCE: BUSINESS WEEK
A top Cuban communications official said Monday that the communist government is wary of a Miami company’s plan to run a fiber optic cable to the island and it hasn’t yet even been asked for permission.

TeleCuba Communications Inc. announced on Oct. 13 that it had received U.S. Treasury Department approval to lay about 110 miles (175 kilometers) of cable from Florida to Cuban territory — seemingly a significant dent in the U.S. embargo against the island.

But Francisco Hartmann, director of strategy for Cuba’s national Office of Information, said his government has “no official knowledge that there is interest to negotiate” such a project, and he indicated they may frown on it if asked.

“If all the information that we have passes by cable to Florida, that technological independence, the sovereignty that for us is so important, what will happen to it?” he asked at a news conference.

TeleCuba said …

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SOURCE: Latin America Herald Tribune
MIAMI – A Miami-based telecommunications company said Wednesday it planned to build an underwater fiber-optic cable linking the United States and Cuba, creating the first such line of its type.

TeleCuba Communications Inc. said it had authorization from the U.S. government to move ahead with the project and service would start in 2011.

The U.S. Treasury Department, however, has not confirmed that it granted the firm a license to build the cable, which will run from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba.

The approximately 177-kilometer (110-mile) cable will cost about $18 million, TeleCuba Communications president and CEO Luis Coello said.

“The cable will be the first of its kind,” said Virginia Hoffman of Great Eastern Group, head of TeleCuba’s cable system design, construction, and installation. “It will be far more than a simple commercial cable; TeleCuba has agreements in place to provide for multiple subsea science nodes along …

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