The Barack Obama administration has approved ferry service to Cuba from Florida for the first time in the last 5 decades. The U.S. Treasury and Commerce department has given license to

• Havana Ferry Partners of Fort Lauderdale
• Baja Ferries of Miami
• United Caribbean Lines Florida of Greater Orlando
• Airline Brokers Co. of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

This approval has clearly sets a new path for huge number of people and hundreds of millions of dollars in goods that travel between Florida and Havana every year.

The Government of Cuba made no immediate comment on the news and it is far from clear that it is willing or able to allow a major new channel for the movement of goods and people between the two countries.

Before the 1959 revolution of Cuba, ferries used to run everyday between Florida and Cuba. These ferries played a major role for tourists visiting the two countries. After the revolution the usage of ferries were completely stopped.

According to an estimate, every year around 6 lakh people are travelling between US and Cuba on flights. Mostly they are Cuban-Americans visiting their relatives in Cuba. They travel with huge amounts of consumer goods unavailable in Cuba like baby clothes, electronic items, flat-screen TV sets..etc. The burden for the people is the cargo has become so expensive and difficult to bring in recent years due to the high prices charged by charters and tightened Cuban customs rules.

The move comes as part of the process of normalising relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Tidbits

• Havana is the capital of Cuba and its largest city.
• Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean, and with over 11 million inhabitants, is the second-most populous after Hispaniola.
• Cuba today is the only remaining Marxist-Leninist state to receive a “very high” human development ranking from the United Nations.
• Currencies: Cuban peso, Cuban convertible peso

GK Questions

• Which country transferred more than 150 nuclear weapons to Cuba by the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis? Russia
• Name the two countries in the World where the sale of Coco Cola is officially banned? Cuba and North Korea
• What is the name of the US President who bought 1,200 cuban cigars just hours before signing the embargo against Cuba? John F Kennedy