After 55 years of economic sanctions, the U.S. and Cuba are on the cusp of setting aside their hostilities and removing a longstanding embargo.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the ‘outdated approach’ to the Communist island nation will end.
In Calgary, the news was greeted with optimism amongst the Cuban community and retailers who trade in Cuban goods.
Marcos Ravelo runs a local Cuban dance studio and his father, Marcos Ravelo Tito, is currently visiting Calgary from the Caribbean nation. The two generations of Ravelos were ecstatic to hear of Obama’s announcement.
“This is great news for the people in Cuba,” said Marcos. “This will help the economy and the families. Pretty much everything that was taken a long time ago, now, we can have it back.”
The dance studio owner believes the lifting of economic sanctions could lead to the introduction of new technology to Cuba and improve access to information.
“It’s very rare to find internet (in Cuba),” said Marcos. “It would be very good to have, just to send messages to keep in contact with our families and friends all over the world and just to know what’s really happening all over the world. We are very restricted on what we can see in the news and on the internet, we pretty much don’t really know anything.”
“I think it will help us understand what we have and what we don’t have in Cuba.”
Cuban-Canadian Mila Prado relocated to Calgary in 2007. She believes the lifting of the economic embargo will increase tourism and investment in her homeland.
“I believe it’s going to bring more money (to Cuba),” said Prado “That’s what Fidel Castro did not want. They call Cuba a Communist country so they didn’t want to bring in any business.”
Prado said the economic impact will be felt outside of the island nations as Cubans are eager to travel.
“Most of us, as Cubans, want to travel somewhere else because we weren’t allowed to go anywhere or it seemed so hard to get out,” said Prado. “Now, it will be great for them to go travel to the U.S. or other countries, or here in Canada.”
Cubans in Canada are not alone in their excitement. Local cigar shops are optimistic they’ll be able to sell Cuban cigars to U.S. travellers and travel agents predict an increase in Cuban resort development.
Mike Kinch, the owner of the Tobacco Outlet, believes the limited supply of Cuban cigars could lead to an increase in price should the U.S. open its borders for import.
“In terms of pricing, depending how far they open up, it could potentially put a huge strain on the supply,” said Kinch. “Cuban cigars often sell as many as they can make as they’re handmade. If they were to compromise their quality, and mass produce them, they would probably counteract the image they have.”
Cuba has been a popular destination for Canadian tourists, in the first six months of 2014, 625,000 Canadians visited the island nation, but prices may jump if the country allows U.S visitors.
“Obviously some hotels are going to be fuller and I think this is going to give them opportunity to put prices up,” saidTravel agent Lesly ‘The Travel Lady’ Keyter. “I think Americans have been waiting for a long time for this opportunity, out of curiosity really, to see what this big, bad Cuba is all about."
Keyter says an influx of Americans is likely to increase competition among existing Cuban resorts and the creation of new hotels along Cuba’s undeveloped coastline.
With files from CTV's Shaun Frenette
