Page 12 - AT

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 12 december 2018

Cubans fly around the world hunting shopping bargains

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN on the island’s economy.
Associated Press Cuba maintains tight re-
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) strictions on the quantities
— Most people don’t think that individuals can import,
of Haiti as a shopping des- and working as a “mule”
tination. Unless they’re Cu- — bringing goods back for
ban. others — is technically pro-
Every afternoon, hundreds hibited, according to some
of Cubans swarm a rutted official statements, but it is
crossroads in the capital rarely prosecuted.
of the hemisphere’s poor- In the neighborhood sur-
est nation, hunting clothes, rounding the market, doz-
light bulbs, perfume and ens of Cubans run bed-
other goods that are in and-breakfasts for traveling
short supply back home. shoppers in homes rented
Haitian vendors blast Cu- from Haitian owners. Doz-
ban reggaeton music to ens of Haitian “guides” help
draw in shoppers. In a year- Cubans hunt down special-
old cafe painted with Cu- ized goods like electronics
ban flags, Havana-born and hardware.
Angelina Luis Dominguez “I have visas for Panama
and her niece Yeleny Terry and Mexico but I like Hai-
Luis serve black beans, rice ti,” said Eduardo Leiva,
and roast pork to compatri- who runs a small hardware
ots on lunch breaks. Cuban women shop at a street market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018. business in Cuba. “There’s
“There are thousands, Associated Press great variety of merchan-
thousands of Cubans,” Luis private sector, which em- tant Cuban clientele who where Cubans with family dise, a level of product
Dominquez said. “There ploys more than a half mil- came to make purchases ties in the U.S. relied on rela- that you don’t find in other
used to be four or five; now lion people who often earn and are making a signifi- tives to shuttle in personal countries.”
they’ve taken root. It feels three or four times a state cant contribution to busi- or business goods. Driving Tiny Sunrise Airways runs
like all of Cuba is here.” worker’s salary. ness in the zone,” Saenz the trade away from Miami 12 direct flights weekly
The “Cuban market” in Since Cuba did away with a said. Panama is so eager has been the Trump admin- from the Cuban cities of
Port-au-Prince is part of a hated exit permit five years for Cuban business that its istration’s decision to pull Havana, Camaguey and
global trade, estimated to ago, Cubans are packing embassy in Havana has most staff from its Havana Santiago to Port-au-Prince.
top $2 billion, fed by the flights to destinations with started giving Cubans with embassy last year, ending Cubans interviewed in the
confluence of Cubans’ in- easy entry requirements. private business licenses visa processing there and market said they spend
creased freedom to travel In Port-au-Prince, Panama on-the-spot “tourist cards” forcing Cubans to travel to about $700 on airfare,
with the communist state’s City, Cancun, Guyana, that eliminate the need for third countries to apply for food and lodging and an-
continued domination of Trinidad and Tobago, even a lengthy visa application permission to visit the U.S. other $700 on merchan-
the economy back home. Moscow, Cubans are pack- process. The Miami-based Havana dise, which they resell at
Clothing, housewares, ing suitcases with goods for “More Cubans are coming Consulting Group estimat- a markup high enough to
hardware, personal-care personal use and resale now because of the tourist ed in an August study that make several hundred dol-
products and other goods back home. cards,” said Jose Hernan- Cubans spent more than lars profit per trip.
at state-run stores in Cuba In Panama, the Colon Free dez, who was shopping in $2 billion in 2017 on bringing “The Cubans are very good
cost two or three times Trade Zone has a “Little the free zone with a group goods back to the island. for us. They come, they take
what they do elsewhere. Havana” where Cubans of relatives last week. “Tak- That spending may equal merchandise back home,
And that’s when they are spent $308 million last year, ing back an air conditioner, anywhere from 2 percent we get to make a little prof-
on sale at all in an econo- and are on track to spend an electric motorcycle is a to 5 percent of Cuba’s it,” said Terese Rencher,
my hampered by incessant perhaps 8 percent more in big deal for us. In Cuba, gross domestic product, who buys Peruvian-made
shortage. What’s more, 2018, said Luis Carlos Saenz, that’s gold.” depending on which of the T-shirts with designer logos
Cuba’s state monopoly the zone’s general assistant That sort of business tourism wildly varying estimates of in the Dominican Republic
on imports and exports ex- manager. has diversified a trade long GDP is used in absence of and sells them at the “Cu-
cludes the small but vibrant “We now have an impor- centered on South Florida, reliable economic statistics ban market.”q