Some commentators have suggested that the first place Christopher Columbus saw a tobacco leaf being smoked was on the island of Cuba. If this was in fact the case, it is more than a bit ironic that some of the world's most restrictive sanctions on smoking took affect there this week. Starting this week, there is no smoking allowed in enclosed public buildings, no cigarettes may be sold within 100...

Many people continue to speculate what will happen in Cuba after the presidency of Fidel Castro ends, and this rather interesting report from the RAND Corporation offers some insight into a number of potential scenarios. Authored by researchers Edward Gonzalez and Kevin McCarthy, the 154-page study identified five potential problem areas in particular, including an aging population, a growing...

The papers and proceedings of the most recent ASCE conference have been posted by the Latin American Network Information Center at the University of Texas (UT-LANIC). More than 60 full-text documents are available at the site in .pdf format. Topics covered in volume eight of Cuba in Transition include Socialism and Environmental Disruption: Implications for Cuba, The Effects of the US Embargo on...