The year 2017 was marked by the rollback in the rapprochement between Cuba and the United States, the adoption of migratory regulations and the coming into force of new measures for the private sector of the economy, the latter described as restrictive by a part of Cuban civil society.
A 1.6 percent GDP growth in 2017 is keeping the Cuban economy far from the level demanded for development, while obstacles access to hard currency continue and from the United States the blockade policy is sending signs of getting worse.
Among the export sectors, tourism is almost an oasis, when incomes from medical services to other countries and the traditional exports have a tendency to decrease. State and foreign investments can be speeded up with the renegotiation of the foreign debt. The updating of the economic and social model also introduced novelties in 2017 in state-run enterprises and private businesses, but after seven years a feeling of dissatisfaction among the population and the authorities due to the speed of the changes has started being perceived.
Havana. Cubans remembered 2017 as the first year without the aegis of leader Fidel Castro, of the devastating passage of Hurricane Irma and of some mysterious acoustic attacks that were used by U.S. President Donald trump to put an end to bilateral rapprochement.
There could hardly be another Cuban artist in the field of visual arts in recent decades whose work resembles that of Sandra Ceballos. We are not referring to her most personal creation – drawing, painting, installations, performances – but rather to her artistic work in the broadest sense, as a curator, editor, promoter, agent, gallery worker, art activist….