The "Palacio de Convenciones"	Everything that any rich foreigner would need including marina, housing, convention center, club is nearby. All you need is to have the money to pay the high prices that Cuba's only landlord charges	While attending a convention, foreign executives can stay at mansions like this one here. They can enjoy the same luxuries that they have at home because there is no internal embargo here
All the homes come with satellite TV and Internet connections. But regular Cubans would go to jail if they are caught watching satellite TV or connecting to the Internet.	How can the Castro regime build these mansions for foreigners while regular Cubans are forced to live in dilapidated houses?	The answer is simple: The foreigners can pay the Cuban dictator in hard currency and regular Cubans cannot because he is the only employer in the island and he pays his slaves in pesos
The foreigners can enjoy supermarkets where there is no internal embargo and no ration cards. That is only for Cubans who are second class citizens in Castroland	And they can rent cars, something that regular Cubans are not allowed to do either. But who cares? None of these foreigners care as long as they can enjoy the paradise that Castro has built for their exclusive use	If they prefer, or if they cannot afford the dictator's high rent, foreigners can stay at the Palco hotel accross the street from the Convention Center
Seen from the air: The Palacio de Convenciones is to the left, the Palco hotel to the right	The Marina Hemingway	The multimillionaire dictator understands that millionaires like him may want to travel in their own luxury yachts and that is why Marina Hemingway is just a very short distance from the Convention Center

CIMEX
When Forbes published that Castro's fortune was estimated at 900 million dollars, it mentioned a list of companies that are under his control and from where he is able to skim profits that go directly to his many bank accounts all over the world.
Among the companies mentioned is the retail conglomerate known as CIMEX. In an article dated December of 2001, Granma, the official newspaper of Cuba, reported that CIMEX had sales of 950 million dollars. According to Granma, CIMEX owned "dozens of many large and small stores, 119 gasoline stations, 117 cafeterias, 47 photo services (digital and color), the tour operator HAVANATUR, finance and banking facilities, and real estate and duty-free zones businesses."

Recent defectors have said that since that article was published, CIMEX has grown quite a bit more. Here are some of the products and services that are displayed in CIMEX's web page. You won't see any embargo here because these products and services are only available to foreigners living in Cuba, tourists or for export.

For comparison purposes, we have added a couple of photos showing the differences between the products and services offered by CIMEX and those available to regular Cubans.

Cubans will continue suffering Castro's internal embargo because they do not have the hard currency that the dictator requires to buy in his shops. And they will never have access to hard currency because Castro is the only employer in the island and he pays his slaves in worthless pesos.
 

CIMEX stores for foreigners and tourists who can pay the dictator in hard currency		Do you see any embargo here?
		And this store with empty shelves and long lines is for regular Cubans who cannot pay the multimillionaire dictator in hard currency because he pays them in pesos
A fast food restaurant for tourists
A bus to transport Castro's guest who pay with hard currency.....	...... and a bus to transport Castro's slaves who do not have hard currency	Castro also controls the gas stations......
.... and Cuba's equivalent to FedEx and UPS	Embargo? Where? CIMEX never heard of it

Click here to read a report form the US Department of the Treasury listing some of the known subsidiaries of CIMEX that are operating abroad and also other corporations that are controlled by Cuba's multimillionaire dictator.
 

Millionaire Castro even has his own bank!
The Cuban dictator spent more than six hours on TV accusing Forbes magazine of libel for saying that he is one of the world's richest dictators with a fortune in excess of 900 million dollars.
Castro has been accused of murdering thousands of innocent Cubans; of betraying the ideals of the Cuban Revolution; of murdering many of those who helped him reach power; of keeping 11 million Cubans enslaved and many other crimes, but it seems that none of those accusations bother the Cuban dictator as much as Forbes saying that he is almost a billionaire, even though his salary is supposed to be around 700 Cuban pesos per month.
Manuel de Beunza, a defector who used to to handle the finances for the Ministry of the Interior when he was a top officer in Cuba's intelligence services, told El Nuevo Herald on Sunday that Castro has a bank in the UK that is completely controlled by him.
The bank is Havin Bank LTD and used to be known as Havana International Bank LTD. De Baunza, who thinks that Castro's fortune exceeds the $900 million reported by Forbes, told El Nuevo Herald that Cuba created 270 corporations around the world that report directly to Castro.
De Baunza, who was one of the sources used by Forbes, also said that in one occasion he personally gave two million dollars to Castro, through José 'Chomy' Millar Barruecos, a trusted aide to the Cuban dictator.
We did a search and found more information about Castro's bank in the UK:
HAVIN BANK LTD, 30 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9TP, United Kingdom
 Click here to see a map of where the bank is located.
Another of the analysts consulted by Forbes was Maria Werlau, who also believes that Castro's fortune may be even larger than the 900 million estimated by Forbes. "Forbes' estimate seems to be much lower than the vast economic resources that Castro personally controls," she told El Nuevo Herald. "The cash that he may have in the network of bank accounts that he controls is practically impossible to estimate, because of how difficult it is to know what goes in and goes out of those accounts." Maria wrote an extensive report for The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) titled: "Fidel Castro Inc.: A Global Conglomerate" Click here to read it.

Take a look at the mansions where the millionaire dictator's business associates stay

You have seen the dilapidated houses where regular Cubans live, now take a look at the mansions where foreign millionaires that go to Cuba to enter into joint-ventures with the multimillionaire dictator stay.
These mansions were stolen by Castro and are now rented to those crooks who go to Cuba to deal in stolen properties, to exploit Cuban workers and to bring more millions to the dictator's bank accounts.
And Castro's business associates and rich friends cannot claim that they were not aware that these were stolen properties, because the Cuban website advertising these homes clearly specifies that they used to belong to Cuban executives who had their businesses stolen by the crook-in-chief:
"This Florentine style mansion located in the exclusive residential area of Miramar, Havana was previously owned by a tobacco baron. It is now used for protocol visits and can be booked through us on an exclusive basis for your visit to Cuba."
These fabulous mansions that are now being leased to the dictator's rich friends and business associates, after he stole them from its legitimate owners, and compare them with the houses where regular Cubans are forced to live by this crook who has turned Cuba into his own farm and a playground for his rich business friends who like to do business with him because they can exploit 11 million Cubans who cannot strike, ask for vacations, benefits, raises or anything else.
If these piranhas treated workers in their own countries like they treat Cubans, they would end up in jail. But in Cuba they can do as they please because their business partner is the owner of the plantation and the 11 million Cubans are his slaves.
Canadian, European, Asian and Latin American millionaires who think that Cubans are inferior and can be exploited because they are controlled by a ruthless dictator. Isn't this the worst type of racism?

Tarará, another resort exclusively for foreigners

Before Castro came to power in 1959, Tarará was another beautiful beach town where many Cubans lived. But now, Tarará is only available to foreigners who can pay the multimillionaire dictator in hard currency.
While Cubans are forced to live in dilapidated houses, with blackouts that sometimes last 18 to 20 hours, without hot water and sometimes without running water, the foreigners who can pay Castro in Euros or dollars can enjoy the good life that Cubans can only dream about.
Here is how the Castro regime advertises Tarara for its foreign guests:
"Villa Armonia is located in Playas del Este (East beaches) about 15 minute drives from Old Havana. The Villa, also known as Tarara, has comfortable 2, 3 and 4 bedroom houses, each with its own bathroom, satellite TV, hot and cold water and fully equipped kitchen and cleaning services, all included in the price.
Villa Armonia offers also cafeteria, bar, restaurants, grocery store, medical facilities, and gym among many other services. There is a nice marina located inside the Villa so it is easy to practice water sports such as snorkeling, scuba diving, yacht sailing, fishing, etc."
There is no embargo in Tarara, because only Cubans suffer the internal embargo put in place by this madman to control the population.
And the price? From US$105 daily for a 2-bedroom village to US$145 for a 4-bedroom one. From five to seven times the average monthly salary that Castro pays his slaves! No wonder there are so many foreigners in love with the Hitler of the Caribbean! Castro has created a paradise for them while at the same time creating a living Hell for the Cuban people.
 

	No internal embargo here	Castro's internal embargo here
No internal embargo here	Castro's internal embargo here	No internal embargo here
Castro's internal embargo here	No internal embargo here	Castro's internal embargo here

This is why you should not do business with thieves

In the 1990s, Castro was desperately looking for foreign investors willing to enter into joint ventures with him, in order to bail out his sinking economy.
Many European investors, most of them from Spain, were more than willing to accept the invitation.
But that was before Hugo Chávez became president of Venezuela and provided Castro with billions of dollars in free oil and many billions more in credits and other investments by PDVSA, the Venezuelan oil holding that Cháves uses as if it was his own personal business.
Now, as reported in El Nuevo Herald, Castro wants to kick out the Spaniards and the other Europeans who were stupid enough to do business with him, but not before he steals their patents and their investments in Cuba, like he did 51 years ago when he stole all private businesses in the island.
Once again, Castro used and then betrayed those who tried to help him.
At least two powerful Spanish firms have sued the Cuban regime for violating the " Accord for Reciprocal Protection of Investments" (APRI). The two companies, Acciones Infraestructura and Zell Chemie SL want Castro to pay what he owes them, before they agree to cancel their joint ventures.
Zell Chemie, a company that manufactures insecticides and materials that have to do with cleaning the environment, has been the main supplier of products to the Ministry of Public Health. Zell Chemie has also provided the financing for these transactions. For the last eight years, almost all the insecticides sold in Cuba have been manufactured by this company. A source inside Castro's Ministry for Foreign Investments and Economic Collaboration told El Nuevo that Zell Chemie is accusing Castro of stealing its technology and the intellectual property that the firm had provided to the joint venture company, Zell Zanid S.A., in
violation of the agreement that they made at the beginning of their partnership.
"We have presented our demands to APRI and are awaiting a response from the Cuban government that would be satisfactory to both sides," an executive from Zell Chemi in Valencia Spain told El Nuevo Herald.
The executive didn't want to get into the details of the argument.
Zell Chemie and a company owned by the Castro regime, Inversiones Gamma, signed a 50 - 50 joint venture agreement in 1999 that was supposed to last for 10 years. According to documents obtained by El Nuevo, the Spanish firm is owed $1.5 million and is asking for $3 million as indemnification for terminating the agreement.
If an agreement is not reached, Zell Chemie plans to take its demand to the International Arbitrage Court in Paris, in which case the amount that is asking could go as high as $5 million.
In the other case involving Acciones Infraestructura, the company also went to APRI and the Cuban regime agreed in June to pay the company $3 million for breaking their agreement. The Spanish company is now trying to collect, but so far no payment has been made.