PBS and NPR for Southwest Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Restoring Relations - 15 Months With Cuba

President Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro share an awkward end to an awkward press conference during the president's Havana visit.
Al Diaz
/
Miami Herald
President Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro share an awkward end to an awkward press conference during the president's Havana visit.

It’s been 15 months since President Obama placed a phone call from the Oval Office in the White House to Havana, Cuba. He was calling Raul Castro. That conversation upturned more than a half century of American foreign policy as relations have movedfrom silent isolation to a presidential visit. A lot of history has been made in those short 15 months. Here's some of that history by the numbers:

 

88 • number of years since a sitting U.S. president visited Cuba

3.5 million • number of tourists to Cuba in 2015 according to state news media

15% • increase of tourists so far this year

77% • increase in Americans traveling to Cuba in 2015 according to Havana Consulting Group

50,000 • number of new hotel rooms the Cuban government tourism company Gaviota plans to add by 2020

70,000 • total number of hotel rooms in Cuba today

13,000 • number of American travelers booking rooms in Cuba viaAirbnb

4,000 • number of Cuban homes listed on Airbnb

0 • number of regularly scheduled commercial flights from U.S. to Cuba

10 • number of regularly scheduled daily flights American Airlines wants to fly between Miami and Havana

12 • number of self-selected categories an American traveler must choose from to visit Cuba

3 • Cuban ports of call on the itinerary for Carnival Corp's Fathom cruise brand

2 • number of Cuban currencies $81 billion • Cuba's estimated 2014 GDP

$299 billion • South Florida's 2014 GDP

$2 billion • remittances sent annually to Cuba from the U.S.

54 • years the U.S. embassy was closed in Cuba

43,159 • Cubans entering the U.S. in fiscal year 2015

78% • increase in Cubans entering U.S. in 2015 compared to year earlier

1 • number of U.S. banks with a debit card that is accepted in Cuba

3 • number of questions Raul Castro answered in a press conference with President Obama

4-1 • winning final score of Tampa Bay Rays baseball game against the Cuban national team

2 • original 1962 members of The Rolling Stones who played Havana in 2016

Copyright 2020 WLRN 91.3 FM. To see more, visit WLRN 91.3 FM.

In a journalism career covering news from high global finance to neighborhood infrastructure, Tom Hudson is the Vice President of News and Special Correspondent for WLRN. He hosts and produces the Sunshine Economy and anchors the Florida Roundup in addition to leading the organization's news engagement strategy.