On his first international visit to Brazil after assuming the office of Presidency Raul Castro also proclaimed his intent on discussing the U.S embargo with the newly elected president of United States, Barack Obama.

The brother of the charismatic Fidel Castro made a straight forward appeal in front of the reporters in which he said that he would be more than willing to exchange the American prisoners along with their families if the U.S agrees to hand back the five “Cuban heroes”.

The U.S claims that the Cuban Five, as they are now being referred to in Cuba, were justly punished for their actions, Cuba maintains that they were innocent. The five Cubans have become glorified heroes in the eyes of the patriotic Cubans.

This unusual appeal from the Cuban President has been turned down by the U.S President George W. Bush who has adopted a hard line stand against the communist country. He also said that the future president will not lax the U.S embargo on trade nor has he any intentions of releasing the Cuban prisoners until the communist country puts on a democratic suit.

Obama has however been more open towards Cuba than his current counterpart as he has already issued a promise to lift the ban on family travel and cash remittances to the country. The future President seeks to make some reforms to the tightened rules that the Bush administration had adopted against the country.

The five Cuban citizens that were arrested back in 1998 on charges of espionage have admitted that they were Cuban agents but have denied the charges that they were spying on the US. The famous five said that they were sent to get some insight into the terrorist plotting of U.S based exile groups against the island country.

The tourism department stated that it is booked entirely for the whole month of December. The communist country is expecting a record influx of about 2.34 million visitors this time around.

The reason behind the boom that the country’s tourism department has experienced despite the global economic meltdown is the fact that the bulk of the visitors to the country come from Canada and Canada has been least affected by the global economic crises. Hence Cuba continues to get a steady supply of tourists from the country.

The island country has been hit by three devastating cyclones this year. Fortunately for the Cubans the hurricanes managed to miss the top tourist sites which is why the industry continues to experience a boom.

There was a certain amount of damage caused to some beach resorts and hotels. The government was quick with the restoration efforts because it new the vast money yielding potentials that those regions carried. Tourism is only second to nickel production in terms of being the most profitable source of foreign income for Cuba.

Cuba is the lone country in the Caribbean that is reaping the benefits of its tourism industry. The neighboring islands have suspended many workers and construction of new property due to the slump in tourism caused by the economic meltdown. The communist country is however still attracting a large number of globe trotters.

Travel agents have confessed that there have been odd cancellations here and there but over all the airlines are going strong. Cuba serves as the ideal get away land for free spirited individuals. Although the travelers are ever hungry to save every penny but there is no putting off the trip to Cuba for the Canadians.

The last two years saw a considerable amount of decline in the percentage of foreign visitors into the country. Different aspects such as poor services, lousy food and the crumbling infrastructure were some of the reasons identified for the decrease in percentage of foreign visitors. This time Cuba has managed to overcome all its short comings and is expected a record influx of visitors to the island.