Cuba Offers To Pay Multi-Million-Dollar Debt To Czech In Alcohol

The Finance Ministry of Czech Republic has revealed that Cuba has offered an unusual way of repaying its Cold War-era debt — its trademark rum. Finance Ministry spokesman Michal Zurovec said on Thursday that Cuban authorities have proposed to pay back US$276 million to the Czech Republic from the time both countries were part of the communist bloc. If that proposal becomes a reality, the Czech would have enough Cuban rum for well over a century. According to the Czech Statistics Office, the Czechs imported rum from Cuba worth over US$2 million last year. Zurovec says that the Czechs would still prefer the debt was at least partly paid in cash.