Cuba Real Estate: Si (for Golf!)

Think of Cuba, and what comes to mind? Castro? Of course. Revolution? Naturally. Political prisoners? Certainly. Exploding cigars? Sure. ( I still love those handy CIA smokes.) But what if I said: "Golf courses by foreign real-estate developers"? Would you think I had slipped on a banana and hit mi cabeza?

I didn't. At least, not recently.

Cuba has decided to open development of golf courses (and other real estate projects, such as marinas) to foreign companies -- or, as they used to be known, the enemy.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Cuba's tourism minister told a tourism fair on the island nation, "With the objective of developing regions that today are virgin, a policy was approved that permits real estate development associated with tourism, fundamentally golf courses, marinas and other complementary tourist investments."

Other than providing a pretty nifty place for Tiger Woods to shelter his money from any future divorce, why is Cuba doing this?