Cuba offers to repay Czech debt with rum

Cuba has offered to repay its multi-million dollar debt to the Czech Republic with deliveries of its famous rum, the BBC news site reported on Friday. The Czech finance ministry confirmed that Havana had raised this possibility during recent negotiations on the issue. Cuba owes the Czech Republic 276 million dollars (222 million euros), a debt dating back to the Cold War era when Cuba and Czechoslovakia were part of the communist bloc. If Havana’s offer is accepted the country would have enough rum for more than a century. Cuba has also offered to repay the debt in pharmaceutical drugs but since it lacks EU certification payments in rum would be easier to arrange.