Cuba has devised an innovative way to pay off its multimillion-dollar debt to the Czech Republic – innumerable gallons of its famous rum. Cuba made the offer during recent negotiations on the issue, according to the Czech finance ministry. Cuba owes the Czech authorities a whopping US$276 million. Should the unique method of repaying the debt prove acceptable, it is estimated that the Czechs would have enough Cuban rum to last for more than a century. Officials in Prague nevertheless said they preferred to get at least some of the money in cash. The Czech finance ministry had reportedly said that repayment was possible either with rum or pharmaceutical drugs. Cuban drugs lack EU certification, however. The debt dates back from the Cold War era when Cuba and what was at the time Czechoslovakia were part of the communist bloc.
