Business & Economy

Cuban authorities issued new rules on Tuesday to regulate the special economic zone around the port of Mariel, west of the capital, seeking to boost foreign investment and the nation’s depressed economy.

After returning from a visit to Cuba, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa announced Saturday that he hopes to bring 1,000 Cuban physicians with different specialties to Ecuador, reported El Universo online. He said the cost would be US $30 million a year, averaging US $30,000 per doctor.

President Raúl Castro of Cuba today signed the decree-law that created the island’s first Special Zone of Development, in Mariel.

The Council of State of Cuba, met on Thursday in the capital and passed a Decree/Law for the Mariel Special Development Zone, destined to become the main inport/export gateway for Cuba’s foreign trade, said Granma newspaper.

The Canadian 360 Vox Corporation sued a US golf company for trying to prevent the use of the PGAL British brand in tourism projects in Cuba, Prensa Latina reported.

Authorities in Cuba’s province of Sancti Spiritus have announced that a region-wide police offensive has resulted in the prosecution of nearly three hundred citizens who had participated in illicit business activities.

The Cuban Baseball Federation (FCB) today denied having contacts with representatives of the Mexican professional club Cañeros of the Monchis, which supposedly came to the island to scout Cuban players. “We have not had any contact with agents of any professional team,” said the president of the Cuban Baseball Federation, Higinio Velez.

The director of the Sugarcane Derivates Research Institute, Luis Galvez, said this weekend that the sugar industry in Cuba is “unaffordable ” without the production of sucrose.

Starting October 21 Cuban farmers, either land owners or land leasers, will have the option to sell their products directly to tourism entities. The new measures are due to the fact that to date “direct sales are lower than the existing potential,” said Roberto Perez, Communist Party official serving agribusiness policy.