The number of tourist arrivals in Cuba increased by 14,479 up to last May, as compared to the same period in 2009. In a related development it was also announced Monday that Brazil’s Whitejets airline will fly once a week from the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo to Cuba’s famous Varadero beach resort.
Read MoreCuban authorities announced Monday that preparatory work has begun for a national population and housing census to take place in 2012, as part of the World Population and Housing Program, approved by the UN Statistics Commission, said Oscar Mederos of the Cuban Office of Statistics.
Read MoreThe Los Angeles Times daily, one of the most important in the United States, urged Congress in an editorial on Sunday to pass a bill that would lift restrictions on travel to Cuba and would ease obstacles to bilateral trade. The newspaper states that the 50-year-old trade and travel prohibitions have failed to bring about democratic changes in the Caribbean country. In its editorial the L.A. Times also recognized the release of 52 political prisoners announced by Havana, but questioned the imprisonment of any person for that reason.
Read MoreA year after El Salvador and Cuba reestablished diplomatic relations the respective foreign ministers signed cooperation agreements in the fields of health and education during a meeting held Friday in Havana. The officials, Hugo Martinez Bonilla (El Salvador) and Cuba’s Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, also discussed promoting bilateral trade.
Read MoreMore than 17 per cent of the areas set aside for the planting of sugar cane in Cuba are idle, reported the island’s state-run press. During the last harvest yields per planted hectare were the worse in the country’s history, with barely 27 tons. Insufficient payment to producers, labor and technical indiscipline, and the lack of exigency and control of the directive are the principal causes of the decline.
Read MoreFor more than a decade in Cuba, it’s been very difficult to eat fruit. In the State-run markets they are rarely found. We can only discover a little in privately-run markets, though in quantities insufficient to satisfy the general demand and at sky-high prices.
Read MoreThe Cuban authorities hope to generalize the use of hand-made fired clay devices to increase the efficiency of electric rings and in this way reduce energy consumption in the residential sector, reported the local press. It is estimated that 20 percent of the power spent in the island’s homes is for cooking food.
Read MoreCuba’s National Scientific Research Centre (CNIC) is developing a vaccine against whooping cough and another against cholera, affirmed Rafael Fando, director of biotechnology of that institution, when speaking at the 10th CNIC 2010 International Scientific Congress being held in the island’s capital.
Read MoreThe arrival of summer has led to an increase in power consumption and the noncompliance of the saving plan established by the Cuban government, announced Tatiana Amarán Bogachova, director of the National Electricity Union’s department of rational use of energy. According to the official, since late May the country has exceeded the plan by more than 3,000 tons of oil.
Read MoreThe governments of Cuba and Syria signed several cooperation agreements as part of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s visit to the island, where he met yesterday with his counterpart Raul Castro. The two countries leaders signed documents on the struggle against drug trafficking and in the area of agriculture and communications.
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