The U.S. government asked a judge to reject the lawsuit presented by Cuban-American Ana Margarita Martínez while waiting for a compensation of 27.1 million dollars that would affect eight charter flight companies that fly to Cuba. “The direct flights they offer are vital to maintain contacts that are of national interest,” affirmed Ricardo Zúñiga, director of the Department of State’s office for Cuban affairs.
Read MoreCuban authorities hope to conclude 32,000 dwellings this year to mitigate the difficult housing situation resulting from the three hurricanes in 2008, which increased the deficit estimated now at more than 600,000 homes, affirmed Oris Silva, vice president of the National Institute of Housing.
Read MoreCuban tourism and health authorities continue to keep potential visitors to the island in the dark about a new travel insurance requirement that takes effect on May 1. A lack of information has some people reconsidering their vacations to the island.
Read MoreChanges to improve the Cuban economy are not happening fast enough to satisfy people’s expectations, and instead appear to have got bogged down due to the international financial crisis and the island’s internal difficulties in overcoming the impact.
Read MoreA lack of coordination between four different Cuban state offices is the main cause for the stagnation in pork production in Havana, stated members of the Small Farmers Association (ANAP). A front page article in Granma, the Communist Party daily stated on Monday, “The farmers criticized the ‘diabolic’ mechanisms that hold back production in the capital.”
Read MoreIn an effort to put a break on the increase in convenience marriages, a way used by many Cubans to emigrate, the government of Ecuador will now require a temporary visa for foreigners wanting to marry in this South American country. The announcement came from Eduardo Barrera, director of Foreign Immigration. The number of Cubans marrying Ecuadorians increased from 88 in 2007 to 1,542 in the first nine months of 2009. An estimated that 15 percent of those marriages were considered false, reported IPS.
Read MoreThe Cuban government puts “no restrictions for foreign hotel chains, including from the United States, from administering a hotel” on the island, said tourism minister Manuel Marrero on Thursday. Nonetheless, the half century US economic blockade on Cuba forbids US companies from investing on the island.
Read MoreUS Senator Byron Dorgan says he will take such a bill to the Senate floor this summer and expects to get 60 of the 100 senators to vote for it. His statement came at a tourist industry conference of both Cuban and US executives in Cancun, Mexico on Thursday.
Read MoreThe demand is huge and it’s not so strange. Cuba must be the sole country in the world where aesthetic surgery is free. They can trim your eyelids, take off some of the belly, improve your profile with a beautiful nose or remodel women’s breasts. It’s not necessary to be very observant to see the changes on the street. It began as something exclusive to people in entertainment, but the fashion has now extended across the board.
Read MoreRepresentatives of the Cuban and U.S. tourist sector began talks Wednesday in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun to explore the potentials of a possible lifting of the U.S. travel to Cuba ban. The island’s authorities estimate that around 1.7 million tourists could arrive from the neighboring country each year if the current restrictions did not exist.
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