Cuban agricultural authorities have delivered in usufruct just under 670,000 hectares of land, in compliance with Decree Law 259, which last year established the granting of idle state land to cooperatives and persons interested in making them produce.
Read MoreFour new tanks, each with a capacity for 20,000 cubic meters, are being built in the Cienfuegos oil refinery. The investment is considered fundamental for the projected increase in production at the renovated plant, restored jointly by Cuba and Venezuela.
Read MoreBrazil will issue a loan for US $300 million to build a new port in Mariel, 40 kilometers west of the Cuban capital. Miguel Jorge, the South American country’s minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade also announced Thursday that Petrobras, the giant Brazilian state oil company, will open an office in Havana next week.
Read MorePulling out the stops, Cuba is seeking to diversify its exports, but it’s not an easy road. The country’s technology is obsolete in many of its industries. The present global crisis is forcing the country to pick up the pace since it urgently needs to increase its foreign revenues.
Read MoreA delegation of Brazilian business executives, headed by Miguel Jorge, the minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, arrives in Cuba on Wednesday to try and kick start bilateral commerce and investment.
Read MoreCuba’s educational system will benefit according to a recent announcement concerning new elements in the salary reform initiative in progress since 2005. Sources with the Ministry of Education assure that the 2008-2009 School Year began with a deficit of 8,000 teachers.
Read MoreWith a total of 41,904 visitors in 2008, the United States ranked ninth on the list of principal tourist markets for Cuba, a list that Canada heads with a wide margin, with 818,000 tourists, reported the National Office of Statistics (ONE).
Read More“I’m the one who does the shopping, and everything goes for food, soap, detergent, and mopping towels,” said Olga Campos, who receives money from her son every six months. “My husband’s pension is only 242 Cuban pesos ($12 USD), and that doesn’t go very far,” she adds.
Read MoreAs part of a government austerity plan, extra grain supplies, regularly distributed to consumers in the capital and eastern provinces since 2004, have been cancelled as of this month. An electricity saving plan is under way, and some investments and imports have been postponed.
Read MoreThe Cuban authorities have begun to reduce investments to “concentrate on the indispensable,” said Deputy Minister of Economy and Planning Julio Vázquez.
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