News

Havana Film Festival Passports on Sale

Havana Film Festival (Dec. 1-11) tickets go on sale on Monday in the Cuban capital. As in recent years a “passport” good for 15 films cost 20 regular Cuban pesos (0.80 USD). Over a dozen cinemas will be presenting the several hundred films throughout the festival. The festival is a favorite among Havana residents, many of whom save up their vacation time for this time of year.

Read More

Clocks in Cuba Fall Back an Hour

Clocks in Cuba were set back an hour early Sunday starting the period known as normal time. Cuba is now five hours before Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on the international time line, the same as the east coast of the USA including Miami, Florida.

Read More

Cuba Baseball Season Opens Nov. 27

The 2011-2012 Cuban baseball season gets underway on November 27th with an opening day game with last year’s champs Pinar del Rio hosting runner-ups Ciego de Avila. A full schedule of eight games begins on the 29th.

Read More

Good Climate for Pope’s Cuba Visit

A visit by the Pope to Cuba would strengthen the climate of dialogue between the government and the Catholic Church, analysts agreed after the announcement that Benedict XVI is considering visiting this country in the spring of 2012.

Read More

Same-Sex Cuba Couples Want to Be Counted

Communist Party and gay rights activist, journalist and blogger Francisco Rodríguez has triggered an online debate in Cuba by calling for sexual diversity to be identified in the next census, due in September 2012.

Read More

New Report: Reforms in Cuba are “Real”

There are a number of steps the Obama administration should take to support and facilitate the economic reform process in Cuba, according to a new report by Collin Laverty at the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA).

Read More

Cuba May Receive the Pope in 2012

Pope Benedicto XVI wants to Visit Cuba and Mexico in during the Spring of 2012, IPS reported on Thursday, citing Vatican sources. The announcement comes at a time when relations are at a high point between the Cuban government and the Catholic Church.

Read More

Havana Weather for Nov. 10–16

Some rain will occur in the first half of the period because of the passage of a weakened cold front. The arrival of another cold front is expected on Wednesday, November 16. High temperatures will range close to 27° C (81° F) and the lows will be around 21° C (70° F).

Read More

Cuba Has New Defense Minister

Cuba has a new defense minister, General Leopoldo Cintra Frias, who was the 70-year-old vice minister. He takes the post of Julio Casas Regueiro, who died of a heart attack two months earlier.

Read More

Cuba’s New Property Law Allows Sales

A major change in Cuba’s property law was announced on Thursday. For the first time in decades, citizens and permanent foreign residents can now buy and sell houses or apartments and they will be permitted to have an additional vacation home.

Read More