Writers from Cuba, Argentina and Mexico were awarded the Casa de las Américas Prize, which this year opened its annual contest in the short story, essay, novel and testimony genres, the local press reported. Cuban Emerio Medina won the short story prize with the book “La bota sobre el toro muerto.”
Read MoreThe U.S. Federal Communications Commission has hindered a project of the Miami-based TeleCuba Communications Inc. Company that was given a Treasury department license to lay a fibre optic cable to Cuba, in response to the opening on this matter announced by President Barack Obama in April 2009, El Nuevo Herald reported.
Read MoreThirty-five per cent of the investments begun in Cuba do not meet the requirements established by the Ministry of Economy and Planning, which is why it suspended 78 important investments for the island programmed for 2011, the official Granma daily reported. According to the source, the cause of the violations is “a high degree of willfulness,” which ignores “in many cases the feasibility studies”, reported IPS.
Read MoreNew regulations are now in place to allow more students seeking credit and religious organizations to travel legally to Cuba, while the general US population is still banned by their government from visiting the neighboring island.
Read MoreFor decades taxation has not been a part of the national scene in Cuba, with almost all workers earning a salary from the state. Today’s economic crisis, along with the massive layoffs underway, has made paying taxes essential for the government’s plans to meet social expenditures.
Read MorePower consumption in Cuban homes surpassed that of the non-residential sector for the first time in 2010, Tatiana Amarán, director of rational power use of the Electricity Conglomerate of Cuba, announced. According to the official, that proportion could continue in 2011 due to the opening to the private sector in the island’s economy.
Read MoreMore than 50,000 healthcare professionals from 118 countries have been trained in Cuba’s medical schools, Roberto González Martín, public health deputy minister for teaching and research, announced in his speech at the Pedagogy 2011 Congress, being held in the island’s capital.
Read MoreThe presence this week of a high pressure system will allow us to have good weather with partially cloudy days and little likelihood of rain. Maximum temperatures are expected to fluctuate between 22°C (72°F) and the 29°C (84°F), with minimum temperatures between the 13°C (55°F) and 18°C (64°F).
Read MoreCuban parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcón accused the United States of acting with double standards in the trial against self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who was not tried for terrorism charges by the same district attorney of the case of the Cuban Five, imprisoned in the US for over 12 years.
Read MoreCuba will drill 20 new oil wells in 2011, mainly in the area from Havana to Varadero, some 120 kilometers east of the island’s capital, said Rafael Tenreyro, head of the exploration group of the Petróleos de Cuba Company. He noted that the drilling will take place from the coast to the sea, to reduce the environmental impact.
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