Pope Benedict XVI is “very satisfied and very aware” of the mediation of the Cuban Catholic Church, which has brought about the release of dozens of political prisoners, Cardinal Ortega affirmed in statements to the foreign press accredited on the island. Ortega assured that the releases will continue, although the government’s four-month deadline to conclude them expired in November.
Read MoreAfter having closed the doors to cruise ships in 2005, Cuba is retaking that tourism alternative with the start of operations by two vessels, the Gemini and the Russian ship Adriana.. Every year the island receives more than two million tourists, the majority from Canada and some European countries.
Read MoreCuban President Raúl Castro attended the Hanukah or the “Festivity of Lights,” a festivity celebrated by the small Jewish community on the island, reported IPS. The president took advantage of his visit to the venue of the Hebrew Council to call on the island’s population to join the debate on the guidelines of the next Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, to be held in April 2011.
Read MoreThe Cuban government will carry out investments in the construction materials industry to improve the production capacities of each factory, Deputy Minister of Construction Jorge Luis Rodríguez affirmed. According to the official, the objective is also to guarantee that the population has access to products so they can build new housing and repair the ones that already exist with their own effort.
Read MoreThe United States Congress will not discuss in its last sessions of this year a bill that would have lifted the restrictions on travel to Cuba, said Democratic Senator Bill Delahunt. Starting January, the bill could face a definitive opposition in the new House of Representatives, dominated by the Republican Party, and in the Senate where the Democrats lost part of their majority.
Read MoreCuba’s Supreme Court commuted to 30 years the death sentence imposed on Salvadoran Raul Ernesto Cruz, confessed author of attacks with bombs in 1997 that killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo and caused material damage to hotels and tourist installations in Havana. An official source reported that in the modification of the sentence the defendant’s contribution to clearing up the complex structure of the terrorist network financed and organized in the United States, among other factors, was taken into account.
Read MoreCuban Vice President Esteban Lazo called on the island’s population to “think, create, alert, act and leave aside passivity and tolerance,” in a speech on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the schools of the ruling Communist Party. “It is necessary to strengthen the link with the masses, eliminate improvisation to be able to convince the workers, the youth and the people of the complex social and international reality we are living,” the official said.
Read MoreThe Cuban health authorities will lower the level of medical coverage in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants, where the polyclinics will be turned into doctor’s offices, Minister of Public Health Roberto Morales announced. The government is making adjustments in the country’s health system to guarantee its efficiency and sustainability in the face of the economic crisis.
Read MoreThe US government urged Cuba “to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. (Alan) Gross, who has been held all this time without any charges” against him, said US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. Gross, who was arrested a year ago, is accused of espionage by the island’s authorities.
Read MoreAn earthquake of 2.9 degrees on the Richter scale occurred yesterday in Santiago de Cuba, the local press reported today. According to the National Centre of Seismological Research, the quake was felt in that city, the second most important in the country, and in two nearby towns.
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