News

Cuba’s baseball team assured at least a second place finish by hanging on to defeat the United States 4-3 on Friday in the Haarlem Baseball Week taking place in Holland.

The reservoirs in the central-eastern Cuban province of Camagüey, 650 kilometers east of the Cuban capital, barely accumulate 35 percent of their capacity due to the lack of rainfall for more than two years. Some 150 communities with more than 25,000 inhabitants in that region have begun getting water through cistern trucks.

“Haiti greatly appreciates the honorable contribution of the Cuban people and government in overcoming all the difficulties of the Haitian population and in their development,” affirmed Haitian Minister of Women’s Condition and Rights Marjorie Michel. Cuba maintains a cooperation program with the neighboring country since 1998, strengthened after the last January 12 earthquake.

Former President Fidel Castro visited the Havana Aquarium on Thursday, spoke with workers and took in a dolphin show. Among the employees was Celia Guevara March, daughter of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who works there as a veterinarian.

The Cuban baseball team broke out of a two game slump in a come from behind win over Chinese Taipei 3-2 on Thursday at the Haarlem Baseball Week in Holland.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his satisfaction over the announcement of the release of 52 Cuban political prisoners, in statements during a press conference in Brasilia at the end of the fourth Brazil-European Union Summit. “Let’s hope that all countries release all the prisoners who are considered political.”

Cubans with family members abroad who send them remittances are the segment of the population most likely to have a cell phone. This because the cost of a cell phone line and for calls is in hard currency (CUC) and the fact that Cubans earn regular Cuban pesos (MN) at their jobs.

Cuba had another disappointing day at the Haarlem Baseball Week in Holland on Wednesday with its second straight loss, this one coming at the hands of Japan by a score of 4-2.

Fidel Castro continued his renewed public offensive on Tuesday with his third appearance in a week, this time in a visit to a global economic think tank in the capital. The former president, —currently the chief advisor to the government of his brother Raul Castro— spoke with economists about the consequences of a possible new conflict in the Middle East, a matter that concerns him deeply.