As the government speaks of an “excess” of more than a million workers, the central bureaucratic apparatus is proposing to create an additional province by dividing Havana Province, which rings Havana City Province, in two. Are these the structural changes that the government talks about?
Read MoreCuba was elected vice president of the Latin America and Caribbean Group to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, Cuba’s reported IPS on Tuesday. The island will hold this post, which is part of the Council’s Board of Directors, until June 2011.
Read MoreCuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez asked President Barack Obama to free the five Cubans imprisoned in the United States charged with espionage during a concert at Washington’s DAR Constitution Hall.
Read MoreThe tobacco harvest in Pinar del Río, the region in Cuba with the greatest tradition in that crop, fell 14 per cent this year due to the reduced resources for that sector caused by the economic crisis, reported IPS citing the local press. The island’s cigar production for export has decreased significantly in the last three years, from 217 million units in 2006 to barely 73 million in 2009.
Read MoreThe Cuban Catholic Church expects “that the releases (of political prisoners) and other measures regarding sick prisoners will continue,” affirmed Dionisio García, president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba, in statements to the press after the visit to the island by Holy See Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti. According to the prelate, the dialogue with the government “will consolidate this process, whose continuation we all want, because it will have an impact on the country’s wellbeing,”
Read MoreCuba’s Buena Vista Social Club music band arrives Tuesday in the United States where it will tour the cities of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, seven years after its last performance in that country, reported IPS. The group became famous in 1998 thanks to a documentary made by German filmmaker Win Wenders and concerts in Europe and North America.
Read MoreThe leading Cuban newspaper sent out a warning on Monday due to “the passing of 12 US and Israeli warships in the Suez Canal in the last 48 hours and heading towards the Red Sea.”
Read MorePresident Raul Castro met on Sunday afternoon with Vatican Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti on the final day of his official visit to Cuba.
Read MoreCuban and US representatives are making progress in “the identification of aspects that enable us to strengthen the struggle against the trafficking of emigrants,” during the third round of bilateral migration talks, which were resumed in 2009, reported an official statement by the Cuban Foreign Ministry. Both countries could meet again late this year.
Read MoreUS Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that Cuba should free US agent Alan Gross, detained in Cuba for allegedly distributing illegal satellite equipment to opposition groups. Gross was arrested last December at the end of his mission for Development Alternatives Inc., a global consulting firm that also works for the US government in countries like Afghanistan.
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