News

The Spanish government accepted Cuba’s request to restructure its commercial debt, for which a delegation from the island will travel next week to Madrid. Spain also offered a new line of credit of between 50 and 100 million euros. Spain is Cuba’s third-largest trading partner after Venezuela and China.

The Spanish government announced it will donate 24.5 million euros to Cuba to help over next two years with the reconstruction effort in the areas affected by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, announced Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos during a press conference in Madrid. Cuba’s Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque is on an official visit to Spain and met Tuesday with King Juan Carlos and Moratinos.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque began an official visit Monday to Spain as the guest of his counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos. The visit is taking place during the process of normalization of political relations between Cuba and the European Union.

More than 135,000 persons are receiving international aid in the areas devastated by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, Cuban official sources told IPS news service. A total of 2,500 tons of donations have arrived in the island to help alleviate the difficult situation of the country, which suffered five billion dollars’ worth of losses.u

Thousands of persons have been mobilized in the far eastern province of Guantánamo to harvest coffee beans in the next weeks, reported the local press. The beans have rapidly ripened after the rainfall caused by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav and the high temperatures in that region. Cuba is known for its excellent coffee which is consumed locally and exported.

Cuba and Mexico held a new round of talks in Havana in an effort to reach a migratory agreement that the governments of both countries hope to sign during Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque’s visit to the Mexican capital, scheduled for October 19-21. The negotiations to give a legal and orderly framework to ordinary emigration began last April in Mexico City.

A group of 1,070 students from the Peoples Republic of China arrived in Cuba for the fourth Spanish language intensive course. More than 2,000 Chinese young people are currently studying in the Caribbean country.

Cuba’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will not grow the expected eight percent this year due to the international financial crisis, the devastating effect of hurricanes Gustav and Ike and the US embargo, affirmed journalist Ariel Terrero on Cuban TV. The specialist on economic issues said Tuesday that key sectors such as nickel and tourism could suffer a negative impact brought on by the widening crisis in the US financial system.

The 6th Summit of Heads of State and Government of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) questioned the application of extraterritorial legislation that violates International Law, such as the Helms-Burton Act, which strengthened the US blockade against Cuba in the 1990s. At the end of October the United Nations General Assembly will vote on the annual Cuban resolution demanding an end to the nearly half century blockade, which has cost the island’s economy well over US $90 billion.

A campaign launched by Cuban actor Jorge Perugorria to help the town of Gibara, Holguin recover after being devastated by hurricane Ike is taking place online with an exhibition-sale of Cuban art. The town located on the northeastern coast of Cuba is the venue of the annual No-Budget Film Festival, founded by the recently deceased Cuban filmmaker Humberto Solas. Those interested in seeing the campaign site can access at www.arteporcuba.com