Martinez spoke to quash rumors on the island on an imminent change of local currency. Cuba currently has two national currencies in circulation the CUC, that equals US $1.25, and the CUP regular peso which is worth 5 cents of a US dollar. Most Cubans hope to see a single currency that is the same one that people earn with their salaries. At present they get paid in CUP but must purchase numerous basic consumer goods in the CUC hard currency.
Read MoreAfter 12 years of legal battling, a U.S. federal judge ruled in favor of the Cuban state-run Cubatabaco Company in its litigation against the U.S. General Cigar Company, which has commercialized the Cohiba brand since 1997 in the United States, reported IPS. Cubatabaco forms part of a joint venture between the island and Britain’s Imperial Tobacco.
Read MoreIn a previous piece I wrote about the many tasks that a State gastronomy, or food service, worker has to perform in this country in order to carry out their job. This isn’t an isolated instance. The service and the quality of the products that are offered by the State food establishments leave much to be desired, although we should recognize that things have improved in relation to the decade of the nineties.
Read MoreAn entire generation of Cubans spent afternoons and evenings at the Creative Youth Center, but not only with Nos y Otros. It was there that we also sang to the rhythm of guitars, read poetry, had exhibitions and heard theatrical monologues. It was, like its name implies, the perfect place for young artists who hardly had opportunities in theaters or the “grand” cultural centers. Today it no longer exists. Now it’s a rum museum.
Read MoreThe US government levied a huge fine of US $536 million on Credit Suisse Bank for carrying out transactions that violate the US embargoes against Iran, Libya, Sudan, Burma and Cuba.
Read MoreCuban authorities hope to complete a reduced housing construction plan by the end of the year. At the end of November, 29,703 houses were completed of the programmed 32,000. Cuba suffers from a prolonged housing shortage especially in the capital. Before three hurricanes caused severe devastation in the second half of 2008, the new housing construction goal had been 100,000 per year.
Read MoreInternational cooperation is supporting more than 60 production projects of the non-governmental National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP), announced Mario La O Sosa, head of the International Relations and Cooperation Projects Department of that organization. According to the official, that backing “has allowed for the implementation of irrigation systems, the repair of machinery and technological transfer.
Read MoreSpecialists at the Centre for Research on Coastal Ecosystems in Cayo Coco, on the northern coast of central Cuba, are building walkways on pivots from the tourist installations to the beaches to avoid erosion in these areas, where the shoreline has retreated up to three meters, announced Adán Zúñiga, director of that scientific institution.
Read MoreVice President Esteban Lazo heads the Cuban delegation to the 15th Conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which begins Thurday in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Read MoreThe U.S. government will transfer to a prison in Chicago dozens of prisoners it has in the Guantánamo Naval Base detention center, in eastern Cuba, reported IPS citing official sources in Washington. President Barack Obama promised to close down that prison in 2010.
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