News

The relationship between Cuban authorities and automotive vehicles is strange, almost traumatic. They have transformed the automobile into the citizen’s greatest material aspiration, which someone can only access after accumulating high merit.

The District Attorney’s Office of Cuba still has not initiated judicial proceedings against U.S. agent Alan Gross, arrested in December 2009 when he was carrying out allegedly illegal activities to support the opposition on the island, announced Rubén Remigio Ferro, president of the People’s Supreme Court. Representatives of the two countries have discussed Gross’ situation on two occasions, but without concrete results.

The danger of an outbreak of a dengue epidemic persists in Santiago de Cuba, the second most important city in the island, due to the high indices of infestation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits that and other diseases, reported the local press. The authorities have mobilized equipment to eliminate the insect’s breeding centres while urging social organizations to join in the eradication campaign.

The persons who have signed contracts for cell phone services in Cuba will not have to pay for calls received from another cell phone starting next June 1, announced the Cuban Telephone Company (ETECSA). The new rates also include the reduction in the cost per minute per call to only 10 centavos of a convertible peso (CUC) at midnight and dawn.

The Cuban government handed over to Mexico eight men sentenced for human trafficking so that they serve their sentences in their country of origin, announced the neighboring country’s Attorney General’s Office of the Republic. It is estimated that some 10,000 Cuban emigrants arrive in the United States every year through human trafficking in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Cuban opposition figure Elizardo Sánchez told Radio Netherlands he is sceptical about the Cuban government’s possible opening, “at least in terms of fundamental civil, political and economic rights.” Sánchez said the expectations created around the release of political prisoners, after the dialogue between President Raúl Castro and the Catholic Church hierarchy, were premature.

The National Aquarium of Cuba denied rumors circulated that sharks were arriving on the coasts of the island as a result of the oil spill affecting the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In a press release the Aquarium also said there is no need to close beaches because of the presence of lionfish which has caused concern among the population.

An earthquake of 3.0 degrees on the Richter scale shook several areas of Cuba’s eastern region on Monday night, reported the Network of Stations of the National Seismological Service. The quake, the 28th registered this year in the island, did not cause material damage in the towns where it was felt.