News

The Cuban health authorities urged the families of minors to go to healthcare centers as soon as symptoms of diarrheic diseases appear, in face of the increased occurrence of these cases reported in the island.

The Cuban National Assembly of People’s Power (parliament) is the legislative body with the highest representation of women in Latin America, with 43.2 per cent of its members, according to a study by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The island ranks fourth in the world, after Rwanda, Sweden and South Africa.

Spain is willing to receive five of the prisoners who still remain locked up at the Guantanamo Naval Base prison camp, located on Cuban territory, affirmed Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos during a press conference in Madrid. Some 200 persons continue under arrest and without legal rights on the US base located on occupied Cuban territory.

The president of the government of the Canary Islands, Paulino Rivero Baute, began today an official visit to Cuba, during which he will meet with state representatives and will attend the closing of a week for the training of judges, part of an agreement of that Spanish region with the Caribbean country’s Supreme Court. This morning Rivero met with the island’s parliament speaker, Ricardo Alarcón.

Vicente Sanabria of Matanzas took over the lead in the 13-stage la Vuelta a Cuba cycling road competition on Sunday. Meanwhile, the sixth stage was won by the Dutch duo of Peter Woestenberg and Tim Nederlof of the Global Cycling team with Pedro Sibila (Universidad de Deporte, Cuba) finishing third.

Canadian Keven Lacombe won the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Cuba cycling competition on Friday with a time of 1:43.06 horas for the 86 kilometer segment from Bayamo to Holguin in eastern Cuba. On a day with heavy winds Lacombe edged Yoel Mariño of Matanzas, Cuba.

The Russian government will open on Saturday a cultural center in Cuba, the first of its kind in Latin America, to promote the learning of the Russian language. Many Cubans studied Russian in the decades before the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the USSR was the island’s leading trade partner.

With its newly constructed facility having been inaugurated at the end of the last year, the Planetarium can now be visited by the public. This center for science and technology is located in the Plaza Vieja, close to the unique Camara Oscura viewing station— adds to the scientific patrimony in this historic part of the city.

In the Casa de Africa (157 Obrapia, in Habana Vieja) on February 18 at 2:00 p.m., a forum will be held with experts associated with the projects “Sitios de la Memoria” and “La ruta del esclavo” (The Slave Route). Both initiatives attempt to trace a map of slavery and the history of Cuba that are closest to historical truth.