A new shakeup has occurred in the Cuban government with the removal of the minister of transportation, Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz, and sugar minister Luis Manuel Avila Gonzalez. An official note says Sierra was guilty of “errors” and Avila of “deficiencies.”
Read MoreBacked by its considerable experience in urban agriculture, Cuba is tackling the challenge of food security through a new initiative that will bring farming to the suburban areas surrounding cities and towns.
The program was originally announced last August by President Raúl Castro, who declared that food production is “a matter of national security” and should involve “the largest number of people possible, through all available forms of land ownership.”
Read MoreCardinal Jaime Ortega asked oppositionist Guillermo Fariñas to relax his position and abandon the hunger strike he has been on since February 24 in demand for the release of the sick political prisoners. In statements to the press accredited in Cuba, the archbishop of Havana also announced he had mediated before the authorities to allow the Ladies in White to march this Sunday after the mass in the Santa Rita church in the capital’s Miramar district.
Read MoreThe Cuban health authorities began today the second stage of the vaccination against the A H1N1 influenza virus, which will cover some 150,000 minors between the ages of six months and nine years, reported the local press. According to data from the Ministry of Public Health, up to now 1,243 cases of persons affected by the disease have been reported.
Read MoreThe 30th Cuban International Tourism Fair begins Monday in this capital, reported IPS. Russia will be the guest of honor on this occasion, with a delegation of hotel companies and tour operators headed by Alexander Radkov, vice president of the Federal Tourism Agency. This year the island expects a growth in the number of visitors from Russia to reach the figure of 45,000.
Read MoreAfter hundreds of thousands of Cubans took part in the traditional International Workers Day parade in Havana on Saturday, the small group of protestors known as the Ladies in White held their habitual Sunday march without incident.
Read MoreSalvador Valdés, general secretary of the Central Organization of Cuban Trade Unions (CTC), the only union organization in the island, asked for support for the reforms begun by the government of Raúl Castro, officially known as “updating of the economic model,” in his speech during the May Day parade in Revolution Square in this capital. According to Valdés, those changes will require “extraordinary efforts and sacrifices,” and he called for “sharing shortages and efforts to overcome them.”
Read MoreCuba could become a partner with India in the area of biotechnology, affirmed Miguel Ramírez, the island’s ambassador to that Asian country, when speaking at the 4th India-Latin America and the Caribbean Meeting being held in New Delhi. According to the diplomat, cooperation could take place especially in the sphere of human vaccines, where the Caribbean country has made important progress.
Read MoreThe Cuban authorities banned the import of auto and motorbike engines and bodyworks, which they had approved two years ago, according to a new resolution published in the Gaceta Oficial. Two months before the government also decided to cancel the purchase of modern cars abroad to replace older models.
Read MoreCuba owes the United States six billion dollars for the expropriation of U.S. persons and companies carried out by Fidel Castro’s government after 1959, according to data from the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission. The island’s government, for its part, has documented that the US embargo has caused Cuba losses worth more than 96 billion dollars.
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