News

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.

While nothing like the storm that’s had the US eastern seaboard on hold, a light cold front is expected to move in to Cuba on Saturday bringing rain throughout the country and a high of only 20 C (68 F) in the capital and a low temperature of 17 C (62 F).

Cuba’s 19th International Book Fair got its official opening on Thursday evening attended by President Raul Castro and visiting Russian Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov. Russia is this year’s special guest and a large delegation of publishers and artists are on hand to participate.