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The US State Department did not authorize Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez to participate in the tributes to 90-year-old musician Pete Seeger to which he had been invited, reported IPS on Monday.

The United States can not force Cuba to make changes, affirmed former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in statements to the press in Bolivia. Carter backed the measures decreed so far by President Barack Obama regarding the island, while he also questioned the blockade against the Caribbean country.

Hundreds of thousands of people were out in force on Friday to celebrate International Workers Day in Cuba’s capital. Havana Times photographers Caridad and Elio Delgado were on the scene to provide you with the most extensive first hand look at the May Day festivities.

Despite signs that some type of negotiations are taking place behind the scenes between Cuban and US officials, the State Department demonstrated on Thursday that US policy has effectively yet to change. Once again Washington included Cuba in its list of countries that allegedly support terrorism, a lingering annual justification for its sanctions against the island.

Cuba transferred technology for the production of generic medicines to Ecuador, where in a few days a plant will start operations, announced David Checa, manager of the bi-national company in charge of the investment. Cuba produces with its own engineering 537 of the 866 medicines that make up the basic classification of its healthcare system, reported IPS.

Cuba not only has a stock of anti-retroviral treatments for diseases such as AIDS and swine fever, but produces these treatments within the country. These are very specific and controlled medications and are only applied under highly monitored situations and usually while the patient is hospitalized.

As soon as Cuba became aware, on Monday April 27th, of an outbreak of swine fever in other countries, the Cuban Public Health Ministry immediately began to take the necessary measures to minimize the possibilities of this disease entering Cuba.

Addressing a meeting of foreign ministers of the 118-member Non Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana on Thursday, Cuba’s President Raul Castro noted that it is the US that must make the first move towards rapprochement with the island.

No cases of swine flu have been reported to date in Cuba but the island’s authorities are taking the threat seriously. Even under normal conditions Cuba routinely has medical personal available at its airports.

Canada’s Secretary of State for the Americas, Peter Kent, will travel to Cuba next month, he announced during a press conference in Toronto. Kent expressed his wish that the island, encouraged by the U.S. opening, move “a bit faster toward democracy,” reported IPS.