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Not one case of Swine Flu has been reported in Cuba and plans for the International Workers Day march on May 1 remain firm. Numerous delegations from labor organizations from around the world annually attend the Cuba rally, which also includes a solidarity meeting with Cuban labor leaders on the following day.

Representatives of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) begin a four-day ministerial level meeting Monday in the Cuban capital to discuss, among other issues, the impact of the current global financial crisis and possible solutions. Cuba has been the chair of NAM since 2006 and relinquishes the helm later this year to Egypt.

Cuba’s health and civil defense authorities have announced a series of measures to prevent a possible outbreak of swine flu that is affecting Mexico, the United States, Canada and several European countries. The island is known for its top notch nationwide civil defense network that last year had to confront three powerful hurricanes

The number of Cuba’s inhabitants continued decreasing in 2008, for the third year in a row, when 691 persons less were reported, despite the slight increase in the birth rate, according to a report by the National Office of Statistics (ONE).

Some 60 ministers representing the member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) will meet in the Cuban capital from April 27-30 to discuss issues including the environment, migration, regional conflicts and the world economic crisis.

Just last September both Cuban and Galveston were hit hard by hurricane Ike and once again Cuba’s civil defense capabilities and strategies proved a notch above those of the wealthier nation to the north.

In a column published in the Cuban press former Cuban President Fidel Castro predicted “a sure failure” for U.S. President Barack Obama if he maintains the blockade against the island, as his ten predecessors did. Castro also defended Cuba’s surcharge on remittances in US dollars, which Obama asked to be eliminated in statements to the press during the 5th Summit of the Americas.

Lula has lobbied heavily with Obama to break with the past and forge a more constructive relationship with Latin America. Mending the fences with Cuba is a must for that to take place, Lula and other leaders from the region maintained before and during the recent Americas Summit.

While Havana considers Obama a definite improvement over his predecessor George W. Bush, —with whom any dialogue was out of the question—, Cuban leaders are wary of generalities, demanding concrete actions to end the nearly half century stranglehold on the island.

by Circles Robinson HAVANA TIMES, April 18 — When Barack Obama was elected president last November, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman