News

Cuba could assemble up to 500 trucks a year made by Ukraine’s Autokraz Company, whose vehicles circulated on the island before the fall of socialism in the Soviet Union, according to an agreement between that company and the Caribbean country’s Ministry of Construction. The assembly plant will initially repair some 450 cargo and dump trucks idled due to a lack of spare parts, reported IPS. The plant facility is located in the south-central port city of Cienfuegos.

The Cuban government expects it will be able to free up access to the Internet to the Cuban population at large when it overcomes the current technological and economic restrictions. This could conclude to a great extent with the arrival to the island in 2010 of an underwater fiber-optic cable from Venezuela, affirmed Minister of Informatics and Communication Ramiro Valdes, reported IPS.

Cuban bass player Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez died at a Havana hospital on Monday after complications following surgery. A founding member of the famous Buena Vista Social Club band, Cachaito grew up in a highly musical family that practiced out of his aunt’s house. He composed his first piece when he was only 13. The legend of Latin Jazz also played for many years with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet arrives in Cuba on Tuesday, the first Chilean leader to do so since the historic visits of Salvador Allende in 1971 and 1972. Bachelet, 57, heads a sizeable delegation of government officials including the ministers of culture, labor and agriculture, legislators and business people.

Nearly a half million Cubans currently own a cell phone after the government headed by Raul Castro freed up access to them for its citizens, said Maximo Lafuente, vice president of the Cuba Telecommunications Company (ETCSA). The executive says the government has the “firm intention” to continue expanding the service and make it accessible to the majority of the population if the resources permit, reported IPS.

Cuban President Raul Castro began an official three-day visit to Algeria on Saturday where he will meet with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The African country is the third country visited by Castro on an international tour that has taken him to Russia and Angola.

On Thursday, thermometers dropped to a record 3.5 Celsius (38F) on top the Gran Piedra mountain meteorology station in Santiago de Cuba. Low temperatures early Friday ranged from 5 Celsius (41F) to 9 Celsius (48F) in most of the island. Nicer days are expected over the weekend with daytime temperatures in Havana expected to be around 25 Celsius (77F) and lows in the 14-16 C (57-60F) range.

Cuban pianist and composer Jesús “Chucho” Valdés will open the Jazz Plaza Festival on February 12 with a concert in the island’s capital, announced sources from the annual musical event’s organizing committee. Artists from 16 countries are scheduled to perform during the four day festival along with the best of Cuban jazz.

Representatives of Cuba and dozens of countries participated in discussion Wednesday on the current human rights situation on the island, after Cuba presented its report on this issue to the Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.

A bipartisan bill that would restore the right of US citizens to travel to Cuba was presented in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday. Four Democrats and four Republicans were the initial co-sponsors of H.R.874.