News

The US Congress began debate Tuesday on the draft budget for 2009, which includes a measure that would allow Cuban-Americans to travel to Cuba once a year instead of every three years as established by the legislation signed by George W. Bush in 2004.

President Raul Castro announced major changes in the Cuban government on Monday after a year of evaluating his cabinet members.
—Numerous top Cuban government officials were removed from the posts on Monday including Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Finance and Planning Minister Jorge Luis Rodriguez, and Carlos Lage Davila the Executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers.

President Raul Castro announced major changes in the Cuban government on Monday after a year of evaluating his cabinet members. Numerous top officials were removed from their key posts including Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, Finance and Planning Minister Jorge Luis Rodriguez, and Carlos Lage Davila the Executive Secretary of the Council of Ministers.

Presidents of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernandez, and Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, arrive in Cuba on Monday. Both leaders are expected to meet with their Cuban host Raul Castro as well as attend the 11th International Economists Meeting on Globalization and Development Problems. Zelaya will also be revising his country’s bilateral health cooperation agreement and advance on a commercial accord and others.

While it may seem contradictory to some, Cuba’s healthcare system will benefit with over 1.2 million USD collected by the auction Friday of beautifully hand crafted wooden humidors with Cuban Premium cigars. The sale took place during the closing day of the 11th Havana Cigar Festival in the Cuban capital on Friday.

The 10th Havana Biennial takes place from March 27-April 30, announced Rubén del Valle, president of the National Council of Visual Arts. The works will concentrate on the subject of integration and resistance in the global age, reported IPS.

Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez will travel to Cuba on March 2 to attend the 11th International Meeting of Economists, Globalization and Development Problems, announced Carlos Morales, that Caribbean country’s foreign minister. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya will also participate in the event.

The United States should allow more academics and artists to travel to Cuba, eliminate the restrictions on remittances and humanitarian aid sent to the island and, in general, review its policy of hostility toward Cuba, states a report by the Brookings Institute presented in Miami.

“Most Americans know about the multiple attempts our government made to assassinate Fidel Castro, but I, for one, did not know that as a part of our plan to “destabilize” Cuba,” says Peter Coyote in a highly commented article published today in the SF Gate website. The actor is in Cuba to attend the Habano Cigar Festival. To read the entire article click on:

• Traveling to Cuba is like going back in time

Cuban President Raul Castro held a meeting Wednesday with Jack Lang, special envoy of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during which he expressed his government’s willingness to continue the political dialogue between Cuba and the European Union (EU), reinitiated in Paris last October. Castro also confirmed his interest in boosting political, economic and cooperation relations between the two countries.