News

The drug dependency rate in Cuba is very low and “the national effort to deal with and control the country’s borders is excellent,” said the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, who is carrying out a visit to the island.

The state-run Cubapetroleo Company (CUPET) will drill 24 new oil wells this year with its own financing and foreign technical advice, announced its director Julio Jimenez. The Caribbean country produces around 80,000 barrels a day of crude, close to half of its needs, which it covers with imports from Venezuela, reported IPS.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom apologized to Cuba on Tuesday for his country’s role in the US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. The BBC noted that the CIA “used Guatemalan territory to train Cuban exiles before their disastrous invasion which was quickly defeated by Cuban forces.”

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin begins a historic two-day visit to Cuba on Wednesday, the first ever official visit by an Irish government minister to Havana. The visit is seen as an effort to boost trade links between Ireland and Cuba and other ties. Ireland and the European Union oppose the nearly half century US blockade on Cuba.

Cuban forests could suffer fires in more than 8,000 hectares this year during the dry season, according to forecasts by the Corps of Forest Rangers. The additional danger of fires is due to the damage caused by the three hurricanes that hit the island in the second half of 2008, which affected 376,000 hectares of forest areas, reported IPS. The coming months will be crucial before the rainy season that usually begins in May.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom arrived in Cuba on Sunday night. In statements to the press, Colom described the US blockade against the island as “unjust” and “anachronistic” and called for “putting an end to it.” He noted that Latin America is united in asking the US to change its policy towards the island.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin makes a historic trip to Cuba on Tuesday the first Irish government minister to travel to Cuba in an official capacity. Martin is in Mexico to meet with Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa before heading on to Havana.

The Humberto Solas Low-Budget Film Festival will be held in its traditional venue, the small coastal city of Gibara, Holguin in northeastern Cuba, on April 13-19. Sergio Benvenuto, the event’s director, told the press that US $21,600 has been raised through an online art auction initiative by actor Jorge Perugorría and visual artists from several countries to help with the recovery of Gibara’s cultural facilities damaged in September by Hurricane Ike.

Cuba’s 18th International Book Fair is open to the public starting today after being officially inaugurated yesterday by President Raul Castro and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. This year’s fair is dedicated to that South American country and some 350 exhibitors from 43 countries are participating. The widely popular fair —which besides the many book presentations and panels also includes numerous concerts— continues through Feb. 22 in Havana and then moves on to the other 14 Cuban provinces.