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Chilean President Michelle Bachelet met on Thursday afternoon for 90-minutes with former Cuban President Fidel Castro. Later she told the press: “He looked good,” adding, “As always he was very interested about issues facing Chile and has a wealth of information and statistics… always asking details.”

Presidents Michelle Bachelet and Raul Castro held official talks on Wednesday where they agreed to increase economic exchange and cooperation between Chile and Cuba in several fields including forestry, health, science and technology, sports and biotechnology.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom will make an official visit to Cuba February 16-19, reported IPS on Wednesday. Cuba provides assistance to Guatemala in that country’s efforts to confront illiteracy as well as with medical assistance and scholarships for med students. Guatemala opposes the half century US blockade on Cuba.

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.