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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.

While it isn’t the heavy snow storms hitting parts of the US and England, Cuba is having a cold snap of its own that has the population shaking to a different beat than usual. Temperatures were around 7 degrees Celsius (44F) last night in parts of Havana and are not expected to surpass 17 Celsius (62F) during the day on Thursday.

Nearly US $600 million of US taxpayer’s money has been spent to bombard the Cuban airwaves, recognized internationally as a violation of broadcast agreements. The Cuban government blocks both transmissions dedicated to attacking the political system established in the Caribbean country. Whether the US Congress and the Obama administration will continue to squander funds on such an endeavor remain to be seen when and if a new Cuba policy is unveiled in the coming months.

Cuban President Raul Castro begins an official visit Wednesday to Angola after traveling from Russia, where he carried out a week long visit with dozens of new economic and cooperation accords being signed.

Cuba has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Forced Disappearance, a new indication of this Caribbean nation’s will to strengthen its cooperation with international mechanisms of promotion and protection of human rights.

Cuban and Algerian companies agreed to jointly produce hepatitis B vaccines to meet a demand estimated at five million doses a year in that North African country. The agreement signed by Algeria’s Saidal pharmaceutical group and Cuba’s Heber Bistec firm includes the construction of a factory and technological transfer to the Algerian Pasteur Institute, reported IPS.

Land grants have already been approved for 45,518 persons who decided to take advantage of a governmental program to increase agricultural production in Cuba. Alcides Lopez, vice minister of agriculture said the total number of requests for the 10-year renewable leases was 96,419. Cuba is a major food importer and Raul Castro has made it a cornerstone of his presidency to try and reverse the situation.

While the newly seated Obama administration is still deciding what steps to take to improve relations with Cuba, Russia is in fast forward towards deeper ties with the Caribbean island nation. On Friday, Presidents Raul Castro and Dimitri Medvedev presided in the Kremlin over the signing of dozens of documents to increase trade and cooperation. Medvedev visited Cuba in November where he met with both Fidel and Raul Castro.