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Barack Obama takes office in two and a half weeks and Cuban President Raul Castro restated on Friday that he is ready to meet the US leader for unconditioned direct talks “without intermediaries.” Castro said he had no illusions of major change in US policy towards the island, but noted that Obama has raised a lot of expectations around the world and “could take some positive steps.”

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos arrives in Cuba on Saturday for an official two day visit. Torrijos, who last visited Cuba in May, will be traveling with several cabinet members, journalists and business executives. “The president will meet with top Cuban authorities on his agenda related to the regional economy, health care and culture,” said Eric Rodriguez Auerbach, Torrijos’ secretary of communication.

Cuba closed 2008 with 330,000 mobile phone clients, a figure that could go up to 1.6 million in three years, said Maximo Lafuente, vice president of the Cuban Telephone Company (ETECSA), a Cuban-Italian joint venture. “The growth in cell phones in the island is unstoppable, just like in all countries,” noted Lafuente. The price charged to contract a cell phone line in Cuba recently dropped by nearly 50 percent, to US $72, reported IPS.

The Cubanacan tourist group will participate in the construction of two hotels, one in Shanghai and another in the Hemingway Marina in Havana. This will be the Cuban company’s first joint venture abroad, reported IPS.

Cuba and Venezuela are united “in good and bad times,” said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro in statements to the press in Santiago de Cuba, reported IPS. Both nations maintain a political and economic alliance that includes mechanisms such as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) and joint projects such as the Petrocaribe energy cooperation initiative and the Operation Miracle eye surgery program, he noted.

Cuban President Raul Castro will address the nation from Santiago de Cuba on Thursday evening at the main celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The festivities are set to begin at 6:00 p.m. at the downtown Parque Cespedes, recalling the entrance of the Rebel Army led by Fidel Castro just hours after the dictator Batista fled the country.

Cuba’s reintegration into Latin America means that the government of Raul Castro will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Revolution on Thursday January 1st in a wholly different regional context than the one that prevailed in the 1960s, when this Caribbean island nation was marginalized by practically all of Latin America under pressure from the United States, reported IPS.

Some 10,000 persons in Cuba have begun the paperwork to acquire Spanish citizenship since a law that confers that status to descendants of Spaniards exiled during the 1936-1939 civil war or under the subsequent dictatorship of Francisco Franco came into force on December 22, reported IPS citing sources from the Spanish consulate in Havana.

Nearly ten percent of Cuba’s doctors and other health personnel are currently working abroad in 97 countries, reported IPS on information provided by Joaquin Garcia, vice minister of Public Heath. Since the early 1960s the Cuban Revolution has prioritized health collaboration abroad, especially in Latin America and Africa, but also in far off lands of Asia.

In a move to address the nation’s aging population, the Cuban parliament approved a new Social Security Law on Saturday that extends the retirement age to 60 years for women and 65 for men. A number of modifications from the draft bill were introduced after a nationwide consultation, including an extending to 15 years the period for selecting the five years when the worker had his/her highest pay in order to calculate pensions.