The new Cuban parliament today ratified Raul Castro as president for another five years. He first took that office in 2006 following the illness of his brother, Fidel. The legislators also elected Miguel Diaz-Canel (a relatively young 52-year-old politician) as the new first vice president, replacing Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, 82.
Read MoreThe new Cuban legislature is meeting today in Havana with the surprise presence of Fidel Castro who had not attended parliament meetings in several years. The 612 legislators, which include Fidel, will elect a 31-member Council of State, including the President and Vice-Presidents of the nation.
Read MoreCuban President Raul Castro, 81, is expected to be reelected Sunday when the newly elected 612-member National Assembly convenes. He first took power temporarily in 2006 and was elected to a 5-year term in 2008.
Read MoreRussia agreed to sell Cuba eight commercial airliners valued at a total of about $650 million, as well as forgive an undisclosed part of the $30 billion debt that Moscow claims is owed it by the island, reported the Russian media on Thursday during the visit of Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev to Havana.
Read MoreCharacterized by economic reforms and political stagnation, over his seven years in power, Raul Castro has promoted a series of changes in Cuba aimed at bringing the island out of chronic economic crisis without relinquishing its one-party socialist model, in place since 1959, reported DPA news on Friday.
Read MoreThe Cuban government is making lending to the island’s “self-employed” sector more flexible with new measures that include the acceptance of personal goods/property as collateral for loans, reported the official media on Thursday.
Read MoreResearchers at the Forecast Center of the Meteorology Institute are working to determine to what degree dust from the Sahara Desert is an influence in the increase of bronchial asthma and other acute respiratory ailments of Cubans.
Read MoreThe Cubaencuentro website revealed a press release on Thursday from the Cuba Study Group, asking the US government to “relax the embargo” on Cuba by repealing of the Helms-Burton Act.
Read MoreState Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland denied on Thursday that the US is considering taking Cuba off the list of countries that sponsor terrorism, reported dpa.
Read MoreRussian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who arrived on Thursday for an official visit to the island, met with Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on his first day in Havana.
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