HAVANA 1 May A 56-year-old blind American who was trying to cross the treacherous Florida Straits in a kayak had to abandon the attempt because of strong winds, he told AFP Wednesday. Peter Crowley said he hopes to try again, perhaps next year, to traverse the 90-mile (150-kilometer) stretch of shark-infested waters that separate Cuba […]
HAVANA 1 May (James Whittaker) A new airline company in Grand Cayman will make its first flight between George Town and Havana next month. The company, Cubano Airtours, has leased a plane from Aero Caribbean – one of Cuba’s state-owned airlines – and will begin twice-weekly service between Havana and George Town on May […]
HAVANA 29 Abril Cuba continues moving forward with development of a $1.4 billion natural gas regasification project and a $1.2 billion urea and ammonia plant under a Venezuelan initiative to provide cheap fuel to regional allies. The regasification project will have the capacity to process 2.06 million metric tons per year and consist of building […]
HAVANA 29 Abril Cuba loosened regulation of its largest state-run companies on Monday, shifting the ongoing reform of the Soviet-style economy from retail services and farming into some of the country’s most important businesses, including minerals, tourism and telecommunications.The reforms will affect hundreds of big state enterprises, from nickel producer Cubaniquel and oil company […]
HAVANA 28 April Young Mexican Paulina Guraieb was awarded the Grand Prix of the 12th International Contest for Ballet Academies, held in Cuba from April 21st to 26th. Guraieb was given an ovation in the three rounds of the competition for her well-defined technique, musicality, brave attitude on stage and amazing turns. The jury was […]
Carpenter Antonio Gutiérrez organizes a load of mahogany, precious wood seized by the authorities in the Ciénagade Zapata wetlands.HAVANA April 26 (IPS By Ivet González) The lack of markets to supply raw materials for Cuba’s new private sector, along with the poverty in isolated rural communities, is fuelling the poaching of endangered species of flora […]
HAVANA 26 Abril (By José Manuel Pallí, Esq). Perhaps the most important question raised by Cuba’s new approach to foreign investment in real estate is the one related to the nature of the rights a foreign investor who develops real estate in Cuba — and those who purchase the residential units from the developer — […]
HAVANA 26 Abril Cuba’s Muslims enjoy good relations with the ruling Party. But getting approval to build a mosque is no easy task on the island, where bureaucracy and ideology reign For years, Cuba’s Muslims estimated at just a few thousand—have been a bit, well, unorthodox. Most have favored a flexible version of Islam that’s […]
HAVANA 25 Abril Peter Crowley believes there’s no excuse for not trying. Born with optic atrophy and legally blind, that has not stopped him from climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, skiing dozens of Adirondack trails, paddling from Albany to New York City and crossing the English Channel in a solo red kayak. The accomplished athlete brought […]
LA HABANA April 25 Two world premieres by the Cuban National Ballet (BNC) opened celebrations in the island on occasion of the International Dance Day, to show off the technical spectrum of this renowned company. The most recent piece by its director, Alicia Alonso, combined musicality, technical ingenuity, and an interesting use of lights to […]
HAVANA 25 Abril (By Patricia Rey Mallén) China’s foreign minister arrived in Cuba on April 22, on an official visit to an island where Beijing is increasing its investment, including in oil exploration. The Chinese community in Cuba, in fact, dates back 150 years, and played a fundamental role in the success of Castro’s revolution […]
HAVANA 24 April (CUBA STANDARD) Although foreign investors at the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM) will still have to hire employees through a state agency, they will be able to negotiate salaries, contract self-employed Cubans, and hire as many foreign workers as they want, and workers will pocket most of what their employers pay the […]
PORT MANATEE – HAVANA 24 Abril (Matt M. Johnson, Herald business) A ferry company that wants to start taking travelers to Cuba as early as this summer has chosen Port Manatee as its port of origin. Havana Ferry Partners would run a ferry service between the port and Havana. It plans to ferry up to […]
HAVANA April 23 (PL) A great jazz jam session will be in charge of Cuban musicians at the National Hotel to celebrate the International Jazz Day, as told by Alicia Bon Cruz, main organizer of the event Tuesday. This way, Cuba is joined to other activities in the whole world for the International Jazz Day, […]
CYPRESS, Calif April 22 (PRNewswire) Cuba Travel Services, the leading authorized carrier service provider with offices in California and Florida, is now offering direct flights from Miami to Holguin ,starting June 5 . Cuba Travel Services arranges flights operated by American Airlines and Sun Country Airlines to popular destinations including Havana, Cienfuegos, Camaguey, Santa Clara […]
HAVANA April 22 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban National Custom Office updated its list of authorized entities to make dispatches at house delivery in different countries, said an official communique Tuesday. The communique pointed out Tuesday that the National Custom Office appropriately detected cases in which messaging agencies and packing enterprises in different countries, have offered […]
HAVANA April 21 (PL) A Cuban 150 year old new rum was tasted at the meeting of gastronomic and tourist experts, called Bayamanaco or Balcon del Habano (Balcony of Habanos), organizers of the Havanan workshop said today. The meeting has been held since 2007 at Presidente Hotel in this capital, to taste beverages and analyze […]
HAVANA April 20 (AP BY ANDREA RODRIGUEZ) The residents of 308 Oquendo Street were jolted awake in the middle of the night by violent shaking and a noise that they likened to a freight train, or an exploding bomb. Part of their building’s seventh floor had collapsed into the interior patio, heavily damaging apartments on […]
HAVANA 19 April (BY MARY MURRAY) Thousands of Roman Catholics in Cuba are marking the end of Holy Week by holding religious processions fully sanctioned by the government. With heads bowed and eyes often closed, the faithful were young and old, rich and poor. Some joined Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega at Havana’s Cathedral while many […]
Havana April 19 (AFP) Cuban television and cinema are lagging behind other industries that have seen recent reform on the communist island, a writers’ and artists’ group wrote in a report published on Friday. The study released by Cuba’s Commission on Culture and Media urged the Havana government to create television and film programming not […]
HAVANA April 18 Havana will host the 13th edition of the International Guitar Festival and Contest on April 21-27, under the direction of maestro Leo Brouwer.Young interpreters of Europe and Latin America will take part in the competitive stage, to be held at the Jose Marti Memorial, while a series of attractive concerts and recitals […]
HAVANA 16 Abril Turkey’s Religious Affairs Foundation (TDV) sent a delegation to Cuba to discuss building a mosque in its capital Havana.The plan is part of a wider project by the TDV in building mosques for Muslims who live in the Caribbean.Having paid a visit to the Cuban department of religious affairs, TDV assistant manager […]
HAVANA 16 Abril Cuba has now made Good Friday an official national holiday after restoring that Catholic feast as an “exceptional” measure when Pope Benedict XVI visited the island in 2012.The new Labor Code, passed by the National Assembly in December, established Good Friday as a holiday “every year,” Communist Party daily Granma said Tuesday.Since […]
HAVANA, April 13 (Reuters) France’s foreign minister arrived in Cuba on Saturday for a brief but historic visit, the first by such a high-ranking French official in 31 years and a sign of the quickening pace of improving ties between the European Union and Havana.Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez […]
KINGSTON – HAVANA April 12 (Reuters By Aileen Torres-Bennett) Havana is protesting the decision by PriceSmart Inc, a major U.S.-based bulk-shopping warehouse, to suspend memberships of shoppers from the communist country at its Jamaica subsidiary, Cuban officials said on Friday. PriceSmart took the action this week, citing the decades-old U.S. embargo on Cuba that prohibits […]
HAVANA April 12 (Global Property Guide) A bill passed recently by Cuban National Assembly will allow foreign investment up to 100% in residential and commercial real estate among several other sectors in Cuba. The bill, which is likely to come into effect by the end of June, aims to boost Cuba’s stagnant GDP growth. According to […]
HAVANA, April 11 (PL) The total lunar eclipse to take place early Tuesday, April 15, will be visible all over Cuba, Norma Borrego, an expert from the Information and Communications desk at the Geophysics and Astronomy Institute, stated. Borrego said the lunar event will start as a partial eclipse at 01:58 local time, while the […]
HAVANA 10th April (CUBA STANDARD) French Foreign Minster Laurent Fabius will arrive in Cuba this Saturday, becoming the highest-ranking French visitor to the island in three decades. Fabius’ visit comes as Cuba and the European Union have agreed to begin talks about fully normalizing their relations, and as Cuba is seeking to attract foreign investment.Fabius […]
HAVANA 9th April (By David Jessop) On March 29 Cuba’s National Assembly passed a new foreign investment law. Its content has far reaching implications for the future economic organisation of the country. It has also stimulated a lively public and private debate in the rest of the Caribbean about whether it represents a new economic […]
MIAMI- HAVANA April 07 (By CHRISTINE ARMARIO Associated Press)The number of U.S. visitors to Cuba continues to rise, even as the more than five-decade long embargo remains firmly in place, according to study released Monday.Within the first three months of 2014 alone, there were more U.S. tourists to the island than in all of 2013 […]