Cuba rolls out red carpet for British cruise ship

<p style="text-align: justify;">PA. A salsa band, dancing schoolchildren and showgirls in bikini tops and feather headdresses welcomed around 1,500 tourists on a British cruise liner - one of the biggest ships to visit Cuba in years.<br /> Once a frequent sight, cruise ships had become a rarity since 2006, Tourism Ministry official Jose Manuel Bisbe said the arrival of the Thomson Dream underscored the recent resurgence of cruise traffic to the island. Read More

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Ecuadorian Children to Receive Cuban Vaccines

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.01.05 - 13:37:36 / [email protected]. HAVANA, Cuba.- Almost 1.3 million Ecuadorian children will be immunized this year —free of charge— with Cuban pentavalent vaccines and against pneumococcus. Read More

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Cuba trying to attract Canadian cruise tourists

<p style="text-align: justify;">The Cuban tourism ministry is “working very hard” to attract a cruise line that offers around-Cuba cruises for Canadian tourists next winter, an official told weekly business magazine Opciones.José Manuel Bisbé, commercial director of the Tourism Ministry, didn’t specify. Read More

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Tunisia Favors Friendly, Cooperative Relations with Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Escrito por Rose Ana Berbeo.05 de enero de 2011, 11:04 Tunisia, Jan 5 (Prensa Latina) President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali sent a message to Cuban President Raul Castro expressing his desire to further strengthen his country´s friendly, cooperative relations with Cuba, diplomatic sources said Wednesday. Read More

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More than 56,000 Russian Tourists Visited Cuba in 2010

<p style="text-align: justify;">Escrito por Yoama Chappottin Ford. miércoles, 05 de enero de 2011. 05 de enero de 2011, 00:11By Antonio Rondon Garcia. Moscow, Jan 5 (Prensa Latina) In 2010, 56,234 Russian tourists visited Cuba, nearly 19,000 more than in 2009, sources of the sector reported.The figures confirm the Cuban historical record of vacationers in 2010. Read More

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American brings skateboarding diplomacy to Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Patrick Oppmann, CNN. January 5, 2011. Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- Rene Lecour's plan started out simple: Take his son on a skateboarding trip to someplace "epic." While he and his son, Kaya, were searching the internet, they saw videos of Cuba's skateboarders making do with beaten-up and jerry-rigged boards.Economic shortages and the U.S. embargo make it difficult to get most sporting equipment there. For skateboarders, it was nearly impossible. Read More

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Kchos donations to Havana's fine arts museum

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Cubarte / [email protected] / Wednesday, 05 January 2011 13:29. Noted Cuban painter Kcho donates pieces for the people's delight. Photo: cubasi.cu. Once again Kcho is news. Three donations of works made by this creator were exhibited the 28 of December, as the last exhibition of 2010, in the lower floor of the Cuban Art building of the Cuban Fine Arts Museum, in a tribute the institution made under the title Kcho Donaciones. Read More

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Cuba to Increase Exports of Juice Concentrate

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.01.05 - 11:53:15 / [email protected]. HAVANA, Cuba.- The Cuban Vice Minister of Agriculture, Juan Perez Lamas, told ACN that the program for the recovery of fruit trees in Cuba will result in the increase of the exports of juice concentrate.Perez affirmed that with this strategy they intend to produce over 20 tons per hectare, which will suffice for national consumption and the reduction of imports, an economic priority amidst the current financial global crisis. Read More

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Reforms start in Cuba to boost economy

<p style="text-align: justify;">Workers in Cuba are coming to terms with sweeping reforms which were due to come into force on Tuesday. 500,000 jobs are set to be cut from the state payrolls by March as the island makes an historic shift towards the private sector in a bid to boost its battered economy.Its not clear if the process has begun or if government departments were still deciding who should be told to go as Ildeyarda Vasquez Guevara, security guard explained, “It’s supposed to happen today, or this week but no one has said anything yet.” Read More

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Why does health care in Cuba cost 96% less than in the US?

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Don Fitz. January 5, 2011-- Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal -- When Americans spend $100 on health care, is it possible that only $4 goes to keeping them well and $96 goes somewhere else? Single payer health care government-funded universal health insurance] advocates compare US health care to that in Western Europe or Canada and come up with figures of 20–30% waste in the US.But there is one country with very low level of economic activity yet with a level of health care equal to the West: Cuba. Read More

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