Jimmy Carter meets with jailed American in Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Former president allowed to meet Alan Gross, sentenced this month for "subversive" acts, but Cuba says it won't release himCBS/AP) HAVANA - Former President Jimmy Carter has met with a jailed American contractor but says Cuban authorities have made clear they do not plan to release him.The announcement was a disappointment for Alan Gross' supporters after expectations rose that the 86-year-old former American leader would be allowed to bring the Maryland native home with him. Gross is serving a 15-year sentence after being convicted of bringing communications equipment into Cuba illegally. Read More

---

Carter meets Cuba dissidents, to visit jailed U.S. man

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Jeff Franks. HAVANA | Wed Mar 30, 2011 10:53am EDT. HAVANA (Reuters) - Former President Jimmy Carter met with leading Cuban dissidents on Wednesday and told them he expected to visit imprisoned U.S. aid contractor Alan Gross before leaving the communist-ruled island.The meeting at the hotel in Old Havana where Carter and his wife Rosalynn have stayed during their three-day trip to Cuba included top critics of the Cuban government such as blogger Yoani Sanchez, Oswaldo Paya and Elizardo Sanchez.Cuban leaders describe all of them as "mercenaries" working for arch-enemy the United States. Read More

---

Cuba approves loans to help private entrepreneurs launch small businesses

<p style="text-align: justify;">By The Associated Press – HAVANA — The Cuban government has authorized local banks to offer credit to private small business owners and agricultural producers as part of a sweeping economic overhaul announced last year.Havana is dismissing hundreds of thousands of state employees while granting licenses for a broad array of private businesses to absorb the layoffs.The credit measure is intended to help would-be entrepreneurs get off the ground. Read More

---

Cuban and Canadian Students to Give Concert in Las Tunas

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.03.29 - 20:08:58 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Cuban and Canadian Students to Give Concert in Las Tunas. Las Tunas, Cuba.- Art students from the Cuban province of Las Tunas and Canada’s Quebec are preparing a symphonic concert scheduled for April 2 at the main theater of this city, as part of a solidarity project between Cuba and Canada.The rehearsals are taking place at the Art School El Cucalambe in Las Tunas, eastern region of Cuba, from where students have joined colleagues from La Seigneurie, a music, dance and sports school of Quebec. Read More

---

Panama Interested in Sports Collaboration with Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.03.29 - 20:18:25 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Panama Interested in Sports Collaboration with Cuba. Havana, Cuba.- Panama’s Sports (PANDEPORTES) General director Ruben Cardenas who arrived Tuesday in Havana, said to be interested in fostering bilateral collaboration on his field, upon arriving at the Jose Marti International Airport.Cardenas said he is looking to bring Cuban trainers to his country and in turn, have Panamanian sportspeople travel to Cuba with the purpose of increasing their preparation with views of international events, including the Pan American Games of Guadalajara. Read More

---

Carter and Castro discuss U.S.-Cuba relations

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Jeff Franks Jeff Franks – HAVANA (Reuters) – Former President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Raul Castro discussed U.S.-Cuba relations in a meeting on Tuesday in which Castro repeated an offer to hold talks with the United States on any issue, Cuban state television said.They met on the second day of Carter's three-day private visit to Cuba after he said he hoped to help smooth over difficulties between the two longtime ideological enemies.The Cuban television report said Carter and Castro spoke about the "international situation, the situation in Cuba and the United States and relations between the two nations."<br /> <br /> Read More

---

Carter says he hopes to improve U.S.-Cuba relations

<p style="text-align: justify;">Reuters.By Jeff Franks.HAVANA (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday he hoped to contribute to better U.S.-Cuba relations, but was not in Cuba seeking the release of a U.S. aid contractor whose imprisonment has blocked better ties between the Cold War-era enemies.On a visit to Havana, Carter told reporters he had spoken to Cuban officials about Alan Gross, who is serving a 15-year sentence for trying to provide illegal Internet access to Cuban groups. But he said, speaking in Spanish, "I am not here to take him out of the country." "I hope we will be able to contribute to better relations between the two countries," he said. Read More

---

Boleto al Paraiso, a Daring Film in Cuban Screens

<p style="text-align: justify;">Havana, Mar 29 (Prensa Latina) Filmmaker Gerardo Chijona played in the Cuban screens a film that ventures into an unexplored subject in the island, HIV AIDS, based on true stories.Inspired by the book Confesiones a un medico (Confessions to a physician), by specialist Jorge Rivas, who headed an Institute of care to these patients in the 1990s, the film had an excellent reception in 2010 at the Havana International Festival and recently in the Sundance festival founded by Robert Redford. Read More

---

Mexico Downs Cuba 3-0 to Open CONCACAF U-20s

<p style="text-align: justify;">CONCACAF.com. March 28, 2011. GUATEMALA CITY - Alan Pulido and Ulises Davila scored second-half goals and Mexico subdued Cuba 3-0 in the opening game for both Monday at the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship.Cuba, which was making its first appearance in the CONCACAF U-20 finals since 2002, had an equal amount of possession to open the game, but neither side was able to generate much that was dangerous. Eventually Mexico was able to dominate, taking the lead in the 36th and adding insurance in the 53rd and 84th. Read More

---

India to expand IT cooperation with Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Cuban IT consulting firm Avante signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) at the Indiasoft 2011 fair in Maharashtra state, Cuba’s foreign ministry announced in a press release.The two state entities agreed to “promote information exchanges, business opportunities, and the participation of businesspeople on both sides in exhibitions, seminars and workshops,” according to an Avante official quoted by the press release. Read More

---