Alarcon: President Obama Needs to be Pressed so He Makes a Decision

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.09.19 - 09:24:36 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. The fiveHAVANA, Cuba.-&nbsp; We should do our best so more and more people know about this reality and create a climate that forces President Obama to make a decision, stated Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon during a forum of the civil society for The Five. While addressing participants in the second edition of this meeting, sponsored by the United Nations Association of Cuba (ACNU), Alarcon made reference to the current situation faced by Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez. Read More

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Castro supervises expansion work of main port in Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">English.news.cn.2011-09-19 11:48:07. HAVANA, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cuban leader Raul Castro Sunday supervised the ongoing expansion program of the Mariel port, a main port of Cuba with Brazil's investment, local media reported. "The expansion work has an extraordinary economic importance," said Castro after inspecting the port, some 50 km west of Havana. Read More

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Drilling off Keys to begin by December

<p style="text-align: justify;">keysreporter.com.BY DAVID GOODHUE. A giant, semi-submersible oil rig en route from Singapore will probably be drilling in the Florida Straits between Key West and Cuba in mid-December. The rig could arrive earlier, but Repsol, the Spanish oil company, wants to wait until after hurricane season ends before it begins drilling. This latest report on the progress of the Italian-made Scarabeo 9 oil rig comes from Lee Hunt, the chief executive of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, who just returned from a trip to Cuba last week as part of a joint delegation with the environmental group, the Environmental Defense Fund. Read More

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Tampa City Council should reach out to Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Monday, September 19, 2011 02:09. The Tampa City Council has been debating the merits of sending an official letter to the government of Cuba according to the St. Petersburg Times, offering greetings to an island nation that has been under a U.S. trade embargo for the past five decades. Opening communication with the Havanese and national governments comes during a time of softening policies toward Communist Cuba — the Obama administration designated Tampa International Airport as eligible for direct flights to Havana and is relaxing restrictions on remittances, according to ABC News. The Tampa City Council should try to reach out to Havana and the Cuban government to strengthen formal and informal relations between our peoples. Read More

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Medical Brigade Makes Over 14,000 House Calls in Nicaragua

<p style="text-align: justify;">By: Dayami Interián García. 18 de septiembre de 2011, 11:0The "Todos con Voz" medical brigadeManagua, Sep 18 (Prensa Latina). The "Todos con Voz" medical brigade, made up of Cuban and Nicaraguan doctors, has made 14,676 house visits in only six days to update a study on mental and physical disabilities aimed at improving government programs. Read More

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The Dominican Republic to Host Meeting of African and Caribbean Filmmakers

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.09.17 - 20:38:25 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Havana, Cuba.- The 2nd Meeting of African and Caribbean Filmmakers and their Diasporas will be held in the Dominican Republic in 2012, following an agreement by participants in the first edition of the event, which wound up on Friday in this capital. With the help of the Office of the Caribbean Cinema Traveling Exhibition, host of the meeting in Havana, organizers plan to carry out on that occasion a cycle of films from Africa, Brazil and Caribbean as well as their Diasporas, which will tour the country. Read More

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El Salvador, Cuba reach trade agreement

<p style="text-align: justify;">Officials from El Salvador and Cuba concluded negotiations of a partial-reach agreement that promotes bilateral trade by providing import duty discounts for certain products, El Salvador’s economic minister announced in San Salvador. The agreement is the last of many in a larger Cuban strategy to “never again put our eggs in the same basket,” said the Cuban ambassador in El Salvador, Pedro Pablo Prada Quintero, according to El Economista. Over the past two decades, Cuba has signed partial-reach agreements with most Latin American nations. Read More

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XI Havana Biennale to be announced

<p style="text-align: justify;">Havana, (AIN).- The announcement for the XI Havana Biennale, which will take place from May 17 to June 7, 2012, was presented by Jorge Fernández, director of the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, in this capital. In declarations made to AIN, Fernández highlighted that this cultural event distinguished in the Cuba Pavillion in the programm for the 25th anniversary of the Hermanos Saíz Association, according to the generational influence of previous encounters, as a space to made young art public. Read More

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New Florida-Cuba flight corridor opens

<p style="text-align: justify;">Sept. 18, 2011 at 10:56 AM. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Cold War policies have thawed further as more flights from Florida to Cuba began this weekend in Fort Lauderdale. The Airline Brokers Co. charter airline staged a Cuban-themed party event at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Saturday. Meanwhile, 110 passengers embarked on the short flight to Havana, The Miami Herald reported. Read More

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Cuba: Seaside Resort Celebrates 2 Million Tourists in Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">By: Heidy Morin Rueda.September 18 2011. Cuba: Seaside Resort Celebrates 2 Million Tourists in Cuba.Ciego de Avila, Cuba, Sep 17 (Prensa Latina) With a flight from Canada, the Jardines del Rey tourist resort celebrated the arrival in Cuba of two million foreign visitors to date this year. The Hotel Tryp Club Cayo Coco welcomed 110 visitors from Toronto who came to this resort on the northern coast of central Cuba to enjoy nature. Read More

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