Spanish corporations have established themselves as preferential candidates to restore the short route railroad network and to manage four airports in Cuba, according to sources from the Spanish presidency in Havana. “Cuba has made a commitment to send a list of prioritized projects it wants to set aside for Spain,” the source revealed to EFE after Government President Pedro Sánchez highlighted during his visit that promoting Spanish companies’ business in Cuba was the special objective of the first official trip to the island of a leader from Spain in 32 years. Among the projects that would be assigned to Spain, in addition to several initiatives in agribusiness and renewable energy, the source referred to the railroad and revealed that “there is a commitment that the long routes be made by the Russians and the short ones will go to Spain.” The negotiations of this possible agreement have been led by Spanish Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Reyes Maroto, who traveled to Havana as part of Pedro Sánchez’ delegation and last week participated in a business forum with 300 businesspeople present or interested in Cuba. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/pedro-sanchez-en-cuba-mi-presencia-debe-ser-un-mensaje-de-seguridad-para-el-comercio-y-las-inversiones/ Cuba and Russia already signed in December 2016 a project to develop the railroad...

Almost nine million Cubans participated in the popular consultation on the draft of the new Constitution, the island’s media reported after the results of this process were published. The Commission that drew up the draft, led by ex-President and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Raúl Castro and which is also made up by President Miguel Díaz-Canel, met for five days, during which the result of the consultation carried out between last August 13 and November 15 was announced. A total of 133,681 meetings were held during the process of the debate of the draft that will replace the Magna Carta in force (1976) to analyze the constitutional draft in workplaces, educational centers and barrios, which were attended by 8,945,521 persons, specified the official report. https://oncubanews.com/ecos/robertico-carcasses-yo-si-voy-a-decir-lo-que-pienso/ Cuba has some 11.2 million inhabitants and more than a million Cubans live abroad, who were given the possibility of participating. Cubans made 1,706,872 interventions during the meetings in which there emerged 783,174 proposals, 666,995 modifications, 32,149 additions, 45,548 eliminations and 38,462 doubts were presented to the draft constitutional reform. The Commission was also informed about the 2,126 proposals made by Cubans residents outside the island. The document proposed as the...

The Cuban economy will maintain a growth rate of a bit over 1 percent for the 2018 plan, in which it will not meet the goals for incomes in the tourism, sugar and mining sectors, according to a report published yesterday by the island’s state-run media. Cuban Minister of the Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil presented a report on the 2018 economic plan in the last meeting of the Council of Ministers presided over last Tuesday by President Miguel Díaz-Canel before his tour of Russia and several Asian and European countries. According to that assessment, the growth rate of the Cuban economy this year will be slightly over 1 percent. Last July, Díaz-Canel reported that the country’s economic growth in the first semester had registered a “discreet” 1.1 percent due to “adverse factors,” among which he cited the tense situation in foreign finances and the non-compliance of the planned incomes for exports, tourism and sugar production. For 2019, Minister Gil indicated that the drawing up of the sector’s plan has as a priority reducing the import of products that can be produced in the country. “It is necessary that we adjust expenditures to the incomes we have available and that...

The Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), Cuba’s star project for attracting foreign capital, in 2018 has attracted an all-time 470 million dollars’ worth of investments, the heads of that zone reported. The figure, which corresponds to the capitals committed since November 2017 to date, supposes a strong advance compared to the average of four years ago of some 300 million dollars a year, according to data given this Tuesday by Wendy Miranda, director of the ZEDM’s One-Stop Window System. During the opening of a business forum in the Havana International Trade Fair (FIHAV 2018), the representative of the Special Zone offered the annual balance of this macro industrial polygon, located some 45 kilometers to the west of the island’s capital. The ZEDM, whose investments accumulate 1.66 billion dollars since its opening in 2013, has authorized businesses to 41 foreign companies and joint ventures from 19 countries, of which 15 are operating and two already have the installations and the permits to imminently do so. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/empresa-cubano-italiana-producira-envases-mariel/ One of the companies that plans to start working in a few months is the Spanish Grupo TGT, a cheese distributor. “We will supply the hotels and individuals in Cuba, although our objective is to...

Panama started giving out the tourism card that allows Cubans to remain 30 days in that territory to shop, announced this Tuesday in Havana Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, who affirmed that he maintains “total communication” with the Cuban government. “It already started yesterday (Monday) and the first cards were given, because simply any Cuban citizen who has traveled abroad and has a passport already has access to the card,” the president explained after inaugurating his country’s pavilion at the Havana International Trade Fair (FIHAV 2018). The new card, created by the Central American country to promote shopping tourism, can be acquired for 20 dollars in the Panamanian consulate in Havana. Varela, who is on an official visit to the island, insisted that the new simplified migratory process “will strengthen Cuba’s economic opening,” always “following and respecting the rules” of the country. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/zona-franca-mas-grande-de-america-espera-llegada-masiva-de-cubanos/ When asked about the Cuban government’s reaction, Varela affirmed that during this Monday’s meeting with his Cuban counterpart Miguel Díaz-Canel he perceived there was “a total communication.” “It is an important step taken by Panama and there is going to be total communication to ensure that the decree’s objective meets its purpose, which is to promote tourism...

Cuban and Canadian companies agreed this Tuesday in Havana to start up a program called “For a happy age,” devoted to medical care on the island for elderly tourists from that North American country. The health tourism program will cater to groups of senior citizens, autonomous, aged between 75 and 85 in good physical and mental conditions who visit Cuba for two or three months during the winter season, explained the vice president of the state-run entity Cuban Medical Services Marketing Company (CSMC) S.A., Yamila de Armas. After signing the agreement, the executive of CSMC, belonging the island’s Ministry of Public Health, announced that the first group of Canadian visitors will arrive in November to Varadero beach resort, Cuba’s principal sun and beach tourist destination. The medical-tourist package aims to promote healthy lifestyles and will also include nursing medical care and transportation from and to the airport, a report from the Cuban News Agency (ACN) specified. Meanwhile, secretary of the Canadian COGIR travel agency – specializing in elderly people - Bruno Desautels commented that his country’s population is aging and people want to travel and there aren’t sufficient projects to attend to them. He explained that this program in Cuba...