The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) will hold its 17th Summit this weekend in Havana, which is expected to be attended by the leaders of Venezuela, Nicaragua and host Cuba, not ruling out the presence of former Bolivian President Evo Morales, supposedly still on the island. Although the Cuban government has not yet officially reported on the event, the Provincial Road Safety Commission issued a statement on the closure of several streets “on the occasion of the celebration, on Saturday 14, of the closing activity of the Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Trade Treaty of the Peoples.” The closure of the Summit, according to the note published in the media, will take place on the steps of the University of Havana, a regular enclave for official celebrations of relevance such as the “march of the torches” for the anniversary of the birth of national hero José Martí or the ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of Fidel Castro. https://twitter.com/GomezIturraldes/status/1204809478803197955?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1204809478803197955&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fmundo%2Famerica-latina%2Fel-bloque-bolivariano-se-reunira-en-la-habana-donde-esta-evo-morales%2F In addition to Venezuela and Cuba, the ALBA brings together Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Saint Kitts-Nevis. Bolivia was part of the...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel arrived in Buenos Aires this Sunday to attend inauguration ceremony of Alberto Fernández as head of state of Argentina, official sources reported. “Upon arrival in Buenos Aires, the President of #Cuba @DiazCanelB is received by Marcelo Suárez Salvia, Protocol and Ceremonial Chief of the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of #Argentina,” said the Cuban Presidency on its official Twitter account. A video was added in the same social media in which the president is seen getting off the Cubana de Aviación plane at the international airport of the Buenos Aires city of Ezeiza, accompanied by his wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and Minister of Foreign Trade Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz. This is Díaz-Canel's first trip as Cuban president to the South American country. Argentine Foreign Ministry sources told EFE that on Monday he would place a floral wreath at the foot of the monument to Argentine liberator José de San Martín, a ceremony that is common in the agendas of the presidents who make official visits to Buenos Aires. Already on Tuesday, he will go to the investiture of Alberto and Cristina Fernández, president and vice president elected after winning the elections of October...

Former Bolivian President Evo Morales, exiled in Mexico, traveled to Cuba this Friday for a medical consultation, the ex-president's diplomatic and close sources said. Sources from the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Relations indicated that “Morales traveled in the morning to Cuba,” and that the former president reported that “it is a temporary trip.” Consulted by EFE, former Bolivian Minister of Health Gabriela Montaño confirmed that “President Evo Morales is in Cuba for a medical consultation with the Cuban medical team that previously treated him in Bolivia.” On December 4, the Organization of American States (OAS) reiterated its allegations of “irregularities” in the last presidential elections in Bolivia by presenting the final version of the report that led to the departure of the hitherto president. The OAS published the preliminary version of the report on November 10, a document that generated a political earthquake in Bolivia and in a few hours led to an announcement of electoral repetition by Morales and his subsequent resignation forced by the military. In the elections in question, held on October 20, Morales was elected for the fourth time as Bolivian president by winning in the first round by a margin greater than ten points, according...

France and Cuba signed this Friday two agreements for which Paris will invest 5 million euros in an agro-tourism project and 2.7 million for the reconstruction of water networks, as well as strengthening their commercial cooperation. The agreements were signed in Paris by French Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne and Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Rodrigo Malmierca at the end of the fourth session of the Franco-Cuban Economic and Commercial Commission that has been held since 2016. https://twitter.com/R_Malmierca/status/1202998738563796993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1202998738563796993&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Ffrancia-invertira-mas-de-7-millones-de-euros-en-agroturismo-y-agua-en-cuba%2F Lemoyne and Malmierca also formalized an agreement whereby the French state financial agency Bpifrance will offer mid- and long-term guarantees for up to 150 million euros for French companies that export to Cuba. The first agreement on agro-tourism, referring to the “coffee routes” project, will allow the creation of a tourist circuit related to ​​the country’s coffee culture. “Cuba is particularly attractive” to French companies, which are already present, for example, in hotel activity and air transportation, Lemoyne said in a statement to the press, and added his interest in a country that develops “sustainable and long-lasting tourism.” The second agreement is for the reconstruction of water pipes and collectors that were damaged by Hurricane Irma in...

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel discussed relations between both parties and agreed to strengthen cooperation during a meeting in Havana this Friday, the state media reported. Both leaders debated “on the state of the links between UNESCO and Cuba and ratified the will to continue working for their strengthening,” said the state news agency ACN, which covered the meeting to which the foreign press did not have access. Azoulay and Díaz-Canel also highlighted “the priority given by both parties to the development of education, culture and science and the use of new technologies,” in addition to addressing “other issues related to the mandate” of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The director of UNESCO is on an official visit to Havana, where on Thursday she met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez to discuss bilateral cooperation on issues such as the struggle against the climate crisis and heritage conservation. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/la-directora-de-la-unesco-en-cuba-aborda-crisis-climatica-y-conservacion-patrimonial/ Azoulay also met with Havana Historian Eusebio Leal, a highly respected authority for his decisive contribution to the restoration of the capital’s historic center. The director of UNESCO toured several sites of interest in that area and visited the Santa Clara School, venue of...

The 2019-2020 sugar harvest kicked off in Cuba with 16 active factories of the total of 44 that are planned to participate in this harvest in order to exceed the result of the previous one, which only reached 1.3 million tons of sugar. 97% of the sugarcane cutting is mechanized with modern technology cane harvesters and only about 10,000 manual cane cutters will take part in this harvest, as explained this Wednesday by the state Azcuba Business Group’s spokesman Liobel Pérez. At the end of December, 39 factories will be grinding and in January 2020 the 5 that complete the group scheduled to produce sugar in the current harvest will be added, said Liobel Pérez, quoted by Prensa Latina news agency. Pérez highlighted how important it is that the harvested cane get to the factories with the lowest index of foreign matter, which up to now has been exceeded. The sugar industry―which decades ago was the locomotive of the Cuban economy―is currently considered by the island’s authorities as a “strategic” sector because it provides foreign exchange with the export of sugar, alcohols, beverages and derivatives, as well as energy and others products that are linked to almost every industry in...

Cuba is advancing in the development of a therapeutic HIV/AIDS vaccine that has concluded the preclinical studies phase in lab animals and testing in about 20 human volunteers, with results of safety, tolerance and without adverse effects, according to the project leaders. The product named “Teravac-HIV” is essentially aimed at inducing an anti-HIV cellular response to reduce the burden of the virus on patients by promoting a “functional cure,” said principal project specialist Enrique Iglesias. “Cuba has a low incidence of HIV/AIDS epidemic, but there is a high resistance to some of the antiviral compounds we use. In that context, a therapeutic vaccine could contribute to the management of the epidemic,” Iglesias told the state newspaper Juventud Rebelde in an article published this Sunday. There are 26,952 persons on the island infected with the HIV/AIDS virus, 80 percent are male and 82 are between 20 and 54 years old, according to the latest official data on the epidemic released last week. Of these, 86 percent receive free and controlled antiretroviral therapy, based on a combination of Cuban and other imported antiretroviral drugs, certified by the World Health Organization. Among those diagnosed, the most affected are transsexual women, with 19.7%, men...

The government of Cuba and the European Union (EU) this Friday held in Havana the 2nd Political Dialogue on the Imposition of Unilateral Coercive Measures, amid growing U.S. economic pressures, intensifying the embargo with new sanctions on the island. A EU delegation headed by the head of the Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Division of the European External Action Service, Katja Afheldt, arrived this week in Havana for the dialogue, preceded by meetings with businesspeople and representatives of civil society affected by U.S. sanctions. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1200431460634759170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1200431460634759170&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-y-la-ue-abordan-en-la-habana-escalada-del-embargo-de-eeuu%2F “It is an issue of the greatest importance for Cuba. In the last period there has been a significant increase in the application of the ‘blockade’ and similar hostile measures against Cuba,” said the director general of Multilateral Affairs and International Law of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Rodolfo Reyes, at the beginning of the meeting. The controversial Title III The diplomat thanked the European countries for their support to the resolution that each year his country presents at the United Nations to call for the end of the embargo, as well as the EU's position against the extraterritorial application of the Helms-Burton Act and its newly reactivated titles III and IV. Those provisions that Washington...

The new travel to Cuba restrictions imposed by the United States and the bankruptcy of the largest British tour operator, Thomas Cook, had a negative impact on the Caribbean country’s tourism sector, according to statistics for the month of September released this Wednesday. The year-on-year comparison indicates that compared to the 51,776 Americans who traveled to Cuba in September last year, only 13,094 (-74.7%) did so this year, while the 13,676 British tourists who arrived in that month of 2018 were reduced to 6,133 (-55.2%) in 2019. In cumulative terms, from January to September of this year, U.S. visitors decreased by 5.2%, from 460,288 to 436,453. Americans are still forbidden to visit the neighboring island due to the embargo that Washington has maintained for almost 60 years, but they could still come through exceptions such as educational, religious or cultural exchange trips, among other categories. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/u-s-cruises-to-cuba-banned-the-end-of-an-era/ The Donald Trump administration has reduced and in some cases eliminated those possibilities and this year also banned cruise trips from the U.S.  Washington has intensified its sanctions against Cuba with the goal of damaging the already fragile economy of the island under the argument that the Cuban government provides logistical support to keep...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced this Tuesday new sanctions against the state-owned Cubametales company, by punishing the also Cuban company Corporación Panamericana, which it accused of being used as an intermediary for the purchase of Venezuelan oil. “Cuba has played a direct role in preventing the return of democracy to Venezuela. Treasury continues to pursue sanctions evaders to deny (the arrival of) resources to the illegitimate Venezuelan regime,” said Treasury Deputy Secretary Justin G. Muzinich in a press release. https://twitter.com/USTreasury/status/1199349938955661313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1199349938955661313&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Feeuu-sanciona-a-empresa-cubana-por-operar-con-venezuela%2F The government of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions in July this year against Cubametales, the company responsible for guaranteeing all imports and exports of fuels to and from Cuba, whose main supplier is Venezuela. Since then, and due to the increasing pressures from these sanctions, the Treasury underlined in its release, Cubametales “repeatedly offered Corporacion Panamericana S.A. as an intermediary to continue operations and circumvent sanctions” and has shifted employees from one company to another. As a result of this measure, assets that the company may have under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen and financial transactions with U.S. entities are forbidden. https://oncubanews.com/cuba-ee-uu/eeuu-sanciona-a-empresas-de-chipre-y-panama-por-llevar-petroleo-a-cuba/ Since his arrival at the White House, in January 2017, Trump has increased pressure on Caracas and imposed economic sanctions on more...

Cuba commemorated this Monday the third anniversary of the death of Fidel Castro (1926-2016) with homages to remember his legacy throughout the country and extensive coverage in the state media to extol the figure of he who led the country for almost half a century. The main ceremony was held at the University of Havana, where music and poetry sessions took place with lyrics dedicated to the deceased leader, as well as the screening of videos about his historical feats, between slogans and songs by an audience made up of thousands of students, teachers and other participants. The event, organized by the Union of Young Communists (UJC) under the motto “Fidel Antiimperialist,” was attended by current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who did not give a speech and preferred to use the social media Twitter to dedicate his praise to the historical leader of the Revolution. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1199305182754066436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1199305182754066436&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-conmemoro-el-tercer-aniversario-de-la-muerte-de-fidel-castro%2F In the eastern city of Santiago, a parade on horseback was organized to pay tribute to him, as well as a political-cultural event led by UJC members who expressed the commitment to continue his legacy. In Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, in that same province, flowers were placed in front of the granite rock that keeps...

The Cuban government has created a program against racism and racial discrimination, a problem that continues latent in the country's society, where it generates complaints, criticisms and insistent calls for its eradication. This was one of the issues addressed during the most recent meeting of the Council of Ministers―headed by President Miguel Díaz-Canel―which state media reported on this Friday. Díaz-Canel said that the Cuban Revolution “possibly has been the social and political process that has contributed the most to eliminating racial discrimination,” but acknowledged that there are still “some vestiges, which are not part of policies in our society, but in the culture of a group of persons.” As an example, he mentioned the manifestations of racism that are perceived in jokes, in certain attitudes at the social level and in some convocations for positions in private businesses that “specify skin color.” The new program aims to “combat and eliminate the vestiges of racism, racial prejudice and racial discrimination that remain in Cuba,” explained Deputy Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas. The deputy minister considered that the dismantling of racial discrimination began since the coming to power of the Cuban revolution in 1959 with advances that he described as “gigantic, solid...

The governments of Cuba and Ecuador signed an agreement that definitively terminates six specific professional services agreements in the scientific and technical assistance areas between the two countries, the island’s Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) reported this Wednesday. A total of 382 Cuban health professionals working in 23 of the 24 provinces of Ecuador returned to Cuba this week, after the government of President Lenín Moreno announced on November 12 the end of the health agreements and that the island’s doctors would be replaced by locals. In the agreement, the Ecuadorian authorities alleged economic reasons to conclude and not renew the agreements that were in force since 2009, according to the MINSAP note, which does not specify the date and place of the signing of the document. https://twitter.com/CubaMINREX/status/1197096529452044288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1197096529452044288&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Farticulos-revista%2Fcuba-y-ecuador-confirman-fin-de-pactos-de-servicios-medicos-y-cientificos%2F Ecuadorian media had previously reported that the government of Quito had ended the agreements after verifying that during the riots of early October in Ecuador there had been an unusual flow of foreigners in the country with official Cuban passports. The Havana government considered that information “false” and affirmed that the Cuban doctors “strictly” performed the functions entrusted to them by the health system of Ecuador in “rigorous” compliance with the signed...

Cuba will restore 43 national bus routes as of November 22, giving coverage to all destinations as before the reduction applied by the government in the last two months due to the acute fuel crisis that the island was experiencing. The state-owned National Bus Enterprise (EON) reported this Monday that by resuming its services they increase daily bus departures to 345, many of which were canceled on September 15 when public transportation on highways was minimized. The entity’s officials explained that some destinations have been modified and that is why there will be daily trips, on alternate days, two or three times a week or every so often in the month, according to a report by the state-run Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency. On September 11, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that the country was facing a complicated “temporary” energy situation because it had momentarily stopped receiving oil due to U.S. pressure on shipping companies to avoid the arrival of fuel to Cuba in retaliation for its support for Venezuela. This situation has particularly affected diesel fuel, which most of the vehicles that circulate in Cuba consume, including the public transportation fleet. Given this circumstance, the government of...

The former president and leader of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Raúl Castro, received this Saturday the chairwoman of the Russian Senate, Valentina Matviyenko, invited to the celebrations for Havana’s 500 years. The ex-president, who participates in few public events since leaving the State in the hands of Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2018, also met with former French President Francois Hollande, who also traveled to the Island for the celebrations of the half millennium of the Cuban capital. State television broadcast images of the meetings, described as “cordial,” which took place after the official reception offered by Díaz-Canel in the renovated Havana Capitol building, partly restored with millionaire funds donated by Moscow. Castro and Matviyenko conveyed their “mutual satisfaction over the excellent state of relations” between the two countries, united by “historical” ties dating from the time of the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the leader of the PCC expressed to Hollande his pleasure over the good state of relations and highlighted the French support against the U.S. economic and trade embargo on Cuba. Havana celebrated its 500th birthday this Saturday, for which the Cuban authorities spared no effort, and had its culminating moment with a lavish gala on the...

The iconic Mercado Unico de La Habana, one of the buildings restored for the festivities of the 500 years of the foundation of the Cuban capital, closed its doors on the same day of its reopening due to the incidents caused by an avalanche of people in the commercial establishment. https://www.facebook.com/belkis.ramires.771/posts/183459049448744 Caption: Look at this in 4 camino la Habana waoooooooooooooo cuba Posted by Belkis Ramires on Saturday, November 16, 2019 The management of the renewed Cuatro Caminos Market, belonging to the state corporation Cimex, announced that the services of the facility were temporarily suspended this Saturday, although it did not mention the incidents with the public. A note from the general manager of the renewed market, Ania Peralta de Armas, published in the Facebook account of Cimex, explained this Sunday that “in the face of the mass amount of public it is necessary to make adjustments to the startup.” The manager added that the shopping center―one of the largest in Havana―will reopen its doors over the next week. The new store this Saturday attracted a crowd of people who created agglomerations, disputes, hoarding scenes generated mainly by beer, one of the products that for several months has been in...

A group of 226 Cuban doctors left Bolivia this Saturday for their country from the Viru Viru International Airport in the city of Santa Cruz, following the accusations of the Bolivian interim authorities against these citizens for their alleged links to the protests in Bolivia. At a press conference at the airport’s migration offices, the director of Interpol in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, Colonel Rolando Millares, pointed out that in this first group there were 226 Cubans, “all doctors.” Millares added that in coordination with the Cuban consulate, “protection” is being provided to all these groups of citizens who are arriving from different parts of Bolivia to go to the airport in Santa Cruz. https://www.facebook.com/nirza.garciavaldes/posts/2495110573891201 A Cubana de Aviación plane took off at approximately 11.00 local time with the Cubans on board, whose departure the Bolivian Interim Foreign Minister Karen Longaric had advanced this Friday. Longaric explained last Friday that Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez himself had confirmed that “in order not to exasperate the situation any longer and not damage relations,” they had decided to “withdraw from Bolivia 725 Cubans working in different areas of cooperation.” The Bolivian transition government of Jeanine Áñez reported the arrest of...

Miami, where a large community of Cuban immigrants and their descendants lives, and which is the headquarters of the largest collection of documents and other materials on Cuba outside the island, will also commemorate the 500th anniversary of the foundation of Havana with a sample of its treasures, such as a 16th century map, letters from José Martí and 19th century lithographs. “This exhibition projects the message that we have a very wide-ranging vision of what Cuba's history is. Not only from the outside in, we understand that Cuban culture is far beyond Cuba and the exile,” the director of the Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC) of the University of Miami (UM), Elizabeth Cerejido, said to EFE agency. The CHC, the School of Architecture and the Center for Urban and Community Design of UM joined forces to create an exhibition that reviews the five centuries of a “unique” city, according to a press release. The exhibition, which will be on display until February, is complemented by an international symposium on the architectural and urban development of the city during the last five centuries, which is being held this Thursday and Friday. This Saturday, November 16, marks the 500th anniversary of the...

Felipe VI recalled this Wednesday before Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel that Spain brought to Cuba the conception of universal human rights, defended their respect and stressed that it is the Cuban people themselves who must decide on their future because “the changes in a country cannot be imposed.” The king of Spain conveyed that message in his speech at the dinner he hosted for the Cuban president, who was accompanied by his wife Lis Cuesta, on the occasion of the state visit to the island accompanied by Queen Letizia. The monarch underlined the need for the existence of institutions that represent all citizens and that they can express their preferences for themselves and find in them “adequate respect for the integrity of their rights, including the ability to freely express their ideas, freedom of association or that of assembly.” Along that line, he stressed that a sure lesson that is drawn from history is that evolution, adaptation and change are inevitable. “Nothing remains frozen in time, and whoever resists its passage loses the opportunity to collaborate in the design of that future that is already being born or, even more, that is already here,” he added. It was then that...

The king and queen of Spain arrived in Havana this Monday night to start a historic visit, the first of a state character by a Spanish king to the island. The Spanish Air Force plane in which Felipe VI and Doña Letizia traveled from Madrid landed at Havana’s José Martí airport shortly before 7:30 p.m. (12:30 p.m. GMT on November 12) with the flags of Spain and Cuba outside the cockpit. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez was waiting to receive them at the airport on behalf of the Cuban government, since the official welcome from the president of the country, Miguel Díaz-Canel, will take place this Tuesday morning. Following protocol, due to the time of arrival (already dusk in Havana) there was no reception with honors or the playing of the national anthems, which will also be carried out this Tuesday when Díaz-Canel welcomes them at the headquarters of the Council of State. The ambassador of Spain to Cuba, Juan Fernández Trigo, and his Cuban counterpart in Madrid, Gustavo Machín, boarded the aircraft to greet Felipe VI and Doña Letizia before they descended the plane’s steps. Waiting for them at the foot of steps was Bruno Rodriguez, who first greeted the...

The foreign ministers of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez, and of Mexico, Marcelo Ebrard, met this Saturday in Havana as a first step to relaunch the “historical” bilateral ties and open a new “better and broader” stage in the cooperation between the two countries.  Rodríguez received Ebrard at the headquarters of the island’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, three weeks after the official visit of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to Mexico, in which he agreed with his counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador a new short- and medium-term collaboration program. We are here to “start a better and broader stage in the two countries’ relations.… The purpose of this visit is that we can translate that closeness and affection between the two peoples into cooperative actions that allow us to offer positive results in the coming months and years,” said Ebrard. The Mexican foreign minister explained that this is “a first conversation in that direction” and said that “there will be many subsequent tasks” and “surely good news for our peoples.” “Cuba has always been and will continue to be an extremely close country for Mexico, not only in geography, but also in culture and values,” said Ebrard, the right-hand man of López Obrador,...

A 100% Italian capital company was constituted this Thursday at the Havana International Trade Fair (FIHAV 2019) to become established in the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), Cuba’s main project to attract foreign investment. Lácteos Mariel S.A. this Thursday became one of the 50 businesses from 21 countries authorized by the Cuban government to operate in the commercial center, where 26 of these investments are already underway and the rest are in the project stage for a value of 2.3 billion dollars, according to official data released this week. Of the 50 approved investments, 29 are 100% foreign capital, 12 joint ventures, seven 100% Cuban capital and two international economic association contracts. The Italian entity will produce dairy products such as yogurt, ice cream and mozzarella cheese for the Cuban market and for export. One of its two shareholders, Gianmaria Bellati, said the company will be of interest to the agricultural, agribusiness and tourism sectors and intends to develop milk production with agricultural workers on the island to obtain a high-level product, according to the state Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency. The Italian entrepreneur explained that they will bring to Cuba the same technology they have in Europe, and...

The 2019 Havana International Trade Fair (FIHAV), the largest and most important trade mart in Cuba, opened its doors today with its sight set on promoting foreign investments, amid the delicate economic situation facing the country due to the lack of foreign currency and fuel. This 37th edition of the fair is taking place in a business climate pervaded with the tense atmosphere created by the U.S. government, which in recent months has increased the economic siege on the island with the application of new sanctions that intensify the embargo in force for almost six decades. The event will bring together more than 2,000 company representatives from some 55 countries until November 8, at its usual venue in the Expocuba fairgrounds. https://twitter.com/FeriaHabana/status/1191379438912593922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1191379438912593922&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Finicio-este-lunes-la-bolsa-comercial-mas-importante-de-cuba-fihav-2019%2F The opening day will be to celebrate Spain Day, a country that will maintain the leading position among foreign exhibitors at FIHAV 2019, with the presence of more than 110 companies in four pavilions. As in previous editions, the organizers of the business meeting have announced the presence of at least 14 official delegations, headed by ministers and senior officials. One of the main activities of the FIHAV program will be the 4th Business Forum, which aims to...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel met this Tuesday with a group of Russian businesspeople, to whom he assured that Cuba, despite the blockade, will maintain its development programs and protect the interests of foreign investors. In the meeting, with which the Cuban president began the second day of his working visit to Russia, businesspeople linked to economic sectors such as transportation, energy, exports and tourism participated, reported Cuba’s Presidency. Díaz-Canel explained to the Russian entrepreneurs the situation in his country “due to the reinforcement of the U.S. blockade and reiterated the position of not making concessions and preserving the interests of foreign companies,” he said on his official Twitter account. The Cuban president stressed that the economic-commercial relations between Cuba and Russia are moving forward with the realization of important agreements. “This has been possible because of the political will of the Russian government and, in addition, because of the interest shown by Russian businesspeople in strengthening economic-commercial and scientific-technical relations between Cuba and Russia,” he said. Photo: @PresidenciaCuba/Twitter. He also thanked the “Russian financial banking institutions for their support,” which has made it possible, he said, “to achieve a sustained increase in commercial exchange since 2016.” Díaz-Canel met this Tuesday...

The governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, requested an investigation from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) based on denunciations of mistreatment at the Otero County Processing Center, where allegedly at least three Cuban immigrants have attempted to commit suicide. Through a letter, Lujan Grisham asked acting U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan to “take steps to ensure that any mistreatment at ICE facilities in the state ends immediately.” Similarly, in another letter to the inspector general of the department, Joseph V. Cuffari, the governor asks that his office open an investigation immediately at the Otero center, after reports that “asylum-seekers attempted self-harm in despair over the cruel conditions in which they are held.” In both letters, reviewed Tuesday by the Albuquerque Journal, Lujan Grisham writes: “These are not the first troubling reports about detainees in ICE custody at this facility and others in this state.” https://oncubanews.com/cuba-ee-uu/hallado-muerto-un-cubano-en-una-carcel-de-inmigracion-en-eeuu/ María Martínez Sánchez, principal lawyer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), who denounced last week the “inhuman” treatment in Otero, told the EFE agency that she is “happy” with the actions being taken by the state, but says that more can be done to stop abuses in detention centers....