Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel congratulated Cristina and Alberto Fernández this Monday for their “deserved victory” in the presidential elections held on Sunday in Argentina. “A deserved victory that favors the defeat of neoliberalism. Congratulations from Cuba, dear Cristina as well as Alberto. The Great Nation is celebrating,” the Cuban president, who is in Russia on a work visit, wrote on Twitter. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1188695944268845056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1188695944268845056&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fdiaz-canel-felicita-a-cristina-y-alberto-fernandez-por-su-merecido-triunfo%2F Peronist Alberto Fernández, leader of the Frente de Todos party, with former President Cristina Fernández as a running companion, defeated on the first round the current head of state, Mauricio Macri, with a margin of more than 7 percentage points. Photo: EFE After having counted 97.598% of the votes at the polling stations, the Peronist politician obtained 48.04% of the votes, while Macri got 40.44%. Fernández will assume the leadership of the State on December 10 without the need for a second round, since the latter is held only in case the winner of the elections does not get more than 45% percent of the votes cast.

The state-owned Cubana de Aviación airline announced the cancellation of its flights to seven international and two national destinations, and blamed this to the recent intensification of the U.S. embargo. The international itineraries affected are Mexico City, Cancun, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Caracas (Venezuela), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Fort-de-France (Martinique) and Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe), as reported by the state-run Cuban News Agency (ACN). Flights between the capital and the eastern cities of Santiago de Cuba―the island’s second in importance―and Holguín will also be affected, according to the state-run news agency, which gave no further details. The deputy director of the airline, Arsenio Arocha Elías-Moisés, said that Cubana de Aviación was notified of the termination of two aircraft lease contracts by third-country companies―which he did not identify―due to the latest sanctions imposed by the Washington administration against Cuba. Arocha specified that the suspension of operations to the aforementioned destinations will affect about 40,000 passengers until next December 31 and economic damages are estimated at about 10 million in “freely convertible currency” (this is interpreted to be equivalent to USD) to date. He considered the U.S. actions cause “indirect damages” to the image of the Cuban commercial aviation company, which invalidates its ability to meet...

Cuban President , Miguel Díaz-Canel this Thursday carried out an official visit to Mexico, where he met with his Mexican counterpart, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to address a regional development plan at a time in which the island is going through a serious economic crisis and new problems with the United States. The Cuban president and his wife, Lis Cuesta Peraza, arrived at the gates of the National Palace, in Mexico City, where dozens of supporters awaited them chanting "Cuban president, Mexico shakes your hand" and "Díaz-Canel, with Andrés Manuel."  They were received by López Obrador and his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrez, in a brief ceremony in which the national anthems of both countries were played before starting the meeting behind closed doors, which had no subsequent press conference. Check Video Here "We are strengthening our historical relationship with the people and the government of Cuba, as well as the ties of friendship and cooperation for development with the peoples of Latin America," said the Mexican president on Twitter after the meeting. In a previous press conference, López Obrador announced that the reason for the visit was to talk about a development plan which is yet to be defined. "We are going to...

Spanish businessmen in Cuba enthusiastically received the news of the next official visit of King Philip VI and Queen Letizia, the first of a Spanish monarch to the island, at a sensitive time for their businesses due to the Cuban government’s non-payment and the intensification of the U.S. embargo. "It’s the best news they could give us," Xulio Fontecha, president of the Association of Spanish Businessmen in Cuba, told EFE after acting Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell announced this Wednesday that the royal couple will travel to the Caribbean country "immediately after" the general elections on November 10. The representative of the Association, which comprises almost 300 Spanish companies―mostly SMEs―in Cuba, said that his community had "been waiting for many decades" for a visit from the Spanish head of state. "We want him to know firsthand what we are doing here and our current problems," he said, while maintaining that the trip "will strengthen and contribute" to the smooth progress of bilateral relations, and with it the opportunities of Spanish companies on the island. He also hoped "to have the opportunity, within the program, for a business meeting with the king," something that would be "very important" for a sector...

The Cuban health authorities ruled out this Wednesday that the death of baby girl and the health problems of four others who had to be hospitalized are due to the vaccine administered shortly before to all of them. The MMR vaccine against mumps, measles and rubella "is not the problem" since thousands of doses have been applied from the same batch without more adverse reactions having been reported, said the director general of the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED), Rafael Pérez. "The vaccine is not the problem. It is a triple viral vaccine that protects against three diseases that are serious, and that through the use of this product are now eliminated from our country," Pérez insisted in statements to Cubadebate. The baby Paloma Domínguez Caballero died last week and four other infants had to be hospitalized after receiving the vaccine in the same health center east of Havana, a news that shocked Cubans and went viral on the social media on the island, after which the government issued a note affirming it would study the case. The incident also caused concern among hundreds of Cuban parents who expressed their fear of vaccinating their...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel received this Wednesday Spanish Foreign Minister and future head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, on an official visit to Havana, where the king and queen of Spain will travel in November. In a cordial "environment," Borrell and Díaz-Canel "discussed the positive relations between Spain and Cuba, based on historical, familiar and cultural ties, and expressed their willingness to continue working to strengthen them," said a brief note about the meeting read on Cuban television. The statement made no reference to the announcement made this Wednesday by Borrell that King Philip and Queen Letizia will travel to Cuba in November for the celebration of Havana's five hundred years. It is a historical event, since it will be the first state visit of a Spanish monarch to the island, the only Latin American country Philip VI has never been. Together with Borrell, the meeting was also attended by Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Latin America and the Caribbean Juan Pablo De Laiglesia and the Spanish ambassador to Havana, Juan Fernández Trigo, while Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and the general director of bilateral relations Emilio Lozada attended for the Cuban side. The meeting with Díaz-Canel did...

Cuba’s new Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez officiated this Saturday a solemn mass in Havana’s Cathedral, the first in that emblematic temple since he was ordained by Pope Francis and which served as an official welcome to the now highest Catholic authority in Cuba. García Rodríguez (Camagüey, 1948), the third to occupy that title of high ecclesiastical rank on the island, replaced in 2016 the recently deceased Cardinal Jaime Ortega as archbishop of the archdiocese of the capital, at whose headquarters he thanked the samples of affection and the support of the gathered crowd of faithful. Photo: Yandry Fernández Perdomo. In his brief homily, the cardinal spoke of a "Cuban Church that walks with those who suffer and that at whose doors so many people knock," a "missionary" institution with a strong presence during the 500 years that Havana will celebrate next month. In addition, he recognized the hundreds of "priests who ride bicycles" and do not abandon their parishes, "the nuns and deacons" and the "catechists of every Saturday." "This is the Church that I have known, the Church that drives me to imitate it, it is the Church that by being holy will help me be...

This October 12 marks six months of the kidnapping of the two Cuban doctors in Kenya by the jihadist group Al-Shabaab. They are surgeon Landy Rodríguez and general medicine specialist Assel Herrera Correa, who on April 12, as usual, were traveling in a vehicle to the Mandera hospital, near the border with Somalia. However, that Friday a group of armed men blocked the vehicle and opened fire, killing one of the policemen who accompanied the doctors. The governor of Mandera County, Ali Roba, said at the time that "suspected members of Al-Shabaab" had abducted the doctors. "They are in Somalia," the Kenyan government spokesman confirmed to EFE, "alive, that's for sure," and "in good health." "We are developing plans to ensure that they are carried out in such a way that their lives are not put at risk, that we can go there, pull them out and return them to their families," said the government spokesman. Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan government spokesman, says the Cuban doctors are still alive in Somalia. Photo: pulselive.ug "We are following a good track in relation to the Cuban doctors and the operational plan to rescue them is a priority. We are constantly checking clues...

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Miguel Díaz-Canel for his appointment as president of Cuba, and reiterated his willingness to strengthen the strategic relations between Moscow and Havana. "The decision of the National Assembly attests to his high political authority and the recognition of his merits in complying with the urgent tasks in the country’s socio-economic development," Putin said in his congratulatory message to Díaz-Canel. Putin stressed that for Russia "the strengthening of the strategic partnership relations with Cuba is of great importance," and was convinced that the "next visit" of the Cuban president to Moscow will serve to "further expand mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in different fields." The Russian president also wished Díaz-Canel success, good health and wellbeing. This Thursday the Cuban Parliament appointed the current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, as President of the Republic, in compliance with the island’s new Constitution, which modifies the organization of the power structure and recovers that figure eliminated in 1976. As expected, the 59-year-old president thus begins his first five-year term, more than a year after assuming the leadership of the island and taking over after Raúl Castro, and thus assumes more extensive powers than until now, since he could make decisions without relying...

Cuba announced this Wednesday that it will apply fines and even prison sentences to those who break basic rules to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, at a time when there is an increase in the number of dengue cases on the island. Not fixing a water leak at home, pouring debris on public roads or transporting garbage or dead animals in an unhygienic way will be actions pursued by the authorities, which will impose fines of between 50 and 1,000 Cuban pesos (between 2 and 40 dollars), the Cuban District Attorney’s Office announced in a statement released by state media. It also threatened to impose economic sanctions or penalties of up to one year in prison according to the law for crimes involving the spreading of epidemics in various cases, from citizens who hide contagious diseases or refuse to receive medical care to officials who commit irregularities in prevention work and fumigation. https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/cuba-breeds-guppies-as-way-of-controlling-dengue-transmitting-mosquito/ The state legal body acknowledged having detected numerous irregularities in this area, such as the falsification of documents on inspections and fumigations that were never carried out, or the illegal marketing of products recovered from the garbage. The premises and facilities that violate sanitary norms will...

The European Union (EU) and Cuba this Thursday agreed to collaborate more to strengthen women's rights and access to the Internet, among other issues, during the second edition of the human rights dialogue in the framework of their bilateral agreement on political and cooperation dialogue. At this annual meeting, held in Brussels, the two sides agreed to explore greater collaboration through technical assistance and exchange of good practices in areas such as the fight against violence suffered by women or the improvement of Internet access, according to a statement by the European External Action Service. The EU, for its part, stressed "the value of involving a wider spectrum of civil society organizations" in order to "share their specialized knowledge and experiences to find common solutions to shared challenges." The first edition of this dialogue, which provides a "structured framework to openly and constructively discuss the situation of human rights in both Cuba and the EU," was held a year ago.  It also represents a platform to explore more cooperation in multilateral forums on human rights challenges. "Human rights remain at the center of bilateral relations between the EU and Cuba," said the EU's special representative for human rights, Eamon Gilmore,...

Cuban health authorities are promoting the breeding of guppies as an alternative measure against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, transmitter of the dengue and zika virus, at a time when the island is trying to control the spread of these diseases, official media reported this Wednesday. The experiment was put into practice in the central province of Cienfuegos, where there are seven banks of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) distributed throughout the territory, as an "economic and effective variant" to eradicate the plague, because a single fish can devour between 60 and 150 of the insect’s larvae in a day. Guppies are the "most important alternative method we have to replace pesticides," affirmed Deputy Director of the Provincial Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of Cienfuegos Edelis Molina to the state daily Granma. These freshwater fish, very popular for easily being kept in fish tanks, "do not affect the quality of the liquid and do not constitute a risk of contamination" in the water where the mosquito usually reproduces. "If each house has a tank with two fish, this will have a great impact on the fight against the Aedes," the specialist insisted. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/cuba-reporta-nuevo-brote-de-tipo-mortal-de-dengue/ The use of guppies as a biological control of the...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel received in Havana the king of Eswatini (former Swaziland), Mswati III, who began his third official visit to the island this Monday. Díaz-Canel and the king of the Southeast African nation ratified the good state of bilateral relations and expressed the will to strengthen cooperation for mutual benefit during the meeting held at the Palace of the Revolution, according to state media reports. In addition, they addressed topics of interest on current international events. King of Eswatini Mswati upon arrival in Havana, on September 29, 2019. Photo: Modesto Gutiérrez / ACN. The African dignitary’s program began with a tour of the historic center of Old Havana, proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982, where he visited the House of Africa. He also visited the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB)―a complex dedicated to research and the production of medicines―and paid homage to José Martí, the island’s independence hero, in the Cuban capital’s Revolution Square. Cuba and the Kingdom of Eswatini established diplomatic relations on September 22, 1995, and the island's medical cooperation with that nation began 10 years later. Mswati III, who succeeded his father Sobhuza II to the throne in 1986, previously...

Cuba maintains its goal of reaching 4.3 million tourists this year despite the tightening of the U.S. embargo, government officials said this Friday, coinciding with the celebration of World Tourism Day. Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero regretted that the end of cruise arrivals from the U.S. since June has "affected" the number of visitors but he hoped to reach the established goal of visitors, Granma reported. The President Donald Trump administration banned since the beginning of June cruise travel to Cuba, a country whose economy depends largely on tourism as its second largest source of income, dealing a huge blow to that thriving industry that had grown since the thaw that had started in 2014. The United States also banned private and corporate flights and restricted conditions for U.S. citizens to travel to the island, although commercial flights have been maintained, mainly for visits between family members on both sides. Although at the beginning of the year Cuba set the goal of closing it with 5.1 million tourists, it started lowering its forecasts as U.S. sanctions were tightened, and finally left the estimate at 4.3 million, 10% less than last year in which it surpassed 4.7 million. Thus, World Tourism Day...

The British Thomas Cook tour operator’s bankruptcy has affected some 2,000 tourists who are in Cuba, sources from the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Havana reported this Monday, and has led to the rescheduling of 10 flights from three airports on the island. Those affected are in three Cuban destinations: the eastern province of Holguín, Cayo Coco, off the northern coast, and the popular tourist resort of Varadero, about 150 kilometers west of Havana, an official of the British diplomatic mission said to the EFE news agency. Thomas Cook's customers were planning to return to the United Kingdom in the next few weeks on a total of 10 flights, the first of them this Tuesday afternoon from Holguín to London’s Gatwick Airport, which has been rescheduled for the same day. https://oncubanews.com/mundo/quiebra-la-operadora-turistica-thomas-cook-miles-de-vacacionistas-varados/ The remaining nine flights from the three destinations, which were planned between Wednesday, September 25 and next October 6, are still pending rescheduling, according to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Those affected have their stay guaranteed in Cuban hotels until they are transferred back to the United Kingdom, explained the source from the Embassy, ​​which has sent assistance personnel to the three destinations to tend to...

The two diplomats of the Cuban mission to the UN who were expelled by the U.S. government returned to Havana this Friday accompanied by their respective families, according to the island's television. They are the minister counselor, Jorge Peña Argilagos, and the first secretary of the Cuban diplomatic mission to the United Nations Organization in New York, Rolando Vergara Sito, whose identities had not been revealed until now. The diplomats were received upon arrival at José Martí International Airport in Havana by Deputy Foreign Minister Anayansi Rodríguez and the director of bilateral affairs and the General Department for the United States of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Yuri Gala. This Thursday the U.S. government demanded the departure from the country of the two Cuban diplomats for having "engaged in activities harmful to U.S. national security" and restricted the movements of the rest of the Cuban mission to the UN that, as of now, can only move through Manhattan, where the headquarters of the multilateral organization is located. The Cuban television report noted that the diplomats "are returning home with the satisfaction of having fulfilled their duty, although the U.S. government accuses them of carrying out alleged acts incompatible with their diplomatic...

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez considered "unjustified" the expulsion this Thursday of two Cuban diplomats to the UN in New York and described as "vulgar slander" the reason put forward by the U.S., which accuses them of engaging in activities against the country’s security. "I categorically reject the unjustified expulsion of 2 officials from the Permanent Mission of #Cuba to the #UN and the strengthening of movement restrictions for diplomats and families," the Cuban foreign minister posted on Twitter. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1174794140099497993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1174794140099497993&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fcuba-rechaza-la-injustificada-expulsion-de-sus-enviados-en-la-onu-por-eeuu%2F This first reaction from Havana came just two hours after the U.S. Department of State announced that it had asked two members of the Cuban mission to the United Nations to leave the country for "engaging in activities harmful to U.S. national security." For Bruno Rodríguez "the accusation that they engaged in actions incompatible with their diplomatic status is vulgar slander," he said in the first of his two posts on Twitter. The Donald Trump administration also announced this Thursday that it has restricted the movements of the rest of the Cuban mission to the UN and from now on its members can only stay in Manhattan, the business and administrative center of New York where the building that is...

The U.S. government announced this Thursday that it had asked two members of the Cuban mission to the UN to leave the country for having "engaged in activities harmful to U.S. national security." "After 2 members of Cuba’s UN mission engaged in activities harmful to U.S. national security, we asked them to leave the U.S.," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a message on Twitter, without giving further details. The U.S. Executive has also restricted the rest of the members of the Cuban mission to the international organization from now on to stay in Manhattan, the business and administrative center of New York and where the building that serves as headquarters for the United Nations is located. "Members of Cuba’s UN mission are also restricted to stay in Manhattan. We take any & all attempts against the National Security of the U.S. seriously," said Ortagus. https://twitter.com/statedeptspox/status/1174776971148050433?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1174776971148050433&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba-ee-uu%2Feeuu-expulsa-a-dos-miembros-de-la-mision-cubana-en-la-onu%2F Currently, the movements of Cuba's diplomats in the U.S. and the Americans in Havana are restricted and they can only move through a certain area, although they can request authorization to travel to another part of the country. Ortagus did not mention the name of the affected diplomats or their rank; nor did...

Cuba began this Wednesday a process of consultation with the deputies to elect the main posts of a new government, among them those of president and vice president, as well as those of the National Assembly leadership and the Council of State. The proposals of the parliamentarians, who appointed the candidates to hold the positions, will be analyzed to conform the candidacy projects and submit them for approval for the next elections, as explained by the president of the National Candidacy Commission (CCN), María Consuelo Baeza, cited by the state-run Cuban News Agency (ACN). Baeza said that as established in Article 215 of the new Electoral Law passed last July, in compliance with the Constitution proclaimed on April 10, all deputies will deliver "personally, anonymously and in writing" their proposals. On this first day the deputies of the provinces of Guantánamo, Holguín, Sancti Spíritus, Pinar del Río and a group of those from Havana already exercised that right, where the process will take place until September 20. As of this Thursday, the legislators of the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas, the central Villa Clara and the western Artemisa will do so, and on Friday and Saturday...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel received this Tuesday in Havana the president of the Argentine Association Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Estela Varnes de Carlotto. Claudia Susana Carlotto, daughter of Estela Varnes, along with Daniel Ricci and Juan Carlos Barroso, representatives of university organizations, also participated in the meeting between the Cuban president and the Argentine human rights activist, according to a note released by the state-run Cuban News Agency (ACN). The president of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo was invited to make this visit to the island by the Federation of Cuban Women, whose president, Teresa Amarelle, was present at the meeting. Varnes, whose daughter Laura Carlotto was arrested and killed during the Argentine military dictatorship (1976-1983), joined in 1978 a group of women in the organization struggling to locate each one of the missing grandchildren. Photo: Estudios Revolución. In her case, the encounter with her grandson Guido, born in captivity when her daughter Laura was a prisoner, was possible after 36 years of searching, on August 5, 2014. The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo estimate that more than 400 children have been registered as missing and deprived of their identity, their right to live with...

Cuba and Russia created in Havana the first joint venture to produce construction materials, a sign that "nothing stops the alliance" between the two countries, the official daily Granma reported this Thursday. Teccomp Caribe S.A., formed between the Cuban trading company Siment Aut S.A. and the Russian United Composite Technologies, will manufacture fiberglass bars and meshes, which will serve as a complement to the steel commonly used in constructions on the island. The new venture will be based in the Mariel Special Development Zone, Havana’s star project to attract foreign capital, and its startup will still have to wait at least one year, at which stage the factory will be built and the investment process will be completed. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/zona-especial-de-mariel-atrae-maximo-historico-de-inversion-foranea-en-2018/ "Despite desperate attempts by the United States to curb trade collaboration between Cuba and other countries, nothing stops the alliance between the largest of the Caribbean islands and Russia," said Cuban Deputy Minister of Industry José Gaspar Álvarez, referring to the current "worsening" of Washington’s embargo on the Island. His Russian counterpart, Vasili Osmakov, also expressed his disagreement with that "U.S. extraterritorial policy" and said they will not allow it to "stop the alliance between Cuba and Russia, even if it...

The Cuban mission to the UN denounced this Monday the strengthening of the U.S. embargo, which Havana estimates has caused the country losses worth 4.343 billion dollars in one year. In a statement, the Cuban delegation highlighted “the strengthening of the extraterritorial application of the system of sanctions” of the United States and the impact this has had on Cuban enterprises, banks and embassies, which face “colossal obstacles” in their activities in other countries. Cuba estimates that in the almost six decades that have passed since the embargo was established, it has caused the country losses worth 138.843 billion dollars at current prices. Between April 2018 and March 2019, the U.S. sanctions cost Cuba 4.343 billion dollars, according to the government’s calculations, an amount slightly higher than the one registered a year earlier. This Monday’s Cuban statements are a preview of the campaign that every fall the Havana government carries out in the United Nations to promote the approval of a General Assembly resolution against the U.S. embargo. Since 1992, this body has approved every year a text along that line, which denounces the negative effects of the U.S. policy and calls for its end, although it has no binding...

The Cuban government condemned the new measures announced this Friday by the United States, which further strengthen the embargo imposed on the island by limiting family remittances and financial transactions through third countries. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez rejected "vigorously" the new sanctions, which he considered an "opportunistic attempt to divide the Cubans" and accused the United States of "lying brazenly" to hold Cuba responsible for "their failure to force the overthrow of the Bolivarian government" of Venezuela. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1170046876646805505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1170046876646805505&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba-ee-uu%2Fcuba-rechaza-nuevas-sanciones-de-eeuu-que-limitan-remesas-y-transacciones%2F "They will not break the will of the Cubans and the universal rejection against the blockade will grow," the foreign minister said on Twitter. Hours earlier, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that the amount Cubans residing in the North American country can send to their relatives on the island will be limited to 1,000 dollars per quarter. The financial control agency under the Department of the Treasury also indicated that as of October 9, remittances to close relatives of Cuban blacklisted officials and members of the Communist Party of Cuba will be illegal. After the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations between the Caribbean island and the United States, ending five decades of hostility initiated in full Cold...

Cuba opened the 2019-2020 school year this Monday with almost 2 million students in all educational centers and a respite in the teacher deficit by incorporating some 9,000 new educators to the classrooms, after the salary increase applied since last June for the island’s public sector workers. Enrollment in the more than 10,700 elementary, intermediate and higher intermediate education centers is more than 1.7 million students, with more than 162,000 teachers for a 95% coverage, according to data provided by the sector’s authorities. The Cuban system of free education for years has had a deficit of teachers who, demotivated by low wages and lack of benefits, have opted for retirement or exodus to the emerging private sector, where employees receive higher salaries and convertible pesos , the "hard currency" of the two circulating in Cuba. The Ministry of Education (MINED) indicated during the preparation of this academic year that it would have about 5,813 new teachers, in addition to 3,810 students of the last year of university pedagogical careers who will carry out full-time internships in schools where they are expected to work after their graduation. Students of an elementary school during the ceremony for the start of the school...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel criticized this Sunday the policy and actions of the United States government to hinder the "honorable history" of the island’s medical "collaboration" abroad, one of the State’s main sources of income today. "The empire’s audacity, slander, perversity crumble before the moral dignity accumulated by the honorable history of the Cuban health missions," wrote the president of the Caribbean country on his Twitter account. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1167827326903734272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1167827326903734272&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba-ee-uu%2Fdiaz-canel-critica-los-ataques-de-ee-uu-contra-las-misiones-medicas-de-cuba%2F In recent months the government of Havana has repeatedly accused President Donald Trump’s administration of trying to harm Cuban medical missions with actions such as a plan worth millions to "discredit and sabotage" the export of health services by the Caribbean country.  The Cuban Foreign Ministry condemned this week the approval of a plan endowed with funds supposedly from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and said that it joins the "crude pressures exerted against several governments to hinder Cuban cooperation." https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba-usa/cuba-denounces-u-s-plan-worth-millions-to-sabotage-its-medical-cooperation/ It also stated that Washington's claims that the Caribbean country incurs in the trafficking of persons or the practice of slavery, in order to "denigrate" the work of health professionals and technicians in several countries, is an unfounded "immoral lie." Cuba considers its international medical cooperation as one of...