The more than 6,000 Cuban migrants who have been stuck in Costa Rica waiting to continue their trip to the United States will be able to do so through Guatemala as of the first week of 2016. The member nations of the Central American Integration System (SICA) have reached an agreement to open an “exceptional, secure and organized path” through Guatemala for these Cubans. The first migrants arrived in Costa Rica in mid-November, hoping to cross the Nicaraguan border in their journey to their final destination, the United States, but when the first group entered Nicaragua, they were sent back to Costa Rica. The border has been closed for them ever since. This new announcement will put an end to the uncertainty they have experienced over the last month, as more of them have been accumulating in shelters in Costa Rica. The approved humanitarian pilot plan to transfer the Cubans will allow them to reach the United States through Mexico. The official announcement states that they will travel to El Salvador by plane, from where they will head up to Mexico by bus. The Costa Rican Foreign Minister, Manuel Gonzalez, said that, unfortunately, it was not possible to make progress...

For the first time Cuba receives the official visit by a head of the diplomacy of the eurozone. Just four months after taking office, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, arrives in Havana . The Italian former Chancellor announced she will be on the island on March 23 and 24. Her intention is to promote relations between the block and the Cuban government, and currently they are developing rounds of talks approximately every six months. The dialogues are trying to form a political agreement to guide the new bilateral relations. Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy A statement from the European diplomatic service highlights the importance of this trip occurring ¨at a crucial moment for the negotiations between EU and Cuba. Among other issues, Mogherini "will talk with her Cuban interlocutors about (...) the prospects for EU-Cuba cooperation", said the note. Another objective of this trip is to relax the bilateral tension left by the third round of talks Cuba-EU, held in mid-March. At the end of these meetings, the European negotiator Christian Leffler revealed "differences of interpretation" that must be overcome....

Roberta Jacobson and Josefina Vidal, the representatives of the United States and Cuba at the negotiating table to restore diplomatic relations, respectively, will meet Monday for the third time since the beginning of the bilateral approach announced the 17D Presidents Obama and Raul Castro. A note from the US State Department published on its official website, indicates that Jacobson, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, traveled to Havana on Sunday. On Monday a series of talks with the Cuban negotiating team, led by the Director General of United States of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal, will begin. The meeting is a continuation of "discussions on restoring diplomatic ties and reopening embassies," says the State Department. It adds in its note that "the parties have been communicating since the last meeting in February in Washington." The leading group As usual, each round of negotiations has been preceded by a 'move' by the American side with regard to bilateral relations. This time, Jacobson's visit is preceded in just 24 hours by a delegation of 80 US businessmen and social leaders of the city of New Orleans. The announcement has caused great media impact, because it is the first nonstop flight from...

Directors of Special Development Zone located in the mega port of Mariel announced the approval of two foreign investment projects, out of the hundreds submitted since 2013. The news confirms the participation of Mexican meat company Richmeat SA CV, while maintaining hidden the identity of the second. According to the deputy director of the Regulatory Office ZEDM, Yanet Vázquez, both companies are legalizing their status in Cuba. "By a principle of confidentiality and protection towards negotiators, the office will only make this information public when companies are officially registered," the executive said during the annual Scientific Seminar of the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy. At that meeting, Vazquez added that the sectors most represented in the portfolio of proposals "are industry, logistics activities and renewable energy" and mainly from Europe (Spain, Italy, France and Portugal) and America (Panama, Mexico, Brazil and Canada), although offers from economic powers like China and Russia are also analyzed. Most companies interested in investing in Mariel are totally of foreign capital, said the representative of the ZEDM, who decided not to advance further information on the subject until the end of the first half of the year. Throughout 2014, said the director,...

The Mexican meat company Richmeat SA de C.V. was authorized to participate in the investment project of the Special Development Zone Mariel, Cuba. It is the first approval of Havana to a foreign company to participate in this economic plan. By posting the announcement on his official website, Mexico's Foreign Ministry said the agreement "includes an investment in the food sector" and "is the processing and packaging of meat products". In addition, states that, during the legal proceedings, representatives of the company received the support of the Embassy of Mexico in Cuba and commercial counseling of Promexico in Haiti. The latter is a Mexican Parastatal entity, subject to the Ministry of Economy, which aims to promote foreign direct investment and exports of goods and services. The proposal by Richmeat is one of the fifteen announced last November during the International Fair of Havana, FIHAV 2015. The rest belong to sectors as "fertilizer, machinery, services to the shipping industry, paints and industrial coatings, packaging and packaging , food and beverages, "says the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its online site. For the Mexican government, having advanced in the commercial initiative of Mariel is no coincidence. "It's part of the relaunching...

The delegation of Democrats who visited Havana from Tuesday, led by Minority Leader of the House of Representatives of the United States, Nancy Pelosi, gave a press conference on Thursday afternoon, hours before returning to their country. When starting the meeting with the press, the head of the delegation said that this was a trip to see the reaction of Cuba after the round of talks and recent Washington measures regarding the embargo. In this regard, she said he was "positively impressed by the prospects" of relations and especially the "entrepreneur" Cuban private sector. On the situation of diplomatic relations, Pelosi said that there are advances in opening embassies, specifically in the banking situation that prevents the Cuban Embassy in Washington to operate normally. In another of the claims of Cuba, its removal from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, "we have taken some steps," she said. Other lawmakers like Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, acknowledged that in the process towards normalization of relations, both parties are acting in a mature and respectful manner. It is a time according to Rosa DeLauro, of Connecticut "to move forward, not backward." About the embargo With regard to lifting the embargo, Pelosi said the...

Closing the jail in the US military base at Guantanamo remains one of the unfulfilled promises of the Obama administration. According to the White House, the process towards the eventual closure of the enclave is being torpedoed by Republican lawmakers. Another struggle over this issue recently arose when the US president said he would veto any legislation that prevents the transfer of prisoners from the base to other countries. So the president responded to a bill introduced by several legislators of the opposition party, which would prevent the majority of shipments for the next two years, ie, the same Obama will be in power. The proposed bill by Senators Kelly Ayotte, John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Richard Burr seeks to repeal the current law therefore under the purview of the same, Democrat government has transferred some thirty prisoners to countries like Yemen, where most detainees were from. The "anti-transfer" project began to be developed after the attacks of January 7 and 9 in Paris that killed 20 people, including three Islamic terrorists. Moving or releasing the "suspected terrorists" makes them available to re-join extremist organizations, say the Republicans. However, Reuters, notes that "in practice this nuance is irrelevant because of...

Since 1983 Radio and TV Martí have cost more than $ 770 million to US taxpayers.

Along with the news of the restoration of relations between the US and Cuba, a tide of members of the US business sector made public their old interest in negotiating with Cuba, to be inserted in any way in the country. The possibility of obtaining the gains the virgin Cuban market promises, just 90 miles away, generated immediate reactions. Only the occasion of a possible lifting of the US embargo against Cuba made that, just 24 hours after the announcements of December 17, shares of companies most likely to gain ground on the island skyrocketed. Even the avalanche of experts and consultants who warned of the impossibility of the end of the so-called 'embargo' stopped speculation. Among the firms who viewed grow the value of their shares overnight include, for example, Cargill (agribusiness) and cruise Royal Caribbean and Carnival Corporation. Caterpillar Inc: world leader in the manufacture of machinery for construction and mining equipment. After 48 hours another group of recognized companies issued statements to express their interest in commercial spaces on the island. Among the varied list of the first to announce their interests highlighted the hotel chain Marriott International; the Caterpillar Corporation, a world leader in the manufacture...