The State University of New York (SUNY) and the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education (MES) signed a memorandum of understanding in the context of the Universidad 2020 International Congress, which just took place in Havana. The agreement “will provide new opportunities for students from both countries,” reported the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency, which specified that, as part of the agreement, “exchanges will be carried out in the system of universities, such as short courses, internships, doctoral grants, masters, and lectures by academicians.” Sally Crimmins, associate vice rector of the SUNY Office of Global Affairs and who signed the memorandum for the U.S. institution, said that the universities have a “huge responsibility” in the formation of future leaders, so that they understand “the importance of relations between Cuba and the United States and work towards rapprochement.” She explained that her university's links with the MES began in 2016, during the “thaw” between Cuba and the United States, “in a climate of great optimism,” and said that the work done since then “has been very enriching.” She also recalled that at the moment there are about 13 cooperation agreements with academic entities on the island, despite the rollback in...

The water supply to several municipalities in the Cuban capital was restored this Tuesday, after almost a week of affectations as a result of a breakdown in a fuel line that had contaminated the Vento canal, the newspaper Tribuna de La Habana reported. Aguas de La Habana executives said that brigades from that enterprise and Cuba Petróleo (Cupet) worked “nonstop” for more than two days to repair the pipeline that supplies fuel to José Martí International Airport, whose breakdown last Wednesday caused the contamination of the canal. After that, it was necessary to remove and change the canal’s earth, while sanitation work was carried out in the sections of the pipes that were affected by the fuel. The contamination was detected during an inspection carried out by specialized divers to the master pipe, which led to new excavations to determine the magnitude of the damage. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/contaminacion-por-combustible-afecta-agua-potable-en-la-habana/ The turbo-fuel spill compromised the drinking water that gets to the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución, Centro Habana, Diez de Octubre, Old Havana and Cerro. Leonel Díaz, general director of Aguas de La Habana, said at the time that “due to the rapid work carried out, only signs of contamination were detected in...

Cubans will be able to access their criminal records, the registration of wills and the declarations of heirs, through an application for cell phones of the island’s Ministry of Justice (MINJUS), the daily Juventud Rebelde reported. Pilar Varona, deputy minister of the sector, announced to the press that the application, named iLexMinjus, can be downloaded from the Cuban store apklis.cu, and is designed for mobile devices with Android operating system. Check Video Here *Caption: Press conference at the Ministry of Justice to launch ILEXMINJUS mobile application Posted by Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Cuba on Monday, February 10, 2020 The users of iLexMinjus will also have the possibility of sending their concerns and complaints related to the services offered by the MINJUS. According to the application itself, the requested documents can be collected only at the headquarters of the provincial capitals, and in some municipalities of Mayabeque, Artemisa, Camagüey and Havana, within 72 hours after the request is made. In order for criminal records to be valid outside of Cuba, the procedures must be carried out only through the International Legal Consultancies, the media specified. The application was created by developers of the Electronic Government Center (CEGEL) of...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel met this Tuesday in Havana with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, who made a pastoral visit invited by the island’s president and the Catholic hierarchy. “This is His Eminence's first visit to the island, where he has been welcomed with hospitality and respect,” said a Cuban television report on the visit. In the meeting with Díaz-Canel, Dolan was accompanied by the auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn County, New York, Octavio Cisneros, and the president of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops (COCC), Emilio Aranguren. Also present were Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez and the head of the Office of Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, Caridad Diego. The Cuban president and the U.S. Archbishop had already met in New York during Díaz-Canel's first visit to the United Nations in September 2018, a few months after assuming the post of Head of State, replacing of Raúl Castro. https://oncubanews.com/cuba-ee-uu/arzobispo-de-nueva-york-los-gobiernos-tienen-tensiones-pero-los-pueblos-se-aman/ Other activities On the same day, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez also met with Cardinal Dolan, who was accompanied by Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, Archbishop of Havana, and the president of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops (COCC), Emilio Aranguren, the...

A new breakdown of a drinking water pipe in Havana is currently “slowing down” the supply service to several areas of the city, which has increased the affectations to the population and the state entities previously damaged by a fuel leak. Because of the breakdown this Sunday in one of the pipes of the El Gato source, “the emergency lines that provided the supply service to the districts affected by the fuel contamination were removed,” Granma newspaper reported, citing an official statement from the Aguas de La Habana enterprise, which said that for this reason “the critical points of these districts remain affected.” The breakdown of pipe 42 of said source “caused that supply be urgently cut off to the Sevilleno and Naranjito districts, as well as to part of Vista Alegre and Lawton, affected since last Wednesday by a leak of turbo fuel” in the waters of the Vento canal, “which contribute to the central system of the municipalities of Plaza de la Revolución, 10 de Octubre, Centro Habana, Old Havana and Cerro,” Granma specified. As part of the affectations, the water service was also cut from the morning hours to the Nuevo Vedado and Puentes Grandes districts, “due...

The Cuban government is seeking to “improve” passenger transportation, one of the island’s population’s most constant complaints, said Luis Ladrón de Guevara, director of passenger transportation at the Ministry of Transportation (MITRANS). The official said that with that objective, his ministry “is working on ideas related to the use of rail transportation in the medium and long-distance interurban service, new ways of charging fares and the integration of different means of transportation,” according to statements cited by the official newspaper Granma. Ladrón de Guevara also referred to the implementation of “smart transportation systems applied to mobility and strengthening the quality of services, reinforcing the controls established to protect the population,” although he didn’t give more details about the MITRANS strategy, referred to by Granma, to “improve public service.” Nor did he speak explicitly of the private sector, which in recent times has been subject to new regulations and price caps, both in Havana and in other territories of the country, and which today plays a major role in passenger transportation throughout the island. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/confirman-los-precios-maximos-de-los-taxis-privados-en-la-habana/ Ladrón de Guevara acknowledged that the “main concerns of the population” include “insufficient means, especially at peak times; the quality of service; non-compliance and lateness in...

Although it sounds like science fiction, robotics could soon reach schools in Cuba. At least, that is the aim of the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, as part of his strategy to computerize and automate Cuban society. “Can you imagine how society will change when kids start learning robotics, when people start looking for another type of application to solve common problems?” Díaz-Canel asked during a meeting on the island's educational program. At the meeting, which examined a regional study to evaluate the quality of education, “proposals to gradually introduce automatics and robotics at different educational levels” were assessed, the official newspaper Granma noted. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1226846245983002624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1226846245983002624&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fllega-la-robotica-a-las-escuelas-cubanas%2F For this, experiences were taken from university centers such as the Enrique José Varona Higher Pedagogical Institute, in Havana, and the universities of Pinar del Río, Oriente, Las Villas and the José Antonio Echeverría Technological, known as the Cujae, also in the Cuban capital. In addition, it was reported that the Finca de los Monos technology park, newly opened during the celebrations for the half millennium of Havana, “is preparing the first courses to introduce children to the fascinating world of robotics, which will be ready for April during eight weeks,” according to the Granma report,...

Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York who until 2013 presided over the United States Episcopal Conference, is visiting Cuba until next Wednesday 12, fulfilling an invitation by Miguel Díaz-Canel when they met in New York in September 2018, while the Cuban president attended the 73rd General Assembly of the United Nations. On that occasion, after the meeting, the Archbishop of New York said that the Cuban President “is a man of honesty, hope and dreams. I have been very moved to share with him the hopes of a new friendship between Cuba and the United States. I love and respect the bishops of Cuba and they also share this hope.” To date Cardinal Dolan has officiated masses in Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Dolan arrived on the island last Friday, when he was received by Cardinal Juan García Rodríguez, archbishop of Havana, as well as by government officials who accompanied him during his six-hour wait at the Cuban capital’s airport before his flight to Santiago de Cuba. https://twitter.com/CardinalDolan/status/1226558946242105345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1226558946242105345&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba-ee-uu%2Fvisita-cuba-timothy-dolan-arzobispo-de-nueva-york%2F Dolan celebrated a mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in El Cobre on Saturday, February 8. There he referred to the difficulties encountered by visitors from the United...

The Cuban government denied this Saturday that there will be no toiletries on the island until next April, as has been commented on social networks after recent statements by Minister of Domestic Trade Betsy Díaz. A note from the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN), published on its website and which also appeared in the official media, says that people, whom it describes as “unscrupulous and unpatriotic,” “have maliciously disseminated false information about an alleged statement by the Minister,” who had allegedly said that there would be no toiletries until April in Cuba. “What was really announced,” the official note says, “clarifies that the demand and stability is not satisfied until March, since it is not backed by the available supply and that its offer should be stabilized at adequate levels as of April.” The MINCIN note affirms that those rumors by “the lackeys of imperialism” seek to “damage the image of the Revolution” and “undermine the unity of the people,” which, it says, “they will not achieve.” On the other hand, it does not give explanations about the current situation of the distribution of toiletries nor does it provide more details about its expected normalization next April than what the...

The law that will regulate fishing in Cuba, passed in July last year, was published this Friday in the Gaceta Oficial Ordinaria No. 11, along with a decree and seven complementary resolutions, and will come into force next May. Within 180 days, people who want to carry out this activity in rivers, reservoirs or in maritime waters must obtain an official authorization, except those who fish from shorelines and without using “floating means.” Decree No. 1, with the regulation of the law, establishes four fishing modalities, determined according to the purpose for which the activity is carried out: commercial, sports, recreational and research fishing. https://oncubanews.com/opinion/columnas/de-otro-costal/memorias-de-un-marinero-cubano-una-isla-de-espaldas-al-mar/ Within the commercial category, whose purpose is obtaining economic benefits, the categories of state commercial fishing are distinguished, carried out by specialized fishing enterprises; and non-state, carried out as self-employment, and other forms of non-state work. This modality also includes fishing for “social self-reliance,” which aims to meet the needs of state entities. In addition, the capture of aquatic species for handicrafts, exhibitions, substance extraction and other purposes―which do not include consumption as food―are also listed as commercial fishing. https://oncubanews.com/cuba/economia/pesca-al-globo-en-el-malecon-de-la-habana/ Licenses for the practice of non-state commercial fishing in maritime waters are mainly limited to...

A group of Cuban artists and groups such as Brenda Navarrete, Alain Pérez, Julio Montalvo Orchesta, DJ Edgaro y Sol + The Tribu, make up the new edition of the Global Cuba Fest 2020, which will be held in Miami, United States, next March 7-14. Participating musicians reside on the island and in the so-called “Sunshine City,” among other regions, and will perform on the stages of North Beach Bandshell, The Citadel and the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Its opening will be in charge of double bass player Yelsy Heredia, based in Spain and nominated for the Latin Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Album. Check Post Here *Caption: How lucky I am.... On March 7 I will be inaugurating the Global Cuba Fest, in the city of Miami and I will be surrounded by a cast of friends whom I admire and want to name so you can put a face and name to them. Juan Carlos Gonzlez Fdes voice Magela Herrera flute José Alabré piano Yosmel Garceran Trombon Daniel Lopez Trombon Tany Allende percussion Asley Rosell Percussion Pachá Portuondo percussion Tickets: 👇  👇  https: //fundarte.us/fundarte-event/global-cuba-fest- 2020/ #Guantanamo # Changüi #Miami #GlobalCubaFest Posted by Yelsy Heredia on Tuesday, February 4, 2020...

Cuba will open the cybersecurity engineering career in September, the rector of the University of Computer Science (UCI), based in Havana, announced this Thursday, Prensa Latina news agency reported. The new university degree will initially have an enrollment of 200 students from all over the country, provided they pass the Higher Education entrance exams. “The computer systems are constantly exposed to multiple threats and cybersecurity is an aspect of Cuba’s national security,” the first deputy rector of the UCI, Raydel Montesinos, quoted by the source, told a press conference. https://twitter.com/universidad_uci/status/1225448634013167616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1225448634013167616&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fabre-carrera-de-ingenieria-en-ciberseguridad-en-cuba%2F Channeled to redouble the protection of cyberspace on the island, the career will consist of four years, and will train professionals on a broad profile, dedicated to managing and monitoring the computer networks of organizations, to ensure their safety. Graduates of the new university career will also be responsible for the protection of the technologies through which information is created, processed, stored and transmitted, Montesinos explained. “The engineer will be in a position to design cybersecurity systems based on a risk analysis, configure and manage technical controls such as intrusion detection systems,” said the first deputy rector of the computer science center, which has an enrollment of 3,600 students, according...

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded to President Donald Trump’s allusions to Cuba in the State of the Union address, which the U.S. president gave this Tuesday night before Congress. “If President Trump wanted to support the people of Cuba, he would have to lift the genocidal blockade, resume banned flights and grant visas to Cubans,” Rodríguez wrote in his Twitter account. “He should restore Americans’ freedom to travel to Cuba,” he added. https://twitter.com/BrunoRguezP/status/1224889906960441344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224889906960441344&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba-ee-uu%2Fcanciller-cubano-responde-a-trump-tras-su-discurso-ante-el-congreso%2F The foreign minister’s tweet came after Trump expressed in the Capitol his support for “the hopes” of Cubans, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans “to restore democracy.” “As we restore American leadership throughout the world, we are once again standing up for freedom in our hemisphere. That is why my administration reversed the failing policies of the previous administration on Cuba,” said the president this Tuesday. Rodríguez's response was supported by other Cuban officials, such as Carlos Fernández de Cossío, director of the Foreign Ministry’s United States Department, and Johana Tablada, deputy director of this section of the Foreign Ministry. Fernández de Cossío said that “U.S. policy seeks to use its immense and asymmetrical power to cause Cuba’s economic collapse” and shows “a sickly dread at the possibility that...

Cuban humorist Andy Vázquez, who gave life to the character of Facundo Correcto in “Vivir del Cuento” until his controversial suspension from the island’s popular television program, confirmed that he does not plan to return to Cuba from the United States, where he is on a visit since before end of the year. “I'm really still a little nervous, but I definitely won't return to Cuba,” Vázquez said on a Florida television program, where he began working alongside a team of comedians led by Cuban José Pérez Córdoba, known as Carlucho “My relationship with Cuba, like that of all Cubans scattered throughout the world, is going to be eternal,” added the comedian in statements cited by the Nuevo Herald, and he said he didn’t intend to return while the island’s current government remains in power. Vázquez, who has a son in Miami, but whose wife and three-month-old baby girl are in Cuba, had assured weeks ago that he had not “stayed” in the United States and that he planned to return to the island. Then he had asked the media and Internet users who spread the news, for caution, at a time when there was a heated controversy on the...

Although the focus of attention has mainly been about families separated between Cuba and the United States, the problems caused by the decrease in consular services on the island after the mysterious health incidents suffered by U.S. diplomats have also affected those who try to reach a little further north: Canada. One of the families affected by this situation is that of Canadian Laura Silver―who lives in the city of Calgary with her son Tito―and her Cuban husband Carlos González Trenzado, father of the child. Although they were married in 2018, they have barely been able to see each other three times since then and González's application for permanent residence in Canada filed shortly after the marriage has no answer yet. “A growing mountain of delays in the immigration system has left this Canadian-Cuban family in limbo, with no idea when they will meet again,” Canada's public television network CBC said this Monday. “The federal government says that the average processing time in the case of a spouse living outside Canada is 12 months. This family has waited 16, so far,” adds the report, in which Silver says she feels “depressed and overwhelmed” by this situation. Canadian Laura Silver, along...

The buildings damaged in Cuba by the strong earthquake last Tuesday south of the island were in “poor technical condition,” according to a specialist cited by the official newspaper Granma. Dr. Darío Candebat, head of the Seismic Engineering Group of the National Center for Seismological Research (Cenais), told the media that this conclusion was reached after “an exhaustive examination” conducted in several territories of the southeastern province of Granma, the closest to the epicenter and, consequently, the most affected by the powerful 7.1-degree earthquake on the Richter scale. The expert explained that after more than 20 hours of “intense work” in the towns of Pilón, Niquero, Cabo Cruz, Media Luna, Campechuela, Yara and Bayamo, “it was observed that the damages correspond to the aggravation of the state of the buildings that were already in a poor technical condition, as well as due to significant technical construction problems.” On the other hand, he said, “those dwellings with good technical condition suffered no damage.” Although initially the Cuban authorities, including President Miguel Díaz-Canel, stated that no victims or materal damages had been registered after the earthquake, subsequent reports confirmed, at least, the total collapse of a dwelling, as well as cracks and...

Two Cuban doctors arrived in China to “strengthen the fight” against the new coronavirus, the cause of the so-called Wuhan pneumonia, the official daily Granma reported this Monday. The publication, citing a tweet from the Cuban Embassy in Beijing, ensures that the doctors will work at the medical post established at the island’s diplomatic headquarters, where they will monitor the situation of the disease and guide Cuban personnel in the prevention of the epidemic. https://twitter.com/EmbacubaChina/status/1224202474644557825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224202474644557825&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fmedicos-cubanos-contra-el-coronavirus-en-china%2F Granma reiterated the message published three days ago by the island’s ambassador in Beijing, Carlos Miguel Pereira, in which he assured that no members of the Cuban community residing in China had been affected. In addition, he said that the embassy and consulates are reviewing “daily” the situation of the Cubans residing in the Asian country―where more than 17,000 infected people have already been reported―as well as compliance with sanitary measures directed by the Chinese government, among them “avoiding public agglomerations, taking preventive epidemiological surveillance measures, and following the local authorities’ instructions implemented in the places where they are.” In particular, he said that there is “direct communication” with the 10 Cubans residing in the city of Wuhan, the origin of the epidemic and which...

Cuba will “soon” start selling a biotech sweetener substitute for traditional sugar, produced at the island’s Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB). The fruit-oligosaccharide (FOS) is made from sorbitol and an enzyme obtained in that center, Prensa Latina (PL) news agency reported. Developed in conjunction with the AzCuba sugar group, it is a prebiotic and hypocaloric fiber “with great beneficial actions for health,” said Mario Estrada, director of agricultural research at CIGB, who, however, did not detail when or where the new product will be sold in Cuba. PL does not specify whether it will be sold as a substitute for traditional sugar, which is marketed on the island freely and on the ration book, or if it will be a complement to the sugar already sold this way. Estrada also announced the intention to export the sweetener, since “it constitutes an exportable product” which in the international market “has 10 times more value than traditional sugar.” He said that, in that sense, it could become “another source of income for the country,” at a time when the government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel is calling for increasing exports and diversifying the industry. The news is important at a time...

American Airlines (AA) requested from the U.S. government two new routes to Havana, raising its daily flights to and from the Cuban capital from six to eight. In total, the airline would add 14 new weekly flights, at a time when the Trump administration has restricted travel to the island and suspended air service from the United States, both regular and charter, to Cuban airports outside Havana. However, the most recent restrictions to the island’s other airports may be increasing demand to the capital, notes The Dallas Morning News, which reports that the routes requested by AA would link Havana to Miami International Airport, Florida. The airline, which has its own office in Cuba, intends to take advantage of the flights vacated by JetBlue, which on January 16 told the U.S. Department of Transportation that it would stop 14 of its daily flights to the island, seven of them from Orlando, one from Boston and six from New York, starting April 29. This company, which will maintain its three daily flights to Havana from Fort Lauderdale, said that this decision is due to the effects of the Washington restrictions. Trips to Havana are limited by the U.S. government to 20...

Cuba will establish a plan for the prevention and control of the coronavirus, known as “Wuhan pneumonia,” approved this Friday at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, where several sectors of the country will be involved, headed by the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), the official Cuban media reported. Minister of Health Dr. José Ángel Portal Miranda explained that the actions will avoid by all means the risk of introduction and dissemination of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) throughout the island, in addition to mitigating the negative effects that the spread of an epidemic in the population would entail. This group of measures is being applied a few days after the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency committee declared a state of international emergency, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China. MINSAP will guarantee the International Health Control personnel with professionals who must check passengers arriving on the island, both by sea and at airports. In this regard, the Cuban health minister stressed that “strict compliance with measures for the surveillance and control of travelers and crew members, coming from areas with transmission, must be ensured after their arrival.” The country’s medical personnel will receive all the necessary...

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel “deeply” regretted this Wednesday the death of three girls as a result of the collapse of a building’s balcony in the neighborhood of Jesús María, in Old Havana. “Collapse in Old Havana causes death of three girls. We deeply regret what happened. Our heartfelt condolences to the families,” Díaz-Canel wrote on his Twitter account, in a message in which he linked the information of the accident published in the daily Granma, more than a day after the incident. https://twitter.com/DiazCanelB/status/1222496589614329856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1222496589614329856&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fdiaz-canel-lamenta-sentidamente-muerte-de-ninas-por-derrumbe-en-la-habana%2F The accident occurred on the afternoon of this Monday, January 27. The girls, aged 11 and 12, were under the structure, which collapsed causing the death of one of them on the spot, while the other two died shortly after arriving at the hospital, as witnesses of the event confirmed to the Spanish EFE news agency. The neighbors also revealed that the second floor of the house, whose wall and balcony collapsed causing the tragedy, was already being demolished and its occupants had been evicted about three months ago. “They were rehearsing in the park to parade in a ceremony for (the anniversary of the birth of) José Martí. One bought an ice cream in the corner...

Migration authorities from Panama and Cuba are analyzing mechanisms to facilitate the arrival of Cuban visitors to the Colon Free Zone (ZLC), the largest in the continent, without this implying eliminating the mandatory visa requirement for those born on the island. The matter was discussed during the fifth round of migration talks between the two countries, a meeting held this Monday in the Panamanian capital, in which the director of Consular Affairs and Cuban Residents Abroad, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, participated; and the director of the National Migration Service of Panama, Samira Gozaine, among other officials. “The possibility of signing an agreement, together with the Colon Free Zone, regarding the issue of stamped visas and the tourist card is being analyzed to make it easier for Cuban tourists and businesspeople to enter Panama, definitely eliminating the tourist card and staying with the Stamped Visa,” said the National Migration Service of Panama. “Right now, the National Migration Service is reviewing the procedures for Cuban citizens to enter the country as tourists and refers to the procedure established by Decree Law 3 of February 22, 2008,” added an official statement after the meeting. For his part, Soberón Guzmán said on his Twitter account...

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake, according to preliminary reports, shook several Caribbean countries on the afternoon of this January 28, including Cuba, where it was perceptible in almost the entire country, according to press reports and users of social networks. The epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred at 2:10 p.m. local time (1910 GMT) and was located at a depth of about 10 kilometers, was situated 139 kilometers northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica. Dr. Enrique Arango, head of Cuba’s National Seismological Service, assured the Telesur chain that, according to his entity’s records, it had a magnitude of 7.1 on the Richter scale, and that it was located 123 kilometers west-southwest of Cabo Cruz, in the eastern Cuban province of Granma. https://twitter.com/citmacuba/status/1222265889279660037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1222265889279660037&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fterremoto-de-77-en-el-mar-al-sur-de-cuba%2F “It has been felt throughout the national territory; as is logical, stronger near the eastern provinces, where the shock has been strong. So far no material or human damage has been reported. Because of the mechanism of lateral displacement of the fault, which is called Falla Oriente, no danger of a tsunami is expected,” said Arango, who urged to “keep calm and keep abreast of the information through the media.” Previously, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that it...

Three girls died this Monday in Havana as a result of the collapse of a balcony of a building in the Jesús María neighborhood, in Old Havana, the Cubadebate site reported, citing the Facebook profile of the Canal Habana TV channel. The girls, neighbors of that Havana neighborhood, were returning from the Quintín Banderas School when the collapse of part of the building occurred, according to posts on the social networks and independent media that reported the incident. The neighbors of the place said that the old building was subject to demolition, but the works stopped and those responsible gave no explanation to the community. This information has not been confirmed by official sources. According to Cubadebate, the victims of the collapse are María Karla Fuentes and Lisnavy Valdés Rodríguez, both 12 years old, and Rocío García Nápoles, 11 years old. The publication says that after the tragedy, the main authorities of the province came to the place. Journalist Raúl Rodríguez, of the official radio station Radio Habana Cuba, also wrote about the fatal incident on his Facebook social network account. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1362919040577786&set=a.395412083995158&type=3 *Caption: Very sad day for the Jesús María neighborhood, in Old Havana. Three 10-year-old girls died from the...

The Mexican meat processing company Richmeat, with a potential production capacity of 400 tons, was inaugurated last Friday at the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM). The plant will contribute to the country’s domestic market, although at the moment it is only working at 45 percent of its capacity, in a single production line. In this first stage, as indicated by Luis Alberto González Hernández, president of the company of Richmeat Cuba S.A., it will insure 180 tons of processed meat products, mainly minced meat, according to its page on the ZEDM portal González added that this is just the beginning of a great road ahead, and many of the goals they want to achieve on the island, said the Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN) news agency. So far the plant has 42 workers who work in one shift, of which 90 percent are Cuban, and it is expected that soon it will start expanding its operations in the island's market. Richmeat uses Cuban raw materials and a group of cutting-edge technology in its production, following the highest international production standards. The Mexican ambassador to Havana, Miguel Ignacio Díaz Reynoso, valued the opening of this company as a sign of the...