CUBA: Nearly Two Dozen Countries Have Sent Aid

Accustomed for years to giving, rather than receiving, aid after natural disasters, the Cuban population is gratefully observing the near daily arrival of donations in the wake of the devastation wrought by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which caused losses officially estimated at five billion dollars.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Dissidents Work for Racial Integration

Dissident groups in Cuba are attempting to open up a debate on the problem of racism in the country, in order to promote "full integration" of all the island's citizens, without discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity or skin colour.

CUBA: Shoring Up the Educational System

In the new school year, which begins next Monday, Cuba’s educational system will be trying out several changes aimed at overcoming the decline in the quality of teaching, blamed on a shortage of teachers and other problems.

CUBA: Foreign Investors Keen on Sugar Production

Foreign direct investment in the sugar industry is acceptable to the Cuban government for producing alcohol and other derivatives, but it continues to be a topic that the authorities prefer not to talk about, at least in public, although experts regard it as desirable for the recovery of the industry.

CUBA: The End of the Long Olympics Reverie

Cuba has had a rude awakening from a three-decade dream as undisputed Olympic games leader in Latin America and the Caribbean, turning in the worst performance since Mexico City in 1968.

CUBA: Fresh Salad – No Longer “Grass for the Chileans”

When leafy vegetables like watercress or cabbage showed up at the local market in the 1970s and 1980s in Alamar, a suburb east of the Cuban capital, locals would say "here’s grass for the Chileans."

CUBA: Founder of Women in White Drops Out

Miriam Leiva, one of the founders of the Cuban movement Women in White, announced Monday that she was leaving the group of wives, mothers and sisters of imprisoned dissidents to dedicate herself to "independent journalism."

CUBA: Putting Their Houses in Order

In Cuba, when talk turns to the housing problem, the personal anecdotes that pour out are as large in number as the country's housing deficit, accumulated over years during which building efforts have not kept up with the need, while the existing houses and buildings continue to crumble.

DEATH PENALTY-CUBA: Sentences Commuted But Treatment Still Harsh

Prisoners in Cuba who were facing the death penalty but have had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment or 30 years in jail are still being treated like death row inmates, a dissident organisation complained on Tuesday.

SPORTS-CUBA: Going for Gold – Once Again

Cuba’s prestige among the global sports élite for the past three decades testifies to the effectiveness of a mass, free physical education system which the government has supported through the ups and downs of the national economy.

AGRICULTURE-CUBA: Fresh Produce for City-Dwellers

Urban farming has taken off in Cuba over the last two decades, based on low-cost agro-ecological practices and a stable labour force, and could serve as a model for the rest of the agriculture sector in this period of reforms.

HEALTH-CUBA: Lung Cancer Vaccine Available

Cuba’s biotech industry plans to launch on the international market, in the short or medium term, a vaccine for treating lung cancer, which causes the deaths of over one million people a year worldwide.

POLITICS-CUBA: Past, Present and Future Changes

Cuba is paradoxically the same, yet not the same, under President Raúl Castro, who said he would change "everything that should be changed" to perfect the socialist path taken by the revolution nearly half a century ago.

CUBA: Cautious Response to Lifting of EU Sanctions

Cuba reacted cautiously to the announcement that the European Union would lift the diplomatic sanctions adopted after 75 dissidents received lengthy jail terms on charges of conspiring with Washington to destabilise the Cuban state, and three men convicted of hijacking a passenger ferry were executed, in 2003.

CUBA: Don’t Worry, Be Ready – for Hurricanes

Cuba has decided not to make public announcements of the overall outlook for the coming hurricane season, because it makes little practical difference to people’s lives and tends to create false apprehensions, said José Rubiera, regarded as this Caribbean country’s top expert on hurricanes.

CUBA: Government Deports US Citizen Wanted for Child Sex Abuse

The Cuban government deported a U.S. citizen accused of sexually abusing a young girl in Costa Rica, less than two weeks after Washington included the Caribbean island on a list of countries that it says are not doing enough to combat child trafficking.

CUBA: Local Farmers Producing Food Solutions

Cuba’s food production is insufficient to meet the country’s needs, but the solution may lie in successful local experiences that show that farming is possible without the costly inputs used by the agriculture industry up to the late 1980s.

CUBA: Urban Farming, More Necessary Than Ever

In spite of its soil being hard to plough, saline, shallow and stony, this Cuban municipality, the location of the largest and best preserved wetland in the Caribbean, has more than 140 farmers working in urban agriculture, a phenomenon that is important for the country’s food security.

ECONOMY-CUBA: A New Model in the Making?

Preparations for the sixth congress of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party (PCC), to be held in late 2009, may speed up the "structural changes" promised by President Raúl Castro and pave the way for a development strategy more suited to present conditions, experts say.

CUBA: Officials Demand Explanations from US on Dissident Funds

The Cuban government demanded that the United States provide explanations for what it described as "obscure ties" between U.S. diplomatic personnel in Havana, "terrorist" groups in Miami and members of dissident organisations, in a case that has further heated up relations between the two countries.

ECONOMY-CUBA: Does the Ration Book Still Make Sense?

Criticised as one more sign of the failures of socialism, or viewed as a right that should not be given up, the ration book, part of Cuban life for 46 years, could disappear as a result of the transformations needed in the country’s economy.