LATIN AMERICA: Homegrown Anti-Corruption Measures

An anti-corruption programme being designed by the Ecuadorian government of Rafael Correa could serve as a model in Latin America, where many countries are plagued by this social ill, which acts as a curb on development and even as a threat to political stability.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Door Ajar to UN Rapporteurs

U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Jean Ziegler’s visit to Cuba left the door open to future visits by other high-level U.N. Human Rights Council officials, after several years of tension with Havana.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Restoring Lost Balance in Nature

Efforts to restore degraded island ecosystems are already producing results in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, where scientists from different disciplines have been fomenting environmentally-friendly practices since the beginning of this decade.

POLITICS-CUBA: Women, Local Elections and People’s Power

Marisol Cabrera has become quite at ease as president of the municipal government of the Cuban town of Placetas. But nine years ago it was another story, and she herself had doubts. "I wondered whether I was capable of this, it felt like a huge challenge. There was no tradition of women in this post," she says.

CUBA-VENEZUELA: Strategic Alliance Cemented

Signing a string of economic agreements with Cuba Monday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez further tightened his close alliance with this Caribbean island nation’s ailing leader, Fidel Castro, who he considers a mentor and the "father of all revolutionaries."

CUBA: Social Beefs, Proposals Voiced in Widespread Debates

Like Pandora’s box, the popular debates promoted by acting Cuban President Raúl Castro have brought to light countless problems that affect the daily lives of Cubans, who are now hoping to see their proposals for solutions on the official agenda in the short or medium term.

CUBA: Ecomaterials for Low-Cost, Hurricane-Proof Housing

Low-income Cuban families now have a greater chance of having a home of their own thanks to a prize-winning construction method that uses strong, locally-produced alternative materials.

TECHNOLOGY-CUBA: Widespread Resistance to Free Software

Although Cuba proclaimed its intention to change its computer operating systems for free software in 2005, the shift seems to depend more on the efforts of a small community of enthusiasts than on the state agencies that are officially in charge.

DEATH PENALTY-CUBA: Sentences Uphold De Facto Moratorium

Military tribunals that have tried serious cases of murder and kidnapping in the last few weeks in Cuba have opted for life sentences or 30-year prison terms instead of the death penalty, which has not been applied in this country in more than four years.

CUBA-US: Five Hostages to Bilateral Conflict?

Cuban officials and the supporters of five Cuban agents imprisoned in the United States appear to have more confidence in the impact of the international solidarity movement than in the possibility that a change of government in the U.S. might favour their case, trapped in the decades-old conflict between the two countries.

CUBA: Government, UN Seek to Boost Impact of Aid

Cuba and the United Nations have agreed to concentrate their cooperation on five areas in the next few years, in order to avoid spreading resources too thinly, and to increase synergy between projects. U.N. aid to the island will amount to more than 100 million dollars during that period.

CUBA-US: Academic Exchange Continues, Despite Embargo

Relocating the 27th Latin American Studies Association (LASA) International Congress from the United States to Canada has meant that 138 Cuban academics have been able to take part in the event, which promotes dialogue and academic exchange in the region.

COLOMBIA: Talks with ELN Halfway to Framework Accord

This week’s round of exploratory talks between the Colombian government and the insurgent National Liberation Army (ELN) in the Cuban capital came to an end Friday halfway to a framework accord for starting formal peace talks. One of the main hurdles to an agreement is the question of verification of the eventual ceasefire.

CUBA: ‘If Worked Properly, the Land Can Produce Anything’

"If you work it properly, the land here can produce anything, and with a guaranteed market. Cuba is an agricultural country. We should not have to import food," says Rubén Torres, who has made a success of farming outside of the city of Santa Clara in central Cuba.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Reforestation Renews a Barrio

Every morning Mario Véliz makes his way through the streets of Pogolotti, a low-income neighbourhood in the Cuban capital, to the milk shop. Those who only know him because he works there are unaware that this thin, wiry man with a face seamed with age is the life and soul of local reforestation.

CUBA: Raul Castro Acknowledges Day-to-Day Hardships

Cuba’s acting president, Raúl Castro, made a frank assessment of the situation in his country Thursday, acknowledging difficulties and challenges faced by Cubans in their daily lives, ruling out the possibility of short-term solutions, and warning that it is essential to bolster production, especially of food.

POLITICS-CUBA: (When) Will Fidel Return?

President Fidel Castro will not be attending the Jul. 26 celebrations, one of the most important annual commemorations of the Cuban Revolution, and this prolongs uncertainty over whether or not he will resume his official functions until the forthcoming elections.

CARIBBEAN: Unknown State of Whales and Dolphins

The Wider Caribbean region is the habitat of a quarter of the planet's sea mammals, but little is known about the state of their conservation here, warn experts.

LATIN AMERICA: Catholic Church Renews &#39Option for the Poor&#39

The Roman Catholic Church plans to undertake concrete projects in the next four years to help overcome poverty in Latin America, the region with the most glaring income inequalities in the world.

Unknown State of Caribbean's Whales and Dolphins

Accidents involving fishing nets, which kill 300,000 cetaceans -- whales, dolphins and porpoises -- each year, are difficult to estimate in the Caribbean, where artisanal fishing is the norm.

CLIMATE CHANGE-CARIBBEAN: Uniting Against Future Adversity

Adapting to climate change in the island nations of the Caribbean, a region particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, requires strengthening collective responses based on exchange and cooperation.