Patricia Grogg

TOURISM-CUBA: Record Number of Visitors, Despite the Odds

Cuba finally managed to break the two-million-visitors mark in 2004, and officials hope to attract even more tourists in 2005, despite the additional restrictions imposed by the U.S. government on travel to the socialist Caribbean island.

CUBA-EU: Diplomatic Thaw Paves the Way for Improved Relations

By Patricia Grogg

The Cuban government's decision to resume formal contacts with the European Union after a diplomatic freeze of over a year and a half has opened the way to improved relations, although some sectors in Cuba are less than pleased with the move.

DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: Hurricane-Proof Roofs

By Patricia Grogg

Cuba's housing deficit, one of the country's most pressing social problems, is accentuated every year during hurricane season, when thousands of homes are damaged or destroyed. But micro-concrete roofing tiles and blocks made of eco-materials hold out new hope.

CHALLENGES 2004-2005: Cubans Hope Growth Translates Into Improved Living Standards

By Patricia Grogg

Cubans are bidding farewell to 2004 with a mixture of anxiety over the difficulty of making ends meet under the current economic conditions and hope that the economic growth reflected in official statistics will translate into improved quality of life.

LATIN AMERICA: Co-Productions Give Local Films a Global Audience

By Patricia Grogg

Co-productions and strong promotion efforts are essential for Latin American films to reach the major international distribution circuits, according to Chilean director Silvio Caiozzi.

CUBA: Sugar Opens Doors to Lucrative Organic Market

By Patricia Grogg

The Cuban workers at the Carlos Baliño mill had never even heard of organic sugar when the idea of producing it was first proposed to them. But now they are getting ready to plant their fourth crop, and even hope to further increase their current output of over 4,000 tons.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Cuba Wants to Enter the Carbon Market

By Patricia Grogg

Cuba could enter the Kyoto Protocol's carbon market if it is able to keep up the current pace of reforestation, through which a full 30 percent of the island's territory would be covered with forests ten years from now.

LATIN AMERICA: Microcredit Should Serve Development, Not Profit

By Patricia Grogg

Microcredit alone is not a cure-all solution to overcoming poverty, but it can be a powerful tool when combined with technical assistance, training and a better distribution of wealth.

CUBA: Release of Dissidents Could Facilitate Dialogue with EU

By Patricia Grogg

The release of five dissidents over the past two days could pave the way for an eventual patching up of ties between Cuba and the European Union, say diplomats and activists.

CUBA: Chinese President’s Visit Further Strengthens Bilateral Ties

By Patricia Grogg

Cuba and China have signed a package of investment and cooperation agreements that promise to be of strategic importance for the two countries, separated by thousands of kilometres but close in ideology, despite having adopted different models of development.

CUBA: Nostalgia for the Old Sugar Mill

By Patricia Grogg

The batey, or small town surrounding the sugar mill, is no longer bustling like it used to be, especially at harvest time. The wail of the siren marking the workers' shifts is missing, as is the noise of the furnaces and the constant coming and going of vehicles and people.

EUROPEAN UNION: Tough Search for Consensus on Cuba

By Patricia Grogg

A process of reflection initiated by the European Union (EU) with a view to thawing diplomatic relations with Cuba is facing both resistance from within the EU itself and differing reactions on the part of Cuba's internal opposition.

HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Ladies in White Fight for Imprisoned Husbands

By Patricia Grogg

They gather every Sunday, dressed in white, outside the Church of Saint Rita - the patron saint of lost causes - on Havana's bustling Fifth Avenue, but they are still better known outside Cuba than at home.

CUBA-SPAIN: Road to Improved Relations Off to a Rocky Start

By Patricia Grogg

Just days after Spain announced its intentions to lead the way in improving European Union (EU) relations with the island, Cuba's expulsion of a Spanish opposition party lawmaker may have jeopardised those ambitions.

CUBA: Better Health Care, Naturally

By Patricia Grogg

"There's nothing better than a good caña santa (lemon grass) infusion for the flu. It brings down a fever, relieves a cough, it even improves your digestion," many Cuban mothers and grandmothers say.

CUBA-US: Anyone Would Be Better than Bush, Says Leading Dissident

By Patricia Grogg

The Cuban government has little hope for a change in U.S. policy towards the island after the upcoming presidential elections in the United States. But in other sectors of Cuban society, there are some who believe that even a second term under George W. Bush would be different.

CUBA-CHINA: Boosting Trade Ties

By Patricia Grogg

The Cuban government is attempting to strengthen and expand trade with China, this country's third-largest trading partner after Venezuela and Spain, while preserving the distance between its own brand of socialism and the giant Asian country's "market socialism".