HEALTH: Cuba Trains Doctors from 67 Ethnic Groups

Young people from 67 different ethnic groups from the Americas and Africa are studying medicine in Cuba with the commitment to return to their medically underserved communities to provide primary health care services.

HUMAN RIGHTS: UN Commission Votes to Censure Cuba

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights reached the end of its list of prickly items for this year's sessions Wednesday with a vote to censure Cuba and a refusal to discuss a similar resolution against China.

OIL-CUBA: Bad News from Brazil

The announcement by Brazil's oil company Petrobras that it would "review" its prospecting plans in Cuba, after its failure to find oil in the island's northern region, could frustrate the government's dream of self-sufficiency in energy.

HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Foreign Lawmakers Voice Criticism in Havana

Cuba's human rights record was criticised in Havana by foreign lawmakers attending the 105th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), which runs through Saturday.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/BOOKS-CUBA: Writers Take Place on World Stage

Cuban literature is reaching new heights on the world stage fed by a growing interest in the complexity of life on the Caribbean island and the fact that its writers, anxious to get published, have looked outside the country for publishers.

CUBA: Minister Sacked in Corruption Case

The Cuban government publicly acknowledged a case of corruption in Cuba's merchant marine, which led to the removal of a cabinet minister.

HEALTH-CUBA: Nearly 80 Percent of Medicines Produced Locally

Nearly 80 percent of pharmaceutical products employed in Cuba are locally manufactured - a proportion that authorities want to push even higher over the next few years.

HEALTH-CUBA: Education and Prevention While Working on AIDS Vaccine

Cuba plans to step up education and prevention efforts to maintain its position as one of the countries with the lowest incidence of AIDS, while local researchers try to come up with a vaccine.

HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Gov’t Redoubles Efforts to Avoid UN Condemnation

The Cuban government has stepped up its diplomatic efforts to thwart approval of a new censure motion in the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

HEALTH-CUBA: Top Causes of Death Linked to Poor Eating Habits

The three leading causes of death in Cuba are directly linked to the poor eating habits that leave vegetables outside the daily diet of most Cubans, and which were aggravated by food shortages caused by the decade-long economic crisis, according to nutritional studies.

ENERGY-CUBA: The Dream of Self-Sufficiency

Achieving self-sufficiency in energy production is starting to look like a possibility in Cuba, after a year of good news on the foreign investment front, and painfully high prices paid for oil imports.

ECONOMY-CUBA: External Factors Limit Island’s Growth

External pressures weighed heavily this year on the Cuban economy and are likely to continue through 2001, though the government hopes to maintain growth at approximately five percent.

REVIEW 2000-CUBA/US: Elian Reduced the Distance, But Rough Seas Remain

The normalisation of relations between Cuba and the United States remains a distant point on the political horizon, even though the case of the Cuban shipwreck boy, Elián González, lessened the distance as never before in the last four decades.

POLITICS-CUBA/RUSSIA: Putin’s Visit Leaves Loose Ends

The search for a way to resolve Cuba's financial debt to Russia was among the matters left pending for the relaunching of bilateral relations as President Vladimir Putin concluded the official portion of his visit to the Caribbean island Friday.

ECONOMY-CUBA: GDP on the Rise, But Troubles Continue

The Cuban government has expressed optimism about the country's economic results at the close of this year, but cautions that the daily shortages faced by the island's more than 11 million inhabitants are still far from over.

POLITICS-CUBA: Gov’t Suggests International Tribunal for Posada Carriles

Cuba would like to see the creation of an international tribunal to try Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban exile arrested in Panama for an alleged plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.

/ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT/FILM-CUBA: Spanish-Language US Movies Head to Havana Festival

A series of movies made by Spanish-speaking directors from the United States will compete for audiences at the International Festival of New Latin American Film, to be held in the Cuban capital Dec. 5 - 15.

ECONOMY-CUBA: ECLAC Recommends Stronger Role for Market

The process of economic reforms initiated in Cuba in the 1990s should be "gradually, but systematically" consolidated and completed, with the market granted a more important role, recommend Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) experts.

ECONOMY-CUBA: Renegotiating Debt – with no Political Strings Attached

Cuba hopes to restructure its foreign debt with the Paris Club of creditor governments, multilaterally and "without political conditions," according to local officials. But for the time being, bilateral negotiations continue.

POLITICS: Cuba Blasts Cuban-Americans for Electoral Uncertainty in US

The uncertainty reigning in the United States Thursday was partly the result of "fraud" orchestrated by the "Cuban-American terrorist mafia" and their "extreme right- wing" allies in the state of Florida, the daily Granma, the official mouthpiece of the governing Communist Party of Cuba, stated Thursday.

HEALTH-CUBA: Alcoholism Alive and Well

Many Cubans turn to the bottle to celebrate a new romantic relationship, mourn a lost loved one or simply to have fun -- a trend that is threatening the health statistics of this Caribbean island nation, which are among the best in Latin America.