United Kingdom Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire has become the first UK Minister to visit Cuba in almost ten years. His three-day time in the country included meetings with senior government figures and others to discuss bilateral relations including trade and investment. He will also raise UK concerns about the human rights situation.
The United Nations General Assembly for the 21st time on Tuesday condemned the economic and trade embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba, a policy that has been in place for over half a century. 188 countries out of 193 voted against the restrictions imposed by Washington against Cuba, which date back to 1962, three years after Fidel Castro took power in a revolution.
US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger drew up plans to smash Cuba with air strikes nearly 40 years ago, government papers obtained by researchers show. He was angered by Cuba's 1976 military intervention in Angola and was considering retaliation if Cuban forces were deployed elsewhere in Africa.
President Dilma Rousseff's main foreign affairs' advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia denied Brazil has any “imperial intentions” in reply to claims relative to Cuba from presidential opposition candidate Marina Silva.
Cuba has implemented new rules that will restrict the personal importation of foreign goods into the country except where locally made items are expensive and scarce.
Colombia is unlikely to sign a peace accord with Marxist rebels this year as the remaining items on the negotiating agenda are complex and time consuming, FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londoño said.
President Cristina Fernandez, CFK, invited her peers from Bolivia, Uruguay and Venezuela, Evo Morales, Jose Mujica and Nicolas Maduro respectively to participate in a special dinner after her meeting with the Russian head of state, Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
Uruguay's president Jose Mujica delivered a message from Barak Obama to Cuba's Raul Castro proposing the opening of dialogue to discuss the blockade, reported the Montevideo media on Thursday. The occasion was the recent G77 summit held in Bolivia.
While secretary of state, Hillary Clinton urged President Barack Obama to ease the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, according to excerpts from her memoir due out next week.
A delegation from the American Chamber of Commerce has begun its first visit to Cuba in 15 years. Chamber president Thomas Donohue said he was in Cuba to assess the economic changes taking place under President Raul Castro.