Tag: Cuba

• Wednesday, July 1st 2015 - 03:51 UTC

  US and Cuba ready to announce embassies opening in Havana and Washington

  

  President Obama will announce on Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba have reached an agreement to open embassies in Havana and Washington, an administration official has confirmed. The announcement marks a major step in ending hostilities between the longtime foes and an opportunity to re-establish formal diplomatic relations and apparently will be simultaneous from Havana.

• Thursday, June 11th 2015 - 08:37 UTC

  Cuban novelist receives highest award of the Spanish language

  

  The Princess of Asturias Award for Literature has gone to the Cuban novelist and journalist Leonardo Padura. There were 27 nominations from around the world for the prestigious award which has been won in the past by people of the stature of writer John Banville, Leonard Cohen and dramatist Arthur Miller.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2015 - 05:58 UTC

  Spain's Iberia resumed flights to Cuba after a two-year absence

  

  After two years of absence, the Spanish airline Iberia on Monday resumed flights to Havana. The Cuban tourism ministry confirmed last Friday that on June first, the flight marking the resumption of operations between Madrid and Havana would arrive at the Jose Marti International Airport.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2015 - 05:39 UTC

  Jacobson nominated as new ambassador to Mexico, announced the White House

  

  U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday announced his intention to nominate Roberta Jacobson, the assistant secretary of state for Latin America and the chief U.S. negotiator at the talks to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba, as the new ambassador to Mexico, the White House announced in a communiqué.

• Saturday, May 30th 2015 - 00:48 UTC

  One step closer: US drops Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism

  

  The United States on Friday formally dropped Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, the US State Department said in a statement. The removal of Cuba from the US terrorism list eliminates an obstacle toward restoring diplomatic ties between the United States and the communist-led Caribbean island state after 54 years.

• Friday, May 22nd 2015 - 08:39 UTC

  “Obama would relish the opportunity to visit Cuba and Havana in particular”

  

  President Obama is looking to travel to Cuba’s capitol city of Havana before his tenure ends, White Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday, the same day a Florida bank announced that the State Department has given them permission to make diplomatic transactions between the two nations.

• Tuesday, May 12th 2015 - 06:18 UTC

  Hollande in Havana ratifies support for Cuba and an end to the US embargo

  

  French President Francois Hollande has urged an end to the US trade embargo of Cuba and envisioned a larger French role in Cuba's engagement with the West during the first visit by a French head of state to Cuba. Havana is in foreign policy talks with both the European Union and the United States amid intense world interest in Cuba following detente with Washington in December.

• Monday, May 11th 2015 - 10:21 UTC

  Castro praises Francis and promises “to turn to the Church again if the pope continues on this vein”

  

  Cuban President Raul Castro has praised Pope Francis for brokering the restoration of relations between Cuba and the US, announced in December. At the end of a Sunday audience at the Vatican, Castro said he had thanked the Pope for his contribution for the historic rapprochement.

• Saturday, May 9th 2015 - 08:37 UTC

  Tourism boom in Cuba: Europeans want to enjoy the island “before the Americans arrive”

  

  The Cuban government says it has prepared for a surge in tourist arrivals with an airport expansion plan and new luxury hotels under construction in Havana and popular beach resorts like Varadero. But according to tour operators, it is already getting difficult to find available hotel rooms or reserve tables at popular restaurants, especially during the high season.

• Wednesday, May 6th 2015 - 06:55 UTC

  Pope Francis will receive Cuba's Raul Castro on private visit next Sunday

  

  Pope Francis and Cuban President Raul Castro will meet privately on Sunday at the Vatican, a spokesman said, four months before the pontiff's trip to the Caribbean island, his first as leader of the Catholic Church.