Tag: Cuba

• 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.

• Wednesday, May 6th 2015 - 05:49 UTC

  US approves licenses for passenger ferry service with Cuba

  

  The US Treasury Department has approved licenses for passenger ferry service between the United States and Cuba, a Treasury Department official announced. One of the licenses was issued to Baja Ferries, part of a major shipping group with passengers and cargo operations, including on Mexico's west coast, according to a lawyer who handled the license application.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 09:34 UTC

  Vatican confirms Pope visit to Cuba on his trip to United States

  

  Leaders of Cuba's Catholic Church expressed joy Wednesday on learning that Pope Francis will visit the island in September amid the budding Vatican-mediated rapprochement between Havana and Washington. Francis will stop in Cuba before his Sept. 23 meeting in the United States with President Barack Obama.

• Tuesday, April 21st 2015 - 07:12 UTC

  New York governor and a large business delegation land in Havana

  

  Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo arrived in the Cuban capital on Monday heading a large delegation of business people interested in learning firsthand the Cuban reality and making contacts for future business endeavors. Cuomo was welcomed at the José Martí International Airport by Josefina Vidal, head of the USA desk at the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2015 - 07:28 UTC

  Cuba to be removed from terror sponsors' list, announced President Obama

  

  The White House announced on Tuesday that President Obama intends to remove Cuba from the US government's list of nations that sponsor terrorism, eliminating a major obstacle to the restoration of diplomatic relations after decades of hostilities. The decision to remove Cuba from the list represents a crucial step in Obama’s effort to turn the page on a Cold War-era dispute.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 10:55 UTC

  Castro and Obama make history: 'we have agreed we can disagree with respect and civility'

  

  President Barack Obama and Cuba's Raul Castro sat down together on Saturday in the first formal meeting of the two country's leaders in over a half-century, pledging to reach for the kind of peaceful relationship that has eluded their nations for generations.

• Sunday, April 12th 2015 - 08:55 UTC

  Obama praised the 'new beginning' in the bilateral relation with Cuba

  

  United States President Barack Obama addressed American leaders in the meeting currently taking place in the City of Panama praising the diplomatic rapprochement between Washington and Cuba which he called “a new beginning” in the bilateral relation.