Tag: Raúl Castro

• Monday, January 2nd 2017 - 12:41 UTC

  Castro condemns “obsolete mentality” against foreign capital, as economy contracts

  

  In spite the significant surge in tourism set off by the detente with the United States, Cuba’s economy shrank in 2016 for the first time in nearly a quarter century with the main culprit: a plunge in aid from crisis-stricken Venezuela. President Raul Castro called on the Cuban people to overcome the obsolete mentality against foreign capital.

• Monday, December 19th 2016 - 08:22 UTC

  Cuban dissidents still under Raul Castro's iron fist despite alleged openness

  

  Government officials have arrested dozens of Cuban dissidents as well as an American human rights lawyer, it was reported Sunday. Others were kept from marching in Havana to demand the relaease of political prisoners in what would indicate that the one-party communist state is in no mood for dissent, despite all that was said to US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis.

• Saturday, December 17th 2016 - 16:48 UTC

  Raul Castro's Cuba allows farmers to hire workers directly

  

  The Cuban government Friday allowed farmers to hire workers directly and no longer have to go to cooperatives in a step to set aside strict controls on their economy to boost production for a country which imports more than two-thirds of its food. In other areas of the economy, such as restaurants, Cuba has already allowed small business owners to hire their staff directly.

• Wednesday, November 16th 2016 - 09:51 UTC

  Canadian PM will pay official visits to Cuba, Argentina and attend APEC summit in Peru

  

  Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau will pay official visits to Cuba and Argentina from November 15 to 18, and will travel to Peru from November 19 to 20 to participate in the 2016 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ meeting.

• Wednesday, September 28th 2016 - 09:50 UTC

  Obama names first ambassador in Cuba in fifty years, but needs Senate confirmation

  

  The United States has tapped Jeffrey DeLaurentis, United States' top diplomat in Havana, to become the first official ambassador to Cuba in five decades. “The appointment of an ambassador is a commonsense step forward toward a more normal and productive relationship between our two countries,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.

• Tuesday, September 6th 2016 - 19:36 UTC

  Cuba looking for new oil supplier and begins implementing social security tax

  

  President Raul Castro has asked Russia to consider beginning to supply Cuba with oil. Before the Soviet Union’s disintegration in 1991, the ex URSS was Cuba’s main supplier under favorable trade terms. Russia's official news network revealed the news, allegedly in a direct request from Castro to president Vladimir Putin.

• Friday, August 5th 2016 - 20:54 UTC

  Cuba admits Venezuelan recession is hitting hard: Chavist oil shipments down 20%

  

  Venezuela’s grim situation is impacting not only millions of households around the country: it is also sending panic waves across the Caribbean all the way to Cuba, a solid ally that for decades now has relied heavily on Chavismo’s generosity.

• Friday, June 24th 2016 - 04:12 UTC

  Colombia signs historic cease fire to end half a century armed conflict

  

  An agreement aimed at ending more than five decades of conflict between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla group was signed in Havana on Thursday at a ceremony presided over by Cuban head of state Raul Castro.

• Monday, May 2nd 2016 - 08:39 UTC

  “Adonia”, the first US cruise vessel in fifty years to dock in Havana on Monday

  

  The first US cruise ship bound for Cuba in half a century set sail from Florida on Sunday, marking a new milestone in the rapprochement between Washington and Havana. The Adonia, a vessel from the Carnival cruise's Fathom line, raised its anchors and departed from Miami, the heart of the Cuban diaspora in the United States, around 4:00 pm.

• Thursday, February 18th 2016 - 07:08 UTC

  Obama expected to make a historic visit to Cuba sometime in March

  

  United States President Barack Obama will make a historic visit to Cuba within the next month, the culmination of his efforts to end a half-century of tensions between Havana and Washington, ABC and CNN reported late Wednesday.