Cuba News Archives

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster says there's no doubt a naval brig near Charleston could securely house detainees arrested in the war on terror.

6, 2006 file photo, a detainee is escorted by military guards at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The ailing son of one of Cuba's revolutionary heroes has been detained by security officials after protesting that authorities won't let him leave the country for treatment, a human rights leader on the island said Monday.

Share + Nov 29, 2009 7:05 pm US/Eastern For more than a decade the mystery surrounding the secrets behind the shootdown of two Brothers to the Rescue airplanes by Cuban military jets has remained elusive.

By Nick Miroff HAVANA, Cuba a ' With more than 115,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan oil flowing to this island, Cuba gets more than enough crude to cover its electricity needs.

Madrid, Nov 28 Exiled Cuban author and journalist Julio San Francisco documents the struggle for press freedom in his homeland in 'Prensa Gulag', an online novel that the co-founder of an independent news agency on the island has been working on for much of his life.

In a sidebar titled Health without Wealth the Lonely Planet travel guide to Havana gushes about the impressive achievements of the Cuban health care system.

Summary: A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio.

Havana, Nov 26 The Defense Exercise "Bastion 2009" is starting Thursday in Cuba with the slogan "Actions of the country and territories during the period of crisis to face military aggressions of the enemy on a large scale." The aim of the three-day maneuver is to train leadership and command structures, and strengthen the preparation of military ...

Communist Cuba's shift away from the leadership of Fidel Castro to his brother President Raul Castro has failed to end human rights violations including persistent aggression against dissidents.

By Tom Evans, CNN November 23, 2009 8:26 p.m. EST A European Union commissioner Monday told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Europe's policy toward Cuba in the future will place less emphasis on human rights in the island nation than now.

HAVANA, Cuba Bruno Rodriguez and Stephen Smith, Foreign Affairs Ministers of Cuba and Australia respectively, signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday in Havana.

Cubans are scrambling to turn off lights and appliances and children are going door to door reminding them to do just that under a government threat of dreaded blackouts if energy consumption is not reduced through the end of the year.

Cuban refugee Yoanki Hernandez Leyva, 28, is studying facilities management at La Roche College in McCandless.

The novelist Jos Manuel Prieto and Nation contributor Daniel Wilkinson , the deputy director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch, recently discussed Prieto's essay " Travels by Taxi ," one of the pieces in The Nation 's 2009 Fall Books issue, forthcoming on November 25.

By John Andrew Prime * jprime@gannett.com * November 23, 2009 The cigar-chomping, no-nonsense general who lifted New Orleans from the depths of Hurricane Katrina in late 2005 thinks Cuba has some important lessons to teach the United States in storm-fighting, and he wants warmer relations with the nation's neighbor to the south for that reason.

HAVANA: Nearly 50 years after a botched US-directed invasion of Cuba, the communist nation said yesterday it is holding a military exercise next week to boost preparedness against any future US attack.

It has been reported from Algeria that a court has acquitted two former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

Havana, Nov 21 Graduated doctors from the Latin American Medicine School presented the experiences they obtained from an integral attention program to oncology patients at public health primary level in a Cuban community Friday.

Supporters of the U.S. embargo against Cuba have contributed nearly $11 million to members of Congress since 2004 in a largely successful effort to block efforts to weaken sanctions against the island, a new report shows.

An Algerian court on Sunday acquitted two former detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who were returned home to face charges of links to terrorism, their defense lawyer said.

An elderly US couple charged with spying for Cuba for almost 30 years have pleaded guilty, with the husband agreeing to serve a life sentence, the US Justice Department said.

The five men the Justice Department has said will be charged in the attacks of Sept.

A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home.

A bust of Protestant reformer John Calvin has recently been unveiled in a park in Havana, Cuba, as a way to cap a year-long celebration of his 500th birthday.

Representatives from Cuba and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development have signed an agreement for a joint project to rehabilitate the eastern Holguin city's aqueduct.

Cuban blogger Yoani SA nchez was astounded this week by President Barack Obama's decision to respond a written questionnaire SA nchez submitted to the White House.

A former U.S. State Department official and his wife pleaded guilty to charges they provided classified information about U.S. national defense to the Republic of Cuba for three decades.

Cuban dissidents holed up in a Havana house for 36 days started a liquids-only fast this week that led a doctor to order one of them to go home for health reasons, one of the protesters told CNN on Friday.

United States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Full Committee Howard L. Berman , Chairman Is it Time to Lift the Ban on Travel to Cuba? You are respectfully requested to attend the following open hearing of the Full Committee to be held in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building.

U.S. President Barack Obama praised dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez and said in a posting on her website on Thursday that he looks forward to the day "all Cubans can freely express themselves." Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez during an interview with Reuters in her house in Havana November 9, 2009.

Lincoln Diaz-Balart gave a speech. His subject was the persecution of Cuban democrats, and the general ignoring of this persecution by the American press.

A metaphorical timeout has been in place between the United States and Cuba for nearly 50 years.

US President Barack Obama says the deadline set for the closure of the Guantanamo prison will be missed.

Despite is claims that progress is being made in closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, President Barack Obama acknowledged on Wednesday that the administration won't make the January 2010 deadline he set when he took office, according to Michael Carden of the American Forces Press Service .

Women in Cuba cite a variety of reasons to explain their decision to have only one child, ranging from the housing shortage to the rising cost of living and the many work responsibilities they have to shoulder.

A A A' The rights of a Guantanamo detainee facing trial in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa were not violated when the military took away his uniformed lawyers, a judge ruled Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama has for the first time admitted that the US will miss the January 2010 deadline he set for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison.

HAVANA, Cuba - A hunger strike by a Cuban dissident has been a hot story for Miami-based Spanish-language media, and concern about her health even reached the halls of the U.S. Congress, where an anti-Castro lawmaker warned that she was "close to death." But Martha Beatriz Roque's condition and the extent of her fast were not clear until the ...

As the Obama administration considers a plan to move Guantanamo Bay detainees to prisons on U.S. soil, including possible sites in Illinois and Michigan, proponents and critics are spinning the facts.

Via PAZale, the blog of Dr. Alexis PA©rez SA nchez in Las Tunas, Cuba: A Una situaciA3n compleja? [A complex situation?] Excerpt, with my translation: Respecto a la Influenza A H1N1, segAon los especialistas, las acciones deben estar dirigidas a la vigilancia y a la pesquisa activa de casos con sA ntomas respiratorios en la comunidad y en los ...

One of seven Cuban dissidents who recently launched a fast to protest harassments suffered from complications due to diabetes, but is stable.

In a move both politically and legally risky, the Obama administration plans to put on trial the professed mastermind of the Sept.

Havana is not a common tourist destination for Canadians. Though some 700,000 Canadians travel to Cuba each year, most go to the popular resort areas of Varadero, Cayo Coco and Holguin, with maybe a day trip to Havana.

Several dozen people held a rally in downtown Edmonton to demand that Omar Khadr be sent back to Canada to face trial in a civilian court.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez says he will join a team of Cuban scientists on flights to "bomb clouds" to create rain amid a severe drought that has aroused public anger due to water and electricity rationing.

In this May 1, 2008, file photo, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler is pictured before the start of a ceremony at the federal courthouse in Washington.

Case summaries and excerpts from the opinions by U.S. District Court judges for the 30 terrorism detainees ordered released from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison and the eight denied release since late 2008: ORDERING RELEASE 2008 --Oct. 9, Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the release into the United States of 17 Guantanamo detainees from a Muslim ...

Alexis Puentes has been in the family business since he was 4. That's when he joined his dad and a group of 24 guitarists in a performance aired on Cuban national TV.

Cienfuegos, Cuba, Nov 11 Of 19 sites declared by UNESCO World Heritage in the Caribbean, nine are located in Cuba, explained today doctor Isabel Rigol when speaking about the challenges of the region on this issue.

Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will be brought to trial in a civilian federal courthouse in New York drew a sharply divided reaction by families of the victims and lawmakers.

As they work to shutter the controversial detention center, federal officials are talking to Illinois officials about buying the Thomson Correctional Center, a maximum-security prison about 150 miles west of Chicago.

A look at numbers for detainees past and present at the detention center that opened in 2002 at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: - Currently held at Guantanamo: 215.

It's up to the government, not the courts, to decide whether Omar Khadr should come home to Canada, a federal lawyer has told the Supreme Court.

Five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be sent for prosecution to criminal court in New York from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama administration official said on Friday.

In a decade-long journey, the Tunisian went from drug pusher on the streets of Milan to Islamic militant trained in Afghanistan to kill Americans to potential key witness against Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Cuban sportsmen Hermes Riveri, Leandro Penalver, Jose Godoy and Blas Beato will join the Central America and the Caribbean Athletics Hall of Fame, local media said on Thursday.

Share + Comments Nov 12, 2009 11:07 am US/Eastern No clowning around Ronald McDonald is looking to fill a managerial position at a Mickey D's in Cuba, reports CBS station WFOR-TV. The ad for an assistant manager for a McDonalds franchise in Guantanamo recently popped up on the McVirgina.com website.

Caracas, Nov 11 Cuban Parliament President, Ricardo Alarcon, demanded from the United States signs of change towards Latin America with the liberation of the five Cuban anti-terrorists in US jails and the arrest of infamous terrorists in that country.

President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison by Jan.

Located on Jackson Bluff across from the Indian Village and near the Palace Saloon is Cuba's Cafe, a small cafe serving up big taste in what it claims is some of the most authentic Cuban food in Tallahassee.

Out of work and willing to relocate? McDonald's is advertising for an assistant manager for its sole franchise in Cuba - serving up burgers and fries that sometimes feed detainees at the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay.

Cuba's state-run economy has been in crisis mode for years, but it's facing some especially sobering arithmetic now.

When a dozen Cuban bloggers wanted to stage a protest last month, they simultaneously tweeted, texted and posted messages like ``Freedom.'' One later used a blond wig to sneak into a government building and complain against censorship of the Internet.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement late Monday decrying attacks on three Cuban bloggers, including one who has gained international attention for her searing observations about life on the communist island.

Spaghetti Supper and Bake Sale 08:00 AM Ellsworth American Legion building The Ellsworth County Medical Center Auxiliary celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Spaghetti Super and Bake Sale.

Several new tour operators, including Canadian WestJet and Finnish Finair, will start bringing clients to eastern Cuba's Holguin tourist resort through the Frank Pas International Airport in the province.

For such a poor country...Cuba certainly has a lot of Meals. Sancti Spiritus Roosters defeated national Cuban champions Habana Cowboys 4-2 in a marathon game that lasted 16 innings, signed by an unheard-of call that could change the basis of umpires work in Cuban baseball.

Havana, Nov 6 The Camilo Cienfuegos International Voluntary Work Brigade demanded the release of the five Cuban anti-terrorists unfairly held in US jails.

Nueva Gerona, Nov 4 The marble complex in the Isle of Youth is the only one among the four exsisting in Cuba to export its production to the international market, reported AIN .

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Cuba here on Saturday signed an agreement for the establishment of a joint commission for the promotion of cooperation in economic, commercial, technical, scientific and other related fields between the two countries.

A HURRICANE WATCH MEANS THAT HURRICANE CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for Grand Cayman Island as Ida gains strength over Caribbean waters.

St Petersburg News.Net Thursday 5th November, 2009 Russian and Cuban governments have signed four agreements for oil exploration and production on the Caribbean island, official media reported.

A senior Vatican official said Friday he has asked Cuba's government to allow the Roman Catholic Church more access to mass media, saying Cubans are a religious people and should be given broadcast access to their pastors.

HAVANA a " Cuba has cut two staple foods from the monthly ration books that most islanders depend on, edging closer to a risky full elimination of the decades-old subsidies.Potatoes and peas were dropped from the list of rationed foods this week, meaning Cubans can buy as much of the products as they want a " as long as they are willing to pay as ...

A weekly 30 minute review of news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio. With times and freqs for listening at home.

In Havana on Wednesday, Cuban and Russian officials signed four international economic association contracts for hydrocarbons exploration and exploitation in discoveries that might be made north of the central and western part of the country.

A panel at the University of Michigan Law School is probing the future of U.S. security as the clock ticks down for the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

COLUMBIA - A recent cable news report that Guantanamo Bay detainees could be sent to South Carolina has provoked a roiling political debate, even though the concept of the transfer isn't new and doesn't appear imminent.

Cuba de Ayer is the wonderful creation of Jessica Rodriguez, who thought so highly of her mother-in-law's home-style Cuban cooking that she decided to open a restaurant.

Havana, Oct 30 The State Council of the Republic of Cuba has appointed Eduardo Delgado Bermudez as new extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to the Holy See, Granma newspaper reported Friday.

There is such a thing as a free lunch, at least for a little while longer. For decades, Cuban workers have had access to free lunches provided by the Cuban government by more than 20,000 cantinas.

Jose Manuel Galego Montano, Cuban ambassador to the DPRK, and staff members of his embassy did a friendship work at the DPRK-Cuba Friendship Hwasong Co-op Farm in Ryongsong District, Pyongyang, Tuesday.

Amid shortages in the U.S., the announced plan to vaccinate Guantanamo Bay detainees against swine flu angered many.

A Guantanamo prisoner who has been on hunger strike for more than four years is in critical danger from malnutrition, his lawyers said Tuesday.

The defense secretary and attorney general are opposing an attempt to prohibit Guantanamo detainees from having civilian trials in the United States.Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder said in an Oct.

Havana - An official Cuban publication on Monday dismissed as "a bad taste commercial operation" a memoir by the younger sister of Fidel and Raul Castro that revealed she worked for the CIA in Cuba in the early 1960s.

Terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base will soon get swine flu vaccines, despite complaints that American civilians should have priority, a military spokesman said Sunday.

KOROR, Palau a " Six former Guantanamo Bay detainees brought to Palau for resettlement have received a warm official welcome, but a plan to deport Bangladeshi workers could halve this Pacific Island nation's already-tiny Muslim community, making integration harder.The ex-detainees, who are Muslim ethnic Uighurs from a region in China's far west, ...

The habanero peppers, oranges and peanuts cost more at Cuba's free-market "agros" - farmers markets where vendors, not the government, set prices.

Guantanamo Bay SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico a ' Terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base will soon get swine flu vaccines, despite complaints that American civilians should have priority, a military spokesman said Sunday.