A handout picture released by Costa Rica’s presidency shows Cuban President Raul Castro delivering a speech during the inauguration of the III CELAC Summit 2015, 20 km northwest of San Jose, on January 28, 2015. Cuban President Raul Castro has said that US interference in his country’s internal affairs would render rapprochement between the two countries “meaningless.” Castro’s... 

“I don’t trust the policy of the United States… but this does not mean I reject a pacific solution to the conflicts,” iconic former Cuban leader Fidel Castro commented on the push for a restoration of Cuban-American ties. This is the first time the ex-revolutionary president has spoken publicly since the December 17 US push for a historic reconciliation between the two nations. The... 

The Russian Navy’s intelligence collection ship, the Viktor Leonov, has docked in Havana just a day before the arrival of an American delegation. The Russian warship is moored in open view of a pier usually used for cruise ships. The ship’s visit, unannounced by the Cuban authorities, comes as the US and Cuba are attempting to restore diplomatic ties broken in 1961. The Americans will conduct... 

The United States sees the restoring of relations with Cuba as a “new front in its war against Russia” and upsetting the Russian interests, a political analyst says. “I think what has gone under the radar as far as the Cuba-America agreement is concerned, a lot of people are taken by surprise, but in fact this is one of the few possibilities that the United States has to actually upset the new... 

Cuban President Raul Castro Cuban President Raul Castro has called on the Caribbean countries to boost their economic and political ties in the face of an “unfair” globalized world. Castro made the remarks during a regional summit by 15 member states of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba in the capital Havana on Monday. The meeting aims to enhance trade and cooperation among the participating... 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Muslim faith was “widespread” in America before the arrival of Columbus in the 15th century, and insists that a massive mosque should be erected in Havana, despite the city’s refusal to grant a building permit. “The religion of Islam was widespread before Columbus,” the longtime Turkish leader told the audience at the first ever... 

Moscow and Havana have reportedly reached an agreement on reopening the SIGINT facility in Lourdes, Cuba, once Russia’s largest foreign base of this kind which was shut down in 2001 due to financial problems and under US pressure. When operational, the facility was manned by thousands of military and intelligence personnel, whose task was to intercept signals coming from and to the US territory... 

Russia has written down $32 billion of Cuba’s Soviet era debt. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law ahead of his official visit to Latin America, with Havana as his first stop. The agreement was first signed in October 2013 and draws a line under a twenty-year dispute. Cuba is now required to pay back $3.2 billion over the next 10 years. The first payment from Cuba is expected in October,... 

The powerful regional organisations created in Latin America, an important legacy of the late Hugo Chavez, have forced cracks in Washington’s 50-year economic blockade of Cuba. Senior US regime figures have called on President Barack Obama to loosen the blockade. Obama loosened a few of the additional measures imposed by Bush the Second (lifting some severe restrictions on family member visits)... 

The United States engineered a text messaging network in Cuba to try and spread unrest in the communist country. More than 40,000 people have shared news and opinions using the service. The documents obtained by the Associated Press state the project was led by Joe McSpedon, a US government official, who attracted a team of high-tech wizards from around the globe to set up a site that could reach... 

A large screen shows Cuba’s President Raul Castro speaking at the opening ceremony of the CELAC Summit in Havana, Cuba on January 28, 2014. Cuban President Raul Castro has urged cooperation between Latin American and Caribbean nations without the involvement of the United States. “We should establish a new regional and international cooperation paradigm,” Castro said in Havana on... 

In 1994, Cuba established the dual monetary system following the fall of the Soviet Union, which financially supported Cuba for decades. Cuba’s top economic official says the government will eliminate a currency pegged to the US dollar, in a move to end its dual-currency system and address problems of economic inequality. Vice-President Marino Murillo told parliament on Friday that the convertible... 

Russia is going to write off 90 percent of Cuba’s $32 billion Soviet-era debt as part of a deal to end a 20-year dispute, according to diplomatic sources cited by Reuters. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev agreed to write off the island’s debt during a visit to Havana in February 2013, stressing details would be finalized by the end of the year. In October, the two sides announced a refinancing... 

In an overwhelming UN vote, 188 countries have called on the US to lift its 53-year trade embargo on Cuba. Havana has slammed the financial sanctions as a flagrant violation of human rights and said they are tantamount to genocide. The recording-breaking opposition to the embargo saw Israel isolated as the only country to vote in support of the US. Palau, the island nation that got behind the US last... 

Havana – Renowned Cuban and foreign professors attend the XIII International Course on Dengue, expected to be held on the premises of the Institute of Tropical Medicine “Pedro Kourí” (IPK), in the Cuban capital from August 12 to 23. The current epidemiological situation, surveillance, genome replication, viral challenges and advances in vaccines, vector ecology, control methods,...