HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The 35th ‘Vuelta a Cuba’ annual cycling event begins on Tuesday in the easternmost city of Baracoa with the participation of 10 foreign teams and 13 national squads that cover 1,791 kilometers in 13 stages. The foreign participation includes teams from Colombia, Mexico, Italy, Canada... read more...

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CAMAGUEY, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuba has launched an ambitious project to ring urban areas with thousands of small farms in a bid to reverse the country's long agricultural decline and ease its chronic economic woes. The five-year plan calls for growing fruits and vegetables and raising livestock. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- Cuban police harassed and briefly jailed some 35 political dissidents this week in the eastern city of Camaguey, a Cuban human rights group said Friday. Twenty-three dissidents were "brutally beaten and detained" after marching on Wednesday in a demonstration in Camaguey. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba is helping Venezuela to face difficulties in the electricity sector, a support that was acknowledged by Ali Rodriguez, Ministry of Energy of the the South American country. During his appearance in the Contragolpe (Counterattack) television program broadcast by Venezolana de Televisión... read more...

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In January, Spain took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union. Despite being deeply affected by the global financial crisis, Spain confidently proclaimed ambitious objectives for its term at the head of the EU, including the cancellation of the EU’s “Common Position.” read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez's naming of a heavyweight Cuban official to help fix Venezuela's electricity crisis has fired up his opponents at a politically volatile time for the South American nation. Power rationing since late 2009 has emerged as a major problem for the OPEC member nation. read more...

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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ACN) -- The fifth Cuban field hospital in Haiti will soon be in operation after its arrival and transfer to Les Cayes, its final destination, as efficiency in medical treatment to the population increases. There are also medical consultation posts in different localities, near people in need. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba bought 360 tons of rice worth 108 thousand sucres from Venezuela, which is the first commercial operation with the virtual currency created by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). The transaction took place at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Venezuela. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- Yoan used to earn 25 dollars a month working as a computer technician for a state company -- and an extra 500 dollars selling Internet access on Cuba's vast black market. The 31-year-old managed 10 accounts for government employees who had authorized email access. read more...

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DUSSELDORF, Germany(AFP) -- Cuba's 110 metres hurdles Olympic champion Dayron Robles handed out a warning to his rivals just over a month away from the world indoor championships when he ran the second fastest time this season over 60m hurdles on Wednesday. read more...

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Next year will mark a half-century since the Bay of Pigs, the failed assault on Fidel Castro’s young regime in Cuba that helped ignite the long cold war across the Straits of Florida. Although Castro himself has largely disappeared from the public stage, replaced at the helm by his brother Raúl, most Americans still think of Cuba... read more...

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SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Retail outlets selling everything in Cuban pesos are popping up across the country in what may be the government's first steps toward phasing out its unpopular two-currency system. The establishments opened the past year in a reversal of two decades of national policy. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba -- Open to golfers worldwide, this year’s Second Annual Montecristo Cup and Esencia Cup golf tournament takes place on April 22 - 24, at the Varadero Golf Club in Varadero, Cuba. The updated schedule is available online and now includes a practice round on Thursday, April 22 for all registered players. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Thousands of people were able to admire some of the services and products offered by the Cuban tourist industry exhibited in the island’s stand at the Holiday World Show recently held in Dublin, the Irish capital, and which is the major exhibition for the tourism industry in Ireland. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- A US contractor accused by Cuba of distributing illegal communications equipment remains under investigation, and his alleged actions would be considered a "serious crime" anywhere in the world, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Thursday. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba closed 2009 with a historic record of foreign visitors and a 3.5% increase of tourists’ arrivals compared to 2008, when the previous record was set. According to the National Office of Statistics, a total of 2,429,809 tourists visited the Caribbean nation in 2009 when Canada consolidated its... read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuban and US negotiators will meet in February for a second round of talks on migration issues since the discussions were renewed last summer, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Wednesday. He said no date was set for the meeting, which had been scheduled for December. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Rene Baptiste, St Vincent and the Grenadines Urban Development, Culture, Labor and Elections Minister, praised the cultural exchange between her nation and Cuba during the 2010 budget discussion at the Vincentian Parliament. The Minister added this exchange will be expanded and strengthened. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- A Swiss art collector has donated nine works by artists ranging from Pablo Picasso to Camille Pissarro to Cuba's National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuban media reported on Tuesday. Gilbert Brownstone plans to donate a total of 120 works of art to Cuba. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The excellent bilateral relations uniting Suriname and Cuba were highlighted by the Foreign Minister of that South American country, Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk. She told Granma news the ties between the two countries were characterized by "solidarity, mutual respect, and cooperation". read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- More than 1,000 Jamaicans, who are awaiting corrective eye surgeries, will finally have these operations performed at the new Ophthalmology Centre at the St Joseph's Hospital in Kingston, which opens on Wednesday. The project is part of the Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Programme read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- The 15-member Cuban health team which is in Jamaica to work under the Jamaica/Cuba Eye Care Programme, met the Jamaican health team at the Ministry of Health in Kingston on Thursday. The center will accommodate all CARICOM nationals in need of free eye care services. read more...

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The American base at Guantanamo in Cuba, refitted to receive the enemy combatant prisoners and the terrorists of Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen, is on the verge of being closed again due to negative publicity surrounding the alleged mistreatment of those prisoners.  Guantanamo Bay, with proper leadership and foresight... read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuban President Raul Castro's daughter accused the ruling Communist Party on Tuesday of discrimination against gays and said she will write a letter to its "top leadership" demanding that it end. Her uncle, Fidel Castro, heads the party, while her father is No. 2. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- The earthquake in Haiti is an opportunity for the United States and Cuba to set aside politics and work together to help a neighbour after it seemed their brief rapprochement under US President Barack Obama was over, Cuba experts said. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) -- US and Cuban experts are teaming up to try to save the Cuba home where Ernest Hemingway lived for more than two decades and penned his classic "The Old Man and the Sea," official media said Wednesday. The Nobel prize winner's home here officially has been a Cuban museum since 1961. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- A cooperation agreement to continue preserving the Cuban legacy of Ernest Hemingway was signed on Monday in Havana by the Cuba’s National Heritage Council and the US Vigia Farm Foundation. The documents signed guarantee the  cooperation between the two parties. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- “Despite our satisfaction for the opening of our embassy in Havana, we can not forget our sorrow for what is happening in Haiti and we send our condolences to the Government and people of that sister nation,” said Louise Irene Kraag-Keteldijk, Foreign Minister of Suriname. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Twenty-four patients in Havana's main mental hospital died of hypothermia this week, a Cuban human rights group said on Thursday, in what it called an act of negligence. Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the Cuban Commission on Human Rights, said patients were not properly protected. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Cuba will show its potential as a destination for incentive travel and events during the International Fair of Business Tourism (IMEX 2010) scheduled for May in Frankfurt, Germany. Sources from the Convention Bureau of the island told ACN that some of the new products that will be presented... read more...

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The inclusion (not for the first time) of Cuba on the list of countries thought to be sponsors of terrorism is indicative of hypocrisy of the highest order on the part of the United States given the only terrorist organisations associated with Cubans are those based in Florida throughout the past 50 years. read more...

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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- School children studied in gloomy classrooms and shopkeepers strained their eyes to count cash as electricity rationing began in Venezuela on Wednesday, presenting a challenge to President Hugo Chavez's popularity. Residents worry about crime on the darkened streets. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- Ricardo Cabrisas, Vice-president of the Cuban Council of Ministers, met on Thursday in Havana with the Foreign Minister from Suriname, Louise Irene Kraag-Keteldijk. Cabrisas highlighted the excellent relations existing between Cuba and the South American nation. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The Minister of the Cuban Basic Industry, Yadira Garcia Vera, said on Wednesday that the installation of 37 modern power generating plants across the country guarantee the sustainability of the National Electrical System. Garcia said the power generating plants offer greater energetic security. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The Cuban medical brigade providing services in Port-au-Prince established a field hospital next to the one that was brought down by Tuesday’s earthquake in the Haitian capital. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Cuban specialists reportedly had provided medical care to 1,102 people. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The Copacabana Hotel in Havana, operated by Cubanacan Group, recently reopened some 70 rooms that remained closed for remodeling for more than three years. The hotel’s director Fidel Garcia told ACN that the rest of the rooms and facilities that remain closed are expected to be ready... read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (ACN) -- The Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Stephenson King, said he was very pleased after meeting Cuban President Raul Castro and added that he was also very satisfied with the results of his visit to the Caribbean nation. He added St Lucia would keep demanding Washington end the blockade against Cuba. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) - Canadian mining and energy company Sherritt International will build a third gas-fired power plant in Cuba in conjunction with its state partners, local media reported this week. The new Energas plant, with a 150-megawatt capacity, would be built some 250 miles southeast of Havana. read more...

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HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) - A chill reminiscent of the Cold War is back in US-Cuban relations after hopes for warmer ties under US President Barack Obama dissipated amid familiar disputes over the US trade embargo, terrorism and spying. Cuban leaders are again angrily upbraiding Washington. read more...

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KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) -- The Ministry of Health says that an eleven member medical team from Cuba, who will be working at the Ophthalmology Centre in Kingston, arrived in Jamaica on Saturday. The team consists of a doctor, seven nurses and three medical technicians. They will ensure that all systems... read more...

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