Viewing from November 2008

Cuba to produce modern contact lenses

Campaign News | Saturday, 29 November 2008

from Granma InternationalCuba will begin in 2009 the production of contact lenses of permeable gas, a modern technique that improves the quality of the patients' vision.The announcement was made by Leonor Henriquez, director of Drugstores and Optician's Stores at the Cuban Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP), during the 8th Congress ... read more

Raúl Castro offers to meet Barack Obama on 'neutral ground'

Campaign News | Friday, 28 November 2008

From The TimesRaúl Castro, Cuba’s President, has offered to meet Barack Obama on “neutral ground” - suggesting the American base at Guantánamo Bay as a suitable venue for what would be the first meeting in almost half a century between leaders of Cuba and the US.The Communist leader, who took ... read more

Cuba reports lowest HIV rate in the Caribbean

Campaign News | Thursday, 27 November 2008

Cuba reported that 0,1 percent of its population is infected with the AIDS virus, a figure that is considered by experts as the lowest in the Caribbean, though there is a trend towards an increase, according to local reports.“In the island the AIDS-related mortality rate and the mother-child transmission of ... read more

Cuba leads Latin American in Education for All

Campaign News | Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Cuba leads Latin America and the Caribbean in Education for All (EFA) according to a report released by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO).The document notes that Cuba and Aruba are the only countries of the region that have achieved the objectives of the EFA program approved ... read more

Unique CSC greetings cards

Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 November 2008

<img src="images/CSCcardfront.jpg" align="right" alt="CSC greeting card - front" />Please place your order for Cuba 50 celebration greetings cards and help support the Cuba Solidarity Campaign today.Stand out from the crowd by sending one of CSC's beautiful, full colour celebratory greetings cards, featuring an original image (pictured) from US photographer Bill ... read more

UN highlights Cuban efforts to wipe out violence against women

Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 November 2008

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cuba, Sussan McDade, stressed the work carried out in the island to empower genre equality, prevention and elimination of violence against women.During the ceremony for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, held Tuesday at the University of Havana, McDade said that ... read more

Trial against officials who freed Posada Carriles begins

Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 November 2008

The Supreme Court of Panama began on Tuesday a trial against two Panamanian former government officials for abuse of authority in releasing international and self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and three of his accomplices in 2004 after they were granted an anti-Constitutional pardon by former Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso.The defendants ... read more

Cuba Leads UN’s goal on education

Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Cuba and Aruba are the leading Latin American and Caribbean countries among developing nations towards Education for All (EFA), according to a UNESCO report issued in Geneva on Tuesday, reported Prensa Latina news agency.UNESCO’s global Education for All movement aims to meet the learning needs of all children, youths and ... read more

Aleida Guevara: whoever condemns injustice becomes another Che

Campaign News | Sunday, 23 November 2008

Aleida Guevara, the daughter of Cuban-Argentinean guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara, said in Egypt that every honest person raising her or his voice against injustice becomes another CheGuevara."There are many honourable people in the world like Che," underscored the Cuban doctor, who called on the youths around the world to ... read more

China's Hu extends credit, donations to Cuba

Campaign News | Friday, 21 November 2008

By Will Weissert for the Associated PressChinese President Hu Jintao left Cuba Wednesday after visiting a frail-looking Fidel Castro and promising at least $78 million in donations, credit and hurricane relief to China's communist ally.A picture of Hu clasping hands with the 82-year-old former Cuban president topped the front page ... read more

Increase in birth rate for 2008

Campaign News | Thursday, 20 November 2008

by Osvaldo Rodríguez MartínezThe sustained increase of the live-birth indicator reported in Cuba from January through October of 2008, compared to last year, is good news and it could turn the demographic course of the country.Preliminary information published by the National Statistics Office (ONE) reveals that the number of live ... read more

Evo Morales highlights importance of Revolution

Campaign News | Monday, 17 November 2008

Bolivian President Evo Morales highlighted the importance of the Cuban Revolution and said that its triumph in 1959 allowed his country to begin a national literacy campaign in 2006.Morales presided over a ceremony declaring the department of Cochabamba as a territory free from illiteracy. Thus, this region became the fourth ... read more

Cuba welcomes 2 millionth foreign visitor

Campaign News | Monday, 17 November 2008

By Will Weissert for the Associated PressCuba welcomed its 2 millionth tourist of 2008 on Friday with a salsa band, strong mojitos and word that the island expects to set a record this year for foreign visitors despite three hurricanes and a global economic crisis.Authorities hung a red-and-white banner reading ... read more

Doctor says Fidel Castro in "very good health"

Campaign News | Monday, 17 November 2008

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro "is in very good health" and "could return to power" if he desired, Spanish physician Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, who treated Castro when he became ill in 2006, said in an interview published Sunday in the Argentine press.The doctor told the Buenos Aires newspaper Perfil, ... read more

Obama reiterates vow to close prison at Guantanamo Bay

Campaign News | Monday, 17 November 2008

US president-elect Barack Obama, reiterated his vow to close the prison located at the Guantanamo military base in southeastern Cuba, a territory that is illegally occupied by Washington."I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," vowed Obama on the CBS 60-minute ... read more

Spanish FM urges closer economic cooperation

Campaign News | Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos defended closer economic cooperation with Cuba before a hearing of his country's senate in Madrid on Tuesday.Moratinos said he was in favor of better understanding between Cuba and Spain to continue improving commercial relations between business from the two countries, reported the EFE ... read more

Amnesty calls on Obama to lift blockade

Campaign News | Saturday, 8 November 2008

From ReutersAmnesty International secretary general Irene Khan believes President-elect Obama should lift the Cuba embargo.SANTIAGO-U.S. President-elect Barack Obama should lift the 46-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, the head of human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday.Obama has said he would grant Cuban Americans unrestricted rights to visit Cuba and ... read more

Hurricane Paloma batters Cuba

Campaign News | Saturday, 8 November 2008

By Jeff Franks for ReutersHurricane Paloma toppled trees, damaged homes and knocked over a communications tower when it ripped through Cuba Sunday after striking the coast with 120-mph winds.It is the island's third major storm of the year.It had grown to a Category 4 with 145-mph winds while barging through ... read more

Panamanian officials who freed Posada Carriles to stand trial

Campaign News | Friday, 7 November 2008

Panamanian Officials Who Freed Posada Carriles to Stand TrialTwo Panamanian former government officials, ex Justice Minister Arnulfo Escalona and ex Police Chief Carlos Barés, will stand trial for abuse of authority in releasing international and self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and three of his accomplices in 2004 after they were ... read more

Guatelmala medical brigade celebrates 10 years

Campaign News | Thursday, 6 November 2008

The Cuban Medical Brigade (CMB) in Guatemala celebrated its 10th anniversary on Wednesday. The first group arrived in that nation in 1998 to offer their services to the victims of Hurricane Mitch, the passage of which through Central America caused more than 10,000 deaths.From the Guatemalan capital, the Prensa Latina ... read more

Obama win raises hopes for change

Campaign News | Wednesday, 5 November 2008

by Jeff Franks reporting for ReutersU.S. President-elect Barack Obama's promise of change reached across the Florida Straits on Tuesday as Cubans said his victory over John McCain gave them hope for better relations with the United States and improvement in their own lives.Obama's campaign vow to ease the 46-year-old U.S. ... read more

Cubans hope Obama signals 'better times ahead'

Campaign News | Wednesday, 5 November 2008

By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau ChiefHAVANA - It didn’t take long for Cubans to hear about the success of Barack Obama.The girl’s dorm at Havana’s V.I. Lenin High School broke into cheers after 17-year-old Gabriela Sanchez received a cell phone text message from her mom watching the U.S. ... read more

Economy to grow 4 percent despite hurricane setbacks

Campaign News | Monday, 3 November 2008

by Jeff Franks, Marc Frank and Nelson Acosta reporting for ReutersCuba's economy is expected to grow 4 percent in 2008, despite the devastating effects of two powerful hurricanes that caused more than $5 billion in damage, Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage said on Monday.He also said 2.4 million Cubans are ... read more

Washington punishes US religious leaders for visiting Cuban churches

Campaign News | Saturday, 1 November 2008

The president of the international Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP), Charles Mercieca, denounced that Washington recently fined two US pastors, from the state of Alabama, with 50,000 dollars for having met in Cuba with members of local Baptist congregations.During the 18th Congress on World Peace that wound up ... read more

UN president calls for blockade end after unanimous vote

Campaign News | Saturday, 1 November 2008

The President of the UN General Assembly Miguel D'Escoto, said the US economic, financial and commercial blockade against Cuba must be ended “once and for all,”m after a Cuban resolution on the issue was overwhelmingly approved by the assembly for the seventeenth consecutive year.In his concluding remarks after the vote ... read more