Cuba

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned home to Venezuela early Monday after more than two months of medical treatment in Cuba following cancer surgery. Chavez's return was announced in a series of message on his Twitter account, saying "we will continue our treatment here." "We've arrived once again in our Venezuelan homeland. Thank you, my God!!" the first of the three messages said.

In March 2013, the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE ) commenced the Executive Development Program on Energy Planning (EDPEP) that targets energy professionals from Government and private sector agencies, Universities and Research Institutes, as well as, Consultants. The broad objective of the Program is to update and improve the knowledge and skills of professionals in issues related to energy planning in countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Region.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – More than a week after former leader Fidel Castro was quoted in Cuban media as saying Venezuela’s cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez was “much better,” the Communist Party newspaper published a different, toned down version of his comments yesterday. The transcript n Granma, said to have been “reviewed and updated” by Castro, left out the more positive assessments of Chavez’ condition, but did say he was recovering. Castro, who spoke with reporters when he went to vote in Cuba’s National Assembly election, was quoted in Feb.

WASHINGTON, CMC – A major think tank here is urging the Obama Administration to quickly adopt three important initial steps that would “trigger a speedy rapprochement” with the Spanish-speaking nation.

In its latest report, the Washington-based Council of Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) urged Washington to “immediately phase out the embargo, free the ‘Cuban five,’ and remove Havana from the spurious State Department roster of nations purportedly sponsoring terrorism.

Havana, (Prensa Latina) The Foreign Ministers of Cuba and Venezuela, Bruno Rodriguez and Elias Jaua, respectively, agreed on the urge to consolidate the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (CELAC) as space of regional sovereignty.
At a meeting in this capital, they noted the relevance of the 33-member bloc as key mechanism for Latin American and Caribbean integration in the advent of the Jan 27-28 Summit in Santiago de Chile where Cuba is to assume as rotating President of the organization born late in 2011 in Caracas.

Cuban authorities are scrambling to contain a cholera outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in Havana, the capital city of 2.2 million residents and a popular tourism destination. In a brief communiqué issued on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said the outbreak was first detected on Jan. 6, and was being contained. "Fifty-one cases have been confirmed to date," the statement read, without mentioning fatalities.

Cuban health officials verified Tuesday a small cholera outbreak in Havana, the capital city of Cuba, the largest occurrence of the disease on the island nation in decades.
In August authorities confirmed the potentially deadly disease was gone, but a new statement by the Cuban Health Ministry today said 51 cases had been confirmed. "Fifty-one cases have been confirmed to date," the statement read.
It's unclear if anyone has died, according to CNN. However, the BBC reported a 46-year-old man died early January of what they suspect to be cholera.

GENEVA, Switzerland, CMC – A branch of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has urged Cuba authorities to immediately free jailed US government subcontractor Alan Gross, claiming that the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island’s judicial system is not independent or impartial. The UNHRC’s Task Force on Arbitrary Detention also charged that the national security law under which Gross was charged was vague and violated human rights agreements.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in a "stable situation" in a Cuban hospital receiving treatment due to a severe respiratory infection, his government said Monday.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The regional integration movement has become stronger as a result of the relations between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the Fourth CARICOM-Cuba Summit at the National Academy of the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the host Prime Minister the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the Summit was proof that the vision of the founding fathers who went to Cuba in 1972 had been fulfilled.