Cuba

HAVANA (AP) — Relatives of the missing in Cuba’s capital desperately searched Saturday for victims of an explosion at one of Havana’s most luxurious hotels that killed at least 26 people. They checked the morgue, hospitals and if unsuccessful, they returned to the partially collapsed Hotel Saratoga, where rescuers used dogs to hunt for survivors.

HAVANA (AP) — A powerful explosion apparently caused by a natural gas leak killed at least 22 people, including a child, and injured dozens Friday when it blew away outer walls from a luxury hotel in the heart of Cuba’s capital.

No tourists were staying at Havana’s 96-room Hotel Saratoga because it was undergoing renovations, Havana Gov. Reinaldo García Zapata told the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

“It’s not a bomb or an attack. It is a tragic accident,” President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who visited the site, said in a tweet.

HAVANA, April 28 (NNN-ANSA) — Cuban tourism authorities have confirmed 128,159 foreign travellers had visited the country for leisure purposes during March of 2022, which represented 58.7% of the Government’s projections.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Tuesday said there had been growth compared to 2021. He added the current month of April would be “better than March,” which “ratifies a trend of a gradual recovery in this sector.

ARTEMISA, Cuba (AP) — Francisco Pérez Rodríguez has a car problem — one that’s starting to be all too common for many Cubans.

He’s been rebuilding the engine of his father-in-law’s Moskvich — one of tens of thousands of cars and other vehicles that poured into Cuba from its Cold War allies in the Soviet bloc and later Russia over the past half century.

To run, it needs a new timing belt. But Pérez Rodríguez said that’s something only available these days in Russia. And flights there have been disrupted by Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

March 29 (Reuters) - The number of people crossing the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous and impassable regions of Latin America, has almost tripled compared to the same period last year, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.

The Darien Gap, a lawless stretch of mountainous jungle 160 km (100 miles) long and 50 km (30 miles) wide between Colombia and Panama, is one of the main routes taken by migrants and refugees trying to head north to the United States.

HAVANA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Cuba, a close ally of Russia, has sharply criticized the United States for imposing "the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation" and called for a diplomatic solution to preserve international peace.

One of the worst crises in Europe in decades is unfolding as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after recognizing them as independent, prompting fresh sanctions from Western nations including the United States.

HAVANA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Russia and Cuba will deepen ties and explore collaboration in transportation, energy, industry and banking, Cuba's Foreign Ministry said late on Friday following a visit from Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.

In a statement, Cuba's communist-run government expressed support for Russia as tensions mount in Ukraine, and accused long-time rival the United States and its allies of targeting Moscow with what it called a "propaganda war" and sanctions.

HAVANA, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cuba on Saturday announced a new 10 percent tax on retail food sales, as the country endures economic woes marked by rampant inflation.

   The levy taking effect Monday will target self-employed people and small-and medium-sized companies in the retail food sector, said the decree published in the official government gazette. These sales were only allowed starting in August of last year as part of reforms in the communist run island.

HAVANA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Cubans bundled up in heavy jackets, hats and gloves and shuttered their homes on Monday as near-record cold and strong winds slammed the balmy Caribbean island more accustomed to bright sun and sultry trade winds.

The small town of Bainoa, east of Havana, felt temperatures plunge to just 3 degree Celsius (37.4°F) early Monday morning, following gusty winds that buffeted the island's palm fringed shores much of the weekend.

HAVANA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Cuba on Friday sent a team of 50 health professionals from the Henry Reeve Medical Contingent to the Bahamas, local media reported.

"It will contribute to reducing the COVID-19 infection rates in the Bahamas, which soared due to the Omicron variant," Deputy Minister of Public Health Regla Angulo was quoted as saying by Cuban state news agency ACN.

It is the first medical brigade the country has dispatched overseas this year to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ACN.