President Raúl Castro of Cuba (Photo: Wikipedia)

Cuban leader Raúl Castro announced yesterday that he would step down after his second term as president ends in 2018.

81-year-old Castro made the announcement in a nationally broadcasted speech soon after the Cuban National Assembly elected him to preside over a second five-year term. ‘This will be my last term.” He told the country.

Migual Dìaz-Canel, 52, is to become Castro’s first vice-president after rising through the ranks as a member of the political bureau. Dìaz-Canel will succeed the president if he is unable to serve his full term.

The new government is tipped to be the last ruled by the Castro brothers who have governed Cuba since the 1959 revolution. Castro also suggested that some constitutional changes are set to be severe and will therefore have to be ratified by the Cuban people in a public referendum. However, he added that, “He was not named president in order to destroy Cuba’s socialist system.”

Speaking about the appointment of Dìaz-Canel during the broadcast, Castro said, “It represents a definitive step in the configuration of the future leadership of the nation through gradual transfer of key roles to new generations.” These changes are likely to include two-term limits and age caps for political offices including the presidency.

Former minister of higher education and erstwhile electrical engineer by training, Dìaz-Canel has long been mooted to succeed Castro and travelled to Venezuela to witness the inauguration of Hugo Chávez, a significant Castro ally.

Below: Raúl Castro (Photo: Manu Dias / AGECOM); above: Dmitri Medvedev (Photo: maik.info in Flickr).

Cuba and Russia signed ten agreements to strengthen diplomatic and commercial relations, as the first order of business in a series of bilateral talks currently taking place in Havana.

The series of accords solidifies the states’ cooperation on issues including space exploration and aeronautics, debt regulation, energy, customs terms, education, nuclear medicine, permanent embassy installation, the environment, and national archives.

Head of state Raúl Castro and Russian prime minister Dmitri Medvedev signed the agreements in the Palace of the Revolution, where they will meet for further discussion over the next three days.

The bilateral discussions are expected to highlight the diversification of trade, energy issues, and pharmaceuticals.

Medvedev arrived in Havana yesterday after a stay in Brazil where he met with President Dilma Rousseff. Apart from the formal discussions, while in Cuba the prime minister is to leave flowers at the Mausoleum of the International Soviet Soldier, which holds 67 Soviet soldiers who died in Cuba as part of a brigade stationed on the island for various years, including during the crisis of 1962. He is also scheduled to visit the Russian stand in the city’s international book market.

A summit between the Community of States of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) was held in Santiago de Chile over the weekend. As the bilateral summit ended yesterday, the 2nd CELAC Summit was inaugurated by Chilean president Sebastián Piñera.

EU-CELAC Family (Photo by European External Action Service - EEAS, on Flickr)

The CELAC-EU Summit, held over two days, finished yesterday with the signing of the ‘Santiago Declaration’. The main issues discussed during the work meetings and expressed in the declaration include the commitment to encourage free trade between the two regions and to establish a stable legal framework to protect investments.

“What we have all expressed here is the commitment to create a new strategic alliance between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean,” said summit host Piñera in yesterday’s closing speech.

The positions regarding trade between the two blocs, however, were not unanimous. Whilst the countries from the Pacific Alliance -Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile- and the EU were more favourable to encouraging deregulation and free-trade between Latin America and Europe, the Mercosur countries -headed by Argentina and Brazil- plus Bolivia and Ecuador, put more emphasis in the need for internal trade and protectionist measures to protect the local industry.

German chancellor Angela Merkel stated that “during difficult times, and Europe has been through some tough years, no one can expect that the best way to overcome those difficulties is protectionism.” A different opinion was expressed by Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who said that “there are emerging countries with an emerging industrial development, competing with the EU’s consolidated development, and these asymmetries need to be accounted for, so as not to damage our industry, and especially our people.”

The Santiago Declaration also included the rejection by both CELAC and the EU to the US embargo against Cuba, which “represents an important threat to multilateralism.”

After the the 1st CELAC-EU Summit ended on Sunday, the 33 members of CELAC stayed on in Santiago to take part in the 2nd CELAC Summit. As Chile is the current head of CELAC, it was president Piñera’s job to open the meeting, the first one since the organisation was created in December 2011 in Caracas, Venezuela. The Chilean president started out his speech by paying homage to Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who is currently recovering from a cancer operation in Havana. “We are all hoping he can win this battle, perhaps the hardest battle of his life,” said Piñera as he pointed that the Venezuelan president “has had a deep impact in the organisation [CELAC].”

Other absent presidents were Dilma Rousseff, who travelled back to Brazil as news of the Santa María tragedy broke; Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who is currently on leave as he focuses on his re-election campaign, and Federico Franco of Paraguay, who was not invited due to the controversy surrounding former president Fernando Lugo’s dismissal last year.

Despite his physical absence, Chávez was a part of the meeting as a letter he wrote to the CELAC representatives was read today by Venezuela’s vice-president Nicolás Maduro. In it the president, who lamented not being able to attend the summit, said that “CELAC is the most important political, economical, cultural, and social union project in our contemporary history.” He also celebrated that Cuba will take the rotating presidency of CELAC next, calling it “an act of justice after more than 50 years of resistance against the criminal imperial embargo.” The letter added that “Latin America and the Caribbean are telling the United States with one voice that all attempts to isolate Cuba have failed and will fail.”

During the summit, the countries’ representatives will discuss issues such as the fight against terrorism, the embargo against Cuba, and the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. It will also pay homage to the former presidents who founded the organisation, which has been dubbed by the media ‘an Organisation of American States (OAS) without the US and Canada’. The conclusions from these talks will be expressed in the Declaration and Action Plan of Santiago 2013.

At the end of the summit, Piñera will hand over the temporary presidency of CELAC to Cuban president Rául Castro.

In a letter signed by the former Cuban president himself and published through official media late last night, Fidel Castro denied recent rumours of his dire medical condition. The letter, entitled ‘Fidel Castro is Dying’, insists that the former leader is healthy and denounce reports that he is on his deathbed as “imperialist propaganda”. Photographs taken by his son Alex Castro also show the 86-year-old former head of state touring his garden supported by a cane.

Castro proclaimed the rumours “lies” and “outstanding stupidities” and asserted that he is so healthy he doesn’t “even remember what a headache is”. He also highlighted the Cuban missile crisis’ 50^th anniversary and Cuba’s “irreproachable” actions during a confrontation that brought the Cold War to the brink of nuclear conflict.

Allegations propagated by Venezuelan doctor José Rafael Marquina had Castro suffering from “a massive embolism in his right cerebral artery” and that he was “dying” and “very close to a neuro-vegetable state”. Marquina has no known direct connections to Castro but maintains he has sources in Venezuela.

Castro has not been seen in public since last March. He abandoned his ‘Reflexiones’ articles last June, which he wrote for six years nearly everyday after leaving the Cuban presidency, saying, “tt is surely not my place to occupy our press’ pages, which is dedicated to other tasks that the country requires.”

Castro left the presidency after nearly a half century in power due to an intestinal disease, his brother Raúl succeeded him officially in 2008 when he was sworn in as president of the socialist Caribbean island.

In a nationally broadcasted speech today in recognition of National Rebellion Day, Cuban President Raúl Castro reiterated his desire to open a dialogue with the United States.

Castro spoke in front of thousands of citizens in the Revolution Square Marinana Grajales in the Eastern state of Guantánamo. The leader stated, “the Cubans are a peaceful people… we like to make friends with all, including the United States.”

He stated that from the perspective of the Cuban government, “the table is set” for a dialogue, provided that the discussion is “open and between equals.”

Although the leader expressed openness to discussing topics such as human rights, freedom of the press, and democracy, he emphasised that such a conversation could only be possible with “equal conditions, because we are neither subjects, nor colonies, nor puppets of anyone”.

The leader further stated, “If they want confrontation, let it be only in sports, preferably baseball.”

Castro has expressed a desire to open a dialogue in the past. Relations between the two countries have advanced slightly under the administration of Barack Obama, however, the US systematically states that any possibility for further dialogue or increased bilateral relations is dependent on certain conditions, among them the creation of a multi-party system on the island.

In the speech given not far from the US’s Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the leader expressed, “One cannot direct the world, that is crazy. And much less based in lies, in repeated lies…That is what they do”. Just before President Castro’s speech, Cuban Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura denounced the presence of the US military base in Cuba and labelled it a violation of international law.

Today, Castro also criticised Cuban dissidents, stating that they seek to destabilise the country and hope to create the conditions in Cuba that would allow “that one day what happened in Libya would happen here.”

National Rebellion Day recognises the 26th July 1953 attack on two military barracks occupied by the forces of Fulgencio Batista, the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes garrisons.  The assault, lead by young revolutionaries, including Raúl Castro and his brother Fidel Castro.

Although the revolutionaries lost that morning, the battle is recognised as the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, which lasted until 1959. Indeed, Castro’s revolutionary movement came to be known as the ‘26th July Movement’ in commemoration of this very attack. Both Castro brothers were captured during the attack, but were freed in 1955 when Batista released all political prisoners because of political pressure.

Ceremonies began early this morning in Guantanamo, as more than one hundred students staged a dramatised commemoration of the historic battle.

Yesterday, Cuban president Raúl Castro embarked on a trip to Asia in which he will visit China and Vietnam. The trip marks the first time that President Castro has visited these two Asian allies since he took over power from his brother, Fidel Castro.

He will be accompanied by Minister of the Exterior Bruno Rodríguez and Ricardo Cabrisas, Vice Chairmen of the Council of Ministers.

President Castro will visit China from 4th to 7th July, and will visit his Chinese counterpart Hu Jinatao. A spokesman for the Chinese government noted that the president has “organized a series of activities in honour of the President Raúl Castro”.

China is the second most important trading partner for Cuba after Venezuela; trade between the two countries totals US$1.8bn in 2010, and China has been investing significantly in the country.

Vietnam is also a significant trading partner for the country, particularly as a supplier of rice, a food staple in Cuba. Annual trade between the two countries totals approximately US$500m. The Southeast Asian nation has also been exploring hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico off of Cuba.

Both countries have been supportive of reforms launched by Raúl Castro to make the Cuban economy more efficient. The countries could also serve as a model of reform for the communist country interested in modernizing.

Five months ago, Marino Murillo, Cuban Minister of Planning and Economy, also visited China. The Chinese president also visited Cuba in 2009, while the vice president, Xi Jinping, visited in 2010.

The trip comes shortly after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited several Latin American countries following the Rio+20 Conference. The Chinese official visited Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Chile, and moved to expand bilateral relationships and trade with the four nations.

Jiabao also proposed the establishment of a China-Latin America cooperation forum. In 1960, Cuba was the first country in the region to make diplomatic ties with the Asian giant.

Pope Benedict XVI today celebrated mass in Havana, Cuba, in the same Plaza de la Revolución where his predecessor John Paul II officiated the rite in 1998.

For hours, more than 300,000 worshippers, Communist atheists and followers of Afro-Cuban religions blending local spirituality and Catholicism awaited the Pope’s homily, which marks the end of the state visit.

The square was heavily safeguarded by Cuban police forces. “Cuba and the world both need changes,” the Pope said.

“Important steps have been taken […] yet it is necessary to continue the same path,” Benedict XVI continued. “I do want to encourage Cuban authorities to secure what has already been achieved, and to carry on this path at the genuine service of the Cuban society’s good.”

Few hours before, the Pope had a 40-minutes face-to-face meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro, who succeeded his brother Fidel in 2008.

Castro, however, said “there will be no political reforms” in Cuba. The Pontiff will also meet with former president Fidel in the afternoon.

As well, the Secretary of State of the Holy See Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, accompanied by “foreign minister” Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, met with Cuban First Vice President José Ramón Machado Ventura.

According to leaked reports about the meeting, the Pope asked Raul Castro to give the Church more space to contribute to the moral good of society.

Reports also say he suggested making Good Friday a national holiday on the island. John Paul II obtained a similar decree from Fidel Castro, when the former president declared Christmas Day a national holiday.

Cuban dissidents hoped the Pope would give a spin to the wheel of political change. In the past days, the 84-year-old Pontiff urged Cuba to set aside Marxism, “as it no longer reflects reality,” and said the country should seek “new models”.

However, the Vatican did not schedule any meetings with the families of political detainees, a very sensitive issue on the island. It came as a great disappointment to people in opposition circles.

As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 1981 to 2005, Joseph Ratzinger fought against the “Liberation Theology,” which proclaimed “the preferential option for the poor” and was condemned by the Church for Marxist elements within its doctrine.

However, some priests and many laypeople embrace it in Latin America, and have joined the guerrilla movements across the continent supported by Cuba’s government in the second half of last century.

Cuba will not be attending the next Summit of the Americas in Cartagena de Indias, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos yesterday confirmed.

The event, due to take place on the 14^th and the 15^th of April, will bring together heads of states from 34 different governments in Cartagena, a Colombian city on the Caribbean coast.

Santos made the announcement at Havana airport before flying out from Cuba. He had allegedly been in the country to discuss Cuban’s participation in the summit with his Cuban and Venezuelan counterparts, Raúl Castro and Hugo Chávez.

“Unfortunately the decision to invite Cuba requires a consensus and we haven’t been able to obtain one,” Santos told journalists who had gathered on the runway.

The Cuban chancellor Bruno Rodríguez did not hide the fact that he blamed the United States for the exclusion. “The consensus on this subject means Washington’s authorisation,” he told a press conference, “this hasn’t been a surprise, it was chronic of a premeditated exclusion.”

“The North American spokespeople had ordered Cuba’s exclusion since the first day, displaying enormous disrespect for Colombia, Latin America and the Caribbean,” he added.

The president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, who had previously talked about boycotting the event if Cuba weren’t allowed to attend, said he was still wasn’t sure whether or not to attend. “We would love to be at the Summit of the Americas but we have to analyse the issue very seriously,” he told a press conference in the governmental palace.

Colombia have already set plans in place for the security of the event, announcing that the summit will be guarded by 5,000 agents of the Colombian National Police Forces.

The VI Cumbre de Las Américas will bring together heads of state and governments from 34 different countries. More than a thousand delegates, 250 officials and 13 international organizations will participate in the event.

During a recent meeting held in Caracas, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of the Americas (ALBA), formed by eight Latin American countries, asked Colombia to invite Cuba to participate in the Cartagena’s summit.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration believes that Cuba is not eligible to be at the meeting as it is not a democratic country. The staff of the US President also expressed satisfaction with the Colombian security plans, estimating at least 650 of the 5,000 police solely in charge of the personal safety of the heads of states.

Special security divisions will include drones, 40 dogs trained to detect and dismantle explosives; a hostage rescue special force; a unit of snipers placed on the main roofs of Cartagena; a technical group ready to respond to nuclear accidents or biochemical threats and, of course, the Interpol.

Cuban president Raúl Castro announced yesterday that he would impose a restructuring of economic ministries in order to make the area “more rational and reduce costs.”

According to the state’s official newspaper Granma, the changes are meant to “gradually reduce the number of bodies, allowing the country to have more integrated structures whose composition ensures an efficient operation, grater rationality and reducing unnecessary expenses.” The news came following a council meeting of the ministers, headed by the president.

The meeting focused on reviving the Ministry of Basic Industry (MINBAS), which had been abolished by Castro in 1967. Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara led its predecessor, the Ministry of Industries, from 1962 to 1965.

The president has given word that it will combine the portfolios of the light iron and steel industries with the chemical industries. The leader of the new MINBAS has not yet been announced.

All of the industries in MINBAS are considered vital to the state’s economy, and include oil and gas, the production of nickel (the main export), generation and distribution of electricity, production of salt for human consumption, fertilisers, paints, plastics, tires and other rubber products, mineral water, paper, cellulose, glass and cement.

Granma reported that the aim is to “address the problems identified in each of these” ministries, “while advancing the separation of state and corporate functions.”

President Castro said these changes must go “step by step.”