The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, Army General Raul Castro Ruz who is successfully recovering from recent surgery of a hernia which was programmed a while back is following the situation and has offered instructions. In addition, he expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the tragic accident.

President of the Council of State and Ministers Miguel Diaz-Canel led a first meeting of the Cuban government to ratify and offer new instructions of the air accident on Friday afternoon in Havana.

Cuba is receiving messages of condolences from all over the world over the air accident of a Boeing 737-200 on Friday afternoon close to the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana.

Official Mourning Decreed by the Council of State

The Cuban duo of Nivaldo Diaz-Sergio Gonzalez lost in their second game for Pool C in Itapema, Brazil, a stop of the 2017/18 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.

The Meteoro, a Cuban nationwide drill to prepare the population to face disaster situations will have its first day of activities tomorrow, when the System of Measures of the National Civil Defense Staff (EMNDC) will enter into action.

The José Martí and the events of 1898 International Colloquium will say goodbye this afternoon to three intense days devoted to scientific exchange, reflection, debate of ideas and, above all, to the reunion with the memory of the Cuban nation and the Apostle of the emancipating struggles.

On his second day of travel through the Cuban capital, Miguel Diaz-Canel, President of the Council of State and Ministers, visited on Thursday a new asphalt plant, the social workers' club José Luis Tassende and the gastronomic complex of Zapata and 12.

A plane accident occurred this morning in the Cuban capital when a BOEING 737 rented to a Mexican airline by CUBANA DE AVIACION, the local airline, crashed shortly after taking off from Havana´s Jose Marti International Airport.

Cuba will present a report on Wednesday as a follow-up to the elaborated recommendations, systematic statistics and summary of consultations carried out to different actors at the 30 th period of sessions of the Working Group of the Universal Periodic Exam (UPE), a mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council.

Juan Ruiz Quintana, Director General of Mining, of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, today supported a proposal by the 70th anniversary regular Council meeting of the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization to attract investment in the oceans in search of metals.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez thanked the Belgian government for its support, especially for the resolution on the need to end the US blockade, at the start of his visit to that European country, reported today from Brussels Prensa Latina (PL) agency.