The economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba has caused losses estimated at over 121 billion dollars in the more than 50 years of its implementation, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in this capital on Wednesday.

Army General Raul Castro, President of the councils of State and Ministers, held official talks with the President of the Republic of Namibia, Doctor Hage Gottfried Geingob, who is on an official visit to Cuba.

Jesus Robles, representative in Cuba of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF), praised in this capital the commitment of the Caribbean nation to demographic research, and its importance in the implementation of public policies.

Panama began to implement a new visa-granting method for Cuban citizens following an executive decree signed by President Juan Carlos Varela.

Only two of the 10 American kayakers who departed on Friday 11 from Havana to Key West could complete the journey after nearly 34 hours of rowing and bad weather.

The presence in Cuba of Pope Francis will confirm the good state of relations between the Cuban government and the Holy See, which marked the 80 anniversary of permanent relations, reads an editorial article on Granma newspaper on Tuesday.

Miguel Diaz-Canel, member of the Politburo of the Cuban Communist Party and First Vice-president of the councils of State and Ministers, met on Monday in this capital with about 100 representatives of religious institutions, fraternal associations and ecumenical organizations of the country.

The President of the Republic of Namibia, Hage Gottfried Geingob, arrived in Havana on an official visit to reaffirm the excellent bonds of cooperation existing between the two countries. His visit will end on September 17.

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 14 (acn) Cuban Communist Party members held the first 27 municipal meetings, which along with provincial gatherings, started a process towards the 7th Congress of the political organization, slated for April 15 and 16, 2016.

Cuban president Raul Castro joined his Panamanian counterpart Juan Carlos Varela in a visit to the Latin American Medical School (ELAM by its Spanish acronym) this Friday afternoon.

Argentinean head of state Cristina Fernandez will travel to Cuba to attend the mass that will be officiated by Pope Francis at Havana's Revolution Square on Sunday, September 20, the Presidency informed on Friday.

Cuba and the United States held the first meeting of a bilateral commission to define the agenda that the two sides will discuss next as part of actions to normalize bilateral relations.

The Cuban flag that was exposed in a room of the Cuban embassy in Washington D.C. during the official opening of that facility, will be returned to eastern Las Tunas province where it was treasured for years.

The general director for the United States at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal, told reporters a the end of the first meeting of the US-Cuba steering committee on Friday that the two sides decided to consider the issue of compensation claims in their bilateral agenda.

On the occasion of the visit by Pope Francis, the Cuban Council of State agreed to pardon 3 thousand 522 prisoners, Granma newspaper reported on Friday.