Cuban President Raul Castro toured several territories in eastern Santiago de Cuba province on Saturday to evaluate the pace of recovery actions after the ravaging passage of hurricane Sandy on that part of the island.

As early as 7 am on Sunday, voting stations throughout the island opened doors to the second stage of general elections in Cuba, with 8 million 631 thousand 836 Cuban citizens expected to go to the polls to elect 612 Parliament deputies.

Army General Raul Castro, President of the councils of State and Ministers, returned to the island on Tuesday afternoon, after carrying out an intense program of activities within the framework of the summits of the CELAC-EU and the first one of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, held over the weekend in the city of Santiago de Chile.

A military and political ceremony took place at the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in eastern Santiago de Cuba to mark the 160 anniversary of the National Hero Jose Marti's birthday.

President Raul Castro sent a message from Santiago de Chile to pay homage to Cuba's National Hero Jose Marti on the occasion of his 160th anniversary.

Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party and First Vice-president of the councils of State and Ministers, presides over the 6th Plenary Meeting of the National Committee of the Young Communists' League (UJC).

The President of Cuba's Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raul Castro Ruz, is heading the Cuban delegation to the First Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), to take place January 27 and 28 in Santiago de Chile.

The vice-president of the Cuban Council of State Esteban Lazo signed on Wednesday the book of condolences opened at the embassy of Zimbabwe in Havana to pay posthumous tribute to John Landa Nkomo, vice-president of that African nation, who recently passed away.

The Executive Vice-president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and the Vice-president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of the People's Power for Mining and Oil, Rafael Ramirez, arrived on Wednesday night at the capital's Jose Marti International Airport.

The season to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of this city's Danza Libre company continued on Wednesday with a lecture dedicated to its founder, US ballerina Elfriede Mahler (1928-1998), one of the figures that have contributed to the development of dance in Cuba.

The Executive Council of the World Health Organization (WHO), now holding its 132nd meeting in Geneva until January 29, appointed Doctor Carissa F. Etienne as the new Regional Director for the Americas of that UN body.

The 54th edition of Havana's Casa de las Americas Literary Prize was inaugurated on Tuesday at the institution's Che Guevara Hall, with a declaration read by its president Roberto Fernandez Retamar that recalled that Latin American and Caribbean integration in the sphere of culture continues to be the raison d'etre of the Prize.

The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States sparks expectations as it boosts regional integration and projects to face current challenges, said the president of the Cuban Parliament's International Relations Commission, Ramon Pez Ferro.

Cuban experts are currently restoring over-300-year-old Spanish government documents at the Santiago de Cuba city hall, which tell about the political, economic and historic development of the eastern territory from 1664 to 1872.