The one thousand 221 Cuban health professionals that are offering their services in the Caribbean hard hit by Hurricane Irma are well protected, reported the Foreign Ministry.

The President of the Cuban Council of States and Ministers, Raul Castro met on Wednesday in Havana with the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Alfonso Maria Dastis Quecedo who is on an official visit to the island.

The President of the Defense Council of the province of Sancti Spiritus Jose Ramon Monteagudo Ruiz urged on Wednesday to act quicker before the proximity of the dangerous Hurricane Irma.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla received the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, Alfonso María Dastis Quecedo, who said he felt in Cuba as if he were at home.

For more than 50 years, residents in the mountains of Villa Clara around Lake Hanabanilla use a boat to cross the water to reach schools, transport their crops, and in election time it becomes a floating electoral college.

Given the development of hurricane Irma, which reached category five Tuesday and with possible course close to the northern coast of eastern Cuba next Thursday, the people and state agencies are following all information regarding the natural phenomenon.

The Provincial Defense Council and the 9 Municipal Defense Councils in Santiago de Cuba were activated due to the danger of Hurricane Irma.

The province of Camaguey has activated all the groups and sub groups of the Provincial Defense Council after the Cuban Civil Defense declared on Tuesday the Information Phase from Guantanamo to Matanzas.

The stage of the nomination of candidates as delegates to local districts began in Cuba with the first 168 assemblies held on Tuesday, said the Secretary of the National Electoral Commission (CEN), Maria Esther Bacallao Martinez.

Cuban president Raúl Castro Ruz presides over the central event for the 60th anniversary of the popular armed uprising of September 5, 1957 against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

Hurricane Irma continues to intensify, reported the Meteorology Institute in its Tropical Hurricane Advisory Number 8 report.

The event called Tenemos Memoria (We Have Memory). Solidarity vs. Blockade began on Monday in Havana with a tribute to the memory of Italian Fabio Di Celmo, victim of a terrorist attack with a bomb that was placed at Havana's Hotel Copacabana 20 years ago.

The valuable legacy of Emilio Bacardi as first mayor of Santiago de Cuba and his condition as writer, historian, politician and patriot was remembered on Monday in the eastern city on the 95th anniversary of his death.

The San Juan de Dios Square in the central Cuban city of Camaguey will host today the central event for the celebration of the 57th anniversary of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC).

Cuba lost to Brazil today in its fourth match of the 2017 FIVB Boys´ U19 World Championship with a stage in the city of Riffa, Bahrain.