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Cuba

The latest news, analysis and opinion on Cuba. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.

Capital

Havana

Head of State

President Miguel Díaz-Canel

Head of Government

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz

Women gather next to an anti-US mural in Tehran. The list of countries targeted in the US memorandum includes Iran. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters

United States

US pauses all immigration applications from 19 countries

The pause applies to people from nations that were already subjected to a partial travel ban in June.

6 hours ago

Vietnam

Asian Angle | The hidden domestic agenda behind Vietnam’s baffling foreign policy

29 Nov 2025 - 1:30PM

United States

Opinion | Venezuela? Trump’s real aim could be laying claim to the western hemisphere

23 Nov 2025 - 8:30PMvideocam

United States

Opinion | Don’t blame China for America’s authoritarian turn

America’s authoritarian turn didn’t start with Donald Trump and has been decades in the making.

19 Nov 2025 - 9:30AM

US President Donald Trump participates in a reenlistment ceremony for soldiers during a military parade commemorating the Army’s 250th anniversary on his 79th birthday on June 14 in Washington. Photo: AP

Art

4 notable art exhibitions opening around the world

Westwood and Rei Kawakubo’s work is celebrated, Anderson’s film sets yield many intriguing items, Rauschenberg’s Asia travels bear fruit, and Wifredo Lam’s mixed heritage comes to the fore.

7 Nov 2025 - 6:00PM

Americas and the Caribbean

Medical supplies, staff in short supply in Jamaica, Cuba in wake of record storm

Described as one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic, Melissa caused widespread damage in the Caribbean.

1 Nov 2025 - 1:08PMvideocam

Extreme weather

Video | Hurricane Melissa kills dozens in Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica

Even countries outside Melissa’s direct path felt the devastating effects of one of the strongest Atlantic storms ever recorded.

30 Oct 2025 - 2:59PM

Natural disasters

Death toll rises as Caribbean nations dig out after Hurricane Melissa

Dozens are dead and missing after monster storm Melissa thrashes Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba.

30 Oct 2025 - 3:04PM

Natural disasters

Monster Hurricane Melissa makes landfall in Cuba after smashing Jamaica

Jamaica declared a ‘disaster area’ as its strongest-ever storm strikes Cuba before heading to the Bahamas.

29 Oct 2025 - 6:41PMvideocam

Extreme weather

‘Don’t gamble with Melissa’: Jamaica awaits Category 5 ‘record’ hurricane

Catastrophic flash flooding, a metres-high storm surge and landslides are likely, authorities warn.

27 Oct 2025 - 11:28PM

Hurricane Melissa, which has developed into a Category 5 hurricane, moves westward in the Caribbean Sea towards Jamaica. Photo: CIRA/NOAA via Reuters

Drugs

Cuba captures Chinese drug fugitive ‘Brother Wang’ after Mexico escape

Zhi Dong Zhang, wanted by the US government on drugs charges, is being by Cuban authorities, Mexico says.

23 Oct 2025 - 1:26PM

Mexican National Guard patrol the border wall in Juarez Valley, Chihuahua state, Mexico. Washington has been applying pressure on Mexico and China to curb drug trafficking. File photo: AFP

Americas and the Caribbean

Bolivia’s president-elect says will resume US ties after nearly 2 decades

Rodrigo Paz seeks warmer relations with Washington, signalling a major foreign policy shift for the South American country.

21 Oct 2025 - 11:57AM

US-Cuba relations

Cuba frees prominent dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer for exile in the US

Opposition figure lands in Miami and vows to ‘keep up the fight’ following years of prison and torture.

14 Oct 2025 - 11:02AM

Art

Cuban painter Alejandro Piñeiro Bello just wants to dream

The Miami-based Cuban artist on bringing his rich culture and vivid imagination to life on canvas for his latest show.

8 Oct 2025 - 12:45PM

Alejandro Piñeiro Bello between his artworks Vientos Contrarios (2025) and Ojos de Estrella (2025), part of his “Solo Quiero Soñar (I Just Want to Dream)” exhibition at Pace Gallery in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Jocelyn Tam

Ukraine war

Lured by US$2,000 pay, Cubans dying for Russia in Ukraine: official

A Ukrainian official said the number of Cubans hired by Moscow to fight in its war against Kyiv could be as high as 20,000.

23 Sep 2025 - 2:29PMvideocam

Ukrainian servicemen fire a tank towards Russian troops in the Donetsk region on September 3. Photo: Reuters

Espionage

China pledges more intelligence sharing with Cuba, months after US jitters

Chen Yixin says Beijing is ready to work on the ‘important mutual understandings’ reached at leaders’ meeting in May.

25 Aug 2025 - 3:09PM

Americas and the Caribbean

Cuba minister resigns after saying her country has no beggars

Cuba’s labour minister draws fire for asserting those seen begging in her economically depressed country were pretending to be poor.

16 Jul 2025 - 11:27AM

ITTF

Table tennis World Cup champ Calderano denied US visa over 2023 Cuba visit

Hugo Calderano was banned from entering the United States because of a visit to Cuba for a tournament in 2023.

4 Jul 2025 - 6:20PM

Hugo Calderano, winner of the ITTF Men’s and Women’s World Cup 2025 in Macao, has been denied a visa to enter the United States. Photo: Xinhua

US-China relations

‘Brazen’ suspected China surveillance sites in Cuba trigger US House hearing

Lawmakers warn that Beijing may be expanding intelligence footprint near American soil and urge Trump administration to take firmer stance.

7 May 2025 - 5:43AM

What to do in Hong Kong

Scuba divers talk up potential for the sport’s growth in Hong Kong

Hong Kong supports a diversity of coral and fish, even if its waters are murky, pair say. They suggest ways to attract more scuba divers.

5 May 2025 - 1:01PM

Americas and the Caribbean

Cuba pins hopes on Chinese to help save sputtering tourism industry

Cuba seeks boost from China as visitors from Russia, Canada, Spain and Italy decline.

1 May 2025 - 6:11PM

Cuba appears frozen in time thanks to a plethora of 1950s autos. Photo: EPA-EFE

Marco Rubio

Who are US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s parents, Mario and Oriales Rubio?

Marco Rubio has been criticised for saying his parents fled Cuba when Fidel Castro came to power, even though they were granted permanent residency in the US several years before.

10 Apr 2025 - 7:00PM

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington in January. Photo: Reuters

Donald Trump

Russia, Cuba and North Korea escape worst of Trump’s tariff wrath on world

Russia left off because there was no meaningful trade with it, while Cuba, Belarus and North Korea were already heavily sanctioned.

4 Apr 2025 - 5:21PMvideocam

United States

Trump axes Biden’s ‘parole’ for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela

The order applies to about 532,000 people from the four countries who came to the United States since October 2022.

22 Mar 2025 - 9:19AMvideocam

Diplomacy

Cuba looks to Chinese solar tech to ease fossil fuel power crunch

The island nation plans to build a series of photovoltaic electricity plants to supplement its aging infrastructure.

20 Mar 2025 - 7:38PMvideocam

Cuba is hoping solar panels can help bridge the crippling gap between energy demand and supply. Photo: AFP

US-Cuba relations

Cuba reconnects electrical grid, restores power in Havana after outage

Cuba blames the country’s mounting energy crisis on a Cold War-era US trade embargo.

17 Mar 2025 - 9:16AM

A vintage car passes near powerboats docked at Havana’s bay during a national electrical grid collapse. Photo: Reuters

Luxury Spend It

‘A humidor is more than a box’. Artisans meet Cuban cigar fans at fair

Meticulously carved Cuban cigar boxes, designed to keep their contents fresh, have become objects of attention in their own right.

2 Mar 2025 - 5:15PM

Americas and the Caribbean

Havana luxury hotel ‘unforgivable’ amid Cuba’s economic woes

The Selection La Habana hotel, managed by Spanish chain Iberostar, has yet to be inaugurated but it is already the target of criticism.

25 Jan 2025 - 9:33PM

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