Raul Castro changes key figures in Cuban government

September 26th, 2009 HAVANA - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be meeting Cuban President Raul Castro in Havana during his official visit, the Cuban Foreign Ministry said Saturday morning. Abbas is travelling from New York, where Friday he addressed the UN General Assembly and urged Israel to halt all settlement activity in the West Bank.

September 24th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuban leader Fidel Castro has praised US President Barack Obama for taking a "courageous" stand on climate change, but added it was not right that Obama tried to make people believe that humanity could survive under the laws of capitalism. Castro wrote in a commentary, titled "El Obama serio" (The Serious Obama) and published by state media Wednesday, that the US president's address at the UN Tuesday was a "courageous gesture" that showed his concern about climate change.

August 15th, 2009 Chavez back from Cuba for Fidel's 83rd birthdayCARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez said Friday he found his close ally and mentor Fidel Castro in good health during a visit to Cuba to celebrate the Cuban leader's 83rd birthday. Chavez says they shared a cake.

August 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Cuban President Raul Castro has said that he is ready to talk about everything and anything with the United States, but added that the country's political system was not on the negotiating table. Castro's remarks came during a speech to the closing session of the Cuban Parliament on Saturday afternoon.

April 29th, 2009 Castro: Onus not on Cuba for US better relationsHAVANA — Raul Castro has dismissed Barack Obama's policy changes toward Cuba as "minimal" and says it is up to the U.S. — not Cuba — to do more to improve relations.

April 18th, 2009 CUMANA - Cuban President Raul Castro has said he is ready to discuss any issue including democracy and human rights with the US as long as talks are held based on mutual respect. 'We have communicated to the US government in private and in public that we can discuss everything,' Castro said at a meeting of Latin American leaders here Thursday.

March 6th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuban leader Fidel Castro rejected media reports that his close associates in the government have been replaced by younger brother President Raul Castro's men. The Cuban leader said several media organisations have been spreading rumours about a replacement of 'Fidel's men with Raul's men', which is incorrect.

February 13th, 2009 HAVANA - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public since 2006, was 'very agile and active', said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Cuban media reported Friday. 'He is in very good condition, we talked for long,' Bachelet told reporters late Thursday after the meeting.

February 6th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuban leader Fidel Castro has said that US President Barack Obama's politics was 'losing its virginity', Spanish news agency EFE reported Saturday. In the third article in two weeks criticising the actions of the new US president, Cuba's ex-president commented on White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's statement that 'what interests president Obama is the Cuban-American community'.

January 28th, 2009 MOSCOW - Raul Castro has begun the first official visit by a Cuban leader to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. He will be here from Jan 28 to Feb 4.

January 22nd, 2009 HAVANA - Ailing Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has called new US President Barack Obama a 'honest' person with good intentions, but expressed doubt whether he could transform those into action. The former Cuban president said Obama's inaugural speech as 'impressive' in a comparative article 'Reflection' recounting Castro's conversation Wednesday with visiting Argentine head of state Cristina Fernandez, EFE news agency reported Friday.

January 21st, 2009 HAVANA - Ailing Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro received visiting Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner here, Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported Thursday. The 82-year-old leader, who has permanently relinquished rule to his brother, Raul Castro, has been rarely seen in public since suffering from a serious health crisis in 2006.

January 21st, 2009 HAVANA - Cuba's President Raul Castro Wednesday said US President Barack Obama 'seems to be a good man' and offered him best of luck, EFE news agency reported. 'He seems like a good man, I wish him luck,' Castro told reporters while visiting Havana's Latin American School of Medicine with Argentine leader Cristina Fernandez.

January 8th, 2009 HAVANA - Cuban President Raul Castro has expressed confidence in bolstering ties between Havana and Tehran while meeting Iran's Industry and Mines Minister Ali Akbar Mezharabian, according to an official statement. Mezharabian, the special envoy of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivered a message from the Iranian leader for the Cuban president and his brother Fidel, and stressed Iran´s friendship and solidarity towards Cuba.

January 1st, 2009 SANTIAGO DE CUBA - Cuban President Raul Castro said Thursday that the Cuban revolution after 50 years was 'stronger than ever despite the obsessive and revengeful hate of the United States.' Despite the current difficult times, the revolutionary movement had moved barely a millimetre from its principles, the younger brother of the ailing revolutionary leader Fidel Castro said at the formal celebration of the anniversary. The 77-year-old president spoke in Santiago de Cuba, the southern town where Fidel Castro declared victory from city hall over the Fulgencio Batista regime on Jan 1, 1959.