News stories by Ivet Gonzalez, page 5

VARADERO, Cuba, May 10 (IPS) - Although it might not seem to be, Latin America is the most active region in the world when it comes to the defence of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people.

HAVANA, May 07 (IPS) - All illusions of love, trust and dedication to a relationship flew out the window for Mayda Torres in 1992, when she found out she was HIV-positive while undergoing routine exams to start a new job.

HAVANA, Apr 23 (IPS) - Standing in line for a concert at the Centro Cultural Fábrica de Arte, a cultural centre in the Cuban capital, Alexis Cruz anxiously checks his billfold, where he has the price of the ticket – 50 Cuban pesos (two dollars) - and three CUCs (equivalent to one dollar each) to buy something to drink.

HAVANA, Apr 22 (IPS) - The lack of markets to supply raw materials for Cuba's new private sector, along with the poverty in isolated rural communities, is fuelling the poaching of endangered species of flora and fauna.

HAVANA, Apr 01 (IPS) - A new law opening Cuba up to foreign investment and a shift in the country's relations with the European Union are aimed at seeking outside support to overcome the chronic crisis plaguing the country since the early 1990s.

HAVANA, Mar 25 (IPS) - The road to Guanímar, a fishing village on the southern coast of Cuba, is as narrow as the future of its 252 inhabitants, who don't want to abandon the area despite its vulnerability to hurricanes, storm surges and flooding.

SAN JUAN Y MARTÍNEZ, Cuba, Mar 06 (IPS) - Near the close of the harvest , local people in the Cuban municipality of San Juan y Martínez, which boasts the finest tobacco plantations in the world, are seeing their hopes of a plentiful season dashed by unexpected winter rains.

HAVANA, Jan 10 (IPS) - The stench hits as you walk through the door of one of the pleasant houses along the Quibú river in the Cuban capital’s Náutico neighbourhood. “The garbage piles up, it stinks, and there are even rats,” said María Angélica Suárez, a local resident who is tired of living this way.

HAVANA, Dic 30 (IPS) - Cuba's state education monopoly is increasingly sharing space with private operators, including churches and teachers working as tutors, which are filling in gaps and providing knowledge that has become necessary as a result of the country's economic reforms, such as business management courses.

HAVANA, Dic 05 (IPS) - Nature reserves act as a safe deposit box for biodiversity and contribute to adaptation to climate change. But in a country like Cuba, plagued by a chronic economic crisis, efforts to increase the number of protected areas go largely unnoticed.