News stories by Patricia Grogg, page 13

The new economic development guidelines to be put in effect over the next five years in Cuba, published Monday by the Communist Party, include reforms allowing the sale of real estate and cars and a possible loosening of restrictions on travel abroad by Cubans.

Cuba’s opening to private enterprise still leaves out many professionals who have yet to find a way to use their skills and potential in non-state industries, although they have not lost hope that the rules of the game will change.

Cuba's governing Communist Party (PCC) will meet over the weekend to decide on the direction and scope of far-reaching reforms aimed at modernising the country's socialist economy over the next few years.

Cuba is sticking to its plans to begin oil exploration this year in its territorial waters in the Gulf of Mexico, and has assured neighbouring countries that 'every reasonable' safety and environmental protection measure will be taken, in an area still haunted by the disastrous effects of the crude oil spill in 2010.

During former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's three-day visit to Cuba, which ended Wednesday, the main problems to be resolved in order to reduce tension and move towards an eventual improvement in relations between the two countries were put on the table.

A dissident group in Cuba described the human rights situation in the country as 'very unfavourable,' although it recognised that the number of people prosecuted or imprisoned for 'political motivations' has gone down in the last 12 months.

The trial of staff at the Havana Psychiatric Hospital for the deaths of 26 patients who died of cold and neglect revealed a dark chapter in an institution that was once a shining symbol of Cuba's much lauded health care system, and drew reactions of shock and criticism.

The Cuban government welcomed the latest U.S. measures to ease restrictions on travel and remittances to this country, but said they had a 'limited reach.'

The Cuban capital was the venue for a new round of immigration talks between delegations from this Caribbean island nation and the United States, although no major progress towards a broader dialogue is expected, in contrast to the hopes raised when President Barack Obama took office.

The internal dissident movement in Cuba faces some big challenges in 2011, after ending the year with low marks from the top U.S. diplomat in Havana, according to confidential cables made public by Wikileaks, some of which were published on the official government website cubadebate.cu.