Classic Journeys, the award-winning cultural travel company which offers boutique guided tours in over 70 regions, 34 countries, and 5 continents, announced today the addition of people-to-people cultural exchange programs to Cuba.

There is most probably no left wing leader who had influenced public opinion inside and outside the Latin American part of the Western hemisphere to the same extent as the unconventional Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez had over the last decade. Doubtlessly, his death three weeks ago ended one phase of Venezuela’s political development. Now facing the caudillo’s loss, the electorate has to determine the sustainability of principal public diplomacy paradigms of the Chavez government.

Americans are not allowed to go to Cuba for tourism but can obtain licences for academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange trips. The visit by the couple was authorised by the US Treasury Department and involved meeting Cuban artists and musicians, a children's theatre group, and going to several nightclubs where live music was performed.

The Florida Orchestra has run into the first real glitch in its cultural exchange with Cuba. On Friday, the orchestra learned it had to postpone plans to send concertmaster Jeffrey Multer to perform on Feb. 10 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba in Havana.

Rice, beans, pork – and lots of it. That's a typical restaurant meal in Cuba, widely regarded by travelers as a culinary wasteland where the variety and quality of raw ingredients leave much to be desired.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. A. J. Nicholson, says Jamaica will continue to stand in solidarity with Cuba, in its effort to promote regional integration in the Caribbean.