Largest Currency Exchange Opened in Havana

Largest Currency Exchange Opened in Havana

Havana, Nov 15 (AIN) The largest currency exchange (CADECA)in Cuba was open on Monday to provide a public service in all the usual currencies, now including the Japanese yen and Mexican pesos.

The Cuban Central Bank minister, Francisco Soberón, said that the currency exchange has 10 tellers working every day including weekends from 8 am to 10 pm, as well as three ATM’s (automatic teller machine) that will operate 24 hours a day for cash withdrawals with credit cards.

The new currency exchange, opened in Old Havana, has the technical services and personnel to carry out transactions in Cuban convertible pesos, Euros, Canadian and USA dollars, Pounds sterling, Swiss francs, Yen and Mexican pesos.

Apart from some banks, it will be the only agency able to exchange the Japanese yen. The service constitutes a new experience that could be extended later to other provinces in the country after an assessment of the results.

The CADECA, as it is called in Cuba, will enable money exchange and withdrawals, and the inclusion of Western Union services in the future, will further increase the amount of transactions handled.

There are currently 291 CADECAS with 407 tellers throughout the country, which have carried out close to 1.5 million operations since October 28 when the exchange process of US dollars into Cuban convertible pesos began.

Some 46 percent of that figure constitutes exchange operations and the remaining 54 percent is currency buying and selling, including the high turnover of dollars by the population to get Cuban convertible pesos.

Havana Celebrates 485^{th Anniversary}

^{Havana, November 15 (AIN) Some 120 mayors from over 30
countries received plaques on Sunday commemorating the 485th Anniversary of Havana and
their courageous decisions to visit Cuba as Washington attempts to strengthen its blockade
of the island.
On the occasion of the 12th meeting on Cooperation and
Solidarity with Havana, over 500 delegates from four continents were also present at the
ceremony held in Hotel Palco on Havana’s west side.
Among the Cuban officials present were General Secretary of the
Communist Party of Havana, Pedro Saez Montejo, and the mayor of the Cuban capital, Juan
Contino.
The participants visited the capital’s 15 municipalities
and exchanged ideas with mayors, deputy mayors, deputies and city councilmen. The guests
also visited historic, cultural and social places of interest. They all expressed their
support for the Cuban people and their tireless work and resistance.
Sister cities agreements were signed and ratified as were as
letters of intent and cooperation protocols in different spheres.
The Mexican township of Huanimaro, whose representatives are
visiting Cuba for the first time, was declared sister cities with Old Havana. The
town’s mayor, Leopoldo Contreras, recognized the level of development of Cuba’s
educational, cultural and sports systems and pointed out that cooperative efforts will be
strengthened in those areas.
Adrian Barmom - deputy mayor of Pola de Laviana, in Asturias,
Spain - pointed to peace as the only possible path and said his presence in Cuba is an
expression of solidarity and efforts aimed at seeing a new world, free of the use of
force.
As a result of these international ties, concrete initiatives
have been carried out in Old Havana with the visually impaired and through the
reconstruction of La Ceiba Park in Havana’s San Isidro neighborhood.

Cuba Prepared for Upcoming Ibero-American
Summit
Havana, Nov 15 (AIN) The Cuban delegation will defend
principles of international law and demand the end to Washington’s blockade of the
island during the 14th Ibero-American Summit to be held this weekend in Costa Rica.
In statements to the press, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister
Rafael Dausa said this year’s summit is dedicated to education. He added that the
objective of this meeting is to challenge the empty rhetoric and face problems which
include literacy, school dropouts and the lack of opportunities for individuals to reach
the university level.
The island’s representatives will propose a special
declaration on terrorism. Rafael Dausa emphasized that the declaration is not only to
condemn all forms of terrorism, but to also denounce former Panamanian President Mireya
Moscoso´s pardon of four Cuban-born terrorists who organized an assassination attempt
against Cuban President Fidel Castro during a previous Ibero-American Summit.
The Cuban official wet on to say that the summit should look
for solutions and take concrete actions. Cuba will present its experiences and
achievements with the intent of aiding and cooperating with the other countries of the
region.

Cuban President Meets Russian Cleric
Havana, Nov 15 (AIN) The Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz held
a warm meeting with Metropolitan Kiril, who arrived in Havana on Saturday along with a
delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Kiril is President of Moscow
Patriarchy’s Ecclesiastic Foreign Relations Department.}

^{The distinguished religious leader, Metropolitan of
the cities of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, participated in the ceremony for the laying of the
foundation stone of a church to be built in Old Havana.}

^{At the site a document will be displayed on the
significance of the new religious building for strengthening the traditional friendship
between the Cuban and the Russian people.
During his visit, His eminence Kiril will meet with Caridad
Diego Bello, head of the religious affairs department of the Cuban Communist Party Central
Committee and Eusebio Leal, Historian for Havana.}