by the El Reportero’s wire services
The direct postal service between the United States and Cuba was resumed today with the arrival to the Island of the first flight from US territory.
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations Director General for US Affairs, Josefina Vidal, reported on her Twitter account @JosefinaVidalF that this was the first such trip between the two countries in nearly 50 years.
According to the Cuban News Agency (ANC), a little after 10:00 local time, a IBC Airways SAAB 340 arrived with postal cargo at the Jose Marti International Airport, Havana.
US Postal Security inspector, Carlos Rodriguez, symbolically gave President of Correos de Cuba, Carlos Asencio, a letter that reinstated the postal exchange between the two countries and a sample of the postmark designed for the occasion, which he described as history in the making.
First Vice President of Correos de Cuba, Zoraya Bravo, told ACN that the flights will come to Cuba from Miami, Florida, three times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as of March 25.
This will make possible the receipt and sending of mail, parcels and courier and express packages through post offices in both countries.
In other news about Cuba:
The US announce partial changes of sanctions against Cuba
The US departments of Treasury and Commerce announced on March 15, new regulations that modify some aspects of the sanctions against Cuba, while maintaining the main body of the economic, commercial and financial blockade.
The measures, which will come into force tomorrow, will allow American individuals to visit the island through people-to-people educational exchange programs, and partially lifts the restrictions on the use of the US dollar in Cuban transactions with banks in the US.
The current US laws allows US citizens to make trips to Cuba, but from tomorrow they will be able to do so as a individual, although tourism is still prohibited by the embargo, which only Congress can lift.
The Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob J. Lew, said today that the new provisions were to continue the steps taken in the last 15 months to break down barriers between the two countries and to empower the Cuban people.
The restrictions on Cuban international financial transactions is one of the main obstacles to the development of trade links between the two countries.
Contingency phase one due to high pollution in Mexico’s capital
Vehicle restrictions have been activated, reported the Environmental Commission of Megalopolis (CAME) in the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico, which includes the capital.
This is due to high levels of ozone concentration in the area, the highest in 11 years.
The first phase of an environmental contingency has been implemented after almost two days of pre-alert and poor air quality.
There have been 50 environmental contingencies since 1988. The most recent was in January 2005 when the index reached 167 Imeca points for suspended particles (PM10), that is, solid or liquid particles of dust, ash, soot, metal , cement or pollen, whose diameter is less than 10 thousandths of a millimeter.
The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) reported that they are carrying out a tour of inspection of industry under federal jurisdiction, so as to check the reduction of productive activities which involve combustion processes.
In the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico there are over 3,400 companies under federal jurisdiction that may be emitting pollutants to the air.
