A new lawsuit was filed Monday in Miami, Florida, against several Cuban tourism companies under Title III of the controversial Helms-Burton Act, activated by the current U.S. government as part of its policy toward the island.

According to Prensa Latina, using information broadcast by CBS and the Miami Herald, members of the Mata family filed a claim in the federal court of the Southern District of Florida to request compensation for the use of the Meliá San Carlos hotel, located in the central Cuban province of Cienfuegos.

The legal action mentions the hotel groups Gran Caribe, Cubanacán and Gaviota, as well as the Cimex corporation, but for the moment does not include the Spanish Meliá hotel chain, which participates in the management of the tourist facility.

The media indicated that although the Spanish group still does not appear in the lawsuit, it received a notice on Monday informing it that if it did not pay compensation, it would be included in the class action lawsuit.

The Helms-Burton, approved by the U.S. Congress in 1996, codifies the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington almost 60 years ago against the Antillean nation.
The lawsuit filed on Monday is the first case filed by people who only became U.S. citizens after the nationalization of the property.

As Engage Cuba coalition president James Williams indicated in a recent web conference, the possibility given to Cuban-Americans who were not nationals of this country at the time to file claims 'is unprecedented in international or U.S. law.
This is the fourth lawsuit filed in U.S. courts since Title III was activated on May 2 as part of the Trump administration's growing hostility to the island.

Numerous voices inside and outside the United States have condemned this action to tighten the blockade, which is fundamentally aimed at depriving the Caribbean country of foreign investment.

Notable investments in irrigation systems through the implementation of new technologies aimed at greater efficiency in the use of water are undertaken in agricultural entities of Holguín province as part of the programs to boost food production.

The bulk of these tasks is specifically underway in those agricultural areas that have the best lands and hydraulic infrastructures as essential bases to increase yields per hectare during harvesting processes.

The priorities in that sense are currently concentrated in territories of the municipalities Urbano Noris, Gibara, Rafael Freyre, Cueto and Mayarí, these last two cases based on the benefits they bring and the waters of the east-west diversion, said Ernesto Molina, at the head of these producing companies in the provincial delegation of Agriculture.

Among the investments, there are those executed in Limoncito agricultural area, responsible for supplying part of the food demands to the city of Holguín, where the main investments comprise the installation of drip irrigation systems, much more efficient that the one used by flood ever since that productive entity was created in the 90s.

The constructive program for the benefit of the agricultural plantations includes the rehabilitation work of a conductor of almost 10 kilometers long that will be inserted to the irrigation systems of extensive and fertile lands in Velasco zones through the use of the Santa Clara and Tres Palma dams, which are nearby.

Investments in irrigation projects acquire great significance in Holguín, taking into account that it is one of the Cuban territories distinguished by its wide potentialities in food production, but most of the crops are grown in dry land as one of the main reasons that limit to a certain extent the levels of planned yields per hectare during harvest time.

In this precise context, directors of the sector hasten investment programs in order to increase progressively the levels of stockpiles, either food or vegetables, and grains, meat and milk to contribute to territorial self-sufficiency in response to the objectives set by the Cuban State in that sphere of the national economy.

The Havana-Holguín passenger train, which has not circulated since 2006, will do so again starting in the second semester of this year, with departures every three days.

The vehicle consists of 12 modern cars of Chinese manufacture, high comfort, cafeteria service and other amenities.

It has the capacity to transport 720 passengers to different destinations along the central railway, having a first class air-conditioned, and a second one.

The trip is scheduled to carry through in 13 hours, with stops in Jaruco, Matanzas, Colón, Santa Clara, Guayos, Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Las Tunas and Cacocum.

In order to ensure the resume of the service, the Holguín railway station is being repaired, so as the access line from Cacocum and the technical check and return workshops.

The project is part of the Railroad Recovery and Development Program in Cuba, an investment of approximately three billion dollars.

Such program also includes the modernization of trains of national circulation, those of Guantanamo and Granma, with equal frequency, and Santiago de Cuba, on alternate days.