Dave Sherwood

Cuba's top court said on Monday former Economy Minister Alejandro Gil would go on trial for espionage and corruption on Tuesday, ratcheting up intrigue in one of the highest-profile corruption cases in the communist-run country in decades.

Cuba's top prosecutor accused on Friday former economy minister Alejandro Gil and unidentified individuals of crimes ranging from espionage to bribery, in one of the largest publicly disclosed corruption scandals in decades.

Hours over rutted roads inland from Havana, the small Cuban city of Jatibonico is a snapshot of late 19th-century living, its streets crowded with horse-drawn carriages and lacking power much of the day and night.

Cuban students clamored on Wednesday for further concessions to roll back a rate hike on internet data, saying a decision on Monday to offer them discounted access did not go far enough.

Cuba complained of behavior it called "intervenionist."

The U.S. has more sanctions in store for Cuba, the U.S. top diplomat in Havana said on Friday, just days after the U.S. punished several Cuban judicial officials for their roles in jailing political dissidents on the island nation.

Cuba's telecoms company ETECSA said on Wednesday that it had begun to restore cellular service following an outage that appeared to impact various parts of the capital Havana and outlying provinces.

Cuba on Tuesday arrested high-profile dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer for violating the terms of his parole just three months after releasing the activist from jail as part of a Vatican-brokered deal with the Biden administration.

Jose Daniel Ferrer stepped onto his front porch in Santiago de Cuba on a recent morning, shaking hands and asking after people's health as he greeted a small crowd of the ailing and elderly gathered at his doorstep.

Cuba is making progress on a China-backed plan to install more than 50 solar parks this year capable of churning out more than 1,000 megawatts, the Energy Ministry said late on Wednesday, just days after the country's antiquated grid collapsed and left millions in the dark.