Pan American Games Tickets Sales Increased

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.08.10 - 16:07:24 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu / Pan American Games Tickets Sales IncreasedHavana, Cuba.- Nearly two weeks from the beginning of selling of the tickets for the Pan American Games, the ticket office located in the Liberación Square in Guadalajara, has generated an increase of the selling of tickets for the upcoming aforementioned tournament. Its current number shows up to 200 thousand seats sold. Read More

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Interjet takes over Mexicana slots

<p style="text-align: justify;">Mexican airline Interjet is temporarily taking over some of the Cuba slots flag carrier Mexicana used before the company entered bankruptcy.Beginning Aug. 11, Interjet will offer daily flights from Mexico City to Havana. The airline, known for its spacious seat arrangements, is using A320 aircraft for its first foray abroad.Interjet, according to Mexican daily El Universal, is preparing to return the routes to Mexicana, should the airline emerge from bankruptcy and claim them. Internet obtained an annual permit in June. Read More

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Ex-Cuba triple jumper Aldama makes British worlds team

<p style="text-align: justify;">LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Former Cuba and Sudan triple jumper Yamile Aldama will make her debut for Britain and Northern Ireland at the age of 39 after being selected in a 67-strong squad for this month’s World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. The Cuban-born athlete represented her birth country at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, finishing fourth, and became world number one in 2003. Having failed to obtain a British passport in time for the Athens Olympics in 2004 she chose to compete for Sudan, finishing fifth. Read More

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Inaugural reinstated 'people-to-people' Cuba tours start Thursday

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY. Everyday American travelers, forbidden for years from visiting Cuba legally, can now go, with restrictions. Inaugural "people-to-people" trips, banned in 2003, reauthorized by the Obama administration in January and subject to strict U.S. licensing requirements, are due to leave Miami Thursday. Organizer Insight Cuba says all systems are go. But other operators' trips are in limbo because of questions about whether they meet government criteria, amid criticism that loosening of rules could open the door to mass tourism. Read More

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Cuba tourism revenues up 13 pct

<p style="text-align: justify;">Published August 09, 2011. EFE. Havana –&nbsp; Cuba's revenues from tourism jumped 13 percent in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2010, the National Statistics Office, or ONE, reported on its Web site. According to ONE's figures, total income from Cuba's tourism sector between January-July amounted to $990,464, while in 2010 it was $874,513. Profits are being reported this year in such areas as hotels, retail sales, gastronomy and transport, and losses in others such as recreation. Read More

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US Rep. Rivera, exile groups protest Milanes show

<p style="text-align: justify;">GISELA SALOMON,, LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ,Updated 03:33 p.m., Tuesday, August 9, 2011. MIAMI (AP) — A small coalition of exile groups and a South Florida GOP congressman on Tuesday asked local authorities to cancel the first Miami concert of famed Cuban artist Pablo Milanes scheduled later this month at the downtown American Airlines Arena. Milanes is one of Cuba's most famous musicians, a founder of the folk music known as Nueva Trova. He has played in the U.S. before, but he has never given a concert in Miami, the heart of the Cuban exile community. Read More

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Considering a Trip to Cuba? Be Careful

<p style="text-align: justify;">8/9/11 10:17 AM ET.Ronen Paldi. Owner and President, Ya'lla Tours USA. It seems that there is an insatiable desire within the US to visit Cuba no matter how many restrictions are put in place. Now, with some of the easing of those restrictions, people are jumping at the chance. In recent months there have been a number of tour operators and travel agencies who claim that they can provide legal travel to Cuba for the average American. However, before you contact a tour operator and make those plans, you need to remember to be very, very careful.There may well come a day when all of the restrictions that prevent an American traveler from visiting Cuba are lifted. Read More

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As homes go up for sale in Cuba, racial and class lines return

<p style="text-align: justify;">Cubans will be allowed to buy and sell homes for the first time in 50 years.Nick MiroffAugust 9, 2011 07:02.HAVANA, Cuba — Not since the early days of the Cuban Revolution has this city faced a transformation like the one that may soon begin sweeping through its neighborhoods.By the end of this year, communist authorities say new laws will be in place allowing Cubans to legally buy and sell residential property for the first time in five decades. Homes that haven’t had a market appraisal in 50 years will suddenly be valued as assets. Read More

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Cuban Choreographer and Dancer Wins Int’l Award in Italy

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.08.09 - 11:16:01 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu.Photo: Juventud Rebelde. Havana, Cuba.- Cuban choreographer and dancer Tony Menendez, who arrived in Cuba from a successful tour around several European nations such as France, Austria and Switzerland, received in Italy the Grand International Prize of Entertainment and Television Milan-Italy 2011.The ceremony took place at the San Babila theater of Milan with the presence of artists and personalities of Italy and the world, and representatives of the Cuban embassy in Italy. Read More

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Cuba arrests telephone executives in corruption sweep

<p style="text-align: justify;">Tue Aug 9, 2011 2:51pm EDT. By Marc Frank. HAVANA, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Cuba arrested senior executives at state-run telephone company ETECSA in an anti-corruption sweep at one of the communist-run country's top businesses, according to sources with knowledge of the scandal. Several executives at Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA were arrested in July while the company's president Maimir Mesa and most of its vice presidents have been suspended at least temporarily and sent home, the sources said. Read More

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