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Cuba court sentences Chilean to 20 years for graft

<p style="text-align: justify;">PETER ORSI, Associated Press. Updated 10:41 a.m., Thursday, May 5, 2011. HAVANA (AP) — A Cuban court sentenced Chilean revolutionary-turned-businessman Max Marambio, long a friend of Fidel Castro, to 20 years in prison for fraud and bribery following a trial in absentia, official news media reported Thursday. Read More

Cuban Dance Company on a Tour of the US

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.05.04 - 22:32:25 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Havana, Cuba.- The young artists of Cuba’s Contemporary Dance Company (DCCuba) will carry out a tour of several US cities throughout this month, where they will perform in places like the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, of Norfolk, Virginia; the Joyce Theater, of New York; the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; the Strand Theatre and the Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, the two of them in Boston.The troupe, directed by maestro Miguel Iglesias will dance from May 6th through the 27th. Read More

Old Havana Restoration Works Cause Amazement in FITCUBA 2011

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.05.04 - 20:03:53 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. FITCUBA 2011. Havana, Cuba.- The restoration works carried out in Old Havana amazed the participants in the 31st International Tourism Fair (FITCUBA 2011), underway at the Morro-Cabaña Fortresses.The city historian, Eusebio Leal Spengler, offered a lecture on Wednesday on the restoration of the architectonic and cultural heritage of the city, works in which members of the community contributed as well.Leal showed pictures of worn-out buildings that were turned into hotels, museums, cultural institutions, and health care and social centers Read More

A sacked minister and a Chilean trader are sentenced to prison on corruption charges

<p style="text-align: justify;">Official note published Thursday in Granma and translated by Cuban Colada: The Provincial People's Tribunal of Havana sentenced Alejandro Francisco Roca Iglesias, former Minister of the Food Industry, to 15 years' deprivation of freedom, upon declaring him the author of the crimes of continued bribery and acts detrimental to the economic activity or contracting. Read More

Sugar harvest improving modestly

<p style="text-align: justify;">This year’s sugar harvest slightly exceeded low expectations and showed modest productivity improvements, industry expert Juan Varela said in an article published by Communist Party daily Granma. “The current harvest begins to send signals of change in the work style and organizational system,” Varela said, adding that the total exceeded the plan by 6 percent and productivity was 2 percent above expectations.The article didn’t provide any specific figures. Read More

Cuba serves as 3rd largest Caribbean tourist destination

<p style="text-align: justify;">(Xinhua) Updated: 2011-05-04 14:17. HAVANA - Cuba has become the third largest tourist destination in the Caribbean, Cuban Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero said here Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the International Tourism Fair (FIT) Cuba 2011.The minister said the island nation received about 30 million overseas visitors in the last decade.More than 2.5 million visitors came to Cuba in 2010, a 4.2-percent increase from 2009. Canada, Britain, Spain, Argentina and Russia are the five countries accounting for most of the tourists. Read More

CUBA: Month-Long Offensive Against Homophobia

<p style="text-align: justify;">HAVANA, May 3, 2011 (IPS) - LGBT social networks and experts with Cuba's National Sex Education Centre (CENESEX) announced Tuesday that events surrounding the Day Against Homophobia will last a month this year in this Caribbean island nation."There are places where gay pride day is celebrated; we are going to dedicate the entire month of May to the fight against homophobia," said sexologist Mariela Castro, director of CENESEX, a government agency. "Although our activities take place year-round, this is the time of greatest visibility," she said. Read More

Cuba: Number of People Older than 100 Years On the Rise

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.05.04 - 15:28:31 /radiorebelde.icrt.cu. HAVANA, CUBA.- The number of 100-year-old people or older is gradually increasing in Cuba as a result of the social assistance provided by the Cuban government to that group age.Dr. Eugenio Selman-Housein Abdo, founder of the Club for the 120-Year-Old, told ACN in 2009 there were 1,488 people in their hundreds in Cuba and in 2010 the figure grew to 1,551.The Club inaugurated by the mid 2003, has members from Cuba and foreign countries and it is not exclusive to the elderly. Read More

Cubans take baby steps to reform — and hope they don't trip up

<p style="text-align: justify;">DESMOND BOYLAN&nbsp; /&nbsp; Reuters. HAVANA&nbsp; — You can sense change coming to Cuba, and it could be profound.The country appears headed toward reforming an economic model that has dominated the island for more than half a century.A recent four-day meeting of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party ratified a package of 300 economic reforms aimed at attracting foreign investment, diminishing government control over commerce, slashing public spending, handing over more land to private farmers and allowing more regular folks to open their own businesses. Read More

Rangers sign Leonys Martin

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Richard Durrett. ESPNDallas.com. SEATTLE -- The Texas Rangers officially signed outfielder Leonys Martin, a Cuban defector, Wednesday. He will get a five-year major league contract worth $15.5 million that includes a $5 million signing bonus.It's the second-largest contract given to a Cuban defector. Hard-throwing left-hander Aroldis Chapman got a $30.25 million, six-year deal from the Cincinnati Reds in January 2010. Read More