Fla. travel ban to Cuba may be challenged in US Supreme Court

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Divya Kumar, STAFF WRITER. Published: Thursday, May 26, 2011. Updated: Thursday, May 26, 2011 03:05. When Noel Smith received an email from her friend last week, she did not expect to learn that a lawsuit she filed with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and seven other faculty members from Florida universities in 2006 would be taken this seriously. Smith, curator of the USF Institute for Research in Art (IRA), received an email from her lawyer a few days later confirming her friend's find: her case against a travel ban to Cuba may soon be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Read More

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Cuba marks 50th anniversary of Hemingway's death

<p style="text-align: justify;">11:04, May 26, 2011. Cuba will hold from June 16 to 19 an international conference devoted to Ernest Hemingway, marking the 50th anniversary of his death, the organizers said here Wednesday.The event is organized by the Ernest Hemingway Museum in Havana, marking also the 80 years since the publication of his novel "Fiesta" and 50 years of the delivery of Hemingway's house "Finca Vigia."Hemingway lived in "Finca Vigia" from 1939 until shortly before his death on July 2, 1961. Read More

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Mexico to provide market know-how

<p style="text-align: justify;">During a three-day visit to Havana, Mexican Agriculture Minister Francisco Mayorga Castañeda signed a series of agreements, under which Mexico and Cuba will increase cooperation on agricultural machinery, bio-fertilizer and pest control research as well as veterinary training.In an apparent first for a foreign government, Mexico will also assist Cuba in the implementation of market mechanisms in food distribution, Mayorga said, according to Mexican daily La Jornada. The Mexican assistance, amid renewed discussions over a breakup of state monopoly Acopio, is the first instance of foreign participation in food distribution. Companies from Brazil, Venezuela, China, Angola and Vietnam have set up joint ventures in food production only. Read More

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American and Cuban travel specialists meet

<p style="text-align: justify;">American travel specialists are meeting with their Cuban counterparts in preparation for what they hope will be the day when Americans can travel freely to the communist country.The meeting is taking place in Cancun Mexico. Last year President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on the visits of Cuban Americans to Cuba and increasing people to people contact.Since then they have traveled in such numbers that Cuba has had to remodel the airport terminal for American flights. Read More

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Diana Nyad, at age 61, prepares for second attempt to swim from Cuba to Key West

<p style="text-align: justify;">Swimming with sharks at age 61: Legendary long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad is ready to make the trek again from Cuba to Key West, and this time finish.By Sally Jenkins, A couple of years ago, swimming legend Diana Nyad was emceeing a swank awards banquet in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom in New York when she suddenly woke up the crowd by stripping off her dress. Standing on stage in nothing but a swimsuit and high heels, dangling her cleavage, she further enlivened the affair by whipping out a bugle and playing reveille. Read More

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Rainy Season Off to a Poor Start

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Patricia Grogg. CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba, May 25, 2011 (IPS) - Despite major underground water reserves and the start of the rainy season, people in the central region of Cuba are anxiously scanning the skies in the face of scant rainfall, which is needed to ease a drought that has become more severe in recent years. "The situation is tense. As of mid-May, no rain had been reported, and in April, average rainfall did not exceed 50 millimetres," commented Benito Rafael Migoya, a provincial agriculture official in Ciego de Ávila, capital of the central province of the same name 460 km east of Havana. Read More

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Int’l Conference on Rice in Havana, Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Genetic improvement and technology transference will be some of the topics to be discussed during the Fifth International Conference on Rice, scheduled for June 7-10 at Havana’s Convention Center.The meeting, organized by the Institute of Grain Research and the Rice Agro-industrial Group of the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture, will bring together researchers, specialists, producers, and executives from different regions of the world, mainly Latin America and the Caribbean. Read More

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Cuba Expands Number of Hotel Rooms

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.05.25 - 15:38:06 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Havana, Cuba. – With an annual growth of 7.5% of the lodging capacity, the renovation of the hotel infrastructure is kept at the top of development priorities for the Cuban tourism industry.Last year, the island started the exploitation of 2,792 new rooms most of them located in the northern keys of Villa Clara and Varadero, in the hotels Riu Varadero, Barceló Santa Maria and Melia Buena Vista. Read More

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Mexico welcomes the Leo Brouwer Guitar Festival

<p style="text-align: justify;">The Cuban Leo Brouwer attended the First Guitar festival, that carries his name, in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, informed here the office of the musician, who is considered an icon of that instrument.A press note indicated that this cultural event included an award to the best performer of the work made by the winner of the Iberian – American Tomas Luis de Victoria music award. Likewise, two concerts were dedicated to his creations. Read More

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Cuba's National Ballet Brings Back The Enchanted Shrimp

<p style="text-align: justify;">By: Martin Hacthoun.12:00Havana, May 25 (Prensa Latina) Cuba's National Ballet will celebrate International Children's Day with a presentation of El Camaron Encantado (The Enchanted Shrimp), performed by about 500 children and young dancers.Under the direction of prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso, the piece, with choreography by Eduardo Blanco, will be performed at the Karl Marx theater in a gala sponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). Read More

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