Socialist civil society can contribute much to Cuba’s culture

<p style="text-align: justify;">Pedro de la Hoz. A meeting of representatives from cultural foundations and associations convened by the Nicolás Guillén Foundation, to commemorate its first two decades, demonstrated the undeniable contributions – and above all, the undeveloped potential – of these entities, which are part of Cuba’s socialist civil society.Emphasizing this last concept is important. As part of tendentious manipulations disseminated by enemies of the Revolution, some communications media have echoed the presumed existence of a civil society which lies outside of the country’s legal margins, and which is counterpoised to popular values and aspirations. Read More

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Congresswoman says curbs on travel to Cuba ignored

<p style="text-align: justify;">The chairwoman of the House Foreign Relations Committee is pressing the Obama administration to enforce U.S. laws limiting tourist trips to Cuba, after discovering that a Louisiana travel agency is promoting trips to the communist-ruled island. “Not only is the Obama administration easing sanctions on the Cuban regime, but it would appear they are also ignoring the regulations in place,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, said this week. Read More

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Businesses see potential profits in Tampa-to-Cuba flights

<p style="text-align: justify;">By JOSÉ PATIÑO GIRONA | The Tampa Tribune.July 20, 2011.TAMPA. Armando Ramirez has made a successful career for the last 25 years selling charter flights from Miami to Cuba. But he guarantees his Tampa business will get a boost if the Cuban government signs off on direct flights from Tampa to Havana."Many more people are going to fly," said Ramirez, who owns Tampa Envios, 2919 W. Columbus Drive."I always thought that the correct thing was to have flights from Tampa to Cuba," said the Spanish-speaking Ramirez. "We've always struggled for this to occur, so it could be a benefit for everyone." Read More

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What Obama wants for Cuba: transition to hell

<p style="text-align: justify;">19.07.2011. Obama extends the law and the embargo remains intact against Cuba. What Obama wants for Cuba: transition to hell. U.S. president, Barack Obama, informed on Friday (15th), in the Congress of his country, the extension for another six months of the suspension of a clause of the Helms-Burton Act that allows the filing of a lawsuit against foreign companies that negotiate with Cuba. This unilateral action by the U.S. government represents a continuation of the cruel blockade against the island, which has lasted more than five decades. Read More

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Ready to Swim With the Sharks, for 103 Miles

<p style="text-align: justify;">LONG-TERM GOAL?&nbsp; Diana Nyad, a marathon swimmer, hopes to be the first person to cross from Cuba to Key West without a shark cage. By LIZETTE ALVAREZ. Published: July 18, 2011. KEY WEST, Fla. — Any day now, Diana Nyad will set out to do something no athlete has ever done: swim all day and all night, then all day and all night, then all day again.She will swim about 60 hours in the churning sea, 103 miles across the Straits of Florida from Cuba to Key West. Read More

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Cuba crafts economic changes to raise efficiency

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Teresa Gutierrez. Published Jul 17, 2011 7:22 AM. This July 26 marks 58 years since the attack on the Moncada Garrison in Santiago de Cuba by heroic Cuban revolutionaries. The 1953 military assault against the U.S.-supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista failed. Many of the combatants were killed and leaders of the action, including Fidel Castro, were jailed.But that failed struggle for Cuba’s independence led just a short six years later to the successful ouster of the brutal Batista regime and, with it, the end of imperialist domination over Cuba. Read More

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Headed to Cuba, Chavez delegates some duties

<p style="text-align: justify;">CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has delegated some of his duties to his vice president and his planning minister as he prepares to return to Cuba for cancer treatment. Chavez announced on state television Saturday that Vice President Elias Jaua would temporarily handle budget transfers to government ministries along with several other matters. He says Planning Minister Jorge Giordani is also taking on some additional duties temporarily. Read More

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Cuban-music torch bearers Sierra Maestra playing The Ark

<p style="text-align: justify;">Prior to 2009, American audiences never had much opportunity during the previous decade to attend live performances by Cuban groups, due to the Bush administration’s clampdown on U.S.-Cuba cultural exchanges. After Barack Obama took office, however, such cultural exchange with Cuba began to reopen.So, in the last couple of years, U.S. lovers of this simmering equatorial music have been able to “catch up,” as it were. In Ann Arbor alone, Cuban-music fans have been able to groove to the music of two such groups in just the last year—the Afro-Cuban All Stars in the summer of 2009 and Septeto Nacional Ignacio Piñeiro de Cuba earlier this year. Read More

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Cell phones and the cost of living in Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Kate Dries | Jul. 14, 2011. When I first came to Cuba in 1995, cell phone service was so scarce that, after a meeting in which an official had flashed a cell phone from the podium, I turned to Abel Prieto, then the president of the writer’s union, and asked if he had one too. “Oh, no,” he said, “I’m not high enough to be part of the celucracia.” Read More

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The influence of Cuban medical internationalism

<p style="text-align: justify;">Katelynn Northam - July 15, 2011. Cuba is a small island nation perhaps best known among Canadians for being a great vacation destination. It cannot be said to be a rich country – which is perhaps why it’s so surprising that Cuba finds itself exporting more medical assistance to developing countries than all the world’s industrialized countries combined. Read More

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