NOTE: I have not mentioned for some time a great Cuban magazine… with a fantastic set of web pages detailing some of the latest theatre events and other happenings in Cuba… go to their web site…
Cuba Absolutely
London – DTC – The British company Thomson Cruises included Cuba in its 2010-2011 schedule. That way, the company will be able to offer its clients the cultural and historic attractions of the Cuban capital. The company will also include Santa Marta (Colombia) and Roatán (Honduras). The three voyages, called Caribbean Experience, Classic Caribbean and Cuban Adventure, will last 15 days and will include Central American and Caribbean destinations such as Aruba, Curacao, Grand Caiman and Cozumel. The program will be complimented by Thomson Airways’ direct flights between Great Britain and Havana, Barbados and Jamaica.
HAVANA, Cuba – (acn) – The 27th International Fair of Havana (FIHAV 2009) will be inaugurated Monday at the Expo Cuba Exhibition Center with the participation of businesspeople, firms and companies from 51 countries. Abraham Maciques, president of the Organizing Committee of the event, said that this ample foreign presence shows their confidence in Cuba’s capacity to go ahead amidst the current world financial crisis. He noted that the fair has consolidated its role as a means to increase relations with other countries and to undermine the US economic blockade of the Caribbean nation.
The event will be attended by 652 foreign companies, which means that more than 1,500 foreign exhibitors will be present as each company is represented, at least, by two or three businesspeople, Maciques explained. As in previous occasions, Spain will be the foreign country with more participants although countries such as Canada, China, Russia, Venezuela, Italy, Mexico and Brazil will also be represented by several companies. Meanwhile, Pedro Alvarez, President of the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, announced that the participation of companies in the Cuban pavilion also increases this time with the largest representation in the food and health sectors. He added that emphasis will be put on the promotion of new products and services, their export and the substitution of imports.
AP – HAVANA – The habanero peppers, oranges and peanuts cost more at Cuba’s free-market “agros” – farmers markets where vendors, not the government, set prices. But food stalls overflow with abundance not seen elsewhere on the shortage-plagued island. So when the Communist Party served notice that it plans to impose price controls at those agros – ending one of Cuba’s few capitalist experiments – angry shoppers fearing yet more shortages turned on state inspectors in an unprecedented public rage.
Police were called to one farmers market this month when customers shouted and chanted at state workers conducting a routine inspection. Two Associated Press reporters were escorted out of the same market Tuesday after their questions about the changes caused another shouting match. ”It’s going to be a mess. There will be less merchandise,” said Antonio Gutierrez, whose farm cooperative outside the capital sells vegetables to vendors at Havana’s 42nd Avenue and 19th Street agro, where the disturbances occurred.
Price controls would end one of the country’s few private business initiatives just as Cubans hoped the economy would loosen up under Raul Castro, who took power from his ailing brother, Fidel, in February 2008. “Control is now what the Cuban government is trying to lock up more than ever,” said Bill Messina, an agricultural economist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The free-market agros, where the state allows vendors to set prices based on supply and demand, have been very successful in getting food into people’s hands, Messina said. “But it does reduce government control of food,” he added.
With the proposed change, shoppers accustomed to tables piled high with lettuce, spinach, grapes and green peppers fear either the empty shelves or unbearable lines that are routine at government-controlled produce markets. At one such market this week, a chalkboard read “there are potatoes,” meaning spuds could be purchased with Cubans’ monthly ration cards. Besides that, a single produce stand sold only plantains, taro root and onions. “They want to make all the markets like this. Sad,” the lone vendor said. Producers, sellers and customers said they heard from party officials that new price controls were set to begin Nov. 1 – but were postponed until January after a public outcry unheard of under the totalitarian government.
The government has not commented. But a member of Havana’s municipal parliament confirmed the change had been scheduled to take effect next week. The official requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to international media. He said authorities did not take enough steps to implement the changes by Nov. 1. The would-be takeover is part of President Raul Castro’s overall crackdown on corruption – in this case on farmers who are required to meet government quotas but instead sell to free-market vendors through unlicensed truckers because they make more money. By law, small producers and cooperatives can sell leftover fruits and vegetables at their own prices after they meet production quotas – usually around 70 percent of everything they grow.
But the state often takes more than six months to pay farmers, while the truckers offer cash on the spot, said Ismael, a cabbage vendor who only gave his first name because he admitted flouting the law. “We are bandits,” he said. “But without us, none of this works.” Bringing trucks loaded with fruits and vegetables into Havana without permission is illegal, but Ismael said, “we’ve got the police more or less paid off.” The agros first appeared in the 1980, when food shortages forced a reluctant Fidel Castro to allow farmers to sell produce at prices driven, at least in part, by the free market. Castro shuttered them six years later to improve foundering state agricultural production. “They closed them for some of the same things we are talking about now: the black market, middle men making all kinds of money, the government unable to control the market, the food supply,” Messina said.
But the small dose of capitalism returned in 1994, when Cuba was again forced to allow more free-market enterprise to keep its people from starving after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which gave Cuba billions in annual subsidies. More than 300 farmers markets now operate nationwide. But over the years, most have shifted from market-based pricing back to state hands as the government worked to prevent prices from climbing too high and sellers from becoming too rich.
After Hurricanes Gustav and Ike ravaged the island last year, the state froze prices on produce at all farmers markets and restricted sales to prevent hoarding. Free-market agros virtually shutdown because vendors preferred to stay home rather than operate at a loss. Permanent price controls could ruin fruit and vegetable vendors such as Pablo Miguel Saldivar, a 12-year veteran of the 42nd and 19th market who stacked green bunches of small bananas on a rusty metal tray. Fellow vendor Maria Elena, who didn’t want to give her last name and be identified criticizing the government, is an agricultural engineer who makes more money selling papaya. “I’m 51 years old. Where will I go?” she said.
When state officials arrived three weeks ago to close this market for inspection, rumors swirled that they were imposing new prices. Shoppers mutinied, yelling until the police arrived. “There was a misunderstanding, and the people reacted,” Saldivar said. But the air at the markets remains tense. Retired beer factory worker Nancy Alfonso triggered bedlam Tuesday when she defended the proposed changes, saying, “the state doesn’t rob, it’s all of these people who do.” Screaming on both sides got so intense, officials removed reporters asking questions. “Don’t you know this is foreign press!” a market administrator angrily admonished Alfonso and other shouting customers as he ushered the AP out of the market.
Havana – DTC – The exhibition hall PABEXPO, attached to Havana’s Convention Center, has done an excellent work as organizer of exhibitions and events of all kinds. Founded more than two decades ago, PABEXPO covers an area of 20,000 square meters and offers three exhibition halls that total 6,000 square meters altogether. PABEXPO can host more than one event at a time, considering that its halls can be divided. In addition, PABEXPO offers a wide range of services, including stand design, furniture, offices, electricity, communications and security. PABEXPO’s work is part of Cuban authorities’ efforts to boost congress tourism.
UNITED NATIONS – Cuba is willing to hold talks with the United States “on any level,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in conciliatory remarks aimed at the Obama administration. Rodriguez said in an interview with The Associated Press the island nation was waiting for a response from Washington to Cuba’s offer to broaden discussions. His comments came despite a testy exchange between the top Cuban diplomat and a senior U.S. official just before the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn America’s 47-year trade embargo.
This year’s U.N. vote was 187-3 in opposition to the embargo, up from 185-3 last year, with only Israel and the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau supporting the United States. Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained both years. It was the 18th year in a row that the General Assembly has taken up the symbolic measure, and the first since President Barack Obama took office in January, promising to extend a hand of friendship to Washington’s traditional enemies. That change in approach has been noticed by Havana, Rodriguez said.
“We are prepared to have a dialogue with the government of the United States at any level,” the foreign minister told AP after the vote, adding that such talks must be held on the basis of mutual respect and sovereignty. He reiterated that Cuba formally offered in July to hold expanded talks with the United States to cooperate in combatting terrorism and drug trafficking, and to work together to fight natural disasters, among other things. “We are waiting for the North American response,” Rodriguez said. He also said Cuba has been pleased by progress of ongoing talks on migration and re-establishing direct mail service. He called those discussions “productive and respectful.”
Rodriguez’s tone in the interview was markedly different from that in his speech before the General Assembly, in which he claimed the embargo — which the Cubans refer to as a blockade — had cost the island’s fragile economy tens of billions of dollars over the years and prevented Cuban children from getting needed medical care. “The blockade is an uncultured act of arrogance,” Rodriguez said. He likened the policy to “an act of genocide” that is “ethically unacceptable.” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice reacted strongly, calling the Cuban diplomat’s statements “hostile” and “straight out of the Cold War era.” “Here we go again,” she said of Rodriguez’s speech. “I suppose old habits die hard.”
Still, Rice said the Obama administration was committed to writing “a new chapter to this old story” by engaging with the Cuban government, and she used the bulk of her speech to highlight the steps Washington had already taken to improve ties. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the General Assembly vote on the embargo ignored U.S. efforts to help Cubans. “This yearly exercise at the U.N. obscures the facts that the United States is a leading source of food and humanitarian relief to Cuba,” Kelly said. “In 2008, the United States exported $717 million in agricultural products, medical devices, medicine, wood and humanitarian items to Cuba.”
Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Cuba, reacted to the U.N. vote by saying Obama has an opportunity to earn the Nobel Peace Prize he was recently selected to receive by lifting the embargo. “Obama, earn the prize. It’s also a good opportunity to go down in history,” Chavez said, adding that it would be a shame if Obama “wastes the opportunity.” Rodriguez told AP he was “a little bit surprised” by the vehemence of Rice’s initial comments, saying he knew and respected her and held her in high esteem. ”She is an articulate person, a decent and well-meaning person, like president Obama,” he said. “And we respect both of them for that.”
He added that Cuba recognizes there may be opportunities for talks with the Obama administration that were not possible with the administration of former President George W. Bush. The Obama administration has loosened financial and travel restrictions on Americans with relatives in Cuba, and started talks aimed at restoring direct mail links. It sent a senior diplomat to Havana in September for unannounced meetings with Cuban officials that were believed to be the highest-level talks between the two countries in decades. Still, the U.S. has made clear it is not prepared to lift the embargo until Cuba accepts some political, economic and financial changes. That position met a chilly reception during Wednesday’s vote.
One after another, global representatives stood to speak in opposition to the embargo, calling it a cruel anachronism that ran counter to international law and which had only succeeded in hurting ordinary Cubans. ”The time to end this embargo is long overdue,” said South African U.N. ambassador Baso Sangqu, adding that the embargo had “caused untold suffering” to Cuba’s people. Even America’s traditional regional and global allies were blunt in their criticism, with the European Union countries coming out unanimously against Washington’s policy.
Havana – DTC – Jardines del Rey (King’s Garden), in eastern Cuba, will have its infrastructure ready for the upcoming peak tourism season. Generally, tourist arrivals in Cuba increases during the second half of November, and Jardines del Rey offers 3,900 rooms. Twelve hotels and extra hotel facilities are ready to meet the demands from tourists. Experts predicted a 3-percent increase in tourist arrivals in 2009, compared to last year, when Jardines del Rey welcomed 240,000 vacationers. Since its inauguration in late 1993 to date, Jardines del Rey has received 2.5 million tourists from 30 countries.
Nuevitas – (RN) – More than 62 thousand plants of fruit and wood trees have been sowed this year in the areas destined to the program of reforestation of this city, figure that shows a considerable advance. The entities with better results in the preparation of the land and the plantation are the Forest Company, the Entity of Flora and Fauna, Communal, the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), Education and the MINFAR. In the present month of October the workers seek to carry out the reinstatement of the plants that dried off and the workers of Flora and Fauna have planned to sow four hectares in the mouth of the river Saramaguacán. With the purpose of reaching the objectives in the plan of forest repopulation in Nuevitas, it is necessary to maintain a systematic work in the control of this activity, purpose that the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture in this territory keeps in effect. (Santiago Remedios Clara)
CP – Sherritt International Corp. (S-T) said lower commodity prices and the loss of an oilfield in Cuba sent its third-quarter profit down 58 per cent to $55.9-million. The diversified resource company said its profit amounted to 19 cents per share in the third quarter, down from $133.1-million or 45 cents per share a year earlier. Sherritt’s revenue fell to $389.6-million from $478.3-million in the third quarter of 2008. The earnings report helped send Sherritt’s shares tumbling 34 cents or 4.7 per cent to $6.91 in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
As of the end of September, Sherritt’s long-term debt was $3.4-billion, of which about $2.1-billion was related to the troubled Ambatovy nickel project in Madagascar. The company said total capital expenditures were $397.0-million in the quarter, of which 84 per cent or $330.9-million related to Ambatovy. Total project expenditures were $3.1-billion (U.S.) as of Sept. 30. Sherritt said construction activities at the project are ongoing and are scheduled to be completed by “the latter part of 2010.” The company has been struggling with ballooning costs and legal difficulties at Ambatovy as it struggles to get the project up and running.
In the summer, reports said the new president of the poor island country off the east coast of Africa has hired a French law firm to press for changes to the mining act and an Ambatovy agreement signed earlier with the project partners. Sherritt, the project operator, owns 40 per cent of Ambatovy, and Sumitomo and Korea Resources each have a 27.5 per cent stake. The project’s engineering contractor, Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group (SNC-T44.501.683.92%) , has a 5-per-cent interest. Although the final cost of developing the project hasn’t yet been determined, it is estimated to be approximately $4.52-billion. Ambatovy is expected to product 60,000 tonnes of nickel and 5,600 tonnes of cobalt annually.
Sherritt said nickel sales of 9.8 million pounds were similar to a year earlier, while cobalt sales of 1.0 million pounds were up 7 per cent, reflecting increased cobalt production. The average nickel reference price was down 7 per cent to 62 cents per pound in the quarter, while the average cobalt reference price was down 47 per cent to $15.24 per pound due to weak demand. Sherritt sold 8.9 million tonnes of coal from its prairie operations, up three per cent from a year earlier, while sales from its mountain coal operations were 600,000 tonnes, up 20 per cent. Realized prices for coal from the company’s prairie operations were down 9 per cent to $1.47 per tonne while prices for coal from the mountain operations were down 20 per cent to $17.13 per tonne.
Oil production in the quarter was 12,875 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down 23 per cent from the year earlier period, reflecting the loss of Block 7 in Cuba due to the Cuban government’s termination of a production-sharing contract earlier in the year.
Electricity sold was up slightly to 588 gigawatt hours compared to 577 gigawatt hours a year earlier due to higher gas availability. For the full year, Sherritt said it expects to produce 33,500 tonnes of nickel, 3,700 tonnes of cobalt, 39.3 million tonnes of coal, 12,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day and 2,100 gigawatt hours of electricity. The Toronto-headquartered company is active in a number of resource-oriented businesses, including nickel, coal and oil and gas production in several countries including Canada and Cuba.
Havana – DTC – Cuban authorities expect tourism to grow 2-3 percent in 2009, despite the global financial crisis. Experts estimated that Cuba would receive 2.4 million foreign vacationers, compared to 2,348,000 tourists in 2008. Cuba’s major tourist-sending market is Canada, with 818,246 travelers last year, followed by Great Britain (193,932), Italy (126,042) and Spain (121,166). Construction works are under way to build 1,200-1,500 rooms a year to meet the growing demand from tourists. If the United States lifted its ban on travels to Cuba, 1.7 to five million US tourists would travel to the Caribbean Island every year.
BBC News – Havana – Dr Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, was granted an audience with Mr Castro this week. Mr Castro has not been seen in public for more than three years, since a series of major intestinal operations. The only updates on his health come from visiting dignitaries who have been able to meet him. Exactly what he suffers from, and where he is recuperating, remain state secrets. Dr Chan spent more than two-and-a-half hours with Mr Castro, when she had a “long talk” with him. “He walked me out of the house, that’s quite a distance, so pretty strong. And don’t forget, I’m younger than him,” she said, without discussing specific health issues.
Topics ranged from swine flu preparations to the possible health impact of climate change. Speaking at a news conference in Havana, Dr Chan said that Cuba’s 83-year-old former leader remained well informed and as demanding as ever. ”I have to say Mr Fidel Castro’s understanding of the importance of health, particularly public health, is impressive. “Any one of you, especially the doctors, if you don’t know your subject well, don’t talk to him. He knows more about the subject than you do.”
Excelencias Gourmet – The potentials for making high-quality Cuban rum can exceed six million cases of nine-liters a year, as informed to the press by Cuba-Ron company’s vice president Juan Gonzalez. During a meeting at the Havana Club Rum Museum in Havana, the executive assured there are right now eight certified brands of high-quality Cuban rum for the international market, in addition to the famous Havana Club brand. In this portfolio, he mentioned Varadero and Caney (Cimex), Mulata and Santero (Tecnoazúcar), Legendario and Arecha (Beverages and Refreshments League) and Santiago and Cubay (Santiago de Cuba).
He also remembered that Cuba is being hit hard by the U.S. economic and commercial blockade laws since the island nation cannot sell its products in world’s leading spirit market, which accounts for 40 percent of all global sales. Cuba sold last year 3.5 million cases of Havana Club rum in the remaining 60 percent of the market. Washington’s 50-plus-year-old commercial restrictions on Havana mean that at least 2 million cases are not sold in the U.S. every year, an annual loss of $ 95 million.
Mr. Gonzalez pointed out if the American market opened to this kind of product, the country could sell all necessary amounts without making a dent on its traditional markets, although he still sees this possibility quite uncertain. Today, Cuban rums are on all markets around the world and are putting good numbers on the board in Asia –especially in Japan and China- as well as in Russia.
Nuevitas – The workers of the factory of noodles “Ángel Gutiérrez Núñez”, of this city, work to over-fulfill the economic technical plan of October, a goal that will allow it to guarantee the distribution of the product in all the state units of the municipality. At the moment the men and women of the entity keep a daily production of one ton of noodles, and for next week they seek to increase the production, with the purpose of conquering the tasks planned by the provincial headship, fundamentally in the production of foods.
In these moments, the factory has the container and the necessary raw material to assure its productions, which are carried out with less energy consumption, thanks to the measures adopted by the administration to contribute with the saving of combustible. To support the anti- bacterial campaign that the sector of hygiene carries out in the territory, the labor organization of the center develops every Sunday voluntary work, aimed to the cleaning and sanitation of the areas to eliminate the proliferation of the mosquito Aedes Aegypti.
Xinhua – Trade and investment relations between South Africa and Cuba will be strengthened during the Havana International Trade Fair, the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said. “The fair will provide an opportunity for deputy minister Thandi Tobias-Pokolo and her Cuban counterpart to discuss issues on the bilateral agenda, with particular focus on trade and investment,” the South African Press Association cited the spokesman Sidwell Medupe as saying in a statement. Tobias-Pokolo would lead a 40-member government and business delegation to Cuba for the Havana International Trade Fair, from November 2 to 7. In 2008 South Africa exported goods to Cuba worth R81,979,457.
Cuba’s exports amounted to R15,741,495 during the corresponding period. Thirty-four South African companies would present their technological and industrial capabilities at the fair. Targeted sectors included agro-processing, biotechnology, automotives, construction, pharmaceuticals, capital equipment (including mining equipment), chemicals and engineering services. The companies included emerging, well established and women-owned ones. The DTI participated in the fair since 2004, with the exception of 2005. Tobias-Pokolo said Cuba has the potential to emerge as a significant oil producer, with opportunities arising in this area. In addition, it has a growing tourism sector, and South Africa is well-placed to supply the necessary products to that market.
Havana – DTC – Cuba is promoting advanced medical treatments, including the use of stem cells to treat bone affections. The methods, which is on a trial phase, has been used to treat diseases that affect the muscular and bone systems, including the aseptic necrosis of the hip, degeneration of the inter-vertebral disks, and degenerative diseases of the lumbar spine and knees. In Cuba, several institutions are using stem cells for medical treatments and there are good prospects in that regard. Experts said that achievements have been made in treating chronic arterial diseases with stem cells.
Cienfuegos – Camaguey Endedans Contemporary Ballet Company presented its most recent coreographies at the Teatro Tomas Terry in Cienfuegos, almost a year after its previous performance here. In this occasion, Camaguey Endedans presented a small format, characterized by transmitting a visual world full of symbolism linking the plastic art and the image, which was welcomed with great pleasure and excitement by the audience.
Among Camaguey Endedans’ most important successes is the prize won at the Iberoamerican Choreography Contest, where it was awarded for its work “A los confines de la Tierra”. This presentation took place a few days after Camaguey Endedans’ return from Venezuela, where the troupe attended the event ““Danza Solidaria, Encuentro de Países Bolivarianos y del Caribe”. This event brings together leading companies that performe their works in poor and remote communities of Maracaibo, capital of Zulia.
Havana – (Prensa Latina) – The Second Forum on Latin American and Caribbean Friendship with China is beginning in Cuba, aimed at strengthening the existing links between this region and the Asian nation. The event at the National Hotel in this capital is also targeted at making the development achieved by the Chinese people in the last 60 years known. China celebrated on October 1st 60 years of the new State shaping and that it is currently showing excellent results in the social and economic fields, despite the world financial crisis. The Taganana Hall, at the hotel above, hosted the opening of the Caledoscopio de China Reflections of modern Chinese way of life photographic exhibition.
Havana – DTC – Cuba’s health system has opened a Hot Line against breast cancer, as part of actions to fight the disease. The initiative is aimed at providing information to women suffering from breast cancer or those concerned about a positive diagnosis. According to experts, volunteers who have undergone surgery against that kind of cancer will provide the service. In that regard, they recalled that Cuba has reported an increase in breast cancer, with an average of 2,000-2,500 new cases a year. The experts noted the importance of regular self-examinations, even for women who have just turned 25 years old and have undergone any changes in their body.
Camagüey – In order to increase the production of food, the farmers in Camagüey have the serious commitment to carry out an effective winter sowing campaign and reach 90 million liters of milk to be delivered to the industry. At the moment, 75 farms -joined to the suburban agriculture movement- are in full capacity of production, which will have an important impact in the supply of ground provisions, vegetables, grains and fruits to the city of Camaguey in the next months.
For then, the feed plant for the local Pig- breeding Company should be completed in its second stage; plus other veterinarian establishments, the Apodaca Clinic and the productive complex located in Santa Cruz del Sur will be rendering their services. To these productive tasks or others destined to improve the agriculture and the animal husbandry in Camaguey, more than 63 000 workers of this sector will combine efforts to improve the conditions of life and to apply the advances of science and technology. (Raysa Mestril Gutiérrez/ Translated by Gualveris Rosales Sanchez/Radio Cadena Agramonte).
Havana – (Prensa Latina) – The Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) executive secretary, Carlos A. Florez, and the Minister of Basic Industry, Yadira Garcia, chaired the opening of the energy efficiency exhibit in this capital. The exhibition shows experiences of Cuba, Argentina and other countries in the area in the development of an awareness and culture about necessity of saving energy sources. This exhibit is part of the IV Forum of Regional Energy Integration (FIER), opened in the Hotel National and represents one of the events combined to the XL Meeting of Ministers of OLADE, which will be effected next Friday in order to identify and spread efficient technologies that could be apply in the 26 countries member of that entity.
There will be analyzed proposal, recommendations and conclusions of collateral meetings made this week. It will be also discussed normative and structural aspects which guarantee the success of efficiency programmes in the area. The Cuban Minister of Basic Industry, welcomed the participating in the IV Forum, and spoke about Energetic Revolution advances in the island, such as the replacement of electrical appliances for other more efficient. The Executive Secretary of OLADE exposed a masterly conference about global and regional energy and stressed the importance of Latin American integration in the sphere. There were also exhibits of OLADE experts from Guatemala, Brazil and Mexico, which exposed experiences and policies in their countries. The IV Forum participating, divided in four groups, will do a trip in order to know the island work in generation, transmission and efficient distribution of energy.
Havana – DTC – The Cuban company, Astilleros del Sur (ASTISUR), based in central Cienfuegos province, is betting on foreign markets. The company completed the construction of 400 plastic boats ordered by Angola. The four-meter-long boats were built last year using fiberglass-reinforced plastic. ASTISUR will also build three fishing boats for the Cuban company PESCACUBA, and will repair ten boats from the local shrimp-fishing fleet. The company, located on the banks of the Hanabanilla lake, also builds waste-processing plants.
Havana – (Prensa Latina) – Students of the San Antonio de los Baños International Film and Television School (EICTV) are recording here the first episode of a soap opera which title is Daggers to the Heart, responds to the terms of true melodrama. The adventure is in charge of third-year students of EICTV, who use for their purposes the Television Study named after the deceased Spanish filmmaker Pilar Miro. The group counts with the consultancy of prestigious media specialists, professional actresses and actors, an art director, graphic designers for the presentation curtains and headstocks.
The story related in Daggers to the Heart, even though only one episode will be recorded by now, has all the genre ingredients: perturbed passions, murders and mistery. It takes place at the Olimpus Circus, where the illusionist Katchan and his sister Vilma go to, to find job and stay there. From that moment the plot of unrequited love, the suspicious death of the circus owner in the middle of an illusionism act and the corresponding police investigation in a tense atmosphere, which is intensified by the complications that generates a second murder, is triggered. It is supposed that the students would have fun with this exercise full of melodrama and detective touches, which objective responds to the initial purposes of the EICTV founders, among them the Argentinean Fernando Birri, which is to form filmmakers and television makers who enrich the Latin American production with their talents and technical skills.
Europe News – Madrid – Several European Union countries have asked Spain to clarify what kind of policy it will pursue in relation to Cuba during its EU presidency in the first half of 2010, government sources. Countries including Germany, the Czech Republic and Lithuania had asked for a clarification, the sources said. Spain would like to modify the EU’s 1996 ‘common position’ on Cuba, which links relations to democracy and respect for human rights on the Caribbean island, the sources explained.
Spain will seek a bilateral agreement similar to the ones the EU has with countries such as China and Russia, under which Havana would no longer be subjected to a ‘constant scrutiny.’ Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has come under criticism for not meeting dissidents during his visit to Havana. Moratinos said the Spanish government had an ‘enormous respect’ for Cuban dissidents, with whom it was in constant contact, adding that it was not ‘compulsory’ for him to meet them during his visit.
Havana – DTC – Cuba’s agricultural authorities are fostering the use of natural fertilizers to increase production without damaging the environment and to reduce imports. In eastern Ciego de Avila province, some 80,000 tons of organic nutrients were used during the first nine months of 2009. The amount of natural fertilizers used in local crops was similar to 800 tons of industrial fertilizers and contributed to saving six million dollars. The province produced the biofertilizer Rhizobium, which contributed to increasing production of beans. Ciego de Avila is expected to produce 105,000 tons of biofertilizers, worm humus and crop wastes to meet the demand from the agricultural sector.
Havana – (Prensa Latina) – The presentation of the Cuban version of the play “Endgame”, by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, interpreted by Argos Teatro Company, will take place in Havana, as part of the activities of Havana International Theater Festival. Critics say this version of the play, directed by Carlos Celdran, is faithful to the original. Endgame is a one-act play with four characters and was published in 1957. It is commonly considered, along with work as his most famous “Waiting for Godot” to be among Beckett’s most important works.
Beckett was awarded with a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969 “for his “writing, which, in new forms for the novel and drama, in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation.” Argos Teatro Company will join other 29 companies of the island, which will also participate during the 13th edition of Havana International Theater Festival on Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. Some other 30 theater groups from Latin America, Europe and US will also participate during the event, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of making Theater in the Cuban Revolution.
Havana – DTC – Science is a fundamental element in Cuban agriculture to increase production. As part of those efforts, farmers in eastern Ciego de Avila province planted 1.3 hectares of pineapple of the MD-2 variety, which is expected to increase yield. Unlike the Spanish Red variety, MD-2 has shorter leaves, fewer thorns and is smaller, making it easier for farmers to attend to the crops. It also has a shorter cycle and higher content of sugar, in addition to being more expensive on the international market. A hectare planted with MD-2 pineapple can produce 80-120 tons, while the yield of one hectare of Spanish Red pineapple is 30-40 tons.
WCVB TV – Boston - Copies of about 3,000 letters and documents from the Ernest Hemingway archives at the Cuban National Ministry of Culture have been made available at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Kennedy library officials said the Cuban government is sharing copies of the letters and documents written by and to Hemingway while the Nobel Prize winner lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1960. They include corrected proofs of the novel “The Old Man and the Sea,” the final version of a movie script based on that book, and an alternate ending to “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” The documents had only been available to researchers who traveled to Cuba. The Ernest Hemingway Collection at the JFK Library contains 90 percent of existing Hemingway manuscript materials.
(Bloomberg) – The Treasury Department says it wants companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. to resume instant messaging services in countries including Cuba and Iran that remain under U.S. trade sanctions. Microsoft and Google cut off the use of instant messages by citizens of Iran, Syria, Cuba and Sudan, saying U.S. regulations prohibit the required downloads. Now the Treasury Department is saying the online communications foster democracy and should be restored. “Ensuring the flow and access to information available through the Internet and similar public sources is consistent with the policy interests of the United States.”
The company-imposed blackouts show how U.S. trade restrictions can conflict with diplomatic goals, said James Lewis, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “We want people to be able to communicate,” Lewis, who administered U.S. export control rules in the 1990s, said in an interview. “But in the normal course of business this stuff is on autopilot. The sanctions system rolls on and generates an answer that is no.” The U.S. began an “interagency effort” to make sure electronic communication is available in nations facing sanctions “to the extent permitted by current U.S. law,” Szubin said in the letter to Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas.
The conflict is over how to interpret laws that limit trade with countries whose policies the U.S. opposes. In addition to imposing general sanctions, the U.S. restricts exports of civilian technology that could have military applications. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, ended access to Windows Live Messenger, its instant-messaging application, last year to meet its “obligations to not do business with markets on the U.S. sanctions list,” spokeswoman Kate McGillem said in an e-mail. The company lets citizens of those nations use its Hotmail e-mail and Live Spaces, a blogging service. Those don’t require downloaded software.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, doesn’t permit the download of Google Talk, its instant messaging and voice chat service, or of Google Earth, Google Desktop and other services. It has a “longstanding practice” of using a filtering system to block access to those services from portals in Iran and the other nations under sanctions, spokesman Scott Rubin said in an e-mail. The prohibitions on access in sanctioned nations remain in effect, according to the companies. Marti Adams, a Treasury spokesman, wouldn’t comment, and declined to grant an interview with Szubin. The Obama administration said in April that it was easing sanctions on Cuba, partly by letting companies such as AT&T Inc. get licenses to operate television, mobile-phone or satellite- radio services in the island nation. “With that in mind, we are deeply concerned that instant messaging services for Cubans and persons living on other countries under sanctions by the U.S. have been discontinued,” Stephens of the Center for Democracy wrote in a May 29 letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Web sites, blogs and online services such as Twitter have been used by anti-government groups to promote their causes and organize protests. China and Iran sought to block Internet access during unrest this year. After the disputed presidential election in Iran on June 12, opposition organizers used Twitter Inc.’s messaging to organize street protests. The State Department intervened to dissuade Twitter from shutting down for a planned upgrade, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “We called and said, ‘Please don’t shut down,’ because this is a major communications loop for people on the streets,” Clinton said in a forum at George Washington University in Washington on Oct. 6.
Closely held Twitter is a social networking site that lets users send “tweets,” messages of no more than 140 characters that are open to the public unless the writer limits readers to selected “followers.” Jenna Sampson, a spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Twitter, didn’t respond to e-mailed questions. Instant messaging, e-mail and other private communications tools are more effective than Twitter alone for democratic activists in countries such as Iran, said Evgeny Morozov, a fellow at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington. “When you do have an event like in Iran you want all the channels in place, so that people can communicate quickly,” Morozov, who is writing a book about the impact of the Internet on global politics, said in an interview. The risk to companies that they will run afoul of U.S. sanctions is real, said Morozov. Doing business in Iran or Syria “is loss-making, so why should they bother?” he said.
Havana – DTC – Cuba’s exports are subject to protective measures based on the demands from major international markets. According to experts, the National Standardization Office (NSO) has taken measures to protect a number of Cuban exports, including nickel and byproducts, crude and refined sugar, lobster, shrimp, cigars, processed fruit and vegetables, cocoa and rum, among others. The NSO is also working on the design of standards for imports of dairy products, cosmetics, sanitary furniture, lamps, electrical wires, refrigerators, tires, oil, paint and varnish, and medical equipment. Those tools benefit Cuba’s foreign trade, as they design the strategies based on other countries’ demands. The implementation of quality standards in Cuban companies is under way, as a need to improve the efficiency and efficacy of Cuba’s economy.
Passenger Terminal Today.com – Broward County, Florida, officials will ask the federal government to let passenger planes fly between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Cuba, and to let boat passengers travel to Port Everglades. Broward County commissioners approved an item allowing the county to petition the US Department of Treasury to designate Broward’s airport and seaport as official points of entry. Because of the economic embargo imposed in the early 1960s, only three airports can host international travel between the US and Cuba – Miami, LAX and JFK. In April the US government announced it was easing travel restrictions to Cuba to allow those who have relatives there to visit more often.
Spokesman Greg Meyer says the Broward County Aviation Department has been approached by airlines looking to operate Cuba flights at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood. One of those, Miramar-based Spirit Airlines, has to fly to Cuba from Miami even though it operates almost exclusively from FLL in South Florida. Meyer noted that there are an estimated 100,000 people of Cuban descent living in Broward and Palm Beach counties, FLL’s service area. The Broward airport also serves parts of Miami-Dade County, where more Cubans live. It’s unknown how long the process will take to determine if FLL’s request will be approved. If everyone gets approval, flights could start the next day.
HAVANA – (IPS) – Three new international cooperation agreements channeled through the United Nations system in Cuba are aimed at strengthening food security, especially in the poorest parts of the country. “Thanks to the joint work of the international community, the United Nations and the Cuban government, we have been able to provide more assistance in such important areas as food,” the United Nations resident coordinator in Cuba, Susan McDade, told IPS. “Four years ago it would have been difficult to imagine this kind of collaboration,” achieved by means of “better coordination” among U.N. agencies, which has made it possible to mobilise resources towards sectors of development identified as priorities by Cuban officials, she said.
McDade, who is from Canada, said the three agreements involve a total of 35 million dollars for projects that will have an impact throughout the country, but with an emphasis on the easternmost provinces that cover one-third of the island. That part of the country, which includes the cities of Las Tunas (662 km east of Havana), Holguín (743 km), Granma (744 km), Santiago de Cuba (861 km) and Guantánamo (905 km), is the least developed part of the island, and the consensus is that it must be given top priority in development aid plans.
Many of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the international community at the U.N. general assembly in 2000, have been achieved in Cuba, while others are on the way to being met, said McDade, who is also the resident representative of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP). But “some eastern provinces and municipalities are not making the same progress,” she pointed out. A study by the National Statistics Office (ONE) on progress towards the MDGs in eastern Cuba made it possible for U.N. agencies and local authorities to identify which areas should be especially targeted in development efforts, including maternal health programmes, promoting greater access to food, and defence of the environment.
Some of the problems in eastern Cuba are caused by the lack of a habit of eating vegetables rich in micronutrients and iron, shortages in protein, especially among the lowest-income sectors, and a higher teen pregnancy rate. Studies show there is no “chronic hunger” in Cuba, although there are certain levels of anemia and scarcity of micronutrients in some segments of the population, especially children under two, young mothers, nursing mothers and people with chronic health problems. The eight MDGs set a 2015 deadline for halving extreme poverty and hunger rates from 1990 levels, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and maternal health, reducing child mortality, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, and developing a global partnership for development.
The first of the programmes mentioned by McDade, which will involve 8.5 million dollars in aid, is focused on “support for the fight against anemia in disadvantaged groups in Cuba,” which will directly benefit the 24 poorest municipalities in the five eastern provinces and the western province of Pinar del Río. That initiative will provide financing for a dairy company in Pinar del Río to expand production in order to make an iron-fortified porridge which includes milk, to be provided to children between the ages of six months and five years, pregnant women, and other people facing a risk of anemia.
The second project, called “support for new decentralisation initiatives and production stimulation in Cuba,” will include seven million dollars in aid to bolster the participation of the small private sector as a dynamic agent in local development. Individual producers and cooperatives from five municipalities in five different provinces will be the beneficiaries. “This programme is aimed at promoting decentralisation in agriculture, in line with the government’s new policy of promoting economic activities that contribute to import substitution,” said McDade, who added that small farmers involved in the programme will be provided with tools, credits and facilities for repairing tractors, among other services. Both initiatives will be partly financed by the MDG Achievement Fund (MDG-F), whose main donor is Spain.
The MDG-F is a U.N. instrument that backs up national efforts to meet the MDGs, fight inequality and increase active participation by civil society in social and economic development. The third agreement mentioned by the U.N. resident coordinator will involve 20 million dollars in aid from the European Commission, channeled through the UNDP, up to Sept. 30, 2011, with the aim of diversifying agriculture. The plan is to strengthen local food production capacity, while improving farm management and the availability of local produce in 27 selected municipalities. In addition, efforts will be made to improve quality and quantity of skilled farmers in another 10 municipalities.
The government of Raúl Castro has made the recovery and increased efficiency of the agriculture sector, whose difficulties were aggravated by the damages caused by three hurricanes last year, one of the top priorities of his government. The total economic losses caused by the hurricanes were estimated at 10 billion dollars. The U.N. system worked hard to mobilise international humanitarian support to help this Caribbean island nation get back on its feet in the wake of the hurricanes. McDade, however, whose nearly four- year stint in Havana is coming to an end, says this is one of the pending challenges. “Although we all hope that Cuba will never again be whipped by three hurricanes in one month, we can imagine that it will continue to be vulnerable to such disasters. Looking towards the future, the United Nations has to perfect its capacity to mobilise more swiftly on such occasions,” she said.
Cuba as well as other nations in the region “are facing tremendous challenges caused by climate change and its effects,” said McDade. “In my four years here, we have had equally serious problems of flooding and drought in the eastern region; I saw both extremes.” She said the main climate change-related challenge facing Cuba is designing an adaptation plan, which involves rational, sustainable use and management of resources and the inclusion of environmental considerations in economic planning, among other aspects. “The key question here and in any country is that the plans are drawn up at a national level, but the implementation takes place at a local level, which means close coordination between central and local bodies is required. I believe Cuba has the capacity to do this, but it is an area where the U.N. system would like to work more in the future,” the U.N. official said. U.N. cooperation in Cuba covers programmes and projects in areas of local human development, natural disasters and risks, the environment and energy, health and food security, all of which are in line with priorities identified by the government. This year McDade will finish her mission in Havana, where she was posted in February 2006, and will travel to Uruguay to head the U.N. system in that South American country.
Havana – DTC – The Cuban company DESOFT, based in eastern Ciego de Avila province, has produced software for the domestic market. Some 50 Cuban firms have installed DESOFT’s software, including Avilalink (computer management), Aviladoc (document management) and Avilakid (complaint and incident management). From January to September, the company contributed 1.6 million pesos to Cuba’s economy from a series of projects in domestic sectors and firms. DESOFT executives pointed out that experts are working in Brazil, Venezuela, Norway and Spain, adding that exports of Aviladoc have reported revenues of 500,000 dollars.
Cinco de Septiembre – The International Son Rhythm Festival of Mayari, a city located in eastern Holguin province, will dedicate its 20th edition, slated for November 5-8, to the Mexican city of Cozumel. The president of the Organizing Committee, Jorge Cabrejas, told ACN that representing Mexico this time will be the group Aquino and his band. With the main objective of strengthening the sense of belonging of Holguin residents in terms of popular and traditional culture, the event will award Radio Progreso radio station on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of its founding, as well as 20 of the founders of this Festival created in 1989.
Cabrejas, who is also a percussionist and a composer, also announced that the 35 years of artistic life of singer, composer, and band leader Adalberto Alvarez, known as The Gentleman of Son Rhythm, will also be celebrated. For four days, dancers will enjoy the music of the groups Bamboleo, Havana de primera, Adalberto Alvarez y su Son, Original de Manzanillo and David Alvarez y Juego de manos, among others, which will share the stage with bands from the territory like the legendary Hermanos Aviles and the host group, Tainos de Mayari.
The Festival’s main venues will be the city’s square, the local museum, and the municipal office of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists, where a plastic art exhibition on son rhythm will be inaugurated. Ileana Aviles, a specialist with the Provincial Music Center, confirmed that the event will once again include theoretical workshops and practical classes, as well as sales of discs and books related to this Cuban music genre.
Havana – DTC – Cuban chess player Lelys Martínez joined the world elite, after the International Chess Federation granted him the title of Grand Master. According to statistics, Cuba has 22 Grand Masters. The first Cuban player to win that category was Silvino García in 1975. In Martinez’s case, he won three norms from December 2008 to August 2009, and has an ELO score of 2,511 points. The 24-year-old player, who ranks 11th in Cuba, has made great achievements over the past seasons. Cuban player José Angel Guerra won the title of International Master and joined Aryam Abreu, Fidel Corrales, Luis Manuel Pérez and Yuri González, who won that title last year.
Courthouse News Service – SANTA ANA, Calif. – A scam artist was sentenced to 5 years in prison for selling phony travel packages to Jewish and Greek Orthodox senior citizens who wanted to go to Cuba for religious and cultural reasons. Ralph Adam Rendon told his victims that the Treasury Department canceled the trips and he kept their money to buy a Mercedes, pay his rent and hire a divorce lawyer, state prosecutors say. Rendon, 33, stole $154,000 from 41 people, including 20 old folks who responded to his travel agency ads in religious magazines; about half of his victims were Californians, Attorney General Jerry Brown said.
Some of the victims wanted to visit a Greek Orthodox church that Fidel Castro allowed to be built in Cuba, and hoped to offer humanitarian assistance to members of the community. Cuba is believed to have a few thousand Orthodox believers, only a few dozen of whom are Greek. The Jewish Americans’ trips were also for humanitarian purposes, to help the small Jewish community in Cuba. The victims paid up to $4,000 apiece, Brown says, then Rendon told them, “As soon as we receive word from the U.S. government that the freeze on religious programs in Cuba has been lifted, we will allow you to travel to Cuba at any date of your choosing.”
Rendon’s ads appeared in the “Orthodox Observer,” “Jewish Journal” and “Jewish Life.” A spokesperson for Brown’s office said, “We are not aware of any trips offered to the Catholic community.” Rendon was sentenced this week to 5 years in prison; as part of his plea agreement additional fraud charges related to a second scheme will not be pursued. While out on bail for the 2006 travel fraud, Rendon started a second company, London Exchange, which charged people $500 to apply for credit cards that didn’t exist, prosecutors said. Rendon pleaded guilty to grand theft.
Havana – DTC – The city of Cienfuegos, the capital of the central Cuban province of the same name, is hosting the 1st Anthological Exhibition of Handicraft, dedicated to artist Emilio López. The exhibition, pays tribute to the late artist, who was a founding member of the Association of Cuban Artist Artisans (ACAA) and excelled as a fashion designer, painter, ceramist and sculptor. Being held at the Boulevard Gallery, the exhibition shows several works on wood, metal and fabric, among other supports. As part of actions to promote Cuban culture, 87 local artists are participating in the exhibition, during which artisans Haydeé Villavicencio García and Juan Miguel Pérez Carvajal received the Hands Award, granted by the ACAA.