1. hobbies and interests
2. cigars

HavanaReporter
THE
©
YOUR SOURCE OF NEWS & MORE
A Weekly Newspaper of the Prensa Latina News Agency
Havana, N
ow a Wonder for All
...T C
YEAR IV
Nº 21
DEC 26, 2014
HAVANA, CUBA
ISSN 2224-5707
Price:
1.00 CUC, 1.00 USD, 1.20 CAN
/P.16
he uban capital not only has won
due recognition but is also faced
with a huge responsibility
having millions of eyes now on it...
CARICOM-Cuba
Closer Integration to Meet
Common Challenges /P. 3
Society
Cuba Improves Overall Care
for the Elderly /P.4
Entertainment
& Listings
/P.8-9
Photo Feature
Cuban Economy Set To Reverse Deceleration
US Semester at Sea:
Friendship and Learning in
Cuba /P.11
/P.14
International
Popular Governments Target
More Integration /P.12
Sports
Cuba Regains Top Position
on Medal Table /P.16
This newspaper is distributed on board Cubana de Aviacion´s flights
2
CUBA
Happy New Year!
SEASONS GREETINGS
The Havana Reporter team would like to
wish all our readers a very Happy 2015 and
to reiterate our promise to continue working
during the New Year to keep you informed
about events in Cuba, Latin America and the
Caribbean, as we have done for the past four
years.
Our paper will, as always, continue to bring
the history, culture, people, tourism, sports,
challenges, achievements and aspirations of
our Caribbean nation closer to you.
We will also cover Cuban international
activity and its links to other nations.
We would welcome your contributions and
comments on our continuing endeavours
regarding our mission as a means to improve
the content and quality of our work.
Happy New Year!
CUBA
3
CARICOM-CUBA
Closer Integration to Meet Common Challenges
HAVANA._ With a view to facing
common challenges such as
globalization, the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) and
Cuba have jointly set their sights
on plans to further increase
and strengthen integration and
cooperation in 2015.
At the fifth CARICOM-Cuba
Summit held recently in Havana,
the participants agreed on the
need to strengthen regional
unity and integration fully
respecting the sovereignty of all
CARICOM member states.
The
Caribbean
leaders
who attended the Havana
summit signed a 27-point
final declaration related to the
joint efforts needed by those
countries to increase SouthSouth cooperation, encourage
initiatives to boost development,
and cope with climate change
and epidemics like the Ebola
outbreak, among other issues.
Released as the Declaration
of Havana by the www.
Cubaminrex.cu website, the text
highlights Cuba’s cooperation
efforts with the member states
of the bloc in sectors such as
health, development of human
resources, construction, and
sports, with concrete results in
improving the well-being of the
people in the region. In this sense,
the 14 member states of this prointegration mechanism thanked
Cuba for constantly supporting
different educational projects in
the regional countries.
The updating of the Cuban
economic model, the new Cuban
Foreign Investment Law and the
Mariel Special Development
Zone, were referred to as
strategies that provide additional
opportunities for speeding up
and strengthening economic
links between the bloc and the
island. The final declaration also
highlights the regional countries’
renewed support for the
Republic of Haiti, as well as their
intention to continue backing
recovery efforts there after the
country was devastated by an
earthquake in January 2010.
Meanwhile, the participating
delegations reiterated their
commitment
to
continue
promoting social initiatives,
enlarging projects to improve
infrastructure and air and
maritime connections, and
diversifying economic and
trade relations, among other
strategies.
In referring to climate change
as a top priority issue given the
regional countries’ vulnerability,
PHOTO: Vladimir Molina.
By DamyVALES
the
document
expresses
concern over drought, sea level
rise, and coastal erosion, which
pose a threat to food security
and efforts to eradicate poverty.
Other agreements reached
by the summit call for
immediate implementation of
joint action by the Bolivarian
Alliance for the Peoples of
Our America-People’s Trade
Agreement,
CARICOM-Cuba
and the Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States
(CELAC) to prevent the Ebola
virus from spreading to the
region and fight it if necessary.
Regarding
this,
the
participants recognized the
support and solidarity of the
Cuban people and government
by sending doctors and health
staff to the African countries
affected by the deadly epidemic.
Likewise, the CARICOM-Cuba
Summit reiterated support for
Cuba attending the 7th Summit
of the Americas in April 2015
in Panama, on the basis of
sovereign equality and without
any conditionings, in keeping
with the expressions of solidarity
at different forums held in the
region.
Antigua
and
Barbuda,
Bahamas, Barbados, Belize,
Dominica, Grenada, Guyana,
Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and
Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, Suriname, and
Trinidad and Tobago joined
their voices during the summit
to demand the end of the
U.S. economic, financial, and
commercial blockade against
Cuba.
On this particular issue,
CARICOM chairman Gaston
Browne stressed that Cuba “is
part of our Caribbean family and
we call upon all nations alike to
respect it.”
To reassert that idea, Browne
urged President Barack Obama
and U.S. congressmen to lift the
blockade and allow the Cuban
people to develop.
There are many things that
regional countries cannot face on
their own; they are people with
a history of slavery, colonialism,
and exploitation, the CARICOM
chairman stressed. “The time has
come,” he said referring to the
need for integration and strong
solidarity.
Despite U.S. government
pressure to isolate Cuba,
on December 8, 1972 the
governments
of
Jamaica,
Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad
and Tobago agreed to reinforce
ties with the island. This event
would mark the beginning of
relations between Cuba and the
future CARICOM member states.
The 6th CARICOM-Cuba
summit was set for December
8, 2017 in Antigua and Barbuda,
and the fifth Ministerial Meeting
for June 2016 in Havana.
Quinta de los Molinos, Lush Vegetation and History
Text and Photos by RobertoCAMPOS
The mills were owned by Martín de Aróstegui,
president of the Royal Cigar Factory run by the Spanish
King. Its name was first recorded at Cuba’s National
Archive in 1850 and has carried on to present day.
Before 1850 it was known as the Tacon Garden,
according to a plan dating from 1843 and a marble plaque.
The mills operated until the second half of the 19th
century propelled by water from the Zanja Real, Havana’s
first aqueduct system. The latter´s construction works
began in 1592 and were completed after 27 years of work.
Once the mills were defunct, Havana’s Botanical
Garden was established there, with the residence of the
Captain Generals being built at the same time.
HAVANA._ Declared a national monument in 1981, the
Quinta de los Molinos (The Farm of the Mills) features as
a very attractive place to visit in Havana. It served as the
former residence of the Spanish Captain Generals and of
the Dominican-Cuban General Máximo Gómez.
But above all, it is a botanical garden benefitted
from a restoration project, featuring a delicate image
and lush vegetation in a city that recently celebrated its
495th anniversary of founding.
This green space takes its name from the two mills
that operated on the site to grind tobacco leaves to
make snuff. Tobacco was a product in great demand in
Europe, particularly Spain, in the late 18th century.
On February 24, 1899, Gen. Máximo Gómez made
his entry into Havana from the country’s central region,
establishing the headquarters of the Liberation Army at
that site.
The Quinta de los Molinos was the general’s last
residence until he died on June 17, 1905, and today it
houses the Máximo Gómez Museum.
Interestingly, directors of the Cuban Rodeo
Association have recalled that the Quinta de los Molinos
grounds hosted the first agricultural fair held in Cuba
after the revolutionary triumph in 1959. Currently a
place of reference in botanical terms, this green space
encourages the protection of nature.
4
SOCIETY
Cuba Improves Overall Care for the Elderly
HAVANA._ Cuba is intensifying its efforts
to provide better overall care for elderly
people, given the rapid aging of its
population.
The head of the Public Health
Ministry’s Department for Attention to
the Elderly, Welfare, and Mental Health,
Alberto Fernández, told the Prensa Latina
news agency that the country is facing
a huge challenge as outlined in the
guidelines for the State’s economic and
social policy.
The end of last century witnessed
the world’s population aging at an
accelerated rate; hence, health systems
must be prepared to cope with this
situation, he said. The large majority of
the elderly in Cuba live in the community,
and one of the country’s strengths since
the 1980s has been the family doctor
program, an initiative introduced by the
leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel
Castro, Fernández recalled.
PHOTO: Manuel Muñoa;
By JoelMICHEL
The challenge ahead is to redesign the
Cuban health service for the elderly and
it is imperative to develop a geriatricsoriented policy, starting by increasing the
number of beds at medical centers, he
added.
Fernández noted that geriatrics
services in Cuba aspire to having one bed
available for every 2,000 elderly people,
with differentiated, high quality attention
guaranteed.
Providing care for elderly people
also entails another challenge. The
health systems were designed to
offer promotion, prevention, care, and
rehabilitation services, but efforts must
now also be directed towards old people’s
groups and homes.
The Cuban State has implemented a
policy for increasing the number of old
people’s groups, where seniors can spend
the day under specialized supervision,
allowing family members to have a
normal working life.
Cuba is facing a problem, he said,
because the number of people aged 60
has been on the rise since 2010, while that
of Cubans aged 15 has been declining.
Consequently, the amount of people
needed to replace the existing workforce
will be decreasing as well.
“So, it is very important to have even
more centers that provide overall care for
the elderly. We are developing a project
for the creation of groups for old people
with dementia, who would receive
specialized healthcare,” the doctor said.
With regard to retirement homes, the
specialist explained that each of these
centers in Cuba has a doctor and a nurse
and is affiliated to a specific health area
and hospital, which can offer further
assistance as required.
Fernández highlighted related efforts
that include dentistry and rehabilitation
services and the manufacture of
medicines for the elderly.
Cuban Anti-Drug Policies Increasingly Effective
By EugenioDUQUESNE
The Cuban Minister for Justice, Maria Esther Reus,
recently highlighted the degrees of efficiency reached
by the country on the anti-drug fight and how vital the
preventive work is.
PHOTO: Lázaro David Najarro;
HAVANA._ A combination of the will of the authorities
and a strategic prevention and integral confrontation
of drug trafficking in Cuba ensures that this issue does
not constitute a threat to national security or public
health.
The largest of the Antilles has established guidelines
about how to face this scourge with a system of prevention
and education in which various social partners intervene
on a multidisciplinary basis.
The drug problem was one of the most discussed
topics at the 12th International Penal Sciences Meeting
which was organized jointly by the Prosecutor General
Office, The Law Faculty of the University of Havana
and the Cuban National Union of Jurists.
Speaking at the meeting, Yoandrys González,
chief of Operational Control of the Interior Ministry’s
Technical and Investigative Police, explained that
international borders and coastal zones are among
the principal areas where this illegal trafficking is
being confronted.
He expounded in this regard that Operation Ache
has been underway for 15 years to impede organized
crime activity within territorial waters.
This mission also involves continuous systematic
inspection of coastal zones in search of bundles of drugs
carried by marine currents, having been abandoned by
traffickers for some reason.
He detailed that as a result, 15 operations had been
interrupted, 48 traffickers apprehended and 6.6 tons of
cannabis confiscated between 2003 and 2013.
She ratified the will of the Cuban government to
continue with this strategy to combat the drug scourge.
We have managed to involve people, student and
farmer organizations and other social stakeholders,
into an integral confrontation of the drug issue, she
emphasized.
Reus indicated that predominant political will exists
on the part of the government which ensures the
necessary resources for the application of measures
in order to avert a threat to national security. She
HavanaReporter
A Weekly Newspaper of the Prensa Latina News Agency
THE
President: Luis Enrique González.
Information Vice President: Víctor Carriba.
Editorial Vice President: Maitté Marrero Canda.
Chief Editor: Luis Melián.
Translation: Prensa Latina English Department.
YOUR SOURCE OF NEWS & MORE
.
commented that the preventive work is sustained at
an adequate level for each organization to identify risks
without losing sight of the cooperation between them.
The Minister for Justice explained that laws that
correspond with the measures in this regard, be they
penal or administrative in nature, are now in place.
She confirmed that the penal code, which allows for
severe sanctions for drug related offences, constitutes
a deterrent, adding that the ways in which this illicit
activity is addressed need to be adapted to the new
forms it takes.
The Minister emphasized that a rehabilitation and
citizen societal reincorporation program also exists for
drug users.
The purpose of the national prevention plan is to
prepare the population to avoid any improper use of
drugs and to foster a culture of rejection, she stressed.
Reus highlighted the importance of international
cooperation on the grounds that it would be impossible
for Cuba alone to undertake such works because this
was a phenomenon of global proportions that required
a global response.
She stated that Cuba stood as a symbol of what, due
to a fundamental prevention and education system, can
be done to confront such a phenomenon.
The country has designed a system and has the
political will to both prevent and confront the scourge
of drugs, a firm zero tolerance stance and above all the
principal fact that it is not a producing, consuming or
trafficking nation.
.
.
.
.
SOCIETY HEALTH & SCIENCE POLITICS CULTURE
ENTERTAINMENT PHOTO FEATURE ECONOMY
SPORTS AND MORE
Graphic Designers: Mario Sombert.
Laura Reyes.
Chief Graphic Editor: Alejandro Gómez.
Advertising: Pedro Ríoseco
Circulation: Commercial Department.
Printing: Imprenta Federico Engels.
.
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Telephone: (537) 838-3496 / 832-3578 Fax: (537) 833-3068
E-mail: [email protected]
HEALTH & SCIENCE
5
Cuba, A Society Where Health Is Not For Sale
HAVANA._ Ibero-American Pharmagenetic Network
president, Dr. Adrian Llerena, has confirmed that Cuba is
one of few examples in the world where society takes
precedence and neither health services nor medicines
are commercialized.
Speaking to the Prensa Latina news agency at
the recent 2nd International Community Genetics
Conference held here, the Spanish academic said that “it
is my hope that many countries might in the future copy
the Cuban model of rating health as a social good.”
At the meeting Cuba presented advances and
experiences in the field of human genetics from a
primary health care perspective.
For professor Llerena, the focus on and manner
in which Cuba places technological advances at the
service of the community is totally correct while being
an example for the world.
Llerena, a member of the European Medication
Federation, explained that health as a social value, and
the concepts of public health that Cuba promotes, are
also applied to genetics.
The specialist, who is furthermore the director of the
Spanish Badajoz Clinical Research Area, commented
that “with medication we kill and harm people,
unintentionally, because one always hopes that they will
be effective”.
As pharmaceuticals sometimes cure and sometimes
do not, this issue relates to a primary dimension of public
health, he added. Consequently what Pharmagenetics
does is reduce the percentage of people who suffer such
direct or indirect harm.
According to the professor, the world´s general
medical practitioners are yet to receive the flow of
information which will soon come on-stream due to the
development of this relatively new science.
Everything that can be done to avoid the harm
caused by pharmaceuticals will be most beneficial
PHOTO: Tamara Gispert
By ManuelHUDSON
to public health, he said, adding that pharmacology
deals with what has occurred while Pharmagenetics is
all about avoidance. He elaborated by saying that “in
laboratorial terms 30 percent of European medications
already have a technically marked gene.”
The professor pointed out that sooner, rather than
later, patients will learn from the literature about such
pharmaceutical products; they contain a gene and
demand prior genetic testing to identify those for whom
particular pharmaceuticals might not be suitable. The
researcher reiterated that what Pharmagenetics can
do is to identify persons who could be harmed by a
medication.
“From now on we are going to be able objectify our
lack of answers to adverse reactions according to the
genetic profile of each person,” he said.
VIP
Lounges
The VIP Lounges form part of the installations of the company in international airports,
where you can enjoy personalized services at very competitive prices, including:
• Welcoming you at the point of entry to the country.
• Special service for checking airline tickets.
• Dispatch and recovery of checked luggage.
• Passport check-in.
• Priority in customs checking.
• Priority in boarding aircraft.
• Main lounge.
• Reserved lounge.
• Personalized information.
• Open bar with a selection of alcoholic drinks and cocktails.
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In order to engage our services, use one of the following:
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Telephones: (537) 642 6225, (537) 642 0247, (537) 642 0163.
• For other Cuban international airports: [email protected]. Tel. (537) 649 5137.
6
POLITICS
US Anti-Cuba Subversive Actions Prove Costly
By RobertoGARCIA
HAVANA._ Government entities, news
channels, and anti-corruption agencies
have repeatedly denounced arbitrary
activities and wrongdoings in the use of
the funds the U.S. Congress assigns for
anti-Cuban campaigns.
Federal agencies and legislative
commissions have conducted audits to
track the taxpayer money spent by people
Meanwhile, in the prestigious U.S.
magazine Foreign Policy, expert John
Hudson noted ¨it is difficult to find a more
wasteful U.S. government program than
the multi-million effort made to have U.S
broadcasts reach the Cuban audience.¨
Lawrence O’Donnell, an expert with
the MSNBC TV channel, made similar
statements noting that Radio Martí and
million since 2013 in transactions with the
Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG),
Radio Marti’s oversight body.
However, practically nothing has been
said about the final use given to a large
amount of those funds, and no one has
officially asked for an account of it.
Cuban
authorities
say
the
programming that Radio and TV Marti
try to broadcast for the Cuban audience
has highly aggressive content, interferes
in the country’s internal affairs, and
encourages illegal emigration. Other
subversive actions disclosed in 2014 have
who make a profit out of the alleged “fight
for Cuba’s freedom.”
Members of the U.S. Senate and the
House of Representatives have presented
draft bills to try to put some order to this
situation amid the climate of tension in
that country, not to actually pronounce in
favor of Cuba but to try to recover part of
that money.
Radio and TV Martí (RTVM) are
eloquent examples of the irregular use
of those resources by anti-Cuban sectors
based in the United States and other
countries.
The U.S. government-financed RTVM
broadcast service has been condemned
by Cuban authorities at a number of
international forums for considering it a
violation of national sovereignty.
Radio Martí was aired on May 20, 1985
and the TV service under the same name
on March 27, 1990.
The U.S. Huffington Postonline news
service recently published an article
entitled ¨Radio and TV Martí: Jammed
in Cuba, Slammed by the U.S. Court of
Appeals¨ saying “It would be better if
Congress silenced the stations once and
for all.”
The publication wonders how much
waste taxpayers and policy makers will
tolerate “in the White House’s failed effort
to overthrow Cuba’s government.”
TV Martí have spent more than $500
million to reach less than one percent of
the Cuban population,“a colossal waste of
taxpayer money,” he said.
One of the problems is that RTVM
became a multimillion business for
private entities hired by the government
and for anti-Cuban politicians and their
families, who also get lucrative income by
engaging in these ghost stations.
Journalist Tracey Eaton recently
disclosed some of those irregularities in
his blog Along the Malecon. According
to Eaton, the division that runs Radio and
TV Marti, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting
(OCB), has profitable deals with Canyon
Communications
company,
whose
founder Jeff Kline has made nearly $1.8
joined to the list of this and other failed
projects, including Zunzuneo, intended
to create a Cuban Twitter; or the attempts
to use young Latin American people
to stir subversion on the island under a
humanitarian smokescreen.
These latest actions, funded by the
United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), wasted millions
of dollars and evaded the supervision
mechanisms that the U.S. Congress
allegedly has to control the use of the
funds.
CULTURE
7
SPOTLIGHT ON
Text and photos by FranciscoNAVARRO
CIENFUEGOS.- For U.S. documentary film
maker Paul Irmiter, geographic, economic,
and political barriers between the United
States and Cuba fade with every shot of
his latest documentary “Closer than You
Think”.
Coordinated and produced by
the non-profit organization US Cuba
Artist Exchange, this one-hour plus
documentary film deals with prolific
cultural exchanges between artists
from both countries.
Irmiter told The Havana Reporter as
he was giving the final touches to the
shooting phase, that close-up shots
were first filmed in Cuba (Havana,
Cienfuegos, Trinidad) last April, then
in the United States (Minnesota and
Wisconsin) in June, and finally in the
Cuban provinces of Cienfuegos and
Santiago de Cuba during the last two
weeks of November. The documentary
contains testimonies recorded during
the tours of the above mentioned places
that US Cuba Artist Exchange (founded
in April 2012) organized for both U.S.
and Cuban artists.
Images from the two countries
show the impression that experience
had on the artists, the cultural
exchanges between communities and
the cooperative efforts of more than
15 U.S. and Cuban members, including
painters, musicians, and filmmakers.
Irmiter said that the translation
process work is ahead of schedule and
added that the documentary, currently
in the editing and postproduction
phase, is expected to be released in
April 2015.
“It is very easy for me to film in
Cuba (and with Cubans), because of
the protagonists’ direct and fluent
communication, contrary to the
preconceived ideas I had in mind
when I first came, possibly influenced
by life in my country where my friends
and colleagues very much retreat into
their own shells,” the Minneapolis,
Minnesota-based film maker said.
He commented that when other U.S.
filmmakers saw the first shots, they were
somewhat jealous of how much the
Cuban artists could do with such limited
material resources.
This reminded him of family
memories
passed
down
from
generation to generation about the
Great Depression, a period when
prevailing socioeconomic conditions
made people very creative.
He noted that when that crisis
ended, North Americans began losing
(manual) skills, because even the tiniest
nut became available in stores.
Commenting on his experiences
shooting his latest documentary film,
Irmiter said that “This is not my case. I
can work even with an old camera and
was lucky to meet other “crazy” people
on the island who can do the same
thing.”
Asked about how he had prepared
for this work, Irmiter clarified that he
had avoided being “prejudiced” before
coming to the island and had not even
read any books on the subject, because
he preferred to be surprised by reality.
Once given the final touches, the documentary will enter another difficult phase: showing
at festivals that might in turn open doors to events of even greater magnitude. It is set to
be premiered in Minneapolis in the 2015 spring.
For the artist, an opportunity to show his “Closer than You Think” documentary at
Havana’s 2015 International Festival of New Latin American Film would be like a dream
come true.
8
ENTERTAINMENT
THEATER
*Note: theater companies are in
parentheses
Centro Cultural
Bertol Brecht
GETTING
By MaylínZALDIVAR
[email protected]
Teatro de la Villa
RECOMMENDS
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Sala Adolfo Llauradó
Sala Hubert de Blanck
Desamparado esq. a Dr. Mora.
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Sat. Dec. 28 (8 pm): The
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Calle 13 esquina a I. Vedado. Tel:
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MUSIC
Teatro Nacional de Cuba
Casa del Alba Cultural
(Cultural Center)
Calle 11 entre D y E. Vedado.
Tel: 832-5373. Fri. Dec.26, Sat. 27
(8:30 pm) and Sun. 28 (5 pm):
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Calzada entre A y B. Vedado. Tel:
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“Fuenteovejuna” by (Compañía
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and Sun. 28 (5 pm): “Leonarda”
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Fri. Dec. 26, Sat. 27 (8:30 pm) and
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Línea e/ Paseo y A. Vedado. Tel:
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pm): “Locos de Amor” (Madly in
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Tel: 878-5590.Sala Covarrubias.
Sun. 28 (11 am): Homage to
composer and guitarist Sergio
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Calle Línea e/ C y D, Vedado. Tel:
833-2151. Sun. Dec. 28 (5 pm):
Club “Nuestra América” (Our
America) with Alicia Perea.
Teatro Mella
Bertolt Brecht.
Línea entre A y B. Vedado. Tel:
833-8696. Mon. Dec. 29 and Tue.
30 (8:30 pm): Concert by singersongwriter Tony Ávila.
Calle 13 esq. I, Vedado. Tel: 8329359. Sat. Dec. 27 (4 pm): Club “A
Bolero for you” with Rafael Espín
and friends.
ENTERTAINMENT
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9
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Patio Bar Egrem
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NIGHTCLUBS
& CABARETS
& CABARETS
Casa de la Música de
Miramar
Centro Habaneciendo
Calle G esq. 23. Vedado. Tel: 8304524. Sun. Dec. 28 (4 pm): Gloria
Matancera band performs.
Museo Nacional de Bellas
Artes
Dragones y Zulueta. Centro
Habana. Tel: 866-7153. Sat. Dec.
27 (8:30 pm): Pianist Ernán
López-Nussa and his group
perform. Guest: Kelvis Ochoa.
Asociación Yoruba
Calle San Miguel e/ Campanario
y Lealtad. Tel: 864-2006. Sun.
Dec.28 (4 pm): Timbalaye club.
ART GALLERIES
& MUSEUMS
MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
Centro Wifredo Lam
Galiano e/ Neptuno y Concordia,
Centro Habana. Tel: 862-4165.
Mon. Dec. 29 (1 pm): Soloist
Grisel-Grisel hosts jam session.
Fri. 26 (4 pm): Club “A Coffee
with Rosalía”. Sat. 27 (5 pm): Club
“A Havana afternoon with Cary
Bridón and guests.”
Calle 20 esq. 35, Miramar, Playa.
Tel: 203-7676. Fri. Dec. 26 (10
pm): Klimax band performs. Sat.
27 (5 pm): Gens band performs.
Submarino Amarillo
Diablo Tun Tun
Calle 17 esq. 12, Vedado, Habana.
Tel: 830-6808. Live rock nightly in
this Beatles-themed nightclub
(10 pm-3 am).
San Ignacio Esq. Empedrado.
Habana Vieja. Tel: 861-3419.
Through Fri. Feb. 6 (5 pm):
Painting exhibit “Quisiera ser
Wifredo Lam… pero no se va a
poder” (I’d Like to be Wifredo
lam…But It Won’t be Possible)
by Flavio Garciandía.
Museo Nacional de Bellas
Artes
Trocadero e/ Monserrate y
Zulueta, Habana Vieja. Tel: 8610241.Sala Teatro. Sat. Dec. 27 (7
pm): Pianist Harold López-Nussa
and his band.
Prado e/ Montes y Dragones.
Habana Vieja. Tel: 863-5953. Fri.
Dec 26 (8:30 pm): Obbiní Batá
folk band. Sun. 28 (4 pm): Los
Ibellis folk band.
Trocadero e/ Monserrate y
Zulueta, Habana Vieja. Tel: 8610241. Edificio de Arte Cubano.
Through Dec. Painting exhibit
“Bésame mucho” (Kiss me a Lot)
by Eduardo Ponjuan.
Centro Cultural Fresa y
Chocolate
Calle 23. Esq. A 12. Vedado. Tel:
836-2096. Sun. Dec. 28 (6 pm):
Singer Yenisey del Castillo.
DANCE
Calle 5ta y 94. Miramar. Tel: 2037676. Fri. Dec. 26 (5 pm): Gens
band (rock). Sat. 27 ( 5 pm):
Ihosvany Bernal and guests
(trova music). Sat. 27 (10 pm):
Chispa y los Cómplices in
concert (salsa).
DANCE
Centro de la Danza
Prado e/ Refugios y Genios,
Habana Vieja. Tel: 866-0806. Fri.
Dec. 26 (5 pm): Show “Punto
Fugaz” (Ephemeral Point) by the
Rosario Cárdenas Company.
CULTURE
Colombian
Art Sends
a Message
of Peace
in Havana
By ReinaMAGDARIAGA
HAVANA._ Exhibitions in the José Martí National Library
of Cuba by Colombian artists Bibiana Vélez and Cristo
Hoyos have a particularly significant hue because of
Cuba´s position, together with Norway, as a guarantor
of the Colombian peace process.
Among them, viewers can appreciate an artistic
vision of the conflict offered through Velez’s “Ofrenda”
(Wreath) and Hoyos´s “Silencio” (Silence) exhibitions,
on show to the public in Havana, where negotiations
between the Colombian Government and the
Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces – People´s
Army have been taking place since November 2012.
PHOTOs: José Tito Meriño
10
“Ofrenda” features 27 acrylic works on canvas,
dedicated to Colombia’s fallen, and “Silencio” consists
of 40 monotype wreath creations.
The National Painting Prize winning artist told
The Havana Reporter that each of the works was an
invocation to peace.
“This is why I offer abstract flowers, beautiful things
of life, to the fallen,” added the Cartagena-born artist
whose work is shown in every Colombian contemporary
art museum.
Honoured in 2009 by a special mention as an
outstanding foreign woman by the Spanish Ministry
of Foreign Relations, Vélez emphasized that her works
on show here, until January 3, were in reality not
representative of the sea or of flowers but were an
evocation to the martyrs.
Meanwhile, Hoyos´ “Silencio” pays tribute to
deceased Colombians whose remains rest in shallow
graves and are more likely marked by a block or a
stone than a marble headstone or a monument.
The artist, who is showing his work in Havana
for the first time, told The Havana Reporter that “the
victims of the Colombian conflict are not of society’s
higher echelons, but are of the people”.
In his words, the majority of those sacrificed in his
hometown of Sahagun are indigenous leaders who
were displaced so that their lands could be seized and
who were later murdered.
He added that this was the context that inspired him
to work aesthetically on the topic 15 years ago.
“There can also be an aesthetic –unrelated to a
surname or pantheon– within the precariousness, the
poverty, the abandonment, the inclemency and the
desolation that the dead possess”.
Hoyos commented that this would ensure a
continuous productions of his wreaths until the present
process brought peace to Colombia.
According to notes in the exhibition catalogue by
Colombian writer Roberto Burgos, Vélez shows that true
humanity is still able to surrender to a loving impulse
which essentially constitutes the transforming power of
the offering.
Meanwhile, narrator Andrés Elías Flores, also
Colombian, considers that even though all the wreaths
within the “Hoyos” exhibition are seemingly the same,
they are diverse. Each has, he said, a motive that makes
it, in spite of the unity, somewhat different from the rest.
PHOTO FEATURE
CUBA-USA
11
US Semester at Sea: Friendship and Learning in Cuba
By JorgeHERNANDEZ
PHOTOs: FERVAL
HAVANA._ During a recent visit to Cuba, students of
the academic U.S. program ¨Semester at Sea¨ became
acquainted with Cuban culture, interacted with local
students and received first-hand information about the
country’s reality.
Welcomed by students from the University of Havana,
the 624 members of the academic program who arrived
on the M.V. Explorer Cruise Ship soon realized that the
reality on the island was very different from the traditional,
biased image broadcast by some news channels.
One memorable moment of their stay here was
a basketball competition between students from the
University of Havana and the Semester at Sea program,
where sport provided a space to bring the people from
both countries closer.
Other very significant moments were visits to the
Ciudad Escolar Libertad school complex and especially
to the Literacy Museum, where they received information
about the 1961 Cuban literacy campaign that educated
700,000 people.
The visitors particularly enjoyed tours of the Havana
Pedro Domingo Murillo primary school and the Jesús
Suárez Gayol High School, where they engaged with
professors and students and showed interest in the Cuban
education system.
Established in 1964 and sponsored by the University
of Virginia, Semester at Sea is an international academic
program through which students receive lectures and
courses during the trip, and get first hand information
about the countries they visit.
The first Semester at Sea cruise ship arrived in Cuba in
1999, making another ten visits to the island between then
and 2004. In seven of those ten trips the students met with
the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.
However, the restrictions imposed by the George W.
Bush administration in 2004 prevented the academic
cruise ship from coming to Cuba. A travel permit was
reissued last year, allowing it to visit the island again.
12
INTERNATIONAL
SOUTH AMERICA
Popular Governments Target More Integration
PHOTOs: FotosPl
By AnaLauraARBESU
HAVANA._ The re-election of various
Latin American leaders and the return of
others during the year that is drawing to
a close, confirm the theories of analysts:
popular governments have been
consolidated in the region.
And they emphasize that there
is a corresponding progression of
integration mechanisms such as the
Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR)
and the Union of South American
Nations (UNASUR) which has been
enriched by a new Central Ecuadorian
headquarters in the middle of the world.
The recent return of Tabaré Vazquez
in Uruguay and the re-election of Dilma
Rousseff in Brazil, both key MERCOSUR
members, and of Evo Morales in Bolivia,
have shattered opposition aspirations of
weakening such blocks.
In the case of Brazil, they assure that
plans to undermine active participation
in the group of emerging economies that
join it with Russia, India, China and South
Africa (BRICS) have been countered.
For the experts, Dilma´s re-election
means the strengthening of both
regional integration projects. In addition
to her presidency, her re-election
represents a vote for both MERCOSUR
and UNASUR. She herself had outlined
the consequences of a break with Latin
American unification projects in the
event of her losing the elections.
To illustrate this to her followers and
having explained the continental social
benefits of MERCOSUR and the need to
grasp the size of the market, she said that
it would be akin to ¨shooting ourselves
in the foot.¨
Following an intense electoral
campaign, the first female president in
Brazilian political history won the second
round with 51.64 percent of votes cast,
which guarantees the continuation
of national socio-economic reforms,
initiated 12 years ago by the Workers´
Party (PT for its Spanish initials) leader
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva.
With the victory of Tabare Vazquez,
who took 53.6 of votes cast in elections
on the last day of November, Uruguay
has opted to stay on the path of change.
The results mean that he has become
the most voted for president in the South
Latin America to Launch
Reforestation Initiative
LIMA._ Various Latin American
countries will launch an initiative
designed to recover 20 million hectares
of degraded forestry and arable lands
in order to reduce emissions that
contribute to global warming.
Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Costa
Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico
and Peru have endorsed the strategy
presented at the 20th United Nations
Climate Change Conference (COP20)
which met recently in this capital city.
Through the initiative referred to
as the 20 x 20, these nations will, in
association with regional programs,
work with research centers, leaders
and the private sector to rescue the
degraded lands.
The goal is to have them
replenished by 2020. According to
experts, contaminating gas emissions
resulting from changes in land use,
such as deforestation, represent 15
percent of global emissions, all of
which explains the importance of
projects like this.
And they express their hope
that this process will produce a
range of economic, social and
environmental benefits resulting
from improvements to life sources,
the prevention of ecosystemic
erosion, the purification of water
and an aversion of deforestation and
carbon filtration.
Over 200 million hectares in
Latin America and the Caribbean
have been identified as suitable
for restoration. There is presently a
more detailed analysis underway
to quantify economic and climatic
benefits that would result from
attaining the objectives of the 20 x
20 initiative.
PHOTO: Mario Sombert
By VivianCOLLAZO
American nation´s history and therefore
the Frente Amplio (Broad Front), of which
the incumbent Jose Mujica (2011-2014)
is also a member, has ensured another
term in office.
For the first time a social democratic
coalition will govern the country for
three consecutive terms.
Conscious of the strategic importance
of carrying the Latin American Unification
project forward during the 21st century,
the next Uruguayan head of state also
emphasized during his campaign the
need to ensure the continuation of prointegration projects such as MERCOSUR.
For Vázquez, who will wear the
presidential sash for a second time, the
block has proved to be economically
beneficial to the country, which is why
his government will dynamically pursue
its strengthening.
He also highlighted that his next
mandate would serve to reaffirm what
had already been achieved and to work
on what was lacking. He stressed that it
would be about improving rather than
replacing.
Bolivia, a country affiliated to
MERCOSUR and scheduled to become
a full member towards the end of
next year, ratified the continent´s first
indigenous leader as president.
The victory of Evo Morales for a third
consecutive term had experts asking,
who except Evo, could swing 61 percent
of votes cast?
His coming to power in 2005 has not
only facilitated the progressive social
inclusion of the most marginalized
sectors, but also other important
achievements such as economic
growth following the nationalization of
hydrocarbon resources.
In his address on hearing that he
had been ratified as head of state until
2020, Morales said that his was a victory
for the sovereignty and dignity of the
Bolivian people, a victory dedicated to
all the people of the world who struggle
against imperialism.
And it is not only Brazil, Bolivia and
Uruguay that have granted continuity
through popular votes to the socio
economic
development
processes
underway in their respective nations
since the beginning of the present
century.
Chile saw the return of socialist
Michelle Bachelet as president. She
assumed her mandate with the nation
in turmoil due to student demands
for, as part of a long list of complaints,
improvements in teaching and the deprivatization of educational centers,
among others.
INTERNATIONAL
13
2014, Another Tragic Year For Millions of Children
PHOTOs: FotosPl
By WaldoMENDILUZA
UNITED NATIONS._ Death by preventible
diseases, violence, poverty, hunger and
work exploitation rank among some of
the disgraces that continued during 2014
to affect our children globally, in spite
of important advances regarding the
protection of their rights.
Conflicts like those in Irak, Ukraine,
Syria, South Sudan and the Central African
Republic, rising extremism in African and
Asian regions, epidemics and increasing
inequalities in the development of
and access to resources give rise to a
challenging outlook for those under the
age of 18.
Climate
change,
multimillion
military spending, a lack of investment
in education and health and the use
of
information and communication
technologies for negative ends also
impact on children in different latitudes.
It´s been 25 years since the United
Nations General Assembly adopted the
Convention on the rights of the child,
yet a lot remains to be done for what
is contained in the preamble and 54
articles of the most ratified international
instrument in history with a total of 194
signees.
U.N. General Secretary, Ban Ki-moon
said during commments made to mark
the 20th November Anniversary that the
Convention´s quarter century should
be celebrated but above all else “we
must push for the rights of every infant,
especially those left behind and those
most in need.”
He called for innovative solutions to
the issues that affect the men and women
of tomorrow, direct greater resources to
their welfare and progress and principally
the will to have them placed at the
political economic and social center
stage.
SELF EXPLANATORY STATISTICS
United Nations Children´s Fund (UNICEF)
figures reveal the daily deaths by
preventible causes of 17,000 children
–mostly from the southern hemisphere–
while one child or adolescent dies a
violent death every ten minutes.
It is a painful fact that around 3 million
children under the age of 5 lose their
lives to malnutrition and that 230 million
(one third of all children on earth) do not
have births registered and consequently
become, due to their indocumentation,
humam beings devoid of any real
opportunity.
At least 400 million children under the
age of 12 suffer the effects of poverty.
International Labor Organization
(ILO) statistics indicate that 168 million
children are subject to employment
exploitation, a figure well below that of
the 246 million of 2000 but nonetheless,
of grave concern.
According to ILO, half of these
youngsters do dangerous jobs and
Asia and sub-Saharran Africa are the
geographical regions most affected by
this phenomenon.
Sexual slavery, organ trafficking, school
abandonment and other such evils are by
no means problems of the past.
According to Marta Santos, the
General Secretary‘s special representative
on Violence against Children, the ever
decreasing age at which children
accesss the social networks and internet
represents a further threat. She warned
during an October Third General
Assembly Commission debate that they
may become victims of sexual predators,
harassment, intimidation and exposure
to pornographic content which convert
the World Wide Web into an unsafe
environment for them.
Santos expressed regret that for millions
of children, the Convention adopted on
November 20, 1989 was a broken promise,
due mainly to social complexities and
government funding cuts.
High ranking U.N. officials have
called on the international community
to prioritize children´s rights in the
post 2015 sustainable development
agenda which will lend continuity to the
Millennium Objectives.
The challenges outlined during the
New York 2000 Millennium Summit have
improved the outlook somewhat.
A reduction in the child-mortality
rate, an increase in school attendance
and a total of 13 million lives saved by
vaccinations between 2002 and 2012
particularly stand out.
On the basis of such progress, the U.N.
hopes that the post 2015 agenda will
help consolidate these achievements and
serve as a platform for the eradication of
poverty and allieviate other phenomena
that impact on the planet‘s children.
14
ECONOMY
Cuban Economy Set To Reverse Deceleration
in 2015
By CiraRODRIGUEZ
PHOTOs:FotosPL
Marino Murillo
HAVANA._ Immersed in an efficiency
oriented process of developmental
modernization and renovation, the
Cuban economy is entering a singularly
more complex and tense stage which
will involve the deployment of wider
reaching and more profound measures
that should reverse the deceleration of
this present year.
Having forecast a Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) growth rate of 1.4 percent
for the year that is drawing to an end
(it will close with a rate of 1.3 percent),
Cuban authorities have announced that
“ despite the blockade, external financial
restrictions and the international
situation, the Cuban economy will
continue to advance.”
The urgent necessity to reverse the
stagnation of this and previous years
was made very clear at the last Council
of Ministers meeting of the year, because
figures indicate that everything done to
date has proven insufficient to stimulate
national growth and development.
These reflections by Juan Triana, of
the Cuban Center for Economic Studies,
reinforce the notion that the plan for the
coming year should be fundamentally
geared to ensure that internal efficiency
reserves are fully strengthened and that
resources are directed towards primary
sectors such as manufacturing industries.
Investment growth, with a special
focus on production related activities
and infrastructure, will also be prioritized,
as will the maintenance of basic social
services at levels similar to those of recent
years.
According to information given by the
Minister for the Economy, Marino Murillo,
a growth in GDP slightly greater than 4
percent is projected for 2015; with the
greatest increases in the manufacture
production, construction, commerce,
agriculture, livestock and forestry.
In the spending budget for the
coming year, the 2.194 billion dollars
allocated for food imports –an increase
of 137 million on the current year–
stands out.
Increased national production should
result in a decrease in the purchase of
certain lines on the international market.
A significant element of the plan
for the national economy will be an
increase in investments which will rise by
7.159 billion pesos (at official exchange
rate of one peso per dollar), greater
by 1.595 billion than the estimated
investment for 2014, which will be 57.1
percent productive and 17.7 percent
infrastructural.
For all of the above, compliance with
forecasts regarding employment and
salaries is essential because it is only
through work, which implies the country
overcoming stagnation, that any goals
can be met.
In this regard, a similar degree of
employment activity as in the year
ending is envisaged, with an increase in
offers in the non state sector because of
greater opportunities arising in the new
self-employed and cooperative food and
service industries.
Some 498 cooperatives have already
been authorized, of which 329 have
been created and a further 300 are in the
process of evaluation. More than 476, 000
people are associated with entities of this
type already operating.
The State budget for 2015 also
forecasts a 6 percent increase in income
and a 10 percent rise in spending, resulting
in a 5.563 billion peso deficit.
Also among the projections presented
by the Cuban authorities are measures
to tackle problems such as the under
declaration of income for sales and
services by the self-employed, incomplete
declarations about the number of persons
contracted, tax evasion within the land
transportation sector and involvement in
unlawful economic activity.
Most important for the coming
year will undoubtedly be the definitive
steps of streamlining the dual currency
elimination process and the improvement
of the enterprise system in order to place
the nation on the path to an efficient and
viable economy.
SPORTS
CENTRAL AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN GAMES
Cuba Regains Top Position on Medal Table
MEDAL TABLE
By CotoWONG
GSB T
-1.Cuba12366 65254
-2.Mexico115106111332
-3.Colombia707578223
-4.Venezuela5679110245
-5.Dominican R. 20
34
23
77
-6.Puerto Rico
15
24
45
84
-7.Guatemala1519 43 77
-8.Bahamas431 8
-9.El Salvador 2
9
12
23
-10.Trinidad, T. 2
1
8
11
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or [email protected].
PHOTOS: José Tito Meriño.
HAVANA._ Cuba has re-established its credentials as
a sporting powerhouse in the Central and Caribbean
region by regaining the top position on the medal
table at the event recently hosted by Mexico.
Cuba´s return to the games, having missed those
held in the Puerto Rican city of Mayaguez in 2010
for security reasons, gave rise to great expectations.
Having renovated 75 percent of its athletes since
it last took part in the regional competition in the
Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias in 2006, Cuba
attended the 2014-Veracruz competitions aware right
from the start that the games´ program had been
designed to allow the host nation to win many titles.
Needless to say, the rivalry that marked the
games made them the toughest of recent times.
The President of the Cuban Sports Institute,
Antonio Becali, emphasized that his country´s victory
had been achieved under difficult circumstances.
Becali pointed out that the games were held in
several cities with the program worked out to favor
the Mexican delegation´s early lead so that their
performance could have a negative impact on the
other athletes.
Having trailed behind Mexico for 11 days, the
Cubans’ results improved and after alternating the
first place with the hosts, they finally regained the
top position with 123 titles, 66 silver medals and 65
bronzes.
Mexico was runner-up with 115-106-111 and
Colombia came third with 70-75-78.
The games also produced some other interesting
statistics.
Of the 31 delegations that competed in Veracruz
and the other venues, 18 won a gold medal each,
including the Caribbean island of Dominica´s first
title ever.
Other medal winning island territories were The
Bahamas (4-3-1), Trinidad and Tobago (2-1-8), Aruba
(2-1-1), US Virgin Islands (1-2-3), Dominica (1-0-1),
Cayman Island (1-0-0), British Virgin Islands (1-0-0),
and St. Lucia(1-0-0).
The Dominican Republic (20-34-23) and Puerto
Rico (15-24-45) also ranked among Caribbean
delegations that won more than 10 titles at the
games, which closed on November 30th.
15
16
INTERNATIONAL
Havana, Now a Wonder for All
PHOTOs:FotosPL
By RobertoCAMPOS
HAVANA._ Hailed as one of the New Seven Wonder Cities
of the world, the Cuban capital not only has won due
recognition but is also faced with a huge responsibility
having millions of eyes now on it.
Those people who had held Havana as a geographic
reference point only may well be considering the idea of
visiting this city to know it better and prove wrong those
who questioned its being nominated for the contest.
Needless to say the culture, splendor and bustle of
this city afford a touch of distinction that attracts the
thousands of visitors who walk along its streets each
year.
The other cities included on the shortlist are
Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa),
Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), La Paz (Bolivia), and Vigan
(Philippines), but the voters who chose Havana, including
this journalist, were captivated by its touch of elegance.
Many important cities with well preserved
infrastructures and better economic resources failed to
have the votes of visitors who prefer the colorful and
diverse reality of this city, together with such significant
details as the happiness of its people.
The city’s inclusion on the shortlist represents a great
incentive for the Cuban tourism industry in particular.
Sponsored by the Swiss foundation New7Wonders,
the contest already has a peculiar influence from the
economic and tourist point of view.
In this sense, N7W Foundation president Jean-Paul
de la Fuente, who visited Havana from Nov. 24 to 27,
expressed his satisfaction for Havana being among
the final candidates (the foundation’s founder Bernard
Weber announced the new seven wonder cities in the
world).
De la Fuente told
the press that many
people in the world
love Havana and voted
for it.
This is the third
contest organized by the New7Wonders foundation
(created in 1999 in Switzerland), preceded by the New
Seven Wonders of Nature and the New Seven Wonders
of the World, he recalled.
The first two contests recorded 600 million votes, De
la Fuente said. The word Wonder has a simple meaning
for them; it conveys what the people think, he added.
The favorable result made known on December 7
encourages Cubans to see their capital with new eyes, to
preserve it even more, because many people may want
to visit it now.
In 2007, the Swiss foundation created an online
voting system for the contest. The recently held voting
opened in 2011 with more than 1,200 candidates.
De la Fuente considers the contest a very good idea
and a significant event. Some of the places listed in the
previous contests, he noted, had to build new airports
because of the high number of tourists interested in
visiting them.
The world’s largest cities are not included on the
list, as are the cases of New York or Tokyo, because the
visitors recognize the values of other places, their culture
and potentialities, he highlighted.