Cuban Interest Section in Washington Closes Consular Services

The Cuban Interest Section in Washington announced the interruption of consular services beginning November 26 and till further notice, amidst the impossibility to have a financial institution willing to keep its bank accounts as a consequence of the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba. A statement by the Cuban Interest Section in the US capital, cited by Cubadebate webpage, explains that despite countless contacts with the US Department of State and numerous banks, the office has been forced to close consular services. The Cuban office explains that on July 12, the M & T Bank notified that it would not continue to offer its services to foreign diplomatic missions. The Bank gave the Cuban Interest Section and the island’s permanent mission at the United Nations a limited period of time to finish relations and find a new bank. But due to current restrictions derived from the US blockade against Cuba, the office has not been able to find another bank that keeps the bank accounts of the two diplomatic missions. For this reason, the Cuban Interest Section in Washington has been forced to suspend consular services as of November 26 till further notice, the statement explains and adds that the office will only attend to humanitarian issues and of other nature in a limited way. The Cuban office has reiterated the US Department of State that the US government has the legal obligation to meet international conventions on services to be granted to diplomatic missions and consular offices to facilitate their appropriate work. The statement recalls the accord dated May 30, 1977, which set up the two interest sections both in Washington and Havana, in which both parties affirmed their commitment to international treaties that rule diplomatic and consular relations. The Cuban office in Washington particularly regrets the inconveniences that this situation will have for Cuban and US citizens, due to the impossibility of the Consular Section to keep offering its services, which include the issuance of passports, visas, legalization of documents and others. The statement concludes by saying that such inconveniences will have a negative impact on family visits, academic, cultural, educational, scientific and sports exchange between Cuba and the United States. / With Information from ACN

Young Farm Lad with the Will of a Creator

"Tired of suffering from pain in my feet, one day, while I was preparing to help my dad to plant some grain in La Lucy farm, I got the idea of that invention, to which I can already name: agricultural implement, made from waste material,"says Carlos Rafael Heres Pérez , the son and grandson of farmers. “Farmers at the José Martí and Antonio Maceo agricultural cooperatives, in the municipality of Calixto Garcia, welcomed the initiative,” said the 22-year-old young man, whose main pastime since he was a child was creation. On many occasions he was surrounded by other children, whose astonished eyes, watched as from his hands came a small miniature bicycle or a figure carved in wood, hobbies that gradually turned him into an innovative self-taught person, with that undeniable and irreplaceable practical reason. The truth is that today they are solid criteria to substantiate the advantages of the new "equipment”. As expressed by Rafael Vega Avila, president of the José Martí farmer cooperative: " This invention replaces approximately 12 men’s work and performs several tasks, with a single movement : it plows, fertilizes, plants various types of grains, covers, earths up planting and allows seeding uniformity, both in space and depth in the seed set." So far, the economic results are important as it has contributed to saving fuel, lessening expenses for labourers. The larger number of hectares planted in a day, the seed deposited has the same moisture, a factor that greatly helps germination and saves about $ 460.00 Cuban pesos per hectare. After meeting the practical operation of this agricultural implement, which makes the work easier of the labourers, we need to think big to the possible generalization, which is usually the " Cinderella" of Science and Technology. But the same need to replace imports and untie the knots that bind the productive forces it is well worth looking for solutions like this, one of the thousands of practical innovations from our people, to make the land of this region produce. With Information from Radio Juvenil