Turquino Peak: Natural Paradise

Located in the heart of the Sierra Maestra, Cuba's highest mountain range, the Turquino Peak, rises to 1,974 meters above sea level, on a scenario of 17,540 acres of rivers, forests, valleys and peaks. There are two typical access to scale; one from the territory of the province of Santiago de Cuba and other relatively simple, from the province of Granma. At the top there is a bust of José Martí, the work of sculptor Jilma Madera, which was settled in the centenary year of his birth (1953), by Celia Sanchez and her father. / Taken from www.ahora.cu

The Virgin of Charity –Cuba’s Patron Saint

Every September 8th Cubans pay tribute to La Virgen de la Caridad or the Virgen of Charity of El Cobre, the most cherished religious image in Cuba. Located in the town of El Cobre, few kilometers away from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, the Virgin’s sanctuary is visited by thousands of people from all over the world to pay promises and carry small copper rocks from a nearby mine, which, according to devout believers, give people good luck. The legend has it that at the end of the 16th century three fishermen –Juan Esclavo, Juan Indio and Juan Pescador (John, the slave, John, the Indian, and John, the fisherman)- found the image of the virgin in the middle of a storm in the immense Nipe Bay in what is today known as the eastern province of Holguín. At the time of the finding, the piece of wood holding the image, which had a rare beauty and a copper-colored skin, read: “I AM THE VIRGIN OF CHARITY”. It is said that it appeared in the large bay to save the fishermen, symbolizing the birth of a people and a nation, made up of Spanish, African and Indian ancestors. On September 24th, 1915, high ranking officers and members of the former Liberation or “Mambí” Army, who had fought on the island’s second independence war against Spain, asked Pope Benedict XV to proclaim the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” as Cuba’s Patron Saint. In a mass held the same day, the “mambises”, or former independence fighters, packed the old Sanctuary in the small town of El Cobre to request the canonical declaration from the Catholic Church. They also offered the Virgin a Cuban flag and promised to support the building of a new Sanctuary. The canonical proclamation was approved by Papal decree on May 10th, 1916, less than a year after the Cuban patriots had requested it. The new Sanctuary opened on September 8th, 1927, 11 years after the proclamation. Years later, Pope Pious XI authorized the canonical coronation of the sacred image, but it was not until the morning of December 20, 1936 that the coronation ceremony was held and celebrated by Santiago de Cuba’s Bishop Monsignor Valentín Zubizarreta. Much later, the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” –Cuba’s Patron Saint- was personally crowned by Pope John Paul II in a public mass at Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo Square during his historical visit to Cuba in 1998. The Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” is a neoclassical style construction built in 1927 on the summit of a hill on the island’s oldest copper mine which began to be exploited in the late 16th century. The current sanctuary, where mass is given every morning, has a silver altar and other highly valuable ornamental objects. Under the virgin, you can find the so called Chapel of Miracles, a small room where believers pay promises and deposit different offerings, including gold and precious stone jewels, clutches and other objects. The Chapel of Miracles treasures the gold medal awarded to US writer Ernest Hemingway when he was proclaimed a Nobel Literature Prize laureate in 1954, donating it to the people of Cuba and offering it to the Virgin. The Virgin of Charity is also known as “Virgen Mambisa” or “Mambí” Virgin due to the devotion of fighters for the island’s independence wars against Spain, who were better known as “mambises”. The Virgin is also worshipped by Afro-Cuban religious believers. In the Yoruba religion, the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” is known as “Ochún,” the deity of love and money and the owner of running water. Her festivities are linked to those of her sister “Yemayá” or “Yemanyá”, the Goddess of the Ocean, or the Virgin of Regla in the Catholic Pantheon, to whom believers pay tribute on September 7th. The Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” is part of the Cuban people’s spirit and culture and the virgin, the sanctuary and its surroundings have been declared by the Cuban National Heritage Commission as a Heritage of the Cuban nation. / With information from radio Havana Cuba

Four Terrorists Settled in Miami Detained in Cuba

Forces from the Cuban Interior Ministry detained four Cuban-born citizens settling in Miami, when planned to execute terrorist actions. A note from the Interior Ministry says the detention took place on April 26, and the detainees are named Jose Ortega Amador, Obdulio Rodriguez Gonzalez, Raibel Pacheco Santos and Felix Monzon Alvarez. According to reports, the detainees recognized they pretended to attack military facilities with the objective of promoting violence. For such purposes, three of them had travelled many times to the island since 2013 to study and model the execution. They also said those plans have been led by terrorists Santiago Alvarez Fernandez Magriña, Osvaldo Mitat, and Manuel Alzugaray, who also live in Miami and maintain a close relation with infamous terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. The Cuban Interior Ministry stated that the country is carrying out the necessary arrangements with U.S. authorities to investigate the facts and timely avoid that the performance of terrorist elements and organizations settled in that northern nation endanger the life of people and security of both nations. / Taken from Prensa Latina

Cuban Interests Section in Washington Reestablishes Consular Services up to February 17

The Cuban Interests Section in Washington announced the reestablishment of consular services until February 17th. According to Granma newspaper, on December 6th, the M and T Bank informed the Interests Section its decision to extend until March 1, 2014 the deadline of the definitive closing of the banking account of the Cuban office, explaining that the bank will process deposits until February 17, 2014. The Cuban Interests Section continues to look for a new bank to definitively normalize its consular services. The office has expressed its regret for any inconveniences brought about by the suspension of consular services on November 26, 2013 either for both Cuban and US citizens.

Cuba: Crossroads for Washington

The application of the new Cuban immigration reforms shatters the old stereotypes created by the fierce propaganda campaign carried out by the U.S. government against the Cuban Revolution. Washington will not be able to continue selling the ridiculous image of the island-prison that the big media has been spreading worldwide. The United States is exposed as the only American country that prevents its citizens from travelling, although such insulting fact will not appear in the headlines as noted by Cuban blogger Iroel Sanchez in his web page lapupilainsomne. The promoters of press freedom hide the fact that Americans are banned from traveling to Cuba. If they do so without authorization from Washington, they are heavily fined or sanctioned. However, from now on Cubans can not only travel anywhere in the world without having to perform cumbersome proceedings, but will be allowed to become residents or citizens of other countries, including the United States, without losing legal residence in Cuba. But this, if necessary, can be retrieved at any time upon request. Although the State reserves for reasons of national security or of public interest, the right to deny permission to travel to a minority of officials, scientists and elite athletes, we are seeing a willingness to make less use of that prerogative. Even the U.S. mercenaries on the island have proven that they can apply for a passport, so I guess as soon as they get it they will travel to the country that grants a visa. We know that they are not lacking money. The new legal regulations, with all its depth, come from a policy of gradual relaxation in immigration controls by the Cuban government. According to official data, between 2000 and August 2012, 99.6 per cent of the exit permits requested by Cubans were approved. In that period some 941, 953 persons travelled for private reasons, of whom 120, 275 did not return, equivalent to 12.8 per cent. Of travellers, 158, 68 were university graduates, of whom 10.9 per cent did not return. The figures clearly show that the vast majority of Cubans who travel come back to Cuba. So the versions or illusions of an alleged exodus are devoid of substance. Although I do not have official data, I know first-hand that many Cubans are returning to the island as a result of the crisis of capitalism or are moved by the growing facilities that are available to start a small business in the island. The impact of this change is such that just a few hours after taking effect it has leave the members of the Miami mafia dumbfounded, beyond uttering expressions like "everything that the Castro dictatorship does is to keep them in the power." For its part, the State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland and even the most anti-Cuban media like El País have called the new Cuban immigration reforms positive. The main problem now is to Washington, which will have to decide what to do with the famous Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows the granting of work permits, residence and naturalization to all Cubans who-legally or illegally-enter the United States. It is supposed to be politically persecuted, but very strange, because they have traveling for years to the island by hundreds of thousands and now they can do so with every facility imaginable from Havana. The vast majority are economic migrants and their political positions are far from those of the rabid Miami counterrevolution. With information from Cubasi.cu

The Kennedy assassination: Someone knew in advance

Attempts to implicate Cuba in the Kennedy assassination continue, but in fact it was the consummation of a coup d’état plotted by CIA military chiefs and other U.S. ultra-conservatives. The assassination not only affected the United States, but to a surprising extent Cuba and the rest of the world. Close to 50 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the dramatic event is still present in the contemporary world, and the CIA is attempting to postpone for another 25 years the declassification of certain documents concerning the crime committed November 22, 1963. Part of this strategy of concealment is the book Castro’s Secrets, by Brian Latell, CIA officer for Latin America from 1990-94. After participating in CIA operations against Cuba since the 1960s, he is trying to mask the most scandalous conspiracy of the 20th century. President Fidel Castro was possibly the first statesman to denounce the assassination as a conspiracy, speaking on Cuban television the following day. "We can state that there are elements within the United States who are defending ultra-reactionary politics in all fields, as much in terms of international politics as in national politics. And these are the elements which stand to benefit from the events that took place yesterday in the United States." The Cuban leader read one of the first agency cables: "Dallas, November 22 (UPI).—Police agents today arrested Lee H. Oswald, identified as president of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, as the main suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy." Four days later, on November 27, Fidel analyzed the Oswald as lone gunman theory and his alleged pro-Castro sympathies, which nobody was questioning at that point. He quoted Hubert Hammerer, Olympic shooting champion, who stated that it was highly unlikely that anyone firing with a repeater carbine fitted with a telescopic sight could hit a target three times in the space of five seconds, when firing at a moving target at a distance of 180 meters, traveling at 15mph." On the basis of his own experiences in the Sierra Maestra, with weapons fitted with a telescopic sight like the one Oswald was said to have used, Fidel added, "Once you fire at the target it is lost – due to the effect of the shot – and you have to find it again quickly (…) with this kind of weapon it is really very difficult to fire three consecutive shots. But, above all, difficult to hit the target like that. Almost impossible." (1) The Cuban President analyzed how the most reactionary circles were pushing Kennedy toward war by with heavy campaigns, bills and resolutions in Congress pushing the government, because of what they themselves described in 1961 as the Bay of Pigs debacle, to the point of taking the world to the verge of a nuclear war in the October Missile Crisis. Fidel, then Cuban Prime Minister, also spoke about Kennedy’s stand on civil rights, such as ending segregation and racial discrimination, and the policy of peaceful coexistence he was promoting with Khrushchev. These actions had unleashed unforeseen forces against President Kennedy and made Fidel think that his assassination was the work of certain elements in disagreement with the U.S. leader’s politics, particularly in relation to Cuba, which they considered not sufficiently aggressive, given that Kennedy was resisting direct military intervention. Fidel observed that it was obvious, "If Oswald was the real killer, clearly those behind the assassination were carefully preparing their alibis. They sent this individual off to Mexico to ask for a visa to Cuba. Just imagine… that the President of the United States was assassinated by this individual after just returning from the Soviet Union via Cuba. It was the ideal alibi (…) to plant the suspicion in the heads of the U.S. public that it was a communist or an agent of Cuba and the Soviet Union, as they would say." (2) In 1978 it was demonstrated that Fidel was correct. The U.S. Congress Select Committee investigating the assassination concluded, "The committee considered the possibility that an imposter visited the Soviet Embassy or Cuban consulate during one or more of the contacts in which Oswald was identified by the CIA in October of 1963." (3) The Committee report came to the conclusion that it had nothing to do with Oswald, while Oswald was small and slight, "The subject of the photograph was described as approximately 35 years old, 6 feet tall, with an athletic build, a balding top, and receding hairline." (4) Suspicions were aroused in part when the FBI showed Oswald’s mother the alleged photo of her son. She said that it wasn’t a photo of Lee, but of Jack Ruby, the man who killed him. In fact there was no resemblance, the Committee report added, the man in the photo was neither Oswald nor Ruby. The FBI agreed. In a memo to the Secret Service it recorded, "These special (FBI) agents are of the opinion that the individual of reference in the photo is not Lee Harvey Oswald." Fidel had every reason to be alarmed by the insinuations and accusations, a typical CIA strategy. Even now, Latell is trying to banish suspicions about those really responsible for the crime, attempting to revive CIA lies implicating Cuba. He denies that there was any conspiracy on the part of those defending ultra-reactionary politics. The lone gunman theory is not only wielded in the case of Oswald in 1963, but also in relation to Sirhan H. Sirhan, the alleged killer of Robert Kennedy in 1968, at the very moment when the latter was elected to run against Richard Nixon, already a suspect in the Kennedy assassination. The truth has been slowly disclosed since then. The most recent details came to light in 2005, through the book by journalist David Talbot, Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, with its sensational revelation that Robert was probably assassinated after he stated that, if he were elected President, which he was close to achieving, he would reopen the case. Latell takes refuge in the discredited lone gunman theory of the Warren Commission, set up by Lyndon Johnson to investigate the assassination, when he succeeded Kennedy as President. One of the most recent and convincing refutations of this theory is a note sent by Oswald to Howard Hunt, also suspected of taking part in the assassination and the famous organizer of the Watergate break-in. Sent November 8, 1963, 14 days before the Kennedy assassination, it reads, "Dear Mr. Hunt: I would like information concerning my position. I am asking only for information. I am suggesting that we discuss the matter fully before any steps are taken by me or anyone else. Thank you. Lee Harvey Oswald". (5) Researcher Paul Kangas explains that Oswald’s note was obtained by writer and journalist Jack Anderson in New Orleans, where the "lone gunman" was living with Clay Shaw and Cubans Félix Rodríguez, Bernard Barker and Frank Sturgis, also investigated by the House Select Committee and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. Anderson affirms on video that Hunt and Shaw asked Oswald to meet with them to plan the position he would take up in Dallas for the attack. When he received no answer from Hunt, Oswald told James Hosty, his FBI agent, that Hunt and a bunch of Cubans from the Miami CIA office were plotting to kill Kennedy in Dallas, on November 22, 1963. According to Kangas, Hosty sent a telex to FBI Director Hoover informing him about the assassination attempt and he passed it on to all Special Agents in Charge. Judge Garrison states that Waggoner Carr, Attorney General of Texas, presented evidence in a secret session of the Warren Commission on January 22, 1964, revealing that Oswald was FBI secret informant No. 179 and had received a salary of $200 a month from the Bureau starting 1962. The evidence was given to Carr by Allan Sweat, head of the criminal division of the Dallas sheriff’s office and published by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Houston Post, and The Nation, but the Warren Commission did not call Sweat or the journalists who wrote the articles. Garrison admits that if Oswald was an FBI informant in Dallas and New Orleans, one could believe that his work consisted of penetrating organizations like Fair Play for Cuba and Guy Bannister’s group involved in the conspiracy to kill the President. "The question which tormented me and maybe tormented Oswald was: if the Dallas police, the sheriff’s office, the Secret Service, the FBI and the CIA were potentially implicated in the conspiracy, who were the authorities behind it all?" (6) When Robert Blakey, chief counsel of the House Select Committee, discovered to his rage in 1990 that the recently deceased George Joannides (a CIA officer assigned by the agency to inform him about the Kennedy assassination) had concealed from him that he (Joannides) had worked closely with Oswald and the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil terrorist group in New Orleans, he called it an obstruction of justice. Now, he no longer believes anything the CIA told the Committee. It is no surprise that the Warren Commission evaded discovering the truth; it was no coincidence that that it was headed by Congressman Ed Ford, one of Nixon’s men, Nixon also being a suspect. Allen Dulles, the omnipotent CIA director, manipulated the members appointed by Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency after Kennedy’s death, thanks to the effective coup d’état which was the assassination of the Kennedy brothers. (1) Revolución newspaper, November 28, 1963. (2) Ibidem. (3) The Final Report of the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, Bantam Books, New York. 1979, P.320 (4) Ibidem. (5) Granma, April 13, 2012, P. 9. (6) Jim Garrison. JFK: Tras la pista de los asesinos, Ediciones B. Barcelona, 1988, Pp. 296-301. Taken from Granma International and Written by Gabriel Molina Franchossi

Cristal "Preferred Beer of Cuba"

Cristal Beer has been the favorite of consumers from this Caribbean island for over 75 years because of its taste, frothy and light texture, qualities that make it very palatable. The crisp, clean taste of the cristal has historically dominated the Cuban market. It is easy to see why. It's the perfect beer for a hot summer day. But when the sun sets on Cuba and Latin music fills the air, it shows a different heat. It's definitely time to find a bottle of cold Cristal. This beer is produced in the province of Holguin and it is not only light, but sweet, with a minimum bitter taste with some pinches of salt and sour point. Its alcohol content is ten degrees. This combination of flavors determines the body of this beer, as well as its appearance, aroma and quality. It is obtained from the finest quality malt and the clear waters of Cuba. In 2007, the Crystal received the Gold Medal at the International Monde-Selection for its excellence and flavor that is 80 years old. Made in the Holguin Brewery Bucanero SA, Cristal beer is part of a long and proud Cuban tradition that values quality, integrity, people and innovation. With a 4.9% alc. / Vol, this beer has a clear golden color that complements its refreshing taste. It is commonly known as "The favorite of Cuba" and is available in 350ml bottles, 355ml cans and in stainless steel barrels. Now you know why Cristal is the preferred of the largest Caribbean island. Cristal is Cuba. With information of lecturas.cibercuba.com

Holguin advances in stem cell transplantation

Specialists at the Lucia Iñiguez Landin hospital surgical clinic of the province of Holguin performed successfully the fourth hematopoietic stem cell transplant in eastern Cuba. According to Dr. Fernando Cruz Tamayo, head of Oncohematology and Hemotherapy Service in this medical institution, this is the first surgical procedure of this type performed on a man among the four conducted in the eastern region. He added that the 38 year old patient, resident in Banes, about 90 kilometers north of the provincial capital, is improving after surgery. This complex transplant on Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was tolerated optimally by the patient, both in the previous steps as in the extraction of more than one thousand milliliters of blood from the bone marrow, in just 30 minutes. Now the patient is undergoing the postoperative stage in a strict isolation regime to ensure his recovery, said Cruz Tamayo. He noted that this operation, like the previous three, is also of the autologous type, consisting of the transfusion of his own stem cells. The specialist noted that prior to this final moment, the patient was ready to receive cells after high doses of chemotherapy aimed at destroying the tumor that causes damage to the bone marrow, which provides the red and white cells and platelets. For this reason, he said, it is necessary to neutralize this effect, achieved by a transfusion of stem cells to restore hematopoiesis or formation of red blood cells, leukocytes and platelets. The patient was operated by hematologists Leonardo Laguna, Jaime Martinez and Luis Niebla, along with specialists Yaritza Labañino and Yaité González from the province of Guantanamo, as part of their specialized training. The Guantanamo doctors have been participating in the three transplants performed this year and will be ready to face the hematology patient care in that province from June. Such operations are only performed in Havana, Villa Clara and in Holguin, said Cruz Tamayo. Cuba has achievements that are real contributions to international scientific literature in this area, as it is the experienced improvement in individuals with chronic lymphedema of the lower limbs, and the favorable result in a child suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, in whom the treatment based on stem cell graft avoided the need for a lung transplant. Stem cells are those capable of experiencing unlimited divisions and give rise to different cell types that exist in the body. They are able to regenerate tissue damaged by disease, trauma or aging, and may be obtained from the bone marrow, peripheral blood, cornea, brain, lung, endometrial, and other organs and tissues. With information from AIN

Pope's vist to Cuba: The rain also blessed our island

“I thank God for allowing me to visit this beautiful Isle which left so deep a mark on the heart of my beloved predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, when he came to these lands as a herald of truth and hope.” Said His Holiness Benedicto XVI in his recent visit to this caribbean island.

Pope's visit to Cuba was a religious and social event that marked the lives of Cubans. Both in the Holy Mass in the eastern city of Santiago, as in the capital, the Pope found a crowd that welcomed him with respect and affection.

And just like in old legends, rain conspired again to bring good omens to Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba, during the Mass in Santiago, there were believers and nonbelievers holding hands as a sign of peace under an unexpected rain that started to fall with the Lord's Prayer.

The same happened while the act of farewell to the Supreme Pontiff in Havana, where the people knowing that this was holy water, remained on both sides of the entrances to the Jose Marti International Airport of Havana, firm in their desire not to lose the opportunity to give a farewell to one who blessed this prodigal land, a land of people with determined convictions.

And Cubans, some without professing Catholic faith, we pray for a happy return of Benedict XVI to the Vatican.

Religions are Part of this People and Culture

Archimandrita Atenágoras (Orthodox Church from the Patriarchate of Constantinople)

I think that the visit of the pope Benedict XVI to Cuba is very important. The Catholics people are feeling the happiness we also felt when the patriarch visited Cuba and they are also being targeted now by the calumnies and disinformation broadcast overseas like equally happened to us in the past.

I do think that it is an important event for Cuba and for all of us given that he is a very important religious leader in the world and he realizes the way we really are and that constitutes the reason he is coming.


Aristides La Madrid (Vice-president of the Cuban Abakuá association)

It is possible to talk today on the good links between the churches and the local society in general.


Reverend Marcial Miguel Hernández (President of the Council of Churches of Cuba)

It will be a pleasure to contribute in anything that could be necessary.

Anything in which we could help, it would be a pleasure given the fact that here does not exist the fratricide among religious groups. Benedict 16th will watch the harmony that exists here.


David Prinstein (Vice President of the Hebrew community of Cuba)

There are years of experience on the work carried out by local religious organizations, thus enabling to receive with great expectations a pope in Cuba once again.


Enrique Alemán (President of the espirita Quisicuaba Society)

Lots of respect for Benedict 16th, his visit constitutes a moment for the mutual religious benefit and exchange. Therefore, it is a space to recognize that all type of faith is valuable if it is taken into account the community dimension of Jesus.


Gabriel Coderch (General Coordinator of the Reflection and Solidarity Group Oscar Arnulfo Romero)
I am a catholic representative. Therefore, the pope has a clear importance for me given my type of faith. His visit reaffirmed the will of the Cuban government in relation to guarantee the religious freedom as well as giving the space that all the Christian organizations have to develop our work.


María Amelia Yi (Church of Friends)

For us, as the ecumenical people, this is an opportunity of exchange, a party and a celebration.


Antonio Castañéda (President of the Yoruba Cultural Association)

It is an important event as it constitutes the defense of our nation.

The common enemy has tried to destabilize us even through money. However, it cannot be forgotten the fact that inside the religious people´s heart the main component is love.

I do think that it is really favorable the visit to Cuba of Benedict 16th. There were many positions previously manipulated and aimed at making to clash the Catholic Church with Cuba. Therefore, the arrival of the pope demonstrates once again the he is also fighting for mankind. I see his visit as an act of respect to our sovereignty.


Imán Yahya Pedro Lazo (President of the Islamic league of Cuba)

The first thing we have to do is precisely to be able to love our fellow man. Besides, Allah is for us what the word god means for others in English language. In short, god, the divine power, has established norms and commands so that the human being behaves according to them.

Being together, it is necessary to carry out actions in favor of the peace and progress of the peoples.

In Cuba all the religions are together and there is respect towards them all. Therefore, the visit from Benedict 16th is an opportunity to work for the common benefit of everyone as it is a magnificent and good chance for all the Cuban people.


(By Ana Teresa Badía)

Raul Castro: Cuba will never renounce having a single Party

While closing the First National Conference of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) held this weekend at Havana's Convention Center, the Cuban president Raul Castro said that Cuba will never renounce having a single Party, since doing so will lead to the defeat of the Revolution and would sacrifice the unity of the people.

Raul criticized those who built their hopes up thinking that this Conference would mark the beginning of the political and social dismantling of the Revolution and wanted the restoration of the multiparty model.

He reiterated that it’s necessary to promote, more and more, greater democracy in Cuban society, starting by setting an example from within Party ranks, which presupposes, he added, the encouragement of an atmosphere of maximum confidence an sincere exchange of opinions, both in the heart of the organization and in its bonds with workers and the population, including the mass media.

The only thing that could lead to the defeat of the Revolution and socialism in Cuba would be our inability to overcome mistakes committed for over 50 years, since January 1st, 1959, new mistakes and future mistakes, he pointed out.

The Cuban president called to strengthen unity around the Party and the Revolution and also the permanent bond that exists with the masses, and to preserve the Cuban nation and economic and social achievements, on the basis of the fact that the homeland, the Revolution and socialism are indissolubly combined.

Hutcherson in Havana

“I think that the general view that my colleagues have of Cuba is changing and is now more open”, said U.S. actor Josh Hutcherson in his recent visit to Havana to attend the International Film Festival.

Hutcherson traveled to Havana to star El Yuma, one of the seven stories making up the film 7 Days in Havana. He’ll be portraying a young American actor named Teddy Atkins, who comes to Cuba to visit an acting school. Later he is taken on an non-traditional tour of the city.

7 Days in Havana is a film set in Cuba made up of seven stories led by seven different directors. The directors include Laurent Cantet, Gaspar Noe, Elia Suleiman, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Juan Carlos Tabio, and Benicio Del Toro, who’s directing El Yuma.

Coffee Planting Grows Back in Cuba

Cuban farmers added to cooperatives have increased their coffee plantations and many have undertaken to collect it with their own forces, which would represent a substantial saving by reducing the number of people mobilized from other sectors of the economy and services.

After the sharp decline in the contributions of coffee in recent years for various reasons, farmers, officials and Cuban technicians in the industry are engaged in what they have set as the slight increase in production.

When the planting of coffee trees has been completed and its collection has even started, agriculture strategists say that the volume of grain to be delivered should be increased by 10% over the last collection.

That is, is expected to harvest 700 tons of coffee more than compared to last year, efforts in which private farmers will have a decisive role because they collect 64% of coffee in the country.

Today, as in order to increase food production progress on the implementation of the new law that encourages the delivery of land in usufruct, one can say that in Cuba there is a greater number of people with an interest in growing coffee.

This news is encouraging because labor force on coffee plantations located mainly in the mountains, where increased urban migration, was significantly reduced in recent years.

The State cannot continue to appeal to its coffers to compensate for deficits in national coffee production, since these allocations are already ranging between 40 and 50 million dollars annually.

Last year, for instance, Cuban coffee purchases in the international market amounted to 18 000 tons to ensure local consumption.

The State also allocated 190 million pesos in national currency to subsidize the sale of powder to get the nectar.

It is for this reason that stands out the common effort to reforest the coffee plantations with younger fields and lush bushes and take care of them in a more actively way.

Four thousand hectares of coffee were planted in Cuba last year and this amount reached 7 thousand this year, to increase such actions from 2012 to 2015, the year estimated when national demand can be met and grain may have exportable surpluses.

Efforts to increase the results of the coffee harvests are capped by very favorable official decisions.

These include doubling the payment to producers for their contributions and State delivery of fertilizers for the first time in several years.

Similarly, new shrub species are introduced to eradicate the homogeneity of coffee plantations, a circumstance in which they become more vulnerable to the devastation in the event of pests.

Cuban farmers are working to increase yields per hectare that are very low today, basically by the aging of the trees and the lack of stable work force.

Peasants are expected to work with full care and dedication to Cuba to recover its historical levels of coffee production.

By Alex Silva from Radio Havana Cuba

Cuba Passes Law on Sale and Purchase of Motor Vehicles

By Alex Silva / RHC

Law Decree 292 will come into force on October 1, 2011, along with several ministerial resolutions that alleviate and eliminate procedures on the transfer of motor vehicle ownership.

The new regulations were published in Cuba’s Official Gazette and establish the sale and purchase of motor vehicles by Cuban citizens.

According to Granma newspaper, the sale and purchase procedures will be performed before a public notary without prior authorization.

These documents establish a tax on the Transfer of Assets and Inheritance for buyers and beneficiaries of donations, and the tax on personal incomes for sellers. In both cases, taxes are estimated at four percent of the vehicle’s worth.

Blessed Poison

As the saying goes " there is nothing more itching than the sting of a scorpion." But more than itching, the scorpion's sting causes severe pain due to its neurotoxic action.

This small animal, which only attacks if threatened or kill the prey that will become its food, has been used in many ways by man. Their bites were used as a military tactic in the war in the desert. In many Asian countries it is considered an exotic dish due to its excellent source of protein.

The use of the scorpion's toxins to cure various ailments dating back to earlier centuries, even when the chemical or radiation therapy had not been institutionalized.

In Cuba, the potential of scorpion venom Rhopalurus junceus, endemic to the east of the island, has been confirmed. And perhaps by the fact that Cubans are inclined towards taking anything someone says has a positive effect on health, its use emerges as an alternative with scientific basis to treat cancer. Blue scorpion venom strengthens the immune system in patients suffering from this disease, thus contributing to reducing not only the tumor processes, but also the pain and inflammation.

Our country recently registered Vidatox, a drug developed by LABIOFAM using the technique of homeopathic pharmacy with this scorpion venom, which has benefited thousands of patients suffering from cancer.

This business group has launched a marketing and promotional offensive that has helped to place and export this product to countries such as Albania, in Europe, providing the service to Italy where there is high demand.

Cuba currently has scientific institutions such as the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine institute, the Oncology and Radiobiology, Ministries of Science, Technology and Environment and Public Health, working on the development of innovative products, not only for our benefit but for the world, since cancer is the second leading cause of death, preceded by cardiovascular diseases.

If Cubans were a community of religious people, we might adore the scorpion for providing this "poison" that help to relieve, to a large extent, the discomforts of a painful disease like cancer.

Cuba‘s Report vs Blockade 2011

The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States government against Cuba has been maintained and further tightened despite the growing and categorical demand by the international community — in particular the United Nations General Assembly— for its elimination.

While the current US gover ment has taken some positive steps, they are insufficient and extremely imited in scope. Furthermore, they are not intended to alter the complex structure of laws, regulations and provisions that make up the blockade policy against Cuba...


Read full text of the report at: http://www.cubaminrex.cu/English/Actualidad/2011/septiembre/INFORME%20BLOQUEO%202011%20INGLES.pdf

The Virgin of Charity: Cuba’s Patron Saint

By Damián Donéstevez

Every September 8th Cubans pay tribute to La Virgen de la Caridad or the Virgen of Charity of El Cobre, the most cherished religious image in Cuba.

Located in the town of El Cobre, few kilometers away from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, the Virgin’s sanctuary is visited by thousands of people from all over the world to pay promises and carry small copper rocks from a nearby mine, which, according to devout believers, give people good luck.

The legend goes that at the end of the 16th century three fishermen –Juan Esclavo, Juan Indio and Juan Pescador (John, the slave, John, the Indian and John, the fisherman) found the image of the virgin in the middle of a storm in the immense Bay of Nipe in what is today known as the eastern province of Holguín.

At the time of the finding, the piece of wood holding the image, which had a rare beauty and a copper-colored skin, read: “I AM THE VIRGIN OF CHARITY”. It is said that it appeared in the large bay to save the fishermen, symbolizing the birth of a people and a nation, made up of Spanish, African and Indian ancestors.

On September 24th, 1915, high ranking officers and members of the former Ejército Libertador or “Mambí” Army, who had fought on the island’s second independence war against Spain, asked Pope Benedict XV to proclaim the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” as Cuba’s Patron Saint.

In a mass held the same day, the “mambises”, or former independence fighters, packed the old Sanctuary in the small town of El Cobre to request the canonical declaration from the Catholic Church. They also offered the Virgin a Cuban flag and promised to support the building of a new Sanctuary.

The canonical proclamation was approved by Papal decree on May 10th, 1916, less than a year after the Cuban patriots had requested it and the new Sanctuary opened on September 8th, 1927.

Years later, Pope Pious XI authorized the canonical coronation of the sacred image, but it was not until the morning of December 20, 1936 that the coronation was held by Santiago de Cuba’s Bishop Monsignor Valentín Zubizarreta.

Much later, the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” –Cuba’s Patron Saint- was personally crowned by Pope John Paul II in a public mass at Santiago de Cuba’s Antonio Maceo Square during his historical visit to Cuba in 1998.

The Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” is a neoclassical style construction built in 1927 on the summit of a hill on the island’s oldest copper mine which began to be exploited in the late 16th century.

The current sanctuary, where mass is given every morning, has a silver altar and other highly valuable ornamental objects. Under the virgin, you can find the so called Chapel of Miracles, a small room where believers pay promises and deposit different offerings, including gold and precious stone jewels, clutches and other objects.

The Chapel of Miracles treasures the gold medal awarded to US writer Ernest Hemingway when he was proclaimed Nobel Literature Prize laureate in 1954, donating it to the people of Cuba and offering it to the Virgin.

The Virgin of Charity is also known as “Virgen Mambisa” or “Mambí” Virgin due to the devotion of fighters for the island’s independence wars against Spain, who were better known as “mambises”.

The Virgin is also worshipped by Afro-Cuban religious believers. In the Yoruba religion, the Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” is known as “Ochún,” the deity of love and money and the owner of running water. Her festivities are linked to those of her sister “Yemayá”, the Goddess of the Ocean, or the Virgin of Regla in the Catholic Pantheon, to whom believers pay tribute on September 7th.

The Virgin of Charity of “El Cobre” is part of the Cuban people’s spirit and culture.

Taken from Radio Havana Cuba

Part of Cuban Territory will be under the Sea in 2050 due to Climate Change

By Luis Chirino

More than 2 percent of the Cuban territory will be under Caribbean waters by 2050 due to ongoing sea level, which is caused by climate change, according to a national commission researching the natural phenomena.

Some 2.550 square kilometers will be submerged by 2050; this stands for 2.32 percent of the Cuban territory, but in 2100 the total area expected to be underwater will reach 5.994 square kilometers, Granma daily reported on Saturday.alt

The research commission is considering a Macro-project about coastal dangers and vulnerabilities for the years 2050 and 2011. This project includes experts from 16 scientific institutions and state agencies.

Cuba is an archipelago with 111.000 square kilometers and a population of 11.2 millions.

Cuban Adaptation to Climate Change to Cost Millions

The adaptation to climate change will cost Cuba several millions of dollars a year, according to data published in the opening session of the International Environmental and Development Convention in Havana.

The information is based in a developed model, by experts from the British University of Southerton, presented here on Tuesday by Asher Minns, a scientist from the Tyndal Center, who explained that this model contains data from 2005 to 2095 on the amount of land that will be lost, the effects on swamps by square kilometers and the number of people who will be put at risk because of floods.

The name of the simulation tool is DIVA, and shows the cost of the adaptation to sea level increase in the world, said the British investigator to Prensa Latina.

The studies cover the Caribbean Sea, to evaluate the impact of the effects of the increase of the global temperature and the costs to take measures to adapt to the phenomena, said Minns.

In the inauguration of the 2nd Congress on Climatic Change, one of the events being celebrated at the 8th International Convention, Minns said there are 18 models to predict the physical impact of climate change.

However, he considered human dimension is the challenge to understand to draw the guidelines for adaptation to the global temperature's increase.

On technological disparity, since it is the rich countries that have the advanced technology to study climate change, Minns said there is a lot of paradox in this aspect, since the people of the poor countries know more about adaptation, while in the rich countries it is seen as an engineering problem.

However, he said there is no doubt the industrialized world is responsible for climate change and the poor countries are the ones suffering the worst consequences.

"Richer countries should facilitate the underdeveloped countries the necessary resources and technologies to adapt to the effects of the global temperature's increase," he concluded. / PL

Cuban children, more than one reason to be happy

In Cuba, June 1st is a special day of celebration, as children are our greatest wealth.

In December 1954 the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) decided to hold an annual International Day of Children, understanding and brotherhood among all children in the world, on the date that each nation decided, and Cuba chose the first of June.

While millions of children around the world have nothing to put in their mouths and die prematurely from preventable diseases, in Cuba, the socialist Revolution allocated considerable resources to promote healthy childhood and the basic conditions for its development.

In this country, the children's rights are respected, they have the privilege of playing, walking freely through the streets and parks without fear of being assaulted or attacked by murderers and psychopaths as it happens in other countries. The have the right to go to school grouped in student organizations, where they realize their expectations. This is the only country where children do a conference (the student congress), where children do not have to demand their rights, do not speak on children living badly or begging on the streets or many other daily horrors, but speaking about achievements, determination, solidarity and continuity of the Revolution.

Here, free vaccination campaigns are carried out each year, not because their going to die because of a pandemic, but because they have the right to health. Our children are protected against 13 preventable diseases.

Since 2002, UNICEF globally recognized Cuba's experience in providing education at early ages, through the program "Educate your Child, and Day Care Centers." The legislation created legal basis for protecting the family and especially for mothers and children, from the maternity. The Family, Labour, Children and Youth Code, Primary Health Care, low infant mortality rates are an expression of state policy, found in the Constitution of the Republic.

Cuba clearly shows that there is no need to be a rich country to provide protection and social welfare to children. Unfortunately, few countries are striving to guarantee the rights of children. The terrible reality of childhood, even in developed countries, is very different. Currently 600 million children worldwide live in poverty, 250 million between 5 and 14 work in Third World countries, 130 of these receive no education and six million suffer limiting injuries caused by war or armed conflict. Every 24 hours, 8 500 boys are infected with AIDS.

I only wish that children around the world be so happy as Cuban children.