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La Alborada
Washington, D.C.
nuevas@earthlink.net
Dawn -- Our hope for a new era in U.S./Cuba Relations
Cuban American Alliance Education Fund
NEWS SUMMARY // RESUMEN DE NOTICIAS
[For previous articles click on News Articles]
Friday, May 9, 2008
Jamaica, Cuba to collaborate in five areas
Jamaica Observer, Jamaica - May 8
JAMAICA and Cuba have agreed to collaborate in the areas of agriculture, health, tourism, water resources and housing, Prime Minister Bruce Golding told reporters in Kingston yesterday.
En la recta final zafra azucarera en Santiago de Cuba
Sierra Maestra - 8 de mayo
Por Pedro Felipe Pérez
Santiago de Cuba, mayo 8.- La zafra azucarera santiaguera 2007-2008 transita su recta final y a pesar de atrasos derivados de limitaciones con transporte automotor para el traslado de caña y lluvias, a partir del 24 de marzo, los agroindustriales de este sector batallan para cumplir el plan de producción de azúcar. A la provincia le faltan unas 25 000 toneladas para llegar a su compromiso.
Democrats move boldly in South Florida
St. Petersburg Times - May 7
By David Adams, Times Latin America Correspondent / dadams@sptimes.com
HIALEAH — In a packed social center in the heart of South Florida's most Republican city, elderly Cuban-American voters warmly greet a congressional candidate.
BREVES INTERNACIONALES
In Cuba, international colloquium on Caribbean Cultural Diversity
Cuba Headlines - May 8
The II International Colloquium Cultural diversity in the Caribbean, organized by the Casa de las Américas, will bring together here intellectuals and artists from the region from next May 26 until the 28.
UN speaks out against biofuels
Latin America Press, Peru - May 9
Noticias Aliadas. May 8, 2008
Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said in an interview on April 28 that biofuel production was responsible for the global rise in fuel prices.
Cuba y Canadá ampliarán nexos económicos y comercio
El Comercio (Ecuador) - 8 de mayo
Cuba y Canadá acordaron intensificar sus relaciones políticas y económicas, sobre todo en el área de turismo, minería y agricultura, tras una reunión entre ambas cancillerías, según un comunicado oficial publicado este jueves en el diario Granma.
Participarán Cuba y México en congreso turístico en Honduras
Granma Internacional - 8 de mayo
TEGUCIGALPA. — Representantes de Cuba y México participarán en el V Congreso Nacional de Turismo, del 15 al 17 de mayo en Tegucigalpa, durante el cual se firmarán acuerdos en materia de cooperación, entre otras actividades.
ENTREVISTA
Viví mucho tiempo fuera de Cuba sólo para darme cuenta de que quería regresar para hablarle a este público y a este país
En el 2005, Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti se convirtió en el primer cineasta cubano que ganaba un premio del Festival de Cannes. El Grand Prix Ecran Junior, sin embargo, no sería el único que recibió su película Viva Cuba, ni el primero en el extenso palmarés del realizador. Estudiante aún de la Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión de San Antonio de los Baños (EICTV), Cremata empezó a acumular reconocimientos internacionales con el documental Diana, en el Festival de Cine y Video de Bahía, Brasil.
Oscuros rinocerontes enjaulados (muy a la moda), su tesis de graduación de la EICTV, le reportó el beneficio de la Beca John Simon Guggenheim, en Nueva York, y una ficha con su nombre en el archivo de copias de materiales audiovisuales del Museo de Arte Moderno (MOMA) de esa ciudad. Una década después se llevaba a casa el premio Coral de Ópera Prima del XXIII Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana por su filme Nada.
Con Viva Cuba, su segunda película, el también guionista, actor y director de teatro consiguió una de las difusiones más masivas que ha tenido en la Isla una cinta local en los últimos años. Pocos meses después, el Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC) lo escogió para que representara al país en los premios Oscar y Goya del 2006.
En todas las entrevistas que concedió entonces, el director no perdió oportunidad de dejar claro que junto con su filme, que aborda el dilema de la emigración a través de los ojos de los niños, él también gritaba Viva Cuba.
Dos años después, Cremata, volvió al set de filmación con el mismo espíritu que anima todos sus proyectos: hacer cine en Cuba para los cubanos. Para satisfacer lo que se ha convertido en misión, el realizador adaptó al cine la obra teatral El premio flaco, del dramaturgo cubano Héctor Quintero.
Lea la entrevista en Viví mucho tiempo fuera de Cuba sólo para darme cuenta de que quería regresar para hablarle a este público y a este país
OPINIONS
Submit comments or opinions to nuevas@earthlink.net or caaef@hughes.net
[For previous opinion articles click HERE]
Ileana Takes on Panama
La Alborada - May 9
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) has taken to task Panama's president, Martin Torrijos, because of what she sees as his misbehaviors. Torrijos was in Washington to promote the US' Plan Merida and a free trade agreement between the two countries. Previously he had expressed a wish to expand relations with Cuba. She wanted Torrijos to stop talking with Cuban leaders and to instead support the dissidents that she funds. She also told Torrijos to maintain relations with Taiwan, and complained about Panama's votes on Israel in the UN.
That appears to be at least her version of a telephone conversation with him. Torrijos, head of a small country historically dominated by the US, probably listened diplomatically and thanked her for her comments.
A short review of history is needed to understand just how strange this call was.
Panama came into existence when the US pried if off Colombia, stationing gunboats offshore, in order to build the Panama Canal. The Colombian government had not been willing to sign the treaty the US wanted, so stronger measures were called for.
Within 16 days, and while all of Latin America opposed the breakup of Colombia, the US signed a treaty with the French engineer who earlier had been attempting to build the canal for the French. The latter said he was representing Panama. In fact, a Panamanian ambassador was at the time still on a steamship on the way to Washington.
The canal divided Panama physically into two parts, and the center of the country became a US base, provoking constant complaints and demonstrations on the part of the Panamanians. Itl remained US property until the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who negotiated a new treaty with the father of Torrijos, a strong nationalist who died in a mysterious airplane explosion--possibly, say some, a CIA action to maintain US control of the canal.
Which ties into Luis Posada Carriles, a CIA agent, who did cause a Cuban airliner to explode in mid-air, killing 73 people. His last attempted act of terrorism took place in Panama, where he planned to blow up a university auditorium where Fidel Castro was to speak. The plan would have killed or wounded great numbers of Panamanians. Posada is a hero for the Congresswoman, as is Posada's partner, Orlando Bosch.
Posada and his gang of assassins were arrested and tried in Panama. In the end, they were found guilty of minor charges and sent to prison. Ros-Lehtinen and her Miami colleagues then wrote to the president at the time, Mireya Moscoso, asking that the terrorists be pardoned. On November 5, 2003, they wrote again, asking for Posada's freedom. In December, Colin Powell flew to Panama for a personal meetng with Moscoso.
On August 25, 2004, six days before concluding her term, Moscoso signed a pardon of the terrorists. Early the next day, the prisoners were taken directly to an airport and left the country, leading to Posada's eventual arrival in Miami.
That is the kind of behavior that Ros-Lehtinen expects of the presidents of small countries, even, in the case of Panama, from the son of the man who restored the canal to his country. She is unlikely to break up Cuba-Panama relations with one phone call, but publicizing her criticism of Torrijos is a cost-free way of shoring up her standing with some of her constitutents in South Florida. She is facing opposition in the coming elections, and the people she appeals to have just given a party in Miami to Posada Carriles.
It's all an indication of the kind of government she would like to see in Cuba.
Dissidents, Journalists, and Food
La Alborada - May 8
Three news items of yesterday call out for comment.
Dissidents. President Bush spoke by phone with dissidents in Havana and ratified that he plans to continue the hard line against Cuba for the rest of his term. One of the better-known dissidents, a woman who is herself a hard-liner, told him to make it easier for family members in the US to travel and to send money to the island. Media "experts" in the U.S. then gave opinions on how that related to the reforms inititated by the new Cuban president, Raul Castro.
We think it has to do with something else. The scandal in the lack of accounting of USAID money earmarked for the dissidents keeps growing, and the program is once again under review. The disssident mentioned above is also the one who has called most loudly for a better conduit of funds into Cuba; in fact, she was saying this before Raul became president. Why? The greater part of the tens of millions of dollars approved by Congress to support the dissidents is spent in Miami and elsewhere in the U.S. within the thrivng industry of counter-revolution and of planning for a post-revolutionary period. The dissident cited is just being practical: loosen restrictions on travel and remittances, and more money can be delivered to her, directly and consistently.
Bush criticizes new Cuban leadership
Journalists. The new Gen-Y blogger has become an instant media star. She writes about things like the ones also reported by "independent" journalists funded by the US, but those are not bloggers nor are they ever described as "young women", as is the 32-year-old newcomer. Besides receiving a prize (with lots of money) from a major Spanish newspaper, she was selected for Time Magazine's list of most influential people in the world (has she influenced you yet?) in the category of Heroes and Pioneers, and also given the title of Most Courageous Blogger in the World, although no danger to her person or career has been reported.
Coinciding with the hoopla, an Al-Jazeera cameraman was released after six years in prison in Cuba--more precisely, in the US base at Guantanamo. "I was subjected to 130 (interrogation) sessions, more than 35 about the al-Jazeera and they wanted me to be a spy against al-Jazeera," he said, according to Xinhua. After what he called "long bitter years that we spent in humiliation, injustice and subjugation and oppression," he is now receiving medical care, but no awards.
The Department of Defense said on the occasion of his release, and that of eight others sent to their respective countries: "The transfer is a demonstration of the United States' desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary. It also underscores the processes put in place to assess each individual and make a determination about their detention while hostilities are ongoing – an unprecedented step in the history of warfare." We take note of the self-congratulation and pass it on to you.
Food. The food crisis is hitting Latin America hard, especially Central America. Through April (25% of the year), the supplies on hand of white and yellow corn, rice, beans, and sorghum represented only 15.4% of the total needed for the year. The food crisis was predicted by Fidel last year in connection to the growing use of cereals for biofuels instead of for food. At a conference this week, Central American and Caribbean-area ministers, as well as two Andean presidents, met to plan solutions in common. They represented Haiti, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, San Vincent and the Grenadines, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Belize, Panama and Dominican Republic.
The ministers issued a declaration blaming the free market and the domestic subsidies of the developed countries for the crisis. Not surprisingly, the ministers of neoliberal Mexico and El Salvador, and of Costa Rica, refused to sign the declaration. The president of Ecuador, on the other hand, announced that next week he would announce whether Ecuador was ready to join ALBA--the alternative to "free trade" agreements--which now includes Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Dominica. No similar meeting has been called by the neoliberal developed countries, which will instead wait for the market to solve the food crisis on its own.
EVENTS // ACTIVIDADES
For events click on EVENTS
DEPORTES (TITULARES)
International Chess Tournament Opens Today in Havana
Capablanca, una gloria para recordar en el ajedrez de Cuba y el Mundo
Cuba concentrará unos 50 jugadores para Pekín'08: prensa
Cubana Yoanka González gana oro panamericano en Scratch
ENLACES
Cuba y México. Tres ciudades, que son puertos, guardan no pocas semejanzas y por muchos años han estado vinculadas. Ellas son Cádiz, puerto de salida; La Habana, lugar de enlace, y Veracruz, puerto de llegada. Cuantos viajaban de España a México tenían que pasar por La Habana. En ocasiones miembros de una misma familia se quedaban en Cuba. Lazos de parentesco y también de cultura se afianzaron así entre los habitantes de la isla y de México. De muchas formas México y Cuba han compartido una misma historia, ello desde que Hernán Cortés salió de Cuba para consumar la conquista. Acercamiento muy distinto fue el de fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, que había sido encomendero en Cuba, y luego emprendió en México y en España la defensa de los indios.
Un hombre ¿extraño? en Romerías . Confieso que me llamó la atención cuando me enteré que entre los participantes extranjeros venía alguien de nueva Zelanda, una cultura e idiosincrasia tan distante de la nuestra como la longitud que nos separa en la geografía. Una de estas noches de Romería escuché a una amiga hablar eufórica de la presentación “del neozelandés”, dijo “…tienes que ver eso, es algo sensacional, lo que se propone lo logra muy bien”, al otro día confirmé la sentencia de Tatiana Zúñiga. Muchos querían subir al Kaligari, solo se podía entrar con la credencial, “los menores no pueden pasar”, pregunté qué pasaba, el custodio me respondió con cierta complicidad “va a actuar tipo de la falda, dicen que hoy se va a desnudar”. Hizo de todo en el escenario, más no se desnudó, por suerte para muchos. Sacó de lo más profundo de su ser a ese hombre y a esa mujer que lleva dentro y por qué no a esa serpiente que representa en su espectáculo. Al final recibió el aplauso de los que entraron con credencial, y de los que se colaron (ninguno menor de edad)…
EFEMÉRIDES
1947 - Se publica El son entero en Buenos Aires
Con la edición de "El son entero", Nicolás Guillén, quien habría de convertirse en el Poeta Nacional, salva su intención política sin que el verso se desboque hacia la propaganda en detrimento del valor estético. En esta obra se incluyen poesías que datan de 1929 a 1946. Esta suma poética es publicada por la Colección Mirto, de la Editora Argentina Pleamar, y consta de 210 páginas con ilustraciones de Carlos Enríquez, una carta de don Miguel de Unamuno y textos musicales de Eliseo y Emilio Grenet, Alejandro García Caturla y Silvestre Revueltas.
cuba.cu
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