Thursday 23 November 2017 | 02:38:48 pm.
There’s no medalwithouthispresence. The man who travelled to the future and returned to tell us about it, ran withJuantorena andYunidis Castillo on the track, jumped with Sotomayor, punched with Stevenson and Savón, batted with Linares, smashed with Mireya on the court…There’s nothing Fidel didn’t do in the world of sport. Or, for Cuban sport.
Thursday 23 November 2017 | 02:21:22 pm.
"I’m deeply touched, and hope that this moment will enable me to go on, that it will fuel our struggle for Puerto Rico", the pro-independence activist Oscar López Rivera announced, after placing a bouquet of white roses at the monolith where the ashes of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, are interred at the Santa Ifigeniaheritage cemetery, together with the monuments of the founding fathers of the nation. Aminute’ssilencewasthenobserved.
Thursday 23 November 2017 | 02:19:38 pm.
Withthe exhibition of the Brazilian El filme de mi vida by Selton Mello at the Karl Marx Theateron December 8,the 39thInternationalNew Latin American Film Festival (FINCL)will officially kick off. kick offin Havana until the 17th that month,Chairman of the event Iván Giroud announced.
Thursday 23 November 2017 | 02:09:02 pm.
We have had the satisfaction of performing a good trial run as every detail of what is expected to come out right has been addressed and all the authorities were retrained. All the conditions are created for the elections next November 26.
Monday 20 November 2017 | 03:58:36 pm.
The document ratified the commitment with the Continental Meeting “as a broad, diverse, plural and unitary process and space for coordination of alternative resistance”
At the Continental Meeting for Democracy and Against Neoliberalism, which held sessions for three days and concluded last Saturday in Uruguay, the social movements agreed: “We’ll continue to fight for our people’s integration by reaffirming our cultural, social, political and economic diversity, placing the people’s rights at the core.”
The final document ratified the commitment with the Continental Meeting “as a broad, diverse, plural and unitary process and space for coordination of alternative resistance.”
“There’s no democracy without social involvement, without distribution of wealth, without access to information and justice”, the Declaration concluded in one of its points, which also championed to reinforce the political action of the people’s movements and to face the right-wing offensive in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We’ll promote a kind of people’s integration which respects the diversity of our cultures. The one which is built from the active participation of our peoples. The one which defends peace and self-determination in our territories, free of military bases and interventionism, with complementarity of economies and relations of solidarity and cooperation”, as it continued.
The declaration also expressed its solidarity “with the people of Venezuela and its sovereign right to develop a social, political and economic project without agressions and interferences, with guarantees of peace and respect for its institutions”.
In that very vein, it condemned the parliamentary, judicial and much publicized coup against President Dilma Rousseff and the scheme trying to prevent Lula da Silva’s candidacy in Brazil.
The Montevideo Declaration did not leave out “the conservative and reactionary advance of the right-wing in the region. “Imperialism continues to attack the processes promoted by progressive and grassroots-oriented governments, it makes the blockade against Cuba more stringent while reverting the US-Cuba relationship normalization process; it also steps up actions against Nicaragua’s government; it promotes to sabotage El Salvador’s government, and lays a siege to Bolivia’s government.”
The participants at the event – who ratified “the unitary and articulation agenda of the social and political forces agreed at the meeting in Havana, in November 2015, - convened a movilization to protest against the Buenos Aires World Trade Organization Ministerial Summit in December 2017; to the unity of all movements in March 8th , and that very month, to be present and place the agenda against free trade of transnational corporations in the Alternative World Water Forum to take place in Brasilia.
Likewise they called for a mobilization on MayDay; to denounce the celebration of the Americas Summit in Lima, in June 2018, and to the organization of a joint action around the G-20 Summit in Argentina, in the second semester of 2018, as well as the call for participation at the Continental Meeting from November 19 to 25.
Translated by ESTI
Monday 20 November 2017 | 03:57:39 pm.
Master, composer, guitarist and conductor Leo Brouwer; excelled as the Best Contemporary Clasic Composition category with Sonata del Decamerón Negro, a musical piece interpreted by the Spanish Mabel Millán.
Master, composer, guitarist and conductor Leo Brouwer excelled as the Best Contemporary Clasic Composition category by Sonata del Decamerón Negro, a musical piece interpreted by the Spanish Mabel Millán.
The new success of the famous musician was announced during the evening that served as premiere to the 18th edition of that contest held in Las Vegas, United States. In 2013 and 2016, Brouwer was nominated in the same category with his albums String Quartet number 5 as well as Sonata de los Viajeros.
At the gala was also announced that the popular song Despacito, by the Puerto Ricans Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, won four awards: Recording, Song, Fusion/musical performance (by the remix in which the Canadian Justin Bieber took part), and Music Video Short Version. Meanwhile, Rubén Blades won with his album Salsa Bing Band in the difficult Album of the Year and Salsa categories.
The night’s revelation as Best New Artis was the young Vicente García (to which the Cuban Danay Suarez was also candidate). He received recognitions in Tropical Song (Bachata en Kingston) and Songwriter Album (A la mar) . On the other hand, the former member and founder of the group Calle 13 Residente, managed to make Residente the best urban music album.
Danay Suárez was one of Cuba’s representatives that arrived at the contest with the greatest amount of nominations, when she joined the aspirants’ competition for Better Album of the Year and Alternative Music with Manual Words. Meanwhile, Integridad, recorded along with Bob Marley’s son Stephen Marley aims at Alternative Song of 2017.
The list of artists based in Cuba included: Alain Pérez, Descemer Bueno, Diana Fuentes, Septeto Santiaguero and La Colmenita children's company.
Translated by ESTI
Monday 20 November 2017 | 03:55:03 pm.
My bedroom is full of pictures of Che, Fidel, Martí, Maceo and Mella, all for loving Cuba for the deep-rooted Cuban nature I took without realizing from my History teachers. I still remember the day when I tasted cassava for the first time or when I had to dramatize for a school play.
Many Cubans had great history teachers, so it is painful to hear opinions like that of Daniela Vázquez Soria, a secondary-level student: “history is always the same, there’s nothing which prompt me to study it, neither the teachers, nor the textbooks.”
Monday 20 November 2017 | 03:43:46 pm.
Montevideo, Nov 17.— A massive march from the University of the Republic to the Obelisk of this capital opened today the Continental Conference for Democracy and against Neoliberalism, based in Uruguay.
The river of flags with colors and insignias of social movements, union organizations, feminists and ecologists, and schools from countries like Brazil, Chile, Venezuela, and the host nation, flowed through the 18 de Julio Avenue, the most important in this city, PL reported.
The voices of Temer Out! (president of Brazil) and Macri Out! (president of Argentina) were recurrent during the inaugural mobilization of the meeting, focusing on the struggles in defense of democracy and against free trade agreements.
Also, the fight against the transnationals and the boost to the peoples’ integration, cornerstones of the meeting, were in the calls of thousands of activists from around 20 countries present in the march.
The meeting will end next Saturday with debates regarding the struggle of the people as well as the challenges against the conservative movement and the attacks to democracy.
The meeting saw the light in Havana in 2015 at the Hemispheric Meeting to commemorate the ten years of the defeat of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (ALCA), a policy promoted by the United States to consolidate the region's economic domination and exploitation.
The Continental Conference for Democracy and against Neoliberalism is an important meeting, the second secretary of the Cuban Women Federation Arelys Santana, told Prensa Latina news agency, highlighting the necessary unity of the peoples.
Leading the delegation of the island, she warned about the existence of a very strong fight to crush the confidence in the right-wing party.
In her opinion, the unity of the peoples is very necessary with the objective of "facing the struggle that is happening against us to eliminate everything that has a sense of prosperity and order".
Once again, Cuba comes to a meeting like this in the middle of the necessary formulation of a united project work of all social movements in the region, she said.
For my country, she added, it is an event with extraordinary relevance.First of all, it was very close to a new victory in the United Nations against the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States, and Cuba thanks all the peoples of the continent that have supported the Island.
We will be sharing with the social movements here, to transmit them our experiences and certain that there is no way other than the unity of the peoples to find the victory of everything we pursue, she added.
Translated by ESTI
Monday 20 November 2017 | 03:38:40 pm.
“Water, as a natural, renewable and finite resource, State property, which constitutes a right of every citizen, needs special norms to regulate its planning and management; since, also, it is an essential element for the socio-economic development and, in short, life itself”, this was expressed by the parliamentary commissions in charge of ruling the land water bill, which was passed in that regular session of the National Assembly.
Inscribed in the strategy for protection and sustainability of the environment, the country is committed with, the regulations published in the Official Gazette of the Republic are available in www.gacetaoficial.cu.
Inland waters are those that "are inside or above the earth's crust, regardless of their physical, chemical or bacteriological composition, in the space that makes up the emerged part of the national territory limited by the coastline", as explained in the glossary of terms that accompanies the Law, a valuable section that allows the population to better understand the technical part of it.
After a process of discussion initiated in 2013, which led to the modification of many of its elements, the law consists of 13 titles, 15 sections, 29 chapters and 127 articles.
To order the comprehensive and sustainable management of these waters as a renewable and limited natural resource is among the goals of the legislation according to the general interest of society, economy, health and the environment.
Also, to establish the steps for its protection on the basis of its planning, preservation and sustainability, in tune with the socio-economic development and environmental protection, and in the face of negative impact of extreme natural phenomena and climate change.
The regulation about water resources is accompanied by its rules. Like all laws, this is a normative resource complementing it, which establishes and regulates "how to do what is required," said President of the National Institute of Water Resources (INRH) Inés María Chapman Waugh.
In a meeting with the press, together with Hydraulic Planning Director Rolando Calzada Cano and legal advisor at the institution Edilberto Pérez Blanco, Chapman stressed that both documents - law and regulations - are also a contribution to the educational process of the population and entities in the efficient and rational use of water.
The conscious participation of citizens saving it is a long-term strategy, essential to preserve an increasingly vulnerable and scarce resource, as we all Cubans could see again, during the three-year drought that we suffered until a few days ago.
The Law of inland waters was preceded, among other antecedents, by the National Water Policy, approved by the Council of Ministers in December 2012, in compliance with the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution of the 6th Congress, which were updated in the 7th. Congress.
Translated by ESTI
Monday 20 November 2017 | 03:25:46 pm.
Three flags: Cuba’s , Puerto Rico’s and that of the University of Havana, were together as one at the Aula Magna of that educational center, where dozens of young students talked to the pro-independence fighter Oscar López Rivera and expressed their solidarity with the struggle of his people, submitted to an unfair colonialism for 119 years.
The Puerto Rican friend arrived with energy, enthusiasm and strengths, which the almost 36 years served in a US prison could not take away from him. “I am very happy of being here with all of you”, were his first words, with that characteristic simplicity of him.
“The youth is the future of every people, the driving force which has achieved so many for this society. When I look at all of you, I see the very best of this society”, he said without hesitation. Then he spoke about the stark contrast between the Cuban universities and those of his country, where many students can not have access to them due to the expensive tuition fees.
“Over there, the university is on the decline, an extension of politicking”, stressed López Rivera, who went on to say that in those centers “the pro-independence teachers have little chances of staying there, since the government only grants the post for those belonging to their Party.”
How do you resist in jail? What has kept you fighting for so long? How was your friendship forged with Fernando González Llort, one of our Five Heroes? What is your perception of the situation in Puerto Rico? What does the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution mean to you?
Were some of the questions the youth asked López Rivera, which allowed him to talk about the conscience of men, their capacity to rise up against injustice, the depth of human dignity, the economy and capitalism and about a man like Fidel who “bequeathed us an example of resistance and struggle.”
As a coda for the exchange, the first secretary of the UJC National Committee Susely Morfa González awarded López Rivera the 55th Anniversary Commemorative Coin of the youth organization. Such a distinction recognizes in him the man that continued to defend the pro-independence principles of his people and of the world. Young artists Eduardo Sosa and Annie Garcés dedicated songs for him and the attendants choired with them: Gracias a la vida!
Rector of the University of Havana Gustavo Cobreiro Suárez, and the Hero of the Republic of Cuba Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, among other guests, accompanied the Puerto Rican brother in this act, which filled him with hope, optimism and confidence” and who thanked the youth for infecting him with their “spirit and maturity”. He said he would return to Puerto Rico “stronger to keep fighting for independence and also for the noble causes of the world.”
Translated by ESTI
