lunes, 26 de enero de 2009

Some considerations on the Special Period, and a little more

By:Ernesto Pantaleòn Medina

The called Special Period in Cuba brought itself a sensitive depression in the infrastructure created in the county of Camagüey (about 500 kilometers to the east of City of Havana) and that had its good stage in the years 80, time in that the territory had real possibilities to produce 11 000 tons of pig meat, 300 million eggs and other so many of liters of milk, for only to mention some examples.

The fact was very near those ends, and the swinish company ended up giving 9 000 tons, while in the branch milkmaid the flock had 73 000 cows in double milk, what propitiated a true jump in the food production.

But to sustain that gigantic productive apparatus, the agriculture of Camagüey prepared of almost 200 000 tons of food annually, and the sugar entities gave like complement double that volume of honey for the diet of the animals, among other items that constituted a guarantee and that in a moment, starting from the 90 stopped to exist in a good part.

Although today the country experiences a discreet recovery in its economy, the readiness in the insurance distan much of those reference levels, especially in times in that the prices are shot in the International Market, at the same time that you intensify the blockade that maintain the United States for five decades.

And when there is not back material, or is this insufficient, what is it? of what the workers are been worth to move away to the country of the terrible one "level zero" that threatened us during years.

The answer can only be in strengths that, not had enunciated an and another time, lose its validity: the intelligence, the organization, the control on the few resources that we prepare, but mainly, the exact understanding that many wait for us.

Cuban Artists Return to Venezuela

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 26 (acn) The first group of Cuban teachers and artists that will continue with the Corazon Adentro cultural mission in Venezuela have begun to arrive in that nation.

Other groups will be arriving in Venezuela in February to make up the 540 teachers and artists that will take part in the project that started in 2008 in the humblest communities of Caracas. The humanitarian community work will be extended later to other states of the country, according to agreements signed between the two countries.

In mid December, the first 530 Cuban cultural promoters, artists and teachers who carried out the community project began to come back to the island for vacations after more than six months of work.

The group held hundreds of workshops for children, youths and adults, as well as artistic shows in the communities to train theatre groups, artists and dancers, raising the cultural level of the poorest communities of the Venezuelan capital.

The cultural projects between Cuba and Venezuela are being developed as part of the solidarity-based relations established by the Bolivarian Alternative of Our America (ALBA) and its Cultural Fund.

Reemprende Cuba misión cultural en Venezuela Alina Martínez

Cuban GM Leinier Domínguez Undefeated at Corus Chess Tournament

Cuban Grand Master (GM) Leinier Dominguez tied on Sunday with Azerbaijan’s Teimour Radjabov and remained undefeated with seven draws and a win in the strong Corus chess
tournament that is taking place in the Dutch city of Wijk aan Zee.

Leinier, the best Latin American chess player with an ELO rating of 2717 points, played with the black pieces and tied with Radjabov (2761) in only 14 moves of an English Opening.

After this result, the Cuban player has 4.5 units and shares the second place of the tournament with three other players: Radjabov, Ukranian Sergey Karjakin (2706) and Armenian Levon Aronian (2750).

Slovakian Sergei Movsesian (2751) leads the event with five points.

Meanwhile, hosts Jan Smeets (2604) and Loek van Welly (2625), Norwegian Magnus Carlsen (2776), British Michael Adams (2712) and American Gata Kamsky (2725) share the third spot with four units apiece.

Closing the standings are Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk (2779), Chinese Wang Yue (2739) and Dutch Daniel Stellwagen (2605) with 3.5 points while Russian Alexander Morozevich (2771) is at the bottom with only 2.5 units.

The annual tournament features 14 elite players with an average ELO rating of 2720 points, which makes the event a Category 19 competition, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE).

Original de Manzanillo in national tour

The popular Original Cuban orchestra Original de Manzanillo defends and transmits cuban style from the most autochthonous in the roots of it town, said in this city it managing Wilfredo (Pachi) Naranjo concerning the 45 years of having created the grouping.

The also musician and composer expressed that the charanga of Manzanillo is located among the best in the musical panorama of the island and it possesses an unmistakable Caribbean sonority tinged with rhythms and traditional instruments of the oriental region of Cuba.

As part of a national tour the Original of Manzanillo toasted last night a concert to the people from Santiago which included topics of the decade of the 70 and a popurrit that marked the orchestra's history which has made dance to generations of Cuban from its beginnings.

The square of Santiago of Trail and Highway of the Muzzle was the scenario for the premiere of the originals with the public who enjoyed the interpretations of musical works as That way to feel well, to dance casino, boy's little bit, The pitch, the conga Manigueta, manigueta among others.

The tour will conclude on February 21 in Manzanillo and it is composed of 22 presentations in heads of counties, in the municipality special Island of the Youth, Santa Cruz del Sur, Banes and in other two towns of The Tunas and Pinegrove of the River that were affected by the last three hurricanes.