Cuba, Guest Country at Colombia Tourism Fair

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 19 (acn) Cuba will be the guest country at the 27^th ANATO Tourism Fair of the Colombian Association of Travel Agents, which is a renowned professional event, held through the past 60 years.

The fair, which is considered the main event of its kind in Colombia and one of the major tourism fairs held in South America, will take place February 25-27 at the Coferias exhibit center in the capital Bogotá. Cuba will have a 300-square-meter pavilion, according to PL news agency.

The fair, which is not opened to the public, has been increasingly attended over the past years by travel agents, hotel chains, airline companies, tour operators, as well as by local and international tourism offices and tourism providers.

Cuba will be represented by deputy tourism minister Maria Elena Lopez who is heading a delegation from the main companies in the Cuban tourist sector.

The commercial attaché at the Cuban embassy in Bogotá, Angel Bernal said that the attendance of the fair by Cuba is a significant step forward in the Colombian tourist market, since the South American country ranked number four as a source of visitors to the island last year.

The Cuban delegation will display a large sample of the local tourist products, including its emblematic liquors, and will also offer information about the achievements of the country.

(Cuba es el país invitado a feria de turismo colombiana)

Cuba's National Ballet to Present Hansel and Gretel in Canada

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 19 (acn) The Canadian government has agreed to celebrate Family Day for the first time, and a high point of celebrations will be the production of Hansel and Gretel, interpreted by the Cuba's National Ballet Company.

The performance, scheduled for February 26 at Canada's Hamilton Place Theater will feature young figures from the Cuban company, with choreography by Eduardo Blanco and the general direction of prima ballerina assoluta Alicia Alonso.

Participating in Hansel and Gretel, with music by Jules Massenet, Richard Wagner, Serguei Prokofiev and Joseph Luigini and designs by Ricardo Reymena, Eduardo Romero and Luis Carlos Benvenuto, will be young dancers from the Canadian Ballet, in a one act, five scene version.

The ballet is an ode to the unyielding human spirit and the book it's based on, by the same name, was written by brothers Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and published in their native Germany for the first time in 1812.

The famous fairy tale has fascinated numerous generations of children from around the world. The main roles of the ballet version will be interpreted this time by Yadil Suárez, Regina Hernández, Annie Ruiz, Denisse Salvent and Yonah Acosta.

Undoubtedly, Hansel and Gretel is a made-to-measure piece to celebrate Family Day in Canada. The allegoric fantasy is a splendid cooperation work between artists from the two nations.

(Ballet Nacional de Cuba presentará Hansel y Gretel en Canadá)

Russian Solidarity Organization Reinforces Actions for the Release of the Five

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 19 (acn) The campaign for the release of the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters held in US jails for over 10 years, will be at the center of actions this year by the Russia-Cuba Friendship Association.

The statement was made in Moscow by Vadim Sayuchev, president of the solidarity-with-Cuba organization. He said that actions in favour of the release of the Cuban Five will join other efforts against the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, PL news reported.

Sayuchev added that they will deploy a stand during the Moscow Book Fair with information available to the public about Rene Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero, internationally known as the Cuban Five.

Cuban ambassador to Moscow Juan Valdes extended his thankfulness for the permanent solidarity with Cuba and alerted about the need to have the truth of the Five be spread inside the United States.

The Cuban Five were framed by FBI agents in 1998 and submitted to a biased trial in the US city of Miami, which gave them unfair and extremely long sentences (from 15 years to life terms) for charges that were not proven. The Five were collecting information on Florida-based ultra-right organizations that have undertaken terrorist acts against the Cuban people.

(Redoblan en Rusia campaña por la libertad de los Cinco)

Venezuela's Symphony Orchestra on Tour in Cuba

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Feb 19 (acn) Venezuela's Symphony Orchestra (OSV) began a tour of important Cuban theatres with a performance on Wednesday in this city's Tomás Terry Theatre, which will extend until March 1.

The public at the Tomás Terry enjoyed melodies like Sinfonía del Nuevo Mundo, by Dvorak; Tocata Bacchiana and Pajarillo, by Aldemaro Romero; Moliendo Café, by Hugo Blanco; Alma Llanera, by Pedro Elías Gutiérrez, and Fantasía Cubana, in an arrangement by Sergio Holguín.

Cienfuegos residents will also be able to enjoy the performances of violinist Alexis Cárdenas and oboist Jorge Alcarrá, who will play Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin and Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra, by B. Marcello, respectively.

This musical tour is the first international presentation of the visiting orchestra in 2009, and will include performances in theatres of various provinces, like the Amadeo Roldán in Havana and Sauto, in Matanzas , and at the Martha Abreu Central University Theatre, in Villa
Clara.

The OSV, considered an artistic heritage of the South American sister nation, will be conducted by maestro Angelo Pagliuca and by the director of the Presidential Orchestra of Belarus, Viktor Babarikin. Founded in 1930, the Venezuelan orchestra is made up by 95 teachers, who perform over 70 concerts a year.

(Actuará en Cuba Orquesta Sinfónica de Venezuela)