lunes, 17 de enero de 2011

Cuba Increases Scholarships for Angolan People

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 17 - The number of scholarships granted by Cuba to Angolans to study inthe island was increased to 195 this year, as reported by several media outlets from the African country on Monday. The scholarships are to study medicine or any other related subject,as well as arts, engineering or to become teachers.

A Prensa Latina reporte dated in Luanda says the representative for the Angolan embassy in Cuba in charge of scholarships, Caetano Francisco Domingos said there are 620 Angolans currently studying in Cuba, and that 108 of them are involved inpostgraduate courses.

Cuba and Angola have maintained close relationships of cooperation and friendship for year.

The bonds between the two countries were strengthened after Cuba helped Angola achieve its independence, finally reached in 1975.(acn)

Cuban Foreign Ministry Releases Statement on US Measures

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 17 - The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX by its Spanish acronym) released a statement regarding the latest measures announced by the US government regarding Cuba.

Cuban News Agency reproduces MINREX statement:

On January 14, 2011, The United States government announced new measures regarding Cuba. Though we will have to wait for the regulations to be published to know their true meaning, according to preliminary information released by the White House Office of the Press Secretary the measures are:

-To authorize US citizens to travel to Cuba for academic, educational,cultural and religious purposes.

-To allow US citizens to send remittances to Cuban citizens in limited amounts.

-To authorize US international airports to apply to provide services to licensed charters to Cuba under certain conditions.

The adoption of these measures are the result of the efforts of ample ectors of the US society that have claimed for years to the lifting of the criminal US blockade against Cuba and the absurd prohibition of travelling to Cuba.

It is also an expression of the admission of the failure of the US policy against Cuba and that the US government is seeking new ways to achieve its
historical goal of dominating the Cuban people.

Though these measures are positive, they failed to entirely fulfil these just claims, they have a very limited reach and do not modify the US
policy towards Cuba.

The White House announcement limits itself, basically, to restore some of the dispositions that were in force in the 1990´s during the Clinton Administration and were eliminated by President George W. Bush after 2003.

These measures only benefit some categories of US citizens and do not restore the right of every US citizen to travel to Cuba, making them the only ones worldwide that can not visit Cuba freely.

They confirm that there is no will to change the US blockade and destabilization policies against Cuba. At announcing them, the US officials make clear that the blockade will remain untouched and that they are preparing new tools of subversion and interference in Cuba’s internal affairs. This confirms the denunciation made by MINREX last January 13.

Cuba has always favored the exchanges with the US people, their universities, and their academic, scientific and religious institutions.

All obstacles for the US citizens to visit Cuba have been and still are onthe US side.

If there was a true interest in expanding and easing the contacts between our two peoples, the United States should lift the blockade and the prohibition that makes of Cuba the only country that US citizens can notfreely travel to.(acn)

Wax Statues of Che and Cespedes to Be Exhibited at Bayamo’s Museum

BAYAMO, Cuba, Jan 17 - Statues of Cuban independence hero Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, known as the Forefather of the Homeland, and Argentinean-born Ernesto Che Guevara, will be part of the collection of the Wax Museum of Bayamo, the only one of its type in the country.

Museum specialist Ismarys Lopez told ACN that like the rest of the wax statues exhibited in the museum, the new statues will be modeled life-size in polychrome wax by Rafael Barrios and his sons Rafael and Leander Barrios.

Lopez said the museum will be promoted by several travel agencies to attract foreignvisitors to the city.

The museum shows wax statues of Cuban national hero Jose Marty; musicians Beny More, Sindo Garay, Bola de Nieve, Compay Segundo, Carlos Puebla and Polo Montañez; young Italian Fabio Di Celmo, who died in a terrorist attempt in Havana; and American writer Ernest Hemingway, among local figures. The collection also includes sculptures of birds, most of them originary from the Sierra Maestra mountain range.

Lopez said since the opening of the museum in July of 2004 until 2010, the institution has received more than 700,000 visitors and in 2008 a year record of visits was set with more than 152,000.

Meanwhile, Barrios Madrigal said he learned wax modeling from his sons. He said they used to make figures out of clay when they were little and when he saw how good they were, he took them to local artist Luis Enrique Basterrechea who taught them the craft, which according to specialists dates back to the 19th century. (AIN)

2011 Casa de las Americas Literary Award Opens Up in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 17 - The Award 2011 Casa de las Americas Literary will be set in motion with the formal establishment of the jury and the opening words of Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and the Peruvian anthropologist, Stefano Varese.

In its 52 edition, dedicated to the centenary of the birth of the Peruvian writer José María Arguedas (Deep Rivers, Yawar fiesta) 300 original works are competing in the genres of novels, short stories,testimonies, artistic and literary essay and Brazilian literature in the form of fiction , reports Prensa Latina news agency.

Prominent literature figures make up the jury that will decide on the works worthy of awards, including the US poet Margaret Randall, the Colombian Roberto Burgos Cantor, Martin Kohan from Argentina, Chilean Andrea Jeftanovich and Spanish Eduardo Becerra.

After the opening ceremony, at the House’s Che Guevara hall, under the Tree of Life, one of the emblems of that institution, they will sell the book “The plebeian nation” by Garcia Linera.

Published by the Casa de las Americas Publishing Fund, the book compiles some essays “to discuss and dialogue not only about the future of Bolivia but also about the Marxist thought.”

As stated in the cover, the volume “invites us to get rid of not a few prejudices about American society, cultivated by much of the critical tradition of our history, including Marxism.”

Although its official opening is today, there was a preamble yesterday in the auditorium of the San Geronimo University in Havana, at Old Havana where the ancient music group Ars Longa performed the Musical Renaissance in New Spain concert.(acn)