Conferences and theoretical debates tinge the days of cinematographic National workshop in Camagüey.

By: Yuldys Márquez Díaz| CamagüeyTelevision

For sixteen years critical and specialists , the public of Camagüey and actors meet to debate on the events relationships with the cinema in Cuba and in the rest of Latin America in cinematographic National workshop in Camagüey.

In this edition diverse panels of expert interac with the people of Camagüey on topics as the first years of the Cuban Institute of Film Industry, the magazine Cuban Cinema, the mobile cinema, the news ICAIC, the critic and the education like formers of a film culture and the sixty as period of an raises of the coproductions, among other contents.

The event besides its theoretical program, presents in diverse cultural institutions of the county , conversations and samples on Latin American films.

The sixteenth edition of cinematographic National workshop in Camagüey has gathered in Camagüey to actors, cameramen, soundmen, directors, journalists and other experts interested in the world of the seventh art.

Journalists exchange with officials and leaders of several organisms in Camagüey.

By:: Juan Luis Naranjo | Camagüey Television

As part of the National Date for the Day of the Worker of the Press in Camagüey, the journalists of Camagüey sustain interesting exchanges with members of the Revolutionary Armes Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Academy of Science, workers of the Education and of other organisms and organizations of masses.

A neighborhood debates with the Committee of Defense of the Revolution (CDR) propitiated the dialogue, where the listened programs of Radio, the topics better treaties and the inadequacies of the journalism were recognized to expose the not well fact, the illegalities, the botched work and multiple social indisciplines that brake the development and they hinder the advance in the spheres of the production and the services.

Workers, students, members of the Federation of Cuban Women and the CDR, coincided in the necessity of sustaining with more rhythm these feedback encounters, to evaluate how the informations of Television, the Radio and the Written Press arrive at the town.

In the journalists of Camagüey exchange with members of the FAR was carried out a rich analysis about the incorporation from the woman to that Control, the useful life of the youths in the Military Service, the superation and the preparation of the town for the Defense.

Peruvians Pay Homage to Cuban Revolution

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) The 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution was marked during the Congress of Peru, with a ceremony organized by the Peruvian Parliamentary League of Friendship with Cuba.

During the meeting, several delegates spoke about the Cuban revolutionary war and ratified that its triumph in 1959 changed the history of Latin America and of the rest of the world, reported Prensa Latina news agency.

Cuba's ambassador to Peru, Luis Delfín Perez, noted that the room in which the ceremony was held carried the name of Raul Porras Barrenechea, Peru's Foreign Minister who rebelled against the orders of his government in 1961 and opposed Cuba's expulsion from the Organization of American States.

The Cuban representative thanked the Congress for the homage to his country. Among participants were members of solidarity organizations, diplomats, legislators and other personalities.

In highlighted the achievements of the Cuban revolution, Delfin noted that the Cuban people and government had resisted the U.S economic and military hostility and in particular the blockade that has been imposed on Cuba by Washington almost since the beginning of the Revolution.

Victor Mayorga, president of the Peru-Cuba Parliamentary League and poet Arturo Corcuera, awarded with the Cuban Casa de las Américas cultural Prize were among speakers in the homage.

For his part, Gustavo Espinoza, president of the Peruvian Committee in Solidarity with the Cuban Five, said it was a universal and pressing need to end the blockade by the U.S and achieve freedom for the Cuban revolutionaries imprisoned in the U.S, known as the Cuban Five.

(Rinden homenaje a Cuba en Congreso peruano)

Cuba at UN Meeting on the Statute on Women

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 12 (acn) The UN Commission on the Statute on Women, now in session at this world organization, listened to Cuba's propositions around the issue, related to international cooperation.

Debates on a final document that reflects the needs and aspirations of women in poor nations, included the Cuban exposition in favor of their access to health services, education and secure employment.

The Federation of Cuban Women official, Ana Milagros Martínez, told the Prensa Latina news agency that another paragraph of the document has to do with the support given by the archipelago, with human resources, to Third World nations, aimed at facilitating access to health care.

Also put forward, in the international cooperation section, was the need for developed countries to meet their commitment of contributing 0.7% of heir GDP to implement the accords of the World Summit, held in Beijing, China, in 1995.

This session of the Commission on the Statute on Women, that began on March 2 nd and is scheduled to conclude on March 13th, included numerous propositions by developing countries, which have increased the number of pages of the draft under discussion, from six initially presented by the Secretariat, to 25.

Besides this official document, the session has included the participation of NGO's in panels, conferences, and other forms of exchange, in which Cuba has also been represented by officials from the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists.

(Cuba en debate en la ONU sobre el Estatuto de la Mujer)

Cuban Cultural Mission in Venezuela Strengthened

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 12 (acn) The Corazón Adentro cultural mission developed by Cuban artists in Venezuela is strengthening with the incorporation of more creators from different cultural expressions and amateur artists from the archipelago.

Over 500 Cuban specialists are already participating in the second stage of this humanitarian project, between musicians, art instructors, culture centre teachers and artists -some of whom have returned after vacations and others living the experience for the first time.

The head of the Cuban Music Institute's Department for International Relations, Alejandro Gumá, told ACN that the their objective is to get with the Mission to the most isolated locations of the states of Carabobo, Zulia and Barinas before the end of 2009

Gumá, who is also the coordinator of Corazón Adentro for musical activities, highlighted the willingness of the artists and the great work carried out at the so-called 'Cerros' in Caracas, places where the laggardness of previous governments in Venezuela is shown in the poverty,
violence, and lack of education.

He also announced that another 200 specialists will join the Mission over the next few months, and will work in the cultural training of people, especially children, who show great interest in learning and involve their families in the novel project.

Corazón Adentro, aimed at the exchange of cultural expressions between the two peoples, began in April 2008, as part of the accords of the Bolivarian Alternative for The Americas (ALBA).

(Fortalecen misión cultural cubana en Venezuela )

Work of Cuban Doctor Highlighted in Suriname

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) Suriname's Health Minister, Celsius Waterberg, praised the work carried out by Cuban doctor Alexis Hernández, who has been offering his services on a voluntary basis in that country since April 2007.

In his almost two years of work, Hernandez, an anaesthesiologist, has given anaesthetics to over 4,000 specialists and has seen more than 1,500 patients in pre-surgery consultations at the Sland Hospital, in Paramaribo, the capital.

The performance of the Cuban physician, who was born in Havana, has also been acknowledged by the hospital's board of directors and other health authorities, who describe it as one of high human sensitivity and high scientific level.

Cuban medical and paramedical personnel are now working in over 40 nations in all parts of the world. One example of this solidarity is Operation Miracle, which has so far returned the sight to thousands of Latin Americans, and another example is Havana's Latin American School of
Medicine, where thousands of youngsters from other countries are studying.

(Resaltan labor de médico cubano en Suriname)

Cuba at ALBA Meeting of Education Ministers

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) Consolidating educational systems in the region is one of the main goals of a meeting of Education Ministers from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica and Bolivia, that begins on Thursday in the Venezuelan state of Nueva Estarta.

According to the Prensa Latina news agency, representatives from the six member countries of the Bolivarian Alternative of Our Americas (ALBA) Cooperation and Integration Initiative, will analyze topics that include a Grand-National Literacy and Post-Literacy Project and its strategic
integration into the development and expansion of other international literacy initiatives such as the International Robinson Mission.

The ALBA members will also analyze programs dealing with sexual education, reproductive sexual health as well as curricular design and development.

(Cuba en encuentro de Ministros de Educación del ALBA )

Dominican Republic to Eradicate Illiteracy with Cuban Help

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) Cuba will help the Dominican Republic to eradicate illiteracy for 2012, three years before the date established by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Next week, Cuban specialists in this field will arrive in the neighbouring Caribbean nation to collaborate with local pedagogues in literacy teaching, creative television and software production, CubaCoopera web site reports.

During the closing ceremony of the seminar Educational Practices and Teaching Management, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Education Minister Melanio Paredes, urged sectors committed to the country's development to get involved in this project, for which actions will be immediatelytaken.

He added that it is shameful to have one million people who don't know how to read and write in his country, with the additional load of the poor teaching the children receive -18% of the almost 10 million inhabitants in the Dominican Republic are illiterate.

The top Dominican official emphasized that the problem of education is something Dominicans have to solve and urged local teachers to get more training in order to achieve a better performance at classrooms.

Paredes took on the education portfolio after the assumption of office of Dominican President Leonel Fernández, on August 16, 2008.

The Dominican minister announced the coming into effect of a program to achieve one thousand hours of quality classes, as a way of making up for the deficiencies of his country's educational system.

During his recent official visit to Cuba, the Dominican head of state expressed his government's interest in concluding cooperation accords in the field of education.

(Dominicana erradicará analfabetismo con ayuda de Cuba)

Cuban VP Meets Baseball Players in Mexico City

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) Cuban VP of the Council of Ministers, Jose Ramon Fernandez met the Cuban representatives that are taking part in the 2009 World Baseball Classic there on Wednesday in Mexico City.

During the meeting, Fernandez spoke about the development of the competition and the performance of the Caribbean squad and learned about the experiences and opinions of the players, manager and trainers and coaches of the team.

According to Granma news daily, Fernandez told the squad about the happiness and satisfaction of the Cuban people and their admiration for their players. He also praised the team's discipline and patriotism, on and off the field.

Also there was the Cuban Ambassador in Mexico, Manuel Aguilera, who thanked the sports authorities of Puebla, where the Cuban squad concluded their preparation for the tournament.

The Cuban VP said he was confident that the Cuban team would put up an excellent performance during the event.

(Encuentro en México con peloteros cubanos)

The Anguish of Developed Capitalism

Last Monday the 9th, like all the rest, was a marvelous day of contradictions for developed capitalism in the midst of its incurable crisis.

That day, the British news agency Reuters, not suspected of being anti- capitalist, printed: “Latin America will grow substantially less this year, hit by a strong deceleration or even by recessions in some of its main economies, after years of bonanzas distinguished by rises in the
prices of raw materials.

“If indeed the IDB isn’t making its own projections, Lora, an economist at the Industrial Development Bank, pointed out that ‘now nobody is talking about the fact that the region is going to grow more than one percent (this year), even if one were to review the latest projections there are drops in practically all the great economies of Latin America. If one looks at the projections, one understands why all the great economies are crashing’, said Lora.

“Deeply affected by the global financial crisis that has reduced the demand for its exports, the region will not be seeing any recovery soon, he pointed out.

“’The crisis is not going to be something that lasts one or two years, for some Latin American countries it could last much longer’, said Lora quoting a survey taken by the IDB among opinion leaders which showed that a great majority predicts stagnation or a drop in the per capita
income in the countries of the region during the next four years”.

That same day, the Spanish agency EFE informed:

“The production of cocaine has spread to several Latin American countries and has unleashed a tidal wave of violence and population shifts causing some to call for an approach of war against drug trafficking, the British daily The Guardian writes today.

“That industry which generates benefits of billions of dollars has forced many farmers to abandon their lands, has given way to wars between gangs and has corrupted state institutions, the newspaper states.

In Mexico alone, 6,000 people died last year because of that kind of activity and the violence is migrating northwards, towards the United States itself.

At the same time, a new drug trafficking highway has grown up so rapidly between South America and West Africa that the corridor which occupies ten degrees of latitude, linking the two continents, has been baptized ‘Interstate 10’.

“Almost everyone interviewed by the newspaper agrees that the insatiable demand for cocaine in Europe and North America has frustrated efforts, led by the U.S., to strangle the offer and has caused great harm to Latin America.

“’We believe that the war on drugs has been a failure because none of the objectives have been met’, declared Cesar Gaviria the former president of Colombia and the co-president of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy.

“According to Gaviria, ‘the prohibitionist policies based on eradication, prohibition and criminalization have not yielded the expected results. Today we are farther away than ever from the goal of wiping out drugs’.

“The strategy of the United States in Colombia and Peru consisting of fighting against the raw material has not worked, Col. René Sanabria, the Bolivian anti-narcotics police chief has acknowledged.

“A report by the Brookings Institution of the United States and an independent study by the Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron, supported by 500 of his colleagues, have added their voices to those who are calling for a change of approach”.

AFP Agency publishes:

“President Felipe Calderon of Mexico called on the United States this Monday to assume ‘with facts’ its share of the responsibility in the fight on drugs, whose activities concentrate especially on the shared border.

“’On behalf of the hundreds of Mexican policemen who have died, it is fundamental that the United States assumes with facts part of the responsibility which corresponds to it in this fight against drug trafficking’, said Calderon at a press conference with President Nicolas
Sarkozy of France who is on an official visit to Mexico.

“Moreover, Calderon asked Washington to share information about the activities of Mexican drug traffickers in the United States, the largest consumer market for cocaine in the world, chiefly supplied by cartels belonging to their southern neighbour.

“If the intelligence units or the special police or military agencies of the U.S. possess information about Mexican criminals in the United States, we want that information’, Calderon told journalists after meeting with Sarkozy in the National Palace.

“The Mexican government has unleashed a federal operation involving 36,000 soldiers in order to fight the drug cartels, embarked on a war because of the transporting of drugs to the U.S. which has left some 5,300 dead in 2008”.

That same day, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, declared that she was a firm supporter of increasing up to 15% the amount of ethanol in fuel to reduce the country’s dependence on oil imports.

It is well known that ethanol in the United States is produced from the grain that holds a very important place in human development.

These very recent news items published by the agencies last Monday reveal the complete credibility of Atilio Boron’s conclusions that were summarized by Granma that very same day.

Fidel Castro Ruz

March 11, 2009

1:42 p.m.

Cuban Oil Production On Course

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) Oil workers in the wells of Matanzas have extracted 205,000 tons of the crude in the first two months of this year, nearly 9,000 tons more than in the same period of time, in 2008.

At this rate, workers expect to obtain, for the 15th time, more than a million tons and to increase the current daily production average per well (21 tons), reported Radio Rebelde on its website.

The Cuban well drilling and repairs enterprise working on 160 active wells along the north coast of the province of Matanzas has a rate of exploitation of more than 98 %, the international average for the crude that is processed is about 95 to 96 percent.

The company, whose office are based in Boca de Camarioca, is involved in the challenge of drilling a 6-km long horizontal well out to sea for the first time without the help of foreign experts or without using a sea platform. This represents important savings of foreign currency to the
island.

(Produccón petrolera cubana marcha a buen ritmo)

Cuba Increases Exports of Citrus Juice to Europe

HAVANA, Cuba, March 12 (acn) Cuba has exported more than 10,000 tons of concentrated juice and fruits since the opening of a cold store in Matanzas port, in 2008. This guarantees top-quality preservation of the
products.

With the setting of this facility, the largest citrus processing plant in the island, located in the western province of Matanzas, has been able to reduce costs and reduce the time for dispatch, reported Radio Rebelde on its digital edition.

The citrus juice and fruits sold under the trademark of Cubanita are mostly exported to Europe, with Holland as its main market.

The citrus processing plant of Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, has just processed more than 100,000 tons of citrus fruits, which means a growth by 28,000 tons more than planned for this time of the year.

The enterprise reached extraction levels of juice and essential oils of around 1 ton per every 19 tons processed a figure that matches the best international records in the sector.

(Crece exportación de jugos de cítricos cubanos)