Repair motors of the whole country in the workshop Smith Comas.

Text and pictures. Juan Luis Naranjo| Camagüey Television

The Integral Company of Self-driven Services José Smith Comas of Camagüey has remotorized with quality trucks and bus of several counties for the different programs of the Revolution.

Among the objectives of this entity are to lend integral services to self-driven teams of any nomenclature, to manufacture pieces, remotorization and commercialization of the same ones what has been worth him to be located among the most outstanding in the country.

During the 2008 remotorized 629 trucks for the program of the Battle of Ideas, 157 for the harvest, 34 for the construction and 40 bus scholars, also favoring to the counties of Las Tunas and Ciego de Ávila.

Changes of trucks for vans, maintenance and technical attendance to ambulances and electrogenyc groups , guaranteed by the norm of quality ISO 9 thousand one and execution of the plan to 106 percent predict sure continuation for this year 2009.

In this respect Lexy Bermúdez Aezola, director of the Company "Smith Comas"pointed out that in the last years the profitability has smiled , it has lowered the cost for weight and problems are not denounced with the quality of the teams that there are repaired.

"We aspire, he said, to grow this year in the mercantile production , new options of sales and services and to favor to other counties of the country."

For these purposes the entity of Camagüey has the collaboration of a group of Chinese specialists who take in Cuba several years offering its experiences.

Chunlin Zhu, collaborator of the enormous Asian nation expressed: "It gives pleasure to work with the Cubans, they are cheerful, but responsible, they don't have hours to work and they are helped to each other. The whole time that need us will be here and we will give our total support to such a solidary country"

Cuban humorists are presented in Camagüey

Text and pictures. Juan Luis Naranjo| Camagüey Television

A cultural brigade, conformed by several figures of the Cuban humorism who act at the moment in programs of television like Lets me to Count you and The Cultured Hyena, diverse regions of the county travel Camagüey.

The cast was also integrates by soloists, duets and actors of famous telenovels of national invoice.

Theaters, squares, parks, clubs and multiple night centers are filled of spectators, to enjoy the art that show the members of the cultural brigade that visits the territory of Camagüey.

Luis Enrique Carrere who interprets the character of "Pillo" in the program Lets me to Count you, expressed for this Means that the project arose recently in the capital of the country, with the objective of to travel several counties and to exchange with workers, students, neighbors of the different communities and to take the art to the most remote corners.

On the other hand Moisé Rodríguez or as affectionately people call him "Roberto father", of La Hiene ilustrada, said to feel satisfied of the work that come making for the whole Island.

He also pointed out that the welcome is encouraging and mainly he has had a good time a lot with the people of Camagüey who are experts of the good art and critical of him not well fact.

"For that reason, concluded, we respect the public with a varied and demanding repertoire, intruding for different goods and giving the best in us with responsibility and profesionality, because the humor, is also a serious work."

Cuba Denounces US Broadcasts Against the Island

HAVANA, Cuba. Cuba denounced Tuesday before the United Nations the repeated US illegal radio and TV broadcasts against the island, and described the issue as "a radio-electronic aggression that openly violates International Law regulations."

Cuban ambassador Abelardo Moreno, said in the general debate of the UN Information Committee that illegal radio and TV broadcasts against Cuba do not transmit news, but they false and distorted information with the objective of promoting disappointment and get the Cuban people to question their revolution, reported Granma newspaper.

Moreno recalled that for almost 25 years, the Cuban government has denounced the illegal broadcasts at different forums as well as at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The Cuban diplomat said each week stations in US territory transmit over 1,955 hours of radio and TV broadcasts over 31 different frequencies of medium, short waves, FM and TV.

"These transmissions generate from 231 to 258 hours every day of programs that have nothing to do with balanced and unbiased information", he stressed.

Moreno pointed that the US Congress allocates each year a budget of over US $30 million in Federal funds to that end, amounting in less than two decades to around US $500 million.

He said "this role does not belong to the government of the United States, squandering the contribution of US taxpayers in conspiracy with terrorist individuals who forge their plans against the Cuban Revolution," reported PL.

(Reitera Cuba denuncias por transmisiones ilegales desde EE.UU.)
(Reitera Cuba denuncias por agresión radio electrónica)

Cuban Doctors Saving Thousands in Zimbabwe

HAVANA, Cuba. The work of Cuban health professionals making their contribution in Zimbabwe has saved more than 300,000 lives in this African country since 1998.

According to Prensa Latina news agency, Dr. Emiliano Diez Martinez, head of the Cuban medical brigade, said that in the last 11 years 700 Cuban health professionals have treated more than eight million patients in Zimbabwe.

Diez Martinez added that Cuba's internationalist cooperation in Zimbabwe began in the early 1980s and continued in 1998 as part of an Integral Health Program. During this time, Cuban doctors have performed 200,000 surgeries in the last ten years.

Currently, there are 118 Cuban health professionals in Zimbabwe, including specialists in Integral General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Gynecology and Obstetrics.

He noted that the Cubans are spread out in the country's 11 provinces and in certain occasions, such as in 2008, they have nearly completely assumed the medical attention of the national health system.

(Encomiable labor de los médicos cubanos en Zimbabwe)

Cuba and Venezuela Support Nicaragua Literacy Campaign

HAVANA, Cuba. Nicaraguan Education Minister Miguel de Castilla said that the literacy campaign undertaken in his country by the government of President Daniel Ortega is making progress with the support of Cuba and Venezuela.

The top official said that 64 of the Central American nation’s municipalities are already free of that scourge, and informed that illiteracy has been reduced from 33 to 5.68 percent, reports Granma newspaper on its web site.

De Castilla announced the results of the literacy teaching crusade known as From Martí to Fidel, which is presently in its most advanced stage and will allow for most of the country’s municipalities to be free of illiterates by the end of June.

(Apoyo de Cuba y Venezuela a alfabetización en Nicaragua)

Argentine Workers Ask Obama to Consider Cuban Five Case

hAVANA, Cuba. The Central of the Argentinean workers trade-union federation has sent a letter to US President Barack Obama requesting to consider the petition presented by the defense of the Cuban Five.

Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and Rene González —known internationally as the Cuban Five— are unjustly incarcerated in the US.

The men were arrested over 10 years ago for warning Cuba on the terrorist plans organized by Florida-based counterrevolutionary groups, the actions of whom, have resulted in thousands of Cubans being killed and others wounded or mutilated, besides costly damage to the country’s
economy.

The Argentine trade union federation’s message notes that the legal process against the Cuban Five has been contrary to the constitutional principles of Amendments 5, 6, 8, and 16 of the US Constitution, reported Granma newspaper on its web site.

The request to Obama adds that the treatment of the Cuban Five also violates article 26 of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man; Articles 5, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Articles 5 and 8 of the American Convention on Human Rights; and Articles 9, 10 and 14 of the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights.

The Argentine organization has based its request on "the 12 Amicus Curiae presented before the US Supreme Court of Justice in support of the petition submitted by the defense lawyers of the Cuban Five on January 30, requesting that their case is re-examined.”


(Desde Argentina piden a Obama considere caso de Los Cinco)

Cuban VP Esteban Lazo Meets with Nigerian President

HAVANA, Cuba. Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo met with the President of Nigeria, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, in a formal audience on Tuesday.

According to Granma news daily, during the meeting at the presidential palace in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, Lazo delivered greetings and a message to the African leader from his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro.

Lazo reiterated the willingness of the Cuban people and government to continue developing bilateral relations and cooperation with Nigeria in the areas of public health, energy, biotechnology, the training of professionals and the implementation of the Cuban literacy method ‘Yo si puedo’ (Yes, I Can) in this African nation.

For his part, the Nigerian leader praised the historic relations between both countries saying that they go “beyond politics and economy as they are relations between blood brothers”.

He also acknowledged Cuba’s contribution to the elimination of apartheid and the struggle for the independence of the African continent, and also Cuba’s role in leading the Non Aligned Movement (NAM).

Earlier on Tuesday, the Cuban delegation was received by Nigerian VP Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and several ministers, including FM Chief Ojo Maduekwe.

During these meetings, the Nigerian officials reiterated their country’s demand for the end of the US economic blockade of the Caribbean archipelago and the release of five Cuban anti-terrorist fighters who have remained unjustly in US prisons since 1998.

Lazo and his accompanying delegation are on an African tour that will also take then to Botswana and South Africa, where they will participate in the swearing-in ceremony of president-elect Jacob Zuma, which will take place in Pretoria next Saturday, May 9.

(Vicepresidente cubano recibido por el Presidente de Nigeria)

First Minimal Access Esophagus Surgery Performed in Cuban Province

CIEGO DE AVILA. Cuban medicine took a step forward with the successful performance of a minimal invasive esophagus operation on a young man in the Antonio Luaces Iraola training hospital of Ciego de Avila, in the central region of Cuba.

This is the first time the surgical technique has been used to fix a benign disorder in the esophagus in this province, said Felipe Jorge Aragón, head of surgery of the Luaces Iraola hospital.

He explained that the patient, Lisvanis Álvarez Feria, 26, suffered from achalasia, a disease that is produced by a failure of the esophagus to relax which blocks the passage of food into the stomach and could lead to malnutrition and lung complications.

A similar operation would cost around 10,000 US dollars in other countries, while in Cuba is totally free for patients in spite of the economic limitations brought on by the US blockade of the island.

The procedure, also referred to as minimal access surgery, was first used in Ciego de Avila in 2004 and it is applied in other specialties, in particular in orthopedics with very good results on more than 200 patients.

It consists of small incisions through which the surgeon passes a telescope with video camera that provides magnified images of the area to be operated on, thus the doctor views the surgery on a TV monitor.

The procedure allows faster recovery of the patient, reduces his time in the hospital and the risks of bleeding or infections, said Dr. Aragon.

(Ciego de Ávila: primera operación de esófago por artroscopia)

Cuba Marks World Asthma Day with Positive Results

HAVANA, Cuba. Cuba marked this Tuesday the World Asthma Day with advances in the care of people suffering from that condition, and actions promoting breastfeeding and a life style without smoking.

Dr. Dania Fabre, coordinator of the National Group for Comprehensive Care of Children and Adolescents explained to ACN that increasing the knowledge about asthma and care contributes to improving the quality of life of patients.

Thirteen percent of Cuban teenagers suffer from bronchial asthma, which can lead to physical disabilities and impact on the family’s dynamics, said the doctor, who is also a founder of the allergy services of the Juan Manuel Márquez pediatric training hospital of Havana.

According to Dr. Fabré, heredity and the environment are key factors for the emerging of this chronic respiratory condition that currently affects more than 300 million people around the world.

In Cuba, the genetic factor in this disease is very high, that’s why it is very important to identify the contaminant agents, she explained, adding that in 2007, bronchial asthma was the second highest cause of hospital admissions.

For several years, the Juan Manuel Márquez hospital and other Cuban institutions have been organizing courses for asthmatic children, which are also attended by parents and physical education teachers, who learn how to deal with their asthmatic students so that instead of limiting them, they are able to increase their physical activity.

World Asthma Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to improve asthma awareness and care around the world. It takes place on the first Tuesday of May. The theme of this year's event is "You Can Control Your Asthma."


(Cuba con acciones concretas en Día Mundial contra el Asma)

Films by Spaniard Luis Buñuel Screening in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba. A film season of the Mexican period of renowned Spanish director Luis Buñuel will be presented in Havana’s Riviera Movie Theater from May 14th through the 20th.

Luís Buñuel.

Born in Spain (1900), his work was influenced by his membership of the surrealist movement, of which painter Salvador Dalí (who contributed to the shooting of Un Perro Andaluz and La edad de oro) was also a part.

Buñuel lived in Spain, the United States, and Mexico, a country that became his second homeland and where he made 20 of the movies making up his vast filmography.

The work of this maestro of cinema history -controversial due to its provocative and iconoclastic style- won many awards and recognition.

He died in the Mexican capital in 1983, leaving a valuable legacy of over 30 films.

(Ciclo de filmes de Luis Buñuel en La Habana)

Cuban Film El Benny Presented in Madagascar

HAVANA, Cuba. The Malagasy public enjoyed the Cuban film El Benny during its presentation at the festival devoted to Latin America organized by the French Alliance of Majunga, a city located on the northwest coast of the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.

Majunga, a tourist destination for national and international vacationers, made it possible for many movie fans to be in contact with Cuban cinema, by way of this film by producer Jorge Luis Sánchez.

The audience had the opportunity to get to know many aspects of the life and work of the late Cuban singer, composer and band leader, who was very popular in the 1950’s.

During his artistic career, Benny was part of several groups, like the famous Matamoros Trio and the band of Dámaso Pérez Prado, the creator of the internationally famous mambo.

Benny Moré, whose real name was Bartolomé Maximiliano Moré, was one of Cuba’s best singers of all time. He was born in the city of Santa Isabel de las Lajas in 1919, and died in Havana in 1963. He toured many countries with his Giant Band and made dozens of songs popular, like his Rumberos del Ayer and Bonito y Sabroso, and pieces by other composers,
like Elige tú que canto yo and Mucho Corazón.

(Se presenta filme El Benny en festival de Madagascar)

Cuban and Canadian Artists in Defense of the Environment

SANTIAGO DE CUBA. Cuban and Canadian artists are presenting here an art project entitled "Two Groups of 7 + 1”, which in championing the preservation of nature and its links with mankind.

Creators from the Cram Coleltive from the Niagara region in Ontario and the Luis Díaz Eduardo Cultural Workshop from eastern Santiago de Cuba province, reflect in their paintings the importance of preserving the environment and the participation of man as the main element
contributing to its protection.

Throughout May, these artists will exhibit their works at the Oriente Gallery, located in the area around the historic Céspedes Park, as an example of creative exchange and solidarity.

Participating for Canada are painters Tobey Anderson, Ernest Harris junior, Sandy Fairbairn, Melanie MacDonald, Carolyn Wren, Stephen Remus and John Venditti, while Vivian Lozano, Jorge Luis Chávez, José Armando Medina, Gregorio Pérez, Israel Tamayo and Miguel Ángel Lovaina -among other artists- represent Cuba.

Cram is a group made up of 30 Canadians and has the smallest art gallery in Canada, devoted to the promotion of the work of national and foreign intellectuals.

The Luis Díaz Cultural Workshop excels as the only one of its kind on the archipelago due to its structure, and it’s in charge of encouraging the work of artists, critics and researchers interested in the creation, study and spreading of art.

It also contributes to the training of creators and to enrich culture by way of lectures, seminars, specialization courses, classes, as well as individual and collective exhibitions, both in Cuba and abroad, plus other activities of similar scope.

(Artistas de Cuba y Canadá en defensa del medio ambiente)

Bulb Replacement Brings Significant Energy Savings for Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba. Power consumption in Cuba has dropped by 141,000 kilowatt hours a year since 2007 as a result of the replacement of fluorescents lamps in the working sector, as part of the Lighting Efficiency Program.

The saving is compared to the 2006’s energy consumption in the sectors of transportation and construction, according to National Statistics Office reports.

Maikel Hernandez, an executive of the Rational Use of Energy Office told ACN that in addition of replacing 40-W bulbs with 32 W ones, also the electromagnetic devices used in the lamps were substituted by electronic ones.

Another action consists of placing a light-reflecting material between the light source and the lamp, so that the light is directed to the working surface, which increased the efficiency of lamps.

Hernandez added that since the beginning of the project in the first three months of 2007, the amount of oil burned was reduced by 31,000 tons which in turn resulted in a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.

The supervised destruction of old lamps that started last March, is done to avoid the mercury they contained contaminating the environment.

Up to the present 1.3 million 40W lamps have been replaced in the country out of an estimated 7 million. The experts assert that the greatest possibilities to increase energy efficiency are concentrated in the government sector.


(Significativo ahorro en Cuba por sustitución de lámparas)

Solidarity-with-Cuba Festival Underway in Canada

HAVANA, Cuba. A Festival dedicated to Cuba is underway in the Canadian city of Kingston, Ontario, with Cuban music, dance classes, and food and cocktails at the city's restaurants.

The festival which began on May 1 runs through May 9, closing with the Los Naranjos band from the province of Cienfuegos.

In addition, educational sessions have been scheduled for May 7 through May 9 at Queen's University, with the participation of intellectuals and politicians from Cuba, Canada, the United States and Mexico.

The First International Festival of Poetry of Resistance was recently held in Toronto. Participants issued a final declaration demanding the release from prison of the five Cuban antiterrorists, incarcerated in the US for monitoring the activities of Florida-based, anti-Cuban groups.

"We demand the unconditional and immediate release of Gerardo Hernández, René González, Fernando González, Ramón Labañino and Antonio Guerrero, who have been unjustly incarcerated for more than 10 years," reads the text signed by poets, musicians, artists, and cultural and community activists.

Cuban poets Nancy Morejón and Pablo Armando Fernández were among the participants at the forum.

(Realizan en Canadá festival solidario con Cuba)

Cuba Focused On Strengthening Tourism Services

HAVANA, Cuba. Cuba is set to increase the quality of its leisure industry with new deals and investments in the face of the world’s economic crises, said tourism minister at the 29th International Tourism Fair underway in Havana.

Varadero Beach, Cuba

In a presentation of Destination Cuba and its patrimonial cities, minister Manuel Marrero said promoting tours and tourism for locals are currently top priorities in the sector, while patrimonial facilities including hotels will be restored as part of a policy to boost tourism, which is one of the nation’s major sources of income.

Marrero emphasized the need to diversify the island’s tourism market by further promotion in Europe and Latin America, though an avalanche of tourists is not expected. He said in spite of
limitations, Cuba will continue to offer its tourist attributes to other countries on equal conditions.

He also noted that even though Cuba is better known worldwide as a Sun and Beach destination, it has other potentials that can be further exploited such as its patrimonial wealth, culture and natural values.

This year’s International Tourism Fair, FITCUBA’09, is dedicated to Germany and to patrimonial cities and circuit tourism and tours.

Cay Sabinal, to the north of Camaguey

Participants in the event will have the possibility to explore other important cities and villages around the island outside Havana like Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey, Baracoa, Bayamo and Santiago de Cuba.

Before the presentation, a postage stamp dedicated to Cuban patrimonial cities was issued as part of the fair that is taking place at the Morro-Cabaña Fortress with nearly 900 tourism professionals from 58 countries in attendance.

(Desarrollo del turismo constituye prioridad para Cuba)

Laotian Prime Minister Considers Bonds with Cuba As Strategic

HAVANA, Cuba. Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, in Cuba on official visit, said that friendship ties with Cuba are both strategic and traditional during a meeting with officials from the Cuban Friendship Institute.

The Laotian prime minister said that very important bonds have been made between Cuba and his country in their common efforts to build a better future.

After highlighting the social achievements of the Cuban Revolution, Bouasone Bouphavanh spoke about Cuban President Raul Castro's visit to Laos in 2005, calling it historical.

Prime Minister Bouphavanh expressed his appreciation for Cuban cooperation in healthcare, sports and education. He also announced the upcoming official visit to Cuba of Laotian
Ppresident Choummaluy Sayasone scheduled for September 2009.

Vice President of the Cuba-Laos Friendship Association Dr. Julio Lopez, who also headed the Cuban medical brigade that worked in Laos, said that both countries are closely linked by friendship and mutual cooperation in the march towards building socialism.

Dr. Lopez thanked the firm position of the Laos government against the US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba.

Present at the meeting were Faure Chomón, president of the Cuba-Laos Parliamentary Group; Kenia Serrano, president of the Cuban Friendship Institute; and Cuban Vice Foreign Minster Marcos Rodriguez.

Founders of the Cuban Committee of Solidarity with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia; representatives of the Cuba-Laos Friendship Association; and former Cuban ambassadors to that country were also in attendance.

(Primer Ministro de Laos considera estratégico nexos con Cuba)

Fidel - Ho Chi Min Documentary to be Made

HAVANA, Cuba. Mundo Latino Studios will start shooting Ho Chi Min-Fidel, the friendship between Vietnam and Cuba in Vietnam, a documentary, to be released this year in both countries.

The film crew from Mundo Latino arrived in Dat Lat this Tuesday, it is the capital city of the Lam Dong province, a site in Vietnam where producers have chosen to search for testimonies and locations for the documentary.

This work will include the life, works and contributions made by the two independence and world revolutionary movements’ leaders, Fidel Castro and Ho Chi Min.

It will be produced by Carlos Madel, and will include scenes shot in the Caribbean and in Vietnam and will depict the Vietnamese people after more than 30 years of socialist construction and economic development, reported Prensa Latina news agency.

The Cuban filmmakers will receive collaboration from the Asian country’s Ministry of Information and Communication and plan to release the short film next November and December in Hanoi and Havana respectively.

(Filman en Vietnam documental Ho Chi Minh - Fidel)

The communication and its impact in the company of Camagüey

By:Yuldys Márquez Díaz|Camagüey Television

Cuba is in front of a true challenge in this time where the world economy is in crisis and it is in fact the necessity to achieve efficient companies with competitive products in the national and international markets. For it the process of the communication in all its variants, is presented like an effective tool.

In Camagüey specialists of these sectors meet to debate in a first provincial shop on the communication and the Managerial improvement.

In this respect the social comunicador of the Company of Informative Services of the Railroad in Camagüey assures that the bases should be implemented from a correct communication to the managerial improvement. While on the other hand Nuris Castro Torres, of the Company of Hydraulic Projects comments us about the effectiveness of a good comunicacional project in a company under these conditions of improvement.

The shop summoned by two days, has as fundamental objective to propitiate the exchange between comunicators and managers to achieve an Integrative system in the Managerial Communication of the entities of Camagüey, and this way to elevate our economic efficiency.

This way summoned to meditate in one of the conferences on three questions:
What principles are insoslayables to achieve a good communication?
How to achieve the effectiveness in the message according to the values of our identity?
What characteristic should sustain the publicity in a country like Cuba?

Najasa, a young town that promises and completes

By:Ernesto Pantaleón Medina| Camamgüey Television

Toward the southeast of Camagüey, and far from the provincial head about 45 kilometers, a municipality of name aborigine is located: Najasa, territory arisen after the Division Politician Office worker carried out in Cuba in l976.

According to the specialists, the word comes from the voice "Najasí", a tree that was plentiful in the area in times of the conquest.

Until l976, era a discreet establishment been founded by cattlemen and farming, and with a great residence dispersion in hundred of "cabins", simple wooden housings and palm roof, characteristic of the Cuban fields. They were minimum the services of water current and illumination, while the viales constituted a true problem: powder clouds in the dry station, and mires in the rainy months.

But everything changed vertiginous form: buildings arose, roads, schools of primary and secondary, infantile circles, maternal homes for pregnant, an integral policlínic with numerous services and dozens of clinics for doctors and nurses of the family, and something very important: infinity of employment sources.

The economic results, efficient thermometer to measure the ascent of any human conglomerate, ascended year after year and still today, when the crisis gallops for the world, they behave above that planned and they grow in connection with the registrations of the 2007, in spite of being one of the regions that whipped the last of the hurricanes with more force, in November.

Indicators as the levels of utility, for example, increase at the same time that they decrease the losses, and the mercantile circulation achieved the highest figure in the history. The production of milk reached the precedent year more than 7 million liters, 5% superior to that reported in the previous stage, and surpass the foreseen figures the meat and the fish, for only to mention some lines.

The balances are flattering in the cattle raising and the agriculture in general, nevertheless the drought that affects to both branches, the main of the territory.

And sectors like the culture, and the education exhibit considerable advances, what doesn't mean that the earthly paradise is in Najasa, is a lot to make, and one works hard, but with enthusiasm and trust in the fundamental element of any work: the man.