U.S. may forfeit against Cuba
Associated Press July 20, 2007
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – The U.S. team of college baseball players that has had a surprising unbeaten run at the Pan American Games might not be able to play for the gold medal.
A previous commitment for the team to play a series of games back home against China could lead to a forfeit of the final against Cuba.
The Americans must leave Rio tonight to go to Mobile, Ala., for the games with China. With heavy rains dousing the Pan Ams baseball fields – and with little expertise on the part of the hosts in dealing with such problems – it's possible the gold medal match scheduled for 7 a.m. this morning won't come off at that time.
Otra Reflexión sobre los Panamericanos
El máximo líder analiza el deporte profesional, el reñídisimo juego voleibol femenino Brasil-Cuba de ayer en la tarde entre otros temas
Espectacular victoria cubana en voleibol femenino :
No tengo mucho material para escribir, ni tampoco tiempo.
Anunciaron el juego Cuba y Estados Unidos de pelota para las 8 de la mañana. A esa hora tengo a veces un sueño delicioso. El clima impidió que el juego se celebrara. Creo que el famoso encuentro comenzará el viernes a las 8 a.m., si es que el tiempo no obliga a otra cosa. Nuestros atletas están dispuestos a competir hasta en el fango; aunque no así los adversarios, que prefieren compartir el primer lugar. Ya veremos qué ocurre.
Escribo hoy jueves para la página deportiva. Me impresiona el número de atletas lesionados en muchos de los deportes, con la excepción de la natación, el ping pong, el tenis y unos pocos más. El profesionalismo obliga a jugarse la vida como modernos gladiadores. Cuando no sufren lesión real, la simulan como expertos personajes de teatro. Eso no educaría a nadie entre los millones de deportistas de todas las edades de nuestra patria.
En muchos países los atletas ni siquiera compiten por su propia patria. Algunos ganan hasta 102 millones de dólares en un año, más que el dueño de un central azucarero. Cuba cuenta solo con sus propios atletas, que no son profesionales. Es una lucha desigual.
A veces me divierto cuando veo los caballos vigorosos y bien nutridos, de raza —llamémosle aria—, igual que sus jinetes. Pero a pesar de todo es una lucha pacífica y una divertida herencia colonial. Dime en qué compites y te diré quiénes te colonizaron.
Ahora que existe soberanía relativa, cada cual, según el caso, intenta introducir nuevos deportes en las competencias regionales y mundiales. Un ejemplo: el bádminton.
Veo ahora el juego de voleibol femenino. Estamos 18 a 17 a favor de Brasil en el primer set, luchando por el oro. Veremos si el corazón resiste. Perdimos 27 a 25. Buenísimo y reñido el final del parcial. El manager de Brasil está peor que yo. Ganamos el segundo set 25 a 23. Perdimos el tercero 22 a 25. Ganamos el cuarto 34 a 32. No me extrañaría la noticia de que el manager brasileño ha tenido un problema cardiaco serio. Finalmente, ganamos el último set 17 a 15. ¡Fue un fenomenal partido!
Acabamos de escuchar el himno nacional por el oro en ciclismo femenino, a las 4 y 35 de la tarde. Otro himno por el judo, transmitido a las 4 y 44. Otro por el voleibol se transmitió inmediatamente después. Más adelante otro oro en ciclismo masculino.
Continúan las noticias, pero debo entregar este material y ver el acto de la UCI. Son ya casi las 6 p.m.
Antes de concluir, deseo expresar al pueblo de Brasil el profundo dolor que nos produjo el trágico accidente de aviación, con la muerte de aproximadamente 200 personas, en medio de la alegría de los Panamericanos.
Fidel Castro Ruz 19 de Julio de 2007
Preguntas y respuestas sobre el Sistema Electoral cubano
La población de Cuba tiene la posibilidad de participar de una u otra forma en la elección de quienes la representarán en los órganos del Estado, a continuación encontrará, de manera sencilla y en forma didáctica información que le permitirá adentrarse en el Sistema Electoral Cubano y conocer algunos de sus rasgos esenciales que garantizan el carácter democrático del mismo.
I. Sobre la convocatoria a las elecciones
II. Sobre el ejercicio del voto y el derecho a ser elegido
III. Sobre las circunscripciones y el registro electoral
IV. Sobre la transferencia del proceso electoral
V. Sobre la campaña electoral de los candidatos
VI. Sobre los Colegios Electorales
VII. Sobre el escrutinio de los votoshttp://bohemia.cubasi.cu/eleccionesencuba2005/index.html,
BBC interviews Adriana Pérez
After the interview earlier this month with Gerardo Hernández, the first interview by a major media outlet with any member of the Cuban Five, the BBC has now broadcast a shorter interview with Gerardo's wife, Adriana Pérez. Along with the broadcast interview, the BBC published an article highlighting the criminal decade-long denial of visas to Adriana and Olga Salanueva, wife of René González, by U.S. authorities. The BBC article includes a link to the website of the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five. Hundreds of visitors to the BBC website have already clicked on that link to learn more about the case of the Five in just the first few hours that the article has been posted on the BBC website.http://www.freethefive.org/updates/Wives/WivesBBC71907.htm,
What concerns Cubans?
A service by the Radio Progreso Alternativa Havana Bureau Bohemia magazine’s latest edition published the results of a survey on the issues that most concern Cubans. Among the most pressing subjects that respondents felt should be discussed by the National Assembly (parliament) are the difficulties with public transportation, high prices for products and services, delays in housing construction, quality in health care, limited offers in food products, inadequate salaries and pensions in relation to the cost of living, instability in the water supply, poor quality of gastronomical services, deficiencies in education, and corruption and illegalities.
Defection of Cuban athlete still unconfirmed Cuban sport authorities have not confirmed whether Rafael Capote, a member of the handball team, has defected. Up to the moment the only source of news is the Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo, which reported that an officer of the Cuban delegation had said that Capote’s whereabouts were not known. Cuba has sent a large delegation to the 15th Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, where it hopes to win second place in the over all standings. UN agency in favor of Cuba’s energy revolution Susan McDade, UN Program for Development’s representative in Cuba, told local media that her agency will assist the Cuban project known as energy revolution during the period 2008-2012. Assistance will be on two basic issues: financing for equipment and training opportunities for Cuban technicians.
The government’s program has made significant progress and practically has eliminated blackouts. Once totally implemented the country will save approximately one billion dollars a year in power generation.
Situation of prisoners to the Conference of Cuban Bishops
The Ladies in White, a group of wives and relatives of Cuban prisoners, together with the Christian Liberation Movement, sent a setter to the 31st Latin American Episcopal Assembly, (CELAM) held in Havana, requesting their intervention to obtain the release of what they term as prisoners of conscience and a better attention to their health problems. CELAM placed the matter in the hands of the Conference of Cuban Catholic Bishops for discussion with Cuban authorities.
The news has received wide coverage by the foreign press, particularly those media that routinely have an antagonistic attitude toward Cuba. However, that same press has not reported that Catholic priests and pastors of different Christian denominations, as well as religious activists, make periodical visits to the island’s prisons to administer sacraments and give spiritual comfort to prisoners of every type, regardless of the crime for which they were sentenced.
UN official recognizes safety of childbirth in Cuba
The security offered to women in Cuba for childbirth was recognized by Alfonso Fornós, assistant representative in the island of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). According to a report in the digital Cienfuegos newspaper Cinco de Septiembre, the UNFPA official praised in particular the practices in that Central-South province in favor of a riskless maternity.
Fornós said that it is amazing that the province has a rate of zero maternal deaths, and he also deemed of interest the humanization of childbirth program, which allows the presence of the father and other relatives in such an important moment.
UNFPA collaborates with governments and other organizations to assure that every woman have access to three basic reproductive health services: voluntary family planning, attention at childbirth by qualified personnel, and emergency obstetric treatment.
However, over half a million women die every year during pregnancy and at childbirth, 99 percent of them in developing countries. All that suffering and deaths are avoidable.
Jailed opponent walks free René Montes de Oca left jail after serving his sentence of two years in prison. In 2005 he was tried and sentenced for public disorder when he took part in a small demonstration in remembrance of the sinking of the 13 of March tugboat. The vessel was hijacked by a group of people attempting to reach the United States. According to French AFP news agency, based on information by opponent Elizardo Sánchez, Montes de Oca “was freed, he served his sentence and is in good health.”
Cubans, heat and sports
First it was the America Soccer Cup, and Cubans were passionately divided between fans of Brazil and Argentina. Followers of the latter witnessed in a live broadcast how Argentina lost to Brazil, which played its best game of the tournament. Now Cuban TV is broadcasting the Pan American Games, directly from Rio de Janeiro, where Cuba expects to maintain its habitual second place, not an easy achievement. But sports compete with other preferences. For the first time Cuban TV is broadcasting around the clock and offering a wide array of options that attract important sectors of the public. Films and series of all kind are after the medals in TV. But up to now heat is the champion, not only because it is high, but because of its price: energy consumption increases due to the use of fans and air conditioners way beyond its regular time.
Fidel Castro on brain drain A new reflection by Fidel Castro, this time on the issue of brain drain, was published by Cuban national media on July 18. "This is not only about capital transfers, but the import of gray matter, uprooting the intelligence and the future of the peoples," Castro says, while driving home the idea quoting figures and data that reveal the abysmal gap between countries of the South and the wealthy nations. "In the last 40 years, over 1.2 million professionals from the Latin American and Caribbean region have emigrated to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. From Latin America an average of 70 scientists per day have emigrated over the past 40 years,” Castro wrote, citing figures from an October 2005 World Bank report. For the Cuban leader, "The brain drain is a double whammy against weak economies that not only lose their best human resources and the money spent on their training, but subsequently they must pay approximately $5.6 billions a year to employ them. In his article, Castro announced that in a few days Cuba will graduate 1,334 computer scientists. Of that number 1,134 will begin working in key ministries and institutions of the economy. The new graduates earned their degrees at the new University of Computing Science, which has over 10,000 registered students.
Translated for Progreso Weekly by Germán Piniella.
If ban were eased, U.S. exports to Cuba could double, report says
BY PABLO BACHELET - MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON -- Lifting U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba could boost agricultural exports to the island by between $175 million and $350 million per year, a U.S. government report released Thursday concludes.
The $350 million figure would be more than double current agricultural exports to the island.
Opponents of U.S. policy seized on the conclusions to argue that the Bush administration needs to ease the restrictions in order to benefit U.S. exporters.
''It's clearly time for Congress to curb the overzealous trade embargo on Cuba, so that American ranchers and farmers can benefit to the tune of over $300 million a year,'' said Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade issues.
The committee requested the study by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), an independent agency that reviews trade matters. The report is one of the most complete of its kind, with nine investigators conducting scores of interviews, including some in Cuba.
The report cautions that projections are difficult to make because of ``data limitations and the nonmarket aspects of Cuban purchasing decisions.''
It notes that agricultural goods are imported by the state trading agency Alimport, which considers both commercial and ''noncommercial factors'' when making its purchasing decisions, including diversifying suppliers and ``strengthening strategic geopolitical relations.''
So the study provides a range of $176 million to $350 million for additional Cuban purchases.
The 180-page report also estimates lifting travel restrictions would mean between 550,000 and one million U.S. citizens would travel to Cuba annually, against 170,000 that did so in 2005, most of them Cuban Americans.
U.S. commodity exports to Cuba were permitted in 2000 and the United States quickly became Cuba's biggest supplier of foodstuff, although farm state lawmakers like Baucus, who has proposed legislation to ease sanctions, argue that U.S. sales could be much higher.
The biggest gains would be for fresh fruits and vegetables, milk powder, processed foods and certain meats, ITC investigators concluded.
Barriers to change
America's inane policy toward Cuba and Britain's opposition to lifting sanctions imposed against it will only hold back reform.
Wayne S Smith - The Guardian
Writing in the Guardian last year, I described the utterly counterproductive nature of US policy toward Cuba and expressed the hope that "the British prime minister would not support Bush's gravely mistaken policies in Cuba as he did those in Iraq."
Sadly, just before leaving office, Blair in effect, did precisely that by having the United Kingdom vote against the majority in the European Union wanting to lift the sanctions imposed against Cuba in 2003 because of Castro's arrest of some 75 dissidents and the execution of three men who had attempted to hijack a ferry.
At the time, imposition of the sanctions seemed not unwarranted. As time went by, however, their usefulness came to be questioned. They were suspended in 2005, and by 2007 the majority of EU members seemed to believe they were more an impediment to positive change than an encouragement. In June, a majority of EU members supported a proposal put forward by Germany, then the holder of the EU's rotating presidency, to lift the sanctions altogether.
Unfortunately, getting rid of them required a unanimous vote and so the effort was turned back by the negative votes of a small minority, - the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden - which held that normalisation should not take place without first seeing democratic reforms in Cuba. It was also noted that dropping the sanctions would have "irked" the US. And, so, the sanctions were simply suspended again, not cancelled.
On the face of it, not an unreasonable position. But for a sense of what is likely to encourage reforms in Cuba, and what is not, let us examine the historical record. What is sometimes called "the Cuban spring" began in 1998 when Castro invited the Pope to visit Cuba and allowed him not only to hold masses but to speak directly to the Cuban people on national TV. In the years that followed, there was an encouraging trend toward greater openness and tolerance of dissent, and also efforts to mend fences with the US.
During his trip to Cuba in May of 2002, for example, former President Carter met with Cuban dissidents and in his nationally televised speech to the Cuban nation, spoke of the Varela project, an initiative of theirs calling for greater political freedoms. The Cuban government may not have liked the Varela project, but it permitted its authors to collect thousands of signatures supporting it. And Oswaldo Paya, its principal architect, was even permitted to come to the US to receive the W Averell Harriman award from the National Democratic Institute. Things did indeed seem to be changing.
Changing too in terms of a readiness to cooperate with the US. Immediately after September 11 of 2001, Cuba expressed its solidarity with the American people and offered to cooperate fully with the US against terrorism - even to signing bilateral agreements to that effect.
Some positive response along the way from the US might have encouraged Cuba to continue to move in the direction of cooperation and liberalisation. But no such response ever came. On the contrary, the Bush administration's reaction to Cuba was one of unmitigated hostility. By 2003, it was actually calling for the ouster of the Castro regime and had announced its policy of "preemptive strikes" against any nation it deemed to be a potential threat to the US. It had already said Cuba represented such a threat. Thus, as the US invaded Iraq, the Cubans concluded it was time to batten down the hatches. As a Cuban friend put it to me during a visit to Havana just after the invasion: "Who knows? We may be next."
And if so, the Cubans reasoned, they could no longer afford to have dissidents, possibly directed by the US, roaming free. And so the crackdown. The arrests may well have been an overreaction, but it is not difficult to understand the rationale behind them. And we should note that they were brought about not because the US was seeking some relaxation in relations with Cuba; on the contrary, it was because of an unrelenting posture of confrontation, which continues today.
The Bush administration's position is that it will talk to Cuba only after it has held democratic elections. But that is to put the cart before the horse. The US could accomplish far more toward bringing about an open society by reducing tensions and opening a dialogue with Cuba. Its present path leads in exactly the opposite direction.
The sanctions imposed by the EU in 2003 were perhaps inevitable. But as a member of the German Foreign Office put it to me at a meeting in Berlin in late May, "I wish to God we had found some mechanism to modify or cancel them without a unanimous vote; with it, we are trapped with something we no longer agree with or believe to be helpful."
One can understand his frustration. But even with the sanctions ostensibly still in place, there are ways of moving in a more positive direction. Spain is doing so, moving toward dialogue and more productive relations. Germany, Italy and others seem to be moving in that direction as well. That is likely to achieve far more than the insistence of the nay-sayers that Cuba must first democratise and then they'll engage. That is simply to follow the lead of the US, which leads nowhere.
In announcing that the sanctions would only be suspended, not removed, the EU did at least suggest an EU-Cuban dialogue. Cuba rejected such a formula until the sanctions are "definitively lifted," but it remains open to the idea of a dialogue with the individual governments of the EU. And so, the way is open to the kind of gradual engagement indicated by Spain and others.
As a flaming Anglophile, I'd hoped to see the United Kingdom lead the way toward engagement. That Blair put the UK on the opposite course is a source of deep disappointment, just as my own government's utterly inane policy toward Cuba is a source of pain and embarrassment.
Cuban wives fight US jail visit ban
By Michael Voss BBC News, Havana
Two Cuban women, whose husbands are serving long sentences in the United States for conspiracy to commit espionage, are campaigning to be allowed to visit them in jail. It is not that the Cuban authorities are refusing them permission to travel but that for some 10 years the American authorities have repeatedly refused to grant them visas.
They are among the wives of the so-called Cuban Five who were arrested in Florida in 1998 as part of an alleged spy ring known as the "Wasp Network".
Earlier this month the BBC broadcast an interview with the group's leader, Gerardo Hernandez, from his prison cell in California.
He is currently serving two life sentences for conspiracy to commit espionage and murder.
It was the first interview with any of the five and made front-page headlines in Cuba, which is adamant that the men were wrongly convicted and has long campaigned for a retrial.
Visits not allowed
From his maximum security penitentiary in California, Gerardo Hernandez described life behind bars.
"The worst part of my treatment has not to do with the prison but the fact I haven't been able to see my wife for the past 10 years because the US government doesn't give her a visa."
I am told I could be a danger to the security of the United States, a possible terrorist or even an illegal immigrant Adriana Perez, Gerardo Hernandez's wife
I met his wife Adriana at an office in central Havana, a softly spoken yet determined and articulate woman. She came armed with dozens of pamphlets and books written about the case of the Cuban Five.
I had my laptop with a downloaded copy of the BBC interview plus a transcript in Spanish.
"Seven times I have applied," she told me, "and each time I get a different reason for being refused. I am told I could be a danger to the security of the United States, a possible terrorist or even an illegal immigrant."
Adriana, who does speak regularly to her husband by phone, sat silently as I played the interview, concentrating intensely on her husband's voice, the occasional flash of emotion crossing her face.
"It was like a ray of light," she told me afterwards. "It gives me hope of seeing him face-to-face again. Even though we couldn't touch, just looking into each others eyes would mean so much."
Controversial trial
The five Cubans were convicted in a Miami court in 2001 on a range of charges including lying about their identities, trying to obtain US military secrets and spying on Cuban exile groups.
It was a highly controversial trial particularly as it took place in Miami, the centre of anti-Castro Cuban exile activities in the US.
The Miami Herald newspaper recently described it as "one of South Florida's most politically-laden criminal cases."
Of the five, Antonio Guerrero and Ramon Labanino got life, with 19 years for Fernando Gonzalez, and 15 years for Rene Gonzalez.
Gerardo Hernandez was also charged with conspiring in the deaths of four Cuban exiles, whose two light aircraft were shot down by the Cuban air force over the Straits of Florida in 1996.
This is why he is currently serving two consecutive life sentences.
Three of the wives have been allowed to visit their husbands in jail. But Adriana Perez along with Rene Gonzales's wife, Olga Salanueva, have consistently been denied visas to enter the US.
I asked her about the conspiracy to murder charges and the families of the four Cuban exiles who had died in the small planes shot down by the Cuban fighter planes.
"Unfortunately they also had families who have suffered the loss of their love ones. But Gerardo had nothing to do with it," she says.
"That was a decision taken by the Cuban government on the grounds of national defence.
"The government had informed the US that exile groups were repeatedly violating Cuban air space," Adriana Perez told me.
National heroes
In Cuba the five men are national heroes. There are giant posters of them prominently displayed throughout Havana and across the country.
They are also the focus of regular rallies and demonstrations.
The authorities here say they were not sent to Miami to spy on the United States, but to infiltrate and monitor militant anti-Castro exile groups which the Cubans describe as "terrorists."
The year before their arrest there had been a series of bomb attacks on tourist locations in Havana in which an Italian man died and several Cubans were injured.
The Cuban Five have attracted sympathy from a range of supporters worldwide, with a Free the Five web page being produced in San Francisco.
On 20 August, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in their case on claims of insufficient evidence.
Adriana Perez and Olga Salanueva are also planning to appeal against the refusal of their visa application, in the hope of being allowed visit their husbands in jail.
Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan Detained by Homeland Security
Officers currently searching vehicles, 'detaining' computers 126 U.S. Citizens and International Activists Challenging Immoral US Blockade of Cuba
The 18th Pastors for Peace caravan to Cuba approached the Pharr International Bridge at the Texas/Mexico border this morning at 6:30am.
They found that the International Bridge was blocked off by local police.
The caravan was diverted into the US Customs lot, where Customs and Border Patrol officers proceeded to X-ray and search the vehicles.
Nearly 50 officers spent nearly two hours unloading and reloading crutches, wheelchairs, commodes, and medical supplies from the vehicles. They located and 'detained' 12 computers from the caravan.
"This is a battle of David and Goliath - and Goliath knows that he's losing," said Rev Luis Barrios, member of the IFCO/Pastors for Peace board of directors.
"What they are taking from us today is purely symbolic. They are trying to show us that they are in charge. But we know that we are the ones in charge, and that the people's power will prevail."
The Pastors for Peace caravan, 12 brightly painted vehicles carrying 126activists and 90 tons of aid, plans to cross into Mexico later today onits way to Cuba. The caravan is a direct nonviolent challenge of the U.S.economic blockade of Cuba, which prevents the Cuban people from accessingmuch-needed supplies. The caravan also challenges the travel blockade,which seeks to prevent U.S. citizens from traveling to Cuba.
Two years ago, US government officials spent a whole day seizing computer aid- CPUs, modems, cables, and toner cartridges - from the 16th IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba. IFCO/Pastors for Peace struggled for nearly a year to finally get that aid released.
Two weeks ago, the Bush Administration detained medical aid for Cuba at the Maine-Canada border-hospital gowns, stethoscopes, even breast pumps - although they allowed the very same sort of aid to pass into the U.S. from Vancouver, Toronto, and Winnipeg.
Demonstrations continue in Canada andthe US for the release of that aid.
"We are going to allow Homeland Security a couple of weeks to reconsidertheir decision to seize these computers today," said Rev Lucius Walker,Jr, executive director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace.
"By then we will have returned from Cuba. Our supporters around the US will have contacted their elected officials to let them know about the pettiness of the US government's policies toward Cuba. And we will be prepared to mount yet another campaign to win the release of this humanitarian aid for our sisters and brothers in Cuba."
"Our caravans are like water dropping onto a rock," said Rev. Diane Baker of Dallas, TX.
"The rock may seem impenetrable, but we just keep on keeping on -- because the water always wins."
Pastors for Peace is a project of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), which has been working for social justice since 1967.
Photographs of the caravan are available at http://www.pastorsforpeace.org/>www.pastorsforpeace.org.
Investigadores promueven que se enseñe la historia con pasión
Investigadores de todo el país apoyan la necesidad de promover esta asignatura desde una visión más personalizada, donde se imbrique la memoria local y regional con la nacional. Presentan el libro Fidel y la historia como ciencia en el VI Congreso de la Unión Nacional de Historiadores de Cuba, que sesiona en el Palacio de las Convenciones
Por: Mayte María Jiménez, estudiante de Periodismo jrebelde.cip.cu
«Es imprescindible la difusión del conocimiento histórico en niños y jóvenes de todo el país de una manera más atractiva y amena», afirmó Abel Prieto Jiménez, miembro del Buró Político y ministro de Cultura, en el VI Congreso de la Unión Nacional de Historiadores de Cuba (UNHIC), que sesiona en el Palacio de las Convenciones en la capital.
El dirigente precisó que se requiere de un estudio más personalizado de la historia, que destaque vivencias, borre viejos dogmas de enseñanza, y que a su vez fomente la memoria local y regional junto a la nacional.
Destacó la necesidad de que los profesores que imparten estos contenidos se sientan identificados realmente con la materia, que se sientan apasionados.
Eliades Acosta, jefe del Departamento de Cultura del Comité Central del Partido y vicepresidente de la UNHIC, señaló la importancia de preservar la historia cubana como única garantía del presente y el futuro, y caudal de grandes lecciones, de fortalezas y debilidades.
«Una nación que no conserve su historia es un país sin rumbo y fácil de manipular por sus enemigos. Hay que insistir en la profundización de los conocimientos en las nuevas generaciones.
«La enseñanza cubana debe tener en cuenta que los jóvenes son cada vez más escépticos, más racionales y es más difícil responder a sus interrogantes con una visión simplista de la historia, que no muestre sus orígenes desde una metodología más humana, y más cercana a su vida real», afirmó.
Un momento especial de esta sesión del congreso fue la presentación del libro Fidel y la historia como ciencia, donde aparece un análisis del pensamiento conceptual-teórico del Comandante en Jefe a partir de sus intervenciones públicas realizadas desde 1959 hasta 2003.
La obra, que pertenece a un equipo de trabajo del Instituto de Historia de Cuba, describe la ideología de Fidel Castro como una de las más avanzadas en el desarrollo político, social, económico y cultural de la sociedad.
Informática y nuevas tecnologías
Más que códigos en una PC
La Facultad de Informática de la Universidad de Camagüey desarrolla un importante software que soluciona problemas empresariales, meteorológicos y en el ámbito educativohttp://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2007-07-19/mas-que-codigos-en-una-pc/,
Cuban Historians Urged to Break with Dogmatism
«Cubans must take into account that young people are increasingly sceptical and it is more difficult to answer to their questions from a simplistic perspective of history,» said Eliades Acosta, head of the party’s Department of Culture
By: Mayte Maria Jimenez, journalism student jrebelde.cip.cu
Youth lay a wreath on the bust of Cuban revolutionary youth leader Julio Antonio Mella Photo: Zoom«It is necessary to spread historical knowledge among young people all over the country in a more attractive and enjoyable fashion, » said Cuba’s minister of Culture and member of the Political Bureau, Abel Prieto Jimenez, at the sixth Congress of the National Union of Historians (UNHIC by its abbreviation in Spanish), which is being held at the Havana Convention Center.
The minister said that a more personalized study of history which highlights people’s experiences is needed, erasing old teaching dogmas and at the same time promoting local and regional history together with the national.
Prieto also said history teachers should identify with and feel passionate about the material.
Eliades Acosta, head of the Department of Culture of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and vice-president of the UNHIC, noted the importance of preserving Cuban history as the only guarantee of the present and the future, and as a wealth of great lessons on strengths and weaknesses.
«A nation without history is an aimless country that can be easily manipulated by its enemies. We must insist on deepening the knowledge of the next generation.
«Cubans must take into account that young people are increasingly sceptical and it is more difficult to answer to their questions from a simplistic perspective of history that does not show its origin from a more humanistic vantage point and closer to real life methodology, » said Acosta.
Harper chides Cuba amid Caribbean free-trade trip
By JULIAN BELTRAME,lfpress.ca
BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper waded into the sticky topic of relations with Cuba for the first time yesterday, putting him slightly out of step with his Barbadian host.
Harper is in the Caribbean region pushing his hemispheric prescription of democracy, open markets and free trade and said Canada is ready to start talks on a pact with the 15 countries in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
But when asked if he had plans to visit Cuba, the largest country in the region and one of the biggest economies, Harper said he didn't.
He said Canadian governments have often, "expressed concerns about certain aspects of governance and human rights in Cuba."
Barbadian Prime Minister Owen Arthur responded by underlining Cuba's right to choose its own path.
He said "civilized relationships" between civilized countries were not based on teaching lessons, but on "respect for people's sovereignty and non-interference and the right for people to pursue alternative paths to their development."
Arthur has been trying to integrate Cuba into the Caribbean community of nations. Cuban President Fidel Castro has been resolute in keeping the country he has ruled since 1959 out of the group.
Harper had emphasized Canada's long-standing, normal diplomatic relationship with Cuba and the continuing investments of Canadian firms in the country. Last summer. Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay underlined that Canada had an "independent policy" on Cuba from that of the U.S., which cut off relations 40 years ago.
Former prime minister Jean Chretien visited Cuba in 1998 in an effort to further engage the country and press for improvements on human rights issues.
But he soon put some "northern ice" into the relationship after Castro dealt severely with dissidents Chretien had personally raised with him.
EEUU y España analizaron la situación en Cuba y Venezuela
WASHINGTON (AFP) - El número dos del departamento de Estado estadounidense, John Negroponte, y el secretario de Estado para Asuntos Exteriores, Bernardino León, analizaron juntos este jueves en Washington la situación en Cuba y Venezuela, informó el diplomático español tras la reunión."Hemos hablado de América Latina y hemos hablado de Cuba efectivamente", explicó León a la prensa, tras reunirse con Negroponte en el departamento de Estado, donde también pasaron revista a la situación en Oriente Medio, Afganistán y Kosovo.
"Creo que (Cuba) sigue siendo un tema muy importante para ambos países, un tema sobre el que obviamente hay que seguir intercambiando puntos de vista y tratando de analizar cuál puede ser la evolución de la situación en Cuba", añadió el número dos del ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores.
La secretaria de Estado, Condoleezza Rice, había criticado durante su visita a España a principios de junio que el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, haya viajado en abril a la isla caribeña y no se haya reunido con los disidentes. "Nosotros creemos que hay que mantener un diálogo con ellos (los disidentes), que hay que escucharlos, igual que también creemos, y lo decimos siempre, que hay que mantener un diálogo con el Gobierno cubano", recordó León, quien aseguró haber mantenido "un buen intercambio" con Negroponte sobre Cuba.
La situación en Venezuela, cuyo gobierno mantiene tensas relaciones con Washington, también fue tocada en la reunión: "Sí, hemos tenido la oportunidad de intercambiar puntos de vista sobre cómo vemos la evolución en este momentos" en el país andino, explicó León. "Yo le he transmitido (a Negroponte) que España debe mantener una interlocución con todos los sectores de la sociedad venezolana, no sólo con el Gobierno", dijo, al tiempo que manifestó su preocupación por "la creciente polarización de la sociedad venezolana".
Hace un año, Rice y Moratinos se comprometieron a colaborar sobre temas latinoamericanos y mantener reuniones regulares para intercambiar puntos de vista sobre la evolución de la situación en la región.
Spanish foreign policy hits rocks over Cuba
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and his political spin doctors have been especially busy this summer. From Strategic Studies Group.By Soeren Kern for Strategic Studies Group
Indeed, they have been making furious rounds on the national television talk show circuit, trying to explain to an increasingly skeptical Spanish public just why the Socialist government's "progressive" foreign policy of coddling third world despots has turned Spain into one of the most marginalized countries in the European Union.The latest setback to Spanish foreign policy occurred on 21 June, when the European Parliament, taking an unexpected break from measuring the curvature of imported bananas, approved a new resolution about human rights in Cuba. Firmly squashing efforts by Spain to de-link political dialogue with Cuba from the issue of human rights on the island, the European Parliament reiterated that it: "Considers it extremely important that any strengthening of political and economic relations – including development aid – between the EU and the Cuban authorities, which might derive from a comprehensive and open political dialogue, be linked to concrete and verifiable improvements of the human rights conditions of all Cuban citizens, starting with the release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience." At the same time, the 27-member European Union on 18 June said the temporary transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul – the first change of power in 48 years – constituted a "new situation." In this context, it invited a Cuban delegation to Brussels to explore a thaw in ties, but only on the condition that Havana agrees to discuss human rights on the island. Here again, Spain lobbied hard but failed to persuade other EU members of the merits of overlooking human rights violations by the Caribbean regime. All this came only a few weeks after a 1 June trip to Madrid by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (which the Socialist government had hoped would finally pave the way for Zapatero to receive a much-coveted invitation to visit the White House) ended in what the local press afterwards dubbed a "humiliating" public relations disaster for Spain. Indeed, Rice, much to the dismay of her Spanish hosts, refused to play the game of pretending that US-Spain relations are back to normal. (In fact, bilateral relations have never recovered since Zapatero abruptly withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004, a problem that has been compounded by a steady stream of anti-American rhetoric spewing forth from the prime minister and his senior ministers.) Instead, Rice used her visit to Madrid to publicly chide stone-faced Spanish officials for not doing more to support dissidents in Cuba. Referring to a controversial visit to Cuba in April by the hapless Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, who publicly boasted about his refusal to meet with members of the Cuban opposition, Rice said that: "Democratic states have an obligation to act democratically, meaning to support opposition in Cuba, not to give the regime the idea that they can transition from one dictatorship to another." Inconsistent EU policy on CubaThe current impasse in EU relations with Cuba dates back to mid-March 2003, when Cuban authorities carried out an unprecedented clampdown on the opposition movement on the island. Over the space of a few days, security forces rounded up over 75 dissidents in targeted sweeps. The detainees were subjected to hasty and unfair trials, and, just weeks after their arrest, were given long prison terms of up to 28 years. In response, Brussels, at the behest of then Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, in June 2003 imposed diplomatic sanctions on Havana. The EU measures called for limiting high-level diplomatic visits to Cuba, reviewing EU relations with Havana, and inviting dissidents to European embassies for national day celebrations, leading to what became known as the "cocktail wars." In January 2005, however, at the insistence of Spain's newly elected Socialist government, the EU suspended the measures, restoring diplomatic relations and ending its ban on talks with Cuban officials. Ever since then, Spain, following Zapatero's post-modern religious belief that engaging dictators is better than isolating them, has led a push for EU relations with Cuba to be fully normalized. In doing so, he has implicitly asked fellow EU member states to ignore the issue of human rights on the island. That campaign, however, has put Spain on a collision course with many other EU members, notably former communist countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, which insist that the EU should not fully normalize its ties with Cuba until civil and political freedoms are granted to all citizens. Indeed, the Eastern European countries that joined the bloc in 2004 retain vivid memories of repression under communism and believe that normalizing ties would send the wrong signal to the Cuban leadership. But as many Spaniards in their newfound prosperity are quick to forget, Spain itself has only recently transitioned to democracy, so shouldn't it be leading the charge for democracy in Cuba? Indeed, during her recent visit to Madrid, Rice referred to General Francisco Franco's 1939-75 dictatorship in Spain as she reminded her hosts that a country with "an authoritarian past" should understand the need for democracy in Cuba. What is Spain thinking?But the Socialist government does not seem to agree. During his first three years in office, Zapatero has established a consistent practice of reaching out to authoritarian regimes at the expense of democratic states: Venezuela in lieu of Colombia; Iran and Syria in lieu of Israel; and so on. Indeed, Spaniards increasingly are asking themselves why Spain's Socialists insist on forging alliances with authoritarian regimes when that support is beginning to damage Spain's own reputation in the EU and elsewhere. Although Spanish political commentators are deeply divided on how to answer that question, in the case of Cuba, most analysts seem to agree that three main issues are driving Spanish foreign policy on Cuba: Oil, nostalgia and politics. The issue of oil is straightforward. In 2004, Spain's energy giant Repsol-YPF found signs of oil in the deep waters off Cuban shores. Repsol, which has six concession blocks along a narrow sector of the Gulf of Mexico off Cuba's northwestern coast, says it will spend more than US$40 million on the project, but believes its investment could yield up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil below the seabed. Repsol's venture, which is established with Cubapetroleo, a company owned by the Cuban government, is now bidding for new oil contracts in Cuban waters. Thus it comes as no surprise that a number of EU countries suspect that Spain's love affair with Castro has more to do with money than with principle, and that its mantra that dialogue with the dictator is a fig leaf for more cynical interests. Then there is the issue of nostalgia-based anti-Americanism. Although it has been more than 100 years since Spain lost Cuba, a highly prized Spanish colonial possession for more than 400 years, in the Spanish-American War of 1898, many Spaniards still have an almost mythical attachment to the island. Indeed, lingering resentment over the loss of Cuba, which marked the definitive end to the Spanish Empire, is often cited as the root source of anti-Americanism in contemporary Spain. In this context, many Spanish leftists glorify Castro as a revolutionary hero who has bravely resisted American efforts to promote democracy on the island. Finally, there is the issue of politics, both foreign and domestic. Since taking office, Zapatero has shifted Spain's long-standing Atlanticist foreign policy to one focused almost exclusively on Europe. This precipitous policy shift has had disastrous results: Not only has it severely damaged Spain's relationship with the United States, it has also cost Spain much of its credibility in Europe. In the main, Zapatero's foreign policy has been motivated a desire to prove that the Socialists are better than the center-right opposition Popular Party at running Spanish foreign policy. The problem for Spain is that Zapatero has made it personal, turning Spanish foreign policymaking into an obsession that has become detached from common sense. Thus the main beneficiaries of Spanish foreign policy have been authoritarian regimes in Cuba, Iran, Syria and Venezuela. It comes as no big surprise that this, in turn, has damaged Spain's credibility with other EU countries, most of which are trying to forge a more responsible European foreign policy vis-à-vis the United States. No invitation to visit the White HouseThe ironic result is that Zapatero, a compulsive anti-American, now needs a visit to the White House to affirm to Spanish voters his credentials as a statesman. Zapatero is one of the few European leaders to never have had an official bilateral meeting with US President George W Bush, and the Spanish media obsessed on the fact that Rice's visit to Madrid was noticeably brief – just six hours without the symbolic overnight stay reserved for close allies. Thus while Rice's visit was meant to smooth over a three-year downturn in relations between Washington and Madrid, the disagreement over Cuba has washed away any emerging good will. Rice, after meeting Moratinos, said: "I made very clear [...] I have real doubts about the value of engagement with a regime that is antidemocratic. People who are struggling for a democratic future need to know that they are supported by those of us who are lucky enough to be free." Moratinos replied by saying that: "I'm sure that in time she'll be convinced that the Spanish strategy will produce results." As Moratinos continued to speak, Rice rolled her eyes and said: "Don't hold your breath." The problem for Moratinos is that he will need to convince Castro even more than Rice. And that prospect does not look very promising. Flatly rejecting the EU's invitation for a visit to Brussels, Havana declared that: "We do not recognize the moral authority of the European Union to judge or advise Cuba." It continued by saying that: "It is up to the European Union to make up for the mistakes committed with Cuba. But there's no hurry: We have all the time in the world." Unfortunately for Zapatero, time may indeed be on Castro's side. The Spanish prime minister is up for re-election in early 2008 and Spanish voters are wondering why he still has not been invited to the White House. Will Bush throw Zapatero a lifeline?
La UCI es fruto de la Batalla de Ideas
Palabras de Carlos Valenciaga, miembro del Consejo de Estado en el acto de la primera graduación de la Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas. Teatro Karl Marx, 19 de julio de 2007 http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2007/07/20/nacional/artic05.html,
ALBA Country Representatives Meet in Venezuela to Deepen Integration
Written by Chris Carlson, Venezuela Analysis
The first meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) Technical Committees took place this week in Caracas to discuss the various integrated projects between the ALBA nations. Chavez assured that more countries in the region would soon be joining the structure that currently consists of Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, and Venezuela.
As planned during the 5th ALBA Summit held in Venezuela last April, the Technical Committees of the four member countries met on Monday and Tuesday of this week to discuss and review the details of the cooperative projects planned between the countries. In the Hilton Hotel of Caracas, more than 200 representatives from all four countries divided into 12 groups to discuss cooperation in different areas such as trade, transportation, mining, energy, technology, telecommunications, industry, science, education, health, tourism, finance, and investment.
According to the head representative from Nicaragua, Paul Olquist, the major focus of attention at the meeting is what is known as "grand national" projects, which he considers the "future of union and advance" for the region.
"Our populations have their eyes set on this project, as they depend on the success of this mechanism of integration," said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro at the meeting. "For that reason we have to keep a strict time frame, with concrete goals that allow for the consolidation of projects for the integral development of our countries."
Among the concrete projects that have been announced so far, Venezuela and Cuba are putting together a proposal to form joint companies to produce stainless steel and nickel, both in Venezuela and in Cuba, according to Cuban sources.
Also discussed at the meeting was the creation of what they call an "inter-ALBA market" to create production for both for the member nations, as well as for export on the world market.
"In other words, to create an inter-ALBA market to complement each other economically and productively to be in conditions to go on the world market with quality technology and products," said one Venezuelan minister. He went on to explain that the joint companies should eventually be self-sustaining and should be able to be competitive in certain sectors such as technology, raw materials, and financial capital.
But the integration efforts are not only economic. Also being discussed are joint programs to extend health care and education to all of the countries, as was suggested by President Chavez last April. The alliance between the countries is supposed to be political too, as the ALBA countries are building a joint political structure to establish a permanent organization.
"This is the moment to demonstrate that the projects of political and economic emancipation, conceived and promoted by our leaders, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Daniel Ortega, are viable and we can carry them out," said Maduro.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also spoke about the plans for integration at a speech on Monday assuring that the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas was generating interest in the region and would soon include more nations.
"I have the impression that countries are going to start joining ALBA," he said. "And not only governments of whole countries. There are many local governments, there are many social movements, indigenous movements, workers' movements, farmers' movements that are at least asking what ALBA is."
Chavez emphasized the importance of the ALBA project as an alternative project to the free trade projects promoted from Washington that, according to Chavez, have created poverty and misery in the region.
"Misery, my friend, poverty, and there are people who still want to apply to some countries the same dogmas of the International Monetary Fund. Until when, for the love of god?" he said. "How much more can those countries take, dragged through the most shocking misery that I have seen with these eyes."
But Chavez expressed satisfaction that several countries of the region had freed themselves of the International Monetary Fund programs.
"We have problems, weaknesses, insufficiencies, but we have a lot of will and a lot of unity, and, above all, we have broken from the dictates, let's put it that way, of capitalism, of the imperialist orders of the International Monetary Fund and we don't depend on the national oligarchies that many times want to control the integration agreements."
The meetings of the Technical Committees this week should produce concrete projects to be further evaluated by the ALBA Political Committee. These projects will then be analyzed at the next ALBA meeting, the meeting of ALBA Ministers in Havana, Cuba on the 3rd and 4th of September.
SiCKO patients got VIP treatment in Cuba
By Anthony Boadle
HAVANA (Reuters) - Three New York rescue workers injured in the Sept. 11 attacks got the best treatment Cuba can offer in Michael Moore's film critique of U.S. health care, the Cuban doctors who attended them said this week.
The 9/11 responders spent 10 days on the 19th floor of Cuba's flagship hospital with a view of the Caribbean sea, a sharp contrast to many Cuban hospitals that are crumbling, badly lit, and which lack equipment and medicines.
They included a fireman and an emergency medical technician, Regina Cervantes, with respiratory problems caused by inhaling dust and fumes in the World Trade Center ruins.
They were given a barrage of tests, including a psychological evaluation, and new dosages of medication. One got a tooth implant for a jaw fractured at Ground Zero.
The main difference with their treatment in the United States: there was no bill.
"We can't say we did miracles in the few days they were here. What we did was give them the highest quality treatment. It was totally free," said Dr. Nelson Gomez, medical director of the Hermanos Almejeiras Hospital.
"They were not here long, but they did improve." he said.
Cervantes, who rushed to Ground Zero on Sept. 11 and had a badly burnt airway after three days of rescue work, said last month that after being treated in Havana she was taken off medication she could hardly afford in the United States.
The movie, "SiCKo", has stirred heated debate in the United States since opening in June.
Moore used Cuba to argue that other countries are providing better health care to its citizens than the United States with far fewer resources, putting the blame on profit-driven U.S. pharmaceutical and medical insurance industries.
Communist Cuba's universal free health system has achieved low child mortality and high longevity rates on a par with rich nations since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.
But the hospital where SiCKO's patients were treated is an exception in Cuba, where patients of many other hospitals complain they have to take their own sheets and food.
The building with a majestic high-ceiling lobby was meant to be Cuba's central bank when it was started by U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Completed years after Castro's revolution, it was turned into Cuba's top hospital.
The 750-bed Hermanos Almejeiras is Cuba's main hospital for heart and liver transplants with a staff of 500 doctors and 800 nurses.
Cuban health officials say they have given priority to preventing disease by renovating a network of 498 neighborhood health centers across the island that bring health care closer to people's homes.
The number of children dying before their fifth birthday is seven per 1,000 live births in Cuba, versus eight per 1,000 in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
At Rampa Polyclinic in Havana, where Moore's group was seen before referral to hospital, Dr. Juan Carlos Castellanos said Cubans do not die of infectious diseases prevalent in Third World countries.
"The main causes of death in Cuba are the same as in rich nations: cardiovascular disease and cancer," he said, sitting under a picture of revolutionary icon and doctor, Che Guevara.
Del Caribe, a Afganistán, pasando por Europa
Cuando una respetable Fundación toma el relevo de la CIA Hernando Calvo Ospina - Le Monde Diplomatiquehttp://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=53874,
Los peligros de Martí
por Guillermo Castro H.http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=53857,
Alicia Alonso, chorégraphe cubaine
"Je détiens le record de longévité sur scène et j'en suis fière"
LE MONDE AFP/ ADALBERTO ROQUE
La Cubaine Alicia Alonso est plus qu'une icône. C'est un phénomène. Danseuse et chorégraphe, elle est quasiment aveugle depuis l'âge de 20 ans. Ayant subi de nombreuses opérations des yeux, celle qui eut pour partenaire Rudolf Noureev ou le danseur étoile de l'Opéra Cyril Atanassoff se repérait sur scène grâce aux voix de ses partenaires ainsi qu'à des lumières vertes et rouges posées dans la corbeille.Aujourd'hui, à 86 ans, Alicia Alonso est directrice du Ballet national de Cuba. Elle présente à Paris deux ballets qui sont des fleurons du répertoire, Giselle et Don Quichotte.
Quelles sont vos méthodes pour faire répéter les danseurs ?
(Elle montre ses yeux en disant : "Vous voulez parler de ça !" Puis elle sourit). Je leur parle beaucoup. Deux personnes m'épaulent pour les détails techniques. Je connais les danseurs depuis longtemps, leurs défauts et leurs qualités. La plupart ont été formés dans les écoles que je dirige. Je suis très attentive au style. Les bras en particulier sont très importants. (Elle prend une pose romantique impeccable.) Je leur montre la valeur des gestes. Chaque pas a une raison d'être et j'aime la logique chorégraphique.
Comment définiriez-vous le style classique cubain ? L'une des caractéristiques réside dans l'accent musical mis vers le haut et non vers le bas. Comme dans les danses populaires cubaines, le mouvement est aérien. Par ailleurs, la façon dont l'homme et la femme communiquent est primordiale. Le plaisir de danser à deux, de regarder son partenaire, permet aux deux interprètes de suivre la même ligne chorégraphique. C'est une conversation, pas une compétition.
Giselle est votre ballet fétiche. Vous l'avez interprété jusqu'en 1993 et vous l'avez chorégraphié pour la compagnie. Que représente-t-il pour vous ?
Le style est précis, romantique. La scène de la folie de Giselle est un défi énorme. Trouver en soi cette incandescence exige qu'on étudie en profondeur ce qu'elle était à l'époque. Les pas sont techniques mais fragiles parce qu'il faut que Giselle le soit.
C'est le premier grand ballet que j'ai dansé, à 22 ans au Ballet Theatre à New York. Alicia Markova était malade et on m'a demandé de la remplacer. Je ne l'avais jamais interprété, mais je l'avais répété dans ma tête pendant ma convalescence après ma première opération des yeux. (Elle mime avec ses doigts les pas, l'entrée du corps de ballet, en chantonnant la musique.) Je savais tout.
Pour quelles raisons avez-vous eu besoin de danser jusqu'après vos 70 ans ?
Je détiens le record de longévité sur scène et j'en suis fière. Dès le début de ma carrière, les médecins me prédisaient que je ne pourrais pas danser. J'ai voulu briser ces prédictions.
En 1959, la compagnie que vous aviez créée en 1948 est devenue, grâce à Fidel Castro, le Ballet national de Cuba. Comment la danse classique est-elle devenue un art populaire ?
Dès que Fidel Castro m'a donné des moyens - un théâtre, des studios -, j'ai commencé avec mes danseurs à aller dans les usines, les champs, pour montrer des ballets. Grâce au triomphe de la révolution, on a pu toucher la population. Aujourd'hui, il y a deux grands centres de formation professionnelle, onze écoles dans l'île, deux mille élèves. Des ateliers rassemblent quatre mille amateurs. Des bus passent chercher les élèves chez eux. Les Cubains suivent les représentations avec la passion d'un match de foot.
Est-ce que la danse représente un espoir, une sécurité économique pour les jeunes ?
Bien sûr. Cela explique que nous avons beaucoup de garçons, ce qui est plutôt rare. L'enseignement est gratuit. Nous leur donnons une éducation, un métier, une sécurité. Mais aussi l'admiration et le respect de leur entourage.
De nombreux danseurs partent travailler ailleurs en raison des conditions économiques - le salaire est de 50 dollars en moyenne. Comment vivez-vous ces départs ?
Ceux qui choisissent de quitter le pays, je les compare à des cerfs-volants. Le désir de partir est propre à l'humanité. Je les ai aimés comme des fils, construits en tant qu'artistes. Le reste est entre leurs mains.
Comment va Fidel Castro ?
Très bien. Rien n'a changé. C'est toujours le même peuple, jeune, enthousiaste, travailleur qui est avec nous. Le gouvernement continue à nous aider. Nous avons beaucoup tourné cette année et les étoiles ont reçu en cadeau une voiture. C'est une façon de reconnaître leur travail.
Que représente pour vous la France, où vous n'êtes pas venue depuis neuf ans ?
Je suis ravie d'être ici. Nous tournons aux Etats-Unis, en Europe, partout. Parfois, je me dis que c'est la France qui est isolée, pas Cuba, non ?
-
