Many of Cuba’s State-run nightclubs closed up shop on Halloween or forbade people from entering the premises in costume. The new private bars and alternative venues took in crowds eager to celebrate. These included places that had thrown Halloween parties last year and had announced this year’s celebration, such as the disco Galaxia, a privately-operated (but State-owned) venue in Matanzas. “We found out the parties weren’t authorized in Havana and Varadero, which is why we called the Ministry of Culture representative in the province. They told us Halloween wasn’t authorized at the national level,” Yohervis Rodriguez Martinez, the nightclub’s art director, explained. La Salsa, another nightclub in Matanzas, texted the public informing that they were not to attend in custom a mere hour before the venue opened. Halloween party at the University of Matanzas. When people asked the reason over the phone, the replied that “no one’s saying why.” On Thursday, October 29, however, the Camilo Cienfuegos University of Matanzas threw a huge Halloween party. Students studying English at this university has been organizing a “witch’s night” party for years to improve their language skills. In addition to performing musical numbers in Shakespeare’s tongue and promoting Anglo-Saxon culture, they give...

Conan O'Brien has become the first American showman who records on the island after more than half a century. Although he only knows how to say in Spanish: "Hello, welcome to Cuba. I am Conan O'Brien ", language barriers did not prevent him from making a late show in Havana. Since Jack Paar, one of the hosts of The Tonight Show, interviewed Fidel Castro in 1959, no other American late night presenter had recorded again in Cuba. And now after so many years and changes in the policy of both countries, last Wednesday, a 75 minutes episode dedicated to the Caribbean country was transmitted in one of the most popular programs of cable TV in the United States. The show began being recorded in mid-February. O'Brien's intention was always "talking with Cubans and try to meet them" better. Hence the comedian toured Havana to inquire about the stereotypes of the island and wanted to be the object of laughter and mockery of the Cubans who looked him down the street with strangeness and amazement. O'Brien usually includes in his night show interviews with famous guest musicians and jokes of the present er. But this time he broke with that script....

A multidisciplinary team from the Institute of Tropical Research and Ecological Exchange, from the Florida Keys, concluded in February the final phase of digitization of the bibliographic fund of the Ernesto Triolet Pharmaceutical Museum of Matanzas. "They have digitized more than a million formulas contained in 55 volumes of books of prescriptions, titles of single copies, science books and labels, said Marcia Brito, director of the Matanzas institution. "The shift to digital media has been conducted in three phases since 2014. The first with books of recipes and some of the general characteristics of library books, the second with drugs and third with scientific books for more information and access to these priceless texts ". US Dr. Christine Flanagan, with 24 years of experience working with museums, got impressed by "the quality of information that they have been digitized, the chronological organization of data and high significance for the history of traditional medicine, not only in Cuba but the world.” In the United States all that information is scattered, not like in this museum that collects and retains drug formulations, from the use of medicinal plants, dating from the nineteenth century, said Dr. Mary Chambers. For the digitization process they...

At 30 feet deep Ortelio was lost of Yami´s sight. He went down at 9 am and went up at 3 in the afternoon. With a pick on his hand he dug a well to cope with drought. Yami from above thought he would die in the deep dark hole. Nine years before this event, which occurred in 2004, Ortelio Aguila Alfero and Yamilia Maria Favia had met each other. He fell in love with the young mulatto girl. She took her three children and went to live in his house. The board house was on the borders of a slum and a garbage dump in Camagüey. They left their jobs in offices and transport procedures where they worked together to devote themselves to life in the countryside. They rescued a piece of land in the dump, managed to get some bean pods and planted them in nine furrows. The first fruits germinated from these seeds. Then they threw themselves into the conquest of garbage and neglect. One day , tired of the grass to reach their knees, they decided to make a road. Everything around them was stones and marabou. They worked so hard until the evening. They had...