What are the opportunities for Americans to invest in Cuba? In what sectors of the economy could they get involved? A group of senior executives from the U.S. travelled to Cuba to find the answers to those questions. “Mission Knowledge,” as it is called, was organized by Knowledge@Wharton – the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania – and Momentum, in collaboration with OnCuba. “This trip is an opportunity to come out of the dark and engage in a more open exploration,” said Gustavo Arnavat, one of the representatives of The Wharton School’s Knowledge@Wharton. At a press conference, some of the nearly 30 executives said that it will still take a while before any agreements can be signed, something that according to them will largely depend on regulations in both countries. Boris Hirmas, CEO of Tres mares and SouthAm Freeze Dry, said that to succeed in any business initiative, whether in Cuba or anywhere else in the world, it’s necessary to have as much information as possible about the conditions for a given initiative to be developed. “If there’s something we’ve learned this week is that we need more information,” he said, “and we...

Freddy Balsera and Stephen Zack belong to different generations, and their life experiences have been completely different, but for a long time they have shared a common goal: bringing about a change in relations between the United States and Cuba. They travelled to Havana to attend the opening ceremony of the American Embassy in Cuba, as a way to show their support for this new path taken by the Obama Administration. Balsera helped to design President Barack Obama's national Latino television and radio campaign, and will also be working in Hillary Clinton’s campaign in Florida. Zack was the first person of Latino descent to be President of the American Bar Association, and is currently one of the partners at Boies, Schiller & Flexner law firm. “I can’t believe this is happening,” said Balsera. “Last week I told someone ‘I´ll see you in Havana!’ I never thought I’d be able to say something like that someday.” “That the embargo has failed is no secret for anyone,” he added. “Cuban exiles have acknowledged that it hasn’t brought about the change they expected. The disagreement now is between those who want to find new options and have the courage to speak about it...

Each year, the Cuban scientific community prepares to participate in the Programs of Science, Technology and Innovation (CTI) in the interest of generating and applying knowledge in finding solutions to concrete problems of society. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) left open the timing of the announcement for the 2016 Plan and invited their institutions to contribute to the presentation of scientific projects from November 28 until February 28 next year. The evaluation and approval will take place in several stages until April 30, 2015, while hiring will run until mid-May with the executing agencies. But how these problems are defined? How to know that some are more urgent than others? And what are the CTI programs? Ulises Fernández Gómez, Director of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation of CITMA explained that "Programs are a set of research projects, development and innovation that are interrelated in a multidisciplinary way. These are formed when the solution to a problem requires more than one project due to its complexity and involves the integration of scientific, educational and productive entities for its execution ". For this process, the state allocates a Pooled Fund for Science and Innovation (FONCI by its Spanish acronym)...

In fiction it was home to a refined gay in the nineties, symbol of the receipt of the counter-culture, religion, spirituality. The hideout of a man cornered by the society of his time, in the Cuban film of largest international impact: Strawberry and Chocolate. In reality it was a family home converted into a successful paladar (private restaurant), located nothing more and nothing less than on the third floor of an authentic tenement building in Centro Habana. The man behind this metamorphosis is an electronics engineer whom life diverted by chance to the world of gastronomy. His name is Enrique Núñez and he manages La Guarida, one of the best restaurants in town, visited by kings, artists and personalities from around the world. But the beginning was, like almost all the great things, by sheer chance. "I had read the story of Senel Paz and had seen the play, so I knew what it was shooting. A friend who was assistant director of Titón asked me to help find a location and I suggested the house of my parents. They came; they liked it and chose the place to be the ‘hideout’ of Diego "says Enrique while smoking a Cuban...

On Tuesday OnCuba magazine received at its headquarters in Havana the Colombian journalist Ernesto Londoño, member of the editorial staff of The New York Times, one of the most influential newspapers in the United States. For nearly three hours Londoño talked, asked and answered our questions. The same young man behind the six editorials American newspaper published recently on Cuba-US relationship, for six weeks in a row, will continue developing the theme, this time with a research carried out for fifteen days on the island. Londoño asked about economic reforms and how it is possible to support the same socialist system project in the face of the changes taking place in the country; on the ideal of journalism in Cuba and freedom of expression, among many other topics. For our part, curiosity could not prevent editors, commercial staff and reporters from joining in a kind of collective interview. Why does Londoño address the Cuba issue? Why with such passion? "Someone wrote a gruesome piece in Martí Noticias and the first comment said" Londoño studied in Miami and probably a Cuban woman left him heartbroken ". To me Cuba was always interesting since I was a student in college. Obviously I...

The news of the first Cuban doctor who contracted shocked the island. Dr. Felix Baez Sarria, 43, is now treated with the best resources at the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland. But for some people the news was particularly shocking, but always knew the danger they faced: his family. OnCuba came to his mother's house to talk to his older brother on his mother side, Michel Gutierrez Sarria, knowing the sensitivity of the issue. And how did you hear about the contagion of Felix? His wife was the one who called me when she learned of the problem. She has direct communication with him, they have spoken on the phone. And you? No, not yet. But she always calls me when she speaks with him or knows anything from there. I always have Radio Reloj on and I do not miss the news. Today I have not heard from him, but you know that bad news travels fast, so everything must be equal. I also see the channel 15 with Telesur and read the headlines they place below. What do the neighbors, acquaintances, friends say? In the neighborhood every day they tell me not to worry, that everything will be...

The world will be completely dark on 21 December when a galactic blackout, followed by a solar mega storm, causing devastating effects for three days, according to the National Administration of Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States. With words like these, hundreds of thousands repeated the latest gossip on social media and the Internet, and was spread in Cuba by email. Cubans, alarmist and farsighted, were already dusting candles and rechargeable lamps, when the Institute of Geophysics and Aviation (IGA) issued a statement denying such publications. "The supposed explanation given the news announcing the 'blackout' are absurd and ridiculous, devoid of any scientific basis," said the engineer Uratsuka Martha Rosa Rodriguez, director of the IGA, under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of Cuba. Some media also backed, like the Spanish ABC and Russia Today, some alleged statements of Ashley Dale, apparently a scientist from the Bristol University in the United Kingdom, who warned on ¨the imminent danger or a solar super storm before the end of 2014¨ Rodriguez Uratsuka emphasized in not believing everything that is announced on the Internet. To begin, said the scientist, NASA has not published such predictions of a galactic eclipse,...

A decade ago a new project in Cuba began to produce renewable energy in the Isle of Youth. Although in its infancy included solar photovoltaic and wind power, the emphasis had it gasification of forest biomass from forest waste and "energy" trees. The initiative will generate about 4 percent of the energy demand of the Island from the three sources and will reach up to 50 percent in the future, said Jorge Luis Isaac, National Director of the GEF-UNIDO the generation and distribution of sustainable energy services based on renewable energy in the Isle of Youth. These days the project reaches its final stage, which must pass a review process by international organizations. The occasion also allows the meeting in Havana of Cuban and foreign experts at the International Workshop on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development: Biomass Gasification dividing its days in the Palace of Conventions and field visits to the Isle of Youth until next October 9th. Sponsored by the Organization of United Nations Industrial Development (UNIDO), World Investment Fund (GEF), the United Nations Program for Environment (UNEP) and the Cuban government, the project allows share experiences on sustainable methods of energy production, particularly on forest biomass gasification. "We...

An English knight visited Havana to discuss aircrafts powered by the sun, plastic electric cars and buildings with roofs that produce energy. His name is Sir David King and has the responsibility to be the Special Representative for Climate Change of the British Foreign Ministry. His solid study on the issue of the challenges planet Earth and humanity are facing was sufficient for his to deliver the conference "Smart Cities of the Future" at the Aula Magna of the University of Havana. His arguments showed a holistic approach to the issue and maintained the view "not concentrate on one problem at a time," as they warned of the urgency of action to combat the effects of climate change. Sir David was Chief Scientific Adviser to the British Government and Director of the Government Office of Science from 2000 until 2007 for his work with the climate and energy challenge was knighted in 2003 and made ​​an Officer of the French Legion of Honor in 2009. Despite his busy schedule on the island, he took some minutes to give an exclusive interview to OnCuba. It is your first visit to our country, why did you come to Cuba this time? Sir...

"Everyone plays the lotto in Cuba. It doesn’t matter that it is illegal and you can go to jail for up to four years. Here, everybody has bet at least one peso to a number, "says Ricardo, 57, with that spark in his eyes vices leave behind. Before, he used to gamble more, when there was no food and the Kabbalah helped him look after himself. If there were doves, he betted on the 24. For the day of San Lazaro, 17 and 77, which is "crutches". For the 13th, birthday of Fidel, the number of years he were and 1, because it is 'horse'. Ricardo learned the meaning of the digits first, and then he learned to read. The tradition came from the family. His paternal grandfather was selling tickets before the Revolution, when the results were broadcast on Radio Progreso at two in the afternoon. The same time his fellow countryman Martin Fox became the best banker in the region of Ciego de Avila and became the owner of the Tropicana nightclub in Havana. But in the nineties he gambled due to "hunger." And the rollercoaster of his instincts led him to bankruptcy several times. "At a time...

The Spanish word ‘guajiro’ comes from the English pronunciation of war hero, as Americans called the rebels from the Spanish-Cuban-American War, or so some claim. Actually the word comes from the language of the South American aborigines and means ¨great, or powerful, lord¨. Guajiros, men from the countryside, is the result of a blending of the Spanish and African roots. It gave way to the typical Cuban farmer, whose culture is reflected in its traditions, architecture, music and food. Right in the middle of Havana, El Guajirito Group offers visitors a watercolor of options to enjoy that culture and its traditional food, which does not scorn the exquisite Italian or international cuisine. No one could ever imagine that a building in Zulueta No. 658, between Gloria and Apocada streets, sheltered a giant –traditional and modern– hut. If you ever walk by its front door and two guajiros wearing guayaberas invite you to go up, don’t hesitate in going in El Guajirito, a project with added value to its gastronomic service of Cuban, Italian and international cuisine. Artistica Gallega and Concepcion Arena l societies have hosted it since the 90’s. Inner decorations focus on stones, wood and leather. The handcrafted furniture...

Last week some news on the first Cuban software on health, which is freely distributed on Infomed’s website, hit the medical community in Cuba. The “brain” behind the National Medicines Glossary, available for Android, is a 38-year-old doctor, a gastroenterologist from the National Gastroenterology Institute (ING by its acronym in Spanish), who happens to be an amateur on informatics. His name is Oscar Villas Jiménez and he tries to solve every medical issue with algorithms. Since college he realized of the opportunities computer science has to offer and he devoted himself to the management of data bases. At that time he developed his first software. When he entered the Medicine School he created the website of that institution and later on did the same for the first Cuban medical mission in the world: Haiti. Before graduating he designed the Perinatal Mortality Committee (CMP by its acronym in Spanish), back in a timewhen the data collected in 20 years on that category nationally could be saved in a single floppy. He was also the first assistant student at the Center of Cybernetics applied to Medicine, the guiding center on medical informatics in Cuba. When he started at ING, reports were done...

When irregularities in the sending of parcels to Cuba seemed to be giving a break to, a crushing blow came: the new regulations of Customs. The valid essence of no allowing imports of commercial value attracted, however, the upsetting of more than one million Cubans living abroad and of the thousands of collaborators who serve throughout the world, as well as the millions of recipients of international parcels on the island. But why measures taken to combat illegal acts arouse so much controversy? In the case of consignments by sea, air, postal and courier fundamental changes are summarized in the possibility of packaging only 10 kilograms (kg) per shipment, reducing from three to 1.5 kilos those tax exempt for recipients. Tariff payments to recipients are the equivalent of 20 CUC per kilogram after the first one and a half kilo and then they must pay 100 percent of the value of the parcel, that is, up to 150 CUC (170 dollars). For the nearly 12,000 strong men medical mission in Brazil, the new restrictions are not encouraging. Dr. Julia Round Mizeida Reyes, from the State of Ceará, writes that "if we consider the 30 kilos of luggage in our return,...

A week’s package is as varied and different as many deliverers there may be. Variations in the content depend on who prepares the package and how many people it gets in touch with. However, they are pretty much homogeneous. The package we analyzed was released on June 2, 2014 and was received in Centro Habana on June 4, in the afternoon. It weights 465 gigabytes and costs three Cuban convertible pesos (cuc). It is divided in 20 alphabetically arranged sections. Folders are empirically classified depending on interests rather than contents. There is not a section for audiovisuals for instance; they are rather arranged by themes. The same applies for the information from the web and computer appliances. Regarding the information from the web and computer appliances, there is one division for antivirus updates, including Kaspersky and NOD32. The folder named Applications comprises PC and cell phone apps for different systems. Another folder is reserved for computer games. Content The Humor section covers famous Hola Soy German, WTF and Cuban-American Pichi Boys. In soap operas there are about 50, which are being broadcasted, while there are about 30 Doramas –its Korean homologue. In cartoons you may find recently premiered films and...

Doctor Androvis García Pupo is an expert in preparing packages to dispatch to Cuba. He buys a box and fills it with shoes and grooming products. It never weighs over three kilograms, so that his parents, his wife, nor his children have to pay a penny for receiving them. His room in Ribeirão das Neves, which he shares with colleagues taking part in the program Mas Medicos en Brasil (More doctors in Brazil), is full of small bulks everywhere. However, assuring these deliveries get to Cuba has latelybecome an odyssey. Ribeirão das Neves is located in the State of Minas Gerais, which is not so different from his home province in Cuba, Las Tunas. Its inhabitants are people from the countryside or craftsmen mostly making a living in the nearby municipalities. For that reason, during the day it is called “dorm city”. Yet, as well as in his home province in the eastern part of the Cuba, there is a hospital, a cemetery, a church, and a post office. Androvis pays the post office a monthly visit to dispatch his packages to Cuba. This doctor is also one of the readers of OnCuba who commented the statements by the Cuban...

In recent months, sending parcels from abroad to Cuba is affected by delays or losses. To explain the complicated process parcels go through to reach the recipient, the Correos de Cuba Business Group (GECC) held a press conference. Engineer Zoraya Bravo Fuentes, Director of Postal Operations of Correos de Cuba explained that the difficulties begin from the moment the sender chooses the company to send their packages and how. The General Customs of the Republic published a note about it on the list of parcel agencies with ties to the island As for the shipping basically there are two: the Universal Postal Service (divided into regular and certified) and the Private Express Messaging Service. "In Cuba basically the ordinary sending is used, it is the cheapest to users. Suffice it to say that, for example, over 90 percent of international packages from the United States are of the ordinary type "specified Bravo Fuentes. But what characterizes a normal shipment? "They have no control, nor certificate on what they contain, so we do not know where it is until it arrives in Cuba. They don’t have compensation nor can we know if it got lost on the island or in the...

Artex’s promotion and commercialization Agency for Technical and Professional Services has been in charge of spreading the work of Cuba’s best artistic exponentsinternationallyfor almost two decades. The Meeting of Ballet Academies in Havana and Ramona de Sáa Bello, director of the National Ballet School, highlights the experiences of Cuban choreographers, professors and dancers in Brazil, signs a new cooperation agreement with that South American nation and for that thanks D’Arte professional services agency. However, the renovation and expansion of the contract that has taken many Cuban dancers to Brazil is but the tip of the iceberg; D’Arte also offers to the world Cuban cultural talent in all its dimensions. The General Manager of the Agency, Leonor Vicéns Martínez, explains that the company “is authorized to export all kinds of technical assistance or qualified labor force, which also means sharing knowledge and experience. We export professors for all artistic and cultural manifestations. But not just that, we also export professionals such as dancers, singers, circus artists, chefs, librarians, editors, producers and many others. Ballet and music, for instance are in high demand, mostly in Brazil and Mexico, where the Cuban teaching method is highly coveted”. D’Arte emerged in 1997 as a...

For the first time Cuba will host a scrabble world championship. Cuba Scrabble Promoting Group is looking for sponsors and support to host such event next October. The international tournament Cuba Scrabble was recently concluded in Havana. There, 12 Cubans and two Mexicans clashed during 15 rounds in the classic modality for the places for the world championship. First place Rolando Guadalupe Martínez, champion for five times in a row of the classifying event, and second placeMiguel Stevens Gómez, will join other six Cubans that will compete at the 18thCuba Scrabble Championship 2014. This is the largest number (8) of Cuban participants in a world championship of this kind. Besides, for the first time, Havana will host such event with tens of Spanish speaking participants not only from Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean, but also from France, Sweden, Israel, Switzerland and Poland. Arturo Ernesto Alonso, president of theCuba Scrabble Promoting Group answered a few questions about this game in Cuba and the preparations for the world championship in Spanish. How did the Cuba Scrabble Promoting Group emerge? We are a community project whose main purpose is the spreading, promotion and teaching of Scrabble in Cuba among children, youngsters and...

An artist born in Israel and raised in France was, during the 90’s, the youngest television host worldwide. Her music is mixed today in French, Hebrew and Spanish, chanson, rikudim and salsa. Edith Piaf’s most famous song has been taken to Cuban salsa. The strains of La vie en rose travel like an expansive wave around the audience at the Fine Arts Museum who joins the timba choir. This version is not interpreted by Edith but by a musical revelation with an explosive name and a preference for rumba. If music were a natural language and rhythms were foreign languages, artists Orly Solomon would definitely speak “Cuban” all the time. Orly, first know in Latin America as Candela (Fire) and then as Explosion Francesa (French Boom), could be taken for a Cuban girl from the capital, if she didn’t have such accent. Nonetheless, this thirty-year-old woman is characterized by the blending of Jewish perseverance, French glamour and Cuban joy. Prior to the preparations for her concert on the occasion of the Francophone Festival she gave us a few minutes for an interview. —You were born in Israel, grew up in France and now live in Cuba. How do you identify...