You may never have read or heard about the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Cuba. However, the work of specialists determined the purchasing power of millions of Cubans. In the past, the results of the deliberations of this committee decided how many Cuban pesos a dollar costs or a convertible peso (CUC), as applicable. The MPC was the institution responsible for periodically fix the rate of exchange prevailing on the Exchange Houses (CADECA) between 1994 and 2001, when the currency values fluctuated in Cuba. Later, on March 18, 2005, it was the entity that placed the value between the Cuban peso and his "brother" , the convertible peso : a ratio of 25 to 1, still in force at the time these lines are published . The Doctor in Economics Pavel Vidal worked as a specialist in the committee in question for several years. From his position he saw the dollar became worth 20 pesos, then its devaluation after the attacks of September 11 and their ultimate recovery. Vidal is one of the people who have written the most on the subject of the dual currency and the mystery that accompanies it: the path to its disappearance....

The decrease in nickel prices and a slowdown in growth in most of Europe affected in 2013 the Cuban economy, which increased in 3% at the end of the year, cipher that will be maintained in 2014, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reported. According to the p reliminary o verview of the Latin America and the Caribbean e conomies, that of Cuba will register in 2014 a growth that will remain in the same 3%, matching the previous two years. The slowdown in the European economy directly impacted the level of tourism on the island, while the decline in nickel prices meant lower receipt of outside income . This situation would worsen considering the economic, commercial and financial blockade still in force on the Caribbean island, the document states. According to the international institution, several measures in different sectors of the economy were implemented this year in Cuba , in the context of the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy. The implementation of a fiscal policy to rationalize public expenditure, according to the report, managed to reach surplus resources in certain sectors . Therefore, it is expected this year's fiscal deficit to close in...

How to make a movie? That could be the big question that keeps awake for more than three decades to William Horberg, successful Hollywood producer who by these days is involved in the 35th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana. Bill Horberg offered on Monday December 9 a keynote lecture at the Hall 1930 of the Nacional Hotel. His "first experience of this kind," he told OnCuba moments before starting the conversation, which main objective was the work of the producer within the process of conducting a film, an area in which the Californian has extensive experience with unforgettable titles like Cold Mountain, The Godfather III, Ghost, etc . The meeting, offered as part of the Havana Festival, was essentially on his work as independent producer heading the company Wonderful Films, which he owns. After starting with the Paramount Pictures and becoming there one of the Vice Presidents of Production, in 1991 Horberg followed his own vision that led him to create his own company. Wonderful Films is not just a name, he says, is also a concept, his concept, of excellence to which he aspires when deciding to produce a film: a great script, a great...

At Soccer City stadium of Johannersburgo thousands of people gathered this morning to say their farewell to Nelson Mandela. About a hundred of Heads of State or Government also attended the church service for the South African leader, who died last Thursday at 95. U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro were two of the six heads of state appointed to speak in honor of Madiba. In a historic move two presidents greeted cordially in public, minutes before Obama was directed towards the podium to deliver his words of condolences to the thousands of South Africans who gathered under heavy rain in the famous district of Soweto , Johannesburg . It was only seven or eight seconds. A moment aired live on CNN and NBC, two of the major television networks in the world. The images have gone viral on the web. Other speakers at the ceremony presidents Dilma Rousseff ( Brazil ) , Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia ) and Pranab Mukherjee (India ) , and Vice President Li Yuanchao (China ) .

Information note of the Cuba Interests Section in Washington On December 6, 2013, the M & T bank informed the Cuba Interests Section in Washington its decision to grant an extension to the closure of the accounts of the Cuban diplomatic mission in the U.S., until March 1st 2014, stating that it will receive deposits for consular services until February 17, 2014 . The Interests Section reports that it will reopen consular services immediately , temporarily , until February 17, 2014 . The Interests Section of Cuba continues to make efforts to identify a new bank to take over the operation of its accounts and, to the extent that this is achieved, will be able to permanently normalize consular services. The Interests Section of Cuba regrets the inconvenience caused to the Cubans and Americans for the suspended consular services on November 26, 2013 and will provide timely information on developments in this matter. Washington, December 9, 2013

It seems that the solutions begin to emerge between Cuba and the United States. According to a source close to OnCuba, the M & T Bank is negotiating a possible extension of Section of Interests and the Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations , to operate with individual bank accounts to avoid the collapse of Cuban consular services announced last November 26. The period of time allowed is uncertain yet or even in what terms the governments of Cuba and the United States are "actively working ", as the State Department said the day after the close of Cuban consular services, but it appears that the " normal state” reached so far between the two countries, especially in bilateral travel, is the determinant of this extension. Since July 12, the Cuban missions in the United States received notice from the M & T Bank of its refusal to continue to provide services to foreign diplomatic missions and gave them "limited time span to end the relationship and find a new bank through which operate " according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba . In this release, Cuba demanded compliance with the Vienna Convention...

Cuban Jose Contreras recently reached an agreement with the Texas Rangers to play next season in MLB, according to reports from Reuters. The Texas team in the American League has given the Cuban pitcher, 42, a minor league contract that includes an invitation to spring training . Contreras spent last season in the organizations of the Pirates and Red Sox. He made seven relief appearances for the Pirates in May, in which he allowed five runs in five innings. Contreras underwent Tommy John delicate surgery on June 20, 2012, and the right-hander managed to have 2 wins and 3 losses with an ERA of 3.00 in 27 minor league outings in 2013. The right-hander pitcher, who left Cuba in 2002, had his best season in 2005 with record of 15-7 with an ERA of 3.61 for the Chicago White Sox in the regular season and made three starts in the finals towards the World Series title his team won. The Rangers have given thus Contreras the opportunity to become the second oldest pitcher in the franchise history, after the pitcher Nolan Ryan. You can also read an interview with José Ariel Contreras during his visit to Cuba in January this...

The digital portal Caribbean News Digital, said this morning that the Cuban capital topped a list of 54 sites across the globe at the 2013 Travelers ' Choice Awards for Destinations on the Rise. For Latin America and the Caribbean in the Global Top Ten destinations are Costa Rica, Peru, Belize and Brazil. Also there are places in Asia, Europe, South America , South Pacific and USA. The popular tourist guide reference is made taking into account those places that have had a major growth traveller feedback on TripAdvisor website in the past year compared to the last ones. " For those looking for inspiration in the face of their travels in 2014 , users of TripAdvisor have helped us to draw attention to some amazing destinations that captured the interest of international tourism in the last year ," Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer for TripAdvisor told Caribbean News. Similarly Messing noted that, despite the existing restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba, recently allowed modalities through arrangements for travel under licenses from the Treasury Department have opened limited opportunities, previously unavailable. "Many travelers of the world are aware, and as reflected in the opinions of millions of users of TripAdvisor,...

The announcement of the consular functions suspension of the Cuba Interests Section in Washington due to the impossibility of finding a U.S. bank that provide it basic financial services, shows the precarious relations between Cuba and the U.S. Even in an environment of relative relaxation, the existence of uncertainties associated to the existing structures of hostility, as the presence of Cuba on the terrorist countries list by the State Department, or a health crisis of contractor Alan Gross, prisoner in Cuba, could derail the little progress in relations between the two countries. Policymakers in Washington and Havana should anticipate and avoid that scenario. None of the two governments want to dispense with the interest sections created in 1977, during Carter administration. Cuba has in its first consulate in Washington a not insignificant entry to U.S. political world and the Cuban community abroad. At the same time, the U.S. government appreciates the usefulness of its office in Cuba. The former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stated in her memoirs that the U.S. would like to replicate the experience of the interest sections with Iran. Rice considered that the office in Havana enables Washington getting informed and having a space for positive...

For Vladimir Malakhov, the marvelous blond of the mythical Bolshoi School, a scenario is the safest place in the world. He tells it without hesitation, without breathing between the question and the answer, with the same determination he uses in his twists. He is in Cuba again, but now Havana people can not see him dancing, Holguin city will have that privilege and the entire east of the island is waiting for his performances at Eddy Sunol Theater, next December 6 and 7. This Ukrainian, pampered by ballet lovers, confesses that the most important of a show is the public, regardless of the place where it belongs, "If they enjoy, I'm happy." "I do not dance for myself, I try to give everything to the audience, all my emotions, if they return them to me, then I get satisfied. Sometimes I felt that I give a lot, and I get very few in return, luckily it only happens rarely! "In fact, the public decides what is the perfect performance, is the one who judges it, I'm never completely satisfied with my performances, even when everyone tells me that I did it perfectly, I always want to know what is wrong,...

Persistent rains in western Cuba this weekend caused a total of 135 collapses in buildings in Havana ( 117 partial and 18). According to statements made by Juan Montalvo , vice president of the Administration Council in the province, " 1,546 people were evacuated from their homes , totaling 417 households , 200 of which have moved in with friends , family and neighbors , and the rest to c protection enters enabled by governments in each municipality. " Among the most affected localities is the municipality of Centro Habana, which in less than 48 hours recorded rainfall of 283 millimeters (mm) , second only to Plaza de la Revolucion with 289 mm and and Playa with 390.6 mm. Montalvo explained the importance of maintaining the necessary precautionary measures by the population in housing and areas more likely to suffer affectations, because once the rains culminated, weakened structures of the buildings tend to collapse so that people who were evacuated “should not return home until after the appropriate evaluation of their safety." "The death toll from rains remains in two, who died last Friday in an early collapses in the Centro Habana" he said. Showers associated with the fourth cold...

Near the end of this year the authorities recognize that this 2013 there will be a slight increase in cases of HIV infection in Cuba, which ranks 18 among the world lowest level of transmission, and only 0.19 % prevalence of cases of carriers of the virus. During the mid 80s of last century, in Cuba was detected in the first case of a patient with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Earlier, a group of American scientists had made known the new infectious disease spread very rapidly across continents . Since then, worldwide, the number of people affected increased, especially among adolescents. Between 2005 and 2012, for example, the number of infected between 10 and 19 years doubled. The number of deaths rose from 38,000 in 2001 to 107,000 a decade later. The routes of infection were, first, by unprotected sex, especially among men, and drug users who contracted the virus through contaminated syringes. Among the groups most at risk, they also are victims of sexual exploitation. 99% of HIV-positive was infected by unprotected sex. "We diagnose still people who did not have any information nor had partial or even erroneous knowledge about ways to protect themselves, or even having...

A banking blow that can paralyze the Cuba Interests Section in Washington, threatens to frustrate hundreds of thousands of Cuban immigrants who plan to celebrate with their families in Cuba Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This is another result of the blockade imposed on the island and probably a trip to the efforts of the administration to update its policy, as has been recently expressed by President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry. In the United States virtually any activity involving receipts and payments cannot be performed outside the banks. By denying the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba access to these services, they are virtually forced to close. Without operating bank accounts, the Cuban consulate cannot issue visas and passports, but they cannot also pay salaries and rent, electricity, water, electricity, taxes and other necessary expenses. The measure affects all who need to travel to Cuba and require passports or visas, relentlessly hits the emigrants who number about 450 000 per year traveling to the island for family reasons and, incidentally, ruins the work of some 300 entities that sell or manage such trips, affects companies that lease their aircraft for charter flights, placed against the wall business packages...

The news is unfortunate in Havana: 49 buildings collapsed, including eight in total, 400 households were evacuated and two fatalities were reported by the authorities. That is the visible balance of rainfall that has taken by assault the streets of Havana in the last two days. The fact was predictable, except for some much selected sites of the city, the rest of the city has construction problems, especially in neighborhoods in Centro Habana and Old Havana. It is no coincidence then that the two deaths were currently located on this territory. According to reports by Granma newspaper, Fidel Recios Vega, 54 years old, and Pastora Góngora Mendoza, 60, died last Friday when their houses collapsed in the building located in Campanario 619 between Salud and Reina Streets, located in Centro Habana. In this capital municipality there were reported 289 millimeters of rainfall in just 48 hours, that, besides the collapsing, caused the temporary closure of some routes by flooding that hampered the movement of vehicles. Images taken on the streets of Havana during this weekend speak for themselves: cars stranded, the water level well above the sidewalks and ruined buildings are just the alert. According to reports Prensa Latina news...

Sugar cane was quintessential Cuba for a long time and, although we don’t dream it will regain the top place it once had, it aims to revive the sugar industry and of other cane derivatives. A few days after the harvest started, OnCuba suggests the “Harvested area , production and yield of sugarcane per harvest , destination industry” table by the National Bureau of Statistics and Information , which tracks rates of harvested area by period, the resulting production and yield per hectare; separated in all cases by state of non-state activity. Registration, at the beginning of the 1984-1985 harvest, can trace an evolutionary curve of the last thirty years of planting and harvesting of sugar cane, which remains relatively stable until the 1993-1994 harvest, when there is a decline in rates production. In the period 2002-2003 the rate of harvested area falls , reflecting the central dismantling and removal of the sugar industry in sharp break " with a tradition of four centuries had made the sugar production the locomotive national economy , "according to journalist Renato Recio . At that time the resolution 77 of the then Ministry of Sugar was signed, which resulted in the deactivation of...

On July 12, 2013, M&T Bank informed the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., about its decision to no longer provide banking services to foreign missions and a limited period of time was given to the Cuban Interests Section and the Cuban Permanent Mission to the United Nations to close all accounts and find a new bank to do business with. Due to the restrictions still in force, derived from the U.S. policy of economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba, and despite the numerous efforts made with the Department of State and several banks, it has been impossible for the Cuban Interests Section to find a U.S. or international bank with branches in the U.S. to operate the bank accounts of the Cuban diplomatic missions. This situation will seriously affect the normal performance of the functions of the Cuban Interests Section and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Due to this circumstance of force majeure, the Cuban Interests Section is forced to interrupt consular services, starting from November 26, 2013, until further notice. Consular services will only be provided for humanitarian cases and other of specific nature. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., has reiterated to the...

After ten years of conception and almost thirty after the creation of the Institute of Industrial Design (ISDI by its Spanish acronym) -leading institution in training graphic and industrial designers in Cuba, the Designer Registry came into force on November 12, "for the purpose of enhancing and protecting "domestic and foreign workers of the sector. The legal tool will come to order and control an exercise as essential as underestimated where intrusion has become norm, endorsed by the need for survival that leads to be "musician, poet and crazy." To engineer Carlos Franco Parellada, director of the Register, the essence of this is to "preserve those (designers) duly qualified." Hence, following the established schedule, it will be compulsory to be registered for such a profession. Franco estimates that more than 3000 people, about 1500 graduates from ISDI and a higher number of non-graduates who have knowledge and experience in this field will be present. The latter will be evaluated by a committee -they will have 30 days to deliver an opinion from the inscription, from December 2nd onwards. The Register will be a database and a reference for any institution urged of design professionals. While it has not commercial character,...

Ebert Trujillo, affectionately known as Uncle, is a Cuban who, inspired by his travels in South America decided to start a cycle tourism business in Havana. His familiarity with the versatile vehicle that served him for years first for moving to school and then to work , earned him to add this proposal , creative and unusual in the Havana context - to the long list of private businesses in Cuba , within the process of economic restructuring carried out by the government of the island since 2008. To know some details of his business, which Internet use plays a key role, OnCuba spoke with Ebert. Cycling?? Like many people of our generation, the Chinese bike was my means of transportation to the high school, on vacation, for example, we went in groups to the eastern beaches or Lenin Park. For a long time I did not have a decent bike , until 2009 when I bought one good to go to work, since then I have not got in a bus anymore. During my stay in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I learned about a very cheap deal for a city bike tour at night to make it interesting. I loved...

Ana's film, the latest work by Cuban filmmaker Daniel Diaz Torres, who died recently in Havana, is among 10 candidates for the award of Best Ibero American Film that the Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences of Spain grants. The feature film, produced by the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), is a comedy about an actress (Ana) without much professional luck that tries her acting skills to the limit. Due to exceptional circumstances, Ana becomes the director of a mockumentary which includes her among its protagonists. The cast of the film includes actresses Laura de la Uz and Yuliet Cruz, in the leading roles, along Tomás Cao, Paula Alí, Yerlín Pérez, Rodolfo Faxas, Blanca Rosa Blanco and Enrique Molina, among others. In the last edition of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Ana’s film won the Coral award for Best Script by Eduardo del Llano and Diaz Torres, Leading Actrees for de la Uz , and the Amazonas Films Distribution award, becoming the most prominent of Cuban films that entered in the competition . On the movie the protagonist Laura de la Uz said before it's a funny movie and also a call to reflection...

The Russians return to Cuba and this time it seems that will help in the search for oil. President Raul Castro received on the afternoon of Saturday November 23, 2013 Igor Sechin, executive director of the oil company Rosneft. The news came two days after the meeting took place. Sechin, who heads the oil company owned by the Russian government, is visiting Cuba chairing a delegation from Moscow. One of the topics discussed between Castro and Sechin was the training of technicians and specialists in the oil industry, as reported in an article published in the Cuban press. Another point of discussion was the Mariel and the prospects of its Special Development Zone. In the meeting also participated Boris Kovalchuk, CEO of Inter RAO, a Russian energy holding company that sells energy machinery to Cuba and has a representative office in the Island Everything indicates that the meeting addressed the issue of investment in oil and in the Cuban energy sector since Raul Castro was accompanied by his Minister of Energy and Mines, Alfredo López Valdés, and Antonio Carricarte Corona, Acting Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment, who takes the place of Rodrigo Malmierca during his stay in Brazil. In...

The Cuban newspaper Granma in its edition on Friday announced the start on a pilot basis the new concept called the State Order, for the purpose of progress in strengthening public management. The test involves several companies belonging to the Ministries of Industry, Construction and Energy and Mines. The directors of these companies are authorized for wholesale to Cuban institutions, once they have fulfilled their contracts, of surplus selected production and authorized services, taking into account the demands of the market, covering all costs, expenses and tax commitments. As for prices, “they will be in Cuban pesos ( CUP) or convertible pesos ( CUC) and discounts can be made for quality, terms of delivery and marketing , sales in large volumes or other reasons ," the official newspaper said. The implementation of this project will allow businesses to increase their sales and profits, which is a source for recapitalization and increased incomes for workers. The decision is supported by resolutions (No. 641 and 471) of the Ministries of Economy and Finance, respectively, published in the Official Gazette, so that its execution is immediate. This experiment is a preview of what will be gradually implemented in the state enterprise system of...