A very little known story of the European Jews who arrived in Cuba during World War II is the basis of a documentary signed by Judy Kreith and Robin Truesdale, with which the hope that that spirit of hospitality “remerges in today’s world.” The film Cuba Forgotten Jewels, a Haven in Havana, concretely reconstructs the case of the displaced Jews who arrived to the island and carried out their trade of diamond polishers there. Judy, a dance teacher, and Robin, the film’s producer, for almost a decade had been interested in the personal history of Marion Finkels Kreith, Judy’s mother, who at the age of 14 escaped from Europe to Cuba, one of the few options there were for refugees at that time. “As a child I heard some stories about my mother’s childhood, but it was only a long time afterwards that I understood the complete story,” Judy, who like Robin lives in Denver, Colorado, affirmed to EFE. A record against time When starting the process of researching for the documentary, not only did they encounter in Havana numerous stories similar to July’s mother’s but also that many had an advanced age and therefore a record had to be...

We are back with dance this week so you can keep on track if you liked last week proposals. This time there is Lizt Alfonso dance Cuba with two presentations in the Cuba National Theatre. And as we like you have more than one option there is also the presentations of the Cuba Spanish Ballet in the Great Theatre. This is the beginning. Follow our lead. In music, we have things for people here and the other side. Keep looking further down. In visual arts there are new expos and talks with artists. In the FAC proposals, as usually, we have a lot. And in cinema, the presence of Cuba in the Doc Fortnight 2018 in MoMa, and in the island the premiere of a documentary directed by the actress Isabel Santos. Would you like to find out more? You know what to do: Look down. See you around!   Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba in the National Theatre Tomorrow 17th, at 8:30pm, and Sunday 18th, at 5:00pm, Alas, winner performance at the UNEAC Choreography Award 2006, will be for the first time in the stage of Avellaneda Hall of the Cuba National Theatre. Right after these presentations the company will...

  The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC), directed by the legendary ballerina Alicia Alonso, announced that it will make a tour of several U.S. cities next May and June. The Cuban company has chosen the classical ballets of its repertoire, Giselle and Don Quixote, for its new presentations in Chicago, Washington and New York. The first presentations are programed for Chicago on May 18, 19 and 20, and the following ones are previewed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, from May 29 to June 3. The BNC will close its tour in the New York city of Saratoga Springs, from June 6 to 8, where it will present Giselle in Alicia Alonso’s choreographed version. Giselle is considered the peak character of the artistic career of Alonso and she won the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris in 1966 for her version of that ballet; and in 1972 the Paris Opera Company incorporated it to its repertoire. The leading characters of both pieces will be interpreted by the ballerinas Anette Delgado, Viengsay Valdés, Grettel Morejón, Sadaise Arencibia, Ginett Moncho, Ely Regina Hernández, Chavela Riera and Claudia García, and dancers Rafael Quenedit, Patricio Revé and...

The United States and Cuba continued the round of technical meetings of recent weeks with one on their collaboration in the prevention and struggle against money laundering. The meeting, held in Washington, is the second between the authorities of both countries on this subject and “took place in a climate of respect and professionalism,” according to a press release sent by Cuban Embassy in Washington. The release explains that “the tendencies of this scourge on a regional level, the principal experiences in confronting money laundering and the next steps that will be taken to advance in bilateral collaboration on this matter” were dealt with in these talks. The United States, as has been customary in all this series of technical meetings, still did not comment in relation to the meeting. The representatives of Cuba “emphasized on the need to increase cooperation between the authorities of both countries to guarantee that this criminal modality be confronted effectively,” the Havana press release points out. “Both sides coincided in that it is necessary to act with determination against this type of incidents and those who commit them and there was consensus in that there is no room for impunity,” it added. The Cuban...

Despite the investments made by the State, the state of hospitals in Cuba suffer due to the “negligence” and “lack of discipline” which is reflected in the “depredation” of materials and frequent hygiene problems due to the obstruction of pipes and the bad management of food waste, the daily Granma published. “The quality of hospital care depends, to a great extent, on the infrastructure, but negligence and lack of discipline can mar the efforts made in relation to this,” the Cuban publication pointed out about “a phenomenon that is unfortunately recurrent in the country.” The windows, pipes, bathroom and electrical fixtures are the object of thefts and other types of indiscipline in hospitals like the Lucía Íñiguez Landín of the province of Holguín, used as an example in the article. The recent million pesos’ worth of investments to improve this center “are marred by the lack of social discipline and vulgar criminal acts that undermine the good march of the hospital and lead to the use of additional sums of money,” the hospital’s director, Luis Manuel García, said. In late 2016, “faucets and parts of the bathroom sinks, shower heads, lights and sockets, a great deal of them stolen by...

  The United States appointed Philip Goldberg as chargé d’affaires to Cuba. When he was ambassador to Bolivia, the diplomat was expelled in 2008 by President Evo Morales accused of conspiring against the government. A spokeswoman from the Department of States’ Latin America Bureau, who requested anonymity, reported to EFE that it is programmed that Goldberg assume his functions as acting chargé d’affaires in the Embassy in Havana. The U.S. government has always denied Morales’ accusations against Goldberg, but it responded to his exit and declaration of persona non grata with the expulsion of then Bolivian Ambassador Gustavo Guzmán. The two nations have not had ambassadors again despite the fact that in 2011 they signed an agreement to normalize relations, which is why their topmost diplomatic representation level is their chargés d’affaires. Goldberg was ambassador in La Paz from 2006 to 2008; between 2010 and 2013 he held the post of deputy secretary of state for intelligence and research; and between 2013 and 2016 he was ambassador to the Philippines. In August 2016, two months before leaving that post, he was in the center of a controversy with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who called him a “son of a bitch”...

Far from the Caribbean beaches and warm breeze, a Cuban family cuddles up in a small room of a cold refugee center in Serbia while they try to elucidate their next step. They form part of an unusual affluence of Cuban migrants who started getting to the Balkan Peninsula in 2015 before the neighboring countries of the European Union closed their borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing from war and poverty. Now the family of three is stranded in Serbia, which doesn’t belong to the EU and is the last place they would like to be, in addition to Cuba. “I know that life here is difficult, very, very difficult,” Michael Amor said while sitting on a bunk bed with his wife Ingrid and their 13-year-old daughter Samira. “I wouldn’t wish the trip here to anybody. Life is very difficult. What I want is to have a life that’s a bit better for my daughter,” Amor said. Michael Amor, his wife Ingrid and their daughter Samira in a room of the refugee center in Sot, Serbia. Photo: Darko Vojinovic / AP. In Cuba, Amor worked in construction and only earned the equivalent of 30 dollars a month. The...

  The U.S. government’s Cuba Internet task force will study for a year how to expand access to the web on the island so that Cubans can have “free and unregulated flow of information,” despite the Cuban authorities’ rejection of this initiative. The task force, created on January 23, met for the first time this Wednesday in the Department of State, with no public broadcasting and with limited access for some media, which is why the majority only received a press release after the meeting. The press release doesn’t explain how this committee aims to put into practice its strategy with the strong rejection of the Cuban government, which even sent a protest note last week because it considers that the task force pursues “subversive ends.” The task force is presided over by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs John S. Creamer and is made up by several government agencies like the Agency for International Development (USAID), in addition to NGOs like Freedom House, a center of specialized studies on democracy and freedom of expression. Its mission over the next year will be “to examine technological challenges and opportunities for expanding Internet access in Cuba” by two subcommittees, one...

A woman returns to Cuba after several years of absence. She does so to care for her father, who is already old and sick – who’s intention is unknown to her -, and discovers a country different from the one she left. This is the plot of 25 horas (25 Hours), a film directed by Carlos Barba Salva and the only Cuban short contesting in the last Havana International New Latin American Film Festival. With this project, Carlos – who is from Guantánamo but lives in Los Angeles, California – made his debut in the field of fiction with the backing of experienced artists like Isabel Santos and Enrique Pineda Barnet. The filmmaker spoke to OnCuba about the motivations and schemes of his film. What drove you to make 25 horas? I believe it has to do with wanting to tell a story where both worlds are combined: that of the island and that of the Cubans abroad. I have always thought that the land that gives shelter to an immigrant is also his homeland and I have seen many Cubans return to the island with great happiness, but at the same time missing that other country where they created...

Valentine’s Day is getting closer and we invite to celebrate it with Dance. Two premiers from two outstanding Cuban dance companies. On one side, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba with Mas alla del polvo, a world premiere by Cuban choreographer and dancer Miguel Altunaga. On the other hand, Acosta Danza, lead by Carlos Acosta with this new season Mitos, starting in Havana and continuing with a tour all over the Island. You can’t miss anything of this. We’ll keep moving with Music cause, what a better way to fall in love? Look down the presentations and the artist of your preference and book the date. We bring everything for everyone. In Visual Arts, La Marca is celebrating its third anniversary. Check that out and join them. In Literature, there are still some proposals from the International Havana Book Fair. For closure, as every week, the FAC program. We’ve been trying to make you fall and we want you to fall for us. So look and find, cause we have plenty. See you around!   Danza Contemporanea opening From today until Sunday, Danza Contemporanea returns to the Great Theater of Havana, this time with Mas alla del polvo, a world premier by...

Artist of Cuban origin Alexi Devilliers, known for his robot figures made of tinplate and old utensils, has been able to bring together three of the things people like the most in life: cooking, art and solidarity. Devilliers creates robot-looking sculptures with the cans and cooking utensils he uses when preparing food for hundreds of homeless persons in Arizona. “I like helping the elderly, cooking and I like making my art. My works are appreciated, the people understand that it is a funny and at the same time sad art, full of feeling, what could have been in the garbage now has sense,” said to EFE Devilliers, who has been residing in Phoenix, Arizona, for 15 years. The artist born in the Bronx (New York) to a Cuban family found the path that has led him to sell his sculptures worldwide when he started the work of feeding homeless people. “I saw hungry people in the park, I’m Cuban, I always cook a lot and I had leftovers, so I bought more beans, rice and pork and started giving food to 50 persons,” he recalled. He has been giving out food every Saturday for eight years, “without fail,” to close...

  Viñales Valley, one of the star zones of Cuban tourism, is being threatened “by violations, illegal activities and uncontrolled overexploitation,” which has made it necessary to adopt measures for its protection, according to what the Cuban daily Juventud Rebelde warns. Viñales is one of the sites most visited on the island, which in 2016 received more than 700,000 tourists and some 600,000 last year, according to the Cuban Ministry of Tourism. Its values include its singular natural beauty, marked by its paradigmatic mogotes (round-top hills), its architectural heritage and the conservation of traditional procedures in agriculture and crafts. Because of this it was declared a National Monument in 1976, a Protected Area in 1998, A World Cultural Landscape in 1999 and a National Park since 2001. To welcome the flourishing boom of travelers, this town in the province of Pinar del Río currently has 2,300 rooms for rent and more than 130 restaurants that employ around 5,000 private workers, according to José Antonio Valle, president of the municipal government. Valle explained that the interest awoken by Viñales generates that persons from other regions started to create gastronomic services and accommodations for tourism in the zone of Viñales. The director...

As almost always happens in Cuba when it’s a question of planes and airports, this time I was able to get to Santiago through a combination of magic, stubbornness and resistance. A dark and hot Rancho Boyeros airport terminal 1 received me, surrounded by the dust of the construction. And all this without a notification to apologize to the passengers for the inconveniences they were causing. It seems these omissions are part of our service culture. Whoever wants to go to fly to Santiago after being able to buy a ticket sufficiently in advance, has to, above all else, overcome this obstacle which is to dispatch your luggage in those conditions and later make time in a last waiting! room with the windows blocked off. The landing was different. Santiago’s airport was modest but operative. However, I was surprised to see that information about the city, its most important sites, its most popular places, barely existed. There was no sign telling national and foreign tourists we had arrived to such a special place, to a city so full of history. I didn’t see a billboard that told visitors they had arrived at the place where Cuba’s rum had been born;...

The Trump administration’s restrictions and warning about traveling to Cuba have not convinced several U.S. travel agencies and organizations, which continue promoting visits to the island. In a Fox News feature, heads of these agencies said that the Department of State has not contributed proof that Americans are at risk when traveling to Cuba. “There is no proof about a sonic or any other attack. There have been no travel warnings for any other country,” affirmed Bob Guild, vice president of Marazul Tours, one of the oldest U.S. agencies specializing on travel to Cuba. Guild and representatives of other companies commented to Fox that in a recent meeting with Department of State officials they had not received any new and convincing information about the alleged attacks suffered months back by some 20 U.S. diplomats in Havana. “We want more information about who these persons were, how they were affected and how they are now,” said Guild, who added that they had not been given “specific information.” Americans’ trips to Cuba increased with the reestablishment of bilateral relations during the Barack Obama government. In 2016 close to 285,000 Americans visited the island, a figure that rose to 619,000 last year. If...

Donald and Melanie Trump wanted a museum in New York to lend them a Van Gogh painting for their private rooms in the White House. According to the daily The Washington Post, instead of that, the curator of the Guggenheim Museum made them a clearly satirical counteroffer: a toilet made of pure gold by an Italian artist. The couple requested the painting “Landscape with Snow” by Van Gogh, which shows a man walking his dog. The museum’s curator, Nancy Spector, has openly criticized Trump on the social media. In September she sent an email to the White House saying that the Trumps could receive on loan the toilet that until mid-September had been used by visitors in a museum bathroom. The 18-karat toilet titled “United States” is a criticism by Maurizio Cattelan of the nation’s greedy instincts. It is estimated that it is worth more than a million dollars. In her email Spector included a picture and said that they regretted not being able to satisfy their original request but that they hoped this special offer would be of their interest. The toilet could be a “long-term loan,” she wrote, adding that of course it was extremely valuable and a...

  Legal, safe and hospitable were the most repeated adjectives to define Cuba as a tourist destination during a meeting of U.S. companies with the media in Havana. Cuba Media Day brought together in the Meliá Cohiba Hotel some 20 U.S. travel companies and organizations, among them airlines, cruise line companies and tour operators, and the opinion of their representatives was unanimous: traveling to Cuba does not represent a danger for Americans. The event, promoted by insightCuba, with a long experience in the organization of trips to the island, backed the visits despite the Trump administration’s new regulations and the travel warning issued by the Department of State as a consequence of the alleged acoustic attacks against U.S. diplomats in Havana. For Tom Popper, president of insightCuba, there are no reasons for the warning. Popper, who chaired the meeting’s main panel, recalled that according to an Associated Press report the FBI, after an exhaustive investigation, had not found proof of the attacks alleged by the Trump government. Tom Popper. Photo: Claudio Pelaez Sordo. Moreover, Popper celebrated that Cuba had received this January 18 the Excellences Award as one of the world’s safest destinations at the Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR)...

The place for the week is La Cabaña. There will be a little bit for everyone in this 27th Havana International Book Fair. Starting today you can get to the other side of the bay or any of the other spots where is taking place in Havana. Later on, the Fair will travel the rest of Cuba so you’ll have books for a while. You’ll see here some of the options for the occasion: book launching, panels, lectures, concerts, etc. Always remember we’ll update daily our Facebook profile so you don’t miss anything. Stroll down and find Music, there will be concerts everywhere. In Visual Arts, go to Old Havana for a new expo. In Cinema, the Cuban film premier of Los Buenos Demonios, and a tribute to one of the greatest of the 7th French art. In FAC, everything! Stop by and you’ll see. Main course since today: the Book Fair, but you’ll still have time for the rest. Look and find ‘cause we have a lot. Don’t let the others tell you the stories. See you around!   Reading is growing The 27th Havana International Book Fair is here. The Popular Republic of China will be the Invited...

  Five Cubans were imprisoned in the United States since 1998 under circumstances that moved almost an entire country. Only two of them served their full sentences. The other three were released during the secret and unexpected negotiation between the governments of Raúl Castro and Barack Obama, which included the release of contractor Alan Gross – imprisoned in Cuba for five years – and the outlining of a course for the normalization of relations between both countries in 2014. That’s how important they were. In more than a decade the major part of the Cuban people were mobilized for solidarity, together with innumerable persons in the world, to demand the reparation of what was considered a great injustice. Five Cuban men who resisted coming to an agreement with the U.S. government and maintained their innocence were raised in Cuba to the category of Heroes. While the district attorney accused them of espionage and – one of them – of conspiring to commit murder, the Five and their lawyers maintained the idea that they were non-registered agents, yes, but that they had acted in favor of their country, in legitimate defense in the face of terrorist actions against Cuba being conceived...

The creation by the U.S. government of a task force to expand access to the Internet in Cuba is a response to a “failed policy,” according to an article published by the daily Granma. The Communist Party of Cuba newspaper affirms that like previous “subversive” programs organized by the U.S. authorities, the new measure will not be able to change the country’s internal order. “If President Donald Trump’s administration aims to use the new technologies to impose changes in Cuba’s internal organization, he chose very old paths that have already demonstrated in the past their inoperativeness and ineffectiveness,” says the Granma article. For the newspaper, the announcement made this Tuesday by the Department of State “opens the doors to a return to a failed Cold War policy” that both countries had tried to overcome after the reestablishment of bilateral relations during the Obama administration. The creation of this new task force shows that “there is no lack of liquidity” in a “government that is paralyzed and has no funds” when it’s a question of “financing subversive projects against Cuba,” according to the Cuban publication. The force, comprising persons in and outside the U.S. government, seeks the “promotion of the free...

The next Silvio Rodriguez’s neighborhood concert is our first recommendation for the week. With that info we open the billboard today so you don’t miss the track and travel across the Island with Silvio’s songs. Below you’ll find more Music, more places. If you’re a dancer then to dance, and if not, just sit and listen. We have for everyone. In Visual Arts there’s several expos of many artist. In Humor, a special invitation to sing and laugh at the same time. In the FAC program you’ll find almost all art manifestations for this weekend. In Cinema there will be two special cycles for film lovers. You can’t miss it. We wait for you every week. We bring everything for you to choose. See you around!   Silvio in the neighborhood Silvio Rodríguez y Niurka González. Foto: Kaloian. The next Silvio Rodriguez’s neighborhood tour will be today, at 6pm, in Callejas Neighborhood in Arroyo Naranjo Municipality (Intersection of Streets Marti, Coliseo and Dolores). Foe this occasion the guest will be Niurka Gonzalez ( flute and clarinet), Jore Aragon (piano), Jorge Reyes (contrabass), Oliver Valdez (drums and percussion) and Emilio Vegas (vibraphone). Another guest will be Maria Elena Pena, who will...

A box of cigars signed by the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, was sold to the highest bidder in Boston, the United States, for 26,950 dollars, the U.S. RR Auction reported. The box, which the auction house affirmed to have formed part of the Cuban leader’s personal collection (1926-2016), measures 21 x 11 x 7.5 centimeters, contains 24 cigars of the Fundadores type of the Trinidad brand and still has the seal of guarantee of where the Cuban hand-rolled cigars and tobacco came from. Fidel Castro’s signature, in blue ink, can be seen on the wooden box. In March 2002 he handed over the box to U.S. activist and philanthropist of Hungarian origin Eva Haller. Photo: cigaraficionado.com In a letter, Haller explains that Fidel gave her the box of cigars after she had told him, as a joke, that if he signed the box she would sell it and get a lot of money for it, which Castro considered “funny.” This box of hand-rolled cigars, accompanied by a photo of the precise moment in which Castro signed it accompanied by Haller, at that time cost 2,500 dollars. Fidel’s cigars were the ones sold at the highest price within...

The governments of the United States and Cuba held a technical meeting in Washington to talk about penal cooperation and agreed to hold more talks on the issue in the future, a Cuban Embassy press release reported last week. “The meeting took place in a climate of respect and professionalism. Both delegations agreed on the meeting’s usefulness and agreed to continue with these talks in the future,” said the Cuban Embassy in Washington in its note. In that release, Cuban diplomacy did not give details of the specific topics dealt with by the two governments on penal cooperation, an area where there is already a solid bilateral cooperation but there remain difficult matters to resolve, like the request for the extradition of fugitives from both countries. The first official talks on justice and law enforcement between the United States and Cuba took place in November 2015, as part of the thawing process that began in 2014 under then President Barack Obama, a gesture that put an end to half a century of enmity and that culminated in the reestablishment of relations. Last Friday, U.S. and Cuban representatives held their first working group meeting on cybersecurity and cybercrimes, one of the...

When Rafael Zarza – October 2, 1944 – was barely a child and was in primary education in La Vibora’s José Miguel Gómez School, he was fascinated by a mural that had been ordered from the brilliant Carlos Enríquez: “the shape of the horses, the way of representing the Mambí independence fighters and the green hues” impressed him. A bit later he felt “truly dazzled” when he stopped before a painting of Armando Menocal that recreated the death of Cuban National Hero Antonio Maceo. There was a third encounter, this time with the landscapes of Miguel Melero: it was in the 1950s and those antecedents – plus a correspondence course in a U.S. school – led him to go to a competitive examination convocation and, finally, he was able to enroll in the prestigious San Alejandro Arts Academy in Havana, from where he graduated in painting and drawing. However, in the academy he did not learn the techniques of engraving, a specialty in which he has developed a resounding and continuous work for more than half a century. Zarza has been linked to art, especially engraving, for 50 years. First he was a cartographic draftsman and that work gave him...

  It’s difficult to look at Mario Guerra straight in the face; he has a strong, honest look in his eyes. He is the protagonist of some of the scenes of Cuban cinema and theater that have had the greatest impact on me. He has starred in some 30 feature lengths and a similar number of plays, and I am sure he doesn’t keep count of his participation in shorts. In addition to prizes received, he is recognized in his profession among the best (or the best) Cuban active actors. However, when one speaks with Mayito it’s like talking with someone who doesn’t finish building himself, someone who knows that he hasn’t gotten anywhere…because there’s nowhere to reach. One perceives in his entire work a profound sincerity, as if he could, with his truth, extract everything hidden in us, so to look him straight in the face one has to take a deep breath. Where were you born? I was born in Havana, on a Saturday, on March 5, 1960 at around 5:00 p.m. Farnot is the last name of the doctor who assisted my mother during childbirth. Chance had it that 50 years later they met again and spoke...

We keep listening jazz because we are still talking about Jazz Plaza in Cuba. Have a good one during these days in Havana or Santiago and find the good music. Here you have everything about the international Jazz festival. As you noticed we have been updating daily our Facebook profile. You can complain. Also in music you will see more concerts of different genres in several places. If you wanted music them you will have it. In Visual Arts there are still some expos. In Literature you have the book lunching about Luis E. Camejo. In Theatre the play Departures is back by El Ciervo Encantado. And in the Art Factory a broad program because of the Jazz Plaza of course. This is us for the week. Don’t be stranger and keep our track. You know how to find us. See you around!   Jazz Plaza 2018 General Program During the whole week we have been posting on Facebook everything that’s is been happening in the Jazz Plaza. But the festival is still going on so there are still things for the weekend that you cant miss. Check out everything below or click here. Mezcla, Pablo Menendez’s life Unique concert...