A total of 27 players make up the Cuban baseball team that from next Wednesday will face the US collegiate team, winner of the last edition of the Haarlem Week tournament. According to the Cuban team manager, Alfonso Urquiola , when readying the final roster they took into account aspects such as the performance of athletes during training in Matanzas, their age, disposition, and possibilities of multifunctionality to assume different roles in the games. Although the preparation was intense and they could exercise in the essential basics of the game, Urquiola highlighted the lack of games with foreign teams to check the level of technical, strategic and especially psychological readiness, something the Americans have not lacked, who must come strengthened by the good performance in the Netherlands. The main strengths of their team, he highlighted, is a good defense and pitching staff with talent, but still inexperienced. The series was agreed to five games and the first two will be held in Matanzas, on the 23 and 24. The other three games will be held in the Capitan San Luis stadium of Pinar del Rio, on 25, 26 and 27. Before the first game, three men may be excluded from...

Cuban President Raul Castro arrived on Wednesday afternoon in Brasilia leading a delegation to attend on Thursday a presidential meeting between Latin American and Caribbean and China leaders, Cuban News Agency reports. At the meeting the delegations of Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador and Antigua and Barbuda, members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) nations will be present, and participation is expected also for the leaders of countries that form the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and Mexico. The event takes place in the context of the Summit of the emerging powers (BRICS), which held its annual meeting on Tuesday in Brazil and approved the creation of a New Development Bank with a capital of 50 billion dollars to fund infrastructure. As part of the event they are holding a UNASUR BRICS Summit, an initiative of the emerging world economies that aims to strengthen ties with developing countries, similar to the meeting organized in 2013 in South Africa, when presidents of various African nations were invited. Although Cuba is not part of the UNASUR, it was invited to the meeting as a member of the CELAC, to have conversations with the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff,...

Fort he first time in Latin America the International Napoleonic Society will celebrate its congress of experts in Havana. The institution, which promotes academic studies on Napoleon Bonaparte and the culture of the epoch he lived, brought together in Cuba twelve nations such as France, the United States, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Canada, Russia, England and Poland. For 12th edition of the event, researchers met in the Cuban capital, which surprisingly treasures one of the most significant Napoleonic collections in the world and the largest and most valuable in the continent. During the congress, sponsored by the City Historian’s Office and the French Embassy in Cuba, more than 30 papers were presented on museology, history, art and restoration, by about a hundred participants on the imprint by this French emperor in the universal history and culture. The event also assessed the patrimonial value treasured at La Dolce Dimora, a small palace that belonged to Cuban-Italian politician Orestes Ferrara, today Havana’s Napoleonic Museum. Among its inestimable objects there is one of his telescopes, a hat, a back tooth, some hair locks, guns and the bedspread that wrapped him up in his death bed in the island of Santa Elena, among other valuable...

“I feel really good and I have received a wonderful treatment. I am really happy”, pointed out singer-songwriter Pablo Milanes after being discharged from Complexo Hospitalario Universitario A Coruña, in Galicia, where he underwent a complex kidney transplant surgery. Milanes, 71 years old, has had a favorable recovery from a surgery where he was transplanted with a kidney from his wife, Galician historian Nancy Perez. He left hospital in the company of his wife and their two sons, 15 days after his admission. According some sources close to the family, Milanes, who declared to be feeling perfectly fine, wanted the surgery to be done at that hospital given the expertise of its medical staff, which is considered one of the best teams in Europe regarding transplants from live donors. The singer-songwriter will spend some time for recovery in Spain and then will return to Cuba to retake his musical career, which is supported by more than 40 single records, a long list of awards and great popularity.

By striking out looking this Friday shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jordy Mercer in the top of the ninth, the stellar closer Holguin Aroldis Chapman, of the Cincinnati Reds, imposed an absolute record in the American Major leagues, with 40 consecutive games striking out one opponent. The supersonic hurler then surpassed the previous mark for a reliever, set in the distant 1977 by Bruce Sutter, when between June 1 and October 2 of that year, struck out 39 opponents in consecutive appearances. Chapman began this streak on August 21, 2013. "I am proud and happy to have done it," Chapman told the AP through an interpreter. "When I heard I had tied it, I thought about it, and now I have to congratulate myself for the record. I pray I will extend it. " In his climb to success, Chapman surpassed the mark of 32 games in 1989 by Jeff Montgomery and Eric Gagne, 35, between 2003 and 2004. In addition to Mercer, Chapman struck out Michael Martinez and Matt Hague, raising his strikeout total to 83 during this period. By comparison, Montgomery managed 59 strikeouts over his record, Gagne 65 and Sutter 87, although the latter threw 65 innings...

The second round of negotiations for a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Cuba will take place in Brussels on August 27 and 28, Europa Press reported. The meeting will promote exchanges on a possible bilateral agreement based on political dialogue, cooperation and trade. The talks will continue the "roadmap for negotiations and other organizational and communication aspects," agreed during the first round of negotiations held in late April of this year in the capital of the island. The understanding between Havana and Brussels would give legal support to bilateral relations and displace the so-called Common Position, a unilateral diplomatic instrument of the group of 28 European nations since 1996 that determines the tense state of relations between the two parties. These approaches, scheduled for every two months at the Cuba and Europe venues alternately, are a result of a proposal from the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, on February 10 that Cuba accepted in March, with the shared purpose of starting a path towards normalization of relations. After the first round of negotiations, representatives of the Island highlighted the constructive and positive nature of the same,...

As it was announced, this Wednesday delegations of Cuba and the United States met in Washington DC to give continuity to the migratory talks that are held twice a year since 1994. Both delegations agreed the talks took place in an atmosphere of respect. OnCuba now reproduces the statement released by the US State Department after the conclusion of the round of talks: Migration Talks With Cuba Press Statement Jen Psaki Department Spokesperson Washington, DC July 9, 2014 On Wednesday, July 9, U.S. and Cuban officials met in Washington to discuss the implementation of the 1994 and 1995 U.S.-Cuba Migration Accords. These talks are held semi-annually. The U.S. delegation was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Alex Lee and the Cuban delegation was led by the Foreign Ministry’s Director General for U.S. Affairs, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro. Under the Accords, both governments pledged to promote safe, legal, and orderly migration between Cuba and the United States. The agenda for the talks reflected longstanding U.S. priorities on U.S.-Cuba migration issues, as well as certain areas where cooperation is in the U.S. national interest, including aviation security, search and rescue at sea, and visa processing. The U.S. delegation also highlighted...

A new round of migratory talks between Cuba and the United States was held this Wednesday, presided by by Edward Alex Lee, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the US State Department, and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Director-General of the US Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. OnCuba reproduces the statement of the Cuban delegation after the round of talks, released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press release issued by the Cuban delegation to the round of migration talks with the United States. Washington, July 9, 2014. On July 9, 2014, a new round of migration talks was held between the delegations of the United States and Cuba, which were presided over, respectively, by Edward Alex Lee, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the US State Department, and Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, Director-General of the US Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting took place in a respectful environment. An analysis was made of the evolution of the migration accords as well as the results of the actions carried out by the parties, both individually and collectively, to combat illegal migration, human smuggling and the falsification of migration...

The president of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will arrive in Cuba on 11 July in his first stop of a Latin American tour that includes official visits to Argentina and Brazil, said on Friday the Kremlin press office. The Russian president will visit to Cuba at the invitation of his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro. "Consultations will pay special attention to the development of economic and trade relations, investments, realization of joint projects in the energy sector, transport, civil aviation, peaceful use of space and health," says the official statement reviewed by the Tass agency. During his stay, Putin has scheduled a meeting with the leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, and the signing of several cooperation agreements in various sectors. Prior to this visit, the lower house of the Russian Parliament (Duma) on Friday ratified an agreement between Russia and Cuba providing for the cancellation of 90% of the debt of Havana with the Soviet Union, which represents about 35.2 billion dollars. The ratified document relates to the annulment of this amount and refunds the remainder (about 3.5 billion dollars) over ten years through investments in the island, according to unofficial sources. Moscow is now the ninth largest...

The Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA) announced the elimination of mandatory minimum payment of five CUC (Cuban Convertible Pesos) per month for cell phones in the country during one of the sessions of the Committee for the Care Services at the National Assembly of the People's Power, according to a report on Radio Rebelde. The change is planned for next November, Mayra Arevich Marín, president of ETECSA, said and added  that has not been brought into force before because it has been necessary to make a series of investments to ensure the infrastructure that will support creating new lines associated with the implementation of the measure. Averich statements took place Wednesday at the Cuban Parliament as part of the analysis of the report of oversight and control of the development plan of telephony in the country, postal activities and the Youth Club of Computing and Electronics. At 2013 year-end there were in Cuba 2,104,600 mobile phone users and is forecast that by the end of 2014 the figure will increase to about three million.

After a moderately prolonged media silence since January and fueled for new comments on all the edges of the national situation, but especially by the enactment of the new foreign Investment Law, this week selling of cars in Cuba made the headlines again. The first Vice President of the CIMEX Corporation, Iset Vázquez Brizuela, told Radio Rebelde that in eleven sales agencies people have purchased 50 cars and 4 bikes with a total value of 1 million 283 000 convertible pesos (CUC). Seventy-five  percent of revenues and taxes from these sales, will be allocated to a fund for the development of public transport, as explained in the press release, which also specifies that only in the provinces of Guantanamo, Granma, Las Tunas, Sancti Spiritus, and Pinar del Río, these vehicles are not sold. In September 2011, with the implementation of Decree No. 292 of the Council of Ministers and other complementary ministerial resolutions, the sale or donation of motor vehicles between natural persons residing in the country, and foreign permanent residents is authorized. But retail would remain state regulated and limited to certain "occupational categories." More than two years later, with the Decree Law No. 320 of the Council of...

Google´s CEO, Eric Schmidt, spoke of his recent visit to Havana on his public profile on the social network Google Plus. International media reported this weekend the executive´s visit to the University of Informatics Sciences (UCI), accompanied by Jared Cohen, Brett Perlmutter and Dan Keyserling, also officials of the company, in order to "promote a free and open Internet "according to his own statements. Schmidt had exporessed since 2013 his interest in traveling to Cuba in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The Caribbean nation was "at the top of the list" of countries that he intended to visit, "Let's go to Cuba, I hope it can happen," he then told the journalist Deborah Kan. Business relations with Cuba have been mediated by the blocking of Google services to users in the country. Features such as Google Earth, Google Destktop Search, Google Toolbar, Google Analytics and Google Code Search have been disabled for the island as part of the blockade policy of the U.S. government. The company representatives traveled with a business visa, controlled by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department. As Schmidt says it is a license that does not allow "doing nothing...

The exhibit Fabelo’s Anatomy, at the Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, California, will be open for the public from June 28 till September. In the third issue of Art OnCuba an article by PhD. Llilian Llanes deals with Roberto Fabelo’s latest drawings; an article we decided to share with our readers. Roberto Fabelo (Guáimaro, 1951) seems to have been born with a pencil in his hand. He majored from the National School of Arts (ENA by its acronym in Spanish), and then from the Higher Institute of the Arts (ISA by its acronym in Spanish), where he worked as a professor for a few years.There I met him and there I had my first experiences of his passion for drawing. I majored in Arts, so I was taught that the History of Arts was the history of painting, sculpture and architecture. However, I felt more attracted to painting, while working at the National Museum of Fine ArtsI had to arrange Martinez Pedro archive, who had told Marta Arjona that if we were able to make it he would donate it to the museum. Back then I was about 18 years old and was still studying at the university....

CUBA IS AT A UNIQUE MOMENT IN its relations with the United States. A survey conducted this year and sponsored by the Atlantic Council, one of the most representative organizations of the U.S. establishment, found that most people in the USA support a change in Cuba policy. The economic blockade of Cuba maintained by the U.S. government is rejected by almost the entire international community, and that includes major figures within the United States. In her recently-released book, Hard Choices, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urges President Obama to end the blockade against Cuba, saying it “wasn’t achieving its goals” and that it hurts both Americans and Cubans. In late May, Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, visited Havana with the goal of learning firsthand about the Cuban government´s economic reforms. According to Donohue, “It’s time to begin a new chapter in U.S.- Cuban relations— and the time to begin is now.” Moreover, important Cuban-born business people, such as sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul, have expressed interest in investing in Cuba. With a growing lobby that supports a change in U.S. policy toward Cuba, quite a few people are predicting concrete measures. However, Cuban- American...

The Geo-Graphics project connecting Cuban designers living in and out of the island, has its website and convenes the first poster contest to select the image of the group exhibition next year The initiative began in 2013 with the aim of promoting Cuban design and increase the cohesion and visibility of the guild, explain its creators. Each year they set up a group exhibition that allows evaluating the current state of design in the country and encourages professional exchange with migrants showing their work at the national audience. Geo-Graphics is a non-profit organization that brings together graduates of the Higher Institute of Design in Havana (ISDI), interested in consolidating the presence of Cuban society through the organization of design samples, various events and competitions. Coordinators consider that "amid growing development experienced by the private sector in Cuba there is a real need to show that the design possibilities offered as success factor in the performance of any business, cultural or social activity." The website of Geo-Graphics is conceived as a platform that will enable designers to visualize their project work and professional portfolio, as part of a directory that includes initiatives and experiences in areas such as audiovisual, illustration, web...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba  issued a statement on Wednesday in connection with the death of Mrs. Evelyn Gross, mother of U.S. citizen Alan Gross, who is serving a sentence of 15 years in prison on the island The note signed by the Director General of the U.S. Department at the Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal Ferreiro, expressed "heartfelt condolences" to his family, and explains that the prison systems of Cuba and the United States did not contemplate the possibility that internal sanctioned travel abroad, before "the doubts expressed by people that wondered why Mr. Gross could not visit her mother ". The statement recalls the cases of three Cuban intelligence agents imprisoned in U.S. federal prisons and points humanitarian elements related to enforcement of sentences imposed upon them. It relates in particular to Gerardo Hernandez, who was unable to travel to the island before the death of his mother, Carmen Nordelo. The statement reiterated Cuba's willingness to find a solution to the case of Alan Gross and Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Ramón Labañino, jointly with the United States government, which is acceptable to both nations and consider "humanitarian concerns of both governments and their respective families.” Alan...

A total of 13 Cuban citizens were condemnedto different sentences up to 30 years imprisonment as a result of an oral hearing carried out from 5 through 7 on a much-talked-about case of intoxication of about a hundred people who drank methanol that had been stolen from the Pharmacy and Food Institute (IFAL by its acronym in Spanish) of the University of Havana. According to the Granma newspaper “the penal treatment given to this case reveals the will of the Cuban government and its authorities to preserve the security of its citizens by fighting crime and illegality, which will never go unpunished. However, regrettable events like this one are a lesson for all those who –perhaps unaware of their negligent acts– follow the lead of unscrupulous people that can even sell death”. This event occurred in July, 2013, and was released by Havana’s Public Health Provincial Direction with a note on the serious intoxication of 46 people –then 99, including 11 casualties– due to the consumption of methanol. The “drink” was illegally sold in Balcón Arimao, a neighborhood to the east of the capital. It was supplied by Ramón Hernández Argudín, Augusto César Valdés Alonso and Abelardo Santos Rivero, guards...

Roberto Veiga and Lenier Gonzalez, Editor and Deputy Editor, respectively, of the “Espacio laical” (Lay Space), resigned their positions after ten years in charge of the publication, on their "free will" and "not as a result of any dismissal," according an explanatory note circulated Wednesday by email and signed by both. Following the reactions generated in the media to the change in the editorship of the magazine, and the opposite versions on their removal or resignation, Veiga and Gonzalez point out that on May 2 they requested his resignation to Cardinal Jaime Ortega, through Gustavo Andújar Robles, recently appointed director of Espacio laical. "It was the third time in the last two years, we asked for our resignation," says the message sent by the editors. "As of yesterday we were told that they had finally been accepted by the Archbishop of Havana. The two previous requests were never approved by the Cardinal. Then, out of consideration for his person we accepted to continue exercising our functions. " Veiga and Gonzalez described as "very unfortunate incident" the misunderstanding caused from disclosure in the afternoon of Tuesday, of a goodbye note sent to 16 collaborators and friends, which claimed they had been...

U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis will serve as chief of mission at the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba starting next July, according to a statement issued by the State Department. DeLaurentis will replace John Caulfield, who began his mission as head of the diplomatic mission in Havana in 2011, after serving as charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Caracas. The State Department spokeswoman, Susan E. Bridenstine, said Jeffrey DeLaurentis is a prominent member of the U.S. Foreign Service, and spoke of his performance as deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Department of State. She also referred to his work as U.S. Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs of the United Nations since 2011. In 1991 DeLaurentis was named bureau chief of political and economic affairs of the U.S. Interests Section on the island and remained in Cuba until 1993. He returned in 1999, during the presidency of Bill Clinton, and became again head of political and economic affairs. DeLaurentis was also Executive Assistant to the Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and Director of Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council. He graduated...

If you have ever felt that you live surrounded by mediocrity; if day to day things you do not do accumulate, even wanting them, then, if you're still strong and has not been eaten by inertia or procrastination-maybe you should stop by Argos Teatro to see Uncle Vanya, the version of the work eponymous by Anton Chekhov directed by Carlos Celdran. It doesn’t matter if you do not like the theater. This work goes beyond Stanislavski, who, incidentally, directed it with some success in the Moscow Theater in 1900. This work is about the wasted lives of the people who talk without knowing what they are talking about. And I think,-Jorge Manach would agree-that in Cuba we have more than one point in common with the topic. No wonder the work has enjoyed sold-out in every start since April, with more than 1200 spectators. It is a bit scary that Chekhov's characters, with useless, tedious and lonely lives, people unable to communicate with each other and unable to change the society in which they live, find a place in Cuba, with its supreme status as the first socialist country of America. But all the success of Uncle Vanya is not...

Five pre-college teachers, one methodologist, a worker from the Ministry of Education (MINED) and another person not engaged in this sector are being held as part of the fraud investigation that led to twelfth grade students to repeat the Mathematics test for admission to higher education. According to a statement signed by the Ministries of Education, Higher Education (MES) and the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba (MININT), these people were directly involved in the leak and sale of the tests, which were stolen, including the Spanish and History tests, by an employee of a printing house of the MES. The five teachers involved marketed the tests by selling them or charging for the service of reviewing the leaked materials. In the event, the communication that national media publishes, also participated "some families who paid the purchase the tests or paid for the reviews" and "students who knowingly benefited from these practices." The statement added that at present the Attorney General's Office is working in obtaining the evidence for presentation in court. After the Math test on May 6, information was unveiled about the leak of it between several pre-university students in Havana. Days later, rumors were confirmed in a...

OnCuba suggests this text by Jorge Luis Rodríguez, adviser at the Center for Research on the Global Economy, published recently in the online edition of El Economista de Cuba: In recent days new official figures were revealed on socio-economic development of Cuba during 2013, with the digital release of the 2013Economic & Social Panorama of Cuba by ONEI. This information allows a better profiling of the economic and social performance of the country last year, which can be completed with some assessments of what happened during the first months of 2014. GDP growth for 2013 reached only 2.7 percent, down from the 3 percent in 2012 and well below the planned growth of 3.6 percent. The sector performance showed decreases in the mining sector (-5.6 percent), perhaps associated with closure of the Nicaro nickel plant, which was not economically feasible. Also there was a decrease in the added value in public administration activities and education, in line with the policy of reducing government expenditure, taking into account that the expenditures of the state budget fell from 70 to 60.3 percent of GDP between 2012 and 2013. The newly published document confirms that different sectors of the economy showed a slight...

The directors of the Canadian company Sherritt International Corporation extended for another decade their presence in Cuba, through the renewal of its contract with the Union Cubapetróleo (Cupet) state entity, which allows them to share exploitation of oil wells and natural gas on Cuban soil. This initiative extends until 2028 the joint actions of both companies, which had a previous agreement that expired in 2018. Sherritt began commercial relations with the Caribbean island in 1991 from nickel, which was later expanded to the field of hydrocarbons. Currently it is the first independent company operating in Cuba this sector. In addition, its interests in the country extend to tourism, electricity, agriculture, transport, communications and real estate, which consolidates Sherritt as one of the most important trading partners of Cuba. As explained by the director general of Cupet, Juan Torres Naranjo, some of the conditions of the extension include the obligation of Sherritt to drill at least seven wells within the first two years from the entry into force of the contract especially on the northeast coast of western Cuba with the expansion of the Puerto Escondido-Yumurí oiñ field, east of the capital. According to information provided by Prensa Latina, the extent...

The Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church sent a congratulatory message to the Cuban city of Sancti Spiritus, as confirmed by a note published Friday by the weekly Escambray. "Pope Francisco salutes with affection the authorities and citizens of the city of Sancti Spiritus on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of its foundation," says the statement released by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican, and was read at the homily delivered by Archbishop Arnaldo Isaac Fernández Berroa, which also recalled the five centuries of permanence of the Catholic Church in the region. In the Parish Mayor of the city, the words of the Pope, who hopes that all Santi Spiritus inhabitants to progress "in their efforts to be ever more just and caring" and urged the faithful to honor the past history with the commitment of embodying the present and transmit to future generations the ideals that have been a source of inspiration and hope. Although the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba has not posted the original letter of the Pope, the Facebook page of the Diocese of Santa Clara on June 5, a day after the official celebrations for half a millennium, published the...

The process of monetary unification would order finances and increase the economic changes initiated in 2008; but it will not solve all the current problems of the Cuban economy, Jessica Leon Mundul, a professor and researcher at the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, based in Havana, said Inflationary and fiscal pressures in different types of markets, the complex macroeconomic situation and the absence of lenders to deal with the process of changes, are some of the major tensions identified by the expert. In an interview published in the local weekly Opciones, Leon Mundul said they are currently working on determining adjustments in the corporate sector, considered the one with the major problems. This would imply a needed devaluation to achieve the exchange rate adjustment. In March 2014, the Ministry of Finance and Prices Cuban established regulations for the setting of wholesale and retail prices by legal persons that will be applied after the monetary unification. Although there no accurate forecasts on the date of reunification, Leon Mundul said that so far there have been some experiments in sectors such as tourism. In this case, it allows their purchases to the agricultural industry- whether cooperative or private, using...