This July 20 marked the first anniversary of the restoration of Cuban-US relations. The international press, on both sides of the Florida Straits in particular, devoted headlines to taking stock and to remembering the date. A year ago this day, the Cuban flag was raised in Washington at the new embassy’s headquarters, ​​a space formerly occupied by an Interests Section. On 14 August the opening ceremony for the US diplomatic mission in Havana will be remembered. Both events concluded an essential first step – the diplomatic - in the road of normalization. Over the course of this year bilateral and cooperation agreements on areas of mutual interest have been signed. There has been significant progress in the diplomatic arena; both countries have received delegations from different levels, US travel to the island has significantly increased. Although they are few in number some contracts with US companies have been signed in the areas of ​​telecommunications and tourism. And during this year President Obama visited the island on an historic trip. A small group of foreign media accredited in Cuba, OnCuba among them, were able to converse with Jeffrey DeLaurentis, chargé d'affaires at the US embassy in Cuba. "It is the first...

OnCuba in Miami While we were closing this issue of the magazine, we were presenting in Miami our communication platform. For the first time a great deal of the OnCuba team from Havana coincided in that city with the one in the United States, something almost impossible to conceive of when in 2012 we decided on the foundation of the project. We walked the streets of Miami, went up and down in Uber taxis, almost all of them driven by Cubans. In cafeterias, museums, beaches, the homes of friends and acquaintances, we talked with as many as we could. We know of persons who decry our work, who do not conceive of the possibility of understanding between the governments of Cuba and the United States, but they have been infinitely fewer. In general the Cubans we talked to are workers who are struggling to get ahead in a society they recognize as harsh. They want to have normal relations with their country, and what the majority most complain about is the high price for the passport and the airline tickets, veritable obstacles when traveling. They maintain sentimental and emotional ties with their culture; they feel Cuban even though they live...

Carlos Gutiérrez is the highest-ranking Cuban in the U.S. government. He was born in 1953 and his parents took him to live in the United States in 1960, a year after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. He is a man who inspires respect in the Republican Party: he was Secretary of Commerce during the George W. Bush government, and during that time he and Condoleezza Rice were co-chairs of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba. Gutiérrez has had a long and successful business career. He is former CEO of the Kellogg Company, is now a co-chair of the Albright Stone­bridge Group, and was a key member of George W. Bush’s economic team. He is a prominent expert on business issues and is an important promoter of policies benefiting U.S. business growth. His agreement with Obama’s new policy on Cuba has surprised many people. In remarks by Gutiérrez himself published in the New York Times in June, he said: “Like many fellow Republicans and Cuban-Americans, I was critical when President Obama announced in December 2014 that his administration would begin to normalize ties between the United States and Cuba ….” However, he has expressed optimism about progress in...

On the beautiful campus of American University in Washington, Prof. William LeogGrande, PhD awaited me. This political scientist has devoted many years of study to Latin American politics and U.S. relations with the rest of the hemisphere. He has been an advisor on these issues for private and government agencies, and is known as one of the most important scholars on U.S.-Cuba relations. His most recent book, Back Channel to Cuba, co-authored with Peter Kornbluh, is an investigation of secret negotiations between the United States and Cuba, a project that he began 20 years ago, he says. You are a very knowledgeable observer of Cuba. What do you think has changed on the island? Since the Party Congress in 2011, the changes in the economy have been profound. The process is moving slowly, but the nature of the changes to the model are very profound. To me the most important is the recognition that the private sector will now be a permanent and dynamic part of the economy, and also the reliance increasingly on cooperatives as another form of social property, so that the State isn’t trying to manage small and medium-size businesses, but allows the people who work in...

The closing of the IV Regular Session of the Eighth Legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power of Cuba held on Saturday in Havana was especially awaited by many. Since the previous day it was said that President Raul Castro was going to talk about the issues in which he promised to deepen his speech and historic December 17, 2014. Among the correspondents of the foreign press it was also rumored that the sudden invitation to participate might have to do with an appearance by Fidel Castro in Parliament and the special invitation to René, Fernando, Antonio, Ramón and Gerardo, the "Five". Raul closed the Assembly, Fidel did not attend ... and there certainly were the Five. I would argue that among them, a couple monopolized everyone's eyes: Gerardo and Adriana. Gerardo Hernandez is one of the Cubans who spent more than 16 years in US jails accused of espionage. He was the head of a network that monitored the activities of organizations, from Miami, planned acts against the Cuban government. Out of the Five, Gerardo was the legally more complicated case, sentenced to two life sentences and 15 years in prison. The long years of struggle of his...

Mr. Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, is visiting Cuba for the second time. The organization that runs entirely autonomous and independent of the U.S. government represents 3 million businesses of the most diverse sectors. His first visit was in 1999, at that time he met with Fidel Castro and spoke in the Aula Magna of the University of Havana, a place he visited again this Thursday to deliver a lecture . " 15 years ago, I visited Cuba and spoke in this extraordinary building of the University of Havana, at the time said it was time to open a new chapter in the history of relations between the U.S. and Cuba , and that changes were needed in both countries to make that happen, and to happen soon. We have already opened this chapter, but we have not closed it. Progress has not been as fast as I would have wanted, but at least it's happening, “Mr. Donohue said in the conference offered today. The President of the Chamber of Commerce has been accompanied by a small delegation that has also included Steve Van Andel , chairman of Amway Company...

Few months ago I interviewed Fernando Ravsberg for OnCuba magazine, at that time he was still the standing BBC correspondent on the island. A few days ago Fernando announced that the English corporation BBC closed his blog "Letters from Cuba" because the reporter did not admit certain changes that the editors intended to do in a post where Ravsberg was not accommodating to American politics. The explanation of the BBC has been "we feel the need for this blog to evolve. We, among other things, want that these voices are not only journalistic ...” Fernando Ravsberg has been a correspondent in Cuba for more than 20 years and Letters from Cuba is the BBC blog with more readers and more comments. We spoke with Fernando about his departure from the BBC Mundo; we share with you his comments. The BBC has just closed the blog Letters from Cuba on its website. What happened? Actually it was a disagreement between editors and me regarding my post “The Mote in Another’s Eyes” I was asked to change it, I refused and posted it on my personal page . A week later I was officially notified that Letters from Cuba was no longer...

That’s what James McGovern, Democrat Congressman for the State of Massachusetts visiting Havana, told OnCuba. The Congressman traveled to Cuba to extend the Cooperation Agreement between the Finca Vigia Foundation, Inc and the National Heritage Council of Cuba, signed in November 2002 in order to preserve the legacy of the famous writer of "The Old Man and the Sea." "I think Hemingway transcends boundaries, unites people, and to continue this project can make others to arise, I think there is no reason why Cuba and the United States cannot have normal relations. The success of this project demonstrates that both peoples can work together and accomplish great things, "McGovern said. During the signing of the agreement held this morning at the Sevilla Hotel in Old Havana, the US representative answered OnCuba some questions. Do you think there will be any change in the policy towards Cuba in the remaining time Obama has as President? I keep urging President Obama to change the policy towards Cuba and I hope he listens to me. I know he is aware of this project and there has been interest in that it is extended. In case of a change, which aspects of U.S. policy...

Those of us who live in Havana have felt “a revolution” that has been assembled in the streets these days. There are traffic cops everywhere and on more than one occasion a few black cars pass us causing a stir that looks like something out of a thriller. No wonder, Havana received these days 31 leaders of Latin American and Caribbean countries with their respective delegations, and the visit also Ban Ki -Moon, Secretary General of the UN and José Miguel Insulza, Secretary of the Organization of American States (OAS), first person flaunting this position, that visits the island since Cuba was expelled from this body in 1962. Of the 33 countries that make up the organization, 31 were represented in Havana for their top leaders; Today the Second Summit of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) wrapped up, an event that brought together almost all the presidents of the region, with the exception of El Salvador and Panama, whose President has said he does not attend due to differences with the Cuban government. That the Summit takes place in Cuba , with such a significant presence of dignataries is no small thing for Latin America and the...

The director of the Bureau of Special Zone Development Mariel (OZEDM), Ana Teresa Igarza , gave a press conference yesterday , where she provided data on applications for companies interested in investing in that area. Since the office opened in November last year, 138 potential investors have approached the OZEDM. Of these, 72 made direct applications to invest in the area and 66 were entrepreneurs interested in receiving information. They are currently getting 35 proposals, 17 are being analized and 20 have been declined for not being consistent with the policy that the Office seeks to promote. The OZEDM interest is to promote investment in the infrastructure of the area itself, biotechnology, renewable industry, computing, agriculture, containers and packaging and pharmaceutical products. Of the proposals that they are working on 46% are from Western Europe, 29% from Central and South America, Asia 17% and 8% in Eastern Europe. In terms of countries stand out: Spain , Italy , Russia, Brazil , China, Viet Nam , Chile, Dominican Republic , Panama , Mexico and Canada. The 23 % of companies in the process of opening are in the business of packaging, 27% are related to light industry, 18% in the chemical...

It was not by chance that the Container Terminal Mariel (Mariel TC) was inaugurated at the highest level and in the context of the Second Summit of CELAC: the infrastructure which opens today represents an important step in achieving the aim in the Special development Zone Mariel ( ZDEM ), where the Cuban government focuses its main expectations for economic development and foreign investment in the coming years. " This terminal will be the main entrance and exit gate of Cuban foreign trade , and its geographical location in the path of major sea transportation flows in our hemisphere will lead to consolidate its position as a logistics platform by regional " the Cuban President said this Monday. The Brazilian President, for her part, said that Brazil wants to be a partner of first order for Cuba . This has been demonstrated in the joint project Mariel TC, for which the Brazilian government granted a loan of 800 million dollars for the first phase and 290 million in the second stage. More than four hundred Brazilian companies are involved in this project, and have already exported to Cuba more than 400 million dollars in products and services related to Mariel...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said on Friday at the opening of the press room of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit that the visit of the President of the Organization of American States (OAS ), José Miguel Insulza to Havana is an act of diplomatic courtesy . “Cuba 's position in relation to the OAS remains unchanged , we will not return to it, it has a negative historical baggage as an instrument of domination of the United States that cannot be solved by any rhetoric " The Cuban Minister also said that they are not excluding the United States and Canada of the event, but the CELAC as a regional organization calls to participate in the Summit its member countries from Latin American and the Caribbean. "Latin America and the Caribbean are in full readiness to establish relations based on respect and equality with any other State, without exception." The Cuban minister gave no details of Mr. Insulza's visit to Havana and would not confirm a possible meeting between President of the OAS with Cuban President Raul Castro or any other high government official. The truth is that Insulars...

Interview with Fernando Ravsberg, BBC correspondent in Cuba Fernando Ravsberg is a journalist with a unique ability for reflecting people’s lives. He has been a war correspondent and has worked for Swedish National Radio, the U.S. network Telemundo, Mexico’s Televisión Azteca, Público newspaper in Spain, and the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation). In 2008, he created a blog, Cartasdesdecuba.com, on the BBC Mundo website that has won followers from all over. It’s easy to talk with Ravsberg—that he was intelligent and well-informed, I already knew, but I was surprised by his simplicity and his gaze. He doesn’t have the eyes of a person who has all the answers; his grey-blue eyes wonder with the avidness and surprise of somebody who is making a discovery. What have those eyes seen after 20 years of asking questions in Cuba? I wondered, as we began this interview. Some people think of you as a rare bird on the Cuban news scene. Your objectivity distinguishes you from the national media, but also from the view of Cuba provided by most foreign media organizations. Do you think that you really are an exception, and why? Yes and no. I might have been an exception at some...

Is one of the best-known quotes from José Martí, full of truth and  poetry. This month, the OnCuba team is celebrating the first anniversary of the beginning of our climb. We started out as a small group of professionals with lots of dreams and a passion for taking the road in which we believe. Showing Cuba objectively and responsibly has been our main motivation, making known the richness of our culture, the ways that Cubans are and live, and the transformations that are taking place in our country.

我生命中最重要的男人都抽雪茄。我还记得我的姥爷卷着自己的雪茄，这样，就开始了一天的生活，每天晚上也是抽着最后一口，结束了一天的农活，在扶手椅上休息着，每天都重复着，毫无疑问，明天继续。 我的父亲嫉妒地照顾着雪茄和他的这个私密空间。我预想到到这个时刻燃起了现在正在写的书的全部章节，或者是梦和焦虑，和这个最忠实的完全熄灭了的东西分享。 所以当我的丈夫点燃他的雪茄，这不明不白的味道中充满了爱。古巴和他的烟草产品（世界最好的）的关系，也是一种爱的关系。那些古巴烟草商人都是艺术和形成古巴文化本质的持有者和种植者。 Oncuba将会奉上主题雪茄与爱。 Corporación Habanos, S.A公司选择二月（爱的月份），开庆祝每年的雪茄节，应该不是巧合。对于这个重要的活动，您可以通过我们对公司的副主席Jorge Luis Fernández的专访进行了解。 你可以了解到世界最好的古巴雪茄（真正的艺术品）的制作细节，通过我们的杂志。

The most important men in my life have all smoked cigars. I still remember my grandfather rolling his own; that’s how he would begin a daily ritual that ended every night with the last puff as he sat in his rocking chair resting after a long day of work in the fields, a ritual that was inevitably repeated the following morning.

尽管日复一日，年复一年，我们计算时间的方式也不重要，平常来说12月就是一个结尾，一月总是我们计划将来的特殊一年。OnCuba一样伴随着乐观希望2013年朋友增加，希望能满足那些了解古巴的人的期望和深入他们的灵魂。 不能说是一个好的时刻，因为这也月也是何塞马蒂诞辰第160周年，这个最伟大的古巴人。“和大家也为了大家的利益”是他的共和国梦想，这个精神鼓舞了我们这个杂志的工作人员。为了纪念他，我们为古巴最具天赋的其中一位年轻艺术家提供了页面来展示一个优秀摄影作品系列选。 这一期，除此之外，你们还可以阅读到许多不同有趣的题材比如古巴棒球面临的挑战；一个没有偏见的非洲文化abakua事件;Albear水管的历史，民用工程的精湛作品；第一个在古巴从事医学的女人的危险生活；和保存着百年传统的Manaca-Iznaga。还有专家对古巴新税法的分析。

The days and nights go by as they always do, however we may try to count them, but we usually view December as the end of a cycle, and January tends to be the special month in which we project the future. OnCuba does so optimistically, with the hope of making more friends in 2013 and being able to meet the expectations of those who want to come closer to Cuba and discover the soul of its people.

几天前我像平常一样起得很早，早上5点半。睡得很沉，很放松，以至于开始怀疑我要期待的一天。 那是厄运的其中一天，从起床到睡觉。如果我们收到一个消息，就是坏消息；所有日常的事情都需要完善，这一天就是一场灾难。每个小时都有人以为最坏的已经过去了，我们遇到的那部分霉运已经过去了，接下来的是我们肯定的曾混淆的宁静。这在古巴叫做“用左脚站起来”。 今天我在想怎么才能解决这些暗礁，我注意到，为了战胜每个困难，少不了团结的人，朋友和陌生人的帮助。我的邻居帮助我发动了到早上六点还没运行的抽水泵。当我要去送女儿去学校的时候，一些年轻人帮我换了车胎。我的朋友，帮我接了孩子当我打电话请她帮忙，因为我的会议比我想象的要迟了很久。我的裤子破了，新区的一家人让我进了他家，借了我一条裤子还把我的也缝好了...... 我的女儿告诉我，当我们在笑着我们曾经发生过的事情时：这些只发生在古巴。不知道是不是对的，我没有在其他国家生活过很长时间，但是我有着团结没有限制这个信仰。一个月前，古巴东部地区被可怕的台风袭击，除了政府采取的措施，熟练这种类型的情况，人们的团结挽救了生命也减轻了灾难带来的后果。

Vor ein paar Tagen stand ich früh auf, wie gewohnt, um halb sechs. Mein tiefer, erholsamer Schlaf konnte mich nicht vermuten lassen, was mich an diesem Tag erwartete.

A few days ago, I woke up very early—5:30 a.m.— as I usually do. Coming out of my deep, relaxed sleep, there was no way I could have suspected the day that lay ahead.

每次我想起哈瓦那时，第一次进入我思想的不是它的建筑，也不是它的街道，更不是环绕它的海堤大道，而是我的外公。 他应该是第一个给我介绍哈瓦那的人吧。我记得当姐姐和我都还很小的时候，每年外公都会带着我们按照同一个路线去散步。他说这是“何塞马蒂线”，给我们制造了一个马蒂路线包括他的老家， San Lázaro 和 Prado大道。 大教堂广场是路线的最后一战。在那里，我们吃着夹着起司的面包，喝着柠檬汽水，一年又一年，没有什么能阻碍我们，外公送了我们一句“谏言”。那个尊敬的数学老师，毫无顾忌的说，开始在大广场上唱起了Gonzalo Roig说唱剧Cecilia Valdésde 片段。需要坦白的是，没有一丝丝顾虑，直到现在我还很享受那段外公和孙女之间亲密而又疯狂的时刻。 长达后，哈瓦那的夜晚变得很特别。我觉得任何一个地方都曾是我和朋友带着吉他们玩耍的见证人。电影院，剧院，哈瓦那海湾，都存满了我们生活过的特别记忆。

Denke ich an Havanna, kommen mir zunächst weder seine Bauten oder Straßen, noch der Melecón, der es umrandet, in den Sinn: ich denke an meinen Großvater.

When I think about Havana, the first thing that comes to mind is not its buildings, or its streets or the surrounding Malecón seawall; it is my grandfather.

总是听说无论何时都能认出古巴人，我认为这个表达太夸张了。但是，在你在不同的环境下体检过后，我认为就不是那么的不正确了；事实上，认出古巴人很简单，尤其是通过我们的行为方式。 我们的行走方式，手势，看人的方法，以及相互间的影响曝露了我们。舞蹈动作可以说是最好的体现。古巴人在很大程度上都很会跳舞，优美，性感和行为艺术都是天生的。欧洲和非洲血液的继承者，毫无疑问，古巴人创造了自己特别的行为方式，尤其是，舞蹈。   这一版的OnCuba我们为你献上行为艺术。同样，我们会谈到舞蹈团，以有名的芭蕾舞团为开始。你可以认识到思想和身体动作间的完美协调通过Déborah Andollo，她是世界上潜水最深的人之一。您还可以认识到那些制造自己机动车辆 的人，小型的特别的。我认为这些都是只有在古巴才有的一种生活方式。   此外，你还可以通过我们了解到马当萨斯城，赞美Rubén Alpízar的艺术作品和了解由城市历史学家办事处和哈瓦那国家港湾建设局对哈瓦那港口的新规划。