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.
OnCuba was initially distributed on flights operated by charter companies between the United States and Cuba. Today, it is the in-flight magazine for more than 96% of flights between the two countries, distributed by Skyking and World Atlantic. It is sold in 55 Barnes and Noble stores in 14 states and 49 cities in the United States. In Miami, it is distributed by the Books and Books chain.
This month, as a birthday present, we have premiered our newly-designed web page, www.oncubanews.com, which has more than 80,000 visits monthly. On Facebook, we are followed by more than 12,000 people, with a daily reach of more than 150,000. We also have a YouTube channel and an Ipad application.
But OnCuba is much more than these numbers. It has enabled us to work with excellent writers, journalists, photographers and artists; it has made it possible to rediscover our country on a daily basis; and above all, it has allowed us to have an exchange with Cubans inside and outside of Cuba who love their country and want to see it grow and develop.
In this special issue, we present you with several articles about baseball, our national passion; one is by well-known writer and baseball fan Leonardo Padura; another is a look at the relationship between two of our greatest Cuban pitchers, Pedro Luis Lazo and Jose Ariel Contreras, one of whom lives in Cuba and the other in the United States. We also have an analysis of Cuba’s participation in the 3rd World Classic, which takes place this month.
In addition, this month’s edition includes an invitation to walk along Havana’s Malecón; a look at the film Strawberry and Chocolate through an interview with one of its stars, Mirtha Ibarra; the work of independent architects in Cuba; an analysis of women in the Cuban context; the work of artist Alfredo Otero; the possibilities provided to Cubans by the opening-up to private business; and details on the 12th Congress on Art Deco, which takes place this month in Havana.
We have started the climb, and we hope to go very far. Standing taller, and as brothers and sisters, we invite you to be part of our adventure.
Author
Tahimi Arboleya
