Archive for the ‘Caribbean News’ Category
Puerto Rican Day Pride Along Fifth Avenue
June 9, 2008
Longest Rumba in the World Comes Home
May 14, 2008Locals of the town of Colon in Matanzas will welcome the drumming, singing and dancing arriving from the neighboring province of Cienfuegos, performed by professional and amateur artists linked to the Cubadisco 2008 Music Festival, this year devoted to Africa and its Diaspora.
The towns of Jovellanos, Limonar and Cardenas will also join the rumba. A special drumming will take place in Union de Reyes, to pay homage to one of the best rumba artists Jose Rosario Oviedo (1885 – 1923), better known as Malanga.
On Wednesday, leading the rumba near the neighbourhood of La Marina in Matanzas will be renowned bands, such as Afrocuba, Columbia del Puerto, Reyes del Tambor, Obbini Abanicula, and Clave y Guaguanco. At 6:30 pm “Los Muñequitos de Matanzas”, directed by Diosdado Ramos will take over, along with several local “comparsas” (bands which play congas).
Next, the rumba will travel to the western most province of Pinar del Rio, to end on May 17 in Havana, during the Cubadisco 2008 Music Festival.
Rumba is a dance organically related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. It is considered the most erotic and sensual Latin dance, for its relatively slow rhythm and the hip movement. Rumba is actually the second slowest Latin dance after bolero.
“La rumba mas larga del mundo” evokes the idiosyncrasy of the Cuban people and honors their slave roots.
Caribbean ACS Leader Visits Cuba
April 17, 2008The secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Luis Fernando Andrade, is scheduled to arrive in Cuba on Tuesday evening, as the guest of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
More Cubans abandoning communist island in ‘silent exodus’
April 14, 2008HAVANA (AFP) – Despite a dizzying array of reforms since Raul Castro took the helm of Cuba’s government, 2008 looks to be a record year for emigration, as inhabitants abandon the communist island in droves.
In the first half of the US fiscal year, which began on October 1, almost 3,000 Cubans tried to reach US shores by crossing the shark-infested Florida Straits, according to the US Interests Section in Havana. The number represents a 21 percent increase over the previous year.
Some Cubans are abandoning the island of some 11 million inhabitants legally; Others leave illegally, crowded on smugglers’ fastboats. Almost all are heading to the islands nearby arch-enemy, the United States.
Illegal emigrants — who are returned to Cuba by US authorities if picked up at sea, but get to stay in the United States if they reach US soil — are joined another 20,000 Cubans to whom the Interests Section grants legal immigrant visas here every year, under the immigration accords Havana and Washington struck in 1994 and 1995.
And to their total one can add some 10,000 who hand themselves to US authorities at the Mexican border.
US authorities estimate that some 35,000 Cubans will arrive to stay this year in the United States, which grants them immediate residency and working rights for fleeing communism. It does not do the same for Chinese or Vietnamese immigrants.
Cuba charges that the US policy granting Cubans special benefits encourages dangerous and potentially deadly illegal migration.
The number of Cubans who additionally are departing for Europe and Latin American countries is not known.
Far from tapering off, what often is described as a “silent exodus” has actually picked up since Raul Castro took the reins of government — officially as president in February, and for over a year as interim leader before then — although his government has introduced a steady stream of minor reforms aimed at eliminating unpopular restrictions and boosting economic efficiency.
With calm weather at sea, illegal departures by sea were up sharply in February and March, from 219 to 412, US data show. Most of those picked up at sea are between 19 and 35, US Interests Section figures show.
Indeed, fully 70 percent of Cubans who made the crossing to the United States did so with smugglers, paying 8,000-10,000 dollars per person, the section’s data showed.
Witnesses say the smugglers’ craft sometimes even set out in broad daylight from isolated locations including on the Island of Youth, witnesses say.
In addition, the United States now is stepping up a family reunification program for Cubans who want to go live with US-based relatives. Paperwork that had been taking up to seven to 10 years now can take as little as a few weeks. There are some 1.5 million Cuban-Americans, including immigrants and their US-born descendants.
Many of them send remittance funds back to Cuba to help their families make ends meet; Cubans earn an average of the equivalent of less than 20 dollars a month and those living abroad send home about one billion dollars a year.
Earlier this month, access to appliances such as microwaves and computers was just the latest of some traditional “bans” to be dumped by Raul Castro, 76, five weeks after taking over permanently from his 81-year-old brother Fidel, who did not seek reelection.
The Raul Castro government also has dropped its controversial ban on Cubans staying in hotels reserved for the tourists who generate the lion’s share of the Caribbean island’s hard currency. Some rights groups had dubbed the policy “tourist apartheid.”
The change is expected to be welcomed by Cubans living abroad who come home for visits and want to treat relatives to hotel stays, although locals are unlikely to be stampeding for rooms that can cost up to 300 dollars a night.
The government also has moved to try to boost farm output with some small reform steps, and said it would allow Cubans who are renting homes from state employers to gain title to them that can be passed on to their heirs.
On April 14, all Cubans for the first time will be allowed to sign contracts for cell (mobile) phones, and will be able to reach friends and relatives in the United States and beyond.
Cuba watchers say there is likely a short-term political benefit of allowing greater economic openness, though they also warn many changes in the Americas’ only centrally-controlled, one-party regime could build pressure for more change than the government is prepared to allow.
Cuba agiliza títulos de propiedad
April 12, 2008El gobierno de Cuba anunció la agilización de trámites para que muchos trabajadores estatales puedan adquirir viviendas que pertenecen a entidades del gobierno.
La intención de la medida -publicada este viernes en Gaceta Oficial- busca hacer más sencillos los trámites para traspasar viviendas a aquellos cubanos que las han rentado por 20 años.
En la resolución se establece que llegado a ese término “le asiste a los arrendatarios el derecho a la transferencia de la propiedad de la misma”.
Desburocratizando
La ley data de 1988, pero los trámites tan burocráticos han hecho muy difícil hacer el debido traspaso.
Esta medida del Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda intenta entonces que los cubanos que trabajan para ciertas entidades del Estado sean sus propietarios y además permitir que al morir éstos, sus descendientes puedan heredar tales viviendas.
“En el caso de que el arrendatario hubiera fallecido, también están legitimados sus herederos para la promoción del trámite”, indica la resolución fechada el 14 de marzo.
En el caso de los cubanos que trabajan para una brigada denominada “Blas Roca Calderío”, el tiempo de alquiler necesario para poder adquirir la propiedad de la vivienda se reduce a sólo cinco años.
El hecho novedoso de esta resolución es que el proceso desde ahora se descentraliza y los cubanos sólo tendrán que hacer los trámites directamente con la entidad donde trabajan.
Esta promoción es realizada ante la Dirección Municipal de la Vivienda del municipio donde se encuentra situada la vivienda”.
Uno de los graves problemas que tiene Cuba es su inmenso déficit de viviendas.
Se cree que es necesaria la construcción de por lo menos medio millón de casas para solventar el problema.
Además cientos de miles de hogares que ya existen están en muy mal estado.
Por otro lado, el gobierno cubano no ha podido cumplir con las metas anuales de construcción por una diversidad de factores que incluye falta de materiales, carencia de mano de obra y corrupción.
Disturbios en Haití por alimentos
April 6, 2008Por lo menos tres personas murieron y unas 20 resultaron heridas cuando unas manifestaciones en contra de los altos precios de alimentos se tornaron violentas en Haití.
Largas colas en espera de alimentos son imágenes comunes en Haití.
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Los informes dicen que decenas de personas salieron en desbandada a bloquear caminos y saquear almacenes en la sureña localidad de Les Cayes.
Algunos testigos dicen haber escuchado tiros y visto barricadas ardiendo en las calles.
Naciones Unidas, que tiene emplazada una fuerza de mantenimiento de paz en Haití, confirmó que habían disparado cuando recibieron fuego de algunos de los manifestantes.
Según los testigos, una persona resultó muerta en el incidente. Una portavoz de la ONU, Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, informó que se estaba investigando el incidente. For more visit source
Atlantis 