XINHUA: Cuba to amend laws before economic changes' plan

<p style="text-align: justify;">14:11, November 16, 2010.The Cuban government said it is necessary to amend several laws and decrees before implementing a plan of updating the Socialist economic model, the official Granma daily reported on Monday. In summary: (1) extending recognition of cooperatives in industrial or service sectors. (2) abolition of the dual currency system. (3) liquidation of the state enterprises with repeated losses. (4) relocation of half a million workers and the opening of small private business.<br> <br> Read More

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Getting delirious over salsa in Colombia

<p style="text-align: justify;">Music and dancing tradition alive in Cali’s cabaret shows. November 20, 2010. BY DAVE HOEKSTRA .&nbsp; CALI, Colombia — Salsa was born in Cuba, but it has grown up in Colombia. In the 1930s, a raw form of salsa was heard on the sugar plantations around Santiago de Cali, the third biggest city in Colombia. In 1970, the group Fruko assembled Colombia’s first salsa band after seeing the Fania All-Stars in New York. Fruko was a departure from Cuban salsa with a greater emphasis on cumbia, and their lyrics were more reflective than what&nbsp; was being heard in Spanish Harlem or pre-revolution Havana. Read More

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Cuban baseball players might be allowed to play abroad (except in U.S.), paper says

<p style="text-align: justify;">November 19, 2010 in Sports. The Cuban Baseball Federation is considering allowing its players to play in professional leagues abroad – except in the United States – El Nuevo Herald reported Friday, citing sources close to that organization. The Federation's president, Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, reportedly discussed that proposal with members of the national team who played recently in the Intercontinental Cup in Taipei. Read More

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ECONOMIST on Cuban oil prospects: The other way out

<p style="text-align: justify;">Nov 19th 2010, 16:34 by The Economist online. HAVANA. Several international energy companies are making a push to find Cuba’s long-awaited oil. In 2011 at least three exploratory drillings are expected to go ahead. The first is expected to be a consortium led by Spain’s Repsol, the only firm with experience in Cuban waters. In 2004 the company did find oil below the seabed, but deemed it not to be commercially viable. Read More

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Cuba Is Opening Up, As America Turns Away

<p style="text-align: justify;">Havana, Cuba—You see them on stage, on passenger flights, and at trade fairs: Americans in Cuba legally, and hoping to travel here more often. “The willingness to share something makes a difference. Why wouldn’t it make a difference?” Reyes told me. “How big that difference will be I don’t know but I can say the willingness to share an experience is pretty important.” The New York Philharmonic, too, just announced plans to travel to Cuba early next year, and several Cuban musicians, performing with Chucho Valdes, have also toured the United States recently. Read More

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3 members of medical team defect in Chile

<p style="text-align: justify;">Three members of a 70-person Cuban medical team sent to Chile to help in the aftermath of an earthquake in February have decided to stay in that country, the Chilean newspaper La Nación reported Friday. Read More

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Cuban baseball star excluded from his team for the National Series

<p style="text-align: justify;">AP. HAVANA - The Cuban baseball star Frederich Cepeda was excluded from the Sancti Spiritus province team for next Cuban&nbsp; Baseball Championship. "Cepeda will not be in Sancti Spiritus' team this year, but I am unable to give another explanation''said to AP on the phone&nbsp; a member of the provincial baseball committee there, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press on the subject. Read More

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New Tourist Season Options in Cienfuegos

<p style="text-align: justify;">YENEILY GARCÍA GARCÍA. Revitalizing ecological trails and increasing the number of rooms are just part of the Cienfuegos proposals for the peak tourism season between November 2010 and April 2011. Read More

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How to visit Cuba: MTSU professor Ric Morris explains on Sunday Radio Show

<p style="text-align: justify;">Dr. Ric Morris,&nbsp; associate professor in the MTSU Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, will discuss opportunities for students and faculty to study and conduct research in Cuba at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Nov. 21, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 FM and wmot.org). Read More

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Goehring to Lead Trade Delegation to Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Friday 11/19/10. A seven-person delegation from North Dakota will leave Saturday on a trade mission to Cuba, led by N.D. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, the Grand Forks Herald reported. The delegation will discuss exports of commodities from North Dakota, such as dry edible beans, peas, wheat and distillers grains. Officials from Alimport -- Cuba's central food purchasing agency -- will meet with the delegations. Read More

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