Ex economy minister publishes book

<p style="text-align: justify;">José Luis Rodríguez, minister of economy from 1995 to 2009, published a book providing an insider’s view of half a century of Cuba’s economic history and its economic future. Since 1959, the Cuban economy has “achieved a favorable performance” with an average annual GDP growth rate of 3.3 percent, despite the “relentless blockade,” Rodríguez concludes, according to Web site Cubahora. In recent interviews — the global economic crisis aside — Rodríguez has blamed mainly U.S. sanctions for Cuba’s current financial distress. Read More

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French man gets 15 years prison in Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">Expatica France - Aug 11. A Cuban court sentenced a French businessman to 15 years in prison Wednesday on charges of money laundering linked to drug trafficking and tax evasion, sources close to the defense said. Jean-Louis Autret, who has been living in Cuba since 1993, has 10 days to appeal his sentence to Cuba's Supreme Court.Autret's Cuban wife was sentenced to five years in prison and four years of "correctional labor," the defense source said, while the court has yet to sentence seven other Cubans linked to the case. Read More

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Summertime Fiesta Kicks Off in Havana

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.08.10 - 16:52:17 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Havana, Cuba.- Summertime festivities kicked off in Havana right when the city’s inhabitants and visitors heard the boom of the traditional cannon shot at nine sharp of Monday night.Police mobile unites headed the parade along the seawall of Havana performing synchronized turns and acrobatics, followed by a fleet vintage cars that were tailed by floats and carnival dancers. Read More

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Peru President Replaces Army, Air Force Chiefs

<p style="text-align: justify;">By: Osmany González Tocabens.10 de agosto de 2011, 10:08Lima, Aug 10 (Prensa Latina) President Ollanta Humala began a series of changes to the military by replacing the chiefs of the army and air force, Defense Ministry sources reported Wednesday. On Tuesday, Humala appointed Gen. Victor Ripalda Ganoza, who was head of the Southern Military Region, as Chief of the Army, replacing Gen. Paul Da Silva, official sources said. Read More

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Cuba people-to-people tour to begin Thursday

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Mimi Whitefield. The Miami Herald. Liane and Tom Young got interested in Cuba through listening to the Buena Vista Social Club, the best selling Cuban album in history, and the allure of the island's famed cigars. When the first Americans to participate in people-to-people exchanges with Cuba in 7½ years leave Miami on a Marazul charter Thursday afternoon, the central Virginia couple will be aboard.They want to meet the people who go with the music and cigars, said Liane Young. Read More

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Foreign Artists to Participate in Upcoming Int’l Symposium of Cuban Hip Hop

<p style="text-align: justify;">2011.08.10 - 10:42:20 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Hip Hop (Photo: Internet) Havana, Cuba.- The International Symposium on Cuban Hip Hop 2011 will take place in Havana on August 17-21 with the participation of singers, dancers and bands from Canada, the United States, France, Haiti, Colombia, and Cuba.Under the slogan ‘Hip Hop for Peace’, more than 70 musicians, DJs, and dancers will gather in workshops and lessons on this genre, its movements, and body expressions, as announced on Tuesday by the event’s organizing committee. Read More

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Victor Mesa's New Adventure

<p style="text-align: justify;">08/10/2011. By: Miguel Ernesto Gomez. After four years away from the fields, Victor Mesa will be the head coach in Cuba again. The charismatic number 32 returns to the National Series; but the formerly star outfielder can’t stay away from the “surprising plays” and his appointment as head coach of the Crocodiles of Matanzas certainly has been one of the most commented piece of news among baseball fans. Read More

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LatAm Singer-Songwriters Honor Fidel Castro in Cuba

<p style="text-align: justify;">By: Ileana Ferrer Fonte.10 de agosto de 2011, 09:13Havana, Aug 10 (Prensa Latina) Prestigious singers and songwriters from Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Paraguay and Cuba gave a concert Tuesday in the Cuban capital, All the Voices, dedicated to the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, for his 85th birthday. The ALBA Culture Center hosted the concert, sponsored by the Oswaldo Guayasamin Foundation in Ecuador. That institution has previously celebrated what it called "the birthday of a man who has raised to the highest levels the values of dignity, sovereignty and international solidarity." Read More

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Fight Against Misuse of Havana Club in the U.S. Will Continue

<p style="text-align: justify;">HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 10 (acn) Pernod Ricard, the world’s second-biggest liquor maker, announced in Paris that it will continue fighting to stop U.S.-based Bacardi from misusing Cuban rum’s ‘Havana Club’ name in the U.S. market.After a controversial ruling by U.S. Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit,Pernod Ricard USA pledged to continue fighting to prevent the unlawful exploitation of the Havana Club name, says a press release posted by the Cuban Ministry for Foreign Affairs.Pernod Ricard General Counsel Ian FitzSimons stated the company’s disagreement with the Court’s ruling that tolerates the circulation of rum labeled ‘Havana’ eventhough the product has no connections whatsoever with Cuba. Read More

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Petrochemical Complex Poses Major Environmental Challenge

<p style="text-align: justify;">By Patricia Grogg. CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Aug 10, 2011 (Tierramérica) - As it gears up for the creation of a major petrochemical complex of regional scope, this Cuban city faces the challenge of ensuring the sustainability of development that could compromise the health of the Bay of Cienfuegos, its main natural resource. Almost 85 percent of the river basins in the province of Cienfuegos empty into the marine ecosystem around which all of the industrial and urban development of the city of the same name is linked. Read More

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