CUBA CULTURE SECTION - Havana Journal
Recent News and Information
By Ray Sanchez | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
During every major story, there are things a reporter sees that don’t make it into the daily updates. Ray Sanchez, the Sun Sentinel’s Havana Bureau Chief, was among the first foreign journalists to reach the town where Hurricane Paloma made landfall.
These are some of those scenes from a hurricane in Cuba:
A day after Hurricane Paloma smashed into Santa Cruz del Sur with 145 mph winds, more than 800 people evacuated from the town gathered in the courtyard of the government shelter where they were being kept to hear when they could…
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The Havana Journal has obtained a copy of the Notice of Opposition filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office whereby Habanos SA, a Cuba based corporation, has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Kansas City Missouri based Xikar Inc for using the word “Havana” and the term “Havana Collection” to describe Xikar cigar lighters and that such use is a violation of Habanos SA trademark.
As you read through the fifty three points of interest listed below, you will find odd legal claims such as #15 where the document claims that use of the word Havana should be…
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By Nick Foulkes | NEWSWEEK (edited for clarity)
In the VIP tasting room of the Partagas factory, opposite the Cuban capitol building, the air was blue with fragrant smoke as a dozen people (including the director of the Partagas factory, a feisty woman named Hilda Barros, her staff and the board of directors of Britain’s Cuban cigar monopoly Hunters & Frankau) sampled a new cigar called the Gloria Cubana “Gloriosos”.
The cigar, a long robusto, was outstanding. It was beautiful to look at and the glossy café au lait sheen of the wrapper gave way to an even burn…
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The Latell Report - October 2008
Welcome to The Latell Report. The Report, analyzing Cuba’s contemporary domestic and foreign policy, is published monthly except August and December and distributed by the electronic information service of the Cuba Transition Project (CTP) at the University of Miami’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies (ICCAS).
The Latell Report is a publication of ICCAS and no government funding has been used in its publication. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICCAS and/or the U.S. Agency for International Development…
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By Redaction AHORA
Some 90 artists from Latin America and Europe have donated works to the online Art for Cuba expo-sale organized by Cuban actor and painter Jorge Perugorria to rise funds to restore hurricane-stricken Gibara city, Holguin.
Including 70 paintings, 22 engravings, five sculptures and nine photographs the catalog has 106 works of art.
Engravers, sculptors, photographers and painters have answered the call by Cuban Oscar nominee for “Strawberry and Chocolate” (1994) Jorge Perugorria on the webpage ArtePorCuba.com opened on October 5 at Casa Lam in Mexico.
Gibara is a small Cuban city that was devastated by…
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The official web site is BienalHabana.cult.cu and this article below comes from CubaHeadlines.com.
Experts from the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center are reviewing more than 400 proposals submitted by artists from 32 nations in preparations for the 10th Havana Biennial Art Exhibition, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year.
Founded in the 1980s primarily to promote Cuban fine arts, the organizers fought hard to overcome the economic crisis that affected Cuba in the 1990s, and at times had to postpone the event and wait for better circumstances.
However, the event continues to be held and includes a central…
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PlazaCuba is hosting a unique dance party on October 25, 2008 from 4pm to 9pm in the San Francisco Bay Area, celebrating the launch of their new website and other new projects.
There will be live Music with the Rumba group Sandy y Su Lade featuring a talented line-up of local Cuban rumberos, including Sandy Perez, Carlos Aldama, Fito Reynoso and Mijail Labrada. Enjoy Cuban salsa with DJ Waltdigz of Añejo Productions.
This 21+ event will be held at the Air Lounge on 492 9th street at Washington in Oakland California (entrance is in the lower patio) and there is…
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By NICK VIVARELLI | Variety
Italy and Cuba have signed a co-production agreement under which Silvio Berlusconi-owned Medusa is expected to shoot a comedy by Italo helmer Paolo Virzi on the Caribbean isle.
The Italy-Cuba co-production treaty was inked in Havana by Italian state film department chief Gaetano Blandini and Omar Gonzalez, minister of Cuban film institute ICAIC.
Blandini has said he hopes the treaty will turn Italy into “a gateway into Europe” for Cuban cinema, adding that the closer rapport will make it easier for young Cuban filmmakers to liaise with Italian producers.
Meanwhile, Italy looks set to make…
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BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN | Miami Herald
Reinier Alcantara knew, even before he boarded the flight from Cuba to Washington, D.C., last week, that he wouldn’t be using his return ticket. He hatched the plan to defect months ago and worked extra hard to make the roster for last Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against the United States because he figured that would be his chance to escape a life that was getting increasingly more frustrating and depressing.
The only question was when he would make the break. Team security was tight, following the defections of seven members of the Cuban Under-23…
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(Original title: Hurricanes worsen housing deficit in Cuba)
Frances Robles and Miami Herald staff | Miami Herald
The wooden one-room shack where Humberto Díaz lived in central Cuba is technically still standing, but the planks that made up its roof snapped into multiple pieces when Hurricane Ike sent a palm tree crashing through.
He spent a recent afternoon scrounging materials off the floor to use in rebuilding, and hopes to buy shingles at about $4 apiece. Díaz doubts the Cuban government help will come in time: Too many people are waiting.
’‘The last time a storm damaged my house,…
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