Restored National Theatre reopens

With Cuba’s National Theatre having been completely restored, The Havana Times reports that the doors to its enormous Avellaneda Hall — with its three levels and 2,254 seating capacity —  re-opened on Sunday, October 28, for the opening ceremony of the Havana International Ballet Festival.

Surpassed in size only by the capital city’s Karl Marx Theater (which seats 5,000), the main hall of the cultural complex showed off its new look following months of renovation work. This improved image sharply contrasts with the gloomy appearance this majestic theatre has suffered for years.

$100,000 if you hit Fidel, $20,000 for Raúl and Che

According to London's Daily Mail, documents released this week finally confirm beyond doubt that the Kennedies hired the Mafia to shoot Fidel Castro. They agreed a price of $100,000 for killing Fidel and $20,000 for either Raúl or Che Guevara. One has to ask oneself how can it be that the President of a supposedly democratic country should be hiring criminals to carry out murders on its behalf? Has anything changed?

50 years ago this week the Cuban Missile Crisis began. On Tuesday 16th October the esteemed Cuban international relations expert Prof. Carlos Alzugaray Treto will be giving a talk on the topic at London's Institute for the Study of the Americas. Venue and details HERE. 
  

Democracy, shamocracy, who cares so long as we have a vote?

As the Venezueleans go to the polls today to re-elect President Hugo Chavez, Cuba's daily Granma newspaper carries huge coverage of the election campaign and includes a graphical guide (pictured) to show how the Venezuelans vote in what Jimmy Carter has called the best electoral system he has witnessed.
Two things stand out here: the first is that despite the charges that Chavez is a dicator, Venezuela IS a liberal democracy by any of the standards set by the so-called 'West'. The second is that while Cuba falls short of that benchmark because it does not have a multi-party system, it is patently obvious that its government has absolutely no fear about that fact since it openly explains and extols the virtues of such a system in its national newspaper. That Cubans understand democracy and voting systems and know what others have and might actually in fact NOT WANT such a system themselves  is a possiblity that few in Washington can comprehend - just as they can't imagine how machinations using new media and ICT to try and provoke a 'Cuban' spring like that in Arab countries might not work, as my collegaue Phil Peters deflty pointed out in his blog on Friday.  

Invest in Cuba? Now is the time

As the Cuban economy begins a new phase of development and more opportunities are presented to potential foreign investors, it is important to get the best advice and have the assurance that if you do decide to invest, your money has the best chance of producing results for you - and Cuba.
On the face of it, it would appear that the recently established Cuba Financial Fund based in Holland and managed by people from the Romar group with 20 years of experience working there, might be a good place to start....Check out the website HERE

Things you won't read about in the Washington Post

While the Washington Post publishes unsubstatiated tittle tattle from disgruntled emigres who have nothing but hearsay evidence, news comes from Cuba of something worth reporting. The Western media is keen to keep the non-story of the death of the Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya alive by giving scurrilous credibility to weird ideas that he was killed by the Cuban state, but meanwhile Cuba keeps on doing the truly amazing. Get this: According to the Cuban News Agency with the recent graduation of 8,000 Ethiopian doctors, Cuba has now educated more than 40,000 African health professionals from its Latin American Medical School (pictured) and is working to improve the lives and health of poor communities in 51 out of 54 African countries. That's news, but you won't read about it in the Washington Post.

Cuban ingenuity is truly remarkable

Everyone knows how the hard pressed Cubans made a virtue out of necessity and kept those old American cars running years beyond their sell by date by patching them up with all kinds of spare parts and botched engineering. Now it seems that Cuban ingenuity has been applied to 21st century technology. If this report in the San Francisco Chronicle is to be believed, Havana is the only place in the world where an Iphone that's been dropped in the bath can be repaired. Knowing the Cubans as I do, I would not be surprised.

Why this man could make history

For those who don't live in Florida, this affable-looking man pictured above is Joe Garcia, a Cuban- American businessman and the Democrats' candidate for Congress in South Florida, who is pitted against the Republican David Rivera in the upcoming election. It's the second time they have faced each other in South Florida and the Wall Street Journal reports that the fight this time will be really nasty. But although Joe lost last time he has a very good chance of winning this November.
This year, Democrats consider Rivera especially vulnerable. His tenure in Congress has been overshadowed by state and federal investigations into his campaign finances. Florida prosecutors closed their case in April without bringing charges, but a federal investigation is continuing.
If Garcia wins, he will make history becasue he will be the first Cuba-American Congressman ever elected who favours engagement with the island. Read this article he wrote in 2009 and you will see why, despite Joe's stated distaste for the government in Havana, folks who favour an end to the insanity of the US policy towards Cuba are raising money for him. Basically, if Joe wins in South Florida and Obama wins again, the embargo could well be history. Donate to his campaign HERE.