diff --git "a/Cuba/2017/news_2017_12.json" "b/Cuba/2017/news_2017_12.json" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/Cuba/2017/news_2017_12.json" @@ -0,0 +1,4608 @@ +{ + "title": "News for Cuba from 2017-12-01 to 2017-12-31", + "totalResults": 100, + "headlines": [ + "Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation - Wilson Center", + "When President Obama moved to normalize relations with Cuba - The Washington Post", + "Cuba: Documents Chart History of Secret Communications - National Security Archive", + "Stressful conditions, not \u2018sonic weapon,' sickened U.S diplomats, Cuba panel asserts - Science | AAAS", + "The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba - Havana Times", + "What Americans Traveling To Cuba Need To Know - Forbes", + "Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that \u2018boring\u2019 label - Andscape", + "Harvard signs memorandum of understanding with Cuban Ministry of Higher Ed - Harvard Gazette", + "Cuba - War Resisters' International", + "On a Cuban Reef, A Precarious Partnership on Scientific Research - Yale E360", + "Our man in Havana: Alumnus is Cuba-based reporter - Florida International University", + "Royal Caribbean Expands Sailings to Cuba in 2018 - Travel Agent Central", + "Cuba exports medicine to dozens of countries. It would like the U.S. to be one of them - Miami Herald", + "Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term - CBS News", + "Cuba heads to the polls: A primer on Cuban elections - People's World", + "Was a Sonic Weapon Deployed in Cuba - IEEE Spectrum", + "Is A Russia-Cuba Energy Deal In The Works - Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com", + "Solidarity Abroad, Repression at Home: Demystifying Cuba\u2019s Raceless Utopia (OPINION) - Latino USA", + "When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees - Havana Times", + "This Cuban industry began with 6 scientists, a tiny lab \u2014 and Fidel Castro\u2019s obsession - Miami Herald", + "ALC in Cuba - Agroecology at UVM - University of Vermont", + "Cuba: Hurricane Irma - Three Month Report - ReliefWeb", + "Alfredo Rodriguez Brings Memories of Cuba to San Francisco - San Francisco Classical Voice", + "Cuba welcomes 50th anniversary of the PFLP leftist movement - Mondoweiss", + "Disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution, he ends up running a surrealist cafe in San Francisco - Mission Local", + "Santer\u00eda And The Spiritual Soul Of Socialist Cuba - Worldcrunch", + "The Risk of \u2018Blundering\u2019 Into Nuclear War: Lessons From the Cuban Missile Crisis - Arms Control Association", + "Latin American and Caribbean Medical Physicists Receive Training in Cuba on the New International Code of Practice for the Dosimetry of Small Fields - International Atomic Energy Agency", + "U.S. and Cuban researchers join forces to bring lung cancer patients new hope - Miami Herald", + "Cuban President Raul Castro Will Stay in Office Until April - Bloomberg.com", + "When Hollywood Movie Posters Met Revolutionary Cuban Design - PRINT Magazine", + "Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend? - Havana Times", + "Looking for Pearls: Cuba, baseball and Hemingway - Savannah Morning News", + "Weaponised microwave may be behind alleged sonic attacks in Cuba - New Scientist", + "Getting around Cuban customs control - Tampa Bay Times", + "10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States - HipLatina", + "Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity - Havana Times", + "The only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known - CNN", + "Engage or Isolate? Twenty years of Cuban Americans\u2019 Changing Attitu... - OpenEdition Journals", + "Christmas Celebrations in Cuba? - Havana Times", + "Cuba Battling Medicine Shortages in Wake of Cash Crunch - VOA - Voice of America English News", + "Cuban President Raul Castro to Stay in Power Until April - VOA - Voice of America English News", + "The best part about traveling to Cuba is that you don\u2019t have to plan anything \u2014 here's why - Business Insider", + "Photographing a Close Crocodile Encounter With Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet in Cuba - National Geographic", + "\u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction - Los Angeles Review of Books", + "Raul Castro\u2019s retirement as Cuba\u2019s leader is postponed - CNN", + "Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba - WVTM", + "Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro will stay in power past February - Miami Herald", + "Access Trips Launches Two New Cuba Shore Excursions - Travel Agent Central", + "Chinese Lessons in Havana - The World of Chinese", + "Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba - The Guardian", + "Cold War: Can a New President in Cuba Win Over Trump and End the Castro Era? - Newsweek", + "Reaching for Vi\u00f1ales, the Best Rock Climbing in Cuba - Men's Journal", + "Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged - dw.com", + "Israel, Cuba sought to reestablish diplomatic ties \u2014 report - The Times of Israel", + "Built as a sanctuary for Cuba research in exile, UM institute now has no leader - Miami Herald", + "Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018 - France 24", + "Mt. Cuba names best-growing phlox after trial garden test - Delawareonline.com", + "Cuba fireworks accident leaves dozens, including children, injured - ABC7 New York", + "UHealth Experts to Perform Surgery on Cuban Teenager with 10-Pound Facial Tumor - University of Miami", + "Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data - Havana Times", + "Rafael Soriano\u2019s Life and Paintings (Published 2017) - The New York Times", + "The World's Biggest Concerts Are Happening in Cuba - Men's Journal", + "Cuba battling medicine shortages in wake of cash crunch - Reuters", + "Photos of the Cuban National Circus - PetaPixel", + "Life Lessons: Felix Sabates - Charlotte Magazine", + "Raul Castro confirms he will stay Cuba\u2019s president to April - The Seattle Times", + "Cuba\u2019s Sparse and Poetic Storefront Windows - VICE", + "Cuban President Raul Castro's retirement delayed at least until April 2018 - USA Today", + "Has History Absolved Fidel Castro? - Institute of the Black World 21st Century", + "Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs - Reason Magazine", + "Cuba boosts trade ties with Cold War ally Russia as U.S. disengages - Reuters", + "Collector Jorge P\u00e9rez accuses Miami-Dade County of slashing museum\u2019s funding as 'punishment' for Cuban art show - The Art Newspaper", + "China's exports to Cuba slump as island's cash crunch deepens - Reuters", + "The New Cool: Cuban Jazz Meets American Pop - KNKX", + "Women in Cuba: the Emancipatory Revolution - HuffPost", + "Cuba\u2019s Raul Castro extends his rule two months, until April - South China Morning Post", + "Gloria Estefan left Cuba as a young child, but the island defines her, and her music - Enterprise News", + "Royal Caribbean Doubles Cruises to Cuba 2018 - CruiseMapper", + "[OP-ED]: New Head of U.S. Embassy in Cuba is No Diplomat - Al D\u00eda News", + "Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients - The Denver Post", + "Northern Feed and Bean represented during recent trip to Cuba to promote Colorado agriculture - Greeley Tribune", + "Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration Cigar Review \u2013 - The Cigar Authority", + "Raul Castro to remain president of Cuba until April - upi.com", + "Venezuela Sells Oil Refinery Stake To Cuba - Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com", + "'We came that close to nuclear war': Veteran was on front lines for Cuban Missile Crisis - DelmarvaNow.com", + "This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like - huckmag.com", + "La Cocina Cubana restaurant brings Cuban cuisine to downtown Lansing - Lansing State Journal", + "The first ten years of U.S. economic attacks on Cuba - Granma", + "Alan Diaz, AP photographer behind Elian image, to retire - ap.org", + "COUNSELORS CLASSIC: Cuba-Rushford clinches another title - Hornell Evening Tribune", + "How Cubans See the U.S. - Men's Journal", + "Cuba takes over Venezuela stake in refinery JV - Hydrocarbon Processing", + "Hairdressers of the World Unite! (You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Locks\u2026 and a Community to Win) - The Nation", + "Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela\u2019s Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse (Published 2017) - The New York Times", + "Nescor S.A. - Cuba\u2019s joint venture with Nestl\u00e9 - Granma", + "Man behind the best Cuban cigars dies at 91 - The Providence Journal", + "Israel, Cuba said to have held secret talks on reestablishing diplomatic ties - The Times of Israel", + "How Cuba\u2019s News Policy Affects the Economy - Havana Times", + "Sulli falls in love with Cuba - KpopHerald" + ], + "articles": [ + { + "title": "Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation - Wilson Center", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation - Wilson Center" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMingFBVV95cUxQc3RsMG9hRDNwYWQ4QVQ1THVmNVd1MGxUclhtczFBSmgyN3NpUjloWDkxc3Z4RXZEWGo2VGlKR3EyN2U2U2hjWC1KZW9admtzby1hNG51UEppYi0tUHNqNnIyMG1PNHJKZVZ0a0szeUpUOHdzbVpzWG9vb3JESC1EcVU5TUJYbndRanBsTTViRlZEOWxLZUlDVl9jbHFCQQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/cuba-and-the-oas-story-dramatic-fallout-and-reconciliation", + "id": "CBMingFBVV95cUxQc3RsMG9hRDNwYWQ4QVQ1THVmNVd1MGxUclhtczFBSmgyN3NpUjloWDkxc3Z4RXZEWGo2VGlKR3EyN2U2U2hjWC1KZW9admtzby1hNG51UEppYi0tUHNqNnIyMG1PNHJKZVZ0a0szeUpUOHdzbVpzWG9vb3JESC1EcVU5TUJYbndRanBsTTViRlZEOWxLZUlDVl9jbHFCQQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 18 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 18, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 352, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation  Wilson Center", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation  Wilson Center" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.wilsoncenter.org", + "title": "Wilson Center" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation\nauthor: Stella Krepp\nurl: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/cuba-and-the-oas-story-dramatic-fallout-and-reconciliation\nhostname: wilsoncenter.org\ndescription: Documents from the Organization of American States and Havana\u2019s archives show the regional body mediating between the US and Cuba.\nsitename: Wilson Center\ndate: 2017-12-18\n---\n# Cuba and the OAS: A Story of Dramatic Fallout and Reconciliation\n\nDocuments from the Organization of American States and Havana\u2019s archives show the regional body mediating between the US and Cuba.\n\nA blog of the History and Public Policy Program\n\nDocuments from the Organization of American States and Havana\u2019s archives show the regional body mediating between the US and Cuba.\n\nDocuments from the Organization of American States and Havana\u2019s archives show the regional body mediating between the US and Cuba\n\nIn early 1962, Fidel Castro addressed a huge crowd in the *Plaza de la Revoluci\u00f3n* in downtown Havana. From the podium, the Cuban leader denounced the Organization of American States (OAS) as the \u201cYankee Ministry of Colonies and a military bloc against the peoples of Latin America.\u201d\n\nSuch portrayals of the Organization of American States as the handmaiden of the United States are pervasive in and outside of Cuba. Yet, if one traces the long history of relations between the OAS, Cuba, and the United States, they will find a different kind of triangular relationship. New sources show that the OAS acted as a forum for political conciliation between the United States, Cuba, and Latin America during and after the Cold War.\n\nThe OAS is the oldest regional organization in the world. A successor to the Pan American Union, it was founded in 1947/1948 and originally comprised all 20 Latin American states as well as the US. The Columbus Memorial Library, housed in the Pan American Union building in downtown Washington, DC, houses the archives of the OAS, including documentation surrounding OAS debates. The minutes and resolutions of many OAS meetings are also available online.\n\nAfter the 1959 Cuban revolution, Cuba\u2019s membership within the inter-American system was contested. This came to a head in 1961, when the Alliance for Progress was officially announced at the conference of Punta del Este. Ernesto \u201cChe\u201d Guevara, head of the Cuban delegation, emphatically warned his Latin American peers that \u201cthe United States comes with the sack of gold\u2026in one hand, and the barrier to isolate Cuba in the other\u201d (see OEA ES-RE-Doc.110).\n\nFor several years, moderate Latin American governments - Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico amongst them - were successful in deflecting hard-line US policies within the OAS. But by early 1962, the Kennedy administration gathered enough votes to exclude Cuba from the body (see OEA/Ser.C.II.8, Resolution VI). Two years later, the OAS imposed sanctions against Cuba and mandated that all members break off relations with Havana (see OEA/Ser.F/II.9, Resolution I).\n\nOnly Mexico resisted. The isolation of Cuba was complete.\n\nIn the early 1970s, however, Cuban isolation in Latin America began to wane. The government of Salvador Allende in Chile was a driving force behind this change, along with new members from the British Caribbean, which had started to join the OAS in 1967.\n\nFrom 1970 onwards, Latin American and British Caribbean countries repeatedly urged the Nixon administration to reconsider its stance on Cuba. Given that \u201cthe world political situation has undergone profound change,\u201d the governments of Colombia, Venezuela, and Costa Rica argued, it was time to allow for \u201cthe plurality of ideologies\u201d within the OAS (see OEA/Ser.G CP/doc. 350/74).\n\nIn the Cuban Foreign Ministry, this sea change did not go unnoticed: \u201cIt is not the monolithic OAS behind the yankee master anymore,\u201d they noted with glee. \u201cIt is an OAS with a united Latin American front.\u201d\n\nIn 1975, at the 16th OAS Meeting of Foreign Ministers in San Jos\u00e9, Costa Rica, the group passed the \u201cFreedom of Action Resolution.\u201d The resolution allowed member-states to resume relations with Havana and effectively nulled previous OAS resolutions on Cuba (see OEA/Ser.C/II.16, Resolution I). This was to the great dismay of the Nixon administration, which had tried for years to avert it. In the end, however, the Nixon administration gave up its resistance: \u201cWe can\u2026no longer prevent\u2026OAS action to modify or lift the sanctions,\u201d State Department officials conceded.\n\nThe decision did not pave the way for Cuban readmission to the OAS, but it meant that Cuba was able to resume diplomatic relations with most Latin American countries and lift its \u201ceconomic stranglehold\u201d within Latin America. The OAS decision was an important milestone in the reintegration of Cuba to the region. By the late 1980s, the majority of Latin American states had normalized relations with Cuba.\n\nThe end of the Cold War did not immediately solve the OAS\u2019 Cuba problem. Despite consistent pressure by major Latin American countries, particularly those that would form part of the \u201cpink tide\u201d sweeping the continent in the early 2000s, a succession of US governments steadfastly refused to contemplate rapprochement with Havana. It was only in 2009, with Fidel Castro gone from power and Barack Obama in the White House, that that the moment was ripe to bury the hatchet.\n\nAt the 39th General Assembly of the OAS in June, member-states voted to let Cuba back in (via AG/RES. 2438 [XXXIX-O/09]), and at the Summit of the Americas in Panama the same year, Barack Obama and Ra\u00fal Castro sealed this new relationship with a famous handshake.\n\nCuba still refuses to re-join the OAS, however, ostensibly citing Venezuela\u2019s mistreatment in a forum that is, in Havana\u2019s words, an \u201cinstrument for imperialist domination.\u201d Political positions aside, the Cuban government probably realizes that joining the body means having to abide by its rules, which includes at least a formulaic commitment to democracy and elections, and accepting the inter-American human rights provisions.\n\nFor now, this is not on the cards, but political change in Cuba is imminent and with it a possible return to the inter-American fold.\n\nA leader in making key foreign policy records accessible and fostering informed scholarship, analysis, and discussion on international affairs, past and present. Read more\n\nThe Cold War International History Project supports the full and prompt release of historical materials by governments on all sides of the Cold War. Read more" + }, + { + "title": "When President Obama moved to normalize relations with Cuba - The Washington Post", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "When President Obama moved to normalize relations with Cuba - The Washington Post" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi_AFBVV95cUxPd0hHVUthNWw0aWc0RkZ6Nm8yZnA2RnhvN1JOUUFTZThJX2ROakF0TE9Gd0FCc0oxdEVQZHplaFBjSlJFZ2xDTE9WbllmeDl6ZHM1OE5ZQVVVTTNhbXRfQVQzVWNsZ1IwNzdDV3BsQkhVMTZ5MXBZYXNDVHVXR3J6RERNaGJQVFJFdjFCOXRrOHdOMFlOU3ZuSkF6aDcwWVBGTzlnZWdsb28yLU9ValRfZzhid2U2WmxrNExIRTBNNkdOaS1jc1MxTXBTa3pHOER1eHpPaHhFYzlLR0tvcjBPZVRuRzd3MGZaQkZYS1liLVdOSUh2UkZabE5iUEw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/12/harvard-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-cuban-ministry-of-higher-ed/", + "id": "CBMi_AFBVV95cUxPd0hHVUthNWw0aWc0RkZ6Nm8yZnA2RnhvN1JOUUFTZThJX2ROakF0TE9Gd0FCc0oxdEVQZHplaFBjSlJFZ2xDTE9WbllmeDl6ZHM1OE5ZQVVVTTNhbXRfQVQzVWNsZ1IwNzdDV3BsQkhVMTZ5MXBZYXNDVHVXR3J6RERNaGJQVFJFdjFCOXRrOHdOMFlOU3ZuSkF6aDcwWVBGTzlnZWdsb28yLU9ValRfZzhid2U2WmxrNExIRTBNNkdOaS1jc1MxTXBTa3pHOER1eHpPaHhFYzlLR0tvcjBPZVRuRzd3MGZaQkZYS1liLVdOSUh2UkZabE5iUEw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 11 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 11, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 345, + 0 + ], + "summary": "When President Obama moved to normalize relations with Cuba  The Washington Post", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "When President Obama moved to normalize relations with Cuba  The Washington Post" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.washingtonpost.com", + "title": "The Washington Post" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Harvard signs memorandum of understanding with Cuban Ministry of Higher Ed\nurl: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/12/harvard-signs-memorandum-of-understanding-with-cuban-ministry-of-higher-ed/\nhostname: harvard.edu\ndescription: Representatives from Harvard University traveled to Havana last weekend to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education. The agreement signals renewed commitment between Harvard\u2019s 12 Schools and the ministry to support faculty and student research and study in Cuba.\nsitename: Harvard Gazette\ndate: 2017-12-18\ncategories: ['Nation & World']\n---\n# A renewed Harvard-Cuba connection\n\n## University signs memorandum of understanding with Ministry of Higher Education\n\nRepresentatives from Harvard University traveled to Havana last weekend to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Cuban Ministry of Higher Education. The agreement signals renewed commitment between Harvard\u2019s 12 Schools and the ministry to support faculty and student research and study in Cuba.\n\nThe memorandum also enables expanded opportunities for potential collaborative research and cooperation between Harvard and Cuban universities, such as short courses, internships, research visits, publication of research articles, and academic workshops and conferences. The agreement encourages Cuban students to apply for admission to Harvard and programs through normal channels.\n\nThe academic partnership was signed Saturday by Mark C. Elliott, vice provost of international affairs at Harvard, and Aurora Fern\u00e1ndez, vice minister of higher education in Cuba. Harvard faculty and staff responsible for organizing and preparing for these activities and present at the ceremony at the Hotel Nacional were Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin-American History and Economics and professor of African and African American Studies and of history; Jorge I. Dom\u00ednguez, Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico in the Department of Government; and Erin E. Goodman, associate director of academic programs at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS).\n\nThe agreement designates the Rockefeller Center as the coordinating body for joint activities. The Cuba Studies Program at DRCLAS, co-chaired by de la Fuente and Dom\u00ednguez, has supported Cuba-related research and study since its creation in 1999. The program regularly hosts visiting scholars from Cuba and runs a regular seminar series in Cambridge. Since 2007, the center has run a study-abroad program in Cuba in the fall semester in collaboration with the Universidad de la Habana.\n\nYou can read more about the activities of the Cuba Studies Program here." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba: Documents Chart History of Secret Communications - National Security Archive", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba: Documents Chart History of Secret Communications - National Security Archive" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiqgFBVV95cUxOMG9vVkp5YzgxbFdvUVNMbXpmdjlEOC04emRRU0ZweFpxXzdmZ2RqQnAtQXhhWG5iTElkeHJXU3dtRVdzM2E1NGlxb0g0eWlWYXhJWVltdGZETy1BRV9KcWF3eHpGZFA5eW9uT3ZwMXYxbzg3Z3prcnQxZFJWQ2k3Vkh6bnVjQU0zeWdSR2RySjZxYjlvYnA0YjhFcWVFSjFFVXkzTUFVX2NkZw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2017-12-15/cuba-documents-chart-history-secret-communications", + "id": "CBMiqgFBVV95cUxOMG9vVkp5YzgxbFdvUVNMbXpmdjlEOC04emRRU0ZweFpxXzdmZ2RqQnAtQXhhWG5iTElkeHJXU3dtRVdzM2E1NGlxb0g0eWlWYXhJWVltdGZETy1BRV9KcWF3eHpGZFA5eW9uT3ZwMXYxbzg3Z3prcnQxZFJWQ2k3Vkh6bnVjQU0zeWdSR2RySjZxYjlvYnA0YjhFcWVFSjFFVXkzTUFVX2NkZw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 15 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 15, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 349, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba: Documents Chart History of Secret Communications  National Security Archive", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba: Documents Chart History of Secret Communications  National Security Archive" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://nsarchive.gwu.edu", + "title": "National Security Archive" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba: Documents Chart History of Secret Communications\nurl: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2017-12-15/cuba-documents-chart-history-secret-communications\nhostname: nsarchive.gwu.edu\ndescription: Washington D.C., December 15, 2017 - With the approach of the 3rd anniversary of \u201c17-D\u201d\u2014the iconic date of December 17, 2014, when President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro made public a historic breakthrough in U.S.-Cuba relations\u2014the National Security Archive today announced the publication of a major collection of declassified records on the history of talks between the two nations.\nsitename: NSArchive\ndate: 2017-12-15\n---\n*Ra\u00fal Castro meets with President Obama on the sidelines of the 7th Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama in April, 2015. Estudio Revolucion/Xinhua/ZUMA*\n\nNational Security Archive Publishes Major Collection of Records on History of U.S.-Cuba Dialogue\n\nDocuments Provide Historical Foundation for Obama-Castro Breakthrough" + }, + { + "title": "Stressful conditions, not \u2018sonic weapon,' sickened U.S diplomats, Cuba panel asserts - Science | AAAS", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Stressful conditions, not \u2018sonic weapon,' sickened U.S diplomats, Cuba panel asserts - Science | AAAS" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiugFBVV95cUxPdFZFeXYwS2dPVXVxckVHOHFHbkw2TUJ6U0xYOWE3ZXgxUUdQLV9oX0lGc1BNeXVyTGFFQjJ3Tkk4Z3NVWGJZUTM1QU9qWmd0UGszZDhFYnFhbXJRTkNaR3IxOTlaZk1BT2xzT0lDaFhOSEQwU3lRS1VpZGxFQkx5cTVrdjkyc3lkYWNZYi15YVBmV3ZucGhkVy01cWVXT2NiWUJEVjlqVjJtN2RWblhfOFVUMi1zckY4RXc?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://peoplesworld.org/article/cuba-heads-to-the-polls-a-primer-on-cuban-elections/", + "id": "CBMiugFBVV95cUxPdFZFeXYwS2dPVXVxckVHOHFHbkw2TUJ6U0xYOWE3ZXgxUUdQLV9oX0lGc1BNeXVyTGFFQjJ3Tkk4Z3NVWGJZUTM1QU9qWmd0UGszZDhFYnFhbXJRTkNaR3IxOTlaZk1BT2xzT0lDaFhOSEQwU3lRS1VpZGxFQkx5cTVrdjkyc3lkYWNZYi15YVBmV3ZucGhkVy01cWVXT2NiWUJEVjlqVjJtN2RWblhfOFVUMi1zckY4RXc", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 05 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 5, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 339, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Stressful conditions, not \u2018sonic weapon,' sickened U.S diplomats, Cuba panel asserts  Science | AAAS", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Stressful conditions, not \u2018sonic weapon,' sickened U.S diplomats, Cuba panel asserts  Science | AAAS" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.science.org", + "title": "Science | AAAS" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba - Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMickFVX3lxTFB2MnhvaVdHeDh6Nm9iWUNTdS04NDdka1FRZzNuam9IS2MwQlQyYjVYVFpOLUdkRlpvRXBSaVd4NmFWYTl1V1dKM0hvTGg5cjU1VjdvMnB0OTZTeXBfSnBpSG1mOXllVE9VaWk2bm1JZWtudw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/when-president-obama-moved-to-normalize-relations-with-cuba/2017/12/11/35c86772-c326-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html", + "id": "CBMickFVX3lxTFB2MnhvaVdHeDh6Nm9iWUNTdS04NDdka1FRZzNuam9IS2MwQlQyYjVYVFpOLUdkRlpvRXBSaVd4NmFWYTl1V1dKM0hvTGg5cjU1VjdvMnB0OTZTeXBfSnBpSG1mOXllVE9VaWk2bm1JZWtudw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 08 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 8, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 342, + 0 + ], + "summary": "The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 0, + "response": "Error: " + }, + { + "title": "What Americans Traveling To Cuba Need To Know - Forbes", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "What Americans Traveling To Cuba Need To Know - Forbes" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiowFBVV95cUxPeExLVnBETFUwM3ppRFNJMDFZSHZ0WTFnel8xYldPdm1XWVZhUXlIMGpiRmY5QXFyeEFMNVg0dTFKUmNoU3E1ZzVPVF95aXFNYlprLURINXVZVDNwV2o0QUQwOVNTRXVFUFpwVkxPOHNFY3lSd2RxZTBuNzdDVUtKb0F3dVB5SWxXcmJ4MGtoUFdOV2tJYktHdjY1TDZxY2hzLWdr?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/opinion/the-culture-of-violence-in-cuba/", + "id": "CBMiowFBVV95cUxPeExLVnBETFUwM3ppRFNJMDFZSHZ0WTFnel8xYldPdm1XWVZhUXlIMGpiRmY5QXFyeEFMNVg0dTFKUmNoU3E1ZzVPVF95aXFNYlprLURINXVZVDNwV2o0QUQwOVNTRXVFUFpwVkxPOHNFY3lSd2RxZTBuNzdDVUtKb0F3dVB5SWxXcmJ4MGtoUFdOV2tJYktHdjY1TDZxY2hzLWdr", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 22, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 356, + 0 + ], + "summary": "What Americans Traveling To Cuba Need To Know  Forbes", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "What Americans Traveling To Cuba Need To Know  Forbes" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.forbes.com", + "title": "Forbes" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba - Havana Times\nauthor: Circles Robinson\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/opinion/the-culture-of-violence-in-cuba/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: Although it might not be apparent to the tourist, our society is very violent in many ways. It\u2019s sad to admit it, but that\u2019s our reality and we don\u2019t get anywhere by minimizing it or denying it. If selling firearms was legal here, Cuba would be the Wild West.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-08\ncategories: ['Opinion']\n---\n# The \u201cCulture\u201d of Violence in Cuba\n\n*\u2026and the half-hearted attempt to tackle it*\n\n**Osmel Ramirez Alvarez**\n\nHAVANA TIMES \u2014 Although it might not be apparent to the tourist, our society is very violent in many ways. It\u2019s sad to admit it, but that\u2019s our reality and we don\u2019t get anywhere by minimizing it or denying it. If selling firearms was legal here, Cuba would be the Wild West.\n\nThere are many different forms of violence: on the street, when there are carnivals and other festivities, in lines and even on buses. It is physical a lot of the time, but it is constantly verbal.\n\nA graphic example: on the P-12 urban bus I caught in Havana on November 19th, after I was banned by immigration from traveling to Peru, a man almost killed another one for pushing him when getting off the bus. The victim had also been pushed by the crowd. His wife and children were crying while he was kicked on the ground by the angry passenger. Somebody saved him from dying from a bad blow and got back on the bus. His gesture was human, but the strange thing was that he regretted not having brought along a knife \u201cto kill that abusive guy.\u201d Just imagine!\n\nHowever, the most frequent and cutting form of violence in our society is domestic, mainly against women and young girls. For a few weeks now, there has been a great campaign to try and make this scourge visible, which is an excellent idea.\n\nMachismo endures like a bad inheritance which is aggravated by Cuba\u2019s critical socio-economic landscape. Cuban women freed their minds, but they are currently out-of-step with their most adverse social reality.\n\nFor example, they end up stuck in dysfunctional marriages a lot of the time because they have no way to be independent. The burden of looking after children and the household are great factors, of course. However, both are conditioned by the miserly wages that make their lives an odyssey. And that is the breeding ground for domestic violence.\n\nNo man woos a woman by saying that if he doesn\u2019t like something he will beat her or insult her. The violent ones are the ones who sell themselves the best, as they are almost always innate manipulators who deceive everyone around them and victimize them.\n\nAnd a very complicated psychosocial web is formed that only very few women, alone, are able to untangle. That\u2019s why help via institutions and effective laws is so important.\n\nThe first problem we have is our police, where there are mostly men and most often practice macho solidarity. It\u2019s very hard for a woman to decide to file a report but a lot of the time, it\u2019s even harder to convince the police to accept them. Mainly in municipalities where nearly everyone has one relative or friend in uniform. People always think the victim is exaggerating until a tragedy happens.\n\nNot even six months ago in Cocal, Mayari, an ex-husband holding a machete killed his ex-wife in the middle of a square, when she got out of a car, because she didn\u2019t want to get back together with him. He left three children orphans by committing this crime. According to his brother, who was with him and lost some fingers trying to keep him back, he just wanted to intimidate her so that she would reconsider. When the impassioned brute saw what he had done, he slit his own throat and died in surgery.\n\nIt\u2019s known that this young mother, under 30 years of age, had gone to report him to the police not long before. But, we don\u2019t know why the case wasn\u2019t followed up on, whether she herself withdrew it or whether the police just had a half-hearted approach. After a woman accuses the alleged abuser, he is supposed to be arrested to prevent reprisals and if he runs away she should be given shelter for her own safety.\n\nBut, normally, a lot of family and social pressure begins for her to retract her statement, which the police not so subtly cooperate with (by not opposing this or explaining the dangers or statistics of what the consequences are). They accept it and that\u2019s it, prior agreement.\n\nThe Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) has a support program for women and children, but it hardly has any social impact. Very few women know that it exists as it isn\u2019t publicized or promoted, they don\u2019t even enter into contact with the police to accompany victims who go to them and they don\u2019t do any community work either. The FMC works even less than the Committees in Defense of the Revolution (CDRs), which is a shame because even though it is not a real civic organization, it\u2019s the only one in the country that brings women together.\n\nWhen there is democracy in Cuba someday, I\u2019d propose a law that bans a woman from withdrawing her complaint of domestic or gender violence so as to prevent immunity because of family and social pressure. This should also include training specialists in this subject and it should be the victim herself who protects herself if she feels in danger, because it is unfair to arrest the accused without any evidence of his guilt.\n\nSteps needs to be taken so that the greatest social justice possible exists and the battle against these forms of violence is crucial. However, wanting to participate within today\u2019s political system is very hard and dangerous, because even though you can legally collect signatures, it is banned in practice and is seen as an act of political dissidence.\n\nGiving visibility to the subject, creating awareness, planting ideas and breaking myths is what we can do for now. And that is no small feat.\n\nSlick how you switched up the topic from violent crime to a public service piece directly from the feminist manual for propaganda. Congrats on being deceitful.\n\nDomestic violence is an issue in all of Latin America with Central America holding the \u201dtrophy\u201d.\n\nUnusually, there is nothing in your comment that I would really disagree with.\n\nAnd I shall be careful to be on my guard next time I\u2019m in Belgium.\n\nWell Eden and Nick, fortunately neither Cuba or England (and UK) have sufficiently high levels of violence to qualify for the top twenty. Indeed Cuba possibly has the lowest murder rate of any Latin American country. The 2016 murder statistics show Latin American countries holding 5 of the top ten positions. Honduras leads the field with 84.3 murders per 100,000 population. Venezuela is second (I\u2019m certain that excludes those killied by Maduro goons, then the US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, El Salvador, the first African country Lesotho, followed by Guatemala, South Africa, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago. US surprisingly isn\u2019t in the top twenty.\n\nRobbery is entirely different as Belgium is far and away the leader with 1,616 per 100,000 compared with Costa Rica in second place with a mere 984. I can personally vouch that the Belgian Police are incompetent.\n\nWhere Cuba is prominent is in the figures for incarceration, holding fourth place in the world. But as Nick will undoubtedly point out, the good old US holds first place.\n\nJust thought I would help out\n\nI spent a couple of years in Havana if it is of interest to you.\n\nBut I can assure you that I am not trying to be an authority on anything \u2013 just giving an opinion (this is a comments page).\n\nCuba has a relatively low level of violent crime compared to most of the Latin American and Caribbean region.\n\nAnd also compared to my own home country. That\u2019s my opinion and the opinion of everyone who I have ever met who has lived in the two countries.\n\nIt\u2019s also my very clear opinion (based on having lived in several different parts of the world) that domestic abuse and domestic violence are not restricted to countries with a certain type of political system.\n\nIf you have different opinions, that\u2019s just absolutely fine with me.\n\nMy point is that you\u2019re trying to be an authority on something that it appears you know nothing about.\n\nHow long did you live in Cuba? Where?\n\nI\u2019m not going to get involved in any kind of competition on who knows the most people who have been murdered.\n\nDomestic violence is an issue in Cuba. My point is that it is an issue all over the place. It\u2019s not something that is unique to countries with specific political systems.\n\nI know the two neighbourhoods you refer to. Vedado is not by any means a violent neighbourhood. El Centro can be more so. There are other neighbourhoods in Havana which probably have more social problems.\n\nBut obviously Havana is not Cuba.\n\nI don\u2019t know how well you know the UK.\n\nI have lived in both the UK and Cuba and I consider that Cuba has the lower level of violent crime. As does pretty much everyone else I have ever met who has lived in the two countries.\n\nMaybe you suggest differently?\n\nOther than that, I don\u2019t really get what your point is.\n\n\u201c\u2026 In the time I spent in Cuba I was aware of domestic violence being an issue but I would estimate it to be significantly less of a problem than in my own home country\u2026\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2026 I would also have to say that violence generally is less frequent in Cuba but it does happen\u2026\u201d\n\nHow many people do you personally know in your neighbourhood in the UK who\u2019ve been murdered in the last 10 years? I personally know 7 in my neighbourhood of Centro and Vedado.\n\nHow many people do you personally know in your neighbourhood in the UK who\u2019ve been seriously wounded in an attack with a knife or machete in the last 10 years? I personally know at least 20.\n\nOsmel makes some very good points about violence, particularly gender-based \u201cdomestic abuse,\u201d as it is frequently called. All too often, topics like this are kept like dirty secrets and not talked about, especially not when it could cause tourists to be fearful. But, this is a very important subject to discuss openly, in Cuba and everywhere else.\n\nThe World Health Organization estimates that, globally, 1 in 3 women \u201chave experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.\u201d That means women you know \u2013 your mother, sister, daughter, lover, friend \u2013 will be touched by violence at some point in their lives. Talking about this pervasive problem is a good first step towards finding solutions and ending it, as well as stopping other forms of violence.\n\nOsmel mentions that the FMC has support programs in place but they are not well promoted or effectively utilized. Is there any other group besides the FMC or the CDRs that could assist women who are victims of violence? Perhaps a network of \u201csafe houses\u201d or shelters could be developed. In other countries, this type of support work often began informally, at the grass roots level, and eventually led to nationally organized programs and stronger legislation. In some places, laws do stop women from withdrawing complaints, and the also give the police the power to lay charges when there is evidence of physical violence. Does this kind of work really need to wait for a different government? I hope not.\n\nAs Osmel concludes: \u201cGiving visibility to the subject, creating awareness, planting ideas and\n\nbreaking myths is what we can do for now. And that is no small feat.\u201d Very true! But, it is need to be done.\n\nSadly societal violence and particularly domestic violence are widespread issues.\n\nIt is certainly occurrs in Cuba.\n\nBut with what frequency compared to other countries?\n\nIt may well be tempting for some to link this issue with politics, but it is most definitely not a problem restricted to countries with specific political systems.\n\nIn my home country, the UK, there is a largely capitalist system and the 6th largest economy in the world. There is also considered to be a high degree of gender equality.\n\nBut unfortunately 14% (approx 1 in 7) of children live in households where domestic abuse/violence has occurred. In the UK there are an average of around 3 women per week killed by current or ex partners.\n\nIn the time I spent in Cuba I was aware of domestic violence being an issue but I would estimate it to be significantly less of a problem than in my own home country.\n\nI would also have to say that violence generally is less frequent in Cuba but it does happen. As has been mentioned it is more likely to occur away from touristy areas. I have certainly witnessed violent incidents in Cuba, but far less so than in the UK.\n\nThank goodness neither the UK nor Cuba has a culture that involves widespread gun ownership.\n\nFar more domestic violence fatalities would inevitably occur if that were ever to be the case.\n\nExcellent example of the vast difference between \u201cTourist Cuba\u201d where everything is constantly lauded as \u201cso safe\u201d (and indeed it is) and normal \u201cDay-To-Day Cuba\u201d where violence and murder is not uncommon.\n\nCuban-on-Cuban violent crime is a fact of daily life, thank God this hasn\u2019t trickled down to the tourist sector yet.\n\nTruth will out. Although I agree with Osmel about the rife machismo in Cuba, one factor he does not discuss is the built up frustration for the average Cuban male consequent to his inability to properly provide for his family, the inability to improve his lot and no hope for a better life in the future." + }, + { + "title": "Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that \u2018boring\u2019 label - Andscape", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that \u2018boring\u2019 label - Andscape" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMioAFBVV95cUxOaUtWUHpVakxKd1dIazZqQ3FER0hUZVI4Y2JvLW9ObnNIcnVLVlJKd25jY1I4WUlORERtZ1FaOVBSaXhaRXkyN1VJZjF1UUhuNXpwYTQzZjRBR1BtcEZUZEdSeTBGaWhDRmUtdE5KdjhCc1JSWFFUcE9LQTlaR0lMZE1JWDIyMlVZUDNKSnlpbTlsVWJPaFhGc0ZoTUlFX3g0?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.science.org/content/article/stressful-conditions-not-sonic-weapon-sickened-us-diplomats-cuba-panel-asserts", + "id": "CBMioAFBVV95cUxOaUtWUHpVakxKd1dIazZqQ3FER0hUZVI4Y2JvLW9ObnNIcnVLVlJKd25jY1I4WUlORERtZ1FaOVBSaXhaRXkyN1VJZjF1UUhuNXpwYTQzZjRBR1BtcEZUZEdSeTBGaWhDRmUtdE5KdjhCc1JSWFFUcE9LQTlaR0lMZE1JWDIyMlVZUDNKSnlpbTlsVWJPaFhGc0ZoTUlFX3g0", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 6, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 340, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that \u2018boring\u2019 label  Andscape", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that \u2018boring\u2019 label  Andscape" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://andscape.com", + "title": "Andscape" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Harvard signs memorandum of understanding with Cuban Ministry of Higher Ed - 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War Resisters' International", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba - War Resisters' International" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMia0FVX3lxTE5GYzhOaVVkSUlsWkxCVG0tNUNnbzBkV1ltUkxKNVBBRl9ZS3dlQUlpVmhuNndURFFtOWRDcWVOdlRpZkhnbWFGYWM1VHlYQjlaOUJVMzJMMHlPVGZ4MlVqMWNURS1UVWpZd2tB?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://andscape.com/features/boxer-guillermo-rigondeaux-on-cuba-vasyl-lomachenko-and-boring-label/", + "id": "CBMia0FVX3lxTE5GYzhOaVVkSUlsWkxCVG0tNUNnbzBkV1ltUkxKNVBBRl9ZS3dlQUlpVmhuNndURFFtOWRDcWVOdlRpZkhnbWFGYWM1VHlYQjlaOUJVMzJMMHlPVGZ4MlVqMWNURS1UVWpZd2tB", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 14 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 14, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 348, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba  War Resisters' International", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba  War Resisters' International" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://wri-irg.org", + "title": "War Resisters' International" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that 'boring' label - Andscape\nauthor: Jorge Sedano\nurl: https://andscape.com/features/boxer-guillermo-rigondeaux-on-cuba-vasyl-lomachenko-and-boring-label/\nhostname: andscape.com\ndescription: Guillermo Rigondeaux is a tactician in the boxing ring. Like a paid assassin, he wastes no bullets. There is one thing that makes this assassin a bit gun-shy \u2014 the painful memories of escaping everything he ever knew in his homeland of Cuba. Anytime the subject of Cuba comes up, he keeps people at bay [\u2026]\nsitename: Andscape\ndate: 2017-12-06\n---\n# Boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux on Cuba, Lomachenko and that \u2018boring\u2019 label\n\nCuban hero will fight WBO champ Vasiliy Lomachenko on Saturday on ESPN\n\nGuillermo Rigondeaux is a tactician in the boxing ring. Like a paid assassin, he wastes no bullets. There is one thing that makes this assassin a bit gun-shy \u2014 the painful memories of escaping everything he ever knew in his homeland of Cuba.\n\nAnytime the subject of Cuba comes up, he keeps people at bay with his verbal jab.\n\n*\u201cEso no se dice, Champion. No se piensa. Eso es lo que esta en la mente en ese momento y se va.\u201d*\n\nTranslation: \u201cWe don\u2019t speak of those things, Champ. We don\u2019t think of that anymore. It was the feeling in that moment. It already happened, it\u2019s in the past. I made the decision and lived with the consequences.\u201d\n\nSitting on a faded wooden bench in Miami\u2019s famed Tropical Park, he discusses why he loves Miami so much. It\u2019s because it feels like an extension of his homeland in Cuba. Ninety miles away, but worlds apart.\n\nHe\u2019s also known as Rigo or El Chacal (The Jackal) by many of his friends and fans. Rigondeaux, who will fight WBO super featherweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko on Saturday on ESPN, is one of the most decorated boxers in Cuban history. A hero, all while being a pawn on Fidel Castro\u2019s political chessboard.\n\n\u201cWhen you\u2019ve seen what I\u2019ve seen,\u201d said Rigondeaux, \u201cnothing in the ring can scare you.\u201d\n\nCastro used Cuba\u2019s tremendous athletes and sports to reinforce his political ideologies on the people of Cuba. He created both a literal and figurative show of strength. Nothing emphasized that more than the country\u2019s participation on the world stage in boxing.\n\nIn a nation that is deprived of many basic necessities taken for granted in the United States, such as adequate food and hot water, Castro used sports like boxing to inject a sense of national pride.\n\nThree-time Olympic boxing gold medalist Te\u00f3filo Stevenson was once held up as a poster child for Castro\u2019s socialist regime. Stevenson famously declined a lucrative multimillion-dollar offer to turn pro and fight Muhammad Ali by saying, \u201cWhat is a million dollars compared to the love of 8 million Cubans?\u201d\n\nRigondeaux (17-0, 11 knockouts) had seen enough of the real world to know something was askew.\n\n\u201cI traveled a ton with the Cuban national team. It always made me kind of sad when I would go out and see people dining in these countries, because you could feed a ton of Cubans simply off of the scraps that they would leave behind,\u201d the boxer said. \u201cIt was tough to see. Really tough.\u201d\n\nWas that what made him decide to defect from Cuba?\n\n\u201cIt certainly wasn\u2019t the only reason I defected, but of course it plays a part. I\u2019m sitting there watching people throw food away and we don\u2019t have anything. I know we won\u2019t have anything, either.\u201d\n\nRigondeaux has seven brothers, an ex-wife, a stepson and a 15-year-old son on the island.\n\nThat teenage son is also training to be a boxer in Cuba.\n\n\u201cYou worry as a parent,\u201d Rigondeaux said. \u201cI tell him to stay on the straight and narrow. There are always eyes on you, studying your every move there, no matter who you are. I understand that\u2019s the reality of living there.\u201d\n\nYou can see the anguish on his face when discussing his long-distance family. Imagine leaving behind everything you know and love? Not to mention risking your life in doing so.\n\nRigondeaux weighed all of those factors and decided it was worth the risk.\n\nOn July 22, 2007, at the Pan American Games in Brazil, Rigondeaux did not appear for his scheduled bout. Eleven days later, he was taken into police custody and was on his way back to Cuba as a disgraced, failed defector.\n\nWhat happened?\n\n\u201cEn los juego Pan Americano en el 2007? Champion, eso no se dice. No se piensa.\u201d\n\n*\u201cAt the 2007 Pan American Games in Brazil? You don\u2019t need to speak of or think about that stuff anymore.\u201d*\n\nA jab back at the champ finally landed.\n\nHow did you get caught?\n\n\u201cI was in Brazil, and word had spread of my plot to defect. There were photographs of me plotting my next move, and it was over just like that. I was sent back to Cuba,\u201d Rigondeaux said.\n\nIn a matter of days, he went from national hero to traitor. All for a taste of freedom.\n\nRigondeaux was now muted, like the rest of his countrymen. Perhaps even worse: He was dismissed from the Cuban national team by Castro himself in a public scolding.\n\nThe same Castro, who had greeted the two-time Olympic gold medalist upon his triumphant return from Sydney and Athens, Greece, stated after Rigondeaux\u2019s attempt to defect, \u201cThey reached the point of no return as part of the Cuban delegation in that sport.\u201d\n\n\u201cBetrayal for money is one of the favorite weapons of the United States to destroy Cuba\u2019s resistance,\u201d said Castro. \u201cThey were simply knocked out with a blow to the jaw, paid for by American dollars. There was no need for a count.\u201d\n\nAfter the condemnation at the hands of El Comandante, Rigondeaux was left with only one option: another attempt to defect.\n\nReports out of Cuba stated that Rigondeaux fled Cuba by boat en route to Mexico. When asked whether he indeed traveled this way, he again hit with his jab, \u201cno, Champ, we can\u2019t talk about those things.\u201d\n\nHe still would not explain his exact method of escape from Cuba. He did confirm that he fled to Mexico.\n\nOnce in Mexico, Rigo\u2019s travels led him to Laredo, a town just south of the border city in Texas with the same name. He spent a month sequestered in a safe house in the small Mexican town. This home was occupied by 30 defectors and the smugglers who brought him into Mexico and were in charge of getting them safely to the border.\n\n\u201cThere were a few boxers like myself, men, women and children of all ages,\u201d said Rigondeaux. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t leave. When we arrived, there was enough food, water and supplies to survive the length of our stay.\u201d\n\nIt was a business transaction. You paid for the service, and the goods would be delivered from Point A to Point B, moving swiftly.\n\n\u201cThey would simply approach you and tell you, \u2018Hey, your family paid the bill. Let\u2019s go,\u2019 \u201d Rigondeaux said. \u201cIf they didn\u2019t pay, they\u2019d set you loose on the streets and you were on your own. It was only a matter of time before the authorities caught you and shipped you back to Cuba.\u201d\n\nThis encounter sounds like an adventure you only see in a movie. Make no mistake, this was real. It was shocking to see how matter-of-factly he recounted the story. No matter how terrifying this situation appeared, Rigondeaux was simply relieved to be away from Cuba.\n\n\u201cI was at peace. I knew what I had to do. If it meant staying in that house for a month, so be it. Clearly, there were some people who were very afraid.\u201d\n\nRigondeaux, his housemates and the smugglers hit the road. Carefully navigating through Laredo on their way to the border, his journey to freedom was underway.\n\n\u201cWe stopped at few safe houses along the way. We were fed and were able to sleep there. We were treated well. I have no complaints,\u201d said Rigondeaux. \u201cIt took about seven or eight days of traveling to reach the border. That group I was with became your surrogate family. We all had to form a bond to ensure we would make it.\u201d\n\nOnce he was granted safe passage to the border, he claimed political asylum. Within 24 hours he was on his way to Miami.\n\nWho picked him up?\n\n*\u201cChampion, no te puedo decir eso. Vira el cap\u00edtulo. *\n\n*\u201cChamp, I can\u2019t tell you who picked me up. Time to move on to the next chapter.\u201d *\n\nWho wouldn\u2019t want to forget or avoid discussing what he\u2019s been through? He\u2019s hesitant and anxious about giving specific details because of possible retribution toward those who he loves.\n\nHis personal life is filled with complexities and scars. Meanwhile, his pro boxing life hasn\u2019t been all roses either. He\u2019s been labeled a boring fighter because of his ability to counterpunch. His defensive style isn\u2019t deemed sexy enough. HBO dropped him. It\u2019s something that clearly irks him. So much so, he is no longer reserved. In fact, the volume rises.\n\nThis is where the assassin comes out.\n\n\u201cPeople who say that [my style is boring] have never stepped foot in a ring before and have never taken a shot in the head. Boxing is an art form. Hit your opponent and make sure they don\u2019t hit you. That\u2019s what boxing is supposed to be.\u201d\n\nYou know whose style in the ring can also be considered boring? Floyd Mayweather.\n\nRigondeaux sees the similarities in their approach.\n\n\u201cHe\u2019s a star. He\u2019s the best fighter in the world. I\u2019ve trained at his facility. Our styles are similar. Mayweather throws punches with precision. I do the same thing. I\u2019m not out there to waste energy. I\u2019m out there to punch you in the face. That way it hurts every time.\u201d\n\nRigondeaux, rightfully indignant about this narrative, believes there is also something else at play.\n\n\u201cIf I grew up in this country and could speak English like he [Mayweather] does, I\u2019d be just as popular. I can talk smack in Spanish. You\u2019ve heard it. But it\u2019s not the same. I get that. I think that\u2019s a huge factor.\u201d\n\nThen the champ unloaded. Accusing Latino boxers of loathing their own. Specifically Mexican boxers.\n\n\u201cI also think the biggest issue we have as Latinos in boxing is that we talk poorly about each other. American-born fighters may put on the show in the prefight, but there is a real respect there. American-born fighters have always been very respectful and even supportive of me. The Latino fighters who aren\u2019t Cuban? They\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, that guy can go to hell.\u2019 The Mexican fighters hate the Cuban fighters. They keep coming at you in the ring to show how brave they are. You know, Mexican-style. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve knocked all their heads off.\u201d\n\nWhen it came to talking about Lomachenko, his opponent Saturday night, he prepared for the knockout blow.\n\n\u201cPeople think I\u2019m crazy because I took on this fight. I moved up two weight classes because nobody in my weight class wants to fight me. I guess I can\u2019t blame them. He [Lomachenko] says he\u2019s going to kick my a\u2013. I just laugh that off. Does he think he has four hands? He has two just like me. He\u2019s a two-time Olympic gold medalist? Great! So am I. We\u2019ll see what he\u2019s really made of on Dec. 9th.\n\n\u201cI was born a champion. I\u2019m a talent. He just has desire. Wait until I knock him upside the head and we\u2019ll see what he\u2019s got.\u201d\n\nHow is this guy boring again?" + }, + { + "title": "On a Cuban Reef, A Precarious Partnership on Scientific Research - Yale E360", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "On a Cuban Reef, A Precarious Partnership on Scientific Research - Yale E360" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimgFBVV95cUxNczZ3TXBxalYwZ0NIa3hJUFRCNjEzTTVvYWppU05VZlBoZXViWHdwb1EzS1EwWEpaNUNtRTJaWFNXLS1FZTBTRXVvWm1iN2VoczlZNDh5aUN5VmdiaC14T2NnUGhIR3QxSFpvZjhBSkM1OVAtMjVQbVhXcU53dEpBaGdHSGg2NmEteHdEQ1g0dkFfRzU5UjlhZDdB?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://wri-irg.org/en/programmes/world_survey/reports/Cuba", + "id": "CBMimgFBVV95cUxNczZ3TXBxalYwZ0NIa3hJUFRCNjEzTTVvYWppU05VZlBoZXViWHdwb1EzS1EwWEpaNUNtRTJaWFNXLS1FZTBTRXVvWm1iN2VoczlZNDh5aUN5VmdiaC14T2NnUGhIR3QxSFpvZjhBSkM1OVAtMjVQbVhXcU53dEpBaGdHSGg2NmEteHdEQ1g0dkFfRzU5UjlhZDdB", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 20 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 20, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 354, + 0 + ], + "summary": "On a Cuban Reef, A Precarious Partnership on Scientific Research  Yale E360", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "On a Cuban Reef, A Precarious Partnership on Scientific Research  Yale E360" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://e360.yale.edu", + "title": "Yale E360" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Verifying connection\n---\nAI scrapers break the web, to use this page you'll need JavaScript enabled." + }, + { + "title": "Our man in Havana: Alumnus is Cuba-based reporter - Florida International University", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Our man in Havana: Alumnus is Cuba-based reporter - Florida International University" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMif0FVX3lxTE9ScnV3aUp6VlYwYnVjYktLQ1d2UHAzX0h6bE1peEVrX1dGMERIMHk2dEVGZ0h4aU9DQ2pmdVZreDdfZlZuaHZ5Vi1DOEk1RGVzNndlVy1CbHotaFY4cWZiTDBxUjNEYWF5dzlCZEFtQnBCRjNMc0Fla2tIWnVxOTg?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://e360.yale.edu/features/on-a-cuban-reef-a-precarious-partnership-on-scientific-research", + "id": "CBMif0FVX3lxTE9ScnV3aUp6VlYwYnVjYktLQ1d2UHAzX0h6bE1peEVrX1dGMERIMHk2dEVGZ0h4aU9DQ2pmdVZreDdfZlZuaHZ5Vi1DOEk1RGVzNndlVy1CbHotaFY4cWZiTDBxUjNEYWF5dzlCZEFtQnBCRjNMc0Fla2tIWnVxOTg", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sun, 10 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 10, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 6, + 344, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Our man in Havana: Alumnus is Cuba-based reporter  Florida International University", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Our man in Havana: Alumnus is Cuba-based reporter  Florida International University" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://news.fiu.edu", + "title": "Florida International University" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: On a Cuban Reef, A Precarious Partnership on Scientific Research\nauthor: Diane Toomey \u2022 December\nurl: https://e360.yale.edu/features/on-a-cuban-reef-a-precarious-partnership-on-scientific-research\nhostname: yale.edu\ndescription: During the thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations, ecologist Amy Apprill helped organize a research trip to Cuba\u2019s stunning Gardens of the Queen reef. But in an e360 interview, Apprill says she fears the Trump administration\u2019s opposition to Cuban detente will threaten future scientific cooperation.\nsitename: Yale E360\ndate: 2017-12-20\n---\nThe world\u2019s coral reefs are in increasingly dire shape as pollution, coastal development, overfishing, and \u2014 perhaps most ominously \u2014 bleaching from rising ocean temperatures exact a mounting toll. But relatively intact and healthy coral reefs still exist, and among the best of them is the Gardens of the Queen National Park \u2014 *Jardines de la Reina \u2014 *off the southern coast of Cuba.\n\nProtected for decades by a lack of coastal development in this communist state, the Gardens of the Queen has not been as widely studied as some renowned coral reef systems. But last month, a joint U.S.-Cuban scientific expedition, co-led by marine microbial ecologist Amy Apprill of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, carried out an exhaustive 23-day research project in the 840-square-mile Gardens of the Queen park \u2014 a trip that had been planned before President Trump\u2019s revised U.S. policy toward Cuba.\n\nIn an interview with *Yale Environment 360*, Apprill describes the beauty and diversity of this reef ecosystem, explains how the expedition sought to shed light on the \u201cunseen life\u201d of the microbial systems that sustain corals, and talks about the challenges of conducting a joint scientific inquiry with the Cubans as Trump seeks to roll back recent improvements in relations between the U.S. and Cuba. \u201cThere was a lot of hope before,\u201d says Apprill. \u201cThere was a lot of talk about Cuba becoming more open to the U.S. That is gone. Now, the U.S. is seen as this giant power that\u2019s not going to work with them.\u201d\n\n**Yale Environment 360:** Before we get to the science of the expedition, describe the visceral experience of diving on this really gorgeous reef.\n\n**Amy Apprill: **One of the things that I notice immediately when I\u2019m down on the more highly protected Cuban reefs is how active they are. That\u2019s due to just the abundance of fish that are moving throughout the reef. I\u2019m more of a coral scientist, so I tend to focus on the corals, but when I\u2019m on these Cuban reefs, I can\u2019t [focus] because there are just so many distractions. There\u2019s so much life moving around. We saw abundant large fish, including parrotfish, grouper, and sharks, which I do not typically find in other parts of the Caribbean.\n\n**e360: **What is the condition of the corals themselves?\n\n**Apprill: **The corals tend to be larger, which means they\u2019re longer lived. They tend to be healthier looking and they tend to be more diverse compared to other Caribbean reef ecosystems. There were elkhorn and staghorn corals, which are extinct from many Caribbean reefs, as well as larger-sized mounding corals, such as the star corals. And we saw minimal coral bleaching \u2014 no reefs appeared to have been recently impacted by bleaching, in contrast to many of the Pacific reefs.\n\n**e360:** What was the purpose of the expedition?\n\n**Apprill: **Our purpose was to understand the biodiversity of the Cuban coral reefs in relation to their level of protection. Cuba has a really highly protected area in the Gardens of the Queen. On the outskirts [of the marine protected area], the reefs are still legally protected, but there\u2019s no enforcement, so there\u2019s still illegal fishing. We also worked in areas on the outskirts that are open to some fishing. We worked throughout this gradient of protection, and our goal was to understand how biodiversity relates to protection of the reef.\n\n\u201cOne of the unique things we were doing with this cruise was looking at some of the unseen diversity on the reefs.\u201d\n\nOne of the unique things we were doing with this cruise was looking at some of the unseen diversity on the reefs. Traditionally, divers go down on a reef and they collect information about the organisms they can see \u2014 the fish, the corals, other invertebrates, and that\u2019s about it. It\u2019s a very limited view of a reef because a reef has so much more life that we can\u2019t see. So, what we were doing is collecting water samples to look at microbial communities \u2014 the microbiome of the reef water. We were also taking samples to look at the diversity of chemicals in the reef. Because there\u2019s so much life there, we were hypothesizing that the chemical diversity was also quite high in this environment. We were also putting recorders out on the reefs to measure the diversity of sounds produced by the fish, as well as various invertebrates. All those things go into this unseen life category.\n\n**e360: **I know you\u2019re just recently back and haven\u2019t analyzed all the data, but any conclusions that you can share?\n\n**Apprill: **With the observations that we made between the really protected areas and the less protected areas, we definitely saw more macro-scale biodiversity in the more protected areas. That diminished as you went away from the protected areas. You didn\u2019t see as many fish. You didn\u2019t see the large corals. That I can say even without crunching any data.\n\n**e360:** Tell me more about your research into the possible symbiotic relationships that various microbes may have with coral.\n\n**Apprill: **Every life form really has its own microbiome. Corals have a really established microbial association with algae, which are the plant cells that give corals their coloration, but also with bacteria and archaea [single-celled microorganisms]. Some of the work that I\u2019ve done has helped us understand the specificity of associations between corals and bacteria and archaea. I\u2019m really interested in how these cells are interacting with the coral and if in fact they are providing benefits to the coral, such as production of antibiotics or helping them cycle other nutrients or organic matter.\n\n**e360:** Antibiotics for corals? That\u2019s pretty wild.\n\n**Apprill: **It is pretty wild, but when you think about it, one of the limiting factors of a reef is a place to live, a substrate, something to colonize. You look at a coral and it doesn\u2019t have any life growing on it, so they\u2019re really good at keeping things off of them. So, we think they have a variety of strategies, including antibiotics produced by their associate bacteria.\n\n**e360: **Where\u2019s this research going in terms of perhaps mitigating the effects of climate change or other stresses that corals are under?\n\n**Apprill: **We\u2019re just really at the infancy of understanding these relationships. Corals have one of the most diverse microbiomes of any animal that I\u2019ve seen, which I think speaks a lot to potentially the pressures that they\u2019re under. I think there\u2019s a lot of potential here for the microbiome to step up and to provide services to the coral under change. At the same time, we\u2019re seeing levels of change we\u2019ve never seen before. We still need a lot of experimental data to be better informed about how the microbes might be helping.\n\nWe\u2019ve been thinking a lot about how corals recruit their microbes. The majority of them get them from microbes in the seawater. We\u2019ve identified some unique communities of microbes living right around the coral. We think there\u2019s this new ecosystem of microbial life that is interacting in a different way. It\u2019s really exciting to think about how microbes are interacting with corals.\n\n**e360: **You mentioned recording the reef soundscape. Is that a common technique?\n\n**Apprill: **It\u2019s kind of a new and emerging technique. I would say there are a couple handfuls of labs around the world doing this kind of analysis. What\u2019s neat about it is that you can listen to reefs when you\u2019re not there. You can put these recorders down on the reefs and have them record every few minutes for hours, for days even.\n\nOne of the most abundant reef noises is snapping shrimp. As many reefs as I\u2019ve dove on in my life, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen a snapping shrimp. They hide in these reef crevices and sponges, and other nooks and crannies of the reefs, but they\u2019re the major sound producer on the reef. Just understanding their noise dynamics and what are some of the components of their sounds, their chorus \u2014 those are some of the questions that our scientists are looking at.\n\n### The sounds of Cuba's coral reefs. (Credit: Dr. Ashlee Lillis, WHOI)\n\n**e360: **You co-led a joint Cuban-U.S. expedition to this area and were on the first non-Cuban vessel to be granted permission to conduct research there. How did you manage that?\n\n**Apprill: **There was a lot of planning. There were many moments when I didn\u2019t think the cruise was actually going to be able to happen. We\u2019ve been working on this for about a year and a half. Part of that was just getting the permissions or getting the vessel. But working with the Cubans was something. We had people going down to talk directly with the Cubans. We ended up associating with eight different components of their science governmental organizations. It was very involved.\n\n**e360: **You can\u2019t use federal funds to do research in Cuba. How was this expedition funded?\n\n**Apprill: **This was funded by the Dalio Explore Fund and the Dalio Ocean Initiative.\n\n**e360: **What strengths did the Cuban scientists who were on board bring to the table, and what were the strengths of the U.S. team?\n\n**Apprill: **The Cuban scientists had knowledge and expertise in working in the protected area, and bringing that knowledge was really key and helped us understand more about the history of the protection and where exactly the illegal fishing happens. They also have a lot of expertise about Cuban reefs in general. We had scientists who were gathering data about the coral diversity and coral health. The U.S. scientists really brought new techniques and technology and the ability for us to start looking at this unseen component of the reef.\n\nCuban scientists \u201cwant to work with us, but they see our country as putting in these new rules and restrictions.\u201d\n\n**e360: **You have an interesting perspective when it comes to working in Cuba. You went there initially in 2014 when President Obama was opening up our relations with the country. When you were there this time around, President Trump announced further restrictions on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba. Compare how those two different political temperatures affected your time in the country or perhaps even your research.\n\n**Apprill: **I think it\u2019s changed the mentality of working with the Cubans a bit. They seem very scared of making any kind of mistake in working with us or the U.S. government. They want to work with us, but they see our country as putting in these new rules and restrictions, and they have to do everything very carefully so there are not more restrictions. For our research program, too, we were hoping to have some exchanges where Cuban scientists come over here. I haven\u2019t even started navigating that, to understand how that has been impacted, but I suspect it may take longer to get visas. There was a lot of hope before. There was a lot of talk about Cuba becoming more open to the U.S. and seeing increases in tourism. That is gone. Now, the U.S. is seen as this giant power that\u2019s not going to work with them.\n\n**e360: **Given that, what are your realistic goals in terms of building on this expedition?\n\n**Apprill: **We had a scientific conference at the end of the cruise, in Havana, and the government officials were so enthusiastic about our partnership. We actually have a technology transfer agreement in place, which is something really novel. We have a level of trust that just wasn\u2019t there before. We have a really good working relationship. Given the hardships of trying to raise money and figure out logistics working with them, they\u2019re actually really open to it right now. I do feel like I have a bit of a weight on my shoulders in trying to continue what I\u2019ve started." + }, + { + "title": "Royal Caribbean Expands Sailings to Cuba in 2018 - Travel Agent Central", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Royal Caribbean Expands Sailings to Cuba in 2018 - Travel Agent Central" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikgFBVV95cUxNTGltWmdBU18xUWRneDRnYVFjVUJEWjZseFYxUDdVUWFHRWVBakNnX1BkemtFdTRKMTVoOXZmLW1uYmJwYm9vdDNqLXRZbXRfZnBGM1A2OTFacFVoRnJxM3hXT28xeWdJck9LRFFwNkxYNkNtVmc0NWMzQ0dEZjc1Tnp2X3BLd1VaVXlNYzVxd1BLdw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://news.fiu.edu/2017/our-man-in-havana-alumnus-is-cuba-based-reporter", + "id": "CBMikgFBVV95cUxNTGltWmdBU18xUWRneDRnYVFjVUJEWjZseFYxUDdVUWFHRWVBakNnX1BkemtFdTRKMTVoOXZmLW1uYmJwYm9vdDNqLXRZbXRfZnBGM1A2OTFacFVoRnJxM3hXT28xeWdJck9LRFFwNkxYNkNtVmc0NWMzQ0dEZjc1Tnp2X3BLd1VaVXlNYzVxd1BLdw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 01 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 1, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 335, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Royal Caribbean Expands Sailings to Cuba in 2018  Travel Agent Central", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Royal Caribbean Expands Sailings to Cuba in 2018  Travel Agent Central" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.travelagentcentral.com", + "title": "Travel Agent Central" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Our man in Havana: Alumnus is Cuba-based reporter\nauthor: Alexandra Pecharich\nurl: https://news.fiu.edu/2017/our-man-in-havana-alumnus-is-cuba-based-reporter\nhostname: news.fiu.edu\ndescription: Alumnus Hatzel Vela \u201905 reported live from a coastal town in Cuba as Hurricane Irma blew through the Caribbean.\nsitename: Florida International University\ndate: 2017-12-10\n---\nAs Hurricane Irma approached Cuba, Hatzel Vela \u201905 reported live from a coastal town on the island. With power out, no images could be relayed to the newsroom of Miami\u2019s ABC affiliate, so Vela called in instead. Next to a photo of the journalist, a satellite map appeared on screen so viewers could comprehend the precariousness of the situation.\n\nSeveral people on the set spoke directly with Vela while he told of residents\u2019 fears of storm surge and their battening down in homes of dubious construction. Among those interacting with the reporter were two meteorologists. They informed him that Irma\u2019s previously anticipated \u201cbrush\u201d along the northern coast now appeared on radar as a potential direct hit on his current location, in the town of Caibari\u00e9n.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s headed your way,\u201d one said. \u201cIt\u2019s really going to be some rough conditions there for you,\u201d said the other. Soon after the broadcast call ended, the station\u2019s assistant news director phoned Vela and asked pointedly, \u201cWhat are your plans?\u201d\n\nVela had had every intention of hunkering down in place. But with the latest information, he now weighed a desire to tell the stories of those squarely in harm\u2019s way against his own personal safety.\n\nUltimately, he and his cameraman got into a car and spent the night at a private home about seven miles inland as \u201cferocious\u201d winds howled through the night. When it finally blew over, \u201cThere were stories to go around for days, unfortunately,\u201d he says of the wreckage he saw firsthand. \u201cIt was devastating.\u201d\n\nVela holds the unique distinction of serving as the first local South Florida TV reporter to be stationed in Cuba. The Nicaragua-born, Miami-raised journalism graduate honed his writing chops as two-time editor of the university\u2019s school newspaper before starting his on-air reporting career in Charleston, S.C., where he covered the 2008 South Carolina presidential debate and primaries. Moving to Phoenix, he covered immigration protests and the federal bench trial of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. At the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., he contributed to a bilingual news program, was part of an Emmy Award-winning team for a special on the election of Pope Francis and received an Emmy nomination for his immigration coverage.\n\nVela landed at WPLG in Miami just as the Obama administration began opening the door to rapprochement with Cuba. He was among the first reporters to go there to cover diplomatic talks and eventually returned to report on two papal visits and Fidel Castro\u2019s death. In January of 2017 the station formally embedded him on the island.\n\nWhile Vela found Cuban officials helpful in the aftermath of Irma\u2014they allowed media quick entry past security checkpoints in heavily affected areas to report on the destruction\u2014he calls the government\u2019s standard practice of not answering questions or sharing any information at all the greatest challenge to doing his job.\n\nWhich, this being Cuba, begs the question: What of government surveillance?\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure they watch,\u201d Vela says of his TV work. \u201cThey follow my Twitter.\u201d Still, he does not believe the government has had him tailed\u2014though his friends in the Miami exile community assure him otherwise.\n\nWhatever the case, Vela does not let the specter of Big Brother deter him. \u201cI always just stick to one thought,\u201d he says, \u201cthat I\u2019m there to tell stories, to tell the truth as much as I can.\n\n\u201cAnd if they don\u2019t like it, they can kick me out any time.\u201d" + }, + { + "title": "Cuba exports medicine to dozens of countries. It would like the U.S. to be one of them - Miami Herald", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba exports medicine to dozens of countries. It would like the U.S. to be one of them - Miami Herald" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikAFBVV95cUxPazc0RGxtRTBla0oyRkVINmxpeDlIb3pzbFdmaDlVNEFwZEloa3ZoODhRX3B3Wk9kNGlzM1dpMzlSaWNjVUNsU1MyNTE0cDc4cVQ0Vm9iN1ItWktEU1VadGZ2dFJqbDhJYi1lSnI3SEVMcnBXMVJvOWlSOGZ3N2phX0F5dzRYVVBlcVZPUTE4UkzSAZABQVVfeXFMT3Q3bWRUTGRQY20ydE1fNHVUWXdHZU16UnhlcExnMzAxZFVtTFFoWENkeWl1T2NRV1dmMHdsd0pqUEEzam1QSklhZkNBMVFHbzJ6Q29BR3pMX1lZWUpKaG5VUEtNM1dDZHZCWWpXaTI0eWJ2blRvNDFEY0VLTnRzNGcybkRGTVYxVzFsNm1GOXY4?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/royal-caribbean-expands-sailings-to-cuba-2018", + "id": "CBMikAFBVV95cUxPazc0RGxtRTBla0oyRkVINmxpeDlIb3pzbFdmaDlVNEFwZEloa3ZoODhRX3B3Wk9kNGlzM1dpMzlSaWNjVUNsU1MyNTE0cDc4cVQ0Vm9iN1ItWktEU1VadGZ2dFJqbDhJYi1lSnI3SEVMcnBXMVJvOWlSOGZ3N2phX0F5dzRYVVBlcVZPUTE4UkzSAZABQVVfeXFMT3Q3bWRUTGRQY20ydE1fNHVUWXdHZU16UnhlcExnMzAxZFVtTFFoWENkeWl1T2NRV1dmMHdsd0pqUEEzam1QSklhZkNBMVFHbzJ6Q29BR3pMX1lZWUpKaG5VUEtNM1dDZHZCWWpXaTI0eWJ2blRvNDFEY0VLTnRzNGcybkRGTVYxVzFsNm1GOXY4", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 14 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 14, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 348, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba exports medicine to dozens of countries. It would like the U.S. to be one of them  Miami Herald", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba exports medicine to dozens of countries. It would like the U.S. to be one of them  Miami Herald" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.miamiherald.com", + "title": "Miami Herald" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term - CBS News", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term - CBS News" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMifEFVX3lxTE04Yk9YQURGYXZaU2VnTHctS0RfQWpvWXRTTXpfVHFpNTRCTDIwWlliR3lYU211THdlampzSzZvY0huOHJDX1p2ejZlaUlhMlZOSW9uV3NDb3NVSjVVU1hUU3Q2ZmFwR1EtTE4wdXNLZ2xaOHplMUVTLVRxdTHSAYIBQVVfeXFMTW42TDMzSFNGbXpobVpRVEk4clVRdlQ0RWZzelVxNG80Wnp4ajdQbmlNbnVqZFhhQ2JXR2F3V2VoYzJod2lDT1Fic21LcUx1WFBiMWs3VWE3dHB1VGVWXzJfQmVMcXd0OHNhaEZTcWduQkhTN3NVM3ptcTc4Mkl0WjNwUQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article189830809.html", + "id": "CBMifEFVX3lxTE04Yk9YQURGYXZaU2VnTHctS0RfQWpvWXRTTXpfVHFpNTRCTDIwWlliR3lYU211THdlampzSzZvY0huOHJDX1p2ejZlaUlhMlZOSW9uV3NDb3NVSjVVU1hUU3Q2ZmFwR1EtTE4wdXNLZ2xaOHplMUVTLVRxdTHSAYIBQVVfeXFMTW42TDMzSFNGbXpobVpRVEk4clVRdlQ0RWZzelVxNG80Wnp4ajdQbmlNbnVqZFhhQ2JXR2F3V2VoYzJod2lDT1Fic21LcUx1WFBiMWs3VWE3dHB1VGVWXzJfQmVMcXd0OHNhaEZTcWduQkhTN3NVM3ptcTc4Mkl0WjNwUQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term  CBS News", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term  CBS News" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.cbsnews.com", + "title": "CBS News" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Cuba heads to the polls: A primer on Cuban elections - People's World", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba heads to the polls: A primer on Cuban elections - People's World" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijgFBVV95cUxOTWZGOU85a1NRNmJnNEJWcmh2RUpTM3lKaGx0QVRRS2JXeHBMalBnTG55WkhTX3p1OVJBcWU0V3VoYV8xU19oRXlHbXluSmJIUVN3NjNaUVRHV3NGV1FyMTZoUlRuVnBSREh6TTk4eU81SzN0aGZDbWdFRl8yc3ZtQUtoUWlyUE9IdVNUV2d3?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/raul-castro-cuba-extends-presidential-term/", + "id": "CBMijgFBVV95cUxOTWZGOU85a1NRNmJnNEJWcmh2RUpTM3lKaGx0QVRRS2JXeHBMalBnTG55WkhTX3p1OVJBcWU0V3VoYV8xU19oRXlHbXluSmJIUVN3NjNaUVRHV3NGV1FyMTZoUlRuVnBSREh6TTk4eU81SzN0aGZDbWdFRl8yc3ZtQUtoUWlyUE9IdVNUV2d3", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 07 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 7, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 341, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba heads to the polls: A primer on Cuban elections  People's World", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba heads to the polls: A primer on Cuban elections  People's World" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://peoplesworld.org", + "title": "People's World" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term\nurl: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/raul-castro-cuba-extends-presidential-term/\nhostname: cbsnews.com\ndescription: The transition will bring in the first Cuban government not headed by a member of the Castro family in more than five decades\nsitename: CBS News\ndate: 2017-12-21\ncategories: ['World']\ntags: ['Hurricane Irma, Fidel Castro']\n---\n# Rumors swirl about Raul Castro as Cuba extends presidential term\n\n**HAVANA --** Cuba announced Thursday that its current leadership would stay in power until April 2018, a clear signal that Raul Castro will remain as president two months longer than expected.\n\nCastro, 86, had said that he planned to step down in February at the end of a months-long political cycle in which voters and government officials pick the members of local, provincial and national assemblies and the members of the powerful council of state.\n\nThe National Assembly announced through state media that its current term would run through April 19 instead of ending in February. The daily newspaper Juventud Rebelde cited the destruction wrought by Hurricane Irma in September as the cause for the extension, CBS News producer Portia Siegelbaum reports.\n\nThe massive damage to thousands of homes, tourist facilities and agriculture caused by Irma forced the government to delay municipal elections by one month until November. Those elections were the first step in the process leading to the election of national leaders originally scheduled for February 24.\n\nThe National Assembly's announcement did not explicitly say that Castro would remain until April but the current council of state is also remaining until then, meaning Castro will retain his position as its head barring extraordinary action to replace him. The announcement did not mention any such action.\n\nCastro's departure from the presidency will kick off a transition to the first Cuban government not headed by a member of the Castro family in more than five decades.\n\nMany Cubans and outside observers expect Castro to be replaced as president by First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel, 57, who has promised to continue Castro's policies. Those policies include allowing the slow and limited introduction of private enterprise into Cuba's centrally planned economy, while maintaining a single-party system and tight government control of virtually all aspects of life on the island.\n\nThe transition has created an air of uncertainty, Siegelbaum reports. The economic reform program launched by Castro has ground to a halt. There's a belief among many Cubans that hardliners in the government and military have put the brakes on the reforms, making it difficult for any \"newcomer\" to successfully restart them.\n\nCastro is expected to retain his position as head of the Communist Party, which sets the parameters of government policy and overall direction of the country.\n\nCastro took over from his brother Fidel Castro after the revolutionary leader and founder of the current Cuban system fell ill in 2006. Raul Castro began a series of domestic reforms that included the spread of internet and cellphone access, freedom to travel for most Cubans and the ability to buy and sell cars and houses. He also oversaw the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, a detente that was shaken by the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president last year.\n\nMr. Trump re-imposed restrictions on Americans' ability to travel to Cuba, cutting into a tourism boom that had helped buffer the island's economy against a decline in trade with socialist ally Venezuela.\n\nThe Cuban government said Thursday that after a recession in 2016, the economy grew 1.6 percent this year, a better performance than expected due largely to a 4.4 rise in income from tourism, along with smaller increases in transport, communications, agriculture and construction." + }, + { + "title": "Was a Sonic Weapon Deployed in Cuba - IEEE Spectrum", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Was a Sonic Weapon Deployed in Cuba - IEEE Spectrum" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMieEFVX3lxTE1rOEFsVHhJN3hCRGJGaVhrbGlkNjVZVG5XaHRjdmhFWHhJRUFqQlFseGIybFpxdjRwVngzQWVkY3VMal9KZkVscjdqUnJrUkJRQW9xQ3d3Q0l0TmQ2cmVJaE9TRkNGY2dQZDRRSmFpQTl0VzU0QkRnMNIBjAFBVV95cUxPVkp2MWFyQXp2czNGSzVaQWpBVjExTGNONV9rRHE0b0FzU1NEcGd2WVN2R3BaZzBocGljNGljMUQyNzhNcndZa0gyaUEzS0J2OExKbUR6alpob3hrYXdpQmRxS2J4Z3lSSE9odjRSLUVxc3BTM2tIc0xDT1pEY1FVVHdROTVSbENsRFp1dA?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://spectrum.ieee.org/acoustic-weapon-deployed-in-cuba-not-likely", + "id": "CBMieEFVX3lxTE1rOEFsVHhJN3hCRGJGaVhrbGlkNjVZVG5XaHRjdmhFWHhJRUFqQlFseGIybFpxdjRwVngzQWVkY3VMal9KZkVscjdqUnJrUkJRQW9xQ3d3Q0l0TmQ2cmVJaE9TRkNGY2dQZDRRSmFpQTl0VzU0QkRnMNIBjAFBVV95cUxPVkp2MWFyQXp2czNGSzVaQWpBVjExTGNONV9rRHE0b0FzU1NEcGd2WVN2R3BaZzBocGljNGljMUQyNzhNcndZa0gyaUEzS0J2OExKbUR6alpob3hrYXdpQmRxS2J4Z3lSSE9odjRSLUVxc3BTM2tIc0xDT1pEY1FVVHdROTVSbENsRFp1dA", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 13 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 13, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 347, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Was a Sonic Weapon Deployed in Cuba  IEEE Spectrum", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Was a Sonic Weapon Deployed in Cuba  IEEE Spectrum" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://spectrum.ieee.org", + "title": "IEEE Spectrum" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Was a Sonic Weapon Deployed in Cuba\nauthor: Emily Waltz\nurl: https://spectrum.ieee.org/acoustic-weapon-deployed-in-cuba-not-likely\nhostname: ieee.org\ndescription: Two dozen U.S. embassy workers in Cuba suffered headaches, hearing loss, and brain swelling\u2014but no one knows why\nsitename: IEEE Spectrum\ndate: 2017-12-13\ncategories: ['Biomedical']\ntags: ['weapons, cuba, medical-imaging, neuroscience, sonic-weapon, infrasound, ultrasound, medical-devices', 'weapons,cuba,medical-imaging,neuroscience,sonic-weapon,infrasound,ultrasound,medical-devices,SpectrumType.News']\n---\nHearing loss, dizziness, sleep and vision problems, tinnitus, headaches, fatigue, and now brain damage\u2014these are the symptoms suffered by two dozen U.S. and Canadian diplomats covertly attacked over the past year while serving in Cuba. U.S. officials initially posited that the diplomats were victims of some sort of sonic weapon, but acoustics experts say that\u2019s nearly impossible.\n\nDetails of the attacks have slowly become public over the last few months through a combination of media reports and announcements from U.S. officials. Many details are still unclear. Here, we stitch together the information available, and explain why the diplomats\u2019 health problems almost certainly couldn\u2019t have been caused by an acoustic weapon.\n\nThe attacks began in late 2016 when several people serving at the U.S. Embassy in Havana began suffering unexplained health problems, according to the AP, which first reported the story in August this year. U.S. officials spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity and attributed the symptoms to a covert sonic weapon. Several Canadian diplomats also experienced symptoms.\n\nThe U.S. Department of State in September publicly confirmed the attacks, but federal spokespeople avoided speculation about who or what caused them. The diplomats\u2019 symptoms began while they were in their residences or in hotels, the feds confirmed. Onset of the symptoms in some cases were accompanied by audible, agonizing sounds, and in other cases by no sound, according to media reports.\n\nHealth problems for the victims then ensued, and included hearing loss, dizziness, balance problems, difficulty sleeping, ear-ringing (tinnitus), headaches, fatigue, and \u201ccognitive issues,\u201d according to the State Department. The American Foreign Service Association, after meeting with some of the victims, added to that list: cognitive disruption, mild traumatic brain injury, and brain swelling.\n\nU.S. officials have called the attacks \u201congoing\u201d and in October said that two more U.S. government personnel had experienced symptoms, bringing the total number of victims to 24. The State Department has since reduced its personnel in Cuba and warned U.S. citizens not to travel there. Cuba has denied involvement in the attacks, and put forward its own theories.\n\nThen last week, the AP reported that \u201cmedical testing\u201d revealed that the embassy workers had \u201cdeveloped changes to the white matter tracts\u201d of their brains. The organization said it obtained the information from U.S. officials who asked to remain anonymous.\n\nWhite matter tracts are a type of tissue in the brain that coordinates communication and serves as connections between brain cells, or gray matter. The AP story did not describe what kind of testing or brain scans were performed, nor how the doctors knew that the white matter changes were caused by the attacks.\n\nRegardless, it is highly unlikely that a covert sonic weapon could cause the range of health problems experienced by the diplomats, say acoustic experts contacted by *IEEE Spectrum*. \u201cIt\u2019s not that easy to damage the brain with acoustics,\u201d says Elisa Konofagou, a bioengineer at Columbia University in New York who has studied the effects of ultrasound on mouse and monkey brains, and was not involved in the Cuba investigation.\n\nAn ultrasonic device, which propagates acoustic waves in frequencies above the audible range for humans, would have to be in close contact with the body in order to deliver waves below the skin\u2019s surface. \u201cIf you take an [ultrasound] transducer and shoot it through the air, virtually nothing will propagate,\u201d no matter how powerful the transducer is, says Konofagou.\n\nAnd even if someone somehow put an ultrasound device in contact with the victims\u2019 heads without them knowing it, it\u2019s hard to believe that such a device would target only white matter tracts, she says. \u201cWhy is the rest of the brain intact? Why would [the weapon] be so selective? That doesn\u2019t make sense to me,\u201d she says.\n\nKonofagou and her team have been researching ways to deliver drugs to the brain using gas bubbles activated by ultrasound. Through that work, they have identified a range of intensities that are safe on mouse and monkey brains and then studied what happens when they use intensities outside that range. They have found that if there\u2019s damage, it\u2019s usually to gray matter, and rarely if ever to white matter, she says.\n\nOn the other side, acoustic waves from an infrasonic device, which would have frequencies below the audible range for humans, can travel long distances. Such devices don\u2019t have to be in direct contact with the body. But \u201cthe wavelengths are huge, so it would be extremely difficult to focus it on the brain only,\u201d or even on one particular person from a long distance, Konofagou says.\n\nAnd besides, in order to generate a lot of power, or decibels, an infrasonic device would have to be unrealistically large, according to F. Joseph Pompei, founder of directional sound company Holosonics, who spoke with the AP and Snopes.com on the matter. Covertly deploying such a hunk of machinery would be tough. Plus, it\u2019s unlikely that it could have any significant health effect on the human body, says J\u00fcrgen Altmann, a physicist at Technische Universit\u00e4t Dortmund, in Germany, who has studied the history [PDF] and the potential for such devices, and surveyed the literature on health effects.\n\nNot that militaries globally haven\u2019t tried to build such weapons. \u201cDevelopment and testing [of acoustic weapons] has gone on in several directions, but to my knowledge have not resulted in actual devices deployed,\u201d says Altmann.\n\nKonofagou hypothesizes that whatever did happen to the Cuba victims, it started with the white matter, and that affected the victims in different ways due to their varying physiology, thus producing the wide range of symptoms. \u201cThe fact that it was so highly targeted, it has to be something more specific to the anatomy and the chemistry\u201d of the brain, she says.\n\nEmily Waltz is the power and energy editor at *Spectrum*. Prior to joining the staff in January 2024, Emily spent 18 years as a freelance journalist covering biotechnology, primarily for the *Nature* research journals and *Spectrum*. Her work has also appeared in *Scientific American*, *Discover*, *Outside*, and the *New York Times*. Emily has a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University. With every word she writes, Emily strives to say something true and useful. She posts on Twitter/X @EmWaltz and her portfolio can be found on her website." + }, + { + "title": "Is A Russia-Cuba Energy Deal In The Works - Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Is A Russia-Cuba Energy Deal In The Works - Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMingFBVV95cUxQS3pheHEzZl9rd19KV3FOR2c5Z3VZWHZ0YzJibnYyal8tWkhvRVFwREc0ZS1ldllJX0s5TUgyQTFaMUpnTnNtaXRKaFlxbXJrV2ZFUENZUE93RG5ZWGJ2SDZNVGpHTzFnMXlneG9CeFF1Nm9ZakJLNU10MmxPWGNzOEpGdlNBWGFZM0h1dFJLNE1KTEhoQXN1Y0tkQk5hUdIBowFBVV95cUxQbHJXNld1ZGY2LU1sTUhFRzd5YmpoUDRucGNRb1ZBa2k0UlJRM2pGS3R1dlZyX0RIZnVhcHd3TnJuclEzcUhUVERwcGpQcmFqYUlTUEM0czdBYlU2VndqNkFIQnhsRzBTSElXRkhBcVFERnF3RldOdGVWWXBjbGJQVEk4Z1h1a242V29nYmFvQzduMDRVVXBDc0pSMlAyTHd5eU9j?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.latinousa.org/2017/12/06/solidarity-abroad-repression-home-demystifying-cubas-raceless-utopia-opinion/", + "id": "CBMingFBVV95cUxQS3pheHEzZl9rd19KV3FOR2c5Z3VZWHZ0YzJibnYyal8tWkhvRVFwREc0ZS1ldllJX0s5TUgyQTFaMUpnTnNtaXRKaFlxbXJrV2ZFUENZUE93RG5ZWGJ2SDZNVGpHTzFnMXlneG9CeFF1Nm9ZakJLNU10MmxPWGNzOEpGdlNBWGFZM0h1dFJLNE1KTEhoQXN1Y0tkQk5hUdIBowFBVV95cUxQbHJXNld1ZGY2LU1sTUhFRzd5YmpoUDRucGNRb1ZBa2k0UlJRM2pGS3R1dlZyX0RIZnVhcHd3TnJuclEzcUhUVERwcGpQcmFqYUlTUEM0czdBYlU2VndqNkFIQnhsRzBTSElXRkhBcVFERnF3RldOdGVWWXBjbGJQVEk4Z1h1a242V29nYmFvQzduMDRVVXBDc0pSMlAyTHd5eU9j", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 18 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 18, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 352, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Is A Russia-Cuba Energy Deal In The Works  Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Is A Russia-Cuba Energy Deal In The Works  Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://oilprice.com", + "title": "Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Solidarity Abroad, Repression at Home: Demystifying Cuba\u2019s Raceless Utopia (OPINION) - Latino USA", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Solidarity Abroad, Repression at Home: Demystifying Cuba\u2019s Raceless Utopia (OPINION) - Latino USA" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMitAFBVV95cUxNMU1fY2R4ZUJyTDZKcG1Icmd5c01uaC1RQkY1djFnRm1CRXdGSC0yUFUxaU5EdF9ha3pZNTNVVzgtREt6LXBxQWxvbDU0UzIxVWEzWVNhdDJjaDBLQUVrbXIzWUZSd2FmQmdXZkVvRWZ0Ti1mRHNBR2ZMLVhVa3pCamhmUDVMSS1NcTBsSGpNdEhSdXBHUWlOQUlPT0Y4SE9EVTNwbldNaWdwNjFFRGRxZi1YeWE?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Is-A-Russia-Cuba-Energy-Deal-In-The-Works.html", + "id": "CBMitAFBVV95cUxNMU1fY2R4ZUJyTDZKcG1Icmd5c01uaC1RQkY1djFnRm1CRXdGSC0yUFUxaU5EdF9ha3pZNTNVVzgtREt6LXBxQWxvbDU0UzIxVWEzWVNhdDJjaDBLQUVrbXIzWUZSd2FmQmdXZkVvRWZ0Ti1mRHNBR2ZMLVhVa3pCamhmUDVMSS1NcTBsSGpNdEhSdXBHUWlOQUlPT0Y4SE9EVTNwbldNaWdwNjFFRGRxZi1YeWE", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 6, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 340, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Solidarity Abroad, Repression at Home: Demystifying Cuba\u2019s Raceless Utopia (OPINION)  Latino USA", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Solidarity Abroad, Repression at Home: Demystifying Cuba\u2019s Raceless Utopia (OPINION)  Latino USA" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.latinousa.org", + "title": "Latino USA" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Is A Russia-Cuba Energy Deal In The Works? | OilPrice.com\nauthor: Irina Slav\nurl: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Is-A-Russia-Cuba-Energy-Deal-In-The-Works.html\nhostname: oilprice.com\ndescription: Rosneft\u2019s CEO met with Cuba\u2019s President Raul Castro, suggesting that there could be a Russia-Cuba energy deal in the making\nsitename: OilPrice.com\ndate: 2017-12-18\ntags: ['Russia, Cuba, Crude, Oil, Trade, Export, Import, Payment, Debt, Industry, Venezuela']\n---\nThe real solution is structural:\u2026\n\nAbout 17% of Qatar\u2019s LNG\u2026\n\nThe chief executive of Russian state oil major Rosneft met yesterday with Cuba\u2019s President Raul Castro, suggesting that the two are working on an energy deal, Reuters reports.\n\nRosneft started exporting crude oil to the Caribbean island earlier this year as its main supplier, Venezuela, struggled with a decline in its own production, and in October Sechin said there were plans to increase oil shipments to Cuba.\n\nRosneft also plans to invest in refining in Cuba, it became clear after a meeting between Sechin and Cuba\u2019s Energy Minister Alfredo Lopez. More specifically, the company will take part in the modernization of the Cienfuegos refinery\u2014a joint venture between Cupet and PDVSA that last week became officially fully Cuban.\n\nPDVSA held 49 percent in the refinery, and according to a former government official from the South American country, Cuba took over the stake as payment for debts that had been incurred from tanker rentals and professional services.\n\nThe refinery has a daily capacity of 65,000 barrels of crude, but in August this year it only processed about 24,000 bpd, the Cuban daily said. What\u2019s more, Venezuela\u2019s oil industry troubles led to a change in the grades it sent to Cienfuegos to heavier ones that are more difficult to process.**Related: Yuan-Priced Crude Futures Could Arrive Before Christmas**\n\nCuba has been dependent on Venezuelan oil imports for as much as 70 percent of its domestic energy needs, but with Venezuelan production falling, the island has turned to alternative suppliers. It also has plans to develop its own oil and gas resources.\n\nThere are few foreign energy companies operating in Cuba, but one of these, Australian Melbana Energy, has set its sights on an onshore deposit dubbed Block 9, which, according to the company, could have reserves of between 1.18 billion and over 44 billion barrels of oil, with the recoverable portion estimated at around 637 million barrels.\n\nBy Irina Slav for Oilprice.com\n\n**More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:**\n\nIrina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry." + }, + { + "title": "When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees - Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigAFBVV95cUxNaU1QYWZzOF9qRm1wcUVHQUd2bksxdHZORXFBbmRCM3JRR2ZVbXhXNVZ5aktKR1c0Q0dMc1pMNXBUQXkta1NQTU1VUmV1UmM4TVB1cmkyNHNkeGlLLVFqR29ETWZCRjlQZWh0MVNiRjBha2hyRnNuVVE5V3NUUXNpTg?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/news/when-cuba-opened-its-doors-to-jewish-refugees/", + "id": "CBMigAFBVV95cUxNaU1QYWZzOF9qRm1wcUVHQUd2bksxdHZORXFBbmRCM3JRR2ZVbXhXNVZ5aktKR1c0Q0dMc1pMNXBUQXkta1NQTU1VUmV1UmM4TVB1cmkyNHNkeGlLLVFqR29ETWZCRjlQZWh0MVNiRjBha2hyRnNuVVE5V3NUUXNpTg", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 08 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 8, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 342, + 0 + ], + "summary": "When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees - Havana Times\nauthor: Circles Robinson\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/news/when-cuba-opened-its-doors-to-jewish-refugees/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: When most people think of Cuba, escaping Jewish refugees and the Second World War what pops in mind is the MS St. Louis ocean liner which tried to dock in Havana in 1939. However there is another related and little publicized story that began in the early 1940s, and had a much happier ending. The documentary \u201cCuba\u2019s Forgotten Jewels\u201d is set to be shown at the ongoing Havana Film Festival.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-08\ncategories: ['Culture', 'News']\n---\n# When Cuba Opened Its Doors to Jewish Refugees\n\n**A must-see documentary at the Havana Film Festival (Dec. 8-17)**\n\n**HAVANA TIMES** \u2013 When most people think of Cuba, escaping Jewish refugees and the Second World War what pops in mind is the MS St. Louis ocean liner which tried to dock in Havana in 1939.\n\nThe Cuban government, headed by President Federico Laredo Bru, refused to accept the foreign refugees even though the passengers had previously purchased legal visas.\n\nThe desperate travelers were turned away, and not only from Cuba, but also the USA and Canada. The escaping refugees were then returned to Europe where many lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis at concentration camps.\n\nHowever there is another related and little publicized story that began in the early 1940s, and had a much happier ending. The 46-minute documentary **\u201cCuba\u2019s Forgotten Jewels\u201d** will be shown at the ongoing Havana Film Festival on Tuesday December 12th at the Infanta Theatre at 3:00 p.m.\n\n**Synopsis: **The documentary \u201cCuba\u2019s Forgotten Jewels\u201d was born of the tales that Marion Kreith told her daughter, co-director Judy Kreith, over the years. Marion escaped war torn Europe as a young girl with her family, evading Nazi capture and crossing the Atlantic to a tropical paradise. In this film, her story mingles with the personal accounts of other refugees who recall their escape to Havana [under President Fulgenico Batista, elected for the term 1940-1944] and the challenges they faced in an exotic and unfamiliar land. With a stunning musical score of Jewish melodies and the pulsating music of Havana, the film merges the realities of two vastly different yet intermingled cultures, bringing this colorful and uplifting piece of history to light.\n\n**In recommending the film, the Times of Israel newspaper wrote: **\n\n\u201cThe movie is a counterpoint of sorts to \u201cVoyage of the Damned,\u201d a 1976 drama starring Faye Dunaway and Orson Welles that chronicles the tragic voyage of the SS St. Louis \u2014 a German steamship that in 1939 sailed from Hamburg to Havana carrying 937 Jewish passengers.\n\n\u201cJudy Kreith grew up hearing how her mother arrived in Cuba at the age of 14 on a boat called the Colonial, and soon went to work polishing diamonds in a stifling hot factory. At one time, between 30 and 50 such facilities operated in Havana \u2014 turning the tropical Caribbean island for a short time into a major world diamond-polishing center.\u201d\n\nIn all around 6,000 Jews from Belgium and another 6,000 from Germany and Austria, who arrived earlier, were allowed to take refuge in Cuba.\n\nThe Times adds: \u201cMost of these Jews saw Havana as just a temporary stop on the way to Miami or New York. But after Pearl Harbor, it became nearly impossible for refugees in Cuba \u2014 or any refugees for that matter \u2014 to get US visas, so they ended up staying put for years.\n\n\u201cBy 1948, however, with the war over and Europe rebuilding, Cuba\u2019s fledgling diamond industry, developed by the refugee families, disappeared without a trace.\u201d\n\nIn civilaced world that we are living no matter ideas politic what so ever the generosity of the Cuban people not deserve the way they are treated my feeling viva Cuba .\n\nWhat a nice happy story emagicmtman!\n\nNo, the National Socialist Party of Germany was dubbed Nazi as an abbreviation by others.\n\nYes I remember the trials at Nuremburg and elsewhere well. If as you claim Dan, you have German Jewish heritage then you will know of the Jews political awareness, I experienced it not only as a child, but as an adult guest of those friends at a certain city\u2019s Jewish Club being the only Gentile present. I served in Germany when it was still an occupied country and well remember the aged prostitutes operating from shacks on Stahl Strasse which ran along the side of the kilometer square ruins of the Krupp Werk in Essen, and in Austria I observed that Catholic anti-Semitism based upon the view that: \u201cThe Jews killed Christ.\u201d I even knew a lady of that persuasion from Linz, the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. My late father was responsible for \u201cde-nazifying\u201d some prominent people including one who became recognized as the world\u2019s leading soprano \u2013 she had been Goering\u2019s mistress.\n\nSo what you describe as my \u201cignorance\u201d is based upon those and many other experiences.\n\nRegarding socialism, as demonstrated by contributors to these pages, no two \u2018socialists\u2019 appear to have the same definition of the word and deny any obvious misdemeanors by \u2018socialist\u2019 governments upon the grounds that they were not pursuing true \u2018socialism\u2019. The interpretation has no consistency in reality. If I fail to respond to your next missive, you may understand that it is not rudeness but absence to where due to \u201csocialismo\u201d, I am denied communication.\n\nIncorrect Dan unless you regard some 5,500 people as \u201ca large immigrant population.\u201d I quote the Government of Cuba official figures from the 2012 National Census.\n\nCongratulations, you knew a few Jewish children\u2026.I\u2019m sure they were as politically aware as my German Jewish grandparents.\n\nYes the Nazis did use the term \u2018Socialism\u2019 in their name to try and hoover up supporters from the post WW1 groundswell for Socialism however, like Italy they were Corporate Fascists who created a corporate cartel base. Companies like Krupp, the chemical giant IG Farben , Seimans, Thyssen, Bayer\u2026..all profiteered greatly from the Nazis and all used slave labour. US companies colluded up until they entered the war and once CocaCola could no longer operate a German corporation created Fanta.\n\nThe war trials resulted in the conviction and imprisonment of dozens of important company owners and directors.\n\nSure in 1933 during the depression the Nazis invested in infrastructure to get the economy growing as Roosevelt did with the New Deal in the US.\n\nIf you\u2019re as old as you claim there really is no excuse for your ignorance. The Nazis were as Socialist as the World Series has anything to do with the world.\n\nThe Nazis were Corporate Fascists\u2026..very much like what we\u2019re seeing happen today.\n\nNo actually there is a large immigrant population from other regional countries despite 60 years of US oppressive sanctions and embargoes against other nations trading with Cuba. What you propagandists never do is compare Cuba with other Caribbean nations none of whom have been subjected to these embargoes and through all of that Cuba is streets ahead of them on every level.\n\nI encourage people to visit Cuba, it is a beautiful fascinating country with wonderful people the happiness of which i\u2019ve rarely seen on my travels. If its this good one can only imagine what it would have been like without US interference. My greatest fear is that it will eventually turn into some hideous plastic Las Vegas hell hole. So go now before its infested with Yanks.\n\nAn interesting sidelight: Edmundo Desnoes, author of \u201cInconsolable Memories\u201d (on which the subsequent film \u201cMemories of Undervelopment\u201d is based) was in love with a Jewish refugee from Germany during the late 1940\u2019s/early 1950\u2019s. As depicted in both book and film, she left Cuba for the States with her family in the 1950\u2019s, while he had to remain in Cuba with his family and their business. Many Years later, (1980) he, too, emigrated to States and, still later, he reconnected with his first love, and they married and now live in New York City.\n\nHaven\u2019t met one yet Stephen-Pons. But am aware that of the over 50,000 that took refuge in the US, over 14,000 have now crossed the US/Canadian border as illegal immigrants. maybe your President Trump(f) will build a wall to keep them in? Perhaps as one who apparently is informed, you would be kind enough to relate HOW MANY HAITIANS FLED TO CUBA? Did the number equate with those Cubans fleeing Cuba?\n\nAs I attended school with Jewish children who escaped from Germany and Austria and the evil of National Socialism, I am only too aware of the effects of totalitarian rule. One of those Jewish children became a life long friend.\n\nThey also were fleeing to Cuba, because the other choice was being a jew under nazism, they would have fled to Somalia to escape that\n\nYou clearly haven\u2019t heard of the Haitians fleeing to Cuba have you?\n\nit is interesting that Cuba shares the shame of Canada and the US in rejecting that shipload of Jews seeking haven. But it is to Cuba\u2019s credit that it allowed some 12,000 Jews to immigrate later. That figure is particularly interesting as it is more than twice the number of people born in other countries now resident in Cuba. (2012 census).\n\nit is worthwhile considering why it is that refugees from oppression no longer seek to live in Cuba. Could it be that in fleeing from oppression they seek freedom? Instead of immigration, the Castro regime has created mass emigration, caused by Cubans also seeking freedom in the capitalist world." + }, + { + "title": "This Cuban industry began with 6 scientists, a tiny lab \u2014 and Fidel Castro\u2019s obsession - Miami Herald", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "This Cuban industry began with 6 scientists, a tiny lab \u2014 and Fidel Castro\u2019s obsession - Miami Herald" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijwFBVV95cUxOVmZuT0hKaTh1YmdISTVURFZaRUdfYkNQeWVBWmxJcTR3SWtUdGpNM3JZZHZlM093Q2hhcGhMMUNmRnBkTWpKMVUwUzJwNXFTN1Q3b3hiem9ZcEdPNGNqR2N5S3hTOEVSX2piQlRGUkhBd0g1cnprOFZ1a2pRakxidVFfUDBZbWl1aTFlWk9MONIBkAFBVV95cUxNSndWYkFYeGlpRjljTFpEWWlMc003WjRndU5xSXdhbXJ3dXBIOVVvM0phaFpPT3Z5M0UxaTUtcER6U2Vqd0FoZHJ2REZrY1lyYUNhUkhfSlJYeWo0bDBNZFNTZVVKZmdIZzhzeFViay0wT2JYTG9QN3FVbmVkQ3FkUF9WQUxiMTQ0QXh1aHVVQmE?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article189831409.html", + "id": "CBMijwFBVV95cUxOVmZuT0hKaTh1YmdISTVURFZaRUdfYkNQeWVBWmxJcTR3SWtUdGpNM3JZZHZlM093Q2hhcGhMMUNmRnBkTWpKMVUwUzJwNXFTN1Q3b3hiem9ZcEdPNGNqR2N5S3hTOEVSX2piQlRGUkhBd0g1cnprOFZ1a2pRakxidVFfUDBZbWl1aTFlWk9MONIBkAFBVV95cUxNSndWYkFYeGlpRjljTFpEWWlMc003WjRndU5xSXdhbXJ3dXBIOVVvM0phaFpPT3Z5M0UxaTUtcER6U2Vqd0FoZHJ2REZrY1lyYUNhUkhfSlJYeWo0bDBNZFNTZVVKZmdIZzhzeFViay0wT2JYTG9QN3FVbmVkQ3FkUF9WQUxiMTQ0QXh1aHVVQmE", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 14 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 14, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 348, + 0 + ], + "summary": "This Cuban industry began with 6 scientists, a tiny lab \u2014 and Fidel Castro\u2019s obsession  Miami Herald", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "This Cuban industry began with 6 scientists, a tiny lab \u2014 and Fidel Castro\u2019s obsession  Miami Herald" + }, + "source": { + "href": "http://www.miamiherald.com", + "title": "Miami Herald" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "ALC in Cuba - Agroecology at UVM - University of Vermont", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "ALC in Cuba - Agroecology at UVM - University of Vermont" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiV0FVX3lxTFBSa2FuNl9odVROcER2aUtfUmREVGFaclVBbmxSSXF0UXJsYnhpRlg0cWNLTFRWMUhVZUZzaGI0bmY0MDNPdW9FWHFPSnZJNDVBcFdKRzZKbw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.uvm.edu/agroecology/alc-in-cuba/", + "id": "CBMiV0FVX3lxTFBSa2FuNl9odVROcER2aUtfUmREVGFaclVBbmxSSXF0UXJsYnhpRlg0cWNLTFRWMUhVZUZzaGI0bmY0MDNPdW9FWHFPSnZJNDVBcFdKRzZKbw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 20 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 20, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 354, + 0 + ], + "summary": "ALC in Cuba - Agroecology at UVM  University of Vermont", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "ALC in Cuba - Agroecology at UVM  University of Vermont" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.uvm.edu", + "title": "University of Vermont" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: ALC in Cuba - Agroecology at UVM\nauthor: Ava Murphey\nurl: https://www.uvm.edu/agroecology/alc-in-cuba/\nhostname: uvm.edu\ndescription: ALC Research and Outreach Coordinator, Martha Caswell, joined a delegation of Vermonters who attended the 4th International Conference on Agroecology hosted by the Cuban National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) and Via Campesina. Colleagues from the Vermont Carribean Institute (VCI), the Intervale Center, UVM Catamount Farm, the Vermont Community Garden Network and Farm to Plate comprised a group looking at \u2026 Continue reading \"ALC in Cuba\"\nsitename: Agroecology at UVM\ndate: 2017-12-20\ncategories: ['Uncategorized']\n---\nALC Research and Outreach Coordinator, Martha Caswell, joined a delegation of Vermonters who attended the 4th International Conference on Agroecology hosted by the Cuban National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) and Via Campesina. Colleagues from the Vermont Carribean Institute (VCI), the Intervale Center, UVM Catamount Farm, the Vermont Community Garden Network and Farm to Plate comprised a group looking at potential ways that peri-/urban farmers in Vermont might learn from Cubans.\n\n*Photos by Abby Portman, Community Relations Coordinator, Intervale Center*\n\nThis event was held on the 20th anniversary of the arrival of \u2018Campesino a Campesino\u2019 in Cuba, and explored themes including:\n\n- Inclusion of women and youth in agroecology systems and food sovereignty.\n- Family farming in rural and indigenous areas, and its role in food sovereignty and rural development.\n- Seed production and conservation in agro-ecosystems\n- Agroecology, the environment and climate change\n- The financial, ecological and social sustainability of agroecology farms\n- Agrarian reform, territory and cooperatives\n- Growth and promotion of agroecology\n\nIn addition to visits to farms, processing facilities and cultural events that introduced us to Cuban songs, history, dance and food, participants enjoyed learning from each other. The 250 attendees represented 19 countries, and conversations comparing our own challenges and ideas provided a rich complement to all we were learning from our Cuban hosts. We are each looking forward to ways in which we can bring our new connections and observations back to the work we do here in VT.\n\nFor more information, please follow this link: http://www.vtcaribbean.org/professional-travel-exchanges.html" + }, + { + "title": "Cuba: Hurricane Irma - Three Month Report - ReliefWeb", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba: Hurricane Irma - Three Month Report - ReliefWeb" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMifEFVX3lxTE85QU9jOGNCSzJXd2JVMkF2RlJwcXR3LWpZWEpaZzFZTjlPaFVudUpuc2N6SVNLNE9ibW45bFdybGFrZUhmYVFZR0x1UDZHS1Q2aHB3TXd6T1B3SFZkcHNJQ3h0VE1QQWJzR3BwX05vQjBWQkVnQ21KQll5dGw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://reliefweb.int/report/cuba/cuba-hurricane-irma-three-month-report", + "id": "CBMifEFVX3lxTE85QU9jOGNCSzJXd2JVMkF2RlJwcXR3LWpZWEpaZzFZTjlPaFVudUpuc2N6SVNLNE9ibW45bFdybGFrZUhmYVFZR0x1UDZHS1Q2aHB3TXd6T1B3SFZkcHNJQ3h0VE1QQWJzR3BwX05vQjBWQkVnQ21KQll5dGw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 28 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 28, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 362, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba: Hurricane Irma - Three Month Report  ReliefWeb", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba: Hurricane Irma - Three Month Report  ReliefWeb" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://reliefweb.int", + "title": "ReliefWeb" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba: Hurricane Irma - Three Month Report - Cuba\nurl: https://reliefweb.int/report/cuba/cuba-hurricane-irma-three-month-report\nhostname: reliefweb.int\ndescription: Situation Report in English on Cuba about Contributions, Coordination, Tropical Cyclone and more; published on 15 Dec 2017 by UN\nsitename: ReliefWeb\ndate: 2017-12-15\n---\n**KEY MESSAGES**\n\n-\nThree months after the destructive hurricane Irma, the traces left on the northern coast of Cuba are still being felt in the affected provinces, where the basic conditions and livelihood of millions of people were affected.\n\n-\nAuthorities have acted quickly by putting all available resources to meet immediate needs and recovery. The effects are so severe and widespread that it is urgent to continue accompanying these efforts in the affected communities.\n\n-\nIt is essential and urgent to support the reactivation of the livelihood of affected people and to strengthen their resilience, with durable solutions adapted to the effects of climate change, to reduce vulnerabilities.\n\n-\nThe United Nations System in Cuba, with the support of members of the international community, is accompanying national and local efforts. It is necessary to continue allocating funds for the recovery and satisfaction of the needs of the most affected people and territories.\n\n\n**Introduction**\n\nWhen Cuba was facing the effects of a severe drought and was recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, which hit the east of the country on October 2016, Hurricane Irma severely impacted much of the national territory.\n\nIn the wake of the hurricane, 158,554 affected homes were reported (14,657 total collapse and 16,646 partial collapse; in addition, 23,560 suffered total roof losses and 103,691 had partial damage to the roof); 980 health institutions and 2,264 schools were affected; 466 poultry farms and 95,000 hectares of various crops were hit by Hurricane Irma; 246,707 telephone services and 1,471 data services and 537 kilometers of roads were damaged. With the total collapse of the National Electric Generation System, in the initial stage some 3,100,000 people had problems with water supply. Total Damages caused by the hurricane reached 13.6 billion pesos.\n\nAfter three months of Hurricane Irma hit the north of Cuba, the attention to the affected populations and the recovery remain as priorities. Along with the reestablishment of basic services such as water supply, health, education and sanitation as well as work to promote the recovery of housing and food production, national and local authorities had to address the severe damage in key sectors of the economy, such as tourism, industry, electrical generation and roads.\n\nThe country has made considerable material and financial resources available for recovery, in addition to the transfer of specialized forces to the areas with the greatest impact.\n\nHowever, the damage has been so serious and so widespread in the national territory that it is imperative to continue accompanying the national efforts in the most affected territories.\n\nThe frequent rain that has fallen since September in a large part of the affected territories, has made recovery efforts more complex.\n\nIn the affected provinces, national and local authorities continue to provide assistance to the affected population, with priority for those who have lost their homes completely. However, in the face of considerable loss of goods and livelihood, additional support is required to reach families with some needs not covered yet.\n\nIn that sense, as a consequence of severe damages, the families that have completely lost their homes are kept in family homes and in evacuation centers.\n\nThe authorities have implemented multiple measures such as subsidies for building materials for people whose homes were totally or partially destroyed. Loans with low interest rates and in 15 year terms of, have been destined to the purchase of materials and goods. The housing situation is complex given the accumulated housing deficit in the country, of about 880,000 homes.\n\nConsidering the seriousness of the damage to the housing sector, the completion of homes with partial and total affectations of roofs is scheduled for 2018 in some territories, and for 2019 in the rest. The authorities suggest that the new buildings should take into account the effects of climate change, such as high intensity hurricanes, severe droughts, sea level rise and coastal penetrations.\n\nThe combination of the drought that had affected the region for four years, loss of water storage capacity in homes and institutions and the rain that has occurred after the hurricane in September, increases the proliferation of the Aedes aegypti mosquito and the risk of diseases transmitted by vectors for the populations of the affected territories.\n\nIn the damaged areas, where the agricultural sector produces a considerable part of the food consumed in the central and western parts of the country, it is expected that the recovery of some long-cycle crops will occur by mid-2018, which limits the availability of foods. Rainfall also hinders planting. Due to damage to the infrastructure, work is being done to repair facilities used for storage and distribution of food.\n\nAlthough the medical attention has been provided uninterruptedly, the severe damages in the facilities of the health sector, important hospitals among them, require the continuation of actions for their complete recovery.\n\nWith national and local efforts in the affected territories, progress has been made in the revitalization of part of the damaged educational centers and work is being done on the rehabilitation of the rest, in order to guarantee the return of students to safe educational spaces.\n\nThe reactivation of livelihood continues to be essential and urgent to empower affected people and strengthen their resilience." + }, + { + "title": "Alfredo Rodriguez Brings Memories of Cuba to San Francisco - San Francisco Classical Voice", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Alfredo Rodriguez Brings Memories of Cuba to San Francisco - San Francisco Classical Voice" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMioAFBVV95cUxOVi1XRU5LTVJaRmxUUXNfMXh0eFNlb3RNZFRZbkVKV1lfbkVjdi1zZmpUUkdRWEtFd095UTNYZzNhTmhRNkthbG8yVk9jWjcxc0VqcnpULUszTlhnQi0xUlpIMDNLU1lKU2J4cFpDa2FKM2VBYmVKczJUYW55cGdQbTRxdmtRMzVrUFJ0Rm5YdzRTSnkzSGdTd1BXM3Vyckww?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://mondoweiss.net/2017/12/welcomes-anniversary-movement/", + "id": "CBMioAFBVV95cUxOVi1XRU5LTVJaRmxUUXNfMXh0eFNlb3RNZFRZbkVKV1lfbkVjdi1zZmpUUkdRWEtFd095UTNYZzNhTmhRNkthbG8yVk9jWjcxc0VqcnpULUszTlhnQi0xUlpIMDNLU1lKU2J4cFpDa2FKM2VBYmVKczJUYW55cGdQbTRxdmtRMzVrUFJ0Rm5YdzRTSnkzSGdTd1BXM3Vyckww", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 07 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 7, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 341, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Alfredo Rodriguez Brings Memories of Cuba to San Francisco  San Francisco Classical Voice", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Alfredo Rodriguez Brings Memories of Cuba to San Francisco  San Francisco Classical Voice" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.sfcv.org", + "title": "San Francisco Classical Voice" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba welcomes 50th anniversary of the PFLP leftist movement\nauthor: Sheren Khalel\nurl: https://mondoweiss.net/2017/12/welcomes-anniversary-movement/\nhostname: mondoweiss.net\ndescription: In Havana, Cuba, around 500 people, including Palestinian expats, students, as well as locals, and government officials, gathered in a large government-owned community center to mark the 50th\u2026\nsitename: Mondoweiss\ndate: 2017-12-15\n---\n**Havana, Cuba** \u2014 Three students took to the stage, the girl in a black traditional Palestinian robe embroidered with tiny hand-threaded red squares, the two boys donning the white and black checkered scarves of Palestine. The three twriled and jumped, kicking their legs in the air the same way their ancestors have performed Palestinian Dabka for centuries \u2013 only this performance took place thousands of miles from home, in the center of Havana, Cuba.\n\nThe event was set up by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), to ring in the group\u2019s 50th anniversary.\n\nThe PFLP is a secular leftist Palestinian political party founded in 1967 that constitutes the second largest group within the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).\n\nAround 500 people gathered in a large government-owned community center in the middle of Havana for the event. Palestinian expats and students living in the city as well as locals and government officials attended, enjoying political speeches, music, and poetry.\n\nWhile celebrations for the 50th anniversary took place in Palestinian communities all over the world, few were as openly celebrated as the event in Cuba.\n\nThe PFLP is deemed a terrorist group by the United States, Canada the Europe Union and Israel among others \u2013 meaning a celebration of this kind in New York could easily land participants in serious trouble with Homeland Security. In Cuba however, government ministers happily took to the stage to accept tokens of appreciation from the group\u2019s head in Cuba as well as the Palestinian ambassador to the country.\n\nMousa Solyman, the head of the PFLP in Cuba, told *Mondoweiss *that representing the group in Cuba was an experience like no other.\n\n\u201cIn the West it seems all aspects of the Palestinian struggle are illegal, not just the PFLP, any combative organization that supports Palestinian rights are considered terrorists, but in Cuba the government is always supporting us because our cause is justice, and living and working here, that support is felt everyday,\u201d Solyman said.\n\nMuch of Solyman\u2019s work on the island consists of gathering, educating and supporting Palestinian university students in Havana, keeping the youth connected to home and encouraging their continued participation in Palestinian politics.\n\n\u201cIt is a learning process, and doing that in Cuba is unlike anywhere else. We make a distinction between governments and the people, and while people in the West are supporting us more and more, the governments are controlled by Zionist lobbies that don\u2019t reflect the will of the people,\u201d Solyman explained.\n\n\u201cIn Cuba we have the support of the government and the people. Look how many non-Palestinians showed up here today, that alone is impressive,\u201d he said motioning toward the crowd of people gathered outside the community center, mingling amongst each other after the event.\n\nWhile the 50th anniversary may have otherwise been more jovial with more lively performances focused on celebrating the long history between Palestine \u2014 particularly the PFLP party \u2014 and the Cuban government and people, instead things took a slightly somber tone, due to current events regarding Jerusalem.\n\nBecause the event in Havana took place just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S.\u2019s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the violence erupting on the streets of occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza was the focus of most conversations.\n\nIn Ramallah and Gaza, the anniversary event was renamed \u201cThe March Of Anger,\u201d under the slogan \u201cThe revolution continues until return and the liberation of Jerusalem\u201d in solidarity with Jerusalem.\n\nFollowing Trump\u2019s announcement, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs openly rejected the U.S. move, calling it \u201ca serious and flagrant violation of the Charter of the UN, of International Law and of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations,\u201d in a statement released by the ministry.\n\n\u201cThis intention of the United States Government to modify the historic status of Jerusalem violates the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nations, will have serious consequences for stability and security in the Middle East, will further increase tensions in this region and will impede any effort aimed at resuming peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians,\u201d the statement read.\n\nSolyman thanked the Cuban government for being such an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause.\n\n\u201cWe cannot thank the Cuban government and people enough for their support, and we are happy to be here today, as we have been the past 50 years in which Cuba has always supported the PFLP,\u201d Solyman said. \u201cWe look forward to continuing that support and that relationship for many years to come.\u201d\n\nLovely, lovely, Cuba.\n\nI wonder if there are countries which regard PFLP, PLO, et al., not to be terrorist organizations but which do consider Israel to be a terrorist organization (or a state supporting terrorism, or the like) ? When Israeli soldiers burst into people\u2019s homes after midnight exploding stun grenades as they go, it certainly carries (for me at least) a sense that they are terrorizing the inhabitants.\n\nCuba is the antithesis to American and Israeli hubris. Cuba is not perfect, but they sure have a much more sane foreign policy than the diabolical military-industrial-complex that controls the USA and the messianic-lost-their-minds racist/colonialist freakshow that controls Israel.\n\nDespite official party line, fidel made it very clear in his writings he admires the zionists and what we have built. so, mixed bag\u2026..\n\nThe Palestinians I know loved Castro \u2013 they loved how he stood up to America, how much he cared for his people and how well he understood and supported the Palestinian cause/plight.\n\nFidel Castro was admired by many people around the world, not just the Palestinians.\n\nCastro successfully \u201cdefied the US\u201d, as the New York Times headlined his obituary.\n\nCuba\u2019s success in bringing literacy and medical care to every Cuban is widely admired. In fact, life expectancy is slightly higher in Cuba than in the US." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba welcomes 50th anniversary of the PFLP leftist movement - Mondoweiss", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba welcomes 50th anniversary of the PFLP leftist movement - Mondoweiss" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibkFVX3lxTFBIcFNJQ3htSmZQODhJMEFxbnhTc2R0ZHRxTDIwdDR3elRqTWJlQ0QyRWdXUWVlc3I3TU9XRU5oYl83LVdEbGRGQm1SZlc1WDhVUktkdDFBblRYZ3pXMlllOFJTaFRQNXctSkhLSkxn?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://hiplatina.com/best-cuban-restaurants-united-states/", + "id": "CBMibkFVX3lxTFBIcFNJQ3htSmZQODhJMEFxbnhTc2R0ZHRxTDIwdDR3elRqTWJlQ0QyRWdXUWVlc3I3TU9XRU5oYl83LVdEbGRGQm1SZlc1WDhVUktkdDFBblRYZ3pXMlllOFJTaFRQNXctSkhLSkxn", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 15 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 15, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 349, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba welcomes 50th anniversary of the PFLP leftist movement  Mondoweiss", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba welcomes 50th anniversary of the PFLP leftist movement  Mondoweiss" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://mondoweiss.net", + "title": "Mondoweiss" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: 10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States - HipLatina\nauthor: Irina Gonzalez\nurl: https://hiplatina.com/best-cuban-restaurants-united-states/\nhostname: hiplatina.com\ndescription: I remember the first time I stepped foot inside of Versailles restaurant in Miami. My family had only been in the U.S. for a few months, and my papi missed abue\nsitename: HipLatina\ndate: 2017-12-25\ncategories: ['Lifestyle']\ntags: ['Cuban Food', 'Cuban restaurant', 'restaurants']\n---\n# 10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States\n\n## I remember the first time I stepped foot inside of Versailles restaurant in Miami\n\nI remember the first time I stepped foot inside of Versailles restaurant in Miami. My family had only been in the U.S. for a few months, and my papi missed abuela\u2019s cooking. Although my mom was a fine cook, we all wanted to have fried sweet plantains just like grandma used to make\u2014and we found it there. Supposedly the oldest Cuban restaurant in the U.S., it has been a family staple ever since.\n\nHowever, after living in New York City for 12 years and traveling around the country, I have learned that Miami is not the only place where you can find great Cuban food in America. In fact, every city seems to have a phenomenal go-to when you\u2019re missing ropa vieja, pernil, fricas\u00e9 de pollo or any other Cuban dish you grew up with. And if you\u2019re not actually Cuban but simply LOVE Cuban food, that\u2019s okay too.\n\nFrom the Miami staple of Versailles (duh) to Rincon Criollo in Queens to a surprise winner in Seattle, here are the 10 best Cuban restaurants across America.\n\n** Versailles Restaurant in Miami, Florida**\n\nAlthough there are many, many Cuban restaurants in Miami, this has and will forever be my favorite. It\u2019s where I always send any non-Cuban friends who are looking for a taste of Little Havana when they head to Florida. There\u2019s a reason why Versailles Restaurant has been around since 1971: The solid, delicious, incredible, authentic food.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n**Rincon Criollo Restaurant in Houston, Texas**\n\nAlthough you may have better luck finding great Mexican food in Texas, anyone who loves Cuban food should visit Rincon Criollo. You\u2019ll find authentic flavor thanks to all of the classics. The expansive menu includes chicken, salads, fish, a kid\u2019s menu and so much more. You can even order online if you\u2019re in a rush to carry it all home.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n**Victor\u2019s Cafe in New York, New York**\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/p/Bcs69YbjERb/?taken-at=4259192\n\nVictor\u2019s Cafe in Times Square of New York City may not seem like anyone\u2019s pick for a Best Cuban Food list, but you\u2019ll have to trust me on this one. I had my doubts, too, but their black bean soup and platanos maduros tasted just like abuelita\u2019s, so they win my trust. A bit pricier than you\u2019re probably used to, but worth it if you happen to be in the area.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n**90 Miles Cuban Cafe in Chicago, Illinois**\n\nAdmittedly, Chicago is more than 90 minutes to Cuba\u2026 But you\u2019d never know it once you set foot inside of 90 Miles Cuban Cafe, where the food is as delicious as if you were vacationing in the southern tip of Florida. The really fun part is that they have a Cuban brunch menu that is a pretty perfect demonstration of how to do Cuban breakfast foods right.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n**La Teresita Cafe in Tampa, Florida**\n\nLa Teresita is the go-to Cuban restaurant if you ever find yourself in Tampa, and yes, definitely worth a visit. The time to come to this classic restaurant and banquet hall is in the evening, where there is daily live music that will make you sway as you eat your authentic dinner. You\u2019ll feel as if you are on the island itself, trust me.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n** Versailles Cuban Restaurant in Los Angeles, California**\n\nDoes the name sound familiar? It should, since this is the same as the one in Miami\u2014but don\u2019t confuse the two restaurants, since they are most definitely NOT related. Unless, of course, you count that the Versailles in Los Angeles has the same delicious, authentic Cuban food as the restaurant of a similar name in Miami. And with more than one location, who can complain?\n\nwp_*posts\n\n** Rincon Criollo Restaurant in Queens, New York**\n\nhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BYcJZqbganC/?taken-at=219608202\n\nAnother demonstration that, sometimes, you have to just go with a similar name in a different city\u2014Rincon Criollo in Queens is THE best Cuban food you will find in the New York City metro area (though our other favorite on the list is great, too). It\u2019s no wonder that they were featured on Guy Fieri\u2019s Food Network show\u2026 Yes, they really are that good.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n** Havana Cafe in Dallas, Texas**\n\nYou can probably type in \u201cHavana Cafe\u201d into a Google search in any city, and you will find a mediocre Cuban restaurant. But this Havana Cafe in Dallas is the real deal. With a menu filled with more Cuban favorites than I can count and a really pleasant atmosphere, this Texas restaurant is one not to miss if you find yourself in the city.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n**Papi\u2019s Cuban & Caribbean Grill in Atlanta, Georgia**\n\nYes, you really CAN find good Cuban food in the south. Or, at least, in the southern city of Atlanta, where Papi\u2019s Cuban & Caribbean Grill thrives. You\u2019ll especially want to head here for special holidays\u2014such as Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)\u2014for a special menu that includes the Cuban classic lech\u00f3n asado that\u2019s sure to please everyone you go with.\n\nwp_*posts\n\n** Paseo Caribbean Food in Seattle, Washington**\n\nYou might be traveling a bit too far away from Cuba if you head to Seattle, but you can still find your favorites at Paseo Caribbean Food. They\u2019re known for their sandwiches (which, I admit, are sometimes a bit untraditional\u2014like the Tofu Delight) and other classics like the pork loin and classic black beans or caramelized onions. A bit out there, but pretty damn good." + }, + { + "title": "Disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution, he ends up running a surrealist cafe in San Francisco - Mission Local", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution, he ends up running a surrealist cafe in San Francisco - Mission Local" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMixgFBVV95cUxObTFCSG5wb1pJY1E0T0syamFDbUE1NXZIY1NTbW1WVUNqWmtNTjhXcm9iRW9mMndaTXFaV09id0w4UjdTSXVoTWhHN0lfWXg0bnc3T3lLZ2VTcGxnZ0VZZ29YR0dmNFpwM2hGTXBLSlhCUnNjM0g2QTl4cWRYLXZlazJfY012VWNZeDVWeEg2X0sxTy03REo5TmF6eEZQVENsaGdhMWRQU2YwaUdrQjl2bGFDZnRSWHRTaklCX1ptMktpcDdicFE?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.sfcv.org/articles/artist-spotlight/alfredo-rodriguez-brings-memories-cuba-san-francisco", + "id": "CBMixgFBVV95cUxObTFCSG5wb1pJY1E0T0syamFDbUE1NXZIY1NTbW1WVUNqWmtNTjhXcm9iRW9mMndaTXFaV09id0w4UjdTSXVoTWhHN0lfWXg0bnc3T3lLZ2VTcGxnZ0VZZ29YR0dmNFpwM2hGTXBLSlhCUnNjM0g2QTl4cWRYLXZlazJfY012VWNZeDVWeEg2X0sxTy03REo5TmF6eEZQVENsaGdhMWRQU2YwaUdrQjl2bGFDZnRSWHRTaklCX1ptMktpcDdicFE", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 22, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 356, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution, he ends up running a surrealist cafe in San Francisco  Mission Local", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Disillusioned with the Cuban Revolution, he ends up running a surrealist cafe in San Francisco  Mission Local" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://missionlocal.org", + "title": "Mission Local" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Santer\u00eda And The Spiritual Soul Of Socialist Cuba - 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Except for a small\nsitename: Mission Local\ndate: 2017-12-22\ncategories: ['Business', 'Newsletter', 'The Arts', \"Today's Mission\"]\ntags: ['immigrants', 'immigration', 'Valencia Street']\n---\n[dropcap]Radio [/dropcap]Habana Social Club sits tucked away on 1109 Valencia St., its blue awning faded and its windows covered with flyers and posters. Except for a small neon \u201copen\u201d sign, you might miss it. But on a Friday night, it is standing room only in the tiny caf\u00e9.\n\nIf you weren\u2019t paying attention, you might also miss Victor Navarrete. Navarrete leans in close to the bar, speaking in animated Spanish to a friend. At 70, he\u2019s a slight man, wearing a denim jacket and a beanie with his signature gray ponytail peeking out from underneath.\n\nNavarrete is the owner of Radio Habana Social Club, a Cuban cafe he bought from a friend about 15 years ago, intending and succeeding in making it a gathering place for artists and immigrants. It\u2019s maintained its character after all these years, standing in quiet defiance of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, much like Navarrete himself.\n\n\u201cI had no idea how to run a restaurant,\u201d he says, \u201cthe [original owner] taught me how to make Cuban coffee.\u201d\n\nNavarette was born near the American military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1947, and grew up outside of Santiago de Cuba. He began studying art at 15 and moved to Havana a few years later to continue his studies at the prestigious Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro. He spent his early years studying sculpture, but at 19 started university for graphic design. He didn\u2019t complete his studies, but joined an influential group of young artists and began making book covers and propaganda posters for the Castro government. Navarrete says he was paid well, like a doctor, and he enjoyed the work. \u201cHere, propaganda is negative,\u201d he says, \u201cbut [in Cuba] it\u2019s a way to educate the public.\u201d\n\nBut the Cuban government was suspicious of Navarrete\u2019s group of friends. He didn\u2019t have the freedom to create the art he wanted to. One of his friends was sentenced to nine years in prison for pasting a photo of Fidel Castro\u2019s face on a ballerina\u2019s body. \u201cPolitically, I wasn\u2019t very good,\u201d he says, laughing. \u201cI wasn\u2019t very revolutionary. That may have worked against me.\u201d\n\nNavarrete has a tattoo of Che Guevara on his shoulder because he was \u201cmore of a romantic\u201d Cuban revolutionary than his friend Fidel Castro, who ruled Cuba for decades. But Navarrete speaks of the Cuban revolution with disappointment. \u201cUntil the 90s, there was a hope that the system would change; that it would be more democratic; that the economy would get better. But this didn\u2019t happen.\u201d\n\nThe last straw came when Navarrete was invited to go to Italy for an art exhibit. He was excited, but since only those Cubans who were \u201cpolitically perfect\u201d were allowed to leave the country, he wasn\u2019t allowed to go. Shortly after that, government agents raided his neighborhood and he was sent without trial to a work camp for a year on charges of \u201cideological diversion.\u201d\n\n\u201cOther countries have borders. But Cuba is an island, so you have claustrophobia of being trapped by the ocean,\u201d he says. \u201cIt gets to you, mentally,\u201d Navarrete says his wife, Judith Justiz, was the first to tell him to leave Cuba. In 1980, he and two fellow artists traveled 80 miles through the night in a small boat.\n\n[dropcap]Navarrete [/dropcap]had spent weeks reading about ocean currents and maritime travel but said he wasn\u2019t prepared for the moment when they lost sight of land. Being surrounded by darkness and water was terrifying. After almost 14 hours at sea, they reached Key West, Florida.\n\nNavarrete had an uncle in Miami named Manuel Lopez. \u201cGuess how many Manuel Lopezes there were in Miami?\u201d he asks. He called 20 different names from the phone book before he found the right one. He went to live with his uncle, and after a year, Justiz joined him. The couple moved to San Francisco a year later.\n\nHe has been in the United States for more than 30 years now. He never learned more than basic English, he doesn\u2019t drive, and he rarely uses email, stubbornly committed to doing things on his own terms. He spent the first half of his time in San Francisco working as a photographer for Spanish-speaking newspapers in the Mission. He and Justiz divorced after a few years in California, and he met his current wife, Leila Mansur, while working for El Tiempo Latino. He bought Radio Habana Social Club just before the newspaper closed. The cafe and his art have been his full-time occupation ever since.\n\nSeveral years ago, Navarrete was visiting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art when he found some of his work featured in a book of Cuban posters. Instead of including a biography, the caption simply read, \u201cVictor Navarrete, immigrated in 1980.\u201d \u201cI felt a connection,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it was historical. I made [those posters] years ago.\u201d\n\nThough he had been somewhat of a celebrity in the art community in Cuba, he shrugs off any concerns about leaving that life behind. \u201cFrom my generation, almost everyone that used to do this has left,\u201d he says.\n\nNow, Navarrete works on his art in a small studio in the Hunters Point Shipyard, and occasionally shows his work in galleries. He creates sculptures out of objects he finds in secondhand stores or on the street. During a recent open studio, he pointed to one of his pieces, a plastic foot attached to the bottom of a crutch. \u201cIt\u2019s funny because crutches are so expensive here,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople buy them when they need them, but then they just throw them away.\u201d\n\nAs it is clear from his caf\u00e9, he\u2019s inspired by the surrealist and Dadaist movements, and creates art that doesn\u2019t follow any particular rules. His work also explores themes, like war, that he wasn\u2019t allowed to express when he was in Cuba.\n\nHis caf\u00e9 is filled with art as well. The back wall is a rotating gallery featuring local artists\u2019 work, while the rest of the walls are covered in old photos, posters, and Navarrate\u2019s quirky sculptures. Mobiles hang from the ceiling. Their ornaments include a Barbie wearing a motorcycle jacket, a baby doll with a rat\u2019s head and a wooden figure with a shark\u2019s body. \u201cTime is kind of running out, so I have to do things quickly,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cbut I like what I\u2019m doing, and I\u2019m happy with that.\u201d\n\nOpen from 7:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. every day, Radio Habana Social Club is designed to be a gathering place. \u201cIf you\u2019re an immigrant and you\u2019re new here, this is the place you come,\u201d says Dheyanira Calahorrano, a health worker from Ecuador. \u201cThere used to be more places like this, but now this is the only one.\u201d She was sitting at the bar eating dinner with her young son, who looked no older than 10, who was working on a drawing to add to the collection on the bar\u2019s refrigerator. He already had completed one titled, \u201cFuck Trump,\u201d which Leila had proudly posted behind the bar.\n\nNavarette has only been back to Cuba once, but he goes to Miami once a year to visit his daughter and granddaughter. It\u2019s the only place he\u2019ll swim in the ocean, because the water is warm and \u201cmentally, you\u2019re close to Cuba.\u201d\n\n*Earlier coverage:*\n\nA video by Alexandra Garret\u00f3n\n\nRestaurant Review: Radio Habana: Flavor + Revolution Tucked Into a Closet by Maria C. Ascarrunz\n\nI\u2019m the author of the 2003 \u201cbook on Cuban posters\u201d mentioned in this article. I apologize for the short bio slapped in this article, but it was the best I could do at the time. It still stands as the most comprehensive book on this remarkable body of work, and I\u2019m glad I was able to include several of Mr. Navarrete\u2019s posters in it. I mentioned to Ms. Rendle that, coincidentally, I recently donated one of Mr. Navarrete\u2019s posters to SFMOMA for their permanent collection, and it may be put on display as part of their \u201cGet With The Action\u201d rotating exhibition. Bienvenido a San Francisco, compa\u00f1ero Navarrete." + }, + { + "title": "U.S. and Cuban researchers join forces to bring lung cancer patients new hope - Miami Herald", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "U.S. and Cuban researchers join forces to bring lung cancer patients new hope - Miami Herald" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijwFBVV95cUxPMmE2dHp1TmRtWlY0R2xzX004M1FJOVlnaHV3TXNiaXpMYTBPbzJjd0RmU0t4YkpvZkpZWDlSWWJ2R3VNMVF1ZzN3S3JoVHpnZm1KdEJHU2x0LWxpakVXVWJyYnlMNGt6WGw3aWkydDBVT2tBSGxId1JyWmRjRGpvWUlaOGczUTQxRnBpQXktONIBkAFBVV95cUxOWFVrUlExbE5PNGk0b2dkU3NXLWVpMnZuTlNIRmRiTHkwMXlrTXJnY1RGQndNWl9tZ0d4NE9SOExRa1EyLWxqYjdLRkdYV3I4N2IwYzBBS3c3SHNxamlXaWh5M0R6U2RTSGhVYmQtdFhiQkNsNWlJUlZtUW5sazJyMUJkandiN0h2Y2NoeDZpOGo?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2017-12/features/risk-blundering-nuclear-war-lessons-cuban-missile-crisis", + "id": "CBMijwFBVV95cUxPMmE2dHp1TmRtWlY0R2xzX004M1FJOVlnaHV3TXNiaXpMYTBPbzJjd0RmU0t4YkpvZkpZWDlSWWJ2R3VNMVF1ZzN3S3JoVHpnZm1KdEJHU2x0LWxpakVXVWJyYnlMNGt6WGw3aWkydDBVT2tBSGxId1JyWmRjRGpvWUlaOGczUTQxRnBpQXktONIBkAFBVV95cUxOWFVrUlExbE5PNGk0b2dkU3NXLWVpMnZuTlNIRmRiTHkwMXlrTXJnY1RGQndNWl9tZ0d4NE9SOExRa1EyLWxqYjdLRkdYV3I4N2IwYzBBS3c3SHNxamlXaWh5M0R6U2RTSGhVYmQtdFhiQkNsNWlJUlZtUW5sazJyMUJkandiN0h2Y2NoeDZpOGo", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 20 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 20, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 354, + 0 + ], + "summary": "U.S. and Cuban researchers join forces to bring lung cancer patients new hope  Miami Herald", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "U.S. and Cuban researchers join forces to bring lung cancer patients new hope  Miami Herald" + }, + "source": { + "href": "http://www.miamiherald.com", + "title": "Miami Herald" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: The Risk of \u2018Blundering\u2019 Into Nuclear War: Lessons From the Cuban Missile Crisis\nurl: https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2017-12/features/risk-blundering-nuclear-war-lessons-cuban-missile-crisis\nhostname: armscontrol.org\nsitename: armscontrol.org\ndate: 2017-12-01\n---\n# The Risk of \u2018Blundering\u2019 Into Nuclear War: Lessons From the Cuban Missile Crisis\n\nDecember 2017\n\nBy William Perry\n\nI was not in the government at the start of the Cuban missile crisis, but I was considered, rightly or wrongly, to be an expert on Soviet missiles. I was called to be part of a small team to analyze intelligence data that was coming in every day and prepare a report to go on President Kennedy\u2019s desk first thing in the mornings to guide him in his decisions and actions.\n\nSo, I was right in the middle of it and knew exactly what was going on. I believed, then, that every day that I went in was going to be my last day on earth. That\u2019s what I thought about the Cuban missile crisis at the time. Kennedy, after it was over, said he thought the probability of those events leading to a nuclear war was about one chance in three, one in three, which is pretty scary when the consequence at the other end of it is the end of civilization.\n\nKennedy\u2019s statement was optimistic because he didn\u2019t know, when he made that statement, some things that we now know. He didn\u2019t know at that time that the Soviets already had tactical nuclear weapons in Cuba with authorization to the commanders to use them without reference to Moscow. If Kennedy had accepted the unanimous recommendation of his Joint Chiefs of Staff, which was to invade Cuba with conventional forces, our troops would have been decimated on the beachhead, and a general nuclear war would surely have followed. We can only wonder why Kennedy did not follow the combined recommendation of his Joint Chiefs of Staff.\n\nHad he followed it, we would have surely had a nuclear war. He did not know that the Soviets had submarines escorting the ships that were carrying missiles to Cuba, that those submarines had nuclear torpedoes and that one of our destroyers, not knowing that either, was dropping depth charges at a submarine, and that the skipper of the submarine was preparing to launch a nuclear torpedo. That, in itself, would have brought about a nuclear war. The Soviets had a policy then that it took two out of three [commanders] on the submarine to decide to launch a nuclear torpedo, and the other two commanders had voted against it. It was that close\u2014one person different would have changed that decision.\n\nWe were amazingly close to a civilization-ending nuclear war in Cuba, even closer than I realized at the time because I didn\u2019t know some of those things. That\u2019s a very scary situation.\n\nBut I want to emphasize one very important point. Neither Kennedy nor [Nikita] Khrushchev wanted a nuclear war. In spite of that, we almost blundered [into] one.\n\nThe danger today, I think, is the same. It\u2019s not the danger of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un launching an attack, the United States launching an attack, or Russian President Vladimir Putin launching an attack. It\u2019s a danger that we will blunder into a nuclear war. That was a very, very real danger in the Cold War.\n\nIn the Cold War, we always thought that the danger was that the Soviet Union was going to conduct a surprise attack, as a bolt out of the blue; and all of our policies, all of our weapons programs, and so on were based on responding to that. But that was never the threat. The threat was always that we would blunder into a nuclear war, and that threat was almost realized in the Cuban missile crisis.\n\n*William Perry was U.S. secretary of defense from February 1994 to January 1997. Early in his career, he worked on classified government efforts to assess Soviet missiles. In October 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, he was part of a small group of analysts gathered to help inform President John F. Kennedy during that perilous Cold War period. This is adapted from his remarks at a Ploughshares Fund conference October 26 in Washington.*" + }, + { + "title": "Cuban President Raul Castro Will Stay in Office Until April - Bloomberg.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban President Raul Castro Will Stay in Office Until April - Bloomberg.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiuAFBVV95cUxNcW5DR2xBZFAyUW9waVI4bHZPQW9meW5UQVRDYk92eFBtVVRUSkNoQ2J2Yjh2cWk2dmRJUjEyU1NFelQwckJQQzRNbWlvQWtXMmltVWhSTzZOY1BGODMyVXZuZ1hZbGc4UG5PcVNmT0M0QUt6bTJPcEJkT3dSOXQ0TmF1Q3BFZEVlT0wydmNySk1LVHVBSTA1U3U5dGtOREhDdTN0OVMtSDgxLXFjOWpVRERhc3pUR1Vi?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article190424644.html", + "id": "CBMiuAFBVV95cUxNcW5DR2xBZFAyUW9waVI4bHZPQW9meW5UQVRDYk92eFBtVVRUSkNoQ2J2Yjh2cWk2dmRJUjEyU1NFelQwckJQQzRNbWlvQWtXMmltVWhSTzZOY1BGODMyVXZuZ1hZbGc4UG5PcVNmT0M0QUt6bTJPcEJkT3dSOXQ0TmF1Q3BFZEVlT0wydmNySk1LVHVBSTA1U3U5dGtOREhDdTN0OVMtSDgxLXFjOWpVRERhc3pUR1Vi", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuban President Raul Castro Will Stay in Office Until April  Bloomberg.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban President Raul Castro Will Stay in Office Until April  Bloomberg.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.bloomberg.com", + "title": "Bloomberg.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "When Hollywood Movie Posters Met Revolutionary Cuban Design - PRINT Magazine", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "When Hollywood Movie Posters Met Revolutionary Cuban Design - PRINT Magazine" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMisAFBVV95cUxPU0RGcGtHOVNSOGo3MGY1d3QtSnM3WXljMUlRUDRLWUFhU2VEbDhoRmRXQm5DdUNzVmp5MEpOX2VXcFRsVXNCelpLRXRVSmlBc1V4Q0lHUk8yWURQM243cFBtX3lDazlsT2F6MnQySk1fUGpVeTdudHZzSUJlNWVfM1BCM243TVZ1ZURSLWlfc25uNVJ3aU5qSkR2MUpRVDlYTU12ZzVGYXVOSGpLTjdCbw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.printmag.com/culturally-related-design/when-hollywood-movie-posters-met-revolutionary-cuban-design/", + "id": "CBMisAFBVV95cUxPU0RGcGtHOVNSOGo3MGY1d3QtSnM3WXljMUlRUDRLWUFhU2VEbDhoRmRXQm5DdUNzVmp5MEpOX2VXcFRsVXNCelpLRXRVSmlBc1V4Q0lHUk8yWURQM243cFBtX3lDazlsT2F6MnQySk1fUGpVeTdudHZzSUJlNWVfM1BCM243TVZ1ZURSLWlfc25uNVJ3aU5qSkR2MUpRVDlYTU12ZzVGYXVOSGpLTjdCbw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 28 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 28, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 362, + 0 + ], + "summary": "When Hollywood Movie Posters Met Revolutionary Cuban Design  PRINT Magazine", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "When Hollywood Movie Posters Met Revolutionary Cuban Design  PRINT Magazine" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.printmag.com", + "title": "PRINT Magazine" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: When Hollywood Movie Posters Met Revolutionary Cuban Design \u2013 PRINT Magazine\nauthor: PrintMag\nurl: https://www.printmag.com/culturally-related-design/when-hollywood-movie-posters-met-revolutionary-cuban-design/\nhostname: printmag.com\ndescription: And this year\u2019s award for the Best Exhibition of Foreign Design of American Film Posters goes to \u2026 \u201cHollywood in Havana: Five Decades of Cuban Posters Promoting U.S. Films.\u201d Roughly 40 screenprints from this Latin American island are now on display at Pasadena Museum of California Art. They publicize movies ranging from Singing in the Rain to Silence of the Lambs; directors from Kubrick to Hitchcock; and films produced in Cuba from a Marilyn Monroe documentary to a Chicano ci\nsitename: PRINT Magazine\ndate: 2017-12-28\n---\nAnd this year\u2019s award for the Best Exhibition of Foreign Design of American Film Posters goes to \u2026 \u201cHollywood in Havana: Five Decades of Cuban Posters Promoting U.S. Films.\u201d Roughly 40 screenprints from this Latin American island are now on display at Pasadena Museum of California Art. They publicize movies ranging from Singing in the Rain to Silence of the Lambs; directors from Kubrick to Hitchcock; and films produced in Cuba from a Marilyn Monroe documentary to a Chicano cinematography retrospective. The designs themselves range from the straightforward and the symbolic to the Surreal, and span from the 1960s\u2014that golden age of cinema poster graphics\u2014to contemporary. Carol A. Wells, curator and the Center for the Study of Political Graphics executive director, will be receiving the award in partnership with PMCA.\n\nEduardo Mu\u00f1oz Bachs, Tres En Un Sof\u00e1/Three on a Couch, 1974. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nAll the posters were produced by Cuba\u2019s Film Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, and, as Wells notes, they \u201cwere part of an initiative of the Revolutionary government to develop cultural literacy and promote discussions after Fidel Castro overthrew the United States-supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.\u201d If you haven\u2019t yet seen \u201cHollywood in Havana,\u201d it\u2019s open until Sunday, January 7. And if receiving an imaginary honor isn\u2019t enough to convince you that it\u2019s well worth your time to visit, here are some actual, legitimate reasons.\n\nBecause hey, Poland\u2019s Waldemar Swierzy, Roman Cieslewicz and Andrzej Pagowski aren\u2019t the only remarkably talented Communist-controlled-country designers of conceptual movie posters that began and blossomed during the 1960s and \u201970s. Because Saul Bass is a major inspiration to these designers. Because our own beloved Charlie Chaplin\u2014the \u201cLittle Tramp\u201d worshipped as an icon by the Cuban people\u2014is well represented. Because Print\u2019s Steven Heller himself has heaped high praise on \u201cthe Cuban art of film posters.\u201d Because curator Carol Wells is justifiably famous for her smart, sophisticated assemblies of significant poster exhibits, which she discusses in our Print interview, here.\n\nBecause, as Wells notes, \u201cFree from the commercial need to sell tickets, Cuban film posters encouraged viewers to understand images, to learn to look at art\u2014and the world\u2014differently. They transformed streets into galleries.\u201d Because, as she further details, \u201cICAIC posters represent the innovation and ingenuity of the Cuban spirit. While ICAIC posters are frequently exhibited all over the world, this is the first time that posters promoting U.S. films have been the focus.\u201d\n\nBecause the creative experimentation and innovations reflected in these posters was in itself a visual reflection of Cuba\u2019s new, revolutionary fervor and energy as well as its active promotion of literacy and the arts. Because this design aesthetic went so far as to even reject the Stalinist Soviet Union\u2019s official, heavy-handed Socialist Realism art. Because Cuban designers produced such stunning results with very limited material resources\u2014due in large part to the U.S. embargo\u2014the work is inspirational (see: our current administration\u2019s escalating war on the arts and humanities). Because relations with Cuba, including travel, have opened (although, also see: erosion of President Obama\u2019s accomplishments).\n\nBecause if you want to attend at least one \u201cPacific Standard Time: LA/LA\u201d event before it comes to a close in a few weeks, \u201cHollywood in Havana\u201d is a bright and lively option. Because this museum\u2019s in Pasadena, closely connected to Tinseltown (by freeway if nothing else). Because it\u2019s also located at the intersection of graphic design, politics and entertainment. So there you go.\n\nAll images copyright \u00a9 Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematogr\u00e1ficos (ICAIC) and courtesy of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics.\n\nRa\u00fal Valdes (Raupa), El Resplandor/The Shining, 2009. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nEduardo Mu\u00f1oz Bachs, Por Primera Vez/For the First Time, 1968. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nRa\u00fal Vald\u00e9s (Raupa), El Silencio De Los Corderos/Silence of the Lambs, 2009. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nGiselle Monz\u00f3n, La Soga/Rope, 2009. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nAntonio P\u00e9rez (\u00d1iko), Isadora, 1979. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nClaudio Sotolongo, Tiempos Modernos/Modern Times, 2009. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nAntonio P\u00e9rez (\u00d1iko), Trapecio/Trapeze, 1969. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nRen\u00e9 Azcuy, Marilyn Monroe In Memoriam, circa 1976. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nRen\u00e9 Azcuy, \u00bfQue Paso Con Baby Jane?/Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1976. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nClaudio Sotolongo, Cabaret, 2009. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nJulio Eloy Mesa, Retrospectiva De La Cinematografia Chicana/Retrospective of Chicano Cinematography, 1979.\n\nAntonio Reboiro, Moby Dick, 1968. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches.\n\nRen\u00e9 Azcuy, El Chicuelo/The Kid, 1975. Silkscreen, 29 15/16 x 20 1/16 inches." + }, + { + "title": "Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend? - Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend? - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMifkFVX3lxTFB2TkUtZjhMLVlXOUxlQTlJTTJyeVgtbFhYY3czX3JqQVFWRENmWERPNFJDNnM4ajcxc2dXdTM4SktRbER6VW5Ray1scldDNzR4eVJfd0FXTVhiRlZVM2NUMmQwQkRtU0l1SkdCd2J4cURmeFNrc3hiRUdXR1VYUQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/features/could-cuba-stop-its-north-korean-friend/", + "id": "CBMifkFVX3lxTFB2TkUtZjhMLVlXOUxlQTlJTTJyeVgtbFhYY3czX3JqQVFWRENmWERPNFJDNnM4ajcxc2dXdTM4SktRbER6VW5Ray1scldDNzR4eVJfd0FXTVhiRlZVM2NUMmQwQkRtU0l1SkdCd2J4cURmeFNrc3hiRUdXR1VYUQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 20 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 20, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 354, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend?  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend?  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend? - Havana Times\nauthor: Circles Robinson\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/features/could-cuba-stop-its-north-korean-friend/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: Dealing with North Korea has become a real headache for many international leaders. Concessions and a soft-handed approach haven\u2019t stopped the North Korean Communist regime\u2019s nuclear program; on the other hand, sanctions and threats have only served as an excuse for dictator Kim Jong-un to hike up his warmongering fanaticism.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-20\ncategories: ['Features']\n---\n# Could Cuba Stop its North Korean Friend?\n\n*What can be done to stop Kim Jong-un\u2019s warmongering fanaticism?*\n\n**By Jorge Gonzalez ***(Cafe Fuerte)*\n\nHAVANA TIMES \u2014 Dealing with North Korea has become a real headache for many international leaders. Concessions and a soft-handed approach haven\u2019t stopped the North Korean Communist regime\u2019s nuclear program; on the other hand, sanctions and threats have only served as an excuse for dictator Kim Jong-un to hike up his warmongering fanaticism.\n\nWhat do you do to stop a maniac who is putting the life of the planet on tenterhooks with its intercontinental ballistic missile tests?\n\nNobody seems to have the answer and many politicians and military personnel are racking their brains trying to find a solution after everything (or nearly everything) has already been attempted.\n\nFaced with this scenario, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has suggested that Cuba could play a role in solving this puzzle and therefore, is advocating for Raul Castro\u2019s government to get involved in the matter.\n\nIn fact, Canada\u2019s mediation in the Korean crisis, via Cuba, could be on the cards during the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson\u2019s visit to Ottawa this Tuesday. When asked about the possibility of Canada even being able to create \u201ca secondary channel to North Korea via Cuba\u201d, a high-ranking US official left the door open to this \u201cunderstandable option.\u201d\n\n#### An issue already taken up with Castro\n\nTrudeau\u2019s idea might leave many people perplexed, in the same way his praise for dictator Fidel Castro did, and his \u201csadness\u201d and condolences for the death of someone he called an \u201cold friend\u201d.\n\nAccording to Trudeau, he discussed the North Korean threat with Cuban President Raul Castro in November 2016, when the prime minister went on an official visit to the island.\n\nIn the Canadian leader\u2019s eyes, the fact that Cuba has \u201cdecent diplomatic relations with the North Korean regime\u201d could be an opportunity to \u201cpass along messages through surprising conduits.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been a lot of discussion around that, but it was a topic of conversation when I met President Raul Castro last year,\u201d Trudeau revealed.\n\n#### No means to persuade Kim\n\nHowever, thinking that Cuba could placate his North Korean \u201ccomrade\u201d is, firstly, a bit of an exaggerated view of the influence that the Cuban government might be able to have on Kim Jong-un.\n\nWhile it\u2019s true that the Cuban communist regime is one of North Korea\u2019s few allies and opposes nuclear weapon development, Cuba wouldn\u2019t have anything to offer the North Korean tyrant in exchange for a detente in Asia.\n\nThe Caribbean island doesn\u2019t even figure among North Korea\u2019s top ten trade partners. The geographical distance between both nations makes it impossible to increase a mutually beneficial trade relationship.\n\nOther countries, important trade partners with North Korea, have suspended their trade relations as a result of international pressure to halt Pyongyang\u2019s nuclear program. For example, India, the country\u2019s third most important trade partner, has prohibited the majority of negotiations with the North Korean regime, except for those relating to food and medicine.\n\nFurthermore, North Korean citizens will no longer be able to go to India to receive political, military, police, scientific and technical training, like they had in the past.\n\nOther important trade partners such as Singapore and the Phillipines have joined the long list of countries who are unwilling to continue to trade with Pyongyang and North Korean diplomats have been expelled from many countries.\n\n#### Eat grass before giving up the atomic bomb\n\nNot even China, North Korea\u2019s main life support, which ordered the majority of North Korean businesses within its territory to be closed down as well as joint businesses with Chinese citizens, and who claimed that it would enforce the economic sanctions approved by the UN Security Council in full, seems to intimidate Kim Jong-un.\n\nHowever, apparently, Kim knows that China doesn\u2019t intend to go to the extreme lengths of cutting off oil exports and stifling its ally, even more so knowing that this ally has now become a nuclear power.\n\nPlus, supposing that they set the scene from zero or gave a pitiful amount of support to Pyongyang, the North Korean dictator has given more than enough signs of being a pig-headed sick person who isn\u2019t moved by the fact that the hunger and malnutrition which the North Korean population is currently suffering could reach a lot more chilling rates. This is one of the great differences between governing a democracy and being a cruel dictator.\n\nRussian president Vladimir Putin, another of the North Korean\u2019s strong supports, has defined this with eloquent precision when he said: \u201cThey would prefer to eat grass before giving up their nuclear program.\u201d And this is not just a hyperbole.\n\n#### Korea isn\u2019t Colombia\n\nIt\u2019s very likely that Trudeau is thinking about the role Cuba played in Colombia\u2019s peace negotiations process, when it offered Havana as a base for discussing an agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and to be an international \u201cguarantor\u201d in this process.\n\nHowever, you can\u2019t even begin to compare Kim Jong-un to Juan Manuel Santos, the president of a democracy, or even with the FARC, which in spite of committing crimes against the civilian population, who had nothing to do with the conflict, was able to put its narrow ideology to one side so as to reach an agreement that was acceptable to both parties.\n\nThis is not the case with Kim Jong-un. Every round of sanctions or possibility of a discussion at the UN about North Korea, just makes him become even more entrenched in his warmongering fanaticism. And if the international community chooses not to pressure him, then this leader will see he has free reign to make his wild dreams of being a nuclear power come true.\n\n#### Cuba in North Korea\u2019s reflection\n\nSo, in the face of ineffective strategies to try and stop him, maybe Canadian prime minister Trudeau is thinking that Cuba could contribute towards North Korea trusting the guarantee that the United States and South Korea are not waiting for the first sign of weakness to carry out a military attack with the aim of overthrowing Kim Jong-un, who the White House believes to be a deluded madman.\n\nWhile it\u2019s true that in the Colombian case, those involved in the negotiations process have claimed that Cuba contributed to building up trust between the opponents, this was still a national conflict between the Colombian government and a communist guerrilla group. In the North Korean case, this is a conflict between the Pyongyang government, the US and West in general.\n\nIt would be extremely hard for Cuba, especially at this point in time when its relations with the US are back in crisis, to get out of Donald Trump the promise that he isn\u2019t orchestrating an attempt to overthrow Kim\u2019s regime and promote a transition to the democracy that the North Korean people so desperately need.\n\nAnd in the hypothetical scenario that the Castro regime does decide to go ahead with this and manages to achieve the desired result, it would then outrightly be denying the reasons that its communist propaganda has always used to keep themselves in power. For over half a century, the Cuban government has blamed the United States for all the problems this Caribbean country faces in order to save its poor governance, government corruption, the regime\u2019s excessive control on all sectors and the nation\u2019s resources and the usurpation of democracy.\n\n#### A defense strategy\n\nAn analysis of the conflict between North Korea and the West, recently published by US magazine *Foreign Policy*, explains that in the wake of the failure of every strategy employed to try and stop Kim, the only thing left to try would be \u201ca posture of strategic reassurance\u201d, which persuaded other countries like Germany, Japan and South Korea to abstain from arming themselves with nuclear weapons.\n\nAccording to Alton Frye, the author of the article, if Pyongyang defends its nuclear program basing itself on the fear that the United States and South Korea are planning an attack to overthrow Kim\u2019s regime, and on the other hand, Washington says that this is completely absurd and explicitly denies that this is its intention, then \u201cperhaps it is time to explore a different initiative.\u201d Could China reassure North Korea as the United States reassures South Korea, the analyst asks, adding that Beijing could, for example, deploy 30,000 military personnel to be stationed there, a total comparable to U.S. forces stationed south of the 38th parallel.\n\nThe problem would reside in whether China actually wanted to move ahead in this direction and whether North Korea would be willing to accept its neighbor\u2019s military presence within its national territory. History has shown that China has no intention whatsoever to occupy North Korea. After taking part in the Korean War in the \u201850s, Chinese forces were withdrawn.\n\nHowever, while it\u2019s true that North Koreans owe a lot to the Chinese, they also harbor suspicion and mistrust when it comes to the Asian giant.\n\nCould Cuba, along with China and other powers involved in the conflict, contribute to placating stubborn Kim and sit him down to negotiate responsibly?\n\n#### Kim Jong-un ignored Fidel Castro\n\nA few years ago, Fidel Castro tried, unsuccessfully. In April 2014, in one of his reflections published in Cuban official press, Fidel Castro urged North Korea and the United States to avoid a nuclear catastrophe.\n\nHis call to constraining a US president was nothing surprising. The surprise then was the fact that the former Cuban leader had publicly reminded Kim Jong-un of his responsibility in this matter, and how he should be consistent with the unconditional support that Cuba had offered him.\n\n\u201cNow that (North Korea) has proven its technological and scientific advances, we must remind them of their duties to the countries who have been their great friends, and it wouldn\u2019t be fair to forget that such a war would affect 70% of the global population,\u201d Fidel Castro wrote.\n\nHowever, Kim Jong-un couldn\u2019t care less for the advice given by the president of one of North Korea\u2019s greatest allies, and someone who had previously expressed admiration for his father, Kim Jong-il.\n\nIt\u2019s a well-known fact that Fidel Castro, regardless of the dictatorship he built in Cuba, was considered by many of his colleagues to be a well-versed figure in international politics, equipped with a certain personal prowess to convince and rally support for many of his ideas. This isn\u2019t exactly one of the skills his brother can boast.\n\nWhatever Trudeau\u2019s plan may be, it won\u2019t be easy to put it into practice bearing in mind the suspicions of all those involved. However, if his project does manage to satisfy the objections presented by North Korea up until now, it would definitely be a new opportunity to sound out what Kim\u2019s real intentions are: reaching an agreement which ensures the safety and wellbeing of everyone, or continue living out his wild nuclear dreams.\n\nThe horrors of the Korean War are fresh in the minds of many Koreans. The US bombed with the intent of not leaving one brick on top of another. This may help to explain why such an insular dictatorship is able to mobilize large parts the population it its support.\n\nDear H.T. The French have a saying, \u201cThem that don\u2019t do politics will be done!\u201d Your diatribe about North Korea will go down well with those who do not read widely and those who have not seen through you, to discover that you are a propaganda machine which is financed by the Corporations and the CIA of the USA to misinform, mislead, miseducate your readers. Already, one of them have suggested that the North Korean Leader must be taken out. But this is the Mod-us Operandi of the USA to eliminate Leaders who work to better the conditions of their people and who are not puppets!. John Ellison in a three part seiries which ended on Friday 27th October 2017, in the Morning Star of the U. K, summed up the present situation by giving an historical account on the Korean Peninsular.\n\nBefore going into Mr. Ellison\u2019s comments I would first like to draw attentionm to the Preamble to the UN Charter which was signed by 50 of the 51 members, (Poland signed two months later) on the 26th June 1945 and was ratified on October 24th 1945, which states thus: \u201cWE, the peope of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which, twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, And, for these ends, to practicetolerance and to live together in peace with each other as good neighbours and to unite our strength to maintain International peace and security and to ensure by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods,that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.\n\nThe Charter was signed in 1945, the world had just experience a vicious World War 2, yet, 5 years after, there was this Korean War in which the same United Nations was involved. At one time Korea was one country. The USA stepped in in 1950 to stop the spread of Communism. Over 5 million persons were killed in that war; considerable destruction took place in South Korea and incomparable damage was done to North Korea. The war was halted by the Armistice (a Truce) of July 27th 1953, signed by Kim ii Sung for the North Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) and signed too on behalf of the USA and China, but the absence of the signature of the Republic of South Korea (ROK) spoke volumes.\n\nProgress towards a Peace Treaty was attempted the following year at a major Conference in Geneva but it was predictable that a one sided propsal by the USA and South Korea for Elections in the North only, supervised by the U.N, would gain no support from the North, which proposed (gaining no support from the South) Nation wide Elections and the withdrawal of all foreign troops in the country. South Korea remained a client State of the USA. A tense stand off between the Government of the two halves of the country continued with many violent border incidents. In 1969, when a USA plane was shot down by North Korea, President Richard Nixon reccommended dropping a nuclear bomb in response, before throttling back. Chinese forces withdrew from the North in 1958, having played a considerable part in reconstructing a devastated land.\n\nAgriculture was collectivised and significant economic development took place against the back drop of a USA economic embargo.The DPRK was headed by Dear Leader Kim ii Sung until his death in 1994. The USA installed nuclear weapons in South Korea in 1958. To be continued.\n\n.\n\nYeah you are right\u2026they went after Saddam and that guy in Libya. NK is a different scenario\u2026those other guys did not have nukes.\n\nHoping that US spells out exactly what they will do once the bombing starts. Go in and remove KJU plus secure his nuclear sites then head home back to the 38th line while China goes in and helps select NK\u2019s new leader to take over. Little worried about the Russians moving to NK borders and setting up their advance missile hardware.\n\nReally curious about China and Russia motives regarding NK. US only wants to remove a Mad Man from blowing up the world but China does not want US to invade as this will bring China to defend NK. Russia meanwhile are rubbing their hands in glee as they get front row seats once the fighting starts.\n\nGod we are living in dangerous times.\n\nHelluva friend you\u2019ve got there Raul!\n\nAgree with a lot of what you say.\n\nHope you are right about trump getting booted out.\n\nAll the news that comes out regarding KJU suggests that he is deranged.\n\ntrump is definitely deranged.\n\nI would not be sorry to see KJU go.\n\nHowever the USA has a huge military capability right on NKs border. It also has a habit of invading/attacking countries it doesn\u2019t like.\n\nWho is defending themselves and who is the aggressor is a tricky one. It\u2019s all a bit chicken and egg for me.\n\nTrump will be out (Impeachment) or Congress boots him out or the will of the American people boot him out of office. That\u2019s called short term cure. No assassination is necessary. Agent Orange is toast.\n\nAs for Kim Jong Un, he is God for life in North Korea. Different beast that needs to be removed or he will use the missiles to start WWIII. China and Russia are tickled pink a NK Pillsbury dough is egging Trump on. The sad reality is that little guy in NK will be poking China and Russia in the eyes. He\u2019s already got China mad, next up is a kick in Putin\u2019s groin. Very much like having a pit bull (NK) turning against China and Russia. It is only a matter of when. Hopefully sooner he is removed the better.\n\nShould NK recover from their insanity by seeking negotiations then the temperature does go down. Again, I have no faith in NK to follow through and will be right back to poking USA in the eyes. Enough is enough.\n\nIf assassination is the solution, then how about someone wiping out both KJU and trump simultaneously?\n\nThat would kill the pair of them and the problems they cause stone cold dead\u2026\u2026\n\nIt would take some arranging but hey, if man can walk on the moon\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.\n\nThe only way out of this crisis (I hate saying this) is that someone either in North Korea, China, Russia or US literally takes him out. All of Kim Jong Un\u2019s Generals fear and loathe him (most of their comrades have been killed and they are thinking they are next). This is right up Mission Impossible\u2019s alley. Come on guys\u2026get the job done in removing this nut case from our midst through stealth mode and not by nuclear war." + }, + { + "title": "Looking for Pearls: Cuba, baseball and Hemingway - Savannah Morning News", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Looking for Pearls: Cuba, baseball and Hemingway - Savannah Morning News" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMivwFBVV95cUxPTVI2ZVo0S2ZuT0JfZk5hWlY0OG9NZWdZeGgtWDVEWk50T0Itbk1TeS1obXM0N25XWXE5eUkwdnlHQmFCUVRFV3k3eTVvcXpKaG1uTjlYS0NsV2YzRDl0NzYyOXBwQUZOank0UVVSTzR5OEVtSFFBa3ZDQzVjWDZ1bGVRb00tLWNSTU5aSE0xT0Q5RkZCZ09RNXRldFdHQkZKUFJaWXBuZGVLdGJEZjJacmgtUWtTLXJrUnJJVFN6RQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-12-21/raul-castro-to-stay-in-office-until-april-as-cuba-extends-term", + "id": "CBMivwFBVV95cUxPTVI2ZVo0S2ZuT0JfZk5hWlY0OG9NZWdZeGgtWDVEWk50T0Itbk1TeS1obXM0N25XWXE5eUkwdnlHQmFCUVRFV3k3eTVvcXpKaG1uTjlYS0NsV2YzRDl0NzYyOXBwQUZOank0UVVSTzR5OEVtSFFBa3ZDQzVjWDZ1bGVRb00tLWNSTU5aSE0xT0Q5RkZCZ09RNXRldFdHQkZKUFJaWXBuZGVLdGJEZjJacmgtUWtTLXJrUnJJVFN6RQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 18 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 18, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 352, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Looking for Pearls: Cuba, baseball and Hemingway  Savannah Morning News", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Looking for Pearls: Cuba, baseball and Hemingway  Savannah Morning News" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.savannahnow.com", + "title": "Savannah Morning News" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Weaponised microwave may be behind alleged sonic attacks in Cuba - New Scientist", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Weaponised microwave may be behind alleged sonic attacks in Cuba - New Scientist" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirwFBVV95cUxPZ2dTU054ZS1OZVB2LWNJbUVRQ2dsNDhuRXUzdG1Qb3podXlOcHEzbWFra05NZHJYRENCWGs5YnhUd1kwWGFqV3ZBLXlqc3h4MFBmR1VJVFdWVWNMNHh4M3YxeWdNSjM2alUxa3N5elpBTHE0RHZLM3JINE9lclVTTkRjXzdvTm9ocVpmSnI0elZmT3E4Yk03U1VXOS1uTjNRcDFjZmo5VnNPV19PeDJZ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.savannahnow.com/story/entertainment/columns/2017/12/18/looking-pearls-cuba-baseball-and-hemingway/13363708007/", + "id": "CBMirwFBVV95cUxPZ2dTU054ZS1OZVB2LWNJbUVRQ2dsNDhuRXUzdG1Qb3podXlOcHEzbWFra05NZHJYRENCWGs5YnhUd1kwWGFqV3ZBLXlqc3h4MFBmR1VJVFdWVWNMNHh4M3YxeWdNSjM2alUxa3N5elpBTHE0RHZLM3JINE9lclVTTkRjXzdvTm9ocVpmSnI0elZmT3E4Yk03U1VXOS1uTjNRcDFjZmo5VnNPV19PeDJZ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 12 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 12, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 346, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Weaponised microwave may be behind alleged sonic attacks in Cuba  New Scientist", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Weaponised microwave may be behind alleged sonic attacks in Cuba  New Scientist" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.newscientist.com", + "title": "New Scientist" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Getting around Cuban customs control - Tampa Bay Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Getting around Cuban customs control - Tampa Bay Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigwFBVV95cUxOc0V1VFQ5aWlZOWNUaXVjLUFCQ0Z4NnNJWDczTThzTE5KcDM0WEZVamFQVG1aTUFkM3NzRVV3R1hNcVM4N2ZFMDNKUnBuV1N4ZlNnOEo4RVRUakRjbWwzVG1OYTNwblNHaTJnUms4NzdLYnZBWUxFQjFodlZTb3g4SzcwMA?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.newscientist.com/article/2156164-weaponised-microwave-may-be-behind-alleged-sonic-attacks-in-cuba/", + "id": "CBMigwFBVV95cUxOc0V1VFQ5aWlZOWNUaXVjLUFCQ0Z4NnNJWDczTThzTE5KcDM0WEZVamFQVG1aTUFkM3NzRVV3R1hNcVM4N2ZFMDNKUnBuV1N4ZlNnOEo4RVRUakRjbWwzVG1OYTNwblNHaTJnUms4NzdLYnZBWUxFQjFodlZTb3g4SzcwMA", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sun, 10 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 10, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 6, + 344, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Getting around Cuban customs control  Tampa Bay Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Getting around Cuban customs control  Tampa Bay Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.tampabay.com", + "title": "Tampa Bay Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Weaponised microwave may be behind alleged sonic attacks in Cuba\nauthor: Author Fullname; David Hambling\nurl: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2156164-weaponised-microwave-may-be-behind-alleged-sonic-attacks-in-cuba/\nhostname: newscientist.com\ndescription: The US embassy in Cuba When US diplomats based in Cuba reported that they had hearing loss as the result of hearing a strange noise, an investigation kicked off. It found that they had been exposed to \u201chealth attacks\u201d by some kind of sonic device . Now it is being posited that the device used \u2026\nsitename: New Scientist\ndate: 2017-12-12\ncategories: ['News']\ntags: ['brains,weapons,technology,microwaves,united states,cuba,brain damage,headaches,nausea']\n---\nWhen US diplomats based in Cuba reported that they had hearing loss as the result of hearing a strange noise, an investigation kicked off. It found that they had been exposed to \u201chealth attacks\u201d by some kind of sonic device. Now it is being posited that the device used microwaves.\n\nThose affected reported that the incidents earlier this year involved bursts of painful, highly localised sound at home or in hotel rooms. After-effects included headaches, nausea and hearing loss. Subsequent medical examination suggests that some of the victims have signs of\u2026" + }, + { + "title": "10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States - HipLatina", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States - HipLatina" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMia0FVX3lxTE1namRPNFJWSjVHSmI0TnJKVUpDcVFQNklVNHQtMVJJbnhWTi03QlRUOWxvdHlRUi11U1M5NWl5SmhwaDEtMWtVSjNXT19uV3R6bEZNV2hLSEJYZ0ROWlJIM0NpSGlzUERFV3Rv?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/opinion/cubas-presidential-line-of-succession-will-ensure-continuity/", + "id": "CBMia0FVX3lxTE1namRPNFJWSjVHSmI0TnJKVUpDcVFQNklVNHQtMVJJbnhWTi03QlRUOWxvdHlRUi11U1M5NWl5SmhwaDEtMWtVSjNXT19uV3R6bEZNV2hLSEJYZ0ROWlJIM0NpSGlzUERFV3Rv", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 25 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 25, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 359, + 0 + ], + "summary": "10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States  HipLatina", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "10 Incredible Cuban Restaurants in the United States  HipLatina" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://hiplatina.com", + "title": "HipLatina" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity - Havana Times\nauthor: Circles Robinson\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/opinion/cubas-presidential-line-of-succession-will-ensure-continuity/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: After Raul Castro's announcement in his latest speech in front of the National Assembly, him stepping down as president seems to be pretty much definite. Everything is pointing towards Miguel Diaz-Canel being named his successor, the First Vice-President who rose up to the highest ranks of Cuban politics thanks to the post-Fidel purge that took some of the system\u2019s key figures out of the game.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-29\ncategories: ['Opinion']\n---\n# Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity\n\n**By Osmel Ramirez Alvarez**\n\nHAVANA TIMES \u2013 After Raul\u2019s announcement in his latest speech in front of the National Assembly, him stepping down as the President of the State Council and Council of Ministers seems to be pretty much definite. Everything is pointing towards Miguel Diaz-Canel being named his successor, the First Vice-President who rose up to the highest ranks of Cuban politics thanks to the post-Fidel purge that took some of the system\u2019s key figures out of the game.\n\nWhile it is true that there were strong indications, during the first half of this year, that this transfer of power might not happen, his nomination today is clear. Ambiguous declarations by figures close to power, such as Mariela Castro, have predicted that there may be \u201csurprises\u201d. The Vice-President himself has made sure to come off as a \u201cdie-hard Communist\u201d in the few public images that have leaked of him, in a clear move to create trust among the population. And added to his absence from national press, there has been a sudden and unprecedented appearance of the Castro family\u2019s descendents, both Fidel\u2019s and Raul\u2019s children.\n\nHowever, Diaz-Canel returned three months ago to make regular appearances in front of cameras and microphones, and nothing is coincidence in Cuba\u2019s official journalism. And in recent weeks, his appearances have intensified quite overwhelmingly. They are sticking him in our heads through our eyes by shoving propaganda and subliminal messages in our faces!\n\nAnd maybe he\u2019ll become a better President or maybe worse, if that is really possible given our current situation. However, that isn\u2019t the problem. The problem is our right to be able to nominate him or others and with those who do select him for such a high position in government.\n\nApparently, a Nomination Committee, made up of social leaders who are headed by those from the only allowed union, will make a selection before April 19th, based on individual interviews held with the future parliament members. However, without \u201celecting\u201d these same lawmakers, we already know that there is a \u201cchosen one\u201d and that it\u2019s the Party\u2019s Politburo who are deciding who this is, that\u2019s no secret.\n\nRaul will step down but that won\u2019t mean he will leave power. He will continue to have power as the Head of the PCC, because he is giving up his administrative position but not his political one. Even so, it will still be an unprecedented event that hasn\u2019t happened since 1976, as before the \u201cinstitutionalization\u201d different government roles were held by different leaders, but power was concentrated in the figure of Prime Minister Fidel Castro.\n\nIt was a long period of transition (16 years), a different time when the budding Revolution, still failing in nearly everything it tried to undertake in the economic sector, made great achievements in the social sector which represented a great hope for the masses. It was very different to this new era, where the disintegration of roles could slowly lead to the disintegration of power, especially when Nature itself is calling after the historic leaders. That would open up a possible rift for the change that Cuba so desperately needs.\n\nBut the Cuban people are no longer what they were; they don\u2019t even have hope of things improving with the Revolution. Not even the Communist Party\u2019s hardline members believe that the country will improve going down the route we currently are. Corruption and hypocrisy have irreversibly infected the leading class, at all levels, extrapolating the Cuban people on the whole. They put up a front of opportunist loyalty that they betray at the slighest bump in the road. Hope doesn\u2019t prevail, the wish to emigrate does.\n\nLow working wages and the State\u2019s own high prices are deteriorating the values of the working, who are stealing resources or working hours, when there isn\u2019t anything else. Social organizations, such as the CDR neighborhood defense committees, have stopped working and only exist in the state-controlled press and in the government\u2019s own falsified statistics.\n\nThere is also a thriving private sector which is defenseless as it has no law to protect it. It operates by buying \u201cdiverted\u201d resources and the corrupt mockery of a tax law that is directed at preventing them from developing, as they require a larger space in the economy. There is also a close and unprecedented relationship with Cuba\u2019s emigres, as well as contact with the outside world via tourism, the internet and the latest opportunities to travel. And on the other hand, a civic society is slowly being forged which is gaining strength from every social sector, with a critical and balanced view of things.\n\nIt\u2019s within this panorama that Raul will give up a part of his power to Diaz-Canel. I\u2019m sure he will allow him to govern and be the visible face of the Cuban State. However, from his main seat in power, at the helm of the Communist Party, he will take Diaz-Canel\u2019s actions into account and put a stop to any deviation away from the ironclad line they have outlined, while time allows him to.\n\nThere is just one last important link in the power chain that needs to be mentioned: the FAR. Raul is the Head of Cuba\u2019s Revolutionary Armed Forces, which is a position that has no definite timeframe. Hypothetically-speaking, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces should be the President, like it is in many countries. However, it\u2019s not clear that this power will go to Diaz-Canel as it involves a great deal of power.\n\nIn this case, Raul is the highest-ranking Cuban militaryman, who has never been given the title of \u201cRetired\u201d. As a last resort, his son, Alejandro Castro Espin, could replace him as the Minister of the FAR, in order to balance out the status quo. This would be a subtle way of confirming that this position will \u201cgo round and round\u201d this circle of power in future ascensions.\n\nEverything is speculation and that\u2019s all we have because secrecy is an inalienable part of Cuban politics. And Cuban politics doesn\u2019t rely on democracy or on the people\u2019s vote, but mainly on the Communist Party\u2019s strategies and its ruling elite. The pieces can fit a little better or a little less, but the Cuban political jigsaw has clearly been set up to protect the \u201ccontinuity\u201d of the current system. It will be the same old thing that has us stuck where we are and without any hopes for a brighter day.\n\nHere\u2019s a suggestion: Democracy. How about an open and independent democratic election which allows\u2026.wait for it\u2026.Cubans to decide for themselves.\n\nHow about free and fair elections.\n\nIt\u2019s also worth remembering that Gorbachov is now a very regretful old man who reminisces about the days of the powerful USSR. He mourns the USSR\u2019s downfall and is apologetic about his part in the demise.\n\nHe is also apologetic about the fact that Moscow became one of the most dangerous and murder ridden cities on earth after the Soviet era as the frightening jostle for money and power took grip.\n\nHe regrets the fact that there are parts of Russia that have now slipped back into abject poverty.\n\nChild malnutrition is back.\n\nEver the Siberian Tiger (protected under the USSR) is under severe threat for survival in the fight against poachers.\n\nGorby definitely has huge regrets. He readily states this.\n\nHaving said that, I do entirely take your point.\n\nThere is an assumption that Diaz-Canel will be some sort of puppet.\n\nAs you rightly state, time may prove that to be an incorrect assumption.\n\nAlejandro will need to share power with Omar Everleny P\u00e9rez, Raul\u2019s son in law who runs the state enterprises. At least for a few years Diaz-Canal will be the ornamental head of state.\n\nIt is worth remembering that Gorbachev, until he came into the top office, was quite conformist and did not give signs of being intent on far-reaching reform.\n\nI have no way of knowing what Diaz Canel is thinking.\n\nLike in North Korea, Communist rule has become very much a family affair. Totalitarian parties like the Communists and Republicans in the U.S. always work in secrecy with help from the elite to maintain their power base, and they don\u2019t give a hoot for the common people!\n\nListen to Mariela. Raul\u2019s time is short and The Revolution must be carried forward. That does not mean a President Diaz-Canel.\n\nIt means putting forward two of the most powerful names of the original Revolution\u2026 Castro and Espin.\n\nThe power in Cuba will rest in the hands of Alejandro Castro Espin." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity - Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimAFBVV95cUxOYkdjclNkSy14bGJCbk10bFpRWTlMU1JjcHhMS21DS1VrLTRrRVhQUUVaS1VJaUl1aW9rN2h5bUNPNlpNUTJsb2hFZU1RR1dtZENUNWlWM2VqNk1qSjFYN25jdWpkR1RKUWNaNlU1RkEyNWY5N2VXUDM3RXpNVnFIMXNfZG05YW5TNlFTQnZOY2htV0VfWXBQSQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.tampabay.com/news/Getting-around-Cuban-customs-control_163476702/", + "id": "CBMimAFBVV95cUxOYkdjclNkSy14bGJCbk10bFpRWTlMU1JjcHhMS21DS1VrLTRrRVhQUUVaS1VJaUl1aW9rN2h5bUNPNlpNUTJsb2hFZU1RR1dtZENUNWlWM2VqNk1qSjFYN25jdWpkR1RKUWNaNlU1RkEyNWY5N2VXUDM3RXpNVnFIMXNfZG05YW5TNlFTQnZOY2htV0VfWXBQSQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 29 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 29, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 363, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba\u2019s Presidential Line of Succession Will Ensure Continuity  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Getting around Cuban customs control\nauthor: El Nuevo Herald\nurl: https://www.tampabay.com/news/Getting-around-Cuban-customs-control_163476702/\nhostname: tampabay.com\ndescription: HAVANA, CUBA \u2014 Ernesto Machado will never forget that cold morning in 1968 at Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed International Airport in Havana, when an immigration official seized his parents' gold wedding bands and...\nsitename: Tampa Bay Times\ndate: 2017-12-10\ncategories: ['News']\n---\nHAVANA, CUBA \u2014 Ernesto Machado will never forget that cold morning in 1968 at Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed International Airport in Havana, when an immigration official seized his parents' gold wedding bands and ripped up his passport.\"This is property of the revolutionary government,\" Machado recalled the female official in military garb saying before he left Cuba to never return.Nearly 60 years after Fidel Castro seized power, the situation on the island is different, but the customs controls remain as rigorous: Travelers risk having their items seized and even prison terms as they try to evade strict controls on carrying goods into and out of the island.Some savvy and perhaps unscrupulous business owners have found a way to get around the tight controls.\"I go to Cuba every 15 days. My business is to take medicines, food and money to any part of the island,\" said one Miami Cuban who owns a package agency.The first task is to find Cubans with Spanish passports or U.S. residency who remain legal residents of the island, because they have the right to bring a certain amount of goods when they \"return\" to Cuba. The business owner, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, pays them $300 \u2014 the fee for the 160 pounds of imports allowed per person each year.\"Everyone wins in this business. The travelers, because they go to Cuba to visit their relatives or earn a little money if they live there, and the agency because that's our business, to send things and money,\" he said.Cuban law allows each arriving visitor to import $5,000 cash. Higher amounts require a customs declaration but do not carry a fee. Most countries allow up to $10,000 without a declaration.This businessman says he never declares the cash. \"We normally send it with several people, distribute the money to avoid going over the $5,000 limit. Sometimes I send a trusted person with a little more, taking a risk, of course,\" he said.Cuba's official news media recently reported that customs officials had spotted 384 violations of regulations on cash arriving and leaving the island so far this year.One of the cases involved a woman who carried 5,000 Swiss francs in condoms hidden in her vagina, and a man who carried 32,550 euros strapped to his body, according to the report.\"Many are beginners in this business or try to do things without helping others. You have to live and let live,\" said the Miami package agency owner, who added that he frequently bribes Cuban customs officials.\"We've been in the business for some time. My people are known because we have codes. Normally, when someone gets to the airport and is offered help, things go well if they accept,\" he said.\"There are businesses in Cuba that need to take money out of the country,\" he added. \"It's no secret that most of the items bought by paladares (family-owned restaurants) come from the black market. If the owners get in trouble, they want to have a little something on the other side.\"Government reports on seizures of outgoing items so far this year include 165,816 Cuban convertible pesos \u2014 known as CUCs and worth roughly $182,000 \u2014 plus $73,822 U.S. dollars, 875 euros and 386 objects such as crucifixes and coins.The Central Bank of Cuba allows those traveling abroad to take the equivalent of $5,000 with them. Anything more than that requires proof that the money was legally earned and a permit signed by the bank's president.Buying hard currencies in Cuba for travel out of the country is legal but complicated. Banks require the buyer to show a visa and an airplane ticket for the home country of the currency, and the limit is relatively low.Travelers can also buy U.S. dollars on the black market, but that rate ranges from 92 to 97 cents of a CUC, much more expensive than the official rate of 87 cents of a CUC.The Cuban government also regulates the export of gold, silver, diamonds and other valuables. The news media reports on seizures mentioned one 1.9 carat diamond ring as well as chains, bracelets and crucifixes.Cubans emigrating to other countries are prohibited from taking any precious metals or stones with them.Also forbidden is the export of CUCs. The currency has no legal value outside the island but is often bought at a discount by people traveling to Cuba. Cuban law allows the export of up to 2,000 regular Cuban pesos (CUPs), the island's other currency, worth 27 to the U.S. dollar, or about $74.A travel writer for the digital portal BravoTV was arrested in Cuba this summer when customs officials found she was carrying 800 leftover CUCs as she tried to leave the country after a visit.\"I accidentally broke this one rule \u2014 and almost went to jail. Don't let it happen to you,\" wrote Jaime Morrison. She was allowed to leave Cuba after a long interrogation, but lost the 800 CUCs." + }, + { + "title": "The only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known - CNN", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known - CNN" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiakFVX3lxTE53X1EyTGVrdjdVYl9wRzlCUzJVUVZnd2tNc1Y2akRHU00xNTlMc3lPVFRzMDZsLTVwQnhQNmJMa1lvLU1WbjNMSGFQSGxaTjdDb0RjdHJpOXIzZWxzZWYtLXRoUk9wYVp2YWc?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://journals.openedition.org/ideas/2244?lang=en", + "id": "CBMiakFVX3lxTE53X1EyTGVrdjdVYl9wRzlCUzJVUVZnd2tNc1Y2akRHU00xNTlMc3lPVFRzMDZsLTVwQnhQNmJMa1lvLU1WbjNMSGFQSGxaTjdDb0RjdHJpOXIzZWxzZWYtLXRoUk9wYVp2YWc", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 04 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 4, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 338, + 0 + ], + "summary": "The only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known  CNN", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known  CNN" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.cnn.com", + "title": "CNN" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Engage or Isolate? Twenty years of Cuban Americans\u2019 Changing Attitu...\nauthor: Grenier; Guillermo J\nurl: http://journals.openedition.org/ideas/2244\nhostname: openedition.org\ndescription: Introduction While the flow of Cubans to the United States dates back to the 19th Century (Poyo G., 1989), it is widely recognized that the contemporary Cuban presence in the United States is linke...\nsitename: Institut des Am\u00e9riques\ndate: 2017-11-17\ncategories: ['migration, transition, Cubains-Am\u00e9ricains, changements id\u00e9ologiques, changements d\u00e9mographiques', 'transition, Cuban Americans, ideological changes, demographic changes, migrations', 'Cubano Americanos, Transici\u00f3n, cambios ideol\u00f3gicos, cambios demogr\u00e1ficos, migraciones']\ntags: ['migration, transition, Cubains-Am\u00e9ricains, changements id\u00e9ologiques, changements d\u00e9mographiques, Cuban Americans, ideological changes, demographic changes, migrations, Cubano Americanos, Transici\u00f3n, cambios ideol\u00f3gicos, cambios demogr\u00e1ficos, migraciones', 'transition, Cuban Americans, ideological changes, demographic changes, migrations', 'Cubano Americanos, Transici\u00f3n, cambios ideol\u00f3gicos, cambios demogr\u00e1ficos, migraciones', 'migration, transition, Cubains-Am\u00e9ricains, changements id\u00e9ologiques, changements d\u00e9mographiques', 'migration; transition; Cubains-Am\u00e9ricains; changements id\u00e9ologiques; changements d\u00e9mographiques; Cuban Americans; ideological changes; demographic changes; migrations; Cubano Americanos; Transici\u00f3n; cambios ideol\u00f3gicos; cambios demogr\u00e1ficos; migraciones']\n---\n1While the flow of Cubans to the United States dates back to the 19th Century (Poyo G., 1989), it is widely recognized that the contemporary Cuban presence in the United States is linked to the conditions created by the Revolution of 1959 and the geopolitics of the Cold War. Whereas previous migrations established communities in New York, Tampa and Key West, the post-1959 Revolution migration created in Miami-Dade County the largest Cuban diaspora population in the country. Almost half of the 2 million Cuban Americans in the United States live in Miami-Dade County. Most are post 1959 migrants (Lopez M.H. and J.M. Krogstad, 2014).\n\n2 Because of its anti-Revolutionary origins, it is often assumed that the community\u2019s sociocultural and political characteristics are monolithic. That is, all Cubans in the United States are viewed as being made of the same anti/counter Revolutionary cloth, fiercely loyal to the Republican Party and supportive of U.S. policies which delegitimize and isolate the Cuban government. This monolithic view of the Cuban \u00e9migr\u00e9 is particularly directed at the Cubans living in the Miami-Dade metropolitan area. As Figures 1 and 2 make clear, Cubans are the dominant Latino group in Miami-Dade County. These Cuban Americans are frequently characterized by their monolithic ideological \u201cright wing\u201d leanings. This \u201cExile Ideology\u201d shapes the national perception of the nature of the Cuban American community (Perez L., 1992; Grenier G. and L. Perez, 2003). To the degree that non-Cuban Americans think of Cubans in the Miami area, they are frequently characterized by their political features: staunch anti-Castrism, militancy and political conservatism (Uhlander C. and F.C. Garcia, 2005).\n\nFigure 1: Ethnic Make Up of Miami Dade County: 2010 Census\n\nU.S. Census 2010\n\nFigure 2: Latino Origin Population: Percent of Total Population (2% or more)\n\nU.S. Census, 2010\n\n3Yet, in recent decades the Cuban community has grown increasingly diverse, ideologically and economically. Since the Mariel Boatlift in 1980 and, more recently, since the regularization of immigration brought about by the 1995 Immigration Agreement, which instituted the \u201cwet foot/dry foot policy, and the changes in Cuban migration policy of January 2013, the Cuban population of Miami has developed socioeconomic and political characteristics unlike the earlier arrivals (Fernandez G., 2007; Newby C.A. and J. A. Dowling, 2007; Portes A. and A. Puhrmann, 2015). The diversification of ideological perspectives among Cubans is evident in the shrinking allegiance to the Republican Party. From the high of 70% percent in the 1990s to an estimated minority of 46% of Cubans in Miami Dade are registered Republicans (Grenier G. and H. Gladwin, 2014). The diversification of the Cuban community can be observed across a wide range of attitudes and has contributed to the creation of a socio/political profile of the Cuban American community that is more aligned to the State and national Latino realities.\n\n4The existence of a diversity of political attitudes within the Cuban American community based on time of arrival in the United States has been well established in the literature (Grenier G., and L. Perez, 2003; Eckstein S. and L. Barberia, 2002, Eckstein S., 2009; Girard C. and G. Grenier, 2008; Girard C. *et. al.* 2010; Girard C. *et al.* 2012). The waves of departure from Cuba have been associated to the variation of attitudes to the embargo (Girard C. *et. al*, 2010), Republican Party registration (Girard C. and G. Grenier, 2012) and other measures of Cuban American political attitudes specifically related to U.S./Cuba policy (Grenier G. and H. Gladwin, 2014). Much of the empirical evidence for the argument supporting changing views comes from the FIU Cuba Poll, a poll which has tracked Cuban American attitudes about U.S. Cuba policy since 1991. Since its inception, the FIU Cuba Poll has measured the attitudes of Cuban Americans living in South Florida towards U.S./Cuba relations. The standardization of key questions as well as the frequency of the poll has allowed the understanding of the changing nature of Cubans in the United States, particularly its growing ideological diversity. This paper analyzes data from the 1997 to 2016 FIU Cuba Poll to explore the diversification of views within the Cuban American population in Miami-Dade County toward U.S./Cuba policies that encourage engagement with or promote isolation of the island.\n\n5In this article, I will present data from the combined data set of the Cuba Poll from 1997 to 2016. After reviewing the methodology, and establishing the theoretical framework, I will present the results of the key variables by poll year. This allows us to see change over time in the attitudes of the entire Cuban American population in Miami-Dade County. To view the changes by waves and generation, I will then present the data according to the time of respondent departure from Cuba and whether the respondent was born in Cuba or in the United States. A discussion of the trends will serve as a conclusion to the presentation.\n\n6Data for the present analysis are taken from a data set combining eight Cuba Polls, from 1997 to 2016 (Figure 3). Each survey was conducted among Cuban Americans in Miami Dade County. The combined sample is comprised of 7731 valid respondents contacted via telephone using standard random digit dialing procedures. The data have been weighted to be representative of the appropriate demographic characteristics of the Cuban American population during each poll year.\n\n7\n\n**Figure 3: Cuba Polls 1997-2016 by Poll Year (Sample Size and Margin of Error +/-)**\n\n**Source: FIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016**\n\n8Based on the theoretical frameworks which hypothesize distinctive world views based on distance from the foundation event (Sewell W., 2005), generation, (Mannheim K, 1952; Eckstein S., 2009) and wave (Grenier G., 2006), the present work analyses the results of the 1997-2016 Cuba Polls to explore the change over time of opinions on US/Cuba policy among different generations and waves of Cuban American migrants living in the Metropolitan Miami Area.\n\n9We focus on the core attitudinal variables asked in all of our polls: 1) support for the embargo; 2) opposition to the establishment of diplomatic relations; 3) opposition to unrestricted travel by all Americans to Cuba; 4) having traveled to Cuba; 5) opposition to the selling of food to Cuba; and 6) opposition to selling medicines to Cuba.\n\n10Considerable research using independent FIU Cuba Polls has shown that more recent immigration waves, as well as Cuban Americans not born on the island, are the least supportive of some of the key components of the \u201cexile ideology, although the individual components have not been tested to see if they measure a unitary concept (Grenier G., 2006; Girard C. and G. Grenier, 2008; Girard C. *et. al.* 2012). In this analysis we simplify the waves, based on previous research. We will look at four waves: 1959-1979, 1980-1994, 1995-2004 and 2005-2016. To test the impact of \u201cgenerations\u201d on isolationist attitudes toward the island, we compared the isolationist attitudes of Cubans born outside of Cuba with those born in Cuba. Birth outside Cuba served as a rough indicator of the second generation.\n\n11Before presenting the changes in the attitudes of the Cuban American population in the last twenty years, it is important to conceptualize the importance of the event from which all attitudes stem: the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959. All analyses of the changing nature of Cuban American attitudes implicitly or explicitly give primacy to the Revolution in shaping the nature of the Cuban migration and Cuban perspectives of the homeland. Indeed, events in the homeland have served as the \u201cpush factor\u201d for all of the major migration waves of Cubans into a diasporic existence. The framework borrowed from Pedraza-Bailey (1985) describes the varying characteristics of Cuban immigration as the result of the \u201cchanging phases of the Cuban revolution\u201d (Pedraza-Bailey S., 1985: 4). The abrupt structural changes initiated by the Revolution during its early phases transformed the society and were eventually institutionalized into the bureaucratic operations of the nation-state. Both the processes of restructuring and those of bureaucratization had differential influences on the shaping of the migrant \u201cvintages.\u201d The \u201cwaves\u201d frame utilized by Grenier and collaborators implies changes in U.S. policy and events in Cuba which stimulate the opening and closing of the migratory \u201cfaucet\u201d (Perez L., 1992). Early migrations are motivated by the Revolutionary restructuring of the Cuban socioeconomic environment and subsequent waves are motivated by events that facilitated departures or easier arrivals to the United States. Similarly, the three historical generations analyzed by Eckstein are associated with three significant events in revolutionary Cuba: the Revolution itself, the Mariel Boatlift, and the Special Period brought about by the dissolution of the Soviet Union.\n\n12The importance of events in the continued migration of Cubans to the United States can be framed by utilizing the lens of social historians. Social historians place great emphasis on the importance of the \u2018event\u2019 in shaping the lives and life chances of individuals experiencing it. Events are not just out of the ordinary happenings that draw our attention. The World Cup is an event, as is the birthing of a Royal baby, but they are not the types of occurrences that social historians consider to be of eventful social significance. Events, for historians, are social occurrences which \u201ctransform social relations\u201d (Sewell W., 2005: 8). In Sewell\u2019s words, \u201c\u2026when historians argue for the importance of events, they have in mind occurrences that have momentous consequences, that in some sense \u201cchange the course of history\u201d by transforming social structures and the institutions which stabilize social rituals and relationships (Sewell W., 2005: 200, 226). Such transformations unleash a chain of occurrences that durably transforms previous structures and practices. In their transformation of social structures (economy, politics, religion, etc.), events establish long term trends which, in turn, transform social relations over time and become the subject of social analysis. For social historians \u201c[time] is fateful. Time is irreversible in the sense that an action, once taken, or an event once experienced cannot be obliterated. It is lodged in the memory of those whom it affects and therefore irrevocably alters the situation in which it occurs. (Sewell W., 2005: 7).\n\n13In our specific case, the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 is the foundation event which initiated a sequence of subsequent events which shaped the motivations and options of migrants during specific periods since 1959. The first cause of the contemporary migration flow from Cuba to the United States was the Cuban Revolution of 1959. This event transformed the political structures of Cuba overnight and continued to restructure all of Cuban society for decades afterwards. The earliest of the migrants were motivated to leave their homeland not out of a desire to start new lives in a more promising sociocultural environment but out of fear that their lives would be negatively affected by the new order. Although few imagined that they would never return to their home, many of these earliest migrants considered themselves exiles and most suffered a loss of property and a diminished quality of life in their transition to the new land.\n\n14When we measure change over time, we are measuring change in attitudes in relation to this foundation event. We should expect that measurements of attitudes most proximate to the Triumph of the Revolution will express the harshest views against engaging the State apparatuses emerging from the Revolution. Similarly, as we posit when we look at the date by wave and generation, those who left the island as a direct result of the Revolution\u2019s triumph will hold the most hostile attitudes towards the ensuing government. While the Revolution was the first cause of all subsequent events, the sequence of significant events made possible by the Revolution had an impact on the migration flow between Cuba and the United States.\n\n15Three frameworks have been utilized over the years to explain the emergence of a patterned ideological diversity within the community; the continuous flows of Cubans to the U.S. have been characterized as belonging to different \u201cvintages,\u201d \u201cwaves,\u201d and \u201cgenerations.\u201d In one of the earliest attempts to frame the Cuban migration in a context which recognizes its diversity, Pedraza-Bailey (1985) invokes the concept of \u201cvintages\u201d of migrants, formulated by Kunz (1973) to frame the causal forces shaping the differences evident in Cubans living in the U.S. at the time of her writing. The concept of \u201cvintages\u201d was formulated by Kunz as the foundation of a theory of refugee migration which recognized a distinction between refugee migrations that occur as immediate responses to structural changes and those that respond to changes that take a longer time to develop. As the sociopolitical situation changes during times of crisis in a country, groups of individuals will respond differently to the changes. \u201cAs the political situation ripens for each, they leave the country as distinct \u2018vintages\u2019 each usually convinced of the moral and political rightness of his actions and implicitly or openly blaming those who departed earlier or stayed on.\u201d (Kunz E. F., 1973: 137). These \u201cvintages\u201d of immigrants are distinct in \u201ccharacter, background, and avowed political faith (Kunz E.F., 1973: 137; Pedraza-Bailey, 1985: 4).\n\n16Grenier and collaborators, using the data from the FIU Cuba Poll, have explored the primacy of waves of departure in establishing the attitudinal patterns of Cuban \u00e9migr\u00e9s to the United States. The \u201cwaves\u201d are determined by significant changes in the migration flows between the two countries. Most analyses utilize the waves established by Grenier (2006) of eight cohorts: 1919-1958, 1959-1964, 1965-1973, 1974-1979, 1980, 1981-1989, 1990-1995, and 1996-2004 (Girard C. and G. Grenier, 2008). The earlier departures consistently express more support for the U.S. policies which isolate and attempt to destabilize the Cuban government while the most recent arrivals consistently hold more conciliatory views (Grenier G., 2006). This pattern has been maintained since the poll\u2019s inception in 1991 although the variance between the earliest and most recent arrivals has increased over the years (Grenier G. and H. Gladwin, 2014).\n\n17Eckstein (2009) utilizes an adapted version of Mannheim\u2019s conceptualization of \u201cgenerations\u201d to identify three significant migration periods which shaped the characteristics of the Cuban immigrants: the period covering the Revolution and its aftermath produced the Exile \u00e9migr\u00e9; the exodus authorized from the port of Mariel in 1980 produced the Marielitos; and the economic crisis resulting from the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991 gave rise to the migration of the \u201cNew\u201d Cubans. These three migrations cohorts represent three different \u201cmeaningful generational experiences\u201d that differentiate the immigrants from each other in the new country (Eckstein S., 2009: 39). Using the frequency data from various FIU Cuba Polls, Eckstein notes the different attitudes towards US/Cuba policy among the different waves of Cuban migrants and second generation (born in US) Cuban Americans. The New Cubans and the Second Generation are more likely to hold views encouraging engagement between the nation states as well as between individual Cubans. The political motivations of the early migrants, self-described as Exiles, are not shared by later waves of migrants. The economic factors influencing and often determining the migration decisions of the Cubans leaving the island after the fragmentation of the Soviet Union did not serve as motivators for the early arrivals. \u201cWith different pasts, the different \u00e9migr\u00e9 waves arrived with different perspectives on life in general and towards their homeland in particular.\u201d (Eckstein S., 2009: 3).\n\n18Figures 4 through 7 show the variables by poll date. The trends are clear. There is a general shift in the Cuban American population towards a more conciliatory approach to dealing with Cuba. The position of isolation is slowly turning into a great support for engagement with the island\u2019s socioeconomic and political structures.\n\n19From the slight majority of fifty-six percent in 1997, support for the sale of medicines to Cuba increased to eighty-six percent by 2016. Similarly, the increase of support for the sale of food products doubled (40.8%/80.8%) in twenty years (Figure 4).\n\nFigure 4: Support for Sale of Food and Medicine\n\nFIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016\n\n20An increase in the desire for engagement can be seen in the trends associated with two other variables: the desire to make travel to Cuba available to all Americans and having traveled to Cuba. In 1997, only thirty percent of Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade County supported a policy of unrestricted travel to Cuba for all Americans. By 2016, over seventy-three percent expressed support for this policy change. The frequency of travel by Cuban Americans also increased during the two decades. Only twenty-three percent of Cuban Americans had traveled to Cuba by 1997. This rose to forty-five percent by 2016. (Figure 5)\n\n21\n\n**Figure 5: Support for Unrestricted Travel and Have Traveled to Cuba**\n\n**FIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016**\n\n22On the diplomatic front, after a keen interest expressed in the 2000 poll for establishing diplomatic relations, presumably due to the tensions associated with the Eli\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez affair, the policy lost support but again became the preference of the majority in 2007. By 2016, a year after the establishment of relations on July 20, 2015, sixty-nine percent of Cuban Americans approved of the policy change. The expressed opposition to the embargo mirrors this trend. Opposition to the embargo was weak back in 1997 when only twenty-two percent of the Cuban American population opposed the long-standing policy. The latest poll reflected the changes in attitudes within the population as sixty-three percent opposed the continuation of the embargo (Figure 6).\n\nFigure 6: Support for Diplomatic Relations and Opposition to Embargo\n\nSource: FIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016\n\n23The trend in the key variables presented is clear. The general population of Cuban Americans in Miami Dade County has undergone a transition from a population resisting engagement with Cuba to one interested in more engagement. Now let us review the data based on time of departure from Cuba and generation.\n\n24Table 1 shows the percentage of Cuban Americans supporting the hardline isolationist policies, broken down for the four major waves and by generation (whether born in Cuba or not). The table shows a considerable gap between the weak support for engagement policies in the first post-revolutionary waves (1959-1979) and the highest level of support in the last wave (2005-2016). The attitudes of the Second Generation tend to align with the more engagement conscious attitudes of the last two waves.\n\nTable 1: Support for Isolationist Policies for Entire Combined Samples Percentage Supporting Isolationist Policies by Generation, Nativity, Event Waves, 2014\n\n|\nIndependent\nVariables\n|\nOppose Embargo\n|\nFavor\nDiplomatic\nRelations\n|\nFavor\nUnrestricted\nTravel for All\n|\nHave Traveled\n|\nSupport Food sales\n|\nSupport Med Sales\n|\n|\nGenerations:\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\nNot Cuba Born\n|\n48.9%\n|\n69.9%\n|\n60.7%\n|\n19.9%\n|\n72.2%\n|\n78.2%\n|\n|\nWaves:\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n|\n1959-1979\n|\n26.1%\n|\n38.6%\n|\n32.3%\n|\n26%\n|\n41.9%\n|\n58.1%\n|\n|\n1980-1994\n|\n43.3%\n|\n57.9%\n|\n53.2%\n|\n41.6%\n|\n62.7%\n|\n70.8%\n|\n|\n1995-2004\n|\n58%\n|\n73.8%\n|\n77.5%\n|\n49.4%\n|\n80.3%\n|\n87.3%\n|\n|\n2005-2016\n|\n70.5%\n|\n89.5%\n|\n87.4%\n|\n35.1%\n|\n89.9%\n|\n91.3%\n|\n\nFIU Cuba Poll, 1997-2016\n\n25Figures 7 through 9 present the trends\u2014clearly towards engagement\u2014exhibited by the most recent waves of migrants. Support for sales of food and medicine trended strongly towards a support for more engagement among the most recently arrived cohorts of migrants. Those arriving during the first two decades after the Revolution are more supportive of selling medicine than food (58% to 42%) but the arrivals during the last two decades express a near consensus of support for selling both items to Cubans on the island.\n\nFigure 7: Support for Sales of Food and Medicine by Wave and Generation\n\nFIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016\n\nFigure 8: Support for Unrestricted Travel and Have Traveled to Cuba\n\nFIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016\n\nFigure 9: Support for Diplomatic Relations and Embargo\n\nFIU Cuba Poll: 1997-2016\n\n26On the travel front, a minority of those leaving Revolutionary Cuba during the first two decades (32%) support the opening of unrestricted travel to all Americans while a staggering eighty-seven percent of those leaving Cuba during the last decade support this change in policy. While a minority of Cubans have traveled to the island in all arrival cohorts, we can stipulate a difference in motivation, or lack thereof, between the earliest wave and the latter one to explain the low travel frequency. The earliest group have the resources and are not restricted from traveling to the island while the latter group is the poorest of the waves and, if they left illegally, might face restrictions to return. Predictably, fewer Second Generation Cuban Americans have traveled to the island but a sizable majority (61%) support unrestricted travel by all Americans.\n\n27The establishment of diplomatic relations is supported by ninety-percent of the new arrivals but by less than thirty-nine percent of 1959-1979 migrants. Similarly, only twenty-six percent of 1959-1979 arrivals oppose the continuation of the embargo while over seventy-percent of those arriving during the last decade express opposition to the embargo.\n\n28In general, there is low support for the isolationist policies among Cubans not born in Cuba. This is evidence for the generational segmentation hypothesized in the literature. This is consistent with the expectation of less support for isolationist policies from those born and socialized outside the world transformed by the Cuban revolution. Even the embargo, which has strong majority support from the wave representing the parental generation, receives support of approximately fifty percent of the diaspora generation Cuban Americans. While the embargo as a symbolic form of political identity has a strong tradition in the Cuban American community, the symbolism of this policy (Girard C. *et. al.*, 2010) is losing its impact on the U.S. born Cuban Americans.\n\n29An identity as exiles has colored all aspects of the life of Cubans in the United States. It has resulted in an inordinate allocation of resources, including emotional energy, towards the primary task of reclaiming the homeland; it has shaped the social life of the Cuban American community and the focus of its voluntary associations; it has reinforced a sense of exceptionalism, setting them apart from other immigrant and Latino groups; it has made the relationship with the government of the homeland a perennially conflictive one; it has determined the nature of their participation in the political life of the new country. In short, the condition of exile has defined the purpose of the community and its reason for being here, and it is the condition that has largely shaped the image most Americans have of them.\n\n30If indeed exile has defined the condition of Cubans in the United States, then the biggest issue as we look toward the future is what will happen when they are no longer exiles. That is, what will this group look like when the entire context that has shaped their very identity changes dramatically? The research presented here, as well as the overall trends evident in other research utilizing the FIU Cuba Poll begins to answer this question.\n\n31When we are speaking of the Cuban American community in Miami, we are speaking of a group whose contemporary migration flow to the United States, and particularly to the South Florida region, is past the half century mark in its duration. That flow can be categorized into event driving migration waves, each with different push factors. These various cohorts have been progressively increasing the socioeconomic and ideological heterogeneity of the community. Also, a growing number of the members of the Cuban American community were not born in Cuba. If we refer to the Cuban immigrants to the Miami area as being composed of waves, the increasing number of U.S. born Cubans are the rising tide.\n\n32The research shows us the combination of ways that the post-exile identity of Cuban Americans is developing. One is through a generational transition as new generations, born in the United States, come of age. The other is through a fundamental change in the relationship with the homeland which is manifested through a demographic change in the diasporic community. The new arrivals have a different relation with the homeland and they continue to come to the Miami area. Over 500,000 Cubans have received Lawful Permanent Residence in the United States since 2000. (Figure 10) We estimate that over 60 percent of these new arrivals have settled in the south Florida area. These are not the displaced elites and others marked by the political confrontation of the early 1960s. These are mostly economic migrants who, although well educated, are leaving an economic condition that does not make use of their human resources. Their commitment to the \u201cexile agenda\u201d is more tenuous.\n\nFigure 10: Cubans Obtaining Lawful Permanente Residence (2000-2015)\n\n2015 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Table 2, Department of Homeland\n\nSecurity.\n\n33Seventeen years into the 21st Century, the growth of the U.S.-born and the arrival of new waves have combined with mortality to whittle down the proportion of early exiles. Those arriving from 1960 to 1964 and during the Airlift barely accounted for a fourth of all Cubans in the United States in 2016.\n\n34Another way things are changing, and dramatically, is the transformation in the relationship with the homeland by the United States. The establishment of diplomatic relations and the trend towards increasing trade and travel, even with the embargo still in place, as well as the economic and immigration changes put in place by the Cuban government, have weakened the exile\u2019s ideological opposition to engagement. The death of Fidel Castro has \u201cdepersonalized\u201d the conflict as well. The exile ideology has a strong oppositional nature. It cannot be sustained without its nemesis. For the new arrivals and the second generation, the identity of the \u201cnemesis\u201d is not clear.\n\n35In general terms, the attitudes of Cuban Americans towards the islands have been a result, in part, of the policies of the United States towards Cuba which, since the early 1960s until December 17, 2014, have been designed with the intent of isolating the Cuban nation and preventing U.S. citizens and institutions from establishing any kind of relations with individuals or organizations in Cuba. The ultimate goal of the isolationist policies at their inception was to promote regime change and undercut the sustainability of the Cuban Revolutionary government (LeoGrande W. and P. Kornbluh, 2015). For many decades it was assumed that the Cuban American community in the United States, particularly its members living in the Cuban enclave of South Florida, supported the isolationist purpose of the policies (Perez L., 1992). A more nuanced picture of Cuban American public opinion began to emerge in the 1990s as the FIU Cuba Poll established a reliable and continuing measure of Cuban American attitudes towards US/Cuba relations.\n\n36In this article I present data which quantify the changing attitudes of the Cuban American population in Miami-Dade County. Any synthesis of the ideological tendencies of the Cuban American community in Florida leads to the same conclusion: demographic changes are driving the ideological changes of the Cuban community in Miami. This is important because the trends could signal the end of the tendency to see the community as ideologically monolithic and uncompromising, and the emergence of the \"new ideology of diaspora\" directed at establishing and maintaining relationships with the island. If it is true that the ideology of the earlier emigres has exerted a major influence not only in the development of an immigrant community, but also on the foreign policy of the United States, the bearers of the more recent arrivals, the new ideology, will wield similar power.\n\n37Not only will the new arrivals influence decisions made in Washington about US/Cuba relations, but given their changing sociopolitical profile, new pan-ethnic alliances are made possible. The vast majority of Cubans in the United States are no longer exiles. The \u201cexile ideology\u201d (Grenier G. and Perez L., 2003) is weakening. The profile of the new Cubans is moving closer to that of other U.S. immigrant groups in terms of their political, social, and economic agenda. There will probably be a greater cultural and political integration with other Latino groups. There are already indications that the pan-ethnic labels so vehemently rejected by the first generation have made inroads among Cuban Americans born in this country. The Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study found that among the Cuban-origin children in senior high school in Miami, thirty percent identified as \u201cHispanic\u201d or \u201cLatino\u201d (Perez L., 2001: 107-108). An Hispanic or Latino identity is not derived from their parents. Virtually none of those children indicated that their Cuban-born parents identified as anything other than \u201cCuban.\u201d Similarly, exploratory research has shown, for example, that Cubans share with other Latinos in the State of Florida an interest in maintaining and expanding the health care coverage introduced in the Affordable Health Care Act (Aysa-Lastra M., *et. al.* 2014). This and other areas of cooperation with Latino populations throughout the State are made possible by the ongoing diversification of the Cuban American population.\n\n38The \u201cnew ideology of the diaspora\u201d will also contribute to the normalization process recently initiated by the Obama/Castro administrations. The new arrivals are the growth sector of the Miami-Dade community and these are the Cuban Americans whose lives have been most significantly shaped by the Cuban reality; a reality governed not by the \u00e9lan and suffering brought about by Revolutionary change but by the daily struggles of a poor Latin American country ninety miles away from the country with the strongest economy; its most influential neighbor for the last one hundred and fifty years. For better or worse." + }, + { + "title": "Engage or Isolate? Twenty years of Cuban Americans\u2019 Changing Attitu... - OpenEdition Journals", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Engage or Isolate? Twenty years of Cuban Americans\u2019 Changing Attitu... - OpenEdition Journals" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiYEFVX3lxTE1hV3JvNGtqTVdRNWZNdDUzejRrUEhKSFB1bUh1T1RGU0hwczZwbnNUNFhBcEl6QXdiS0hPeEJOLXY2UFFYOU5SdXVCNzhCSDhSTmVwR0hBQmk0WFpKcjNaQg?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/diaries/irina-pinos-diary/christmas-celebrations-in-cuba/", + "id": "CBMiYEFVX3lxTE1hV3JvNGtqTVdRNWZNdDUzejRrUEhKSFB1bUh1T1RGU0hwczZwbnNUNFhBcEl6QXdiS0hPeEJOLXY2UFFYOU5SdXVCNzhCSDhSTmVwR0hBQmk0WFpKcjNaQg", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 19 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 19, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 353, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Engage or Isolate? Twenty years of Cuban Americans\u2019 Changing Attitu...  OpenEdition Journals", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Engage or Isolate? Twenty years of Cuban Americans\u2019 Changing Attitu...  OpenEdition Journals" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://journals.openedition.org", + "title": "OpenEdition Journals" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Christmas Celebrations in Cuba? - Havana Times\nauthor: Irina Pino\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/diaries/irina-pinos-diary/christmas-celebrations-in-cuba/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: Here in Cuba, these celebrations were banned for a long time but they gained new life in the \u201890s, I remember going to the midnight Mass with a friend and I loved it. That time, cups of hot chocolate, sandwiches and sweets were handed out after the religious ceremony.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-27\ncategories: [\"Irina Pino's Diary\"]\n---\n# Christmas Celebrations in Cuba?\n\n**By Irina Pino**\n\nHAVANA TIMES \u2014 It\u2019s common for us Cubans to throw parties on December 31st, the last day of the year, but Christmas is a special religious event that begins beforehand and involves putting up decorations on a tree to the so-called \u201cMidnight mass\u201d, where the devoted congregate in churches to commemorate the baby Jesus\u2019 birth.\n\nHere in Cuba, these celebrations were banned for a long time but they gained new life in the \u201890s, I remember going to the midnight Mass with a friend and I loved it. That time, cups of hot chocolate, sandwiches and sweets were handed out after the religious ceremony.\n\nIn spite of everything, some people are able to put together a decent meal on December 24th, put up a beautiful lit-up tree in their home and yet there still isn\u2019t that festive spirit on the street: an enveloping darkness prevails, you can\u2019t hear Christmas carols, there aren\u2019t any Santa Clauses at store entrances giving presents out to children\u2026, you can only see employees wearing ridiculous looking bobble hats at certain state-run stores where they pretend to give good customer service.\n\nSales or discounts aren\u2019t given because it\u2019s the end of the year; on the contrary, food continues to be expensive and in shortage. A friend told me that there had been a discount on pork at a market near her home and that after people bought it, they had to return it because of the rotting state it was in.\n\nShe went out to look for food and the only thing she could find were some huge frozen turkeys which didn\u2019t cost anything less than 50 CUC (55 USD), which is completely out of any ordinary Cuban\u2019s reach, at a store on 5th and 42nd streets. (The average salary here doesn\u2019t reach 25 CUC).\n\nTurron sweets that sit all year round in shop windows aren\u2019t reduced in the slightest, they cost nearly 4 CUC and a bottle of red wine costs 6 CUC or more. Apples are tiny and poor quality and cost 0.55 cents each. That is to say, if you don\u2019t have lots of money, in Cuban terms, you won\u2019t be able to set a dinner table like you should at this time of year.\n\nMy mother tells me that in her family they always had a turkey, cider and the twelve grapes that you would eat before midnight, even though they were extremely poor.\n\nOn the other hand, there are people who don\u2019t care about celebrating anything at all because of the majority of their family emigrated, their families are broken, and those who stayed behind don\u2019t feel like celebrating any more. Like me. I spent my dinner on the 24th dancing to rock music at the Casa de la Amistad with some friends.\n\nMany families are devastated, the hurricane carried away their homes and they are left stuck in temporary shelters. What are those people going to want to celebrate?\n\nHowever, not everyone is suffering the same hardship, some sectors of the population are having a great party, Christmas is a time of luxury, of colors, of lots of presents under a sparkling Christmas tree with a star on top.\n\nLike the folk singer Silvio Rodriguez\u2019s song says: \u201csome celebrate their millions, others, having clean clothes, and there people who don\u2019t even know what it is to raise their glasses up to toast\u2026\u201d" + }, + { + "title": "Christmas Celebrations in Cuba? - Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Christmas Celebrations in Cuba? - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiiAFBVV95cUxNR2x6N0JVdEl4eUptaWE5NVV4RWxFa0Rkbk9tYVRNbGVJWEJ6OG1vbUpXMk93WHdVMExQVG5LTWNvanQtUTZ5VWFuWWZnQzExNkg2eE5HeGlDUkVnaS1KN0VpU3Q0ZmdlMXZJMVNlQXZfYlBvYWJMcFJPSGJFZWZIWjJkclJMUzg4?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hetter-cuba-family-feat", + "id": "CBMiiAFBVV95cUxNR2x6N0JVdEl4eUptaWE5NVV4RWxFa0Rkbk9tYVRNbGVJWEJ6OG1vbUpXMk93WHdVMExQVG5LTWNvanQtUTZ5VWFuWWZnQzExNkg2eE5HeGlDUkVnaS1KN0VpU3Q0ZmdlMXZJMVNlQXZfYlBvYWJMcFJPSGJFZWZIWjJkclJMUzg4", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 27 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 27, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 361, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Christmas Celebrations in Cuba?  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Christmas Celebrations in Cuba?  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: The only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known | CNN\nauthor: Katia Hetter\nurl: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hetter-cuba-family-feat\nhostname: cnn.com\ndescription: For the holiday season, CNN\u2019s Katia Hetter is heading to the only Cuba she\u2019s ever known: Her relatives\u2019 homes in Miami.\nsitename: CNN\ndate: 2014-12-22\ncategories: ['travel']\ntags: ['cuba travel guide', 'cuba travel guide']\n---\n**Editor\u2019s Note: **Katia Hetter is a writer/producer for CNN Digital. This story was first published in December 2014.\n\n### Story highlights\n\nCNN's Katia Hetter has Cuban ancestry but has never visited Cuba\n\nShe will celebrate Christmas with her Cuban-American relatives in Miami\n\nHetter: I want to visit my mother's Cuban hometown\n\nThis holiday season, I am heading to the only Cuba I\u2019ve ever known. To *Nochebuena* dinner with my cousin\u2019s roast pork, her mother-in-law\u2019s flan, platanos maduros, yucca and a salad.\n\n*Nochebuena* is a Latino celebration of Christmas Eve, and it\u2019s a big night for us. There will be quick-fire Spanish, varying degrees of English and jokes in the way I\u2019ve only ever heard my Cuban relatives parry back and forth. Many presents will be opened, and everyone will act like we all got each other the perfect gift.\n\nI will travel not to Havana but to Miami, where my grandparents and other relatives came years after Fidel Castro took over Cuba, when it became clear there would be no free speech for anyone but him.\n\nThe stadiums were filling with \u201ctrials\u201d against the enemies of the state, friends were disappearing and my mother, despite her government job, knew her unwillingness to stay quiet while people suffered would get her in trouble. So she went into exile in 1961, and she\u2019s never been back.\n\nYears later my grandparents followed their grown children \u2013 my mother and uncle \u2013 to the USA. When they applied to leave the country, Cuban government officials did an inventory of the contents of their home. Both their home and all of their things would be confiscated by the government on the day they departed.\n\nThe morning she left, my *abuelita* was washing the dishes in their apartment before she and my grandfather left for the airport. Suddenly she stopped. \u201cLet Fidel do the dishes,\u201d she said. I have never seen that apartment.\n\n## Family traditions\n\nWhen we land Tuesday in Miami, my mother and uncle will meet us at the airport and rush us to Havana Harry\u2019s or some coffee stand where I can get a real Cuban coffee \u2013 none of this Starbucks silliness. There\u2019s a hint of Cuba in the taste. And Cuban and U.S. flags will be everywhere.\n\nI don\u2019t care about South Beach or Art Basel or Coconut Grove. Every bit of Cuba I get is gleaned from pictures, music, stories people tell me and these trips to see Miami family, where I get hints of my ancestry in the food and jokes and presents. I soak it up on every visit.\n\nI\u2019ve never seen the sleepy, agricultural town of Pinar del Rio where my mother was born and lived until her teenage years. I\u2019ve never seen where she went to high school after they moved to Havana or the beaches where she swam in the summertime and where one friend dangling his foot over a pier lost it to a shark.\n\nI don\u2019t know where she had her first piano recital. When she plays my favorite Cuban music on the piano, all too rarely, for some reason the notes make me cry. Maybe it\u2019s the hints of her life before me.\n\nThe Christmas heat in Miami must be similar to what they feel in Cuba, only a short flight to the south. I will pack my summer clothes and a bathing suit for my daughter.\n\nAround midday on Christmas Eve some of us will head to El Palacio de Los Jugos for lunch and Cuban sandwiches. I will get my favorite Materva soda, too sweet for me now but still worth the memory. My cousin, whose *Nochebuena* pork would make Martha Stewart cry, likes to tease us to not to fill up at lunch.\n\nBut we will be fine. Dinner won\u2019t be until much later \u2013 our family is always late \u2013 and we all want her cooking.\n\n## Filling in the gaps\n\nMy definition of beauty isn\u2019t blond hair or blue eyes or any classic American stereotype. It\u2019s my black-haired Cuban cousins, who look so refined and elegant. They hug me, the baby of my generation and the half-American with the brown hair, so hard.\n\nThey remind me to come back. To Miami, not to Cuba.\n\nI\u2019ve only seen pictures of the tobacco trucks. My mother was taught to drive by the drivers at the tobacco trucking company where my grandfather worked, and it\u2019s why she still drives a car like she means business. Another hint of Cuba on those long road trips.\n\nI welcome the news of thawing American relations with Cuba and easing of travel restrictions. But I am tired of the ads for religious charity trips to Cuba and all-inclusive beach resorts where tourists get pampered while my people, once removed, depend on charity for the most basic medical supplies.\n\nI am tired of the reasons for the sadness in my older relatives\u2019 eyes.\n\nI don\u2019t want to hear any more stereotypes about who my people are or tourists talking about going to visit Cuba \u201cbefore it changes.\u201d As Miriam Zoila Perez has written, I don\u2019t want to hear about your Cuban vacation.\n\nI simply want to buy a plane ticket and go there myself. I want to go to my mother\u2019s hometown and see where she was born without crying the entire trip. I want to put those hints together, fill in the gaps and see for the first time, where I am from." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba Battling Medicine Shortages in Wake of Cash Crunch - VOA - Voice of America English News", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba Battling Medicine Shortages in Wake of Cash Crunch - VOA - Voice of America English News" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimgFBVV95cUxOa1VfM05tMlZURTZrUVVadG1STmJuTzJBYUVab0wxeFlkYVJ3bmd6elhaVXdfaHN1TWJKazYwSlBBSjNnV19sQ3V6RXNoQW5yYTF1M3NyelpPMnVybDNhMGlYNmpDdmNVSTZMZXh1dUpoSnRvWGE0d09YR2tyTHNYR0M3eGRzcTctdEZmVU1CQWRoOFVjcVpaSGFR0gGcAUFVX3lxTE9jdHZwSkh2R3A3a0RON1duYS03YmFhSUUwaVBKeUpYVWoyLUp3NzYxVHYwNXNTNmlHVTZ6clJIME0zZkZUa1pIY1Y5SFN2aFp1Vm9KV2ZXSjhiMjczNXliMlNaV05sT3FWVkVjN2c2aU1sQjRWUGwyNG9RUUlKc1RHN1Q0WWd4SWxLVmc2MFZRMmNtNFhTS1NoOFBvOQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.voanews.com/a/cuban-president-raul-castro-stay-power-april/4173935.html", + "id": "CBMimgFBVV95cUxOa1VfM05tMlZURTZrUVVadG1STmJuTzJBYUVab0wxeFlkYVJ3bmd6elhaVXdfaHN1TWJKazYwSlBBSjNnV19sQ3V6RXNoQW5yYTF1M3NyelpPMnVybDNhMGlYNmpDdmNVSTZMZXh1dUpoSnRvWGE0d09YR2tyTHNYR0M3eGRzcTctdEZmVU1CQWRoOFVjcVpaSGFR0gGcAUFVX3lxTE9jdHZwSkh2R3A3a0RON1duYS03YmFhSUUwaVBKeUpYVWoyLUp3NzYxVHYwNXNTNmlHVTZ6clJIME0zZkZUa1pIY1Y5SFN2aFp1Vm9KV2ZXSjhiMjczNXliMlNaV05sT3FWVkVjN2c2aU1sQjRWUGwyNG9RUUlKc1RHN1Q0WWd4SWxLVmc2MFZRMmNtNFhTS1NoOFBvOQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 01 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 1, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 335, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba Battling Medicine Shortages in Wake of Cash Crunch  VOA - Voice of America English News", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba Battling Medicine Shortages in Wake of Cash Crunch  VOA - Voice of America English News" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.voanews.com", + "title": "VOA - Voice of America English News" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuban President Raul Castro to Stay in Power Until April\nauthor: Ken Bredemeier\nurl: https://www.voanews.com/a/cuban-president-raul-castro-stay-power-april/4173935.html\nhostname: voanews.com\ndescription: Castro's departure will mark the end of an era \u2014 59 years of family rule; his vice president is expected to be Cuba's next president\nsitename: Voice of America (VOA News)\ndate: 2017-12-21\ncategories: ['Americas']\ntags: ['Americas, Castro']\n---\nCuban President Raul Castro plans to stay in office until next April before stepping aside, two months longer than originally anticipated, which then would end nearly six decades of Castro family rule of the communist country.\n\n\nCuba's parliament on Thursday extended its legislative period by two months to April 19 because of the impact of Hurricane Irma in September. With the current council of state \u2014 the powerful group Castro heads \u2014 also staying until mid-April, it ensures that the 86-year-old leader will remain in power until then.\n\n\nCastro's first vice president, Miguel Diaz Canel, 57, is expected to be Cuba's next president, even as Castro remains the leader of the Caribbean island nation's communist party.\n\n\nBut Castro's departure would end 59 years of Castro family rule, starting with the revolutionary takeover of the government by Fidel Castro in 1959 when he overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista. Fidel Castro died last year after relinquishing power to his brother in 2008.\n\n\nCanel has pledged to continue Raul Castro's policies, including limited growth of private enterprise as part of the country's planned economy, single party rule, and tight government control of virtually all aspects of life for Cubans." + }, + { + "title": "Cuban President Raul Castro to Stay in Power Until April - VOA - Voice of America English News", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban President Raul Castro to Stay in Power Until April - VOA - Voice of America English News" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiiwFBVV95cUxQYzNib2RibXBKUHk3ZG5DaHVKUnEyZ2VLT3g0R3d0YTZCOU83dlFHU3lYbnBNQlNYSWxhMGladXZndkNKS1Y2TFF0TTliLTZfRVZtRGlXS2dBSzQ3LXVxQmNGb2VvRHNwS1VOaGtONjZPaXBvZkpqOUlCcjhKTm0tYXd3RmkycjJ2RVdj0gGOAUFVX3lxTE5RT0FqTWNoS1pFSHotSkRBNmVRWHk0WGVpV3Y5ODJMeGp5UnBkY3dBWXU4WWpMQ1BScnFlbko1eTNLdjQxWk9ENTlGaUZ4bTFSRkY4b251cXJfSFhLU2tINFZpX1lDRWU2NmRmejVSUHdROEpZYW5BZnNfeHMxTjlUVW5ZcEpYb29NekVvRmc?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.businessinsider.com/cuba-travel-tips-dont-plan-book-anything-before-leaving", + "id": "CBMiiwFBVV95cUxQYzNib2RibXBKUHk3ZG5DaHVKUnEyZ2VLT3g0R3d0YTZCOU83dlFHU3lYbnBNQlNYSWxhMGladXZndkNKS1Y2TFF0TTliLTZfRVZtRGlXS2dBSzQ3LXVxQmNGb2VvRHNwS1VOaGtONjZPaXBvZkpqOUlCcjhKTm0tYXd3RmkycjJ2RVdj0gGOAUFVX3lxTE5RT0FqTWNoS1pFSHotSkRBNmVRWHk0WGVpV3Y5ODJMeGp5UnBkY3dBWXU4WWpMQ1BScnFlbko1eTNLdjQxWk9ENTlGaUZ4bTFSRkY4b251cXJfSFhLU2tINFZpX1lDRWU2NmRmejVSUHdROEpZYW5BZnNfeHMxTjlUVW5ZcEpYb29NekVvRmc", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuban President Raul Castro to Stay in Power Until April  VOA - Voice of America English News", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban President Raul Castro to Stay in Power Until April  VOA - Voice of America English News" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.voanews.com", + "title": "VOA - Voice of America English News" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: The best part about traveling to Cuba is that you don\u2019t have to plan anything \u2014 here's why\nauthor: Harrison Jacobs\nurl: https://www.businessinsider.com/cuba-travel-tips-dont-plan-book-anything-before-leaving\nhostname: businessinsider.com\ndescription: Cuba is an exciting travel destination, but the best part is you can travel without planning ahead. Business Insider has travel tips that could save you money.\nsitename: Business Insider\ndate: 2017-12-19\ncategories: ['Personal Finance, Lifestyle, Travel']\n---\n**Traveling to Cuba is different from vacationing in most other countries.****Many of the best and most reasonably priced lodging and activities are only available on the island because of the lack of internet.****If you don't book ahead of time and instead book things on the island, you will likely save money and make sure more of your tourism dollars go to actual Cubans.**\n\n\nTravel to any country on vacation and you almost always have to plan ahead. As you get closer, hotels get booked, events sell out, and prices go up. There's a huge advantage to planning everything.\n\nNot in Cuba.\n\nOn a recent trip to the island, I discovered that while you can certainly plan ahead, there are distinct advantages to arriving on the island with nothing but your return plane ticket, plenty of cash, and a vague idea what you want to see and do.\n\nHere's why.\n\n## Not booking ahead of time will save you money and direct more of your tourism dollars to actual Cubans, rather than the Communist Party or American corporations.\n\nBecause of the scarcity of the internet and the island's general isolation, most lodgings, car services, and tourist activities aren't listed online. The ones that are listed likely have a very basic booking system, are run by the most privileged Cubans, and have inflated prices.\n\nYou are paying extra for the convenience of internet booking.\n\nWhile some lodgings are listed on services like Airbnb, you are then paying an American company 15% of money that should go to Cubans, with little benefit to you. The official hotels, meanwhile, are generally government-run, overpriced, and not nearly as nice as pictures would suggest.\n\n## Once you get to Cuba, however, you realize the system actually works efficiently if you don\u2019t book ahead. That\u2019s because of the \"casa particulare\" system.\n\nThe *casa particulare *system allows certain Cubans to rent out rooms in their houses or apartments to tourists for 20 to 40 CUC per night in a sort of proto-Airbnb. (In fact, Airbnb has latched onto this system to rapidly expand in the country.)\n\nThe system has been around officially since 1997, when the government allowed *casa* hosts to register with the government as legal businesses, though reports say Cubans rented out rooms under the table for years before.\n\nThe *casa* system is like a home-stay, where tourists can stay with actual Cubans (although most are on the wealthier or more privileged side, and pay heavy taxes to the government).\n\n## \"Casa particulares\" are everywhere, marked by this blue insignia on the front of houses.\n\nIf you are looking for a place to stay, just walk around the neighborhood you want to stay in, find one of those signs and knock on the door. They'll usually have a room open.\n\nIf they don't, they'll be happy to find you a room with a friend of theirs (for a small commission), or you can just walk a little further until you find another one.\n\nIf the room they have available seems overpriced or not to your liking, either ask for them to arrange a different room or head back out to search on your own.\n\n## Your host will be knowledgeable about the best tourist activities (a guided tour, horseback riding, snorkeling, a taxi to the next city) and will be happy to arrange it for you. Again, for a commission of a couple dollars.\n\nIn addition, casa owners all will make a delicious breakfast or dinner for you for a relatively cheap price. And if you want to go out, they will have recommendations.\n\n## Or you can head into town and find a tour guide, taxi driver, or activity organizer yourself to avoid the commission.\n\nThere are no shortage of taxi drivers on the street who will travel distances both near and far, tour guides offering all different kinds of tours, and casa particulares to stay in.\n\nTourism is the best way to make money in Cuba, a fact underscored by the price of everything. The cost of one night in a *casa particulare* costs about the same as most Cubans\u2019 monthly salary.\n\n## One note: There are two crucial parts to making the non-planning work.\n\n1. Have a rough idea of how much things should cost;\n\n2. Understand that asking another Cuban to arrange something for you will add a few dollars to the price.\n\nYou are more than welcome to haggle, but unless the price strikes you as unfair, I wouldn't recommend it. You're likely arguing over a few bucks in an impoverished country. Don't be greedy.\n\n## A few ballpark prices to remember (in CUC, which is roughly equivalent to US dollar):\n\nThese have likely changed slightly since last year when I visited:\n\n- Casa particulare: 20-40 CUC/night, depending on quality (size of room, quality of bed, air conditioning, location, if breakfast is included, etc)\n\n- Meals at casa: 5 CUC for breakfast, 10-15 CUC for dinner\n\n- Taxi from Jose Marti International Airport to downtown Havana: 20-30 CUC\n\n- Taxi between cities: roughly equivalent to the Viazul bus price for the route\n\n- Taxi rides in a city: 2-12 CUC, but most should be around 3-5 CUC" + }, + { + "title": "The best part about traveling to Cuba is that you don\u2019t have to plan anything \u2014 here's why - Business Insider", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The best part about traveling to Cuba is that you don\u2019t have to plan anything \u2014 here's why - Business Insider" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikAFBVV95cUxONzAxSGdzdDNMSU8wd2pucC1GREZ1dTNnY082R1JfU0htTEJKamFFQnpJTW1pN2o0bExiY2dPVlJkcDlkOFBDenZqZ1pVQzU1aXJvdGxDbXBlOE55T214VWdSOFhoTnMxSU9VUklNR3M5ejhxZG5YeWZHM0RyaFRhQXdaZTUwWENlRnFQZzNiNkk?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.voanews.com/a/cuba-battling-medicine-shortages-in-wake-of-cash-crunch/4146258.html", + "id": "CBMikAFBVV95cUxONzAxSGdzdDNMSU8wd2pucC1GREZ1dTNnY082R1JfU0htTEJKamFFQnpJTW1pN2o0bExiY2dPVlJkcDlkOFBDenZqZ1pVQzU1aXJvdGxDbXBlOE55T214VWdSOFhoTnMxSU9VUklNR3M5ejhxZG5YeWZHM0RyaFRhQXdaZTUwWENlRnFQZzNiNkk", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 19 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 19, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 353, + 0 + ], + "summary": "The best part about traveling to Cuba is that you don\u2019t have to plan anything \u2014 here's why  Business Insider", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The best part about traveling to Cuba is that you don\u2019t have to plan anything \u2014 here's why  Business Insider" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.businessinsider.com", + "title": "Business Insider" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba Battling Medicine Shortages in Wake of Cash Crunch\nauthor: Reuters\nurl: https://www.voanews.com/a/cuba-battling-medicine-shortages-in-wake-of-cash-crunch/4146258.html\nhostname: voanews.com\ndescription: Cuba is working on fixing chronic medicine shortages that started appearing a year ago due to its cash crunch, health officials said in an article published late on Thursday in ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma. Cuba\u2019s healthcare system, built by late leader Fidel Castro, is one of the...\nsitename: Voice of America (VOA News)\ndate: 2017-12-02\ncategories: ['Americas']\ntags: ['Economy, Americas, Cuba, medicine shortage']\n---\nCuba is working on fixing chronic medicine shortages that started appearing a year ago due to its cash crunch, health officials said in an article published late on Thursday in ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma.\n\nCuba\u2019s healthcare system, built by late leader Fidel Castro, is one of the revolution\u2019s most treasured achievements, having produced results on a par with rich nations using the resources of a developing country and in spite of the decades-old U.S. trade embargo.\n\nBut more than 85 percent of the resources its pharmaceutical industry uses are imported, BioCubaFarma Director of Operations Rita Maria Garc\u00eda Almaguer was cited as saying in Granma, and Cuba has been struggling to pay foreign providers.\n\nLower exports and aid from key socialist ally Venezuela caused a liquidity crisis that prompted Havana last year to slash imports, helping tip it into recession.\n\nMedicine production therefore stalled in 2016 and some of 2017 due to lack of inputs, according to Garc\u00c3a Almaguer.\n\n\u201cThe production of some forms of pharmaceuticals was stalled because the resources were not available on time, which means we were unable to fulfill the demands of the national health system,\u201d she was quoted as saying.\n\nMany common medicines, for example contraceptives or those treating hypertension, have been scarce or lacking altogether over the past year, Granma wrote.\n\nBioCubaFarma and the government had been working together since the start of last year to fix the issue and ensure the availability of at least one medicine per pharmacological group, Garc\u00c3a Almaguer said.\n\n\u201cIn August we started holding meetings at the highest level, taking an important series of measures to help resolve or at least alleviate the shortages,\u201d Cristina Lara Bastanzuri, head of the Medicine Planning Department at the health ministry, said in the article.\n\nShe said these meetings helped solve an issue with Chinese providers and raise the availability of imported medicines.\n\n\u201cThe industry has been recovering, and most production is stable now,\u201d said Garc\u00eda Almaguer, adding that it had focused on medicine for serious ailments like cancer and HIV.\n\nThe government had also tightened its control of pharmacies nationwide given it had detected some corruption, such as the illegal sale of medicine, Granma wrote.\n\nMany Cubans complain that when there are medicine shortages, some pharmacists sell the little they have at several times the subsidized state prices on the black market." + }, + { + "title": "Photographing a Close Crocodile Encounter With Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet in Cuba - National Geographic", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Photographing a Close Crocodile Encounter With Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet in Cuba - National Geographic" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijgFBVV95cUxQdjRtc0N6VV9RWXNxLWpEY19aRHJ0R0E1Nk5mSWlzWmRqdUllSkFlVWltbzNQMGJOajRaOV9CR1RtUWFiRFEzdmp5REY4elE4SGRtb00wZ1FnWEctNTNjbUZlLXNaWjVPQzRlTHBncFZXRmRSbVhKUDJnM2FpUGVIOHZJcmNkV3d1M2piOXJB?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://news.med.miami.edu/uhealth-experts-to-perform-surgery-on-cuban-teenager-with-10-pound-facial-tumor/", + "id": "CBMijgFBVV95cUxQdjRtc0N6VV9RWXNxLWpEY19aRHJ0R0E1Nk5mSWlzWmRqdUllSkFlVWltbzNQMGJOajRaOV9CR1RtUWFiRFEzdmp5REY4elE4SGRtb00wZ1FnWEctNTNjbUZlLXNaWjVPQzRlTHBncFZXRmRSbVhKUDJnM2FpUGVIOHZJcmNkV3d1M2piOXJB", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 26 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 26, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 360, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Photographing a Close Crocodile Encounter With Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet in Cuba  National Geographic", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Photographing a Close Crocodile Encounter With Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet in Cuba  National Geographic" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.nationalgeographic.com", + "title": "National Geographic" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "\u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction - Los Angeles Review of Books", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "\u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction - Los Angeles Review of Books" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijwFBVV95cUxNN2JqR1FTRWIzdWFtTFBGMzJQRjNwb2tuMl9UdXlGUm5DeWotSnNFSzNzZTdpU0pCOXZFTHFCZFpRZXkwNVJiOERhbVAyVGtlU0o3NXFJZVFYdU1YaWFzTE0teDBMUDJIbTNWbU5tTGU1M2Qya0JZMklJajlIeVhGQkI3bmlvcWQyVEplRFFzbw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/kill-the-ampaya-on-latin-american-baseball-fiction", + "id": "CBMijwFBVV95cUxNN2JqR1FTRWIzdWFtTFBGMzJQRjNwb2tuMl9UdXlGUm5DeWotSnNFSzNzZTdpU0pCOXZFTHFCZFpRZXkwNVJiOERhbVAyVGtlU0o3NXFJZVFYdU1YaWFzTE0teDBMUDJIbTNWbU5tTGU1M2Qya0JZMklJajlIeVhGQkI3bmlvcWQyVEplRFFzbw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sun, 03 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 3, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 6, + 337, + 0 + ], + "summary": "\u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction  Los Angeles Review of Books", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "\u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction  Los Angeles Review of Books" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://lareviewofbooks.org", + "title": "Los Angeles Review of Books" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: \u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction | Los Angeles Review of Books\nurl: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/kill-the-ampaya-on-latin-american-baseball-fiction\nhostname: lareviewofbooks.org\ndescription: Dick Cluster discusses Latin American baseball fiction, which he has translated and anthologized in \u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d\nsitename: Los Angeles Review of Books\ndate: 2016-10-25\n---\n# \u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d: On Latin American Baseball Fiction\n\n## Dick Cluster discusses Latin American baseball fiction, which he has translated and anthologized in \u201cKill the \u00c1mpaya!\u201d\n\n### By Dick ClusterDecember 3, 2017\n\n#### Did you know LARB is a reader-supported nonprofit?\n\nLARB publishes daily without a paywall as part of our mission to make rigorous, incisive, and engaging writing on every aspect of literature, culture, and the arts freely accessible to the public. Help us continue this work with your tax-deductible donation today!\n\nI\u2019M SITTING in the Estadio Latinoamericano in Havana during the championship round of the Cuban baseball season in the spring of 1992. One of the grandstand orators so typical of Caribbean baseball crowds is holding forth on topics like who ought to be selected for that year\u2019s National Team, why the manager should have called for a hit-and-run, who wasn\u2019t in position to take a cut-off throw, as well as asides about daily life in that moment of Cuban history. The comment I\u2019ll never forget, though, is not one of the opinions but the punch line: *y eso lo sabe hasta un chileno que no sepa donde est\u00e1 la primera base *\u2014 \u201cand anybody knows that, even a Chilean who doesn\u2019t know where to find first base.\u201d\n\nThis was one of my first indications of how much \u2014 not just for Cuba but for all the *pa\u00edses peloteros*, all the baseball-playing Spanish-speaking nations of the Caribbean rim \u2014 the sport of pitcher and catcher, diamond and outfield, fielder and baserunner is perceived as an integral part of their cultures, a piece of what makes their people who they are. Whatever they share with that far-off Chilean, baseball is a part of what makes them distinct. The fact that their national sport happens to have evolved in the northern neighbor is almost an afterthought. I doubt that it was in the mind of that grandstand orator in 1992 at all. Though the word *b\u00e9isbol *was imported along with the game, in common speech in Cuba and the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico the game is always *la pelota*, which is simply the Spanish word for ball.\n\nYet the game\u2019s origin matters too. Baseball has a place in the complicated love-hate relationship, power dynamics, understandings, and misunderstandings between those south of our border and ourselves. Some two decades later, I was reading through two collections of Dominican short stories, all related to baseball. One story was by the poet Alexis G\u00f3mez Rosa, who spent many years living and writing (in Spanish) in New York. In \u201cThe Real Thing\u201d (titled in English), G\u00f3mez Rosa tells the life story of a radio announcer who got his start by imitating the play-by-play of legendary announcers such as Buck Canel and Rafael Rub\u00ed, calling imaginary games from the Dominican leagues and the US World Series, speaking into a guava branch instead of a microphone. In the story, baseball and its metaphors are entwined with Dominican political history, the US invasion of 1965, and the announcer\u2019s eventual death at the hands of a corrupt Dominican officer. I was also struck by the aptly named \u201cSacrifice,\u201d in which Sandra Tav\u00e1rez draws on baseball and its terminology for a contemporary dilemma of gender, as a woman has to decide whether to stay on the island with her boyfriend and his two baseball-obsessed teenage sons or follow her diplomat parents to a life abroad. Attending a ball game turns out to be the test. Jos\u00e9 Bobadilla\u2019s \u201cThe Strange Game of the Men in Blue,\u201d meanwhile, is an imaginary foundation myth, the introduction of the sport to an unnamed Caribbean country by the US army \u2014 which is not how it happened at all.\n\nThe question of how it really happened brings us back to Cuba. The earliest baseball games in the Spanish-speaking world took place on the island in the mid-1860s, when it was still a colony of Spain. This was two decades after the game had evolved out of British and American predecessors such as rounders and one o\u2019 cat in the environs of New York City. The sport came to Cuba primarily via middle- and upper-class Cubans returning from study at Fordham and other Catholic colleges in the United States. Its rapid spread throughout the island was due in part to the fact that the new sport arrived just as long-simmering sentiments against both Spanish colonialism and slavery were erupting into open rebellion, sparking the Ten Years\u2019 War (1868\u2013\u201978) that pitted an uneasy coalition of Cuban planters, other white Cubans of all classes, free people of color, and escaped slaves against the Spanish imperial army. Both then and in the decades to follow, Cubans latched onto baseball as a modern, democratic, healthy, sportsmanlike, and distinctly non-Spanish entertainment, one that baseball\u2019s boosters explicitly contrasted to the bullfight that they condemned as old-world, old-fashioned, bloodthirsty, hierarchical, and unfair.\n\nThe sport soon spread among people all classes and origins. Professional teams were founded in the cities of Havana and Matanzas, and makeshift clubs flourished from docks to sugar mills throughout the island, while publications such as *El Pitcher *and *El Base-ball *covered and promoted the game. Spanish authorities tried on a few occasions to ban baseball completely, but in vain. By the 1890s, a visiting Spanish poet reported that \u201c[e]veryone was at baseball \u2014 men and women, old and young, masters and servants [\u2026] I had a presentiment that Spain had died for Cuba.\u201d\n\nWhen the final Cuban war for independence broke out (1895\u2013\u201998), Spanish authorities again instituted a ban, and this time professional ballplayers were among those who flocked to join the rebellion. Three members of the pitching staff of the Almendares *Azules *became rebel army officers, as did players from the other clubs. Emilio Sabour\u00edn, player-manager of the rival Havana club, was arrested for his pro-independence activities and exiled to a prison camp in Spanish Morocco, where he died.\n\nThus, by the time US troops intervened in the Cuban-Spanish conflict in 1898, baseball was already firmly established as the island\u2019s nationalist pastime, however North American its pedigree. When the *yanqui *troops ended their occupation of Cuba in 1902, the Platt Amendment (inserting a perpetual US right of intervention into the new Cuban constitution) was seen as an imposition they left behind. *La pelota *was not.\n\nThe Cuban struggle for independence also facilitated the sport\u2019s introduction to neighboring countries and peoples. From the 1860s to the 1890s, tens of thousands of Cubans left the island to escape Spanish political repression or economic devastation. Some settled in Tampa or New York, others in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Atlantic coasts of Mexico and Venezuela. As veteran Venezuelan sportswriter Juan Ven\u00e9 has put it, Cuba was\n\nthe cradle of the those who played the major role in introducing baseball to the rest of our countries [\u2026] that [Cuban] blend of indigenous Tainos with Spaniards and African blacks, living ninety miles of Caribbean waters off the coast of Florida, those cheerful and talkative Caribbeans, extroverted and emigrant as people who are born and grow up on islands tend to be.\n\nSugar planters or sugar mill mechanics, doctors or dockworkers, students of professions or professional shortstops, they brought baseball knowledge, equipment, and especially enthusiasm to the cane fields surrounding San Pedro de Macor\u00eds and the streets of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, to the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula and the port of Veracruz in Mexico, and to Venezuela and Puerto Rico as well.\n\nIn Venezuela, therefore, the game was already well ensconced when, in 1902, the first series between a local team and one from outside the country was played: the Caracas team club versus crew members of a US gunboat, the USS* Marietta*, cruising the Caribbean in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. The sailors won the first game 16-3, and Caracas won the second 27-17, thanks in part to a grand slam by Cuban shortstop Em\u00e9rito Argud\u00edn, a former Havana college player who had arrived in 1898 and founded a weekly newspaper devoted to the sport. The game was played near the ship\u2019s anchorage in the port of La Guaira, in an improvised stadium where, according to Venezuelan baseball historian Javier Gonz\u00e1lez, \u201cvendors sold fish patties and sugar water with lemon, and great quantities of beer were drunk in the makeshift stands.\u201d The victory in the second game, especially, \u201cunleashed an unprecedented enthusiasm for baseball in the state of Vargas,\u201d the future home of the legendary La Guaira Sharks.\n\nOnly in Panama and Nicaragua did baseball have purely North American roots. The sport probably came to Panama (then still part of Colombia) via Americans crossing the isthmus during the 1849 California Gold Rush, or in the following decade with US railroad builders, travelers, and crews. Nicaragua, most likely the last Spanish-speaking country to take up the sport, seems to have acquired it, fittingly, from the cradle of the \u201cNew York game.\u201d In Bluefields on the Caribbean coast, a lumber exporter named Albert Adlesberg sent back to his home town of New York City for baseball equipment, and by 1889 he had launched several teams.\n\nFrom then on, the sport was deeply enmeshed in the region\u2019s culture, and sometimes its politics. Always, of course, the victory of national teams in international tournaments was an occasion for intense national pride. Cuba was the perennial powerhouse, but Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic vied fiercely for Caribbean-wide titles too. During the tie-breaking final game of the 1941 Baseball World Cup (a Caribbean event long preceding the current Baseball World Classic), all schools and most shops in Venezuela were closed, the national government cabinet meeting was postponed, and the entire country listened to the radio broadcast from Havana. The victorious Venezuelan underdogs, the first such club to win a national championship, enshrined ever-after as the \u201cHeroes of \u201941,\u201d were received with a valedictory address and poem (\u201cRomance del Campeonato\u201d) by the popular writer and politician Andr\u00e9s Eloy Blanco.\n\nTwo rather more partisan examples of the sport\u2019s role in internal politics come from opposite ends of the political spectrum. In the 1920s, in the wake of the Mexican Revolution, Yucat\u00e1n\u2019s popularly elected socialist governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto undertook radical reforms to break the stranglehold of the region\u2019s plantation aristocracy and empower the Mayan-descended farmworker recently freed from their condition as serfs. The Socialist Party\u2019s base organization created a special sports section headed by a teacher of baseball, provided team travel subsidies to further break down the isolation of the countryside, distributed over $20,000 worth of baseball equipment, and organized ball clubs in more than 70 percent of the state\u2019s communities. Team names included Emiliano Zapata, The Martyrs of Chicago (after the executed Haymarket demonstrators), and Red Yucat\u00e1n. The sport was linked to ancient Mayan games played in the ball courts being unearthed in the ruins of Chich\u00e9n Itz\u00e1 and other sites, and again it was contrasted with the bullfight, a symbol of the Spanish conquest and the pre-revolution era.\n\nOn the right, Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo organized a famous all-star team in 1937. After renaming Santo Domingo as Ciudad Trujillo in 1936, he was determined that the city should not lose another national championship to either Santiago de los Caballeros or San Pedro de Macor\u00eds. Therefore he decreed that for the 1937 season two rival teams of the capital (think Yankees and Dodgers in 1950s New York) should be combined into a single team, Los Dragones (Dragons). He gave the general manager unlimited funds to hire talent from all over the Caribbean as well as stars from the US Negro Leagues. The result was a powerhouse Dragones team managed by a Cuban and made up of Americans, Cubans, one Puerto Rican (Pedro \u201cPetrucho\u201d Cepeda, father of future San Francisco Giants\u2019s great Orlando Cepeda), and a sole Dominican. The players were frequently monitored by armed guards, and once before a crucial game they were jailed overnight to keep them away from the city\u2019s bars and other temptations. Ciudad Trujillo narrowly won the championship, the dictator won bragging rights, and the relieved foreign players (including Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Cool Papa Bell) left the next day.\n\n\u00a4\n\nIn North America, aside from the classic 1888 poem \u201cCasey at the Bat,\u201d baseball has found a literary home mostly in novels. In Latin America, by contrast, there are practically no baseball novels, despite the number of prominent novelists who have been great baseball fans \u2014 Mexico\u2019s Juan Rulfo, Cuba\u2019s Leonardo Padura and Arturo Arango, Nicaragua\u2019s Sergio Ram\u00edrez, and Puerto Rico\u2019s Edgardo Rodr\u00edguez Juli\u00e1. Baseball does play a certain role in Padura\u2019s *Heretics *(primarily in the form of a ball signed by the legendary Orestes \u201cMinnie\u201d Mi\u00f1oso) and in one climactic scene of Rodr\u00edguez Juli\u00e1\u2019s *The Pool *(where a boy and his father attend a game in the San Juan stadium, and a microcosm of class, race, and international hierarchy emerges before the boy\u2019s eyes).\n\nOne reason for this lack of novels, I suspect, is that, for a long time, Latin American high culture looked toward Europe while its popular culture, at least in the Caribbean and Central America, looked toward the United States. So writing about baseball was no way to make one\u2019s literary mark as a \u201cserious\u201d writer. Similarly, the publishing big shots and tastemakers resided in Madrid, Barcelona, or Buenos Aires, not in baseball capitals like Havana, Santo Domingo, Caracas, or San Juan. Also, to the extent that US baseball fiction could have influenced Latin American writing, the dominance of Spanish publishing again raised an obstacle. According to the late Mexican dramatist Vicente Le\u00f1ero, author of the one-act plays *Aut at Third *and *Fielder of Destiny*, the translations he encountered, done in Spain by translators as remote from the game as the emblematic Chilean who didn\u2019t know where to find first base, were laughable at best.\n\nThere is a stronger tradition of baseball poetry, including the Cuban Nicol\u00e1s Guill\u00e9n\u2019s long elegy to the star pitcher and position player Mart\u00edn Dihigo, the Mexican Alberto Blanco\u2019s epic \u201cLa vida en el diamante\u201d (\u201cLife on the Diamond\u201d), and Nicaraguan Horacio Pe\u00f1a\u2019s book-length *Poem for a Man Called Roberto Clemente*. But what has saved Latin American baseball fiction is that prose writers and poets too have allowed their passion for the game to be expressed in short stories.\n\nI had read a few such stories by Sergio Ram\u00edrez, published in the United States in Nick Caistor\u2019s translations in the 1980s when Ram\u00edrez was Nicaragua\u2019s vice-president in the first Sandinista administration. What set me off in a search for more was finding, at the Havana Book Fair in 2014, an anthology of 26 Cuban stories called *Escribas en el Estadio *(*Scribes in the Stadium*). While all touching, in some way, on baseball, the stories covered the complete gamut of styles and themes in contemporary Cuban writing. There were five or six that I especially loved, and I wondered what else might be out there in the other baseball-playing countries. That\u2019s what led me, finally, to editing and translating *Kill the \u00c1mpaya!*, a collection of 18 pieces from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico, and Nicaragua, published earlier this year by Mandel Vilar Press, which includes most of the writers mentioned above plus others such as Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Rodrigo Blanco Calder\u00f3n, Carmen Hern\u00e1ndez Pe\u00f1a, and more.\n\nSpeaking of publishing, let me end by pointing out the crucial role of at least one case of Latin American state support for the arts. In 2008 and 2009, observing that \u201cbaseball has been an inseparable part of Dominican national identity\u201d yet there had been an \u201calmost inexplicable absence of a body of writing that would make use of literary situations that emerge from this sport,\u201d the Secretariat of Culture of the Dominican Republic sponsored two prize contests for such stories, the winners of which were later published in the two collections I mentioned at the outset of this essay. The title of the first book, *Jonr\u00f3n 600*, honors Sammy Sosa\u2019s career home run total having exceeded that milestone. The second volume, published in 2012, looks to the future rather than the past. It\u2019s called *C\u00edrculo de espera*, which means \u201con-deck circle,\u201d encouraging us to imagine the writers of the near future rubbing dirt into their hands, taking their warmup swings, getting ready to step into the box and hammer out more literary clutch hits.\n\n\u00a4\n\nLARB Contributor\n\n**Dick Cluster is a writer and translator in Oakland, California. Translations published in 2022 include Paula Abramo\u2019s ****Fiat Lux ****(FlowerSong Press), Gabriela Alem\u00e1n\u2019s ****Family Album ****(City Lights Books), and poetry by Pedro de Jes\u00fas (Asymptote Journal). He is the author of a crime novel series featuring car mechanic Alex Glauberman (reissued in 2015 by ****booksbnimble.com****) and co-author, with Rafael Hern\u00e1ndez, of ****History of Havana****, a social history of the Cuban capital (OR Books, 2018). He also translates scholarly work from the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, and Spain.**\n\n### LARB Staff Recommendations\n\n## The 2016 World Series\n\nDear TV wonders if the Cubs can pull it out in the worst year ever.\n\n## Everything But The Girl: \u201cPitch,\u201d Nostalgia, and Baseball\u2019s Way Forward\n\nEmily Nemens on Fox's new series \"Pitch\" and Major League Baseball's latest attempt to stay relevant." + }, + { + "title": "Raul Castro\u2019s retirement as Cuba\u2019s leader is postponed - CNN", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro\u2019s retirement as Cuba\u2019s leader is postponed - CNN" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigwFBVV95cUxPTWlXcDA1YWpYczRtU25xWXRUOU1seXNPRU5hYnFnR2t6dTVhUGc0Q0E5RmdjSkJfRkZDbll1TFVJM1J0Q1Y0ck12US1lekcyQjQ2T0FZcFFHUmh0WFFVd1pYVGQ3VVp6aFYtUUdaVTZ6MmtGS2hJWktvcWxjY2p2QUltbw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/crocodile-encounter-cuba-hayes", + "id": "CBMigwFBVV95cUxPTWlXcDA1YWpYczRtU25xWXRUOU1seXNPRU5hYnFnR2t6dTVhUGc0Q0E5RmdjSkJfRkZDbll1TFVJM1J0Q1Y0ck12US1lekcyQjQ2T0FZcFFHUmh0WFFVd1pYVGQ3VVp6aFYtUUdaVTZ6MmtGS2hJWktvcWxjY2p2QUltbw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Raul Castro\u2019s retirement as Cuba\u2019s leader is postponed  CNN", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro\u2019s retirement as Cuba\u2019s leader is postponed  CNN" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.cnn.com", + "title": "CNN" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Photographing a Close Crocodile Encounter With Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet in Cuba\nauthor: Jennifer Hayes\nurl: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/article/crocodile-encounter-cuba-hayes\nhostname: nationalgeographic.com\ndescription: Take a picture, according to photographers Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet.\nsitename: National Geographic\ndate: 2017-12-26\ncategories: ['Photography']\n---\n# What Should You Do If a Crocodile\u2019s Mouth Is Inches From Your Head?\n\nTake a picture, according to photographers Jennifer Hayes and David Doubilet.\n\nI see one thing when I see crocodiles up close and personal: ancient engineering. These guys and gals are living dinosaurs which survived mass extinctions and who knows, with their good luck and simple but elegant design they may out-survive humans.\n\nMy photographic partner and husband, David Doubilet, and I were working in a mangrove channel in the Gardens of the Queen National Park. This marine reserve is an archipelago of islets, mangroves, and reefs located fifty miles south of Cuba. Its isolation and vigilant protection has created a Caribbean time capsule of robust reefs crowded with fish and clear water mangroves that support healthy populations of crocodiles.\n\nI was obsessed with a strange and wonderful jellyfish floating above me in the mangroves when David made a loud noise through his regulator and began swimming toward me.\n\nI turned to greet a crocodile just inches away from my face. My reptile visitor, used to human encounters, was slow and unaggressive but the situation could change in an instant and David wanted to warn me.\n\nWe have worked with Nile crocs in Botswana, saltwater crocs in Australia and American crocodiles in Cuba. I was excited to turn and see this docile American crocodile visitor up close. I would not have been to be face to face with a Nile or Salty. These species are anything but docile and the encounter would likely have been negative\u2026for me.\n\nPeople have asked if I was angry that David took a picture of my encounter with a crocodile when he should have been trying to \u201csave\u201d me. My answer is this: I would have killed David if he had not taken the photograph. I did not feel threatened. I was a visitor in this creature\u2019s environment and it was compelled to investigate what the fuss was all about. Then he left entirely unimpressed.\n\nIt was the kind of encounter you hope for on assignment. You are inside the moment, not afraid but thrilled to see such creature so close on their terms." + }, + { + "title": "Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba - WVTM", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba - WVTM" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijgFBVV95cUxQSFFuWUJPVmxXRDY4Ty1xdXFmZGdzdzBZclJISUIzTVRvU25oQ0ZXY0RBVFM5RVFuemJ3Y1dWYVpxUlphZWlrTFI5dW5vS3hUNDIxaFJBM0stWDZYVlM2cl9UYWNGSnRlMEo1c0RpdVBhQjdzMldDZWdWSHJidjVWMVpIdWpCNXg4azBMQnZB?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/americas/raul-castro-retirement-postponed-cuba", + "id": "CBMijgFBVV95cUxQSFFuWUJPVmxXRDY4Ty1xdXFmZGdzdzBZclJISUIzTVRvU25oQ0ZXY0RBVFM5RVFuemJ3Y1dWYVpxUlphZWlrTFI5dW5vS3hUNDIxaFJBM0stWDZYVlM2cl9UYWNGSnRlMEo1c0RpdVBhQjdzMldDZWdWSHJidjVWMVpIdWpCNXg4azBMQnZB", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 25 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 25, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 359, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba  WVTM", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba  WVTM" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.wvtm13.com", + "title": "WVTM" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Raul Castro\u2019s retirement as Cuba\u2019s leader is postponed | CNN\nauthor: Patrick Oppmann\nurl: https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/americas/raul-castro-retirement-postponed-cuba\nhostname: cnn.com\ndescription: Hurricane Irma, which devastated much of the Caribbean in September, has claimed a new victim: Raul Castro\u2019s succession plans.\nsitename: CNN\ndate: 2017-12-21\ncategories: ['world', 'americas']\ntags: ['accidents, disasters and safety, caribbean, cuba, employment and income status, fidel castro, hurricanes, labor and employment, latin america, miguel diaz-canel, natural disasters, political figures - intl, raul castro, retirement and retirees, severe weather, social and economic status, society, tropical storms, weather, workers and professionals', 'accidents, disasters and safety, caribbean, cuba, employment and income status, fidel castro, hurricanes, labor and employment, latin america, miguel diaz-canel, natural disasters, political figures - intl, raul castro, retirement and retirees, severe weather, social and economic status, society, tropical storms, weather, workers and professionals']\n---\n### Story highlights\n\nCuba, dealing with Hurricane Irma aftermath, says Castro will retire in April instead of February\n\nCastro has indicated first Vice President Miguel-Diaz Canel has his blessing to be the next president\n\nHurricane Irma, which devastated much of the Caribbean in September, has claimed a new victim: Raul Castro\u2019s succession plans.\n\nOn Thursday, Cuban officials said the island was still dealing with the aftermath of the killer storm and needed to postpone long-held plans for Castro, 86, to retire on February 24, 2018, when his second five-year term ends.\n\nIt was to have been the first time that Cuba was ruled by a leader not named Castro since the 1959 revolution that swept Raul Castro\u2019s older brother Fidel Castro to power.\n\nThe wrath of Irma, however, delayed the Communist-run island\u2019s single party elections process, which appoints the Cuban National Assembly that in turn selects Cuba\u2019s president.\n\nAt a meeting of the National Assembly on Thursday, Cuban state-run media announced the naming of Castro\u2019s successor will now take place April 19.\n\n\u201cMy second and last term will have concluded,\u201d Castro told Cuban lawmakers on Thursday, \u201cand Cuba will have a new president.\u201d\n\nWhile no one seemingly has a lock on the job, Raul Castro has for years indicated that Cuban first Vice President Miguel-Diaz Canel has his blessing.\n\n\u201cComrade Diaz-Canel isn\u2019t upstart or an improvisation,\u201d Castro said in 2013 when he first announced his plans to step down. \u201cHis trajectory has lasted nearly 30 years.\u201d\n\nBorn in 1960, Diaz-Canel presents a comparatively younger, more modern figure than the aging generals who for decades have held power on the island.\n\nHe is rumored to like rock \u2018n\u2019 roll music, which was banned in Cuba in the early days of the revolution, and has been seen reading from an electronic tablet during government meetings.\n\nA new leader in Havana could provide a badly needed reset for US-Cubans relations, which improved under President Obama but then were rolled back by the Trump administration.\n\nCastro \u201cis leaving now, I wonder why?\u201d Trump told a hardline anti-Castro crowd in Miami in June when announcing his new tougher Cuba policy.\n\nStill, some Cubans wishing for a more moderate leader had their hopes dashed when this summer a video mysteriously leaked that showed Diaz-Canel endorsing hardline views in a closed-door government meeting.\n\nIn the video, Diaz-Canel bashes Cubans who celebrate Halloween for copying Americans, threatens to shutter an independently run magazine and vows to take on Cuba\u2019s historic nemesis, the United States.\n\n\u201cIt was the government of the US that invaded Cuba, that put the blockade,\u201d Diaz-Canel said in the video. \u201cThey have to resolve these things to have normalized relations. We don\u2019t have to give anything in exchange.\u201d\n\nIf he\u2019s named president, it\u2019s not clear how much power Diaz-Canel will wield, because Castro is still expected to retain the powerful title of first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party until 2021.\n\nBut Cuban officials told CNN that Castro is prepared to turn over the day-to-day operations to a new leader and may spend his quasi-retirement on the other end of the island, in Santiago de Cuba, the city where his brother Fidel was buried after he died in 2016.\n\n\u201cI think he will exercise some control in the background,\u201d said former Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray. \u201cBut he will basically tell Diaz-Canel \u2018This is your ballgame. You decide.\u2019 \u201c" + }, + { + "title": "Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro will stay in power past February - Miami Herald", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro will stay in power past February - Miami Herald" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikAFBVV95cUxQMmRJYVQ5RFFqMURBdGJWRXlpQndjZ3JmMEw2OHU3anVRT3ZUSXVTckptZ3cyZGh3Ny1nYzNGaVloelFqS3RXbHNpVXltRXgtS1NHSVREX0Nic2RaYmNVeTBORmxpbGdyT0U4d252OU1ibEljWlhSaHhEZG9ENGtrVHY0TWlqUldIYkhaVXBFVUvSAZABQVVfeXFMT2FoV0U5ODdQTWtEd2NyczlQM0QySUp4Z3dGNzBFNmlJRXgwOW15NnBXVUk2WFFZRXdPdUFBcXFtSU41Y0pYc1BlNzZFRUlzdzRvRlRiYjdCUWQ4LV9mQ2hFaHZydndxalZRYlc0cXUtd1hsWGo0UTJ3MFNRc3VrdDd3bVJVQlI3MlRzQWJ6czJp?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.wvtm13.com/article/fireworks-accident-leaves-dozens-hurt-in-cuba/14496949", + "id": "CBMikAFBVV95cUxQMmRJYVQ5RFFqMURBdGJWRXlpQndjZ3JmMEw2OHU3anVRT3ZUSXVTckptZ3cyZGh3Ny1nYzNGaVloelFqS3RXbHNpVXltRXgtS1NHSVREX0Nic2RaYmNVeTBORmxpbGdyT0U4d252OU1ibEljWlhSaHhEZG9ENGtrVHY0TWlqUldIYkhaVXBFVUvSAZABQVVfeXFMT2FoV0U5ODdQTWtEd2NyczlQM0QySUp4Z3dGNzBFNmlJRXgwOW15NnBXVUk2WFFZRXdPdUFBcXFtSU41Y0pYc1BlNzZFRUlzdzRvRlRiYjdCUWQ4LV9mQ2hFaHZydndxalZRYlc0cXUtd1hsWGo0UTJ3MFNRc3VrdDd3bVJVQlI3MlRzQWJ6czJp", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 22, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 356, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro will stay in power past February  Miami Herald", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban leader Ra\u00fal Castro will stay in power past February  Miami Herald" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.miamiherald.com", + "title": "Miami Herald" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba\nauthor: WVTM Hearst Television Inc\nurl: https://www.wvtm13.com/article/fireworks-accident-leaves-dozens-hurt-in-cuba/14496949\nhostname: wvtm13.com\ndescription: Dozens of people were burned after a fireworks accident at a traditional celebration in a Cuban town on Sunday, according to state media.\nsitename: WVTM\ndate: 2017-12-26\ncategories: ['National News']\ntags: ['Recreation accidents, Accidents and disasters, General news, accidents']\n---\n# Fireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba\n\nFireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba\n\nUpdated: 7:31 PM CST Dec 25, 2017\n\nEditorial Standards\nAdvertisement\n\nFireworks accident leaves dozens hurt in Cuba\n\nUpdated: 7:31 PM CST Dec 25, 2017\n\nEditorial Standards\nCuban state-run media reported that 22 people were injured at a Christmas Eve fireworks show.Most of the injured people suffered from burns, and six of the victims were children.It was not immediately clear what caused the accident.The fireworks display was part of a yearly Cuban holiday known as \"Las Parrandas de Remedios.\"CNN contributed.\n\n**REMEDIOS, Cuba \u2014**\n\nCuban state-run media reported that 22 people were injured at a Christmas Eve fireworks show.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nMost of the injured people suffered from burns, and six of the victims were children.\n\nIt was not immediately clear what caused the accident.\n\nThe fireworks display was part of a yearly Cuban holiday known as \"Las Parrandas de Remedios.\"\n\n*CNN contributed.*" + }, + { + "title": "Access Trips Launches Two New Cuba Shore Excursions - Travel Agent Central", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Access Trips Launches Two New Cuba Shore Excursions - Travel Agent Central" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMilwFBVV95cUxQSVpRLUVLbDlQVGQ5N3I5UEw5R1RxTUxabm8tOXJoLXhHLTF3TEZ2QlRsaHNpS1ZvOUdRUkJlYzNZUkZ0ZXd3dzdlTndwdjU4cHROaExBdGVGTnpWOGo0cFUzcklPX2l4X21MUHc5c2lnWnJtdmpJNE1vWjN0dndrTmdFVDVTclZQWTFLOHBuOFlOdHNxcVFv?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article190998519.html", + "id": "CBMilwFBVV95cUxQSVpRLUVLbDlQVGQ5N3I5UEw5R1RxTUxabm8tOXJoLXhHLTF3TEZ2QlRsaHNpS1ZvOUdRUkJlYzNZUkZ0ZXd3dzdlTndwdjU4cHROaExBdGVGTnpWOGo0cFUzcklPX2l4X21MUHc5c2lnWnJtdmpJNE1vWjN0dndrTmdFVDVTclZQWTFLOHBuOFlOdHNxcVFv", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 11 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 11, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 345, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Access Trips Launches Two New Cuba Shore Excursions  Travel Agent Central", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Access Trips Launches Two New Cuba Shore Excursions  Travel Agent Central" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.travelagentcentral.com", + "title": "Travel Agent Central" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Chinese Lessons in Havana - The World of Chinese", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Chinese Lessons in Havana - The World of Chinese" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMid0FVX3lxTFA3cUZ4THAyRXZyM2FETDBWd2hEWDZBWExMc3ZWUmI1clNYN3RDUm1iV2E1dWdVckdkUXdLR2JMd3hZQl8wTDJLT1RoeFJrUWhuUzE4Yi0xZjJXT3BBbXJhbzd3ZnVpdkIyQklFUlhBRjB4RWgzajZv?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.travelagentcentral.com/tours/access-trips-launches-two-new-cuba-shore-excursions", + "id": "CBMid0FVX3lxTFA3cUZ4THAyRXZyM2FETDBWd2hEWDZBWExMc3ZWUmI1clNYN3RDUm1iV2E1dWdVckdkUXdLR2JMd3hZQl8wTDJLT1RoeFJrUWhuUzE4Yi0xZjJXT3BBbXJhbzd3ZnVpdkIyQklFUlhBRjB4RWgzajZv", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sat, 16 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 16, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 5, + 350, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Chinese Lessons in Havana  The World of Chinese", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Chinese Lessons in Havana  The World of Chinese" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.theworldofchinese.com", + "title": "The World of Chinese" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba - The Guardian", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba - The Guardian" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMinAFBVV95cUxObTl0elhkYTBySVFna1Z4NnF3NTJiZHdYYVlqODF3ZGhsMXZhMWhPejB4V1RkbElnTGhCdlVfV2oxYkduWmVRWmZIenl3WXYyNDVVeG85S1pMcFRNdFItS1JiNnBLRDVhdWhzNG52SFJzUDVNd21xYzhfeVpKU0FmV0dqcklkM1J3VFdicHpjSzZ1ZnROZWIxbDVzNG0?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2017/12/chinese-lessons-in-havana/", + "id": "CBMinAFBVV95cUxObTl0elhkYTBySVFna1Z4NnF3NTJiZHdYYVlqODF3ZGhsMXZhMWhPejB4V1RkbElnTGhCdlVfV2oxYkduWmVRWmZIenl3WXYyNDVVeG85S1pMcFRNdFItS1JiNnBLRDVhdWhzNG52SFJzUDVNd21xYzhfeVpKU0FmV0dqcklkM1J3VFdicHpjSzZ1ZnROZWIxbDVzNG0", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 6, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 340, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba  The Guardian", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba  The Guardian" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.theguardian.com", + "title": "The Guardian" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Chinese Lessons in Havana\nauthor: Huiying Bernice Chan\nurl: https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2017/12/chinese-lessons-in-havana/\nhostname: theworldofchinese.com\ndescription: An aging Chinese Cuban community fights to preserve its Chinatown\nsitename: The World of Chinese\ndate: 2017-12-16\ncategories: ['SOCIETY', 'TRAVEL']\n---\nAn aging Chinese Cuban community fights to preserve its Chinatown\n\nThe gate of Havana\u2019s Chinatown protrudes above a four-lane street connecting the residential neighborhood of Central Havana to the local tourist destinations. Every day of the week, vintage American cars drive past carrying foreigners on private tours of the city, or serving as rideshares for locals on their way to work.\n\nThe cement arch is written with the characters \u201c\u534e\u4eba\u8857,\u201d marking the beginning of *El Barrio Chino*, Chinatown. Around it, nothing visibly suggests a neighborhood for overseas Chinese\u2014no Chinese grocery stores, or symphony of dialect in the streets. To Havana locals and the global Chinese diaspora, this neighborhood, now home primarily to Afro-Cuban residents, is a contradiction: a Chinatown without any Chinese.\n\nBut the *barrio*\u2019s winding streets are still home to a small community of Chinese Cubans who reside there, or frequent the handful of Chinese associations that are the last remaining institutions of the old Chinatown, as well as leaders in the struggle to keep the neighborhood alive\u2014one language lesson at a time.\n\nOn a Tuesday afternoon, I walk into the Havana branch of the Min Chi Tang Association, established in 1887 as a chapter of the Hongmen secret society that originated in southern China in the 18th century. The group has since become one of Chinatown\u2019s few remaining community organizations, including clan surname associations, and historic fraternities that provide social services and recreation to an aging population of Chinese Cubans: Lunar New Year and Qingming Festival events, mahjong games and martial arts classes, as well as apartments and meals to a demographic that receives only the equivalent of 9 USD in government assistance per month, though healthcare and housing in Cuba are free.\n\nThe Min Chi Tang is also where a group of elderly women gather once a week to learn Mandarin for the first time in their lives. Today, they peer over their glasses to copy down the characters that their instructors write on the whiteboard, then tell me about the Chinatown of their childhoods. \u201cIt was one of the liveliest neighborhoods in Havana,\u201d says Mar\u00eda del Carmen Li Gonz\u00e1lez, who has been coming to Chinatown for 58 years. \u201cChinatown had its own music band, beauty pageants, Carnival celebrations with lion dances.\u201d Her mother, from Cuba, and father, an immigrant from Toisan, Guangdong, used to bring her to these activities and to traditions like attending Cantonese opera\u2014which some of the students used to perform\u2014and weekend family dim sum at El Pac\u00edfico, one of Chinatown\u2019s largest Chinese restaurants. \u201cI would always have the special fried rice with shrimp, chicken, beef and Chinese sausage\u2026my mouth is watering just describing this.\u201d\n\n\u201cI won\u2019t ever be able to have [these foods] again,\u201d Mar\u00eda del Carmen says, adding that today\u2019s remaining Chinese restaurants are \u201cdifferent\u201d from those in her childhood; they are usually owned by the community associations as a source of funding for their services, and cater mostly to tourists with few Chinese chefs left. The community, also, has changed: Cuba is home to fewer than 120 *chinos naturales*, or ethnic Chinese born in China, the youngest of whom is 72.\n\nOfficially, the Chinese have been present in Cuba for 170 years: in June, the community had celebrated the anniversary of the arrival of 206 Chinese migrant workers in 1847. Throughout the 1800s, hundreds of thousands of migrants mainly from Guangdong and Fujian provinces came to Cuba to work as \u201ccoolies,\u201d or indentured laborers, who came to be employed in grueling and dangerous jobs on plantations, railroads, and mines around the world following the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.\n\nThese early immigrants were joined by overseas Chinese fleeing anti-immigrant legislation in the United States in the late 19th century, as well as 20th-century migrants from China during war with Japan and the Chinese civil war. At the time of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the Chinese population was estimated at 50,000, but as Chinese-owned businesses and restaurants became nationalized following the revolution, many of their owners migrated to the US, Canada, or other Latin American nations.\n\nToday\u2019s Chinese Cuban community comprises those *chinos naturales* who stayed, as well as *descendientes chinos*, those with Chinese ancestry born in Cuba who are often mixed raced. As the population of *chinos naturales* ages and dwindles, Chinatown\u2019s clan surname associations\u2014those that have not closed down in recent years\u2014have opened their activities to the latter group, who number in the thousands and are ready to connect with their heritage, even helping to lead its preservation.\n\nRam\u00f3n Wong, the Min Chi Tang\u2019s Chinese teacher and staff member at the Wong Clan Association, is a second-generation *descendiente chino* born in Havana. He had grew speaking a dialect of Guangdong province with his mother, and learned Mandarin on his own. Because he was never formally taught, and lacks experience in conversation, he speaks with an accent\u2014he has asked me to assist him with what I learned from my own Mandarin teachers.\n\nThere\u2019s a lot of laughter in Ram\u00f3n\u2019s weekly sessions. Because most of his students have known him since he was a young boy, they feel at ease making jokes in his class. They tell to him to slow down as he writes Chinese characters for them to copy; when one student takes too long to answer a question, another shouts out the answer for her. The group, all women over the age of 70, include many who hold leadership positions in Chinatown\u2019s associations and aware of their importance to the neighborhood\u2019s survival.\n\nThe community\u2019s interest in language learning has been catching the eye of the government on the Chinese mainland. In 2009, the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (\u201cHanban\u201d) established a Confucius Institute in Havana\u2014coincidentally, located where El Pac\u00edfico used to be. As of 2016, there were around 1,000 students enrolled, both children and adults, taught at various levels of proficiency by teachers from the Chinese mainland.\n\nThe growing influence of the PRC also means that the Min Chi Tang Association\u2019s classes are now only for Mandarin, though Cantonese courses used to be offered in the past by demand from seniors of the community, all of whom trace their roots to Guangdong. It\u2019s also difficult to find a qualified teacher for Cantonese, and the dialect is quickly disappearing from Chinatown\u2014but for now, the students will settle for more opportunity to practice conversation in any dialect, perhaps so one day they can visit China or reconnect with family still living on the mainland.\n\nGeorgina Wong, an Afro-Chinese resident, is one of those who had the chance: Trained as a Cantonese opera performer in the barrio since she was in elementary school, she went to China in the early 2000s to perform and saw her ancestral village, though she had not started studying Chinese then. It\u2019s beyond the means for most of the community to save up for a similar journey, so each week, they make the trip to Chinatown and pore over their copied notes, a small but tight network of elderly Chinese Cubans determined to stake their own place in the diaspora.\n\nInspired by their persistence, I ask Georgina what motivates her to study. \u201c\u56e0\u4e3a\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u4e2d\u56fd\u6587\u5316 (because I like Chinese culture),\u201d she replies, proud to express herself in her beginner Mandarin skills; but it\u2019s clear there was so much more she wanted to say.\n\n*Photography by Huiying Bernice Chan*\n\n*Correction 2018-01-23: The post has been updated with corrected names of Mar\u00eda del Carmen Li Gonz\u00e1lez and Yamil Fong Dinza*\n\n**Chinese Lessons in Havana** is a story from our issue, \u201c**Cloud Country**.\u201d To read the entire issue, become a **subscriber** and receive the **full magazine**." + }, + { + "title": "Cold War: Can a New President in Cuba Win Over Trump and End the Castro Era? - Newsweek", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cold War: Can a New President in Cuba Win Over Trump and End the Castro Era? - Newsweek" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikwFBVV95cUxPcmttSmNjUDZWWF95NUdQWDN6U1VacDExMThKaDVBcTBSeXFvR29BVjhXUW9qdXRuWm9uT2RoRzM3Vzd4angxWU1EMEFsSWJYdURZbkNNX2dOZk45d203am14bjIzdUFYLU1CQmo0cng1dk5uTEJ4QkFDLTlBeVF5amhHWmNDZElEMUwzUkoyOHhKMTg?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/06/us-embassy-attack-cuba-brain-abnormalities-victims", + "id": "CBMikwFBVV95cUxPcmttSmNjUDZWWF95NUdQWDN6U1VacDExMThKaDVBcTBSeXFvR29BVjhXUW9qdXRuWm9uT2RoRzM3Vzd4angxWU1EMEFsSWJYdURZbkNNX2dOZk45d203am14bjIzdUFYLU1CQmo0cng1dk5uTEJ4QkFDLTlBeVF5amhHWmNDZElEMUwzUkoyOHhKMTg", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sun, 10 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 10, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 6, + 344, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cold War: Can a New President in Cuba Win Over Trump and End the Castro Era?  Newsweek", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cold War: Can a New President in Cuba Win Over Trump and End the Castro Era?  Newsweek" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.newsweek.com", + "title": "Newsweek" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba\nauthor: Associated Press; Guardian staff reporter\nurl: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/06/us-embassy-attack-cuba-brain-abnormalities-victims\nhostname: theguardian.com\ndescription: Mysterious attacks that harmed 24 Americans in Havana resulted in changes to white matter tracts in brain, doctors say\nsitename: The Guardian\ndate: 2017-12-06\ncategories: ['World news']\ntags: ['Cuba,US news,US foreign policy,Americas,FBI,Trump administration,Espionage']\n---\nDoctors treating the victims of mysterious, invisible attacks on the US embassy in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the damage to their hearing, vision, balance and memory.\n\nThe most specific finding to date about physical damage from the attacks shows that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. It is one of several factors fuelling growing scepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved.\n\nMedical testing has revealed the embassy workers developed changes to the white matter tracts that let different parts of the brain communicate, several US officials said, describing a growing consensus held by university and government physicians researching the attacks. White matter acts like information highways between brain cells.\n\nLoud, mysterious sounds followed by hearing loss and ear-ringing had led investigators to suspect \u201csonic attacks\u201d. But officials are now avoiding that term. The sounds may have been the byproduct of something else that caused damage, said three US officials briefed on the investigation.\n\nPhysicians, FBI investigators and US intelligence agencies have spent months trying to piece together the puzzle in Havana, where the US says 24 government officials and spouses fell ill, starting last year in homes and later in some hotels. The US refers to \u201cspecific attacks\u201d but says it does not know who is behind them. A few Canadian embassy staffers also got sick.\n\nDoctors still do not know how victims ended up with the white matter changes, or how exactly those changes might relate to their symptoms. US officials would not say whether the changes were found in all 24 patients.\n\nAcoustic waves have never been shown to alter the brain\u2019s white matter tracts, said Elisa Konofagou, a biomedical engineering professor at Columbia University who is not involved in the government\u2019s investigation.\n\n\u201cI would be very surprised,\u201d Konofagou said, adding that ultrasound in the brain is used frequently in modern medicine. \u201cWe never see white matter tract problems.\u201d\n\nCuba has denied involvement, and calls the Trump administration\u2019s claims that US workers were attacked \u201cdeliberate lies\u201d. The new medical details may help the US counter Havana\u2019s complaint that Washington has not presented any evidence.\n\nThe case has plunged the US medical community into uncharted territory. Physicians are treating the symptoms like a never-before-seen illness. After extensive testing and trial therapies, they are developing the first protocols to screen cases and identify the best treatments \u2013 even as the FBI investigation struggles to identify a culprit, method and motive.\n\nThe AP first reported in August that US workers had said they heard sounds that were audible in parts of rooms but inaudible just a few feet away \u2013 unlike normal sound, which disperses in all directions. Doctors have now come up with a term for such incidents: \u201cdirectional acoustic phenomena\u201d.\n\nMost patients have fully recovered, some after rehabilitation and other treatment, officials said. Many are back at work. About a quarter had symptoms that persisted for long periods or remain to this day.\n\nThis year, the US said doctors found patients had had concussions, known as mild traumatic brain injury, but were uncertain beyond that what had happened in their brains. Concussions are often diagnosed based solely on symptoms.\n\nAs Cuba works to limit damage to its reputation and economy, its government has produced TV specials and an online summit about its own investigation. Cuba\u2019s experts have concluded that the US allegations are scientifically impossible.\n\nThe Cubans have urged Washington to release information about what it has found. FBI investigators have spent months comparing cases to pinpoint what factors overlap.\n\nThe US has not identified any specific precautions it believes can mitigate the risk for diplomats in Havana, three officials have said, although an attack has not been reported since late August.\n\nSince the embassy workers started falling ill last year, the state department has adopted a new protocol for workers before they go to Cuba that includes blood work and other \u201cbaseline\u201d tests. If they later show symptoms, doctors can retest and compare.\n\nDoctors still do not know the long-term medical consequences and expect that epidemiologists, who track disease patterns in populations, will monitor the 24 Americans for life." + }, + { + "title": "Reaching for Vi\u00f1ales, the Best Rock Climbing in Cuba - Men's Journal", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Reaching for Vi\u00f1ales, the Best Rock Climbing in Cuba - Men's Journal" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMimwFBVV95cUxQYVdCdnM5MUh2aGtaazNKcnVBLU8tZ0d5djVrN0QyTmdXQnhuUGxseDYybDl5Zi1YWnUteUhveFpmVk5INGhjNFFHZ3NUYlZpTUxJdWd5cGpWMFlGMHVsaHQ4VzRRaUo0SnozVWQwVFE4YkN0SE5yeEJ3ZXdqVXJvT0JwZjVLb2UxMVVZMjZub3F2YVktaUdaeldBUQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.newsweek.com/new-cuban-leadership-likely-wont-thaw-trumps-new-cold-war-741555", + "id": "CBMimwFBVV95cUxQYVdCdnM5MUh2aGtaazNKcnVBLU8tZ0d5djVrN0QyTmdXQnhuUGxseDYybDl5Zi1YWnUteUhveFpmVk5INGhjNFFHZ3NUYlZpTUxJdWd5cGpWMFlGMHVsaHQ4VzRRaUo0SnozVWQwVFE4YkN0SE5yeEJ3ZXdqVXJvT0JwZjVLb2UxMVVZMjZub3F2YVktaUdaeldBUQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 04 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 4, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 338, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Reaching for Vi\u00f1ales, the Best Rock Climbing in Cuba  Men's Journal", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Reaching for Vi\u00f1ales, the Best Rock Climbing in Cuba  Men's Journal" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.mensjournal.com", + "title": "Men's Journal" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Can a New President in Cuba Win Over Trump?\nauthor: Nicole Rodriguez\nurl: https://www.newsweek.com/new-cuban-leadership-likely-wont-thaw-trumps-new-cold-war-741555\nhostname: newsweek.com\ndescription: The chances Cuban President Raul Castro's apparent successor Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel will thaw President Donald Trump's modern day Cold War with the Communist-ruled country are slim, analysts say.\nsitename: Newsweek\ndate: 2017-12-10\ncategories: ['U.S.']\n---\nCuban President Raul Castro's enigmatic heir apparent is a rumored Beatles fan who reportedly once grew his hair long during the rise of Western pop music. He's pushed for improved internet connectivity on the island essentially frozen in time since the 1960s and advocated for gay rights.\n\nBut the chances Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuba's vice president who is expected to take the reins from the Castro family in February for the first time in decades, will thaw President Donald Trump's modern-day Cold War with the Communist-ruled country are slim. Diaz-Canel, 57, will likely serve in a largely ceremonial role as a Castro puppet controlled by the Communist Party and restricted from opening renewed dialogue with the U.S. even if he wants to, analysts say.\n\nCastro, 86, will be stepping down from the presidency on February 24, 2018, but not from power, said Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. Castro will remain influential as the Secretary General of the Communist Party, the regime's most powerful decision maker.\n\n\"Diaz-Canel is not one of the top leaders of the Communist Party and he is no significant leader of the Cuban military,\" Suchlicki said. \"He has no base of support, no popular support, no party support, no military support. So he is going to be subservient to the orders of nine or 10 generals that are running Cuba, including Raul.\"\n\nCastro's anticipated departure from office comes amid the deepest freeze in Cuba-U.S. relations since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The Cuban government has been suspected of carrying out sonic attacks against U.S. embassy staff in Havana, which led to the removal of 15 Cuban diplomats from Washington in early October. And earlier last month, the U.S. voted against a U.N. resolution that underscored the need to lift an embargo against the island.\n\nThe Cuban regime has long condemned the U.S.-imposed embargo by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, which restricted trade and travel to the island. The Cuban government has estimated the sanctions, which only Congress can lift, have cost the country more than $130 billion. The U.S., however, has profited from exports to the island to the tune of roughly 1.3 billion in the past five years, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.\n\nMost recently, Trump rolled back Obama-era policies that normalized relations between the two nations. Trump last month imposed new travel and commerce restrictions on Cuba, making it harder for Americans to visit the island nation and to do business there. The new sanctions seek to force Castro's regime to comply with U.S. law, fully restore human rights to Cuban citizens and seek to prevent the country's military, intelligence and security services from benefiting from American financial transactions.\n\nIt's unlikely Diaz-Canel will be inclined to initiate any kind of dialogue with Trump, who has demanded a complete regime change for talks to commence. Instead, the Communist Party likely will apply pressure on the new Cuban president to show no signs of weakness.\n\n\"Both sides have now become prisoners of the rhetoric and the positions taken by the [Trump] administration,\" said Frank Mora, director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University in Miami.\n\n\"There's no political will on the part of Washington to return to an Obama-like policy. It would be very difficult politically for Diaz-Canel in the face of that kind of confrontation to talk about reform, because the hardliners could very well resist any of those efforts and it could threaten, in some ways, his very young presidency if he goes down that track,\" Mora said.\n\nDiaz-Canel, who has maintained a very low profile, was voted in as Castro's first deputy in February 2013 at the beginning of the president's second and final five-year term. Born after the Cuban revolution in 1959, Diaz-Canel studied engineering and spent 30 years within the Communist Party and served for three years as minister for higher education.\n\nMany suspected Diaz-Canel possessed more moderate views than Castro until a video surfaced in August, offering a rare glimpse of Diaz-Canel's seemingly hardline ideology. In a videotaped private meeting with Communist Party members in February, Diaz-Canel is seen lashing out at the U.S., Cuban dissidents and the independent media, the *Miami Herald* reported.\n\n\"The U.S. government ... invaded Cuba, put the blockade in place, imposed restrictive measures. Cuba did not do any of that, so in return for nothing they have to solve those asymmetries if they want relations and if they want normalization of the relations,\" Diaz-Canel said in the video captured and published by Cuban dissident Antonio Rodiles on YouTube.\n\nThe video is evidence Diaz-Canel is being subservient to the Communist Party, at least for now, Mora said. \"Certainly in the short-term, he's demonstrating that he's not going to be pressured by the Trump administration and the United States,\" Mora said.\n\nOn the other hand, Diaz-Canel could simply be a pragmatist held prisioner by the Castro regime, said Marguerite Jimenez, the Washington Office on Latin America's director for Cuba, a research and advocacy organization advancing human rights in the Americas.\n\n\"I view that more as posturing than I do as necessarily a statement about his actual policy beliefs,\" Jimenez said, citing the video.\n\nTrump, not Diaz-Canel, holds the key to normalizing relations between the two countries, Jimenez said.\n\n\"It depends on how the United States engages with him,\" Jimenez said. \"New leadership on the island poses real opportunities for the United States to be constructively engaged. Unfortunately, that is not where we've seen U.S. policy going as of late.\"\n\nRaul Castro's older brother, Fidel Castro, established the first communist state in the Western Hemisphere after overthrowing the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He ruled the country for nearly five decades before transferring power to Raul Castro in 2008. During Fidel Castro's reign, he earned a reputation as a ruthless dictator, suppressing economic and political freedoms and reducing literacy. He was credited with improving healthcare until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a crippling blow to Cuba, which had relied heavily on the Soviets for oil, machinery, food and medical supplies. Fidel Castro died in November 2016 at the age 90 of an undisclosed cause.\n\nMoving forward, Trump might be more receptive to talks with Diaz-Canel, who is not related to Raul Castro or Fidel Castro.\n\n\"The Castro brothers have become a larger than life presence in the U.S.-Cuba issue that it is very conceivable that it will be easier to fathom, on the part of the United States, negotiating with someone who is not a Castro,\" Jimenez said." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged - dw.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged - dw.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMilwFBVV95cUxNSFY3U0FnbnhBVlUyUEphcERXbjlLckp4N2piQTI1eS1HclVUQU8tRTZBTGpkTkdnMDlqSGdWNXd5T2ZfX2pDcFdHUmZLZGtCV2YxYXJjWjUzNV9CWjg3TEVXUmx1a2VNVDFlZU9UcmVIUzhpU3BuaVQ4T2Y3bEhWUXNPN2xILUMzSlVPaW00M3JkTjNFQm1Z0gGXAUFVX3lxTFBUSHZwbDRhVm1ydGRDeGFJX19CY1RRT1FCcWJNTXROZTl0TS02SDJtMFlkdXBPRWF1RTJRYm1rWGxnbHJGb1FQRzd6UENmRHNneHRsZ3h5NHJUZFFJaUx4SGpQei0zZjRJMkhwaEd6dDYwdWdpdU5qNWhqTkUwYTZXOFVxUXQ2VTdzMGc3aFFqWGRXTFJWVVU?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.mensjournal.com/travel/reaching-for-vinales-the-best-rock-climbing-in-cuba-20150120", + "id": "CBMilwFBVV95cUxNSFY3U0FnbnhBVlUyUEphcERXbjlLckp4N2piQTI1eS1HclVUQU8tRTZBTGpkTkdnMDlqSGdWNXd5T2ZfX2pDcFdHUmZLZGtCV2YxYXJjWjUzNV9CWjg3TEVXUmx1a2VNVDFlZU9UcmVIUzhpU3BuaVQ4T2Y3bEhWUXNPN2xILUMzSlVPaW00M3JkTjNFQm1Z0gGXAUFVX3lxTFBUSHZwbDRhVm1ydGRDeGFJX19CY1RRT1FCcWJNTXROZTl0TS02SDJtMFlkdXBPRWF1RTJRYm1rWGxnbHJGb1FQRzd6UENmRHNneHRsZ3h5NHJUZFFJaUx4SGpQei0zZjRJMkhwaEd6dDYwdWdpdU5qNWhqTkUwYTZXOFVxUXQ2VTdzMGc3aFFqWGRXTFJWVVU", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged  dw.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged  dw.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.dw.com", + "title": "dw.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Israel, Cuba sought to reestablish diplomatic ties \u2014 report - The Times of Israel", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Israel, Cuba sought to reestablish diplomatic ties \u2014 report - The Times of Israel" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikAFBVV95cUxQSEhvS2ROUV9vRWNydFNKZVZvS0RQdFZIcDNvRkZDSEotUHlxOHlDbzkwRnNMZzVxMXVTX2FMVmozMUZ5MmlXUHlfa2hPUmZnYjVjVWJ6Vk84VTRkTERJX2JJVHZQWlc2Ulo4UmJ3TmRJaGpta2E5SjJ0eU9yUGUtc3NrOHVZQlNtUWJraUNRazHSAZYBQVVfeXFMUFBoUnBaYm8zSFc5RGV5empfcGFLX1M4bW1DM2JuZGdpbEVHQ2ZWa0lIMExUTDA1cXpzUm9IM19mNXlac1loTk9QM3NERjVCalRVc3dfOW1RRHZPQlFvc1cwczRRdjJDbFN3Q0ZodjZyNmRWaWhIMlN3OVpHeV95TE54aFczZG5FX1AzcmxYczljejdYODJ3?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.dw.com/en/cuba-raul-castros-presidency-prolonged-by-national-assembly/a-41896628", + "id": "CBMikAFBVV95cUxQSEhvS2ROUV9vRWNydFNKZVZvS0RQdFZIcDNvRkZDSEotUHlxOHlDbzkwRnNMZzVxMXVTX2FMVmozMUZ5MmlXUHlfa2hPUmZnYjVjVWJ6Vk84VTRkTERJX2JJVHZQWlc2Ulo4UmJ3TmRJaGpta2E5SjJ0eU9yUGUtc3NrOHVZQlNtUWJraUNRazHSAZYBQVVfeXFMUFBoUnBaYm8zSFc5RGV5empfcGFLX1M4bW1DM2JuZGdpbEVHQ2ZWa0lIMExUTDA1cXpzUm9IM19mNXlac1loTk9QM3NERjVCalRVc3dfOW1RRHZPQlFvc1cwczRRdjJDbFN3Q0ZodjZyNmRWaWhIMlN3OVpHeV95TE54aFczZG5FX1AzcmxYczljejdYODJ3", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 25 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 25, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 359, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Israel, Cuba sought to reestablish diplomatic ties \u2014 report  The Times of Israel", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Israel, Cuba sought to reestablish diplomatic ties \u2014 report  The Times of Israel" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.timesofisrael.com", + "title": "The Times of Israel" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged\nurl: https://www.dw.com/en/cuba-raul-castros-presidency-prolonged-by-national-assembly/a-41896628\nhostname: dw.com\ndescription: Cuba's legislative body has extended its term to April of 2018, delaying President Raul Castro's historic transfer of power. The aging leader's departure will mark the end of six decades of rule under the Castro family.\nsitename: Deutsche Welle\ndate: 2017-12-21\n---\n# Cuba: Raul Castro's presidency prolonged\n\nDecember 21, 2017The Cuban National Assembly announced on Thursday that it was extending its legislative period to April 18, 2018. The move effectively changes the end date of Cuban president Raul Castro's tenure.\n\nThe decision was made due to the \"exceptional situation\" created by Hurricane Irma's impact on the island this September, which caused significant infrastructure damage and left ten people dead.\n\n*Read more*: Cuba: What will come after the Castros?\n\nWhen Castro began his second term as president in 2013, he pledged that it would be his last. The leader said he would retire at the end of the current legislative period, which was initially slated to end on February 24, 2018. The new timeline delays the historic transition of presidential power by two months.\n\nGeneral elections for the National Assembly typically follow the expiration of the legislative period. Cubans will elect the 600 members of the legislative body, which will then select the powerful 31-member Council of State, whose leader will become the next president.\n\n*Read more*: Cuba's Castro sets elections timetable\n\n**Cuba's last Castro?**\n\nCastro's departure would likely see the first non-Castro family member lead the island nation since the Cuban Revolution of 1959.\n\nIn 2008, Raul's older brother Fidel Castro stepped down due to health issues and designated him as a successor. Fidel passed away in November 2015.\n\nUnder Raul Castro's tenure, the country undertook a series of domestic reforms that included the spread of internet and cellphone access, freedom to travel for most Cubans, modest openings in the domestic economy and the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States under former President Barack Obama.\n\nRelations between Havana and Washington deteriorated after the election of US President Donald Trump, who re-imposed restrictions on US-American travelto Cuba.\n\n*Read more*: Could Trump's Cuban policy switch backfire?\n\nNo candidate has yet been announced to succeed the Castro legacy, but analysts point to First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born a year after the revolution and has kept a low profile, as the probable successor.\n\njcg/rc (AFP, EFE, dpa)" + }, + { + "title": "Built as a sanctuary for Cuba research in exile, UM institute now has no leader - Miami Herald", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Built as a sanctuary for Cuba research in exile, UM institute now has no leader - Miami Herald" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijwFBVV95cUxNZ2FTV09JU0RmQTFvUHpRZzQ1NThmSDg1MmZ4TFkyV1duUzk1ZWMyUXE5bzdaMDA1MTBFZDdlcl85M2FGcHhuOHFuZ18zS3cyZnpTODRhdEpkNXJqUHM1dkstWW5oaGktbjk4OHc2blpObHJKT2NrNUZ4bklQUXpvV0ZYLVZMSy1XWWRFcm12SdIBkAFBVV95cUxQSmM4YXE1eUN2UVZQUVdxem15dllQV2dCQzFjRW9HOW1sczR1TWh6dFBYSWJQLVFHMkR4a3V0U2x1RzBtYm9rOFJtYkdrREVocG9uMFY2TU9BMGMtZ2ZJNWlPemJ4cVluaUN4RlhQdFZJT1BBNDJlOWhHMjV5X29raGI0Y09FWUUzLW1yRGJoVU8?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-cuba-sought-to-reestablish-diplomatic-ties-report/", + "id": "CBMijwFBVV95cUxNZ2FTV09JU0RmQTFvUHpRZzQ1NThmSDg1MmZ4TFkyV1duUzk1ZWMyUXE5bzdaMDA1MTBFZDdlcl85M2FGcHhuOHFuZ18zS3cyZnpTODRhdEpkNXJqUHM1dkstWW5oaGktbjk4OHc2blpObHJKT2NrNUZ4bklQUXpvV0ZYLVZMSy1XWWRFcm12SdIBkAFBVV95cUxQSmM4YXE1eUN2UVZQUVdxem15dllQV2dCQzFjRW9HOW1sczR1TWh6dFBYSWJQLVFHMkR4a3V0U2x1RzBtYm9rOFJtYkdrREVocG9uMFY2TU9BMGMtZ2ZJNWlPemJ4cVluaUN4RlhQdFZJT1BBNDJlOWhHMjV5X29raGI0Y09FWUUzLW1yRGJoVU8", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 22, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 356, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Built as a sanctuary for Cuba research in exile, UM institute now has no leader  Miami Herald", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Built as a sanctuary for Cuba research in exile, UM institute now has no leader  Miami Herald" + }, + "source": { + "href": "http://www.miamiherald.com", + "title": "Miami Herald" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018 - France 24", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018 - France 24" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijAFBVV95cUxOQVJ2WFlXLUxVRVdrZ0ZTZzFvRlJoaWFCSVNVR3MwLUYxQzhHRVFoUGpkV3FRcTNjd25nMUZndmJaM1VTMnFRbGY0QnRadEh4TnN0d0dJWkVzTDJHYXYzaEdmLU1FQmRNem9SUXlSeHhYeTkzWjJpSG0tcmpfcUxkeXctazc2bVpLejJvTA?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article191309729.html", + "id": "CBMijAFBVV95cUxOQVJ2WFlXLUxVRVdrZ0ZTZzFvRlJoaWFCSVNVR3MwLUYxQzhHRVFoUGpkV3FRcTNjd25nMUZndmJaM1VTMnFRbGY0QnRadEh4TnN0d0dJWkVzTDJHYXYzaEdmLU1FQmRNem9SUXlSeHhYeTkzWjJpSG0tcmpfcUxkeXctazc2bVpLejJvTA", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018  France 24", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018  France 24" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.france24.com", + "title": "France 24" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Mt. Cuba names best-growing phlox after trial garden test - Delawareonline.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Mt. Cuba names best-growing phlox after trial garden test - Delawareonline.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMivAFBVV95cUxOWHNYeElLU3JjMl95a1NxcWhzUThwTnBDZUE5dTgyeGtidmJTNE5YXy14SWsybEUyWlozUXRWdjZ4Vl9DMm9FOGlGZERHaEtNV0g1Vjh1TU9KOWMxMUc5UHFYZTg1MkYzRkNWWlVVdVg5dVViU3kyakpfN0h5VzhramVReWtFMDdlSHhvTmpzUzM4OWtNM25KSTRvTVNlTjVoZ0tuX0NTV3hQYUl5Z3d3V01CNUo1Z2NiUFhCMQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.france24.com/en/20171221-raul-castro-step-down-president-cuba-april-2018", + "id": "CBMivAFBVV95cUxOWHNYeElLU3JjMl95a1NxcWhzUThwTnBDZUE5dTgyeGtidmJTNE5YXy14SWsybEUyWlozUXRWdjZ4Vl9DMm9FOGlGZERHaEtNV0g1Vjh1TU9KOWMxMUc5UHFYZTg1MkYzRkNWWlVVdVg5dVViU3kyakpfN0h5VzhramVReWtFMDdlSHhvTmpzUzM4OWtNM25KSTRvTVNlTjVoZ0tuX0NTV3hQYUl5Z3d3V01CNUo1Z2NiUFhCMQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 27 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 27, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 361, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Mt. Cuba names best-growing phlox after trial garden test  Delawareonline.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Mt. Cuba names best-growing phlox after trial garden test  Delawareonline.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.delawareonline.com", + "title": "Delawareonline.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018\nauthor: NEWS WIRES\nurl: https://www.france24.com/en/20171221-raul-castro-step-down-president-cuba-april-2018\nhostname: france24.com\ndescription: Cuban President Raul Castro will step down in April 2018 straight after elections that same month to choose his successor, according to a vote Thursday in the island state's National Assembly.\nsitename: FRANCE 24\ndate: 2017-12-21\ncategories: ['Americas']\ntags: ['Cuba', 'Raul Castro', 'Americas,Cuba,Raul Castro']\n---\n# Raul Castro to step down as Cuba's president in April 2018\n\nCUBA\n\nAmericas\n\nCuban President Raul Castro will step down in April 2018 straight after elections that same month to choose his successor, according to a vote Thursday in the island state's National Assembly.\n\nThe vote pushed back the date of the general elections, which were initially to be held at the end of February, because of disruption caused by a hurricane in September.\n\nThe elections will now take place on April 19.\n\nCastro, 86, will hand over power shortly afterward to the president-elect.\n\n*(AFP)*\n\nAdvertising\n\nKeywords for this article" + }, + { + "title": "Cuba fireworks accident leaves dozens, including children, injured - ABC7 New York", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba fireworks accident leaves dozens, including children, injured - ABC7 New York" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMikAFBVV95cUxNUDE5MDA0ZHg3bUoxUFZHTlVUOFpaSWtRVGNHRmNSVWV0UnJtdVR2YnFfd1JabVpyYUJIblowelE2TzVQOEVsbzBtRVE3bGp1LVotRHRGb1VaN2l0ODRSVUszVnBpa29hemxVRE5PcDlPVklBelVmbTZFcDAxOHd5bzNLSkY3V3Nqalo3YnpHdE3SAZYBQVVfeXFMUEJPeVYteUV5dVFTWjlXMEhBaXZjNHJCWExWUmtqT1U4aUJyTlQ4ZkN5OTlWZVRNTGF4dXlWWEwxbnEyMUc1eFFSMWcyUENtQTlCXzdfNWFrLWVmZU9BX3pIanBrbFVXc2V0RDFiblBYWUZZeGVOZFk1QmJna2ZMR2hwMDhlOEtwTWd3VjhkUTVPMk0yTHlR?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/2017/12/27/mt-cuba-names-best-growing-phlox-after-trial-garden-test/982451001/", + "id": "CBMikAFBVV95cUxNUDE5MDA0ZHg3bUoxUFZHTlVUOFpaSWtRVGNHRmNSVWV0UnJtdVR2YnFfd1JabVpyYUJIblowelE2TzVQOEVsbzBtRVE3bGp1LVotRHRGb1VaN2l0ODRSVUszVnBpa29hemxVRE5PcDlPVklBelVmbTZFcDAxOHd5bzNLSkY3V3Nqalo3YnpHdE3SAZYBQVVfeXFMUEJPeVYteUV5dVFTWjlXMEhBaXZjNHJCWExWUmtqT1U4aUJyTlQ4ZkN5OTlWZVRNTGF4dXlWWEwxbnEyMUc1eFFSMWcyUENtQTlCXzdfNWFrLWVmZU9BX3pIanBrbFVXc2V0RDFiblBYWUZZeGVOZFk1QmJna2ZMR2hwMDhlOEtwTWd3VjhkUTVPMk0yTHlR", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 26 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 26, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 360, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba fireworks accident leaves dozens, including children, injured  ABC7 New York", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba fireworks accident leaves dozens, including children, injured  ABC7 New York" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://abc7ny.com", + "title": "ABC7 New York" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "UHealth Experts to Perform Surgery on Cuban Teenager with 10-Pound Facial Tumor - University of Miami", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "UHealth Experts to Perform Surgery on Cuban Teenager with 10-Pound Facial Tumor - University of Miami" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiqwFBVV95cUxNU3hoaloxeXB1M01Xd3Q4ZGs4MkYyV2tlY2pXSW5zSEpveXVCWldnb3E1WW9KcVlEWFVLQU5FRkpaVnpfS3JkbkhLSXhWck9vX0JEYXJuZ3RsYzRzZVRQWks2N1hoRjdHZndpMzA5Szc0VGh2NXdETzBMaEp2clZUZDNFTmh6MkgzQ0thcjcxX2ZTMGhpRU5KRWRaUkluVl9hcVFpY1d2a0xYckk?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://abc7ny.com/post/christmas-eve-fireworks-accident-leaves-dozens-injured/2827921/", + "id": "CBMiqwFBVV95cUxNU3hoaloxeXB1M01Xd3Q4ZGs4MkYyV2tlY2pXSW5zSEpveXVCWldnb3E1WW9KcVlEWFVLQU5FRkpaVnpfS3JkbkhLSXhWck9vX0JEYXJuZ3RsYzRzZVRQWks2N1hoRjdHZndpMzA5Szc0VGh2NXdETzBMaEp2clZUZDNFTmh6MkgzQ0thcjcxX2ZTMGhpRU5KRWRaUkluVl9hcVFpY1d2a0xYckk", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 22, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 356, + 0 + ], + "summary": "UHealth Experts to Perform Surgery on Cuban Teenager with 10-Pound Facial Tumor  University of Miami", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "UHealth Experts to Perform Surgery on Cuban Teenager with 10-Pound Facial Tumor  University of Miami" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://news.med.miami.edu", + "title": "University of Miami" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Christmas Eve Cuba fireworks accident leaves dozens, including children, injured\nauthor: Eyewitness News\nurl: https://abc7ny.com/post/christmas-eve-fireworks-accident-leaves-dozens-injured/2827921/\nhostname: abc7ny.com\ndescription: It was a wild scene in Cuba when a fireworks accident left scores injured, including children.\nsitename: abc7ny.com\ndate: 2017-12-27\ncategories: ['disasters-accidents']\ntags: ['cuba, cuba fireworks, cuba fireworks accident, cuba christmas fireworks, 2827921', 'cuba,fireworks,accident,christmas,christmas-eve']\n---\nHAVANA, Cuba (WABC) -- It was a wild scene in Cuba when a fireworks accident left scores injured.\n\nThe incident happened during a traditional celebration attended by thousands on Christmas Eve.\n\nThe fireworks started exploding in a storage area.\n\nSome of the injured are in serious condition - including half a dozen children." + }, + { + "title": "Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data - Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiigFBVV95cUxQVE9FUXktUG04bzFDWHJVeGZuWmtVb19jLWlaSjBpam9Pa2laNEpxUmpKWUlDUjg3Q0J6M2lEeDIxNllkeTRLTmZiLXVpYV9Udkp3UG9nYkNiMWJpc2Q4MkVrVEd6SEhmZXAyRFBZZlJJZVdoU1NIUHZNaF9jZFd5U1ljSVl4NlhpMnc?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/features/gender-violence-in-cuba-there-isnt-reliable-data/", + "id": "CBMiigFBVV95cUxQVE9FUXktUG04bzFDWHJVeGZuWmtVb19jLWlaSjBpam9Pa2laNEpxUmpKWUlDUjg3Q0J6M2lEeDIxNllkeTRLTmZiLXVpYV9Udkp3UG9nYkNiMWJpc2Q4MkVrVEd6SEhmZXAyRFBZZlJJZVdoU1NIUHZNaF9jZFd5U1ljSVl4NlhpMnc", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 20 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 20, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 354, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data - Havana Times\nauthor: Circles Robinson\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/features/gender-violence-in-cuba-there-isnt-reliable-data/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: A recent survey about gender equality, presented to the National Assembly\u2019s current legislative body, confirms that 27% of the population surveyed has suffered acts, both physical and psychological, of gender violence in the past 12 months. The survey carried out in 2016 has yet to be published and only some fragments of data are known.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-20\ncategories: ['Features']\n---\n# Gender Violence in Cuba: There Isn\u2019t Reliable Data\n\n**By Marlene Azor Hernandez**\n\nHAVANA TIMES \u2014 From November 25th until December 10th, \u201cInternational Human Rights Day\u201d, a United Nations campaign was carried out to recognize and protest gender violence.\n\nCuba signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in July 1980; however, it hasn\u2019t followed the suggestions made by the United Nations\u2019 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women after an assessment was made in 2012.\n\nA recent survey about gender equality, presented to the National Assembly\u2019s current legislative body, confirms that 27% of the population surveyed has suffered acts, both physical and psychological, of gender violence in the past 12 months. The survey carried out in 2016 has yet to be published and only some fragments of data are known.\n\nThe survey\u2019s main problem is that it asks about the population surveyed\u2019s *understanding *of gender violence and doesn\u2019t compare it with the cases attended by offices of the Cuban Women\u2019s Federation deal with or the complaints made to the police by abused women. Nor do national femicide statistics figure in this survey. The government doesn\u2019t monitor gender violence and that\u2019s why it doesn\u2019t have any real statistics about the extent of the problem.\n\nOn the Cuban TV show, *Mesa Redonda*, on December 5th this year, a small review was given of the 2016 survey, which illustrated the problem we have mentioned above. The State isn\u2019t monitoring the reality of violence and the survey of about 19,800 people doesn\u2019t reveal the country\u2019s real gender violence statistics, but rather the *\u201cunderstanding\u201d* the population surveyed has about this violence.\n\nThe problem of focusing on *understanding* contains all the bias and lack of information about this problem propagated by Cuba\u2019s national media. This problem, like every social problem, isn\u2019t dealt with or analyzed by the country\u2019s state-controlled media. You can only find out about cases of gender abuse via independent journalism, which is heavily repressed precisely because it tries to cover and spread awareness about the population\u2019s daily reality.\n\nCuba hasn\u2019t incorporated the different forms of discrimination against women into its penal code. Femicide doesn\u2019t exist as a crime nor is it monitored. Shelters aren\u2019t made for women who are victims of abuse; restraining orders are violated arbitrarily, and CENESEX itself (Cuba\u2019s National Center for Sex Education) has recognized the discrediting of victims in front of their attackers in the legal progress. \u201cIt\u2019s one person\u2019s word against another\u201d and a lot of the time the victim and attacker are both fined for \u201cpublic disorder\u201d.\n\nProstitution isn\u2019t a crime in Cuba, but women and teenage prostitutes are locked up in internment camps and can be imprisoned for up to four years. This gives rise to the phenomenon of \u201csexual favors\u201d to the authorities who arrest them, in exchange for not going to one of these detention centers. Thus, prostitution doesn\u2019t figure as a crime in our criminal legislation but in everyday practice, authorities are extorting, pressuring and repressing male and female prostitution in Cuba and are benefitting from an exchange of sexual favors or bribes in cash.\n\nCovering up the political repression against women is even worse still. The recent survey doesn\u2019t include the many women who are repressed by the authorities with arbitrary and forceful arrests, state security intimidation of their children, the confiscation of their belongings, repeated beatings and hate crimes directed by the authorities.\n\nIt would seem that the Ladies in White, the UNPACU\u2019s female activists, women from the Dignity Movement, repressed female artists such as Tania Brugueras and Yanelys Nunez, independent journalists, independent female candidates in the recent local elections, and women at the Cohabitation Research Center aren\u2019t counted. Aren\u2019t they women? Aren\u2019t they Cubans?\n\nFor all of the above, official statistics about gender violence in Cuba are clearly not reliable." + }, + { + "title": "Rafael Soriano\u2019s Life and Paintings (Published 2017) - The New York Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Rafael Soriano\u2019s Life and Paintings (Published 2017) - The New York Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMieEFVX3lxTFBZb1JwQmZ3WFhBa1VCSkZUQXVQc0YwZGU1WkZNS3pMR01zMHdjRWduYjdPekVNZkxrcFotSFJTZGVsUzFuM3F1Ym1pQkI2WkVaSEsxekVnUkxtTUNyNllQNDRPZVNEZ3JzUmVzVllQaC0xMHBWZDY5cw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/05/arts/rafael-soriano-paintings.html", + "id": "CBMieEFVX3lxTFBZb1JwQmZ3WFhBa1VCSkZUQXVQc0YwZGU1WkZNS3pMR01zMHdjRWduYjdPekVNZkxrcFotSFJTZGVsUzFuM3F1Ym1pQkI2WkVaSEsxekVnUkxtTUNyNllQNDRPZVNEZ3JzUmVzVllQaC0xMHBWZDY5cw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 05 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 5, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 339, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Rafael Soriano\u2019s Life and Paintings (Published 2017)  The New York Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Rafael Soriano\u2019s Life and Paintings (Published 2017)  The New York Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.nytimes.com", + "title": "The New York Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "The World's Biggest Concerts Are Happening in Cuba - Men's Journal", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The World's Biggest Concerts Are Happening in Cuba - Men's Journal" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMioAFBVV95cUxNR0lvN19nNUtmZ0FQWGhyQU5ZSHZyQW93Q1cwUUpiT1VibjFHeEdyLUdCaDkwNTRQMGk1UDBYVjU4MnpUR3dNSlFXQXVXZU92NC1KMFhYVHlRa014QlZoX25xLXh2LUlmeHhiaDk4S3B5VVN5aW5pbXh3ZU9pdkRiRmZnNkhjOTRTdU9pVXN4bEpmdG8wNGNRU0RhdE1LV3df?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://aldianews.com/en/politics/policy/goldberg-nada-de-diplomatico", + "id": "CBMioAFBVV95cUxNR0lvN19nNUtmZ0FQWGhyQU5ZSHZyQW93Q1cwUUpiT1VibjFHeEdyLUdCaDkwNTRQMGk1UDBYVjU4MnpUR3dNSlFXQXVXZU92NC1KMFhYVHlRa014QlZoX25xLXh2LUlmeHhiaDk4S3B5VVN5aW5pbXh3ZU9pdkRiRmZnNkhjOTRTdU9pVXN4bEpmdG8wNGNRU0RhdE1LV3df", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 04 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 4, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 338, + 0 + ], + "summary": "The World's Biggest Concerts Are Happening in Cuba  Men's Journal", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "The World's Biggest Concerts Are Happening in Cuba  Men's Journal" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.mensjournal.com", + "title": "Men's Journal" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: [OP-ED]: New Head of U.S. Embassy in Cuba is No Diplomat\nauthor: Albor Ruiz\nurl: https://aldianews.com/en/politics/policy/goldberg-nada-de-diplomatico\nhostname: aldianews.com\ndescription: For those innocent souls who believed Donald Trump\u2019s Cuba policy would not be \u201ctoo bad\u201d or \u201call that different\u201d from President Obama\u2019s, the appointment of\u2026\nsitename: Al D\u00eda News\ndate: 2017-12-12\ntags: ['[OP-ED]: New Head of U.S. Embassy in Cuba is No Diplomat']\n---\n# [OP-ED]: New Head of U.S. Embassy in Cuba is No Diplomat\n\nFor those innocent souls who believed Donald Trump\u2019s Cuba policy would not be \u201ctoo bad\u201d or \u201call that different\u201d from President Obama\u2019s, the appointment of\u2026\n\n\n\u201cAppointing Ambassador Goldberg to head the US Embassy in Cuba is quite provocative since he was expelled from Bolivia,\u201d American University Professor William LeoGrande said, referring to Goldberg\u2019s time as ambassador in the South American nation, a close ally of Cuba. President Evo Morales expelled him in 2008 for fomenting civil unrest and threatening the unity of the nation itself.\n\nGoldberg will not serve in Havana under the title of Ambassador, but as Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires. As such, although his appointment does not require congressional approval, it does need to be accepted by the Cuban government. No ambassador has been named since diplomatic relations were reestablished in 2015 under President Obama after 54 years of estrangement.\n\n\u201cWithout fear of the empire, I declare Mr. Goldberg, the US ambassador, 'persona non-grata,\u2019\u201d said Evo Morales at the time. \u201cHe is conspiring against democracy and seeking the division of Bolivia.\u201d\n\n\nMorales, the first indigenous president of Bolivia, was outraged by Goldberg\u2019s provocative meeting with Rub\u00e9n Costas, the governor of the predominantly white Santa Cruz, Bolivia's richest province, which had threatened to secede.\n\nIf approved by Havana, Goldberg would arrive in Cuba at a time of heightened tensions and uncertainty about relations with Washington.\n\n\nTrump has erased most of Obama\u2019s measures, returning to a Cold War rhetoric, imposing restrictions on travel and business and blaming Cuba for the health problems that supposedly affected some U.S. diplomats and CIA operatives in Havana.\n\nEven though Cuba has forcefully denied any responsibility, Washington withdrew two thirds of its personnel from its Havana embassy in October, which resulted in the suspension of most consular services. Fifteen Cuban diplomats were also ordered to leave the U.S.\n\n## RELATED CONTENT\n\n\u201cThey lie when they talk of attacks or incidents,\u201d Cuba\u2019s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr\u00edguez said, expressing Cuba\u2019s belief that the accusations are a pretext to turn back the clock on the normalization of relations initiated by President Obama. The U.S. came up with this outrageous invention, according to Rodr\u00edguez, to justify \u201cnew political measures against Cuba which further tighten the blockade and affect bilateral relations as a whole.\u201d\n\nWhile Goldberg\u2019s appointment in confirmed, the U.S. is not wasting time in trying to foment disturbances and create problems in Cuba. Last week, the current highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Havana, Lawrence J. Gumbiner, met with Berta Soler, the controversial leader of the Damas de Blanco, a dissident group. Soler, a fervent backer of Trump\u2019s revival of the irrational Cold War policies Obama had tried of leave behind, has had her integrity questioned by former members of the group, including several of its founders.\n\nGoldberg also was the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines until last year when its murderous president Rodrigo Duterte, a man much admired by Trump, expelled him for allegedly interfering with the Philippines internal politics.\n\nThe \u201ccareer diplomat\u201d seems to have a lot of experience in behaving very undiplomatically.\n\nWithout a doubt, it is back to the past for U.S. and Cuba under self-confessed sexual predator Donald Trump, who, if we are lucky enough, will not be occupying the White House much longer.\n\n## LEAVE A COMMENT:\n\nJoin the discussion! Leave a comment." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba battling medicine shortages in wake of cash crunch - Reuters", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba battling medicine shortages in wake of cash crunch - Reuters" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirAFBVV95cUxNLVVkMlhrbU43N0ZEdFZ4NDY4NWhsUGpvU18tVlZ0OWlSd2czVmF0N25MQnVYWkZuZGkxc1NUMG1fLTBPS1haTkd2Qm1YN0ZJNmZBcnlUNkZmc2RkS0Y1Y0dBOWNiMzNJNWNkTGw3YjcyTEc1Qnc1OF81WXRSd0VFOGl6RHFaZXd5dm5pR3Z5cjVldVIzUldrWGt5SVhvblFCN3lKN2hBWGpnTDVN?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.knkx.org/jazz-and-blues/2017-12-01/the-new-cool-cuban-jazz-meets-american-pop", + "id": "CBMirAFBVV95cUxNLVVkMlhrbU43N0ZEdFZ4NDY4NWhsUGpvU18tVlZ0OWlSd2czVmF0N25MQnVYWkZuZGkxc1NUMG1fLTBPS1haTkd2Qm1YN0ZJNmZBcnlUNkZmc2RkS0Y1Y0dBOWNiMzNJNWNkTGw3YjcyTEc1Qnc1OF81WXRSd0VFOGl6RHFaZXd5dm5pR3Z5cjVldVIzUldrWGt5SVhvblFCN3lKN2hBWGpnTDVN", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 01 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 1, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 335, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba battling medicine shortages in wake of cash crunch  Reuters", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba battling medicine shortages in wake of cash crunch  Reuters" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.reuters.com", + "title": "Reuters" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Photos of the Cuban National Circus - 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Charlotte Magazine", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Life Lessons: Felix Sabates - Charlotte Magazine" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibkFVX3lxTE5nTnNmSVpMQmJnU3JhSFlwUU1USlNJUDU1S3Y3NFlZWmM3MDZhVVlvdU9zVEZGQmZHV1pveDNmc2oxazAzaThYcGIyV1RqQ1pwbHdHT21ydm9FVHBPaEtEeEtCZ1ZXSHBRUGhoMmx3?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://petapixel.com/2017/12/09/photos-cuban-national-circus/", + "id": "CBMibkFVX3lxTE5nTnNmSVpMQmJnU3JhSFlwUU1USlNJUDU1S3Y3NFlZWmM3MDZhVVlvdU9zVEZGQmZHV1pveDNmc2oxazAzaThYcGIyV1RqQ1pwbHdHT21ydm9FVHBPaEtEeEtCZ1ZXSHBRUGhoMmx3", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 19 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 19, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 353, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Life Lessons: Felix Sabates  Charlotte Magazine", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Life Lessons: Felix Sabates  Charlotte Magazine" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.charlottemagazine.com", + "title": "Charlotte Magazine" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Raul Castro confirms he will stay Cuba\u2019s president to April - The Seattle Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro confirms he will stay Cuba\u2019s president to April - The Seattle Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiowFBVV95cUxPeFN1V3M0bTFDY0NWTVNBWlFBenYzOExxNVlEWDVpSm1MdTlwRko2Y1RRX3ZpZzBzRGtXR3phTXJFbERRWXhYd0ZsZlhiZmhWc2g1LUNXWGhVTGg2Mkk1RFBXR3VEZE5KcnVzZW84UVNWQUZPRmZQV19wZUlFNlZtM0RacHFWYjFHRjZyaHVuTEl2TGFFZm1lM2tWRXdDNXpjRER3?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/cuba-extends-assemblys-term-apparently-delaying-transition/", + "id": "CBMiowFBVV95cUxPeFN1V3M0bTFDY0NWTVNBWlFBenYzOExxNVlEWDVpSm1MdTlwRko2Y1RRX3ZpZzBzRGtXR3phTXJFbERRWXhYd0ZsZlhiZmhWc2g1LUNXWGhVTGg2Mkk1RFBXR3VEZE5KcnVzZW84UVNWQUZPRmZQV19wZUlFNlZtM0RacHFWYjFHRjZyaHVuTEl2TGFFZm1lM2tWRXdDNXpjRER3", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Raul Castro confirms he will stay Cuba\u2019s president to April  The Seattle Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro confirms he will stay Cuba\u2019s president to April  The Seattle Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.seattletimes.com", + "title": "The Seattle Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Raul Castro confirms he will stay Cuba\u2019s president to April\nauthor: MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN\nurl: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/cuba-extends-assemblys-term-apparently-delaying-transition/\nhostname: seattletimes.com\ndescription: HAVANA (AP) \u2014 Raul Castro confirmed Thursday that he will continue as Cuba's president into April, two months longer than expected, as parliament extended the political cycle citing delays made necessary by a damaging hurricane. \"I wish to ratify what...\nsitename: The Seattle Times\ndate: 2017-12-21\n---\nHAVANA (AP) \u2014 Raul Castro confirmed Thursday that he will continue as Cuba\u2019s president into April, two months longer than expected, as parliament extended the political cycle citing delays made necessary by a damaging hurricane.\n\n\u201cI wish to ratify what has already been expressed \u2026 about limiting to two terms of five years the exercise of the principal offices of the nation,\u201d Castro told lawmakers, in comments broadcast on state television.\n\n\u201cWhen the (new) National Assembly is constituted next April 19, my second and last term will have concluded at the head of the state and the government and Cuba will have a new president,\u201d he added.\n\nCastro, 86, had previously said he would step down in February at the end of a months-long political cycle in which voters and government officials pick the members of local, provincial and national assemblies and the members of the powerful council of state.\n\n### Most Read Nation & World Stories\n\nBut earlier Thursday, the National Assembly announced that its current term would run through April 19 instead of ending in February because the impact of Hurricane Irma in September had delayed the start of the cycle. The current council of state is also remaining until then.\n\nMany Cubans and outside observers expect Castro to be replaced as president by First Vice President Miguel Diaz Canel, 57, who has promised to continue Castro\u2019s policies.\n\nThose include allowing the slow and limited introduction of private enterprise into Cuba\u2019s centrally planned economy, while maintaining a single-party system and tight government control of virtually all aspects of life on the island.\n\nVice President Marino Murillo, who is also the government\u2019s economy czar, announced new controls and regulations for the non-state sector that come on the heels of earlier restrictions around the middle of this year.\n\nMurillo said there will be no new approvals for the time being for non-agricultural cooperatives, while their maximum and minimum earnings will be limited to avoid the existence of de-facto private businesses.\n\nSome private-sector license categories will be merged, as in the case of manicurists, barbers and hair dressers all falling under a \u201cbeauty\u201d designation. Bars currently operating under restaurant licenses will fall now under a separate regulatory category.\n\nCastro is expected to retain his position as head of the Communist Party, which sets the parameters of government policy and overall direction of the country.\n\nCastro took over from his older brother Fidel after the revolutionary leader and founder of the current Cuban system fell ill in 2006.\n\nThe younger Castro began a series of domestic reforms that included the spread of internet and cellphone access, freedom to travel for most Cubans and the ability to buy and sell cars and houses. He also oversaw the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, a detente that was shaken by the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president last year.\n\nTrump re-imposed restrictions on Americans\u2019 ability to travel to Cuba, cutting into a tourism boom that had helped buffer the island\u2019s economy against a decline in trade with socialist ally Venezuela.\n\n\u201cWe have been witness to a serious and irrational deterioration in relations,\u201d Castro said.\n\nThe Cuban government said Thursday that after a recession in 2016, the economy grew 1.6 percent this year, a better performance than expected due largely to a 4.4 rise in income from tourism, along with smaller increases in transport, communications, agriculture and construction." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba\u2019s Sparse and Poetic Storefront Windows - VICE", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba\u2019s Sparse and Poetic Storefront Windows - VICE" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiggFBVV95cUxNQ2lqd01LaERxZUtLeldSak1lbEhNUGhtRVI5Y1Y4Y0Y2R0hkRDEyQThkclJUejc0RWp1TGlsaXQzTmoyV2MzcXoyV0ZXUWFsRWhKOFFaUndJMFVDcXlqeEpJMEpWNHk2anlqbl84YThrd3JTb0VoOUhsRTl2UjI5Zm5B?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.charlottemagazine.com/life-lessons-felix-sabates/", + "id": "CBMiggFBVV95cUxNQ2lqd01LaERxZUtLeldSak1lbEhNUGhtRVI5Y1Y4Y0Y2R0hkRDEyQThkclJUejc0RWp1TGlsaXQzTmoyV2MzcXoyV0ZXUWFsRWhKOFFaUndJMFVDcXlqeEpJMEpWNHk2anlqbl84YThrd3JTb0VoOUhsRTl2UjI5Zm5B", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 27 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 27, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 361, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba\u2019s Sparse and Poetic Storefront Windows  VICE", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba\u2019s Sparse and Poetic Storefront Windows  VICE" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.vice.com", + "title": "VICE" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Life Lessons: Felix Sabates - Charlotte Magazine\nauthor: Allison Futterman\nurl: https://www.charlottemagazine.com/life-lessons-felix-sabates/\nhostname: charlottemagazine.com\ndescription: Before he bought a NASCAR team, the Cuban-American businessman parked cars\nsitename: Charlotte Magazine\ndate: 2017-12-19\ncategories: ['In Print', 'The Buzz']\n---\n# Life Lessons: Felix Sabates\n\n##### Before he bought a NASCAR team, the Cuban-American businessman parked cars\n\n**IN HIS CAR DEALERSHIP COMMERCIALS,** Felix Sabates relays one of the core ethics instilled in him early in life. \u201cTu palabra,\u201d his father always said. Your word is your bond. His father\u2019s words stuck.\n\nMany Charlotteans know Sabates from those commercials, if not his other ventures: co-owner, with Chip Ganassi, of a NASCAR team; his minority stake in the Charlotte Hornets; a successful career at Top Sales Company, which distributed everything from computers to talking teddy bears; or his philanthropic giving.\n\nIn the fall of 2016, he became seriously ill with double pneumonia. He spent several months in the hospital and rehab, including almost a month in a coma. Doctors thought he might not survive. But Sabates, 72, has a way of overcoming challenges that may appear insurmountable.\n\nHere he is in his own words, edited for clarity and space.\n\n**My family wasn\u2019t the wealthiest in the world,** but we were pretty comfortable (in Cuba). We had jewelry stores, gas stations, camera stores, car dealerships, and cattle. By the time we came to America, we had nothing. (The Castro government) took everything.\n\n**In Cuba, there was a wall where they put people and shot them. **It was called Pared\u00f3n. The school forced us to go look, the whole class. The people being shot didn\u2019t have their eyes covered; they didn\u2019t have hoods. They were looking at the people who were shooting them. Another time, I was riding my bicycle and heard shots and knew what it was. I went back, and there were probably 16 or 18 killed that day.\n\n**I was scared because I was involved with those guys. **I was with the counterrevolutionary. I guess I\u2019ve been a rebel my whole life.\n\n**My parents sent me (to the United States) when I was 15. **I stayed with an aunt and uncle in Boston, and then moved to Missouri with them. I worked in a hospital kitchen washing pots and pans.\n\n**I wasn\u2019t nervous coming here,** because everyone thought the Castro thing would be temporary, and so did I. I wasn\u2019t too concerned, and thought we\u2019d be in America maybe six months or a year. That was 55 years ago.\n\n**I reunited with a family friend from Cuba, Walter Reich. **He was an Austrian Jew whose family was killed in the Holocaust. He had changed his name and fled to Cuba (and then to the United States). He offered me a job working for his company. That company became Top Sales Company.\n\n**One day, he said he wanted me to buy the company from him.** He wanted $250,000. I didn\u2019t have that. So he said, \u2018We\u2019re going to the bank,\u2019 and he got a loan in my name for $250,000. He cosigned the note.\n\n**I got to a billion dollars a year in sales but I was tired of traveling and kissing butts, **so I was ready to sell. I had a big offer, so I went to Dallas to meet with the guy. On the way back to the airport, I asked him about the jobs of two of my brothers and a cousin who worked for the company. He told me \u2018There are no sacred cows.\u2019 I told him right there, \u2018We\u2019re not doing this, because you don\u2019t understand what loyalty is.\u2019\n\n**I talked to my lawyer and told him I wanted to find a way to sell the company to the employees. **I sold it to them for a lot less than I was offered. The new president they hired bankrupted the company in four years.\n\n**I have six brothers and sisters. **They were all, except the youngest, who was two, sent to America through the Peter Pan program. It was through the Catholic Church. They found foster homes in America for Cuban kids. My siblings were sent to Albuquerque, New Mexico.\n\n**Then my mother came. **The Catholic Church helped all seven of us reunite and settle in Lexington (North Carolina). Dad couldn\u2019t come until later. He couldn\u2019t leave, because he still owned property; there was real estate in his name. (The Castro regime) only let him leave because they thought he had cancer. When he did leave, he left with nothing.\n\n**When we lived in Lexington, the people there were very nice to my family.** When we moved to Charlotte, the next-door neighbors came outside to say goodbye. They were sorry to see us leave, and told us we were great neighbors. It wasn\u2019t until years later I found out one of them was high up in the Klan.\n\n**I worked at a furniture factory, **but there wasn\u2019t much opportunity for advancement in Lexington. So I got a job in Charlotte. My first job here was parking cars.\n\n**I got involved with NASCAR in 1998.** It was a hobby.\n\n**Chip Ganassi and I have been partners for 17 years,** and the only argument we ever had was over a bottle of wine. I ordered an expensive wine, and he said he wanted to pay for it, but I wanted to.\n\n**I don\u2019t have a lot of regrets from the business side,** but from personal side I have a lot of regrets. In retrospect, I wish I had been there more. You miss a lot of important things.\n\n**I don\u2019t really remember anything from when I was in the hospital. **But I did have a dream that I do remember. I was in a boat with Donald Trump. We were on the way to the tailor to get some clothes. But then the boat captain drove up to the back of the hospital, and told me I had to go back and lie down. It was so vivid.\n\n**My recovery was hard.** My arms and legs had atrophied. I had to learn how to walk again. I used this machine for my arms. When I went home, the physical therapist talked me into buying one to use at home. At first, I could only do three rotations. In a few months, I could do a hundred.\n\n**I still have some problems with my breathing. **But I\u2019m doing good.\n\n**I met this eight-year-old kid the other night at an event.** I gave him my card. The next day he called me and said, \u2018Mr. Sabates, you said I could call you if I needed anything. I don\u2019t need anything, but I want to meet you for lunch.\u2019 I told him to pick a day.\n\n**I may have made a mistake by giving my children too much too early in life. **I\u2019m not making the same mistake with my grandkids. I pay for college, spending money\u2014but nothing crazy.\n\n**I know every rich and powerful person in Charlotte, **but those are mostly my acquaintances, not my friends. Some people just sit around and talk about money. I don\u2019t do that.\n\n**I love discussing politics with my grandkids.** We don\u2019t always see eye to eye, but it\u2019s fun to talk about.\n\n**I stay humble. **My father always said it\u2019s more important to be nice than it is nice to be important. I\u2019ve learned that you can never, never give up. And also that you can\u2019t take things personally. I don\u2019t hold grudges. Life\u2019s too short.\n\n\n*ALLISON FUTTERMAN is a freelance writer based in Charlotte. Reach her at aliwrites10@gmail.com.*" + }, + { + "title": "Cuban President Raul Castro's retirement delayed at least until April 2018 - USA Today", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban President Raul Castro's retirement delayed at least until April 2018 - USA Today" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMizwFBVV95cUxOM01Tc0JOaWEwLV9mTGNPbWdZOUZrNUpXVDhQaHRHWmh6MmJwSWJDcXRQOVBmU2dOTURXazBwRDJoTEM4ODB0M1ZRSnJGOE56eG5aVWg3eFpwRUxWZDRLeklHYnNpWmIxbDJPUS1PMV9OWFlCTG9Rbm1jRzg0YnNUUUd5X3pyUmhOTEZoTkZ6ZlZGSU9ITGtzMkViRmxVb0J0SU9tOHBUc0tTMl9PZzFqUTE2NEE5alhYSlNySHpZUmptYUE1Nm9GVzVjalAxZWs?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/the-worlds-biggest-concerts-are-happening-in-cuba-w200952", + "id": "CBMizwFBVV95cUxOM01Tc0JOaWEwLV9mTGNPbWdZOUZrNUpXVDhQaHRHWmh6MmJwSWJDcXRQOVBmU2dOTURXazBwRDJoTEM4ODB0M1ZRSnJGOE56eG5aVWg3eFpwRUxWZDRLeklHYnNpWmIxbDJPUS1PMV9OWFlCTG9Rbm1jRzg0YnNUUUd5X3pyUmhOTEZoTkZ6ZlZGSU9ITGtzMkViRmxVb0J0SU9tOHBUc0tTMl9PZzFqUTE2NEE5alhYSlNySHpZUmptYUE1Nm9GVzVjalAxZWs", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuban President Raul Castro's retirement delayed at least until April 2018  USA Today", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuban President Raul Castro's retirement delayed at least until April 2018  USA Today" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.usatoday.com", + "title": "USA Today" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Has History Absolved Fidel Castro? - Institute of the Black World 21st Century", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Has History Absolved Fidel Castro? - Institute of the Black World 21st Century" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMidkFVX3lxTE1NNHd1MmgwbWkyT3JIV3ZrRFNlbzRJVUlpUmlUUWs4ZEJGeEtwaWtkVGl2SWVnSnEyUFE3TXE1VzNEYkNtM1k3SHFIQ3JINlEtRkJIaUdkNnh2dlUwOThPdUJ4TWdQMUFIMWE4eVBNNTRvclZZX2c?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.vice.com/en/article/cubas-sparse-and-scrappy-storefront-windows/", + "id": "CBMidkFVX3lxTE1NNHd1MmgwbWkyT3JIV3ZrRFNlbzRJVUlpUmlUUWs4ZEJGeEtwaWtkVGl2SWVnSnEyUFE3TXE1VzNEYkNtM1k3SHFIQ3JINlEtRkJIaUdkNnh2dlUwOThPdUJ4TWdQMUFIMWE4eVBNNTRvclZZX2c", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sun, 10 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 10, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 6, + 344, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Has History Absolved Fidel Castro?  Institute of the Black World 21st Century", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Has History Absolved Fidel Castro?  Institute of the Black World 21st Century" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://ibw21.org", + "title": "Institute of the Black World 21st Century" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba's Sparse and Poetic Storefront Windows\nauthor: Alexa Hoyer\nurl: https://www.vice.com/en/article/cubas-sparse-and-scrappy-storefront-windows/\nhostname: vice.com\ndescription: Window-dressers employed by Cuba\u2019s bureau of advertising work to transform actual scarcity into imaginative displays.\nsitename: VICE\ndate: 2017-12-27\ncategories: ['Travel']\n---\nStorefront window displays typically reflect the dreams and desires of consumerism and late capitalism. Under communist rule in Cuba, they reveal a very different story. From the Revolution through the \u201cspecial period\u201d following the fall of the Soviet Union and Castro\u2019s death, window-dressers employed by the island nation\u2019s government-run advertising bureau were tasked with transforming actual scarcity into utopian visions of surplus and industry.\n\nStruck by their enigmatic, sculptural, and out-of-time beauty, the Germany-born, Brooklyn-based artist Alexa Hoyer researched and shot her photo series over a two-year period. *Storefronts* invites us to glimpse into the dreams and cultural subconscious of a country on the brink. \u201cI\u2019m sort of invisible. But there are really beautiful and wonderful things that are invisible, and that remain unseen,\u201d Romero Salazar, a window-dresser employed in Havana, told her.\n\n## Videos by VICE\n\nCheck out *Storefronts* below:\n\n*See the rest of the photos on Alexa Hoyer\u2019s website. *" + }, + { + "title": "Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs - Reason Magazine", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs - Reason Magazine" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMie0FVX3lxTE8xNXJHeUtsQUdWOGZiN2FNMlVZQTktREk0NlhOby1OdGZyRE1NU1hUSW1sVXh6NWV0cVZYS3l5VDNnOFhnOTFhenlJeFZ6QXpiZHA5YmlfYlNMYm9tdFhnX0E0TlI3QnB2TjFQX2YzOUtHbkdvcmVTZWxrbw?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://reason.com/2017/12/15/vapid-cuban-documentarian-unwittingly-st/", + "id": "CBMie0FVX3lxTE8xNXJHeUtsQUdWOGZiN2FNMlVZQTktREk0NlhOby1OdGZyRE1NU1hUSW1sVXh6NWV0cVZYS3l5VDNnOFhnOTFhenlJeFZ6QXpiZHA5YmlfYlNMYm9tdFhnX0E0TlI3QnB2TjFQX2YzOUtHbkdvcmVTZWxrbw", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 15 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 15, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 349, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs  Reason Magazine", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs  Reason Magazine" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://reason.com", + "title": "Reason Magazine" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs\nauthor: Glenn Garvin\nurl: https://reason.com/2017/12/15/vapid-cuban-documentarian-unwittingly-st/\nhostname: reason.com\ndescription: Jon Alpert spent decades asking incredibly dumb questions of Fidel Castro.\nsitename: Reason Magazine\ndate: 2017-12-15\ntags: ['Cuba', 'Fidel Castro', 'Documentary', 'Television', 'Glenn Garvin TV Reviews']\n---\n# Vapid Cuban Documentarian Unwittingly Stumbles into Country's Despairs\n\n## Jon Alpert spent decades asking incredibly dumb questions of Fidel Castro.\n\n*Cuba and the Cameraman*. Available now on Netflix.\n\nPerhaps the pedants are right and Lenin never actually used the phrase \"useful idiots\" to describe communist camp followers in the West. If so, it's only because he never met the filmmaker Jon Alpert. Alpert has been regularly visiting Cuba for 45 years to interview Fidel Castro and in all that time, he's never asked a meaningful question.\n\nYou think I'm exaggerating? I *sooooooo* wish. Consider Alpert's round-trip from Havana to New York with Castro in 1979, when the dictator was planning to address the United Nations. Cuba's army was intervening in Ethiopia, its economy had face-planted, and its domestic misery index was so high that the island would soon erupt into the Mariel boatlift, with 120,000 Cubans fleeing to Miami within a couple of months.\n\nAlpert was the only reporter traveling aboard Castro's plane and spent much of the trip, both coming and going, interviewing him. Here are some of the questions Alpert might reasonably have been expected to ask:\n\nTwo decades after you threw off what you called the yoke of American corporate imperialism, why do Cubans still need ration cards? Why is a tenth of the population living outside Cuba? Why are 15,000 Cuban combat troops mucking around in Ethiopia when you can't keep food on the table at home? Are you ever going to hold elections?\n\nAlpert, unfortunately, didn't have time to get to any of those. As you can see in appalling detail in his 2015 documentary *A Trip with Fidel*, he was too busy on Castro's pajamas and diet:\n\n\"What do you wear around the house?\"\n\n\"Did you pack anything special?\"\n\n\"Do you take all your food with you?\"\n\nI'm not sure how useful that was\u2014even Castro seems barely able to keep a straight face when Alpert clamors to see the presidential bed in his hotel suite\u2013but it's surely Idiocy, the capital \"I\" not a typo.\n\nAlpert's newest fan letter to Castro, *Cuba and the Cameraman*, contains much of this same idolatry. Here's Alpert, interrupting a delegate to Cuba's Communist Party congress who's in the middle of a standing ovation for a Castro speech, to ask if she likes Fidel. (I don't want to break the exquisite dramatic tension of the narrative by giving away her answer.) Or cornering Fidel himself in another one of those exclusive interviews.\n\nQ. Do you have a message for the people of the United States?\n\nA. Always a message of friendship for the people of the United States for their hardworking spirit.\n\nEven when Alpert inadvertently asks a question that might lead Castro into swampy territory, there's never any follow up. When Alpert queries the Maximum Leader, during a visit to the United Nations, how he feels about a group of anti-Castro demonstrators across the street from his hotel, Castro blandly salutes the nobility of dissent. \"I admire those who are against, because they are active,\" he says. \"They move around. They work.\" That virtually begs for a question about Cuban dissidents like Armando Valladares or Ana Rodriguez, then both nearing the end of their second decades in hellhole prisons for defying the regime. None is forthcoming.\n\nWatching even a few minutes of *Cuba and the Cameraman* comes at the cost of a fearful number of brain cells. (And if you sit through the scene in which Alpert's young daughter asks Castro to sign a note to get her out of school, make sure there's an ICU located nearby.) Yet, however unintentionally, Alpert has introduced some revealing moments into his film.\n\n*Cuba and the Cameraman* is partly constructed from new material Alpert shot late last year around the time of the death of Castro. (He even got a final interview with Castro, though none of it appears in the documentary\u2014suggesting that the rumors that the Maximum Leader's final days were none too lucid were true.) It is characteristically stupid, with Alpert polling Cubans at a memorial rally for Castro as to what they thought about him.\n\nBut much of *Cuba and the Camerman* is more like a memoir of Alpert's many visits to the island over the past 45 years. They include repeat visits with three sets of friends: A little schoolgirl he met on the street; a young hustler; and three elderly farmers who are also siblings. Together, their tales knit into a bleak tapestry of despair.\n\nThe three farmers' good cheer about the revolution takes on an air of resignation over the years as the scarcity of food in the countryside leads the neighbors to steal and eat all their livestock, reducing them to hoeing tiny patches of ground for subsistence-level crops. \"They've eaten all our animals and left us with nothing,\" reflects one sadly.\n\nThe street hustler disappears, jailed for black-market activities. His family members struggle to keep feeding him inside the prison, while wondering if the government will ever keep its promise to supply running water to their apartment. \"No wonder everybody wants to leave,\" one relative says, shaking his head. \"Thirty-five years of bad thinking!\"\n\nAnd the little girl's hopes of a nursing career dissolve into teenage pregnancy and a hand-to-mouth existence as a single mom. Eventually she heads for the United States, leaving behind two young-adult children with a destitute refrigerator: \"When mom sends money, we buy food. Otherwise it's empty.\" When Alpert breaks out a bottle of wine, the brother and sister offer a toast: \"To lots of money!!\" The New Man that Castro promised to build in Cuba seems a lot like the old one, except older and poorer." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba boosts trade ties with Cold War ally Russia as U.S. disengages - Reuters", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba boosts trade ties with Cold War ally Russia as U.S. disengages - Reuters" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiugFBVV95cUxNZE14WkdVWXNtYVBHZS0xUDlDWFVvbWFNRll6YjlFQ3VFZlkyZFdrUjhkQ1RBcTlxVTRHN1JacEtzSDJGWDJyVURxZEVpdG5hVEswQjFUaVVVLWhncGc0YWpqWC02NmNmT3A1VmdtVzFSQ3I3NzZhZ1dYMm5qLUxOa2s4UnppVEwyeEtiTkRiSDRTcEFob005cXZGV1pRYmp5eWlrSEwtcDZrQnZubGFuc1lmZzVkNVE0SEE?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://ibw21.org/editors-choice/has-history-absolved-fidel-castro/", + "id": "CBMiugFBVV95cUxNZE14WkdVWXNtYVBHZS0xUDlDWFVvbWFNRll6YjlFQ3VFZlkyZFdrUjhkQ1RBcTlxVTRHN1JacEtzSDJGWDJyVURxZEVpdG5hVEswQjFUaVVVLWhncGc0YWpqWC02NmNmT3A1VmdtVzFSQ3I3NzZhZ1dYMm5qLUxOa2s4UnppVEwyeEtiTkRiSDRTcEFob005cXZGV1pRYmp5eWlrSEwtcDZrQnZubGFuc1lmZzVkNVE0SEE", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 19 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 19, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 353, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba boosts trade ties with Cold War ally Russia as U.S. disengages  Reuters", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba boosts trade ties with Cold War ally Russia as U.S. disengages  Reuters" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.reuters.com", + "title": "Reuters" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Has History Absolved Fidel Castro?\nauthor: IBW\nurl: https://ibw21.org/editors-choice/has-history-absolved-fidel-castro/\nhostname: ibw21.org\ndescription: The nation that revolutionary Fidel Castro forged in 1959 is finally coming out of the shadow of Cold War propaganda. From the outset Fidel and his new nation were victims of capitalist paranoia, and we in Australia are still exposed to Cuban issues through this lens. In light of this we must question the validity of what we in the west \u2018know\u2019 about Fidel Castro and his clearly anti-capitalist revolution, in order to understand the true nature of Castro\u2019s Cuba.\nsitename: Institute of the Black World 21st Century\ndate: 2017-12-11\ncategories: [\"Editors' Choice\"]\ntags: ['Fidel Castro']\n---\n*Fidel Castro, former president and leader of the Cuban revolution, died in November at age 90. Affectionately known as El Comandante in socialist Cuba, Fidel Castro\u2019s legacy will live in the hearts of not only the Cuban people but millions and millions around the world who thought of him as the man who stood up against U.S. imperialism and won. Photo: Reuters*\n\n**By Sasha Gillies-Lekakis \u2014**\n\nThe nation that revolutionary Fidel Castro forged in 1959 is finally coming out of the shadow of Cold War propaganda. From the outset Fidel and his new nation were victims of capitalist paranoia, and we in Australia are still exposed to Cuban issues through this lens. In light of this we must question the validity of what we in the west \u2018know\u2019 about Fidel Castro and his clearly anti-capitalist revolution, in order to understand the true nature of Castro\u2019s Cuba. Labelled a ruthless dictator by the United States, to many others he is a revolutionary inspiration and hero. Our world is now more sophisticated than when Fidel Castro led the Cuban people to victory over Batista but the age old battles against oppression at the heart of the revolution still continue today, making Castro\u2019s legacy all the more important. We can now answer the obvious question that presents itself: has history absolved Fidel Castro, as he once said it would? Clearly, it has.\n\nBefore Fidel Castro\u2019s revolution, Cuba was little more than a U.S. holiday resort and tax-free haven, dominated by gambling and prostitution, run by dictator Fulgencio Batista. U.S. financial interests included 90 percent of Cuban mines, 80 percent of its public utilities, 50 percent of its railways, 40 percent of its sugar production and 25 percent of its bank deposits. Whilst a substantial upper middle class enjoyed a life of luxury, the majority of Cubans were plagued by poverty and corruption. Most people had no electricity or water. There was only 1 doctor per 2,000 people in rural areas and more than one-third of the rural population had intestinal parasites. Sixty-one percent of rural children were not attending school.\n\nEarly on, Castro made a clean break with capitalism, by nationalizing U.S.-controlled industries, instituting land reform, dismantling Mafia-owned casinos and brothels, and ending longstanding systemic corruption. Establishing essential social services remain one of Castro\u2019s most important achievements. Cuba\u2019s Constitution mandates \u201cthe right to health protection and care\u201d for everyone, by \u201cproviding free medical and hospital care (Article 50)\u201d. It further guarantees \u201cfree universal education, at all levels, to children, youths and adults (Article 51)\u201d and mandates government provided social services, including \u201cspecial help for Cuba\u2019s elderly, disabled, others unable to work and single mothers (Article 49)\u201d. Castro honored these goals by establishing a social system that could deliver these outcomes.\n\nAccording to the United Nations Human Development Index (2014), Cuba ranks 44 out of 187 highest out of all the developing nations and higher than many in Europe. Cuba maintains the developing world\u2019s most extensive infant immunization coverage, and its infant mortality rate at 4.8 deaths per 1,000 live births equals Britain\u2019s and betters the United States. With free universal healthcare, a life expectancy equal to developed nations, and with more doctors per person than any other country in the world, Cuba\u2019s achievements are exceptional amongst the world\u2019s nations.\n\nThese, coupled with free universal school and tertiary education, and state provision of social services, prompted U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to comment that \u201cthe human development index of the United Nations makes clear year after year, Cuba should be the envy of many other nations, ostensibly far richer. [Cuba] demonstrates how much nations can do with the resources they have if they focus on the right priorities \u2013 health, education, and literacy. \u201d\n\nWhen the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, Cuba immediately lost three quarters of its trading partners. With the U.S. blockade still in place Cuba entered a very difficult time that they call their \u2018special period\u2019. It would have been easier at this time to compromise the revolution and take the easy way but, instead of giving in Fidel forged new trade arrangements and radically restructured agriculture on the Island \u2013 Cuba now yields some of the highest levels of agricultural output in Central America, and above average yields across the world. The Cuban Ministry of Agriculture greatly reduced its use of diesel fuel by developing an innovative approach to urban agriculture \u2013 35,000 acres of urban gardens producing 3.4 million tons of food. In Havana, the largest of all the Caribbean cities, 90 percent of the city\u2019s fresh produce comes from local urban farms and gardens, all organic.\n\nThe only country listed by the World Wildlife Fund as environmentally sustainable, Cuba\u2019s \u2018People not Profit\u2019 Agricultural model provides hope for the millions of starving people in the developing world. In the wake of pressure from private, multi-national corporations pushing genetically modified seed, Fidel Castro\u2019s socially based agro-ecological approach provides a much needed alternative model. But, it is not just at home that Cuba excels \u2013 Fidel Castro has ensured that Cuba\u2019s social advances provide humanitarian benefit for others struggling throughout the world.\n\nFidel Castro once said that \u201cNorth Americans don\u2019t understand\u2026 that our country is not just Cuba; our country is also humanity.\u201d With a plethora of humanitarian programs and successes to back up this claim, Castro\u2019s policy of selfless internationalism has had profound impact throughout the less-developed world, and it is here that Fidel\u2019s vision set him apart from the rest. From supporting the opposition to apartheid regimes in South Africa and Angola, to improving education in Central America, Fidel\u2019s aid has helped struggling countries throughout the world. Something that has largely gone unreported in the west, is the remarkable role Cuban doctors and medical personnel have played in dealing with disasters and crises throughout the developing world.\n\nA prime example is Cuba\u2019s response to the spread of Ebola in West Africa. According to the World Health Organization, Cuba has sent hundreds of medical personnel to West Africa to work on the frontline against the disease, more than any other single nation. Another example is Cuba\u2019s response to the Earthquake disasters in Haiti, dispatching hundreds of doctors to the stricken country. With a population of just over 11 million people and a GDP of just US$6051 per capita, Cuba\u2019s gesture of solidarity is unique in the world, putting to shame many far richer countries including Australia.\n\nMore remarkable is the fact that Cuba also currently has some 50,000 medical personnel serving on such medical missions in 66 countries in the developing world, as well as empowering others by providing free university education for thousands from other developing nations to train as doctors and teachers. This is Fidel Castro\u2019s legacy \u2013 selfless internationalism, essential to the future and beneficial to those truly in need of aid.\n\nFidel Castro is one of the most exceptional leaders of modern times. He inspired many people to care about others who have less, to place humanity above greed and not to fear fighting those who are more powerful \u2013 and he did this for more than fifty years, not only leading the Cuban revolution but also having the strength of character to maintain its purpose. His actions, always true to his words, earned Fidel Castro the respect and admiration of millions throughout the world. With excellent healthcare and education services, sustainable resource use and selfless international humanitarianism, Cuba is now a viable alternate model to western capitalism.\n\nHistory has truly absolved Fidel Castro.\n\n*This essay reached the Australian finals of a history competition for all school students called the \u2018Australian National History Challenge\u2019.*" + }, + { + "title": "Collector Jorge P\u00e9rez accuses Miami-Dade County of slashing museum\u2019s funding as 'punishment' for Cuban art show - The Art Newspaper", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Collector Jorge P\u00e9rez accuses Miami-Dade County of slashing museum\u2019s funding as 'punishment' for Cuban art show - The Art Newspaper" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi5gFBVV95cUxOcmk2NDRuSXI4M2xSVDJhUHlxUWNlSDZMMFpPUTJyQklvMlNKN2RudmZYZjNOLWVrVUJzVU1ORlJ5SEhMQUluTG1LdnpmR2g1MDZkVmZQOXYySnl6NUVhanhwbnpzbmxzZ3lsZTF2ckFXVFlRLWd1SjUtOU0yZ25ieGswSXd2X0ZKbkxVX3dmQlU3ZTBHOTJSa202T0hJTk42c2dtMzNxSDZIZmlUeWdtODhZZThhVlFqWUZXZTFoc0pTWjdQVG1MNFc5aW93WUtvZG1VT05JN19ZTjlZQXNiTWlpdTREQQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/21/cuban-president-raul-castros-retirement-delayed-least-until-april-2018/973184001/", + "id": "CBMi5gFBVV95cUxOcmk2NDRuSXI4M2xSVDJhUHlxUWNlSDZMMFpPUTJyQklvMlNKN2RudmZYZjNOLWVrVUJzVU1ORlJ5SEhMQUluTG1LdnpmR2g1MDZkVmZQOXYySnl6NUVhanhwbnpzbmxzZ3lsZTF2ckFXVFlRLWd1SjUtOU0yZ25ieGswSXd2X0ZKbkxVX3dmQlU3ZTBHOTJSa202T0hJTk42c2dtMzNxSDZIZmlUeWdtODhZZThhVlFqWUZXZTFoc0pTWjdQVG1MNFc5aW93WUtvZG1VT05JN19ZTjlZQXNiTWlpdTREQQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 6, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 340, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Collector Jorge P\u00e9rez accuses Miami-Dade County of slashing museum\u2019s funding as 'punishment' for Cuban art show  The Art Newspaper", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Collector Jorge P\u00e9rez accuses Miami-Dade County of slashing museum\u2019s funding as 'punishment' for Cuban art show  The Art Newspaper" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.theartnewspaper.com", + "title": "The Art Newspaper" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "China's exports to Cuba slump as island's cash crunch deepens - 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Cuban women, discriminated against and relegated to a lower status before 1959, have benefited from measures adopted by the government of Fidel Castro to integrate the political, economic and social life of the country, achieve emancipation and obtain full citizenship.\n\n**Key words: **Cuba, woman, rights, integration, emancipation.\n\n**Introduction**\n\nThe triumph of the Cuban Revolution has created the most remarkable political, economic and social upheaval in the history of Latin America. From its beginning in 1959, the new government, led by Fidel Castro, placed the poor - especially women and people of color, the principal victims of the discrimination inherent in patriarchal and segregationist societies - at the center of their reformist project. The Revolution \"of the humble, by the humble and for the humble,\"[1] was designed to lay the foundation for a new era, one marked by equality and freed from the throes of the injustice linked to the history and social structures of the country.\n\nCuban women were the immediate priority of the revolutionary government. In 1960, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) was created. Its president was Vilma Esp\u00edn Dubois, the wife of Ra\u00fal Castro and a fully committed activist in the struggle against the dictatorship of General Fulgencio Batista. What was the status of women at the triumph of the Revolution? What concrete steps were taken to disseminate and implement the idea of equal rights and equal opportunities between men and women and to erase prejudice and cultural stereotypes?\n\nThree themes structure these reflections. Firstly, special attention is paid to the role of women before the triumph of the Revolution. Secondly, the new government\u2019s actions aimed at enabling this sector of society to achieve true emancipation and full citizenship are analyzed. Finally, beyond the soaring declarations of principle, we will take a look at the status of Cuban women today and assess their integration into the political, economic and social life of the country.\n\n**1.** **The status of women before the triumph of the Revolution **\n\nDuring Fulgencio Batista's military regime, which lasted from 1952 to 1958, Cuban women, who lived under the yoke of a patriarchal society, constituted only 17% of the labor force. Those who were employed received significantly lower compensation than men for doing equivalent work. Under the omnipotent rule of their husbands, women were confined to the role of mother and assumed responsibility for household and domestic tasks. As the primary victims of the illiteracy that afflicted much of the population, prospects for Cuban women were grim. Of the 5.8 million inhabitants of the island, only 55% of children aged six to fourteen were enrolled in school. Over one million were denied access to education and remained at home under their mother\u2019s charge. Illiteracy afflicted 22% of the population, more than 800 000 people, of whom the majority were women.[2]\n\nDespite having obtained the right to vote in 1934 under the progressive government of Ram\u00f3n Grau San Mart\u00edn, itself a product of the popular revolution of 1933, the role of women in political life was quite limited. From 1934 to 1958, only 26 women (23 deputies and 3 senators) held legislative positions.[3]\n\nCuban women, however, played a key role in the insurgency against the Bastista dictatorship, particularly through organizations such as the *Frente C\u00edvico de las Mujeres Martianas* and *Mujeres Unidas Oposicionistas*. In September 1958, after the creation of the exclusively female military squadron, \"Mariana Grajales,\" Cuban women joined Fidel Castro\u2019s guerrillas in the July 26 Revolutionary Movement in the Sierra Maestra. Several well-known female figures, for example Celia Sanchez, Melba Hern\u00e1ndez, Hayd\u00e9e Santamar\u00eda and Vilma Esp\u00edn among others, emerged from the struggle against the Batista regime.[4] Nevertheless, the demands of these activists were not purely feminist. As Maruja Iglesias, leader of Frente C\u00edvico de Mujeres Martianas underscored, \"we are not fighting for women's rights. We are fighting for the rights of everyone.\"[5]\n\n**2.** **The First measures taken by the revolutionary government**\n\nSince the triumph of the Revolution in 1959, the ideological foundations of which were rooted in the thought of national hero Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed, the Cuban state has made the empowerment of women one of its main priorities. In his first speech delivered on January 1, 1959 in Santiago de Cuba, a few hours after Batista had fled the country, Fidel Castro spoke of the situation of women and recalled that the mission of the revolutionary government was to put an end to the subordination of the most oppressed sectors of society:\n\n\"This is a sector of our country that needs to be liberated, because women are victims of discrimination at work and in other aspects of life [...] When our revolution is judged in the years to come, one of the questions that will be asked is how our society and our country resolved the problems of women, even though this is one of the problems of the revolution that requires the most determination and firmness, the most perseverance and effort.\"[6]\n\nCuban women have been the main beneficiaries of the revolution\u2019s social and popular achievements. In 1960, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) founded by Vilma Esp\u00edn, was created to defend equal rights for all and to end discrimination. Women would finally come to occupy their appropriate social space and contribute fully to the building of the new society. Fidel Castro emphasized the importance of this: \"Cuban women, doubly humiliated and repressed by a semi-colonial society, required their own organization, one that would represent their specific interests and work to achieve their greater participation in the economic, political and social life of the Revolution.\"[7] The Federation of Cuban Women now has over four million members.\n\nVilma Esp\u00edn Dubois played a fundamental role in the emancipation of the Cuban woman. A revolutionary activist, she joined the 26th of July 26 Movement and became a member of its National Directorate. In 1958, she joined the Frank Pa\u00eds Second Eastern Front, becoming one of the first women to participate in the guerrilla movement. After the triumph of the Revolution, she dedicated her life to the struggle of Cuban women for equality until her death in 2007. She chaired the National Commission for Prevention and Social Attention and the Commission on Children, Youth and Women's equality in the Cuban Parliament.[8]\n\nOne of the first tasks of the FMC was to fight against prostitution, a vital necessity for some 100,000 women in pre-revolutionary Cuba, and to involve them in building the new society. With the disappearance of the economic and social conditions responsible for the sexual exploitation of women, their social rehabilitation was facilitated by the existence of a women's federative structure.\n\nFollowing the adage of Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed, \"to be cultivated is to be free\", Cuba in 1961 launched an extensive literacy campaign that opened the possibility for all sectors of society, in particular women and especially women of color, to benefit from the social progress that had unblocked the path to equality. Some 10,000 primary schools were established that same year, more than had been built during the sixty years of the neocolonial republic. The results were immediate: over 700,000 people, 55% of whom were women, became literate within twelve months and illiteracy itself was reduced to 3.8%. In 1961, UNESCO declared Cuba to be the \"first territory free of illiteracy,\" at the time a status unique in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 1961, Cuba has created what is known as Children\u2019s Circles (daycare centers/nurseries) aimed at allowing Cuban mothers to have access to training, work and participation in the country's economic life.[9]\n\nCuba then established a constitutional and legislative framework designed to promote women's rights as well as equality for all. Sections 41 and 42 of the Constitution casts in stone equal rights between women and men and punishes any \"discrimination on the grounds of race, skin color, sex, national origin, religious beliefs or any other offense against human dignity\".[10] Act 62 of the Penal Code (Article 295) qualifies infringement of the right to equality as a crime, punishable by two years in prison.[11] Thus women have access to all public service positions and all ranks of the armed forces.[12]\n\nInternationally, Cuba has also played a pioneering role in promoting women's rights. For example, in 1965 the Caribbean island became the first Latin American country to legalize abortion. Only two other nations on the continent, Guyana in 1995 and Uruguay in 2012, have followed Cuba\u2019s example by granting women the inalienable right to control over their own bodies. Likewise, Cuba was the first country to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the second to ratify it.\n\n**3.** **Women in Cuba today**\n\nThe health and well-being of Cuban women have been national priorities since the advent of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, a fact that is clearly illustrated by indicators in this area. For example, life expectancy for women is 80 years, two years higher than for men, a figure similar to that of most developed countries. The infant mortality rate is 4.6 per thousand, the lowest in the Third World and the Americas (including Canada and the United States). The maternal mortality rate is 0.02%, the lowest in Latin America and the Third World. According to the World Bank, the fertility rate (children per woman) is 1.5, the lowest in Latin America, a figure that may at the same time pose a problem for generational renewal.[13]\n\nFrom a legal perspective, Article 59 of the Labor Code is aimed specifically at protecting Cuban mothers. It states that \"the employer shall establish and maintain working conditions for women that take into account their participation in the work force and their social function as mothers.\" Thus, while continuing to receive their full salaries, Cuban mothers have the right to take full-time leave for a month and a half before delivery and three months after the birth of the child. This leave may be extended to a full year with compensation equivalent to 60% of their salary. After a year, they are automatically reinstated in their jobs. Moreover, Cuban right to work laws allow women to retire at the age of 60 or after having made 30 annual contributions to the retirement fund. In comparison, the French woman must have made 42 retirement contributions in order to receive a full pension.\n\nWomen account for nearly 60% of the country\u2019s students and over 65% have graduated from institutions of higher education. Since 1980, professional working women have achieved, on average, a higher level of schooling than professional working men. Women represent only 44% of the 5.5 million people that make up the country\u2019s workforce, a figure that confirms the fact that further efforts are needed to achieve full equality.[14] At the same time, they constitute 66.4% of the country\u2019s middle and upper level technicians and professionals (teachers, doctors, engineers, researchers, etc.) and 66% of all civil servants, compared to 6.2% before 1959.[15]\n\nToday, Cuban law ensures that the salaries of women who do equal work be strictly equivalent to those of men. In France, according to INSEE, for equal work, the salaries of women are 28% lower than that of men.[16] In the United States, the salaries of women are only 80% of those of men.[17]\n\nIn Cuba, women occupy 46% of the leadership positions in the economic sector (the figure was 2% before the triumph of the Revolution). By way of comparison, in France, among the CAC 40 companies, only five are headed by women.[18] At the administrative and judicial level, Cuban women represent 66% of the members of the finance ministry and the Supreme Court and 78% of the officials of the public prosecutor's office.[19]\n\nCuban women are fully integrated into the country's political life. The statistics in this area are revealing. For example, of the 31 members of the Cuban Council of State, 13 are women, or 41.9%. At the executive level, there are eight women ministers out of 34, or 23.5%. In the Cuban Parliament, 299 of the 612 deputies are women, i.e. 48.66%. In France, the percentage of women in parliament (the National Assembly and the Senate) is 26%. Cuba occupies third place worldwide for the highest percentage of women members of parliament. Informationally, the United States ranks 80th.\n\nA woman, Mar\u00eda Mari Machado, is the vice president of the Cuban Parliament. At the Provincial Assemblies level, of the 1268 elected members, 48.36% are women. Cuban women preside over ten of the country\u2019s fifteen provincial assemblies, or 66.6%, and occupy the vice presidency in seven of them, or 46.6%. Of the 115 members of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, 49 are women, or 42.6%. The Communist Party secretary for the province of Havana, the largest in the country, Mercedes L\u00f3pez Acea L\u00e1zara is a black woman born in 1964. She is also vice president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. These results are all the more remarkable in that there is no law in Cuba that requires parity in political offices.\n\nMoreover, of the sixteen provincial union leaders of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC), nine, or 56.25%, are women.\n\nIn terms of diplomacy, Cuba is represented by women in no fewer than 47 countries. At the Foreign Ministry, more than 40% of the civil servants are women and many of them occupy vice-ministerial posts. Josefina Vidal, Director of the Department of the United States at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is responsible for conducting negotiations with Washington in the historical process of normalization of bilateral relations announced by Presidents Barack Obama and Ra\u00fal Castro on December 17, 2014.[20]\n\nIn Cuba, sport is considered essential to the physical and intellectual development of all citizens. Cubans have free access to all of the country\u2019s sport facilities and infrastructure. The National Institute for Sports has implemented a range of programs for all sections of the population and all generations. The results are revealing: in terms of top-level sport, Cuban women occupy a place that is second to none. Cuba is also the Latin American country that, with 49 titles, has the highest number of Olympic medalists.[21]\n\nThe United Nations, by way of its Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), has applauded the policy of the Cuban state toward women. Alejandrina Germ\u00e1n, president of the Regional Conference on Women and the Dominican Republic\u2019s Minister for Women, stressed that Cuba has always played a pioneering role in the promotion and protection of women's rights, while recalling that gender equality depends first and foremost upon the political will of a country\u2019s leadership.[22]\n\nIf prostitution had disappeared as an institutionalized social reality, it should be noted nonetheless that a resurgence of this phenomenon began the 1990s with the economic crisis, renewed sanctions imposed by the United States and the advent of mass tourism. The National Center for Sex Education, led by Mariela Castro Esp\u00edn, daughter of the current President Ra\u00fal Castro and Vilma Esp\u00edn, the founder of the FMC, plays an important role, based on prevention and persuasion, in the fight against this affliction.[23]\n\nCuba has put in place a legislative and legal arsenal designed to defend against gender violence. The National Group for Attention to and Prevention of Family Violence is a multi-sector, multidisciplinary entity that includes the Ministries of Education, Health, Interior, Justice, the services of the Attorney General of the Republic, Forensic Medicine, the National Center for Sex Education, the University of Havana, the Supreme Court and the Institute of Radio and Television. It is responsible for coordinating the struggle against conjugal violence. The Penal Code severely punishes all attacks against physical and psychological integrity. Domestic violence is considered an aggravating circumstance.\n\nMacho, sexist and discriminatory behavior, a legacy of five centuries of patriarchal society and its intrinsic cultural, ideological and psychological barriers, still persists in Cuba today and constitutes an obstacle to the full emancipation of women. Women, however, undeniably play a dominant role in society and participate fully in the development of the country.\n\n**Conclusion**\n\nThe Cuban Revolution has without doubt paved the way for the emancipation of women. All rights, whether economic, social, cultural, civil or political, are guaranteed by the constitution and women have been the main beneficiaries of the process of social transformation initiated in 1959.\n\nIn neocolonial Cuba, women were relegated to a subordinate social status. With the advent of the Revolution they became active participants who have contributed significantly to the building of a new society, one based on equality and social justice. They now play a vital role in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the country.\n\n\"The whole country is found in women,\" Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed said quite accurately. However, even if the existing legal standards enable the development and achievement of Cuban women, even if the indicators and statistics remain exceptional for a Third World nation and even if the Cuban woman has no reason to envy her peers in the most developed countries, certain cultural, psychological and ideological barriers remain to be overcome along the sinuous path that leads to total emancipation.\n\n**Translated from the French by Larry R. Oberg**\n\n**A Doctor of Iberian and Latin American Studies at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne, Salim Lamrani is a Lecturer at the University of La R\u00e9union, specializing in relations between Cuba and the United States.**\n\n**His new book is ***Cuba, the Media, and the Challenge of Impartiality*, New York, Monthly Review Press, preface by Eduardo Galeano, translated by Larry R. Oberg.\n\n**Facebook Page: **https://www.facebook.com/SalimLamraniOfficiel\n\n[1] Fidel Castro, \u201cDiscurso pronunciado por Fidel Castro Ruz, Presidente de Dobla Rep\u00fablica de Cuba, en las honras f\u00fanebres de las v\u00edctimas del bombardeo a distintos puntos de la rep\u00fablica, efectuado en 23 y 12, frente al cementerio de Col\u00f3n, el d\u00eda 16 de abril de 1961\u201d, *Rep\u00fablica de Cuba*. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1961/esp/f160461e.html (site consulted March 8, 2015).\n\n[2] Acela Caner Rom\u00e1n, \u201cMujeres cubanas y el largo camino hacia la libertad\u201d, *Biblioteca Nacional Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed*, August 2004. http://librinsula.bnjm.cu/1-205/2004/agosto/31/documentos/documento104.htm (site consulted Novembre 15, 2014).\n\n[3] Joseba Mac\u00edas, \u201cRevoluci\u00f3n cubana: Mujer, G\u00e9nero y Sociedad Civil\u201d, *Viento Sur*. http://www.vientosur.info/documentos/Cuba%20%20Joseba.pdf (site consulted Novembre 15, 2014)\n\n[4] *Ibid.*\n\n[5] *Ibid.*\n\n[6] Fidel Castro Ruz, \u201cDiscurso pronunciado por el Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz, en el Parque C\u00e9spedes de Santiago de Cuba\u201d, Rep\u00fablica de Cuba, January 1, 1959. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/1959/esp/f010159e.html (site consulted April 18, 2015).\n\n[7] Acela Caner Rom\u00e1n, \u201cMujeres cubanas y el largo camino hacia la libertad\u201d, Biblioteca Nacional Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed, *op*.*cit.*\n\n[8] Federaci\u00f3n de Mujeres Cubanas, \u201cDossier Vilma Esp\u00edn\u201d. http://www.mujeres.co.cu/dossiervilma/HTML/01.html (site consulted April 18, 2015).\n\n[9] Acela Caner Rom\u00e1n, \u201cMujeres cubanas y el largo camino hacia la libertad\u201d, Biblioteca Nacional Jos\u00e9 Mart\u00ed, *op. cit.*\n\n[10] Constituci\u00f3n de la Rep\u00fablica de Cuba, 1976, Art\u00edculo 41 & 42.\n\n[11] C\u00f3digo Penal Cubano.\n\n[12] Dalia Isabel Giro L\u00f3pez, \u201cMujeres haciendo Revoluci\u00f3n\u201d, Cuba Defensa, August 20, 2013. http://www.cubadefensa.cu/?q=node/2158 (site consulted April 18, 2015); Sonia Regla P\u00e9rez Sosa, \u201cHomenaje a mujeres de las FAR\u201d, *Cuba Defensa*, March 5, 2015. http://www.cubadefensa.cu/?q=homenaje%20mujeres%20FAR (site consult\u00e9 April 18-20, 2015).\n\n[13] Banque mondiale, \u201cTasa de fertilidad, total (nacimientos por cada mujer)\u201d, 2014. http://datos.bancomundial.org/indicador/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN/countries (site consulted March 8, 2015).\n\n[14] Mariela P\u00e9rez Valenzuela, \u201cMujer cubana: una fortaleza en la econom\u00eda nacional\u201d, Federaci\u00f3n de Mujeres Cubanas. http://www.mujeres.co.cu/714/beijing1.html (site consulted November 15, 2014).\n\n[15] *Mujeres*, \u201cCuba en el CEDAW\u201d. http://www.mujeres.co.cu/cedaw/texto/01.html (site consulted November 15, 2014).\n\n[16] Thomas Morin & Nathan Remila, \u201cLe revenu salarial des femmes reste inf\u00e9rieur \u00e0 celui des hommes\u201d, *INSEE, *http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=ip1436 (site consulted November 15, 2014).\n\n[17] *Le Figaro*, \u201cLa crise pousse les Am\u00e9ricaines \u00e0 travailler\u201d, November 18, 2009. http://www.lefigaro.fr/emploi/2009/11/18/01010-20091118ARTFIG00628-la-crise-pousse-les-americaines-a-travailler-.php (site consulted November 15, 2014)\n\n[18] Camille Boulate, \u201cLes cinq femmes \u00e0 la direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale du CAC 40\u201d, *Les Echos*, March 7, 2013. http://business.lesechos.fr/directions-generales/les-quatre-femmes-a-la-direction-generale-du-cac40-5300.php (site consulted November 15, 2014)\n\n[19] Federaci\u00f3n de Mujeres Cubanas, \u201cCubanas en cifras\u201d, 2014. http://www.mujeres.co.cu/715/plegable2.pdf (site consulted November 15, 2014), p. 7-9.\n\n[20] Salim Lamrani, \u201cAcercamiento Cuba-Estados Unidos : perspectivas y obst\u00e1culos\u201d, *Al Mayadeen*, February 23, 2015. http://espanol.almayadeen.net/Study/uJUAe1pzFUiV8aRIAF9FTA/acercamiento-cuba-estados-unidos--perspectivas-y-obst%C3%A1culos (site consulted March 8, 2015).\n\n[21] Federaci\u00f3n de Mujeres Cubanas, \u201cCubanas en cifras\u201d, novembre 2014. http://www.mujeres.co.cu/715/plegable2.pdf (site consulted March 8, 2015). p. 8, 9.\n\n[22] Margen Borges, \u201cDestacan en Cepal pol\u00edtica de Estado cubano a favor de mujeres\u201d, Federaci\u00f3n de Mujeres Cubanas, 2014. http://www.mujeres.co.cu/articulo.asp?a=2014&num=714&art=51 (site consulted November 15, 2014).\n\n[23] Centro Nacional de Educaci\u00f3n Sexual. http://www.cenesex.org/ (site consulted November 15, 2014)" + }, + { + "title": "Women in Cuba: the Emancipatory Revolution - HuffPost", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Women in Cuba: the Emancipatory Revolution - HuffPost" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMioAFBVV95cUxOVXpGdWI3UHRXd0JUQmxBamJ5MndRWXYyYWotMTBzVTdWNTZNZFR5M0ltaEQzYzQ5RHpUeTlmWC1CaGdPWW9HaHNzNWFkMmJqVTl0VkI3SllEYWdzTU92TVk5aXZISlU4NWlVUWI1Z3FmMW5ub3RvcFB1WGZudURhT1FCT18yUVVlS3RuVjdVQThrN1BtUmNaSUJ2Z01sbnow0gGmAUFVX3lxTE9RYlJoNERPY0kxMGxZcGg0VndSQUp0WTZGeGFCNHhLNXBLamR1VnE1bk1FenZqeFZVZ2hvT2ctcWNyVks2ZDNZd1QzUVgtc0Q0VEYzanBiR3FvYUlZNzZQaFkwY1VfRmRKVmlpbEtVVkhoaVhlRExHVV9hVERCU0tocGlscmdmbkFwVzg0SWpROGJsdTZheEZ6V1o5WXY2dENDbkZsb3c?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2017/12/06/collector-jorge-perez-accuses-miami-dade-county-of-slashing-museums-funding-as-punishment-for-cuban-art-show", + "id": "CBMioAFBVV95cUxOVXpGdWI3UHRXd0JUQmxBamJ5MndRWXYyYWotMTBzVTdWNTZNZFR5M0ltaEQzYzQ5RHpUeTlmWC1CaGdPWW9HaHNzNWFkMmJqVTl0VkI3SllEYWdzTU92TVk5aXZISlU4NWlVUWI1Z3FmMW5ub3RvcFB1WGZudURhT1FCT18yUVVlS3RuVjdVQThrN1BtUmNaSUJ2Z01sbnow0gGmAUFVX3lxTE9RYlJoNERPY0kxMGxZcGg0VndSQUp0WTZGeGFCNHhLNXBLamR1VnE1bk1FenZqeFZVZ2hvT2ctcWNyVks2ZDNZd1QzUVgtc0Q0VEYzanBiR3FvYUlZNzZQaFkwY1VfRmRKVmlpbEtVVkhoaVhlRExHVV9hVERCU0tocGlscmdmbkFwVzg0SWpROGJsdTZheEZ6V1o5WXY2dENDbkZsb3c", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sat, 09 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 9, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 5, + 343, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Women in Cuba: the Emancipatory Revolution  HuffPost", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Women in Cuba: the Emancipatory Revolution  HuffPost" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.huffpost.com", + "title": "HuffPost" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Collector Jorge P\u00e9rez accuses Miami-Dade County of slashing museum\u2019s funding as 'punishment' for Cuban art show\nauthor: Cristina Ruiz\nurl: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2017/12/06/collector-jorge-perez-accuses-miami-dade-county-of-slashing-museums-funding-as-punishment-for-cuban-art-show\nhostname: theartnewspaper.com\ndescription: Funds promised to P\u00e9rez Art Museum Miami were allocated to American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora instead\nsitename: The Art Newspaper - International art news and events\ndate: 2017-12-06\ncategories: ['news']\n---\nThe real-estate billionaire Jorge P\u00e9rez has accused Miami-Dade County of slashing funding for the museum that bears his name as \u201cpunishment\u201d for an exhibition of Cuban contemporary art.\n\nAt the end of September, county commissioners voted to remove $550,000 from the $4m grant promised to the P\u00e9rez Art Museum Miami (Pamm) for the current financial year. The money was allocated instead to the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, a small institution in Coral Gables, which opened in January.\n\n\u201cThey could have taken the money from other museums on an equal basis,\u201d P\u00e9rez told The Art Newspaper in late November at the museum. \u201cThey only took it from Pamm. This was definitely an orchestrated move and it was punishment for our show.\u201d\n\nThe point of contention, P\u00e9rez said, is that Pamm\u2019s current exhibition of Cuban art\u2014entitled On the Horizon and drawn from a collection he gave to the institution\u2014includes work by artists still living in Cuba. The show has also been accompanied by events involving these artists. This week, Elizabet Cervi\u00f1o, who lives in Havana, is macerating piles of flower petals in a daily performance at Pamm that is intended to celebrate spring. By contrast, the diaspora museum intends to display only the work of artists who have left the Communist island.\n\nThe dispute exposes a historic and deeply entrenched rift in Miami\u2019s Cuban-American community between those who support the US trade embargo against the Castro regime and those who oppose it.\n\n\u201cThe continuing of the embargo and the rhetoric from Cuba and the US against each other have not resulted in anything but the suffering of the Cuban people,\u201d said P\u00e9rez, who was part of a delegation that accompanied former US president Barack Obama to Cuba in 2016. And the current administration\u2019s swift reversal of the diplomatic thaw has only heightened the problem, P\u00e9rez says. \u201cPresident Trump is giving credence again to the very radical right-wing part of the Cuban community. And politicians are using that.\u201d\n\nCritics of Obama\u2019s push for closer ties with the Communist country have said that it resulted in a takeover of Miami\u2019s cultural programming. As part of her testimony to Miami-Dade County\u2019s commissioners in late September, Carisa Perez Fuentes, a spokeswoman for the diaspora museum, said: \u201cAfter Obama began normalising relations with Cuba in 2014, Miami\u2019s cultural calendar quickly filled up with exhibitions, concerts and cultural exchanges with [the country]\u2026 our museums and, most importantly, our tax dollars are being used to introduce Cuba\u2019s cultural and political agenda to the US.\u201d\n\nIn his own testimony to the commissioners, Pamm\u2019s director, Franklin Sirmans, pointed out that \u201cthere is not a penny that Pamm has ever spent on an artist living in Cuba\u201d. Instead, the museum has bought Cuban art using funds donated by P\u00e9rez specifically for that purpose.\n\nFor his part, P\u00e9rez, who was born in Argentina to Cuban parents, rejected as absurd any suggestions that he or Pamm, which was named after him following his $35m gift of cash and art in 2011, sympathise with the Castro regime. \u201cAnybody who knows me knows that I totally criticise the Castro system and that my family lost all its money and was displaced because of Castro. But you still need to be proud of the culture that is yours. And that\u2019s what this exhibition is about,\u201d he said.\n\n### Split vote\n\nSeven of the 13 county commissioners, all Cuban-American, voted to remove money from Pamm and give it to the diaspora museum. We contacted all of them. Three responded: Bruno A. Barreiro, who proposed the initiative, Joe A. Martinez and Jos\u00e9 \u201cPepe\u201d Diaz. All three denied that their vote was intended to punish Pamm for its Cuba show.\n\nHowever, Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who voted against slashing Pamm\u2019s funding, says that Cuban-American politics did influence the vote. \u201cThat sentiment was not expressed on the day; nobody gave it as the reason for the funding [being docked],\u201d she tells us. \u201cHowever, Cuban diaspora issues are highly sensitive, particularly for people whose families suffered at the hands of the Castro regime, and that does affect the voting.\u201d\n\nLevine Cava says that the reduction in Pamm\u2019s funding appeared to have been planned in advance. \u201cIt did seem that many commissioners got right on board, as if they knew what was about to happen,\u201d she says. \u201cI think the diaspora museum is very important and it should be supported, but I don\u2019t think that was the right way to go about it. The shortfall has left Pamm in a vulnerable position.\u201d She says that Miami-Dade\u2019s mayor, Carlos A. Gim\u00e9nez, may now be working on a plan to restore Pamm\u2019s full funding by finding money from other sources.\n\nIn an apparent confirmation of this, Michael Spring, the director of Miami-Dade\u2019s department of cultural affairs, tells us: \u201cMayor Gim\u00e9nez is committed to working co-operatively with Pamm to help find the resources, public and/or private, to sustain the entire $4m [annual] county subsidy that supports the museum\u2019s outstanding work.\u201d\n\n### Violent history\n\nThe war of words generated by Pamm\u2019s exhibition shows how far Cuban-American politics in Miami have progressed during the past few decades. The Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture was bombed in 1988 and 1991, at the height of the ideological battle between opposing sides of the debate, when it began to exhibit art by Cubans still living on the island. The city also tried, and failed, to evict the museum from its publicly owned home in Little Havana; the institution never fully recovered from the controversy and closed in 1999." + }, + { + "title": "Cuba\u2019s Raul Castro extends his rule two months, until April - South China Morning Post", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba\u2019s Raul Castro extends his rule two months, until April - South China Morning Post" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiqAFBVV95cUxOMDZLV3RfR0tfTGRfVmZPekxlX1FacXBMNUEtVFJQM01ORXRMdXU2cnM5bXUzNE4xMTZyZng3LTNnNHZSM25XUnhZaEhsdm5WQTBkMmZLMFczaFpHeENTZW1XUzdoYTlpbmt5X1NiQlgyUlMwck9qRWxwZkxuallsbURSeXpQSk5EQ1EtWkMxdURlbWY0Q09VUENxQ3pwQ2NNMlhlZVpLd3XSAagBQVVfeXFMTUhnVGVkbkhZdHNHMzBPbVZ6clNCcDhfT01sbm00VVh4cXdOakR3aXM4bFpHQVJwYkRrV2RwZnkxMzZ6dnZBWWhmbURzNlo1S1NudUhKcXhRSlFzU1dfNkNNUE1hNDhnb0ZBakZWb2N1TmQyM0MxUkxfYnE2aTNSZVlsOWFoLVBpeXN2NElRc3BjMVZJMGFsWU9xYTkwa3NweF92VXpFaDl5?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2125343/raul-castro-step-down-cubas-president-april-2018", + "id": "CBMiqAFBVV95cUxOMDZLV3RfR0tfTGRfVmZPekxlX1FacXBMNUEtVFJQM01ORXRMdXU2cnM5bXUzNE4xMTZyZng3LTNnNHZSM25XUnhZaEhsdm5WQTBkMmZLMFczaFpHeENTZW1XUzdoYTlpbmt5X1NiQlgyUlMwck9qRWxwZkxuallsbURSeXpQSk5EQ1EtWkMxdURlbWY0Q09VUENxQ3pwQ2NNMlhlZVpLd3XSAagBQVVfeXFMTUhnVGVkbkhZdHNHMzBPbVZ6clNCcDhfT01sbm00VVh4cXdOakR3aXM4bFpHQVJwYkRrV2RwZnkxMzZ6dnZBWWhmbURzNlo1S1NudUhKcXhRSlFzU1dfNkNNUE1hNDhnb0ZBakZWb2N1TmQyM0MxUkxfYnE2aTNSZVlsOWFoLVBpeXN2NElRc3BjMVZJMGFsWU9xYTkwa3NweF92VXpFaDl5", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 22, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 356, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Cuba\u2019s Raul Castro extends his rule two months, until April  South China Morning Post", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Cuba\u2019s Raul Castro extends his rule two months, until April  South China Morning Post" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.scmp.com", + "title": "South China Morning Post" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Cuba\u2019s Raul Castro extends his rule two months, until April\nauthor: Associated Press\nurl: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/2125343/raul-castro-step-down-cubas-president-april-2018\nhostname: scmp.com\ndescription: Cuba announced Thursday that its current leadership would stay in power until April 2018, with Raul Castro remaining as president two months longer than expected.\nsitename: South China Morning Post\ndate: 2017-12-22\ncategories: ['Americas']\ntags: ['Raul Castro, Cuba, president, stepping down', 'Americas and the Caribbean', 'Cuba']\n---\n# Raul Castro to remain as Cuba\u2019s president until April 2018, two months later than expected\n\nCuba announced Thursday that its current leadership would stay in power until April 2018, with Raul Castro remaining as president two months longer than expected.\n\nCastro, 86, had previously said that he planned to step down in February at the end of a months-long political cycle in which voters and government officials pick the members of local, provincial and national assemblies and the members of the powerful council of state.\n\nThe National Assembly announced through state media that its current term would run through April 19 instead of ending in February because the impact of Hurricane Irma in September had delayed the start of the political cycle. The National Assembly\u2019s announcement did not explicitly say that Castro would remain until April but the current council of state is also remaining until then, meaning Castro will retain his position as its head barring extraordinary action to replace him. The announcement did not mention any such action.\n\nMany Cubans and outside observers expect Castro to be replaced as president by First Vice-President Miguel Diaz Canel, 57, who has promised to continue Castro\u2019s policies. Those policies include allowing the slow and limited introduction of private enterprise into Cuba\u2019s centrally planned economy, while maintaining a single-party system and tight government control of virtually all aspects of life on the island.\n\nCastro is expected to retain his position as head of the Communist Party, which sets the parameters of government policy and overall direction of the country." + }, + { + "title": "Gloria Estefan left Cuba as a young child, but the island defines her, and her music - Enterprise News", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Gloria Estefan left Cuba as a young child, but the island defines her, and her music - Enterprise News" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMirAFBVV95cUxNSTRORk1kMVBxM3VrZG5GeUpVZnlZR01Qb3RGRWFVamUzUEZOMEZKWDhfN0NMTVpUYjVKYjZ5UVZxYkU0ek5yU1BPQlJqMGhwWEVXMjh2R21hQ24zTWNCSDBkbjNvZGdldDg5bkt5UkZVSk01WnJ5MDNERVNqR2FIWGpqS2VkLXlVTU5OSGI3WE9Rd2RoZW5wTS1fWW4wY3V2NzRRZjNwb2IzaFAz?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.reuters.com/article/world/cuba-boosts-trade-ties-with-cold-war-ally-russia-as-us-disengages-idUSKBN1ED0FI/", + "id": "CBMirAFBVV95cUxNSTRORk1kMVBxM3VrZG5GeUpVZnlZR01Qb3RGRWFVamUzUEZOMEZKWDhfN0NMTVpUYjVKYjZ5UVZxYkU0ek5yU1BPQlJqMGhwWEVXMjh2R21hQ24zTWNCSDBkbjNvZGdldDg5bkt5UkZVSk01WnJ5MDNERVNqR2FIWGpqS2VkLXlVTU5OSGI3WE9Rd2RoZW5wTS1fWW4wY3V2NzRRZjNwb2IzaFAz", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sat, 02 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 2, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 5, + 336, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Gloria Estefan left Cuba as a young child, but the island defines her, and her music  Enterprise News", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Gloria Estefan left Cuba as a young child, but the island defines her, and her music  Enterprise News" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.enterprisenews.com", + "title": "Enterprise News" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 401, + "response": "Error: HTTP 401" + }, + { + "title": "Royal Caribbean Doubles Cruises to Cuba 2018 - 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The Denver Post", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients - The Denver Post" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijAFBVV95cUxQN0FsOVM0ZjFfVVB0ZGU2RU54VU4xcW55dUxVUkl6SmQ3MkRwc1J3SEFMazFiampQVF94cTZBbWdzcEhXTDFTWnBPZU9QUTlvQU1kVEtZTkRaYmxzUXptME1nTXN0QlY4SGVFcGtfT25tNzlNNEVLWk85ZTI0WHlEUDRLai1aQUhoN1B1Wg?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/06/cuba-attacks-us-diplomats-brain-abnormalities/", + "id": "CBMijAFBVV95cUxQN0FsOVM0ZjFfVVB0ZGU2RU54VU4xcW55dUxVUkl6SmQ3MkRwc1J3SEFMazFiampQVF94cTZBbWdzcEhXTDFTWnBPZU9QUTlvQU1kVEtZTkRaYmxzUXptME1nTXN0QlY4SGVFcGtfT25tNzlNNEVLWk85ZTI0WHlEUDRLai1aQUhoN1B1Wg", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 06 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 6, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 340, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients  The Denver Post", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients  The Denver Post" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.denverpost.com", + "title": "The Denver Post" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Doctors identify brain abnormalities in Cuba attack patients\nauthor: Josh Lederman; Content Share\nurl: https://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/06/cuba-attacks-us-diplomats-brain-abnormalities/\nhostname: denverpost.com\ndescription: Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned.\nsitename: The Denver Post\ndate: 2017-12-06\ncategories: ['National News']\n---\n**Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...**\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Doctors treating the U.S. Embassy victims of mysterious, invisible attacks in Cuba have discovered brain abnormalities as they search for clues to explain the hearing, vision, balance and memory damage, The Associated Press has learned.\n\nIt\u2019s the most specific finding to date about physical damage, showing that whatever it was that harmed the Americans, it led to perceptible changes in their brains. The finding is also one of several factors fueling growing skepticism that some kind of sonic weapon was involved.\n\nMedical testing has revealed the embassy workers developed changes to the white matter tracts that let different parts of the brain communicate, several U.S. officials said, describing a growing consensus held by university and government physicians researching the attacks. White matter acts like information highways between brain cells.\n\nLoud, mysterious sounds followed by hearing loss and ear-ringing had led investigators to suspect \u201csonic attacks.\u201d But officials are now carefully avoiding that term. The sounds may have been the byproduct of something else that caused damage, said three U.S. officials briefed on the investigation. They weren\u2019t authorized to discuss it publicly and demanded anonymity.\n\nPhysicians, FBI investigators and U.S. intelligence agencies have spent months trying to piece together the puzzle in Havana, where the U.S. says 24 U.S. government officials and spouses fell ill starting last year in homes and later in some hotels. The United States refers to \u201cspecific attacks\u201d but says it doesn\u2019t know who\u2019s behind them. A few Canadian Embassy staffers also got sick.\n\nDoctors still don\u2019t know how victims ended up with the white matter changes, nor how exactly those changes might relate to their symptoms. U.S. officials wouldn\u2019t say whether the changes were found in all 24 patients.\n\nBut acoustic waves have never been shown to alter the brain\u2019s white matter tracts, said Elisa Konofagou, a biomedical engineering professor at Columbia University who is not involved in the government\u2019s investigation.\n\n\u201cI would be very surprised,\u201d Konofagou said, adding that ultrasound in the brain is used frequently in modern medicine. \u201cWe never see white matter tract problems.\u201d\n\nCuba has adamantly denied involvement, and calls the Trump administration\u2019s claims that U.S. workers were attacked \u201cdeliberate lies.\u201d The new medical details may help the U.S. counter Havana\u2019s complaint that Washington hasn\u2019t presented any evidence.\n\nThe case has plunged the U.S. medical community into uncharted territory. Physicians are treating the symptoms like a new, never-seen-before illness. After extensive testing and trial therapies, they\u2019re developing the first protocols to screen cases and identify the best treatments \u2014 even as the FBI investigation struggles to identify a culprit, method and motive.\n\nDoctors treating the victims wouldn\u2019t speak to the AP, yet their findings are expected to be discussed in an article being submitted to the Journal of the American Medical Association, U.S. officials said. Physicians at the University of Miami and the University of Pennsylvania who have treated the Cuba victims are writing it, with input from the State Department\u2019s medical unit and other government doctors.\n\nBut the article won\u2019t speculate about what technology might have harmed the workers or who would have wanted to target Americans in Cuba. If investigators are any closer to solving those questions, their findings won\u2019t be made public.\n\nThe AP first reported in August that U.S. workers reported sounds audible in parts of rooms but inaudible just a few feet away \u2014 unlike normal sound, which disperses in all directions. Doctors have now come up with a term for such incidents: \u201cdirectional acoustic phenomena.\u201d\n\nMost patients have fully recovered, some after rehabilitation and other treatment, officials said. Many are back at work. About one-quarter had symptoms that persisted for long periods or remain to this day.\n\nEarlier this year, the U.S. said doctors found patients had suffered concussions, known as mild traumatic brain injury, but were uncertain beyond that what had happened in their brains. Concussions are often diagnosed based solely on symptoms.\n\nStudies have found both concussions and white matter damage in Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who survived explosions yet had no other physical damage. But those injuries were attributed mostly to shock waves from explosions. No Havana patients reported explosions or blows to the head.\n\nOutside medical experts said that when the sample of patients is so small, it\u2019s difficult to establish cause and effect.\n\n\u201cThe thing you have to wonder anytime you see something on a scan: Is it due to the episode in question, or was it something pre-existing and unrelated to what happened?\u201d said Dr. Gerard Gianoli, an ear and brain specialist in Louisiana.\n\nAs Cuba works to limit damage to its reputation and economy, its government has produced TV specials and an online summit about its own investigation. Cuba\u2019s experts have concluded that the Americans\u2019 allegations are scientifically impossible.\n\nThe Cubans have urged the U.S. to release information about what it\u2019s found. FBI investigators have spent months comparing cases to pinpoint what factors overlap.\n\nU.S. officials told the AP that investigators have now determined:\n\n\u2014 The most frequently reported sound patients heard was a high-pitched chirp or grating metal. Fewer recalled a low-pitched noise, like a hum.\n\n\u2014 Some were asleep and awakened by the sound, even as others sleeping in the same bed or room heard nothing.\n\n\u2014 Vibrations sometimes accompanied the sound. Victims told investigators these felt similar to the rapid flutter of air when windows of a car are partially rolled down.\n\n\u2014 Those worst off knew right away something was affecting their bodies. Some developed visual symptoms within 24 hours, including trouble focusing on a computer screen.\n\nThe U.S. has not identified any specific precautions it believes can mitigate the risk for diplomats in Havana, three officials said, although an attack hasn\u2019t been reported since late August. Since the Americans started falling ill last year, the State Department has adopted a new protocol for workers before they go to Cuba that includes bloodwork and other \u201cbaseline\u201d tests. If they later show symptoms, doctors can retest and compare.\n\nDoctors still don\u2019t know the long-term medical consequences and expect that epidemiologists, who track disease patterns in populations, will monitor the 24 Americans for life. Consultations with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are underway.\n\n___\n\nAP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report." + }, + { + "title": "Northern Feed and Bean represented during recent trip to Cuba to promote Colorado agriculture - Greeley Tribune", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Northern Feed and Bean represented during recent trip to Cuba to promote Colorado agriculture - Greeley Tribune" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi0gFBVV95cUxQMUZyMEpTbkNYSmluVm9MU1pnQ2N0ZWlFeTM3VmJIVzlUblp1WHRzTnN4dWtJdmVOdVNXYjVfSG9rOENLTTFKYjBRd09TYnlQR2ZRcUhhcWhKR1RYbmVZdEFlSEEweHBYREtrN3RySnpyUlhwZXdwRk5yM1J2RGpSRTlmSjV4eHp0ZFlqa2I5Y3JLTXYzd3doQ1k5d0lwNE5HZVJ4YzBKdC0xWDdGYjYwRmZMSWpKOWotSlJibVFsM0R1LTlyaGdaTXRKWHFzbGZrdEE?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.greeleytribune.com/2017/12/16/northern-feed-and-bean-represented-during-recent-trip-to-cuba-to-promote-colorado-agriculture/", + "id": "CBMi0gFBVV95cUxQMUZyMEpTbkNYSmluVm9MU1pnQ2N0ZWlFeTM3VmJIVzlUblp1WHRzTnN4dWtJdmVOdVNXYjVfSG9rOENLTTFKYjBRd09TYnlQR2ZRcUhhcWhKR1RYbmVZdEFlSEEweHBYREtrN3RySnpyUlhwZXdwRk5yM1J2RGpSRTlmSjV4eHp0ZFlqa2I5Y3JLTXYzd3doQ1k5d0lwNE5HZVJ4YzBKdC0xWDdGYjYwRmZMSWpKOWotSlJibVFsM0R1LTlyaGdaTXRKWHFzbGZrdEE", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Sat, 16 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 16, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 5, + 350, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Northern Feed and Bean represented during recent trip to Cuba to promote Colorado agriculture  Greeley Tribune", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Northern Feed and Bean represented during recent trip to Cuba to promote Colorado agriculture  Greeley Tribune" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.greeleytribune.com", + "title": "Greeley Tribune" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Northern Feed and Bean represented during recent trip to Cuba to promote Colorado agriculture\nauthor: Samantha Fox\nurl: https://www.greeleytribune.com/2017/12/16/northern-feed-and-bean-represented-during-recent-trip-to-cuba-to-promote-colorado-agriculture/\nhostname: greeleytribune.com\ndescription: LUCERNE \u2013 Colorado agriculture took a step toward a trade relationship with Cuba last month, despite the current embargo on the country.Colorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Brown, along with members of the World Trade Center Denver,\u2026\nsitename: Greeley Tribune\ndate: 2017-12-16\ncategories: ['News']\n---\n**Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...**\n\nLUCERNE \u2013 Colorado agriculture took a step toward a trade relationship with Cuba last month, despite the current embargo on the country.\n\nColorado Agriculture Commissioner Don Brown, along with members of the World Trade Center Denver, Northern Feed and Bean, and others, met with Cuban leaders during a trip Nov. 12-16 to the nation.\n\nThe embargo, placed back on Cuba by President Donald Trump, reversed a decision by former President Barack Obama. The embargo once again was placed on the nation after a mysterious sonic attack against United States diplomats in the country. While the source and actual cause has not been determined, Trump quickly rolled back some of the relationships with the country that were temporarily opened.\n\nBrown said the trip was open to anyone in the agriculture industry in Colorado, and the planning started about a year ago, before the embargo was back in place.\n\nThe embargo, however, doesn\u2019t prevent the exchange of agriculture or medicinal goods, which could allow some companies, such as Northern Feed and Bean, to start a relationship with the country before the embargo is lifted.\n\nThe catch? Cuba must pay up front for its goods from any U.S. company, and the country isn\u2019t exactly in the best financial shape.\n\nBut Larry Lande, owner and general manager of Northern Feed and Bean, said the company, based in Lucerne, will continue talks with Cuba to open the possibility of a partnership.\n\n\u201cThey have no money, so they don\u2019t want to prepay any more than they have to, so everything else is being bought on credit with other countries, but it was neat, it was fun, it was interesting and we\u2019re kind of pumped up,\u201d Lande said.\n\nLande said the company hopes a partnership between Northern Feed and Cuba can happen, especially since about 80 percent of Cuba\u2019s food is imported, including only one kind of bean: black beans. The pinto bean market has been untapped for about 10 years, according to Lande.\n\nBut Cuba can get credit with China and Venezuela \u2013 the two countries that export black beans to Cuba \u2013 and has to prepay for American imports. That makes it hard when a country isn\u2019t thriving financially. The U.S. exports chicken and rice to Cuba, so beans aren\u2019t a top priority.\n\nLande said he hopes that will change once the embargo is lifted, with Northern Feed at the forefront. Brown hopes the same, only with Colorado agriculture as a whole.\n\nDuring its trip, the group met with the ministers of agriculture, trade and foreign investment, and foreign relations, which are Cuba\u2019s equivalent of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and other cabinet-level positions.\n\n\u201cIt was quite obvious they wanted to do business with us,\u201d Brown said.\n\nLande said many, including those who work for Alimport, the body that controls everything imported into Cuba, really pushed for the group to talk with U.S. politicians to get the embargo lifted.\n\nIt would be beneficial for Colorado, too, according to Brown. At present, a fourth of Colorado\u2019s ag production is exported; a partnership with Cuba could increase that.\n\nPlus, it wouldn\u2019t be exports from just Colorado. According to Brown, the hope when the embargo was lifted was for Cuban cigars and rum to be traded to Colorado, as well.\n\nBut before that happens, the hope for Lande is to try to find a way to start selling pinto beans, albeit at a lower price, to start that relationship.\n\n\u201cObviously, with the embargo on, you can\u2019t get overly excited yet, but we\u2019re still going to try to sell them a few beans if it\u2019s acceptable,\u201d Lande said. \u201cI know it takes a while to get permits and get everything put together, but we\u2019re going to have our guy, who lives in Miami, go back to Cuba,\u201d\n\n\n\u2013 Samantha Fox is a reporter for The Fence Post. She can be reached at (970) 392-4410, sfox@greeleytribune.com or on Twitter @FoxonaFarm." + }, + { + "title": "Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration Cigar Review \u2013 - The Cigar Authority", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration Cigar Review \u2013 - The Cigar Authority" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMif0FVX3lxTE5XRUxYZk1SRFB6NVJhbGZCdTVQSU1SX2U3LXZ3d2pJRWFVc0x4Rlg2R1VEdVI3SUYwWUl1UEo3b1N5MTNpOHowWXhtNHRfZ01PYXpxZmtqZUxXX2VQZHVTYkRDVmNaZktNRlRsMkhJOUpZbmpDNE84TS0wOWZsMkk?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/12/21/Raul-Castro-to-remain-president-of-Cuba-until-April/5201513894796/", + "id": "CBMif0FVX3lxTE5XRUxYZk1SRFB6NVJhbGZCdTVQSU1SX2U3LXZ3d2pJRWFVc0x4Rlg2R1VEdVI3SUYwWUl1UEo3b1N5MTNpOHowWXhtNHRfZ01PYXpxZmtqZUxXX2VQZHVTYkRDVmNaZktNRlRsMkhJOUpZbmpDNE84TS0wOWZsMkk", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Tue, 05 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 5, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 1, + 339, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration Cigar Review \u2013  The Cigar Authority", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration Cigar Review \u2013  The Cigar Authority" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://thecigarauthority.com", + "title": "The Cigar Authority" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Raul Castro to remain president of Cuba until April - upi.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro to remain president of Cuba until April - upi.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiuAFBVV95cUxPWXlfa3Q3MThlNW1ZZHVpTmRnTGZzMWxJUjRPWi1xZkdwcHg3SERzMy11MHRJQlhlY2pMYlNmSV9tT2RmNkxhY0pXQW9kdTI4MDVsSUYyRC1US0x3ZlA2TnZvSWVpbHh6VjRPMXRWOTRPUjFtNE9TUHVvX3NGNEd3cG40NHRzc1pieWFBT3k3ck1mWXR6aWpNZW1uZTJZTWpWV18yczNBSDdIbEZjNmR4SFljTW5tRWZq?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://thecigarauthority.com/casa-cuba-divine-inspiration-cigar-review-2/", + "id": "CBMiuAFBVV95cUxPWXlfa3Q3MThlNW1ZZHVpTmRnTGZzMWxJUjRPWi1xZkdwcHg3SERzMy11MHRJQlhlY2pMYlNmSV9tT2RmNkxhY0pXQW9kdTI4MDVsSUYyRC1US0x3ZlA2TnZvSWVpbHh6VjRPMXRWOTRPUjFtNE9TUHVvX3NGNEd3cG40NHRzc1pieWFBT3k3ck1mWXR6aWpNZW1uZTJZTWpWV18yczNBSDdIbEZjNmR4SFljTW5tRWZq", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Raul Castro to remain president of Cuba until April  upi.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Raul Castro to remain president of Cuba until April  upi.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.upi.com", + "title": "upi.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration Cigar Review \u2013\nauthor: The Cigar Authority\nurl: https://thecigarauthority.com/casa-cuba-divine-inspiration-cigar-review-2/\nhostname: thecigarauthority.com\ndescription: Cigar Reviews, News and Legislation\nsitename: The Cigar Authority\ndate: 2017-12-05\ncategories: ['Cigar Reviews', 'Featured', 'Reviews']\n---\nThe Casa Cuba was a new blend that was given to the factory by phone from Carols Fuente Sr. before he passed away in 2016. It\u2019s a cigar that is very limited and the only way retailers can get them is based on how much they order at the annual IPCPR trade show.\n\n**Cigar:** Casa Cuba\n\n**Wrapper:** Unknown\n\n**Binder:** Unknown\n\n**Filler:** Unknown\n\n**Length:** 6 1/8\u2033\n\n**Ring Gauge:** 47\n\n**Vitola:** Corona Gorda (Divine Inspiration)\n\n**The Look:** Packaged in stained wood cabinet style boxes the cigars are layered horizontally instead of vertically. These 30 count boxes feature a cigar with a gorgeous red, cream, gold and black band that look the same as the regular Casa Cuba release. As for the cigar, the wrapper won\u2019t win any awards. Quite frankly, it is sickly looking as it lacks uniformity in its coloring. In the hand the cigar has a subtle press to it from being in the box and its well packed.\n\n**The Notes:** The cold draw of the Casa Cuba gets even better with age. But for today\u2019s review we will smoke one from the 2017 release. There are notes of cinnamon and cream. I have a few cigars from last years release in my personal collection and its even more enjoyable. The nose off the foot of the cigar is rich molasses and maple. Once we light up the Divine Inspiration there are earthy notes with a touch of cedar and as the first third progresses there is a hint of cinnamon and a maple like retrohale.\n\nIn the second third of the cigar there are some hints of wheat along with cinnamon notes that puts this cigar in my comfort zone. Around the half way point some hints of pecans make an appearance with a smooth creamy finish. The retrohale continues to add maple and spice to the finish.\n\nThe last third sees the fuente blended cigar develop hints of caramel with continued maple notes especially on the retrohale. The cigar is rounded out with touches of cedar and wheat.\n\n**The Finish:** Aging sems to be a common theme of limited release Fuente cigars. While the Casa Cuba Divine Inspiration is ready to smoke right out of the box, if you have the patience to sit on these, they are even better and well worth the wait.\n\n**Score:** 91\n\n**Price:** $8.99 /$249.99" + }, + { + "title": "Venezuela Sells Oil Refinery Stake To Cuba - Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Venezuela Sells Oil Refinery Stake To Cuba - Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMinwFBVV95cUxOWWZUQlYxeDg0UU1BbHoyMV9RUzN5cHh3b1FhNlRtMGxXc3ZsVm1FRFptaDNETWhlMGhVek9UXzhXTHJFdDQ3ME9IWktFWTZRZWs0YUg5aXJQdXo1VlpnYWItY05sREpJdnpoRktYcndLakwyVS1fOW9PY3NBWVhfX0djX3p3NElNVFNvRV9MM2pmZ0E5RjdLRTU3eFQtM2s?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Venezuela-Sells-Oil-Refinery-Stake-To-Cuba.html", + "id": "CBMinwFBVV95cUxOWWZUQlYxeDg0UU1BbHoyMV9RUzN5cHh3b1FhNlRtMGxXc3ZsVm1FRFptaDNETWhlMGhVek9UXzhXTHJFdDQ3ME9IWktFWTZRZWs0YUg5aXJQdXo1VlpnYWItY05sREpJdnpoRktYcndLakwyVS1fOW9PY3NBWVhfX0djX3p3NElNVFNvRV9MM2pmZ0E5RjdLRTU3eFQtM2s", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Fri, 15 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 15, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 4, + 349, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Venezuela Sells Oil Refinery Stake To Cuba  Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Venezuela Sells Oil Refinery Stake To Cuba  Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://oilprice.com", + "title": "Crude Oil Prices Today | OilPrice.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Venezuela Sells Oil Refinery Stake To Cuba | OilPrice.com\nauthor: Irina Slav\nurl: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Venezuela-Sells-Oil-Refinery-Stake-To-Cuba.html\nhostname: oilprice.com\ndescription: Struggling Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA has sold its stake in the Cienfuegos refinery to Cuba\nsitename: OilPrice.com\ndate: 2017-12-15\ntags: ['PDVSA, Venezuela, Crude, Oil, Cuba, Refinery, Tanker, Demand, Supply']\n---\nAI companies avoiding grid connections\u2026\n\nOil prices fell sharply and\u2026\n\nVenezuela has sold its stake in the Cienfuegos refinery to its partner in the joint venture, Cuba. Venezuela\u2019s state oil company PDVSA held 49 percent in the refinery, and according to a former government official from the South American country, Cuba took over the stake as payment for debts that had been incurred from tanker rentals and professional services, Reuters reported.\n\nBased on reports from Cuban media, it seems that the official takeover was the natural conclusion of a de facto takeover: Cuban daily Granma noted that the Cienfuegos refinery has been operating as a fully Cuban state facility since this August.\n\nThe refinery has a capacity of 65,000 barrels of crude daily, but in August this year it only processed about 24,000 bpd, the Cuban daily said. What\u2019s more, Venezuela\u2019s oil industry troubles led to a change in the grades it sent to Cienfuegos to heavier ones that are more difficult to process.\n\nCienfuegos produces fuels for the Cuban market, which relies on Venezuelan crude oil to satisfy more than two-thirds of its fuel demand. Yet since 2014, deliveries of Venezuelan oil have declined consistently, and are now 40 percent lower than three years ago, which has prompted Cuba to look elsewhere for the commodity.\n\n**Related: The \u2018Unknown Unknowns\u2019 That Threaten U.S. Shale**\n\nEarlier this year, Cuba received a Russian crude delivery from Rosneft, and the Russian company has indicated it was willing to expand its cooperation with the Caribbean island.\n\nThere are few foreign companies with a presence in the Cuban energy market. One of these, Australian Melbana Energy, earlier this year announced that it had planned a drilling campaign in an onshore block that could contain as much as 44 billion barrels of crude, of which 637 million barrels recoverable. If Melbana makes a successful discovery, Cuba would in the future be able to diminish its dependence on imported crude and fuels.\n\nBy Irina Slav for Oilprice.com\n\n**More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:**\n\nIrina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry.\n\nis like doing the same with the Mafia\n\nthey rob you blind" + }, + { + "title": "'We came that close to nuclear war': Veteran was on front lines for Cuban Missile Crisis - DelmarvaNow.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "'We came that close to nuclear war': Veteran was on front lines for Cuban Missile Crisis - DelmarvaNow.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi1wFBVV95cUxPNzltbWt0LVRkZUp1WEs5Vm9qMU5XaWNSQ2ItTmdwaVFwWVJ1N2tLckpYaGJrRzVpZWZ1V0E3TmRkd2NFemRDaXotaHFfanZ5QlJIMW1LUlRCZEVQU3p5V2hwY1h0ZHpJWjh1Xzd1SW42dDhaaWl5NlRiSUJySW1BeUtpUEtrSXJGWFI5czF6WUkwMnlQUzZZVDZDbFotSi1DSkRZLXR5andibWNxbWF4Ynh2T01naUNjNnN1WU1TTHhPczF4bnV3dGxKT1JKQXBPLTYtXzZQSQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2017/12/13/cuban-missile-crisis-veteran-receives-recognition-55-years-later/945715001/", + "id": "CBMi1wFBVV95cUxPNzltbWt0LVRkZUp1WEs5Vm9qMU5XaWNSQ2ItTmdwaVFwWVJ1N2tLckpYaGJrRzVpZWZ1V0E3TmRkd2NFemRDaXotaHFfanZ5QlJIMW1LUlRCZEVQU3p5V2hwY1h0ZHpJWjh1Xzd1SW42dDhaaWl5NlRiSUJySW1BeUtpUEtrSXJGWFI5czF6WUkwMnlQUzZZVDZDbFotSi1DSkRZLXR5andibWNxbWF4Ynh2T01naUNjNnN1WU1TTHhPczF4bnV3dGxKT1JKQXBPLTYtXzZQSQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 13 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 13, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 347, + 0 + ], + "summary": "'We came that close to nuclear war': Veteran was on front lines for Cuban Missile Crisis  DelmarvaNow.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "'We came that close to nuclear war': Veteran was on front lines for Cuban Missile Crisis  DelmarvaNow.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.delmarvanow.com", + "title": "DelmarvaNow.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like - huckmag.com", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like - huckmag.com" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMilgFBVV95cUxNdVc2cjJibVZLWXZoMDNrdlByeVhpWWxUemhWZmF1Y2xPcEtpblp1ZDIxRVJKWkNqbHJWU01JS2NHU0ttNGE5N0Jxb1R1bmFaaVM2Mms3UUZfbW1HazhwOXczYms3NmZOY3RJVEF1TW5PbDFmQ09GdUxkZHRFVEVWSzBLamxYOEhVMm5TUkVDU1p1MGF5cEE?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.huckmag.com/article/photographer-lisette-poole-migration-story-journey-cuba-usa", + "id": "CBMilgFBVV95cUxNdVc2cjJibVZLWXZoMDNrdlByeVhpWWxUemhWZmF1Y2xPcEtpblp1ZDIxRVJKWkNqbHJWU01JS2NHU0ttNGE5N0Jxb1R1bmFaaVM2Mms3UUZfbW1HazhwOXczYms3NmZOY3RJVEF1TW5PbDFmQ09GdUxkZHRFVEVWSzBLamxYOEhVMm5TUkVDU1p1MGF5cEE", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 07 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 7, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 341, + 0 + ], + "summary": "This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like  huckmag.com", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like  huckmag.com" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.huckmag.com", + "title": "huckmag.com" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like\nauthor: Lisette Poole\nurl: https://www.huckmag.com/article/photographer-lisette-poole-migration-story-journey-cuba-usa\nhostname: huckmag.com\ndescription: Photographer Lisette Poole spent 51 dangerous days travelling illegally from Cuba to the US, crossing 11 countries via smugglers and roadless jungles.\nsitename: This is what smuggling yourself into another country looks like\ndate: 2017-12-07\ntags: ['life, photojournalist, lisette, poole, spent, days, documenting, cuban, countries, smugglers, roadless, jungles, using, point-and-shoot, camera']\n---\n# A photographer's 8,000-mile journey from Cuba to the US\n\n- Text by Lisette Poole\n- Photography by Lisette Poole\n\nMy life has been shaped by waves of Cuban migration. My mother and her family fled the Revolution. I have droves of cousins who left in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift, the \u201990s rafter crisis, and most recently many loved ones who made the journey overland from South America. Because of this, I felt compelled to make the journey myself.\n\nAs I worked in Havana documenting the impact of increasing tourism due to an opening in US relations, I saw another growing phenomenon. Cubans were fleeing the island in record numbers \u2013 people who felt the influx of capital wouldn\u2019t reach their lives. Marta Amaro was one of them.\n\nI met Marta in late 2015; she was 52. She befriended me instantly and began speaking of her plans to leave. One day, eight months later, she called: \u201cMe and Liset are buying tickets tomorrow. Are you coming or not?\u201d\n\nHer friend Liset Barrios, 24, was a bold and charming sex worker. She\u2019d convinced her American boyfriend to pay for her journey and the two made a last-minute decision to follow in the footsteps of thousands of Cubans by making the trek together. They were chasing after \u2018wet foot, dry foot\u2019, a now defunct 22-year policy that allowed Cubans almost automatic asylum once reaching the US.\n\n\n\nThe three of us flew to Georgetown, Guyana, 10 days later. I talked with them constantly about my role as a journalist; I was determined not to steer their course. We also discussed money and the fact that I couldn\u2019t pay their way. I realised I would have to go all-in to do this properly, crossing borders illegally myself and paying the coyotes (human smugglers) too.\n\nAlong the way, we had run-ins with migration officials and were detained on a few occasions. I posed as a migrant, using Cuban culture and my closeness with Marta to mask the fact that I\u2019m so obviously American. Liset took charge, negotiating funds from her boyfriend in Chicago to pay for both her and Marta. She got us out of sticky situations with law enforcement and smugglers using sheer determination and street smarts. Marta followed along, mostly disheartened and missing home.\n\n\n\nTogether we made our way through the Darien Gap, a remote smuggling corridor between Panama and Colombia. Usually, we were the only women among groups of up to 50 migrants and jungle guides. After six days in the Darien, we thought the worst was over. We made our way to Costa Rica and were dropped off in the middle of the night at a defunct motel with about 20 Cuban migrants sleeping on mattresses across the floor.\n\nThe following day Liset realised that Joey, her boyfriend, could only send enough money for her, but not Marta. Her plan was to send for her friend in the following days. When Marta found out, she flew into a rage. She turned me in to the smugglers, telling them that I was a journalist working to expose them. I had no idea what they would do.\n\nThe smugglers sat me down and asked me plainly to explain myself. When I admitted I was a journalist, the leader took me aside and said, \u201cYou\u2019re lucky you told the truth. I was told to tie you to a bed and\u2026 I don\u2019t even want to tell you what else.\u201d\n\nMy colleagues saved my life that day. They were on hand to answer my terrified texts and urged me to be honest about what I was doing there.\n\nAfter this, the smugglers tried to separate me and Liset, but we fought to stay together. They asked me to leave my computer and camera behind (which I got back later in the US), and drove us to a quiet stretch of highway. Luckily, they let us go.\n\nWe spent the next several days in the Nicaraguan countryside without food or water. We had to keep each other standing at times. After crossing into Honduras at night, holding hands with migrants from Nepal and other Cubans, the rest of the journey was only a few days of flights and buses to Texas.\n\nThere is debate among journalists about where to draw the line. Ethics are of utmost importance to me. But as a photographer, there was no way to document this story without putting myself in their shoes. Naturally, I grew close to the women I photographed. We relied on one another completely; we shared experiences that I have yet to digest. As journalists, we can\u2019t deny that we are also human \u2013 and at times that will take precedence.\n\nSince working on this story, I have a newfound respect for migrants who leave home in search of a better life. I am in awe of their will to survive and have seen first-hand their ability to laugh in the face of fear and make the best out of tough situations. I hope the work humanises the migrant experience for those who detach from this global crisis and choose to turn a blind eye.\n\n**Marta traveled with the next group of migrants and crossed into the US 12 days after Liset. They have reunited and are now friends. **\n\n*A Migration Story* will be published by Red Hook Editions in 2018. Find out more about Lisette Poole.\n\n**Buy a limited-edition print by Lisette Poole from our printshop, or see her work in Rule-Breakers: The Exhibition, showing at 71a London until December 22. **\n\n**Enjoyed this article? ****Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.**\n\n## You might like\n\n## Reynaldo Rivera\u2019s intimate portrait of queer Latino love\n\nPropiedad Privada \u2014 Growing up during the AIDS pandemic, the photographer entered a world where his love was not only taboo, but dangerous. His new monograph presents inward-looking shots made over four decades, which reclaim the power of desire.\n\nWritten by: Miss Rosen\n\n## In photos: The newsagents keeping print alive\n\nSave the stands \u2014 With Huck 83 hitting shelves around the world, we met a few people who continue to stock print magazines, defying an enduringly tough climate for physical media and the high street.\n\nWritten by: Ella Glossop\n\n## Inside Bombay Beach, California\u2019s \u2018Rotting Riviera\u2019\n\nMan-made decay \u2014 The Salton Sea was created by accident after a failed attempt to divert the Colorado River in the early 20th century. Jack Burke reports from its post-apocalyptic shores, where DIY art and ecological collapse meet.\n\nWritten by: Jack Burke\n\n## The quiet, introspective delight of Finland\u2019s car cruising scene\n\nPilluralli \u2014 In the country\u2019s small towns and rural areas, young people meet up to drive and hang out with their friends. Jussi Puikkonen spent five years photographing its idiosyncratic pace.\n\nWritten by: Josh Jones\n\n## The last days of St Agnes Place, London\u2019s longest ever running squat\n\nOff the grid \u2014 Photographer Janine Wiedel spent four years documenting the people of the Kennington squat, who for decades made a forgotten row of terraced houses a home.\n\nWritten by: Isaac Muk\n\n## How Japan revolutionised art & photography in the \u201960s and \u201970s\n\nFrom Angura to Provoke \u2014 A new photobook chronicles the radical avant-garde scene of the postwar period, whose subversion of the medium of image making remains shocking and groundbreaking to this day.\n\nWritten by: Miss Rosen" + }, + { + "title": "La Cocina Cubana restaurant brings Cuban cuisine to downtown Lansing - Lansing State Journal", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "La Cocina Cubana restaurant brings Cuban cuisine to downtown Lansing - Lansing State Journal" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMizAFBVV95cUxObFNzdWJZZWh3U1NLUjhZVkowM3E3M2JuR0Z2UThxa0JRV3ZOLTlWWnVHTC1qNmFMTGo5eWN5RjdSVU1VMlFHVFA4YlNFdDhKUmwwNy1WSVhnT1lhaEthMndBODZIdXZyU0lpdnVsSFF2b1JscW9ubEtmbVdhOFRBU0dMWEFxbXV2c3QzN201Z3hQZFhxeGhGdnFtOUU2Rk92UzdNSnNjSTdZS1ktVVczRHZQMFI5cTY0WDIyUmpJU0g3c3psZWFXcXFlczA?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/life/2017/12/18/la-cocina-cubana-cuban-food-cousine-restaurant-downtown-lansing/913310001/", + "id": "CBMizAFBVV95cUxObFNzdWJZZWh3U1NLUjhZVkowM3E3M2JuR0Z2UThxa0JRV3ZOLTlWWnVHTC1qNmFMTGo5eWN5RjdSVU1VMlFHVFA4YlNFdDhKUmwwNy1WSVhnT1lhaEthMndBODZIdXZyU0lpdnVsSFF2b1JscW9ubEtmbVdhOFRBU0dMWEFxbXV2c3QzN201Z3hQZFhxeGhGdnFtOUU2Rk92UzdNSnNjSTdZS1ktVVczRHZQMFI5cTY0WDIyUmpJU0g3c3psZWFXcXFlczA", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Mon, 18 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 18, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 0, + 352, + 0 + ], + "summary": "La Cocina Cubana restaurant brings Cuban cuisine to downtown Lansing  Lansing State Journal", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "La Cocina Cubana restaurant brings Cuban cuisine to downtown Lansing  Lansing State Journal" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.lansingstatejournal.com", + "title": "Lansing State Journal" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "The first ten years of U.S. economic attacks on Cuba - 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(You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Locks\u2026 and a Community to Win) - The Nation", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Hairdressers of the World Unite! (You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Locks\u2026 and a Community to Win) - The Nation" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi0wFBVV95cUxQM0paUkJUeTM4bngwZlF1clp2SU1uRUxKTG5sdEVCX1RneVBGbFdFVnpybVIzeUZVdG1jU0s4cUswX25LZXZWcEdtNjFkTjZIRkd1SUNyTjVud2VGbmlzVFhHenZBa25rcXl4VEF5Sms2WVRNSjI0MVk2bDRydUJ0V0dFTlUwVFkyby1Ra0drNW4yNkZuVlQtWWdPb3Zwck1CZmVQVWtWSS1iRTM5SHdSSGkzaW1HMVMwemE5Y0Fqc3JBOFBBQTB6MWtxejYzRUx5Qlk4?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/hairdressers-of-the-world-unite-you-have-nothing-to-lose-but-your-locks-and-a-community-to-win/", + "id": "CBMi0wFBVV95cUxQM0paUkJUeTM4bngwZlF1clp2SU1uRUxKTG5sdEVCX1RneVBGbFdFVnpybVIzeUZVdG1jU0s4cUswX25LZXZWcEdtNjFkTjZIRkd1SUNyTjVud2VGbmlzVFhHenZBa25rcXl4VEF5Sms2WVRNSjI0MVk2bDRydUJ0V0dFTlUwVFkyby1Ra0drNW4yNkZuVlQtWWdPb3Zwck1CZmVQVWtWSS1iRTM5SHdSSGkzaW1HMVMwemE5Y0Fqc3JBOFBBQTB6MWtxejYzRUx5Qlk4", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 28 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 28, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 362, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Hairdressers of the World Unite! (You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Locks\u2026 and a Community to Win)  The Nation", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Hairdressers of the World Unite! (You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Locks\u2026 and a Community to Win)  The Nation" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.thenation.com", + "title": "The Nation" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Hairdressers of the World Unite! (You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Locks\u2026 and a Community to Win)\nauthor: Sujatha Fernandes; Roane\nurl: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/hairdressers-of-the-world-unite-you-have-nothing-to-lose-but-your-locks-and-a-community-to-win/\nhostname: thenation.com\ndescription: In one Havana neighborhood, they\u2019re doing exactly that.\nsitename: The Nation\ndate: 2017-12-28\ntags: ['Cuba']\n---\nDecember 27 is celebrated in Cuba as the Day of the Barber and Hairdresser. The initiative was inaugurated by the prerevolutionary Cuban government in 1946, in honor of the barber, poet, and historian Juan Evangelista Vald\u00e9s Veit\u00eda. In recent times, a local community project in the historic district of Old Havana known as Artecorte has sought to revive this holiday\u2014and dignify the trade of hairdressing\u2014with acts of public theater, hairstyle shows, and art festivals.\n\nBeginning in 2010, Artecorte, together with the City Historian\u2019s Office, renovated a small stretch of Calle Aguiar, baptizing it \u201cHairdressers\u2019 Alley.\u201d They restored the facades of the old colonial-style buildings and repaved the sidewalks of the languishing street. At the entrance to Hairdressers\u2019 Alley there is a sculpture of a gigantic pair of scissors made of black steel by artist Alberto Matamoros. The inscription beneath it reads, \u201cA Tribute to the Barbers and Hairdressers of the World.\u201d\n\nThe project has been driven by local resident and legendary hairdresser Gilberto Valladares Reina (Papito), who sees hairdressing as an art and hairdressers as central to organizing communities and bringing about change in their societies. Papito hopes to connect with barbers and hairdressers around the world by requesting that they send a pair of their old hairdressing scissors to Artecorte, which will then attach them to the scissors monument, along with their names.\n\nPapito\u2019s hair salon, which also functions as a Barbershop Museum, is on the second floor of a walk-up building at the start of the street. It is filled with original paintings on the theme of hairdressing and antique collectors\u2019 items of old cash registers, barber chairs, shaving brushes, and hairdressing equipment from the past century. A decade ago, this salon was the only business on what was a very poor street. Today, in this small stretch of only about 100 meters, there are 23 locally run small businesses such as outdoor caf\u00e9s and restaurants that employ more than 100 people. The proceeds from these businesses are put back into the community, which includes a free bartending school and free hairdressing school on Calle Aguiar, in addition to a range of other activities in the broader Santo \u00c1ngel barrio. The walls and streets are filled with paintings, sculptures, and murals, as well as history placards showing old pictures of the street and the neighborhood from the 19th century.\n\nPapito started the community school of hairdressing in 2010 to teach a trade to local kids, but now young people come from across the city to take his classes. The school is on the second floor of one of the colonial buildings that line the street. Papito, a light-skinned Cuban with a shaved head in his late 40s, stands before a group of some 20 students all attired in black. He makes notes on a whiteboard, cleaning it with a cloth and some shampoo, as he philosophizes, entertains, and imparts history while bantering with the students, who seem to hang on his every word.\n## Popular\n\n\"swipe left below to view more authors\"Swipe \u2192\n\n\nPart of the course involves learning the basic skills of the trade, but Papito wants to equip his students with much more than technical training. He emphasizes that hairdressing is not just about cutting people\u2019s hair. \u201cWe are artists, we are creators, we inspire,\u201d he tells the students, encouraging them to look for inspiration in films, videos, magazines, television, from people walking by in the street. \u201cOne of the best fonts of inspiration is found in nature,\u201d he says. \u201cShape, color, and the rhythms and movement of waves in the sea have inspired painters, poets, composers, and stylists.\u201d\n\nHistory is also fodder for inspiration. Pointing to the posters behind him\u2014signature haircuts and barbershop classics from the 1940s\u2014Papito tells his students to research hairstyles from earlier epochs with an eye to reinventing them. He says inspiration also frequently comes from street styles and nightspots. Papito wants to communicate to the students that the stylist is an artist who engages with society and works for social change. This is different from the profession in other parts of the world, where hairdressing is seen as a moneymaking business. \u201cIn Cuba,\u201d says Papito, \u201chairdressers have the power to do something good for society.\u201d\n\nThe students attending the school are from a range of backgrounds\u2014white and mixed-race, but few black Cubans. One wonders if there is much awareness of the ways in which black hairstyles have long been seen as an art form and as a political statement. In the 1940s, African Americans expressed their identity through the conk hairstyle, and in the 1960s, Afro-Cubans wore natural Afros in solidarity with the Black Power movement in the United States.\n\nJust a few houses up from the hairdressing school is a bartending school upstairs in the Bar Caba\u00f1a, where a visiting American bartender addresses a roomful of young Cubans dressed in red T-shirts with the logo of the French-Cuban company Havana Club, which funds the classes. He offers anecdotes and cultural explanations about such things as the home cocktail bar often found in American living rooms. Over a nine-month period, the students are trained in bartending skills; upon graduating, they will get a job in Cuba\u2019s expanding tourism industry. One of the prerequisites for acceptance into the course is English-language skills. The students are also taught about the history of cocktails in Cuba, so that they can entertain patrons with this information.\n\nBoth the bartending and hairdressing schools are affiliated with the Artecorte project, and the students are encouraged to volunteer in community programs in the Santo \u00c1ngel barrio. The students organize activities such as painting, sports, and clown shows for neighborhood children, and they facilitate a weekly dance party with a live DJ for older Cubans at the Nueva Vida senior center, one street over. They also collect donations of clothes, soap, and shampoo for the seniors, and cut their hair.\n\nWhen we arrive at the dance party, a 90-year-old woman with her white hair tied in two buns has the microphone and is belting out the lyrics to \u201cQue Manera de Quererte,\u201d by the Puerto Rican salsero Gilberto Santa Rosa. She dances in step to the music coming from the DJ and sings with great emotion: \u201cWhere can I get wet if not in your laughter? Where can I drink you if not in your mouth?\u201d An elderly man in a tank top and cap swivels his hips next to her, and a black woman in a red headscarf spins around and waves her arms in the air. A few others get up, shaking their hips as they dance with some of the students. The other seated seniors whoop loudly, clap, and dance in their seats. \u201cIn what way can I love you?\u201d they all chime in on the chorus. \u201cIn what way?\u201d\n\nPapito was born in 1969 in Santo \u00c1ngel. At the age of 18, he started working as a hairdresser in one of the state-run salons in the working-class neighborhood of Jes\u00fas Mar\u00eda. Until 1993, when private businesses were legalized, almost all hairdressers and barbers were government employees. Papito opened his own private salon in 1999, where he has been working ever since. In the same year, he founded Artecorte.\n\nThe Cuban government authorized self-employment partly in response to the high unemployment that beset Cuba after the collapse of its main benefactor, the Soviet Union. Licenses were permitted for a range of trades, and in 1995 small family restaurants, known as *paladares*, were legalized. By 1996, there were more than 200,000 small businesses in Cuba, and with additional reforms introduced by Ra\u00fal Castro in 2010, that number has reached about 535,000.\n\nOverall, the government\u2019s approach toward small businesses has been incoherent. It has recognized the contributions made by these businesses to the national economy and in alleviating poverty in the face of reduced state services, but the government is also concerned about this sector\u2019s political role, which it fears may eventually pose a threat. At times, the government has withdrawn licenses in certain trades and reintroduced restrictive legislation. Small businesses are vulnerable to crackdowns, and have often found themselves attacked by the media.\n\nFor some North American observers, the Cuban small-business sector represents the repressed spirit of entrepreneurialism that will liberate Cubans from the shackles of a state-managed economy. When then\u2013US President Barack Obama visited Cuba in March 2016, he met with a group of Cuban entrepreneurs, including Papito. According to Papito, Obama told the assembled group that entrepreneurial youth in the United States face no limitations, and can make $100 million just by working out of their garage. Hearing Obama, however, Papito felt that such a system would not work in Cuba, where there is less of an individual drive to become a millionaire when so many cannot make ends meet, as well as a strong sense of solidarity with friends and neighbors who help one another out. \u201cCulturally, we are different from the US and other parts of the world where everything is based in consumerism and individualism,\u201d he said. \u201cCubans are socialized differently.\u201d\n\nRather than joining a political opposition, many small-business owners like Papito have become informal leaders of their communities. Popular Power is the official system of local representation that was put in place after the revolution to reflect the concerns of the local barrios at the municipal and provincial levels. Papito\u2019s father was a Popular Power delegate of the Santo \u00c1ngel barrio, and on one of the doors of Hairdressers\u2019 Alley, a notice announces an upcoming assembly for the nomination of Popular Power delegates. But in recent times, people have come to have less faith in this system due to the lack of government resources. Hence the rise of informal leaders like Papito, who can address local infrastructure problems with his own funds or by soliciting donations from local residents and businesses. \u201cBy being an informal leader, I can do a lot more,\u201d Papito says. \u201cThings are not so politicized.\u201d\n\nPapito has started a national network of hairdressers that has 150 members in smaller towns and provinces across the country. Part of his mission has always been to share knowledge of the trade with people outside Havana. One video shows a younger Papito with short, bleached-blond hair visiting some members of the network in the central provincial town of Santa Clara. A woman explains her attraction to the profession. \u201cYou have many dreams inside you, and this gives you a way to express them,\u201d she says. On December 27, 2007, 300 hairdressers from across the country occupied the Plaza Vieja in Old Havana in order to mark the Day of the Barber and Hairdresser. This *corte simult\u00e1neo*, or \u201csimultaneous haircut,\u201d was an act of theater that showed hairdressers rescuing the artistic values of the trade.\n\nThe Artecorte project has parallels with other urban-revitalization projects in former industrial or working-class neighborhoods around the world. As with these other projects, there are concerns here that the regeneration is contributing to a gentrification that could eventually force out the original residents, who are most vulnerable. Indeed, the presence of groups like Havana Club may signal moves toward shaping revitalization in the interests of the tourism industry and corporations. Yet unlike these other cases, Artecorte is directed by local residents, with barrio solidarity as their primary goal. \u201cThere is a crisis of values in our world today,\u201d says Papito. \u201cWe cannot solve poverty only with money. We also need a sense of commonality.\u201d" + }, + { + "title": "Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela\u2019s Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse (Published 2017) - The New York Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela\u2019s Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse (Published 2017) - The New York Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMif0FVX3lxTE5SSlpXejE5SXJvWFpJX2tDT0lWRlBDMHFneXl4ZDVCZWR6X0w0RWpTMXlHT0tvZEFVRmZWQk8xRFJ5X20wQnVDTVVUdF9VOFZWRDl2d0RGa21ycGNCMXRENnBPWHM5SU85bWlGRTBod1puWEFKV2RvOWpmU0Rta0E?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/world/americas/venezuela-oil-pdvsa.html", + "id": "CBMif0FVX3lxTE5SSlpXejE5SXJvWFpJX2tDT0lWRlBDMHFneXl4ZDVCZWR6X0w0RWpTMXlHT0tvZEFVRmZWQk8xRFJ5X20wQnVDTVVUdF9VOFZWRDl2d0RGa21ycGNCMXRENnBPWHM5SU85bWlGRTBod1puWEFKV2RvOWpmU0Rta0E", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Wed, 27 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 27, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 2, + 361, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela\u2019s Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse (Published 2017)  The New York Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Once a Cash Cow, Venezuela\u2019s Oil Company Now Verges on Collapse (Published 2017)  The New York Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.nytimes.com", + "title": "The New York Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 403, + "response": "Error: HTTP 403" + }, + { + "title": "Nescor S.A. - 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Havana Times", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "How Cuba\u2019s News Policy Affects the Economy - Havana Times" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMigAFBVV95cUxOVWozTDFXV2ppYjlLcENnSTZRMHJsMVM5NjliVE4tUE5Ka3pRQW01TVd2UXFmWkUtRW1nRHpmaWVMTXVfQzB0Z2cwRzVnQ3QtZUk4NDRlb3RQUy1hSmVUZE5fbzczYmkxbnhsa1c5VDk0Y1JoMlNGYjhXTFllM1FMNQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://havanatimes.org/features/how-cubas-news-policy-affects-the-economy/", + "id": "CBMigAFBVV95cUxOVWozTDFXV2ppYjlLcENnSTZRMHJsMVM5NjliVE4tUE5Ka3pRQW01TVd2UXFmWkUtRW1nRHpmaWVMTXVfQzB0Z2cwRzVnQ3QtZUk4NDRlb3RQUy1hSmVUZE5fbzczYmkxbnhsa1c5VDk0Y1JoMlNGYjhXTFllM1FMNQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 21, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 355, + 0 + ], + "summary": "How Cuba\u2019s News Policy Affects the Economy  Havana Times", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "How Cuba\u2019s News Policy Affects the Economy  Havana Times" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://havanatimes.org", + "title": "Havana Times" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: How Cuba\u2019s News Policy Affects the Economy - Havana Times\nauthor: Circles Robinson\nurl: https://havanatimes.org/features/how-cubas-news-policy-affects-the-economy/\nhostname: havanatimes.org\ndescription: During this year that is now drawing to an end, the private sector of the economy has received several blows with cooperatives, restaurants and night clubs being shut down, as well as new licenses being suspended for the most profitable and popular types of businesses.\nsitename: Havana Times\ndate: 2017-12-21\ncategories: ['Features', 'Fernando Ravsberg']\n---\n# How Cuba\u2019s News Policy Affects the Economy\n\nHAVANA TIMES \u2014 During this year that is now drawing to an end, the private sector of the economy has received several blows with cooperatives, restaurants and night clubs being shut down, as well as new licenses being suspended for the most profitable and popular types of businesses.\n\nVery little has been made public about the reasons behind these measures: the government has given sweeping statements and there are many rumors going around the population. It\u2019s hard to know how many \u201cblows\u201d self-employment really deserved and how many were delivered because of ideological prejudice.\n\nThe government ordered many restaurants and bars to close down without giving any information, in spite of this being a matter of public interest as independent work is one of the few legal alternatives that exist in the country for people to meet their basic needs.\n\nOne owner had two of his successful restaurants closed down and they stopped the building work he was doing on the third one. Rumor has it that he had previously committed crimes against the State and there was also talk about a money laundering network in Cuba, Panama and Cancun. However, nobody is verifying or refuting these rumors.\n\nThe head of the Interior Ministry\u2019s Anti-Drug division, Colonel Juan Carlos Poey, warned us that they had discovered Cubans living in the US and investing drug money in Cuba. He said that those who were identified have been brought to trial and punished.\n\nThe last piece of news we received was that of two well-known bars and a restaurant in Havana being closed down. Rumors mention the death of a young woman because of an overdose and containers being smuggled in full of supplies brought in by a very well-known state-owned import company.\n\nOnly *Escambray*, the Sancti Spiritus\u2019 newspaper, was able to cover the piece in great detail and recount the reasons why some private businesses were closed down, and cover the investments made in their province to launder money swindled off the US health system.\n\nThe suspension of new licenses is another half-told story. Some companies engaging in illicit activities who were discovered have been mentioned, but they haven\u2019t detailed what the problems they found were nor how widespread these practices are among independent workers.\n\nPeople also haven\u2019t been told when the \u201cfine-tuning\u201d process of the private sector will end nor who is responsible for carrying this out. People don\u2019t even know if any independent worker was summoned to give their opinion about the rules that regulates their financial activity.\n\nThese silences are capitalized on by the government\u2019s enemies to create even more uncertainty and unease. The same people who were complaining about the owner of one of these places being a privileged \u201cdaddy\u2019s boy\u201d, are crying today because his bar has been closed down.\n\nCuba\u2019s news policy creates more trauma than benefits because there is nothing more useless than trying to keep secret what everyone already knows. Do they think the Cuban people only find out what\u2019s going on when it appears in *Granma?*\n\nIt\u2019s these useless secrets that give rise to speculation; rumors are born from these and this is the breeding ground for enemy propaganda. They really make it easy for those who dedicate themselves to creating anti-Cuban government campaigns.\n\nWhy keep it secret when the absolute majority of Cubans would applaud the government for closing down a business that traffics drugs or launders money? Why are they so afraid to inform the people of what\u2019s going on? Does anyone believe that rumors are less harmful than the truth?\n\nThe \u201cburying your head in the sand\u201d strategy can work sometimes but when it comes to the economy it ends up being disastrous because the factors that influence it seek transparency and they need to be optimistic, that is to say, they need to trust that their efforts will give back good results.\n\nIt doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s a foreign investor, national entrepreneur, independent worker or state worker. Everyone needs to believe that their efforts will be compensated with a better income and that their rights will be respected as long as they respect the law.\n\nIndependent labor and small and medium-size enterprises are not only a government concession, they are a much-needed opening in the economy to implement economic reforms, which are trying to create a thriving and sustainable society.\n\nThey are all links in the same chain, where unifying Cuba\u2019s two currencies will lead to loss-making state companies closing down and these failures will lead to high levels of unemployment and this labor force can only be absorbed by private enterprises.\n\nHowever, the private sector won\u2019t be able to play its role properly if shady rules and regulations that prohibit \u201cwealth accummulation\u201d continue to be applied without explaining what the limits are. Likewise if they continue to lack legitimate supply sources and are threatened with inexplicable closings and the indefinite suspension of new licenses.\n\nThis climate of uncertainty creates insecurity and mistrust in the future, which are the opposite of the \u201coptimism\u201d that former Greek economic minister, Yanis Varoufakis, believes to be critical to get out of a financial crisis." + }, + { + "title": "Sulli falls in love with Cuba - KpopHerald", + "title_detail": { + "type": "text/plain", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Sulli falls in love with Cuba - KpopHerald" + }, + "links": [ + { + "rel": "alternate", + "type": "text/html", + "href": "https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMib0FVX3lxTE9CS1ZfVHFFc195NXpJZ3V5UFJZeFhDMnRja3dtSGJUNW1CbFlXcVNJTmY3djJDMG52dmJ5dHh0eWlNdU1sb05jM2xTWURtb1E0dUhfOUZXSWhTbGlYc196dHBRYmJZbDIxZWo0V2p3UQ?oc=5" + } + ], + "link": "https://www.kpopherald.com/view.php?ud=201712141346584213077_2", + "id": "CBMib0FVX3lxTE9CS1ZfVHFFc195NXpJZ3V5UFJZeFhDMnRja3dtSGJUNW1CbFlXcVNJTmY3djJDMG52dmJ5dHh0eWlNdU1sb05jM2xTWURtb1E0dUhfOUZXSWhTbGlYc196dHBRYmJZbDIxZWo0V2p3UQ", + "guidislink": false, + "published": "Thu, 14 Dec 2017 08:00:00 GMT", + "published_parsed": [ + 2017, + 12, + 14, + 8, + 0, + 0, + 3, + 348, + 0 + ], + "summary": "Sulli falls in love with Cuba  KpopHerald", + "summary_detail": { + "type": "text/html", + "language": null, + "base": "", + "value": "Sulli falls in love with Cuba  KpopHerald" + }, + "source": { + "href": "https://www.kpopherald.com", + "title": "KpopHerald" + }, + "sub_articles": [], + "status_code": 200, + "response": "---\ntitle: Sulli falls in love with Cuba\nurl: https://www.kpopherald.com/article/1533424\nhostname: kpopherald.com\ndescription: Sulli, formerly of f(x), shared her detailed travel itinerary around Cuba, written on a notebook, and photos via her Instagram on Tuesday. Sulli uploaded pictur\nsitename: Herald\ndate: 2017-12-14\n---\nSulli, formerly of f(x), shared her detailed travel itinerary around Cuba, written on a notebook, and photos via her Instagram on Tuesday. Sulli uploaded pictures of herself enjoying her time with Cuban children and wrote: \u201cI have been in Cuba for a while now and plan to stay in Cuba longer. Even though you guys miss me, be patient.\u201d\n\nFans got to observe Sulli\u2018s detailed notes on her travel itinerary. She visited a Bed and Breakfast Inn called Casa Yobanna located in Habana, Cuba. \u201cCrazy how it\u2019s so lovely here. At Casa Yobanna.\u201d Casa Yobanna is very popular among Korean tourists visiting Cuba. It is said that past travelers can leave short messages in the book for others to see. Inside the notebook, the singer-turned-actress provided tips on \u201cthings to bring\u201d and offered: \u201cThings to bring. Vertical-striped shirt, sandals, red lipstick.\u201d On the side, she scribed as hashtags: \u201cInstagram and Sulli Tour.\u201d Future travelers to the Havana inn may also get to see Sulli\u2018s autograph.\n\nOn the first day of \u201cSulli Tour,\u201d Sulli visited Jose Marti\u2019s birth home. As a Cuban National hero, Marti is famous for his revolutionary writing and politics, fighting for Cuba\u2018s independence from Spain. Next, she visited Mercado Agropecuario Estatal, a state-owned farmer\u2019s market nearby. For the second day, Sulli traveled to \u201cCoche Mambi, near the Plaza Vieja\u201d -- once an elegant presidential train. She reportedly did not visit the Havana Cathedral because \u201cit\u2018s too popular with tourists.\u201d By Catherine Chung ()" + } + ] +} \ No newline at end of file