Just like Spain–after centuries of religious intolerance and repression–dealt with the issues of sexuality and now has a strong public advocacy for gay rights, Cuba may well be next among Hispanic cultures to come out of a seemingly unlikely past with its own progressive solutions.   San Francisco Chronical reports that Raul Castro’s daughter led hundreds of Cuban gays in a street dance to highlight gay rights in Cuba.

Participants formed a carnival-style conga line around two city blocks to the beat of drums, accompanied by costumed stilt-walkers. Events also included educational panels and

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From Radio Cadena Agramonte

Baseball or ballet: that is the question

By Gualveris Rosales Sánchez .

Baseball or ballet: that is the question Choosing between the popular bat-and-ball game and the elite theatrical art was the dilemma Rafael Saladrigas Ruíz, current maître and main regisseur of the Ballet of Camagüey, had to solve when he was just 11 years old.

His decision would determine his career and his life, and why not, it would leave a mark in the dance creation in Camagüey, Cuba.

In 1969, together with other kids of his neighbourhood

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From Radio Cadena Agramonte

By Sergio Morales *

For those who live in the East of Cuba, the changes in the weather and the global heating are more than scientific articles or common phrases used in international forums because their consequences today are the rude reality of an intense drought.

According to the Cuban expert on meteorology Roger Rivero, the current absence of rainfalls is bigger than ever and it is part of a phenomenon that affects Cuba, the Caribbean, Central America and other regions of the world, and it is

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From Radio Cadena Agramonte

Camagüey, May 14.- The official schedule for Camagüey 2009 St. John Party (carnival season) approved by the Municipal Council plans the making of this celebration, starting on June 24th and ending on June 29th.

As is tradition, in the midnight hour of June 24th from the balcony of the City Hall, the edict will be read opening so the carnival season.

The city will set 30 areas for the celebration, among them streets, outdoor dance areas, cabarets and social clubs, including premises and even the Teatro

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The Miami Herald reports the following.

MIAMI — President Barack Obama may be trying to reach out to Cuban leaders, but his 2010 budget suggests he isn’t looking to cut the U.S. government’s controversial broadcasts to the island anytime soon.

The president’s budget proposal calls for about $32.5 million for the broadcasts, down only slightly from last year’s budget of $34.8 million, though it does request some retooling: shorter, more frequent TV news segments and an all-news radio format.

That cuts down on the amount of commentary, which critics have said often

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The following from LA Times Blog:

As President Obama’s administration considers lifting the ban on travel to Cuba for Americans (this poll on The Times’ “Opinion L.A.” blog shows sentiment leaning toward lifting the ban), travel companies have started to get on board.
Orbitz, the online travel company, has launched its own “Open Cuba” campaign asking for the travel ban to be lifted.

From the site’s mission statement:

“Orbitz believes that Americans should have the freedom to travel the world, because our journeys lead to cross cultural understanding and stronger ties between

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From My Perspective.  May 13, 2009
Ricardo Gonzalez
In his budget proposal for 2010, President Obama included support for Radio and TV Marti, allocating $32.5 million for the broadcasting network that beams news and information to Cuba from its base in Miami.
Aside from the obvious waste of taxpayers’ money, at a time when the President is supposedly cutting ineffective and useless spending, continuing these broadcasts sends the wrong signal to Cuba if indeed this Administration is interested in “a new beginning” with our island neighbor.
TV Marti has never been able…

As of 6pm GMT 33 countries have reported 5728 cases.  Cuba has one.

From Radio Nuevitas

Camagüey- The Cuban colonial architecture typified in the former Spanish village of Puerto Principe as a subject is predominant in 17 murals of artistic clay that artisans in Camagüy donated here to be placed in public areas of this eastern city.

Members of the Cuban Artisans and Artists Association (ACAA) molded the pieces that are now showcased on one of the sidewalks surrounding the Workers’ Square (Plaza de los Trabajadores), which is located in a segment of the city recently proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The exhibition is part

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The LA Times has this interesting piece which describes the eagerness in Mobile and other parts of Alabama to see more trade and travel opportunities opening up.

These days, Lyons, the director of the Alabama State Port Authority, dreams of when the Cuban trade embargo will be fully dismantled. That would mean more barges loaded with even more goods from Alabama.For Mobile, the state’s graceful colonial port of call, it would also mean the revival of a commercial relationship with Havana that is older than the United States.

“They are one of our closest neighbors,

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