All posts by JaimeM

Cuba China

The China–Latin America and the Caribbean Year of Cultural Exchange was inaugurated with a gala in Havana, April 1

Year of Cultural Exchange with China launched
The China–Latin America and the Caribbean Year of Cultural Exchange was inaugurated with a gala in Havana, April 1

Author: Yenia Silva Correa | informacion@granma.cu
april 7, 2016 16:04:33

Zhang Tuo, Chinese ambassador to Cuba attended the gala launching his country’s year of cultural exchange with Latin America.

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Photo: Juvenal Balán
With the presence of Caridad Diego, president of the Cuba-China Friendship Association and member of the Party Central Committee, the inaugural gala of the China – Latin America and the Caribbean Year of Cultural Exchange was held in Havana.
Zhang Tuo, Chinese ambassador to Cuba, thanked Party and government authorities, and directors of the University of Havana and the Confucius Institute, for organizing the event and noted that it was the first celebration of its type in the region.
The idea of celebrating a Year of Cultural Exchange was launched by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, to follow on from a series of activities which began in 2014 with the founding of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum.
In 2015, the first ministerial meeting of the Forum was held and according to Ambassador Zhang Tuo, this year will see a range of activities of cultural exchange between this sister nation and the countries of the region.

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Cuban Solidarity

Cuba and Venezuela strengthen agreements on health and education

Cuba and Venezuela strengthen agreements on health and education

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro approved funding of over $1.4 billion dollars this Monday, April 4, to strengthen the 2016 Cooperation Plan signed with Cuba in health, education, culture and sports
Author: International news staff | informacion@granma.cu
april 5, 2016 09:04:18

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Photo: www.avn.info.ve
CARACAS.—Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro approved funding of over $1.4 billion dollars this Monday, April 4, to strengthen the 2016 Cooperation Plan signed with Cuba in health, education, culture and sports.
The head of state signed the document during a meeting of the Cuba-Venezuela High Level Joint Commission, held at the Miraflores Palace, reported Prensa Latina.
Maduro highlighted the efforts made by his government to ensure a truly socialist healthcare system. “The right wing media devote themselves to silencing what is being done for the benefit of Venezuelans,” he stated.
The Venezuelan leader also approved the Cuba-Venezuela binational plan to strengthen the Misión Barrio Adentro (Inside the Neighborhood Mission) health care program.
He noted total investment of $1.428 billion dollars, as well as 6.954 billion bolivars in the case of health, which will be used to strengthen and expand the medical assistance provided through the Misión Barrio Adentro.
Barrio Adentro, which is central to the Venezuelan National Public Health System, consists of a network of more than 10,000 primary care modules distributed in urban neighborhoods, rural towns and villages across the country.

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Cuban Solidarity

CUBA IN AMAZONIA, An island in the river

CUBA IN AMAZONIA
An island in the river
A team of Cuban collaborators in health, education, and recreation offer their support to remote communities in Venezuela’s Amazonia
Author: Dilbert Reyes Rodríguez | | informacion@granma.cu
april 4, 2016 09:04:23

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Pictured left to right are Reinaldo, Berenice, Arbelo, Yamerlis and Dixán – a little piece of Cuba on Mouse Island. Photo: Julio Manuel Pérez
The only road that leaves the city of Puerto Ayacucho, and heads south toward remote landscapes, has the same curves as the Orinoco River, which flows in the opposite direction, north.
The road is the central axis of the municipality of Autuna, and one must travel an hour before approaching its principal settlement, without actually reaching the town. The road ends at the river’s edge, where travelers to Isla Ratón must catch a boat – a bongo (a large motorized canoe) or voladora (a smaller, faster version) to reach, or leave, the town.
The municipal seat is a good sized island, in the very center of the river’s current, a long segment of which serves as the natural border between Venezuela and Co­lombia.
At this moment, three young Cubans are responsible for health care in the island town, working now with two Venezuelan community doctors who arrived just recently. The two young women and a male doctor have faced challenges of all sorts, making everyday another professional graduation.

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Communist Party of Cuba

Party Congress, Communist Party of Cuba, scheduled April 16-19

Party Congress less than a month away
The Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, scheduled April 16-19, scheduled April 16-19, will discuss six important documents, including an evaluation of progress in the updating of the country’s socio-economic model
Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
march 28, 2016 20:03:11

f0011457Less than a month remains before the 7th Party Congress, which will begin next April 16, when the 55th anniversary will be celebrated of the proclamation of the socialist character of the Revolution, and exactly five years since the opening of the 6th Congress. The Congress will continue through the 19th, thus fulfilling one of the objectives (number 17) approved at the First National Conference: Maintain time frame established in the Statutes for holding Party congresses.
This past February 29, Granma published a full report on the process of electing delegates to the Congress, and the following day noted the simultaneous beginning in all provinces of consultation meetings to discuss the documents which will be submitted to the Party’s maximum authority.
The editorial office of this newspaper has received, by various means, expressions of concern from Party members (and non-members, as well) inquiring about the reasons for which, on this occasion, plans were not made for a popular discussion process, similar to that held five years ago regarding the proposed Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and Revolution.
The fact that such opinions and doubts were expressed is in no way reproachable, much less when they come from people who are genuinely concerned about the work of the Party and the country’s destiny. On the contrary, this is a demonstration of the democracy and participation which are intrinsic characteristics of the socialism we are building. Army General Raúl Castro himself, during the closing session of the First National Conference, called for “fomenting a climate of maximum confidence and the creation of required conditions at all levels for the broadest and most sincere exchange of opinions, both in the heart of the organization and in its interactions with workers and the population…”

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