All posts by JaimeM

Latino, Solidarity

Leading National Latino Coalition Calls for Lifting of Cuban Trade Embargo Washington, D.C.

 

27167c8e-88f5-48da-ee8a-1ffe7536ecb2

 

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE

DISTRIBUTION
July 5, 2016
Leading National Latino Coalition Calls for Lifting of Cuban Trade Embargo
Washington, D.C. – In a major indicator that the U.S.-Cuban relationship is changing dramatically, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 40 of the nation’s preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, called for lifting of the Cuban Trade Embargo. At its June 22nd board meeting, NHLA adopted the following resolution:
“The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) supports the full normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. We do not support the Cuban Trade Embargo because we recognize that it does not promote mutually beneficial economic, cultural and scientific relations between both countries. We believe this can be best achieved through an active and open engagement between them. The current policies only serve to impede the full human development of the people of Cuba and Americans, including Cuban-Americans. Support for normalization is, also, strong among Americans, the people of Cuba and a majority of Cuban-Americans.”
“Following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, removal of our nation’s trade embargo on Cuba is the next logical step, which will provide a path toward greater engagement between our two nations, to the benefit both nation’s peoples and particularly for the much-needed advancement of human rights and economic well-being for the Cuban people,” said Hector Sanchez, NHLA Chair and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.
“This is a historic moment for the Latino community,” stated Angelo Falcón, Co-Chair of NHLA’s Cuban Trade Embargo Working Group and President of the National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP), “The leading mainstream Latino civil rights organizations have historically avoided addressing the issue of U.S.-Cuban relations in deference to the anti-Castro Miami exile community, but this support for the lifting of the embargo marks a major departure from longtime political accommodation.” Falcón went on to point out that “this development reflects a change not only in the Latino community in general, but also within the Cuban-American community, which is undergoing significant generational changes in their politics.”

Continue reading Leading National Latino Coalition Calls for Lifting of Cuban Trade Embargo Washington, D.C. →

Cuban Solidarity, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Mission

Two peoples united by fraternity and solidarity, Puerto Rican mission in Havana

Two peoples united by fraternity and solidarity
On March 8, 1966, a Puerto Rican mission was inaugurated in Havana by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, and Puerto Rican independence activist, Juan Mari Bras. The mission works to demand the decolonization of the Caribbean nation, as well as an end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba
Author: Nuria Barbosa León | internet@granma.cu
july 7, 2016 09:07:0

f0012849

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the ceremony at ICAP, the Puerto Rican independence movement repeated their demand for the release of political prisoner, Oscar López Rivera, unjustly incarcerated for over 35 years for his support of Puerto Rican independence. Photo: ICAP

A strong history of fraternity and solidarity unites Cuba and Puerto Rico, demonstrated by the presence in Havana for over 50 years, of a mission from the sister nation, sole representative of Puerto Rico’s independence movement on the island.
Inaugurated March 8, 1966 by the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz and Puerto Rican independence activist Juan Mari Bras, the mission works to demand the decolonization of the Caribbean nation, subjected to five centuries of foreign domination, the last 118 by the United States.
The organization also directs its efforts to condemning the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. government on Cuba, and facilitating cultural exchanges between both peoples.
As such, it has contributed to enabling Puerto Rican students to study in Cuba, like Alberto Rodríguez Rivera, who has just completed his fifth year of Medicine at the University of Medical Sciences in the central province of Las Villas. The young Puerto Rican is grateful for the knowledge he has gained, not only in regards to his profession but also life.

Continue reading Two peoples united by fraternity and solidarity, Puerto Rican mission in Havana →

Chile, Víctor Jara

Assassin of Victor Jara convicted, in Orlando, Florida,

Assassin of Victor Jara convicted, denying repressive forces impunity
A U.S. verdict convicting Pedro Barrientos of murdering singer-songwriter Víctor Jara has opened the way to investigations into events surrounding the country’s 1973 military coup
Author: Miguel Fernández Martínez | internet@granma.cu
july 8, 2016 08:07:16

f0012865

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Víctor Jara was murdered at 41 years of age, following the military coup which overthrew President Salvador Allende in 1973. Photo: Archives

The U.S. verdict convicting former Chilean army officer, Pedro Barrientos, accused of the murder of Víctor Jara singer-songwriter Víctor Jara, has opened the way to continue investigations into the events which occurred during the country’s 1973 military coup.
On June 27, a jury at the civil trail in Orlando, Florida, found Barrientos guilty of the torture and extrajudicial killing of the popular Chilean musician, poet and political activist, during the early days of the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet against President Salvador Allende, 43 years ago.
The jury awarded Jara’s family 28 million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages, while Barrientos could now also be extradited to face criminal murder charges in Chile.
Barrientos is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by Judge Miguel Vázquez, on several charges including murder and aggravated abduction and obstruction of justice, also linked to Jara’s murder.
The 67 year old criminal, now a U.S. citizen residing in the town of Deltona, near the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, has lived in the country since 1989. The suit was first brought against him in 2013, under theAlien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act, designed to prosecute human rights abusers living in the U.S. before eventually going to trial in an Orlando court. 
According to U.S. immigration service records, the former army officer, failed to declare his ties to the military coup plotters, and his participation in the acts of torture and murder committed in Santiago de Chile’s stadium.
The civil suit filed by Joan Jara, the musician’s widow and his daughters Manuela and Amanda, was represented by the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) a California-based human rights group, and New York law firm, Chadbourne & Parke.
During the trial, Barrientos denied knowing the popular singer-song writer and having been in the Santiago Stadium, used as a torture center, at the time of Jara’s murder.
The prosecution refuted the former army officer’s claims, presenting testimonies recorded in Chile of six former soldiers loyal to the military government led by Pinochet, who all stated that they had seen Barrientos at the sports complex at least 20 times over the days before and after the murder. 
The prosecution called attention to former solider José Navarrete Barra’s statement, in which he claimed that Barrientos even boasted about his crime. “He repeatedly said that he had killed Víctor Jara,” stated the solider in a video recording.
Joan Jara never lost faith that her husband’s murderer would be brought to justice. Despite having filed a criminal complaint in Chile in 1978, she was obliged to wait over 40 years before she was to hear the verdict delivered in a Florida court.
“It’s the beginning of justice for all those people, those relatives in Chile who are waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones, who have been for years and years, just like us, seeking justice [and] knowledge,” stated Jara’s widow speaking to British newspaper, The Guardian.
For her part, Almudena Bernabéu, CJA lawyer who led the case investigation, expressed her satisfaction following the verdict. “This verdict is not the end, but rather the beginning of work to extradite or expel Barrientos from the country and achieve full justice for the Jara family,” she noted.

Cuban Arts, Cuban Culture

The perfect blend of culture and commerce , the Art on La Rampa Fair is currently taking place,

The perfect blend of culture and commerce
Just like every summer, the Art on La Rampa Fair is currently taking place, a venue hosting cultural activities and commercial offers of high quality arts and crafts, popular with Havana residents and visitors alike
Author: Mireya Castañeda | internet@granma.cu
july 8, 2016 13:07:00

f0012885

 

 

 

The newly designed central hall is now more spacious. Photo: Mireya Castañeda
Just like every summer, the Art on La Rampa Fair is currently taking place, a venue hosting cultural activities and commercial offers of high quality arts and crafts, popular with Havana residents and visitors alike.
Mercy Correa, director of the Cuban Cultural Goods Fund crafts department, co-sponsoring the event alongside the Asociación Hermanos Saíz, was right when she noted that the new design of the Pabellón Cuba site provides greater visibility, above all in the central hall, where from July 1 through September 18, the 52 different sales stands – which will be changing every month – are located.
The 17th edition of the event was inaugurated with the exposition Fidel, soldado de las ideas, by photo-journalists Liborio Noval and Ismael Francisco; its title taken from the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution’s March 11, 2011 speech, during which he stated: “I am and will continue to be, just as I promised; a solider of ideas for as long as I can think and breathe.”
The exposition, a tribute to Fidel on his 90th birthday, includes 19 photographs tracing practically the entire revolutionary period.
stalls

f0012887

 

 

 

 

High quality leather goods on sale. Photo: Mireya Castañeda
The oldest photo in the collection, taken by Liborio, is from 1960, while the most recent, by Ismael Francisco, is from Fidel’s last public appearance during the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, on April 19, this year.
Liborio Noval (Havana, 1934-2012) was a founder of the newspaper Granma and is considered to be one of Cuba’s best photo-journalists. He received over 30 national and international awards throughout his lifetime, and his photos have been featured in dozens of collective exhibitions.
His photographic works appear in various books such as Instantáneas, published in 1999, which includes 77 images of Fidel taken over 40 years, as well as in Cien imágenes de la Revolución, 15 of which were taken by Liborio.
For his part, Ismael Francisco is one of the most outstanding contemporary Cuban photo-journalists and son of Ismael González also a photo-journalist at Granma. The deserving recipient of various awards, Francisco has worked for Granma, Prensa Latina, La Agencia Cubana de Noticias and currently Cubadebate.
In 2010 the exposition Ismael con Ismael was presented in the Casa de la Prensa. Trained in the rigorous world of press-photography, Ismael Francisco is also renowned for his technical skill, compositions and framing.
On Friday, July 1, it was all about the kids, with the Fair providing numerous offers for little ones, such as the presentation in the Salón de Mayo, of the DVD of the performance of Peter and the wolf by La Colmenita children’s theater company, followed by a rendition of La Cucarachita Martinaby the collective directed by Carlos Alberto Cremata, in the Pabellon’s main hall.f0012889

 

 

 

 

The exposition Fidel, soldado de las ideas, is displayed in the tunnel of the Pabellón Cuba. Of its 19 photos, pictured in the foreground is one taken by Liborio Noval in 1961, Fidel con boina. Photo: José Raúl Concepción/Cubadebate
Despite the fact that there are apparently fewer stands this year (with artisans alternating throughout the three-month fair), the high quality of products continues to be maintained, with offers ranging from footwear, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, and out-door furniture.
Like always, the summer event again has a cultural agenda, with a special program for children featuring clowns, music, and dance. 
Music is without a doubt one of the mainstays of the event, with jazz, trova and repentismo concerts by various musicians and performers, including popular figures such as Polito Ibáñez, Ernesto and David Blanco, Interactivo, Telmary and Adrián Berazaín.
Art on La Rampa is one of the city’s most visited events during the summer. The Fair has many merits including its central headquarters in the Pabellón Cuba, crafts, books, reproductions of art works, albums, and a program which in addition to musical events also features visual arts, film showings and talks, which combine to create a superb Cuban cultural Fair, just as organizers have planned.