HavanaReporter YEAR VIINº 19

OCT 19, 2017HAVANA, CUBAISSN 2224-5707

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Y O U R S O U R C E O F N E W S & M O R EA Bimonthly Newspaper of the Prensa Latina News Agency

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Tourism

Sports

P. 2

Cuba Expands Oil Exploration

P. 3

International Solidarity

Key to Caribbean Recovery

P. 9

Eco-tourism Seminar Defies the Adverse Weather

Trump Out in the Cold on Cuba

Politics

P. 4

Regional Culture’s Onscreen Fight-Back

P. 6

Culture

Cuban Stars Sparkle On Japan‘s Baseball Scene

P. 15

2 CUBA

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ENTERTAINMENT.PHOTO FEATURE.ECONOMY SPORTS.AND MORE

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Eco-tourism Seminar Defies The Adverse Weather

By Roberto F.CAMPOS

BARACOA.- During the recent 11th International Nature Tourism Seminar, TURNAT 2017, in eastern Cuba, the Caribbean island’s tourism industry demonstrated both its robustness and uninterrupted development in the face of a vast array of challenges.

Organizers of the important event decided not to cancel it on the basis of potentially unfavorable weather events and forecasts and experts in eco, rural and adventure tourism gathered in Holguín, Baracoa and Santiago de Cuba between September 25 and 30.

Francisco Longino Franklin Domínguez, the ECOTUR agency’s commercial director explained that the almost nationwide devastation caused by Hurricane Irma had been carefully taken into account, but that the east of the country had been spared somewhat.

It was consequently decided to postpone rather than suspend the seminar because of the large number of specialists from all over the world expected to attend.

In fact, 150 tour operators, travel agents and officials with a specific interest in nature, rural and adventure tourism from 8 countries (the United States, Germany, Mexico, China, France, Costa Rica, Belgium and Spain) participated.

The event’s program was built around an attractive -- selected on the basis of their impact and content -- five-route tour of the region.

This event has a particularly successful history and has only ever been suspended once, in 2001.

The Flora and Fauna Group affiliated ECOTUR agency that jointly organizes the event with Cuba’s Tourism Ministry (MINTUR), was created in 1996.

Both its director, Raúl Naranjo, its chief commercial specialist, helmo Yanes, are very enthusiastic about the agency's work.

TURNAT is held every two years in a different part of the country and has by now been hosted nationwide.

The first edition, in the year 2000, was held in the

beautiful valley of Viñales, in Cuba’s westernmost Pinar del Río province.

ECOTUR hopes to generate 22 million dollars in revenue this year, primarily from the German, French, Dutch, British, Belgian, Canadian and US markets, 66% of which will have come from the first three.

ECOTUR offers rural excursions, mountain biking and a range of exciting and attractive nature and adventure tourism options.

The TURNAT event promotes adventure trips, eco-tours and Cuba’s pristine national parks, camping sites and biosphere reserves.

CUBA 3

HAVANA.- The deputy director of the Cuba-Petróleo Company (CUPET) Roberto Suarez, has said that Cuba is offering foreign investors interested in the hydrocarbon sector - one of the country’s most important - new investment opportunities in both the industry and hydrocarbons to stimulate exploration and discover new oilfields.

The executive told The Havana Reporter that the sharp fall in oil prices and instability on international markets has undoubtedly affected Cuba.

He said the security Cuba offers foreign investors and the priority granted to the energy sector by the government makes it highly attractive to investors.

According to Suárez, CUPET’s 25 plus years’ experience as a partner, ts highly qualified human capital and a production infrastructure that includes refinery services are some of the sector’s strong points in Cuba.

Suárez explained that CUPET is prioritizing exploration projects and resource production in the nation‘s exclusive economic zone superficial water and terrestrial blocks and the exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon resources.

The company is also promoting oil infrastructure development projects, the use of new technologies and the development of specialized services for the industry.

Cuba is dealing with a decline in the number of oilfields under exploitation and as a result. creative

foreign investment opportunities have been offered over the past few years, the director said.

The industry considers this a time to take bold decisions, to work on the increase of resources and to best exploit all available opportunities to increase oil production.

Cuba opened its energy sector to foreign investment between 1991 and 1992 which contributed to production increases leading to the four million tons of oil (25 million barrels) produced today.

Suárez expressed optimism about cooperation offers from a number of highly experienced companies such as China’s BGP and CNPC, which are experts in specialized services and hiring.

Looking AheadThe Havana Reporter has also learned that Australia’s

Melbana Energy Limited oil company is expected to commence drilling one or two wells in block No. 9 of Cuba’s northern strip by the first semester of 2018, where

the company has been prospecting since its arrival in Cuba several years ago.

Melbana Energy Limited executive director Peter Stickland expressed his hope, based on scientific evidence proving the existence of more than 11.3 billion barrels of oil there, that their work in that block would prove successful.

“We have recorded all the tectonic plate information comprehensive holistic prospecting studies and believe that the results will exceed our expectations,” Stickland said.

Foreign investors and Cuban experts agree that Cuba’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of Mexico is possibly where Cuba’s most significant reserves lie.

Venezela’s PVSA oil company and Angola’s Sonangol presently have leases on 10 of the more than 40 blocks in the area and another three are about to be fully assessed, which will potentially lead to the signing of further contracts.

By RobertoSALOMON

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Cuba Expands Oil Exploration

4 4 CUBA

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UNITED NATIONS.- On the first of November 2017, the UN General Assembly will vote for the 26th consecutive year on a draft resolution, similar to that supported by 191 of its 193 member States in 2016, on the lifting of the U.S. blockade of Cuba.

Last year, until the very last minute, there had been some intense speculation about what Washington’s stance might be, and many were caught by surprise when its ambassador to the UN Samantha Power announced an unprecedented abstention, a position swiftly followed by Israel, the White House’s unconditional ally.

No such doubts about how the US might vote this year are doing the diplomatic rounds.

In Miami on June 16, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a reinforcement of the more than half a century old economic, commercial and financial blockade of the island.

He ratified this position on September 19 last at the UN General Assembly by stating “my administration recently announced that it will not lift sanctions on the Cuban government until it makes fundamental reforms.”

Nobody doubts that Trump will be once again left out in the cold when the draft resolution presented by Cuba at the UN General Assembly is firmly supported by friends from all five continents, as it always has been since 1992.

During the same General Assembly meeting at which the Republican tycoon refused to lift the blockade, almost 40 presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers from Latin America, the Caribbean,

Asia, Africa, Europe and the Pacific called for an end to the unilateral U.S. measure, tightened by the latest administration.

This represents a crystal clear expression of the international community’s outright rejection of the blockade, because these world leaders included the issue in their only annual opportunity to inform the world of their concerns, interests and denunciations.

Representatives at the General Assembly from different corners of the globe described the economic, commercial and financial blockade as unfair, criminal, inhumane, cruel and representative of return to a Cold War conflict.

Bolivia, Bahamas, Belize, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Costa Rica, Chad, Ecuador, Gabon, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Lao, Namibia, Nauru, Nicaragua, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, Vanuatu, Venezuela and Vietnam were among the countries that demanded that the blockade be lifted.

Many condemned the U.S. siege for hindering the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda at a time that the UN and the international community are prioritizing its fulfillment in favor of eco-friendly human development.

CUBA’S RESPONSEIn his UN General Assembly

intervention, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, rejected Trump’s decision to tighten the blockade and referred to it as a retrograde step for bilateral relations.

Rodríguez warned that through this reinforcement of the sanctions, the U.S. administration is undermining principles established two years ago by Barack Obama for advancing relations on the basis of a mutual respect and bilateral equity.

According to the Cuban foreign minister, Trump is ignoring both global

calls and the strong support within the U.S. itself – including from a majority of

Cuban emigrants - to lift the blockade and normalize relations.

He said that Trump was “pampering to an increasingly isolated and shrinking minority of Cuban origin in southern

Florida, intent on harming Cuba and its people for their defense of the right to liberty and independence at any cost.”

The minister told the UN Assembly that any strategy intent on destroying the Cuban Revolution was doomed to fail.

Trump Out in the Cold on Cuba

By WaldoMENDILUZA

HEALTH & SCIENCE 5

HAVANA.- With a total of more than 15 tropical storms to date, this year’s Atlantic hurricane season has already broken a number of records and brought home to many the fact that climate change is now very much a present day reality.

According to experts, an average of 12 tropical storms – six of which increase to hurricane force - usually form in the Atlantic Ocean between June 1 to November 30, the region’s most meteorologically turbulent months.

However, by the beginning of October this year, the Caribbean and Antilles had already been pounded by more than 15 tropical storms, six of which were early hurricanes of unusual and devastating intensity.

The German meteorologist Anders Levermann has explained that climate change induced by global warming will cause increasingly stronger hurricanes such as Irma, that wreaked havoc as it passed over the Caribbean and the U.S. state of Florida.

Hurricane Irma’s 297kph winds were the most intense ever recorded for a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.

It had been preceded by the category 4 Hurricane Harvey which deposited a record breaking 1.29 meters of rain on the US states of Texas and Louisiana.

But, why is climate change being blamed for this increase in the impact of hurricanes?

According to the Clausius-Clapeyron equation -- a well-defined law of physics and the principal scientific standard applied in such cases, the warmer the atmosphere is, the more humidity it contains.

Consequently, every additional degree means the atmosphere may contain up to seven percent more water, which can dangerously increase rainfall levels.

Sea temperatures must also be taken into consideration.

Bob Ward, the UK’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment’s policy and communications expert explains that “such meteorological phenomena can only form on waters with a temperature of no less than 26.51 degrees, Celsius.”

He added that “average surface sea temperatures have risen and some regions of the northern Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico now have a warmer average.”

In general, warmer sea waters fuel stronger storms.

“Hurricanes absorb energy and survive thanks to surface sea temperatures of between 26 and 27degrees Celsius, he said.”

Franck Roux, a professor at the French Paul-Sebatier University, agrees with Ward and says that the rise in temperatures associated with climate change and harmful gas emissions into the atmosphere must be taken into consideration.

In a study penned by the expert, he states that global warming may well increase the strength of such meteorological phenomena, but that as yet,

there is not enough evidence to assert that it influences their frequency.

The French meteorologist did however note an increased number of storms and hurricanes registered in the Northern Atlantic over the past

two decades, in comparison to the 1970 to 1995 period.

Cyclonic activity recorded in the region has been cyclical for several decades and it is hard to predict whether the rise in the number of storms in the zone is associated with a natural change

or with climate change.The latest National Climate

Assessment report drawn up by a team of more than 300 U.S. scientists and experts indicates that the intensity, frequency and duration of hurricanes in the Northern Atlantic has been on the increase since the early 1980s.

The U.S. team first warned in 2014 that the frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes (the most powerful) had increased over recent decades.

In short, the 2017 Atlantic storm season, which is not over yet, has established that climate change is not now a potential future problem, but a very real threat to our here and our now.

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Recent Hurricanes and Global Warming

By BettyHERNÁNDEZ

6 CULTURE

HAVANA – One of the consequences of globalization is its particularly negative impact on the cultural identities of small and poor countries, through a subtle but seductive promotion of consumption patterns, inconsistent with their true possibilities.

The TV-music-cinema triad has proved to be especially effective in selling modern city and developed country-like cognitive and behavioral trends, alien to everyday and traditional lifestyles.

For those not inclined to drink from this poisoned chalice, the front line of an organized resistance to the onslaught are the endeavors to reaffirm cultural identities.

The Caribbean region, composed of small, sparsely inhabited and scattered islands, has encountered a novel opportunity to exploit a film industry’s potential to strengthen its own roots, by launching the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase to support regional film production.

Described as “a regional initiative to promote the mutual recognition and understanding of Caribbean identities, that go beyond stereotypes imposed by hegemonic productions and the broadcasting powerhouses that ignore the diversity and value of other nations.”

The event, however; surpassed it’s own original expectations.

It evolved into an international showcase for Caribbean films and now in its eighth year, it opened with an eclectic 24 title program on September 20 in Cuba, from where it will go on to tour more than 30 countries in the region.

The Festival program comprises short, feature-length and documentary films and Cuba -- with 7 titles including La película de Ana, by Daniel Díaz; Vuelos prohibidos, by Rigoberto López; La emboscada, by Alejandro Gil, and Rodando en La

Habana, by Jaime Santos -- is the best represented nation.

The Showcase opened with the Jean van de Velde directed fictional The Price of Sugar, and also screened Haiti, My Love, by Guetty Felin, and films from Belize, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Efforts have been underway to promote the Caribbean film industry with both native and transnational movie goers.

Its representatives have been working in unison to consolidate the Showcase by updating every nation’s productions.

This in turn has enhanced the Festival’s multinational cultural value and reaffirmed its strong anti-hegemonic credentials by offering alternatives to the Hollywood and European products so predominant in the region.

It opens a window through which one can come face to face with other realities, idiosyncrasies and cultural identities through the wonderful wizardry of celluloid.

This is a showcase that cleverly casts off slavish cultural chains and courageously confronts immense obstacles, without ever failing to strike the right balance between safeguarding the memory of today’s challenges and illuminating tomorrow’s dreams.

By Yanisbel P.PÉREZ

HAVANA –. The renowned and loved virtuoso Cuban pianist Frank Fernández endeavors to strike the perfect musical balance between the wondrous and the pure.

He is currently working on a live recording of a concert with the Orchestra of the Higher Institute of Arts.

A graduate from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Fernandez told The Havana Reporter that he highly values “the raw emotion encapsulated in live sound and even though it can be unclean or more compromised than a studio recording, its spiritual force evokes an artistic superiority.”

His son, Frank Ernesto Fernández – lead oboe with Cuba’s National Symphonic Orchestra - features prominently on an album that includes works for piano and oboe, three of which are romances composed by Fernández senior for the two instruments.

One, El canto del silencio, is performed by the oboist and his pianist sister, Liana María Fernández.

The producer also explained that he views himself as “just another composer on an album with pieces like Oblivion, by Astor Piazzolla and a Francis Poulenc trio featuring Carla Martínez - the talented winner of a piano scholarship to Madrid’s Reina Sofía - and Abhram, a most promising young bassoonist.”

Aspects of this album are very much a Fernandez family affair. On the Adagio de Zipoli, his wife and experienced cellist Alina Neyra performs the solo.

Frank Fernandez explained that the live album had been recorded at the San Felipe Neri, “an old church with cathedral like acoustics and an almost excessive reverb that

emotionally transmits the state of mind of the orchestra, the soloists and the audience and instills a spiritual quality and affection that cleaner recordings lack.”

He is also working on a live recording of his own concerts about which he does not want to reveal much and on the debut of a young female singer, featuring songs such as Amor, by Pablo Milanés, Gracias a la vida, by Violeta Parra, Homero’s Vete de mí, and Virgilio Espósito.

“One of this disc´s most appealing elements is our version of Carlos Gardel’s famous tango, Volver, because our fusion with a bolero rhythm created a great sound.”

Most arrangements are by Fernández himself, although Luis Llaguno, Pancho Amat and Frank Ernesto Fernández also conducted and contributed to the production For this composer and pianist, music can only be of either high or low quality, other evaluations do not interest him.

His view is that he has developed an unassuming attitude of sincere respect for all good music and has never shied away from playing any particular genre. “This was once considered sacrilegious and unacceptable but is now something requested by most of my audiences,” he noted.

Fernandez concluded his remarks by saying that “I think the lack of inhibition I brought to my work over so many years has conquered their affections to the point that they now request popular pieces with the same passion and optimism that they have for Schubert’s Ave María, with which I start almost all my performances.”

Regional Culture’s Onscreen Fight-Back

By MarthaSANCHEZ

Frank Fernández, Between wonder and perfection

SPOTLIGHT ON 7

SPOTLIGHT ON

October 20 Symbolizes

Cuban IdentityHAVANA.- Despite a seemingly endless debate among academics endeavoring to define what it really means to be Cuban, there is one thing on which they all can agree: October 20 is a good place to start speaking about a ‘Cuban identity’.

Such debates cannot ignore our original indigenous peoples, who waged courageous but hopelessly unequal combats against far superior Spanish mounted colonizers in armor.

Their brave stance represents the earliest recorded expressions of belonging and love for the Cuban homeland.

With the passing of time and an indigenous population almost completely exterminated,some islanders developed a sense of Cuban identity and decided that Spanish were no longer welcome on the West Indian archipelago.

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a proud son of this ‘new’ Cuba, became the founder of the nation.

The ‘Criollos’ -- people of mixed Spanish, black and indigenous descent-- joined recently freed slaves in support of the ideals of national liberty and independence.

The need for a national anthem to

accompany and inspire brave machete wielding men and women, willing to sacrifice all in pursuit of their noble pro-independence sentiments became quickly apparent.

The words of the solemn song, initially known as La Bayamesa came to Perucho Figueredo while riding his horse.

When it was officially adopted as Cuba’s National Anthem, references to almost four centuries of the shameful crimes committed by the Spanish colonizers were eliminated.

On August 22, 1980, Cuba’s Council

of Ministers, in Decree number 74, stated that the Republic’s Constitution recognizes in article 4 that Bayamo Anthem joins the flag and the coat of arms, as one of three national symbols.

Since October 20, 1868 the Bayamo Anthem has been sung at all Cuban independence movement activities, and throughout the years has been a prevalent symbol of Cuban identity.

This is why October 20 was selected as Cuban Culture Day, in recognition of the essence of the Cuban people’s roots.

By Joel MichelVARONA

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8 8 CULTURE

UPCOMING EVENTS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT(THR is not responsible for any changes made by sponsoring organizations)

thr@prensa-latina.cu

HAVANA THEATER FESTIVAL

(Several venues) Oct 20-29

‘LIZT ALFONSO DANCE CUBA at The National Theater Oct 19-22

FESTIVAL MOZART-HABANA 2017 Oct 21-28

LATIN AMERICAN & THE CARIBBEAN 9

SANTIAGO DE CHILE. - The call to vote has been set for November 19 but Chileans are already immersed in an electoral atmosphere with the beginning of political campaigns authorized by the Election Service (SERVEL) in the face of the upcoming presidential and parliamentarian elections.

The future senators, parliamentarian deputies and regional counselors could be defined in the first round but the chances to know the name of the president who will take power on March 11, 2018 are practically zero.

The replacement of Michelle Bachelet, who will complete her second presidential term, will evidently come out in December because not even Sebastián Piñera –who is leading the polls- would win an absolute majority.

Former President Piñera (2010-2014)has the support of the rightwing coalition Chile Vamos and of business sectors.

The tycoon has taken every opportunity to talk nonsense of the

current president and even though he has been in the “corruption” balance at times, he has escaped unharmed. For ordinary Chileans, he could work wonders for an economic recovery.

Piñera’s chances have been further enhanced by the 2015 conflict of interests connected with a financial operation involving Bachelet´s son Sebastián Dávalos and his wife.

Another element in his favor is the announcement made some time ago by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) about the end of the crisis in the region and promising prospects for 2018.

Piñera is starting to appear as the protector of the copper price hike on the international market. Copper is Chile´s main exporting product.

Furthermore, divisions within Nueva Mayoria (New Majority), the ruling coalition, meant another hard blow for the central-leftist factions.

Therefore, the divided ruling party has independent Senator Alejandro Guillier as the best card for an alliance that includes socialists, social-democrats and communists, among others.

The young Broad Front, also a leftist faction but with a different current of opinion, supports journalist Beatriz Sánchez; while two other representatives of the same political side but with their peculiarities have come to sight: Senator Alejandro Navarro and Eduardo Artés.

Last on the list of presidential hopefuls is ultra-rightwing representative José Antonio Kast, who defends the legacy of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship and proposes to remove the statue of Salvador Allende located in the vicinity of La Moneda Palace.

HAVANA.- International solidarity will prove to be a key element in the Caribbean’s recovery from the almost apocalyptic devastation caused by recent hurricanes. The region is highly dependent on tourism for its survival.

Aid commitments by States, governments and international agencies will be one of the most effective ways to ensure that the region survives the effects of nature’s vehemently violent outburst.

And although many nations have declared their willingness to assist, it must be understood that the situation warrants a truly global response.

Silence surrounding the gravity of the destruction was broken by callsfor support for the Caribbean region at the recently concluded UN General Assembly by the Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, and Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez.

Browne in particular stressed that the entire population of his nation had been rendered homeless and that its building stock has been reduced to empty shells.

The reconstruction of Barbuda will cost in excess of $250 million, far beyond anything the island could possibly finance alone.

He denounced the fact that there is no longer any place for smaller nations within the international financial structure.

At the beginning of September, Dominica, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Turk and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda and Cuba were all grievously assaulted by one or both of the category 5 -- the highest possible rating on the Saffir-Simpson scale -- Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Bringing sustained wind speeds of up to 290kph at times, these intense hurricanes wreaked havoc once

ashore, causing dozens of deaths and annihilating infrastructure, housing, electricity grids, water upplies and causing mass flooding.

The preliminary figures from Puerto Rico are deeply disturbing indeed.

Governor Ricardo Rosselló has stated that the entire country is without electricity and that it may take many months before 3.4 million Puerto Ricans have this essential service restored.

Absolute devastation is the best way to describe what the hurricanes in the Caribbean have left in their wake and the very future of societies

that were totally dependent on tourism now hangs in the balance.

These islands were until very recently Gardens of Eden like tropical island paradises that have now been left devoid of their beautiful land and seascapes.

Their only possible salvation now is INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY.

Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Panama, Russia and many other nations have already announced their willingness to help, while powers like France, the United Kingdom and Holland have been strongly

criticized for their tardiness in offering to help their former colonies.

In the face of this immense challenge, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) organization has already announced its to intention support the region and its president, Keith Mitchell, has urged all member states and the international community to join forces to confront the critical human and material damages caused.

The Pan-American Health Organization has also offered to send medical and humanitarian supplies and to deploy emergency response teams that include experts in coordination, damage assessment, epidemiological monitoring, water supply and hygiene, logistics and information management.

Nevertheless, many powerful financial institutions and some global powers have not yet come forward with offers of aid or solidarity.

The geographical location of the Antilles makes them particularly vulnerable to severe meteorological phenomena, which as direct consequence of climate change, are becoming increasingly potent and destructive over time.

By TeyunéDIAZ

International Solidarity Key to Caribbean Recovery

Chileans Will Go to the Polls in NovemberBy FaustoTRIANA

10 CULTURE

SANTIAGO DE CUBA.- With an unquestionable musical pedigree long established in Cuba, this funky oriental city has been unashamedly flirting with jazz since a festival featuring foreign and Cuban stars of the genre was first held in 2011.

The recently concluded edition of the Jazz Friends Gathering showed just how fondly Santiago de Cuba natives now swing to this sound.

Experts agree that jazz was first introduced here at the end of the 19th century by Afro-American U.S. army men who had intervened in the fighting in the Spanish-Cuban war.

Once again, the city’s Dolores Concert Hall, Martí Theater, La Jutía Conga Cultural Center, the National Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) HQ and the Iris Jazz Club hosted the festivals principal performances.

When Santiago was selected as a secondary venue for the 2016 International Jazz Plaza Festival, the UNEAC president in the city, Rodulfo Vaillant, delightedly declared that this was a dream come true for jazz buffs, who had recently penetrated the local music panorama with a combination of their raw talent and commitment.

He described the designation as an important recognition of advances in

Santiago de Cuba’s musical and cultural life and the excellent work done by young musicians over the past few years.

Vaillant praised the festival’s theoretical elements and the launch by Iván Acosta and his De Cuba Somos band of their Cubaneando CD, recently recorded at the Siboney studios.

The event’s principal promoter and organizer referred to studies that reveal the presence of elementary jazz in rhythms brought to the city by slaves.

César López, a celebrated saxophonist and the festival’s honorary president, spoke positively about how each festival had gone from strength to strength and highlighted the interest evoked by the event among internationally renowned instrumentalists.

The Festival opened on September 21 with brilliant performances by Yasek Manzano, Carlos Miyares, the Influencia group and Iván Acosta and his De Cuba Somos band in particular.

Michel Herrera, Roberto Fonseca and César López were accompanied in their festival performances by Mike Davidson from the US.

The Festival was brought to a fitting close on September 24 by a series of electrifying open-air jam sessions on Santiago’s central Dolores Park boulevard.

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Havana Biennial Postponed Because of Hurricane

HAVANA - The Cuban National Visual Arts Council and the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center have decided to postpone the holding of the 13th Havana Biennial until 2019, according to institutions of the country.

“Because of the serious damages caused by Hurricane Irma to the country’s cultural institutions, a rigorous analysis has been made on the resources to be allocated to the recovery process that will be conducted for the rest of this year and throughout 2018,” stated the report published in the Cubartedigital magazine.

The announcement also highlights that adjustments had to be made in several of the eventsforeseen, including the aforementioned visual arts biennial, which was postponed until 2019.

According to the Culture Ministry, Hurricane Irma damaged 287 institutions of the sector, and efforts are already being made to carry out the construction actions in these.

For its part, the Association of Visual Artists, attached to the National Association of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), affirmed that itunderstands and backsthis decision.

“The artists are convinced that Cuba’s cultural life, which has always been rich and had a fresh impetus, will face any adversity,” stated a report issued by the entity.

It also recalls that the UNEAC members have stood out in the many artistic brigades that went to all the provinces

affected by the hurricane with the purpose to carry a message of solidarity and spiritual courage to both, the evacuees and the victims.

The HermanosSaíz Association (AHS) also joined the UNEAC statement in support of the adjustments the Culture Ministry is forced to make in its event calendar for 2018 as a result of the recent damages of powerful Hurricane Irma.

“These days of sadness and sorrow, we, the writers

and artists, have done what we do best: putting art to the service of the society; sharing with those Cuban men and women affected the most by the hurricane,” the AHS board of directors ratified.

Both institutions, UNEAC and AHS, denounced the attempts to distort Cuba’s current cultural policy in the social media, and reaffirmed the artists’faith in a social process that has defended art and culture as one of the most noble deeds.

By MartaCABRALES

Santiago Gets All Jazzed Up

PHOTO FEATURE 11

By MasielFERNANDEZ

Cuba’s Remarkable Recovery From IrmaHAVANA.- The housing, agriculture and tourism sectors were all very seriously affected by Hurricane Irma, and a united Cuban nation has since been committed to the massive task of recovery.

The sugarcane industry for example, is ensuring that essential machinery has been brought back on line without undue delay and that damages suffered by refineries are repaired in as timely a fashion as possible.

The tourism sector has responded to the challenge at a remarkable rate and has already almost recuperated its full operational capacity.

Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero has confirmed that the industry will have fully recovered for the forthcoming high season, which will extend from November 15 until April 2018.

In response to the very sensitive issue of home repair and construction needs as a consequence of the devastating hurricane, the Local Production and Sale of Building Materials National Group has prioritized increased output and the transfer of materials to people’s councils in the areas most affected.

Cuba’s Telecommunications Company has reported that more than 90% of all storm damage related repairs have been completed.

The national electricity network has been the focus of a particularly impressive and intensive recovery effort since Irma

tragically took ten human lives and wreaked havoc over almost the entire national territory between September 7 and 10. (Photos taken from Cuban media)

12 POLITICS

HAVANA.- U.S. President Donald Trump’s most recent bellicose statements on Venezuela have reaffirmed the convictions of many who believe that the current U.S. Administration is being increasingly influenced by a hostile group harboring ill-will towards Latin America.

Trump’s threats to reinforce his uni-lateral sanctions to bring down the Pre-sident Nicolás Maduro led Bolivarian government added fuel to the fire of his earlier declarations about the use of for-ce to further his regime change agenda.

At the UN and elsewhere, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos and other regional representatives have robustly rejected any suggestion of a military in-tervention in Venezuela.

This same US administration is also trying at present to impose rightwing U.S. Congress member supported inter-ventionist policies on Nicaragua, to des-tabilize Daniel Ortega’s government.

Trump also told the international community at the UN General Assembly the he intended to maintain the econo-mic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, in effect against the island now for more than 50 years.

That declaration was in keeping with his ill-advised decision to revert progress on bilateral relations following Presidents Raúl Castro and Barack Obama’s Decem-ber 17th, 2014 announcements that they had agreed to begin normalizing ties.

There have been suggestions that a recent campaign alleging U.S. Officials had suffered non-accidental health pro-blems in Havana may be nothing more than a cynical maneuver by Trump and Co. to justify an even further deteriora-tion in relations.

Following a meeting between its Fo-reign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez and the U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, on September 26th, the Cuban government reiterated unequivocally that Cuba “has never and will never will engage in any such activity, and has never allowed nor will it ever allow its territory to be used by third parties to such ends.”

In addition to these and other recent hostile ramblings, the U.S. president has threatened to withdraw from the 1994 North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada and to proceed with the building of his wall along the Mexican border.

A round of NAFTA talks in Ottawa between September 23rd and 27th highlighted that Trump’s stance has in-deed caused some serious obstacles.

His intrusive and aggressive attitudes have enjoyed support from the discre-dited Organization of American States (OAS), an entity that for several months ignored the wishes of many of its own member States and wrongfully partici-pated in the US campaign against Vene-zuela.

Its Secretary General Luis Almagro has unashamedly groveled before the United States by supporting its position on the Maduro government and the Bo-livarian Project.

These are some of the reasons why the White House’s relations with Latin America might most kindly be described by some as clumsy and confused.

But such low and deteriorating levels of confidence in the United States gover-nment represent a very real risk to regio-nal stability.

The north American nation is now acutely aware that its capacity to impose its own policy objectives on the region has significantly decreased, to the detri-ment of its own strategic interests.

By TaniaPEÑA

BOGOTA – Colombia continues to move towards peace and reconciliation and has taken great strides towards the abandonment of a long history of war and hate.

President Juan Manuel Santos’ government and the continent’s oldest guerrilla movement, FARC-EP, have already taken very significant steps forward on the potholed path to peace.

On November 2016, following five intense years of negotiation in avana, both sides signed a historical agreement that brought over 50 years of armed conflict to a close.

Having strictly complied with their disarmament commitments under UN supervision, on Sept 1st this year, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP) became their nation’s newest political force.

In such a highly-polarized society however the establishment of a lasting peace is a very complex and challenging task.

Pope Francis warned during his recent visit that much remained to be done in what he described as “the beautiful land of Colombia”.

The supreme pontiff advised his faithful to appreciate and protect the fruits of peace from the hazards that might destroy them and he emphasized that real reconciliation represented the best way to guarantee that they endured.

The leader of the newly-created Common Alternative Revolutionary Force (FARC), Timoleón ‘Timochenko’ Jiménez, has warned the Colombian president that the peace process is facing serious obstacles.

Timochenko referred last week to problems confronting former members’ who are, for example, finding it “incredibly

difficult to access health services, who are still deprived of their freedom and who are dying in prison due to deteriorated health as a direct consequence of the State’s own indolence.”

In recent days, Santos was supposed to sign an exceptional decree to implement certain elements of Special Peace Law (JEP), prior to the approval of a related draft bill that has become bogged down in Congress.

A series of cunning maneuvers against the JEP by opponents in the legislature have undermined agreements reached in Havana and delayed both redress for conflict victims and the search for truth and reconciliation, which Santos recognizes are key elements of the national healing process.

Despite such setbacks, Colombia’s commitment to peace seems irreversible.

A further indication of this is a bilateral ceasefire agreed between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) – to hold remain in effect between October 1st 2017 and January 9th, 2018 .

The agreement between the government and the FARC-EP meant that the ELN was the only guerrilla army still active in Colombia.

They have stated that their ceasefire is to reduce intense military operations so that the public may benefit from a peace dividend.

The ELN has also affirmed that the aim of their peace talks in Quito with the Government is to reach “a Final Agreement to end the armed conflict and agree to changes that will ensure a just peace for Colombia.”

However troubled or tormented the waters may be, Colombia is holding a true course on its crossing to a peaceful future.

By RobertoGARCIA

More Disastrous Trump ‘Diplomacy’

Colombia

Course for PeaceRemains on

ECONOMY 13

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CIEGO DE AVILA.- Most of the tasty tropical pineapples delightedly devoured by tourists during their vacations in Cuba come from the fertile red soil fields of Ciego de Avila province.

It is relished as fresh slices, chunks in syrup or the juice in a delicious and refreshing piña colada cocktail, skillfully mixed with coconut milk, Havana Club Silver dry rum and crushed ice.

For almost a century the central Cuban province of Cie-go de Avila, some 430 kilometers east of Havana and known colloquially as Pineapple Territory, has set aside substantial tracts of arable lands o grow the “Queen of Fruits.”

Although by no means exclusive to the province, it is in Ciego de Avila that the most extensive plantations of the Red Spanish varieties are cultivated and it is only

there that the MD-2 hybrid is presently harvested.A pineapple imported from Costa Rica, the MD-2 was

introduced in 2012 and is renowned as the sweetest, jui-ciest, best and biggest variety now grown on the island.

Reinaldo De Avila, director of Ciego de Avila’s pi-neapple producing center, told The Havana Reporter that the variety is very much in demand on the Euro-pean markets of Spain, Italy and France, to where some 1,100 tons were exported last year.

This fruit has the GLOBAL GAP international certifica-te and is an example of the best agricultural practices in the province.

Local producers aim to set some 2,000 hectares of the variety by 2020, but will also continue to cultivate the more traditional Red Spanish variety because it is more resistant to climate change and requires less attention.

A branch of the Ceballos Agro-industrial Enterprise, the pineapple producing center also runs a small fac-tory that produces natural juice and pineapple chunks in syrup for the local tourist industry and other markets.

The pineapple was first introduced to Ciego de Avila in the late 1930s but it was not until 1967 that cultivation spread all over the region.

Pineapple growing was an entirely manual process until the 1990s, however, scientific advances and new technologies, similar to those employed by more deve-loped nations, are now widely used in Cuba.

Cuba’s Delicious

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HAVANA.-The challenge of having safe foodstuffs produced through biotechnology will be the main topic of a congress to be in Cuba next December with the expected attendance of more than 30 countries, its organizers informed.

Under the slogan “Agricultural and Livestock Biotechnology in the 21st Century,” the event will bring together researchers from almost all Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

The Organizing committee’s president, Cuban scientists Mario Estrada, said in press conference that the event’s topic is connected with one of the main challenges humanity is currently facing: seeking new forms of producing food products and how biotechnology can contribute to that aim.

There are seven billion people living in the world today and by 2050 there will be nine billion people, but with less water and habitable lands,” he warned.

Scheduled for December 3-6 in Varadero beach resort, in western Matanzas province, the congress theoretical program will include seven symposiums, one of them dedicated to aquatic biotechnology.

The results of research projects on immunostimulants and adjuvants in fish vaccines will be presented during the forum. “We must produce more fish and crustaceans, as well as more medicine to make them stronger,” he explained.

Enzyme technologies, agriculturalbioproducts and the

application of biotechnology to enrich the plants are some of the issues to be addressed by the symposiums.

Several personalities are expected to attend the 2017 Biotechnology Congress, such as Nobel Medicine Prize laureate Richard Robert, who will teach the opening conference.

The congress will be preceded by the course: Edition of genome using CRISPR/CAS9 technology and its application in plants.

Organized by the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Center, the congress will be held at Varadero’s Plaza America Convention Center.

Cuba Hosts World Biotechnology and Food Production Congress

14 ECONOMY

Hydrocarbon Industrialization: A Bolivian Reality

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LA PAZ.- The industrialization of hydrocarbons in Bolivia began with the inauguration of the urea-ammonia plant in Bulo Bulo, Cochabamba department, hence representing a qualitative step toward transforming the gas sector in the country.

Comprising more than five kilometers and run by South Korea’s Samsung Engineering Co., the plant required$953 million for its construction.

The factory will be firstly operated by technicians with Samsung Engineering Co., who will also train Bolivian professionals withYacimientosPetrolíferosFiscales (YPFB) Oil Company to handle the modern plant.

South Korean ambassador in Bolivia Jong-Cheol Lee told Prensa Latina news agency that the factory is a great project for Bolivia and that his government is willing to continue providing

(Bolivia) with know-how and technology .

He also congratulated the Bolivian government for investing in the local gas sector’s development, which “will open significant doors for the South American country, thus helping it to possibly become the region’senergy heart,” the ambassador said.

When inaugurating the plant on September 14, President Evo Morales explained that the factory is one of the largest in South America and became the first petrochemical project completed in the country.

Bolivian Hydrocarbon Minister Luis Sánchez said during the plant’s inauguration that urea is the fertilizer most widely used in the world, and the fact that it is produced in the country makes it an important factor for economic growth, because it will help boost agriculture.

The BuloBulo plant is in conditions

to produce 600,000 tons of urea annually. Of that amount, 20 percent will be assigned for the internal market, which will lower the price of fertilizers and increase the production capacity within corn, wheat, rice, potato and quinoa growers.

Therefore, Bolivia will stop importing nearly 30,000 tons of that product and the internal market will be the most for selling of fertilizers.

In addition the plant, which will work with Bolivian gas, will allow increasing the number of arable lands from 2.5 to 17 million. Consequently, the country’s production capacity will grow 42 percent and so will food security, the minister noted.

Urea exports to countries such as Peru, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil are expected to bring some $233 million into Bolivia annually, Sanchez announced.

The plant belongs to the second phase of the gas

industrialization process in the country, after the first phase was completed with the construction of the liquid separation plants in Río Grande (Santa Cruz) and Gran Chaco (Tarija).

These two factories and the

urea plant that opened the process for industrializing hydrocarbons in Bolivia are part of the South American country’s goals for attaining technological sovereignty and becoming the region’s energy heart.

By ClaudiaDUPERION

SPORTS 15

HAVANA.- The seemingly unstoppable slugger Alfredo Despaigne and other Cuban baseball players are adding a tasty sub-tropical touch to Japan’s Professional Baseball League, second in status only to the US Major League.

Despaigne first signed in Japan in 2014 with the Chiba Lotte Marines, for whom he played a key role for three years.

Having transferred this season to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, he is the team´s designated hitter and fifth in their lineup.

Last month he surpassed his own 30 home run goal for the year and joined the elite 100 run club by beating his 2016-record of 92 runs.

Fondly baptized “The Horse of Horses“ by his Oriental fans, Despaigne is not the Hawks only Cuban star.

This year they signed another two promising ball players from the Island, the left-handed pitcher Liván Moinelo and the exciting young all-rounder Oscar Luis Colás. They both bring very different skills to the team.

The experienced Moinelo has closed for Cuba’s national team in tournaments that include the World Classic while Colás is an 18 year old first base, outfielder and pitcher with a 90mph plus fast-ball, who with just 23 games in Cuba‘s league behind him, is a raw diamond indeed.

Moinelo´s worth was rapidly ratified by an impressive 36 strikeouts from his first 35.2 innings.

Japanese teams primarily recruit powerful hitters, which is why the Chibba Lotte Marines did not let the opportunity to sign Roel Santos slide.

The talented number one on Cuba´s national team line-up had attracted attention from many quarters but eventually joined the four-time Japanese Series champions last May.

The 40 year-old, left handed pitcher Raúl Valdés, now in his third Japanese league year, is also enjoying what will probably prove to be his best ever pro-career season with the Chunichi Dragons.

Last November he was recognized by the Japanese league as the pitcher who took the least time between pitches during the 2016 season.

When he had opened 50 games in the Japanese series, Valdés boasted a 68% quality start record.

The Dragons, who compete in the Central League and are based in the city of Nagoya, have employed Omar Linares -- rated the best player to have participated in his country´s championships since 1962 – as their batting coach.

They have also signed two other Cubans this year: the 20-year old supersonic pitcher Raidel Martínez, who played for Cuba in the Fourth World Classic, and Leonardo Urgellés, an outfielder with proven defensive skills.

The club that took the Japanese title in 1954 and 2007 also has the Cuban short-stop Alexander Guerrero and outfielder Dayán Viciedo on their staff, both of whom bring prior US major league experience to the team.

Although still behind Despaigne in the run tally, the duel between this pair of home-run hitters has been of interest throughout the season.

Despaigne, Valdés and Guerrero’s selection in Japan‘s All

Star Series added a distinctively Cuban flavor to last July´s Summer Classic.

The significance of this is better understood when one considers that players are chosen by Japanese fans who generally favor their home bred native stars over foreign ‚imports‘.

The Cuban presence in that two-game series was crowned by Despaigne’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) nomination for a .800 hitting average.

Given that the Fukuoha designated hitter´s 33rd home run helped the Hawks re-conquest the Pacific League title, he is also now a strong candidate to win that league’s MVP award.

Cuba’s baseball “Mambises“ can certainly claim to be holding their own on the diamond shaped turf of their samurai counterparts.

Cuban Stars Sparkle

On Japan‘s Baseball Scene

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