Cuban Colada

Castro won't attend summit in Portugal

Raúl Castro will not attend the 19th Ibero-American Summit, to be held Nov. 29-Dec. 1 in Estoril, Portugal, the Cuban daily Granma announced Saturday in a two-paragraph note.
No explanation was given. Cuba will be represented by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
Several other presidents will not show up for the gathering. They are Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Tabaré Vásquez (Uruguay), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Daniel Ortega (Nicaragua) and Alvaro Colom (Guatemala).
It is unclear who will represent Honduras, whose elected president, Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown in June.
Attendees will include the chiefs of state and government of Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic.

Los Van Van plan 70 concerts in the U.S. next year, but only 'one or two' in Miami

Los Van Van, Cuba's top-ranking timba band, plans to give 70 concerts in the United States in a three-stage series in 2010 that might extend until 2011, the band's founder and musical director, Juan Formell, said Friday in Havana.
He gave no specifics, other than "one or two" of the performances might take place in Miami, where the group had a stormy reception in 1999.
"Miami has changed a lot in the past 10 years," said Formell, adding that the situation is more "favorable" to the Cubans' presence, without "so much aggressiveness." There are "many young people from Cuban families who are in favor" of a visit by Los Van Van, he said.
Formell and his son Samuel – his successor as the orchestra's leader – were attending the premiere of a documentary about the 40th anniversary of the band's creation.
The orchestra will give an anniversary concert Dec. 9 at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, featuring musicians such as singers Omara Portuondo and Pedro Calvo and pianist César "Pupy" Pedroso. Later in December, it will embark on a tour that will take it to Colombia and Panama.

–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Chávez pays a 'lightning' visit to Raúl, Fidel after talks with a high-level Cuban mission

Hugo Chávez made an unannounced trip to Havana on Tuesday to meet with Raúl and Fidel Castro, the Venezuelan president said Wednesday in Caracas during a ceremony for the visiting president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“I made a lightning trip to Cuba and spent seven hours yesterday with Fidel going over various topics. We do this with considerable frequency," Chávez said, according to the Venezuelan daily El Universal.
"Fidel told me: 'Tell Ahmadinejad that going to Venezuela is like coming to Cuba, because they're one and the same country,'" Chávez said.
Chávez's trip to the island came two days after he met in Caracas with a top-level Cuban delegation, reportedly to make plans for the summit of ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of Our America) set for Dec. 13-14.
The delegation, led by Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice president of the Council of Ministers, included:
• Jorge Luis Sierra Cruz, vice president of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Transport
• Rodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment
• Salvador Pardo Guerra, Minister of the Iron and Steel Industry
• Yadira García Vera, Minister of Basic Industry
• Rogelio Sierra Díaz, Vice Minister of Foreign Relations
• Alberto Rodríguez, Vice Minister of Computer Sciences and Communications
• Rogelio Polanco Fuentes, Ambassador to Venezuela
The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina reported that Chávez's trip was to discuss ALBA-related matters. (PHOTO at left shows Chávez and Raúl Castro at the airport. No pictures of Chávez and Fidel were immediately released.)
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

Senator: Save $300M. End Radio-TV Martí.

Dump Radio and TV Martí. Virtually no one tunes in to them, contends Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) in a press release issued this week.
Feingold, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, on Monday launched a Spotlight on Spending series "to highlight actions Congress can take to reduce the deficit," currently at $1.42 trillion.
One of those actions would be to terminate Radio and TV Martí, "relics of the Cold War [,,,] that virtually no one tunes in to." According to Feingold, "government studies show that Radio and TV Martí are riddled with problems and fall short of journalistic standards."
The deficit reduction thus achieved would be $300 million over 10 years, Feingold maintains.
"As we progress toward a more modern and constructive relationship with Cuba, Radio and TV Martí no longer have any real diplomatic or fiscal purpose," he said.
Feingold said he intends to bring up the issue when the Senate takes up President Obama's nominees to the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees RTV-Martí.
"The political environment has changed significantly since the inception of Radio and TV Martí, and President Obama's commitment to international diplomacy and dialogue offers a more effective way to engage with the people of Cuba," Feingold's press release says.

Bay State seniors try softball diplomacy

A follow-up to our Oct. 4 blog item "Senior softball teams will play in Cuba," about the superannuated softball players from Massachusetts who traveled to the island this month, appeared Tuesday in The Boston Globe.
To read about their experience, click here. The story is titled "In Cuba, diamond diplomacy."
Enjoy.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

 

Dissidents support an end to the travel ban

Miriam Leiva, a founder of the dissident group Ladies in White, issued a statement in Havana on Monday saying that she and her "husband, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, fully support the lifting of the travel ban on Americans to visit Cuba."
Both have been vocal critics of the Cuban government.
On Thursday, Leiva testified via teleconference at a House committee hearing on the travel ban. In effect, her written statement reaffirmed that testimony. Excerpts:
• "To a Cuban woman who is denied the right to opine in her country, who has suffered reprisals for not bending to pressure and faces the harassment of the authorities, taking part in that [hearing] was a great responsibility.
• "Those in the United States who oppose the visit of its citizens invoke the financial impact of tourism in the Cuban economy, for fear it may invigorate the totalitarian regime. But, without a doubt, many thousands of Americans visiting Cuba would benefit our society and therefore our people. In the first place, through the free flow of ideas, and also by pressuring the government to allow self-employment for the offer of products and services such as room rentals, because hotel accomodations would be swamped.
• "Of course the Americans would spend money. It would be collected by the Cuban government, which is so inefficient that it could only keep small amounts, not enough to cover its major needs. [...] The money spent by the Americans would return through the purchases made from American farmers and other traders to supply the hotels, restaurants and stores.
• "The Cuban authorities [...] have used the embargo to justify their arbitrariness, economic inefficiency, mismanagement and repression. They fear losing that pretext, just as they panic at the idea of losing the excuse to keep the Americans out.
• "[The system] has fallen into a deep economic, political and social crisis, with no solution other than profound changes. These can come from the power structure, aware of their inevitability, or from the people, through desperation and civic commitment. They could come in velvet or violence, with great repression. We struggle for an understanding among all Cubans [...] We are convinced that a lessened tension in the relations between Cuba and the United States would help our objectives."
The entire text, in Spanish, is in Cubanuestra.nu.

Septeto Nacional play Hoy Como Ayer; music, family, no drama.

Havana's Septeto Nacional marked a little bit of history Saturday night in Little Havana with family feeling and no drama. "On your feet familiares de Septeto Nacional" said 68-year old lead singer Eugenio Rodriguez to dark, tiny and packed Hoy Como Ayer on Saturday night. "Tantos primos y primas despues de tanto tiempo." Not even Vigilia Mambisa bothered to demonstrate over the first concert by a group coming from the island in at least six years (although even the early 10:30 set was late for Saavedra's crew.) Whether it was because the septet founded by Ignacio Pineiro in 1927 plays such culturally weighted, historic and apolitical Cuban music, or because there's simply not the anger to generate a public protest for a Cuban show, the only screaming on Saturday night's show came from the enthusiastic crowd inside. It included Tony Rives, 45, whose mother was cousin to Ricardo "Oro" Oropesa Fernandez, the Septeto's manager/promotor, occasional back-up singer, and expert dancer with half the women in the club. "I don't think politics should mix with the talent," Rives said. "You can't separate them from their ability to play or us from our ability to appreciate it. I feel great that they're here - we grew up listening to this music, but we only get to hear it on records."

Yes, the Septeto Nacional opened with Echale Salsita, the Pineiro tune that's sometimes credited with giving salsa its name, and barreled on from there. Son is usually a suave thing, but this ensemble, the fourth generation of musicians for this band founded in 1927, played with exceptional precision and drive. This wasn't the turbo-charged overdrive of timba, but it was relentless enough: tres, guitar, stand-up bass, bongos (and cowbell), maracas, trumpet, and singer all beautifully locked in, the arrangements precisely calibrated, the rhythm section as regular as a drum machine. Rodriguez may be 68, but he's got a fabulous, classic sonero's voice - powerful, with high-pitched intensity and a potent dose of bluesy soul - and the energy of someone half his age. "It's phenomenal to be here in Miami," Rodriguez said in the narrow hallway outside the tiny room that serves as Hoy Como Ayer's backstage, where women decades younger squealed and posed for photographs with him (hard to say who looked happier). "Hopefully they'll keep opening the doors here."

Much of the crowd was close to Rodriguez in age - mid-40's was young in this audience. One Cuban friend at the La Excepcion Spanish hiphop concert said that while he was happy the ensemble was playing in Miami, he wasn't planning to see them - for musical, not political reasons. "They're wonderful, and this is the real Cuban music - but I heard them so many times in Cuba, enough already" he said. Oddly, there's been more buzz about the group elsewhere in the U.S. than here in the capital of el exilio and Cuban nostalgia. The Septeto Nacional has played a bunch of shows in New York and Puerto Rico, as well as gigs in Chicago, San Francisco and L.A., and generally at much larger venues than Hoy Como Ayer, which holds about 100 if everyone's willing to get real, real close and the dancefloor is sacrificed for tables, as it was Saturday. By the time the group was gearing up for the second set, at 12:30, there didn't seem to have been much turnover.

Oropesa diplomatically avoided talking about the political significance of the Septeto's appearance in Miami or the U.S.. "We know the desire of the U.S. audience to hear traditional Cuban music," he said. "We've come to expand the relationship between the two peoples. We're ambassadors of Cuban folklore."

Tres player Roberto Acosta, who says he's played with an exile musical who's who that includes Albita, Celia Cruz, and Willy Chirino, and who did a stellar guest turn on the tres with the Septeto, was thrilled. Acosta says he goes to Cuba regularly, shrugging off questions about the once a year limits to visits by Cuban-Americans by saying "no one has prevented me - I got all the time." Acosta says he met and played with the Septeto Nacional in Havana, and was thrilled to have them here. "They're fantastic, great musicians and friends," he said. "It's a privilege for me to play with them. After this is over people are going to see that this was a historic moment. To me this is the most important thing happening tonight in Miami, that this music from the heart of Cuba should be here in the heart of Little Havana and el exilio Cubano."

Those who missed history last Saturday will have another chance to participate, however; the Septeto Nacional will be back at Hoy Como Ayer for a 9pm set on Nov. 28th.Tickets $30, call 305-541-2631.

Omara Portuondo to play Miami in March

Cuban singer Omara Portuondo will perform in Miami Beach on March 2nd, 2010, the first major Cuban star to be announced for the greater Miami area since connections between the U.S. and the island tightened up in 2003. The Buena Vista Social Club star and former member of beloved quartet Los D'Aida will sing at the Fillmore Miami Beach in a show presented by the Rhythm Foundation, a non-profit organization which has been presenting world music artists in Miami for over twenty years. The group has not specialized in Cuban artists, but it did co-present, with the Miami Light Project, the legendary rumberos Munequitos de Matanzas in 2002.

Photo by Pedro Portal

Rhythm Foundation directors met with Omara's manager while the singer was in Miami visiting her sister last month and doing a few press interviews (including mine, covered on video by El Nuevo videographer and photographer Pedro Portal). Omara seemed hesitant about the idea of doing a concert in Miami - she had strong memories of coming to Miami Beach to perform at the MIDEM music conference in 1998 and having her performance delayed by bomb threats. Obviously, she was persuaded.

Omara recently made history by being the first Cuban artist to appear on the Latin Grammys telecast, accepting the awards for Best Contemporary Tropical Album on Univision's broadcast, and saluted warmly by a number of the artists appearing on the show. Whether her appearance in Miami Beach is controversial remains to be seen; her signing of a letter of support for the Cuban government in the 'black spring' of 2003 might still anger some. But there also seems to be much more openness and longing for Cuban music in the wake of Juanes' Havana concert in September.

Omara gave several concerts in California before appearing on the Grammys; the visa she got for that trip lasts a year, and will allow her to return for the Miami show, as well as a concert in New York.

Meanwhile, the Septeto Nacional Ignacio Pineiro plays at tiny Hoy Como Ayer this Saturday - the first Cuban act from the island to visit since 2003. Their music is pure, pleasurable history - let's see what happens!

Spanish daily urges EU to pressure Cuba

The influential Spanish newspaper El Pais – normally a left-of-center daily – has sided with hardliners who would like Spain and the European Union to pressure Raúl Castro into relaxing his control of society.
Here are excerpts from an editorial it published Sunday, titled "Repression in Cuba."
"Fidel Castro's replacement by his brother Raúl more than three years ago raised hopes of a softening in the Cuban dictatorship. It also raised expectations that a change in the island's rigid economic schemes might improve the lives of Cubans. The illusion grew with the arrival in power of Barack Obama, from whom a swift thawing of the 50-year cold war between both countries was expected.
"Nothing has happened according to the script of the best-intentioned people. Despite encouraging measures, the unfair and counterproductive U.S. embargo remains in place, the economic situation in Cuba worsens to critical extremes, and its political system remains implacable. A report from the nongovernmental U.S. organization Human Rights Watch this week verifies the full implementation of the police state. [...]
"Havana seems armor-plated in the face of international pressure. The Spanish government [...] wants to utilize its presidency of the European Union to soften that body's intransigence with Cuba for its permanent abuses in that field. In the light of HRW's diagnosis, it would not be improper to take advantage of such a springboard to sharply accentuate the absolutely necessary democratization of the Cuban regime."
For the entire editorial, in Spanish, click here. For background, read our previous items "Spain's two top parties..." (Nov. 21), "Granma denounces report..." (Nov.19), and "Cuba rejects HRW report" (Nov. 18).

Blogger's aims, methods are questioned in an official site, in a move to discredit her

President Obama's responses to the questionnaire sent to him by Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez are part of a project "I choose to call Operation Marketing, intended to promote and make visible a new counter-revolutionary figure in Cuba," wrote Esteban N. Martínez Saturday in Cubadebate.com.
The article, titled "Operation Marketing," was the first extended commentary on the Obama-Sánchez exchange to appear in an official website.
The otherwise unidentified Martínez said that "the blogger's position has changed from mild criticism of the Cuban revolutionary project to more open and aggressive stances that invite a confrontation."
Sánchez "aligned herself with the enemies of the Revolution, appearing frequently in articles and interviews on Radio Martí and El Nuevo Herald, mouthpieces of the most retrograde positions and the loudspeakers of the Cuban-America mafia in Florida," the article said.
After listing several public events at which Sánchez appeared, "seeking at any cost to make herself visible," Martínez said that Sánchez "concocted a new tale when she told everyone about her 'kidnapping' by agents of State Security who (she said) beat her.
"Without doublechecking the information and without verifying anything about that tale, many media outlets jumped on the campaign of 'kidnapping' and 'beating' of the well-known blogger," Martínez wrote, observing that she never showed any proof of the blows she allegedly received.
Sánchez's grab for headlines seems to have alarmed "the 'classical dissidents,' who fear losing their dollars, now redirected toward 'the competition,'" Martínez speculated. "In a desperate attempt to draw attention to themselves, Martha Beatriz Roque and her acolytes staged a show that included a 'hunger strike' and reports of 'a grave state of health.'"
But they couldn't top Sánchez's letter to Obama and the U.S. president's response, Martínez said.
After listing several questions that Sánchez did not ask but should have – among them the embargo, biological warfare, Luis Posada Carriles, the Cuban Adjustment Act, and the Guantánamo naval base – Martínez closed by saying:
"The intention of Yoani Sánchez and those who promote her is to find greater global visibility in an Operation Marketing, a game Barack Obama has consented to play, either knowingly or duped by his advisers." To read the article, in Spanish, click here. [UPDATE: "Yoani's role in Cuba-U.S. relations is not to the liking of the government of Raúl Castro, nor is her growing 'citizen activism' and her leap from the blog to the street," said the Spanish daily El Pais on Sunday, in an analysis titled "Cuba corrals Yoani Sánchez." "Sánchez's harshest clashes with the official world have occurred precisely when she has engaged in public actions." Click here.]
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.