Clean and Prosperous Bayamo

General García Walk in Bayamo

Bayamo is by far the cleanest city in Cuba, according to those who have been in the most important cities in the island.

Toronto is considered one of the cleanest cities in the world, but I can assure that, considering population and status, Bayamo is cleaner.

Toronto

I challenge anyone to find another city in the world where city employees shine (literally) their main walk and the central park, which is done twice a day with a brillador (shiner).  Indeed cleanliness is a hallmark in this city and Bayameses are proud of it, they cooperate by keeping it clean and making sure visitors help keep it that way.

City employees shine the walk and park twice a day

Bayamo is an example (that must be followed) of how creativity and good will, together with the use of national and local resources can be put to work for the benefit of the community. This is one of the main reasons why this city thrives and constructs a new vision of how development should be approached in times of crisis and austerity.

Cleanliness is a hallmark in Bayamo

Japan desperately tries to avert a catastrophe in earthquake crippled Fukushima reactors

Fukushima reactor spews white smoke into the air today

After a fourth explosion in reactor number 4 earlier today, a surge of radiation considered dangerous for human health, forced the closure of the power plant and  emergency workers were  asked to abandon the perimeters. Some hours later, they were allowed in again, once those levels of radiation were deemed “safe”.

The radiation has already reached Tokyo with about 13 million inhabitants prompting people to flee the city.

Toxicologist Lee Tin-lap at the Chinese University of Hong Kong affirmed that while the present levels of radiation in the surroundings of the power plant may not pose a safety concern, the long term effect due to exposure to radioactivity is unknown.

Japanese Emperor Akihito

In a rare TV appearance, only reserved for very solemn occasions, Japanese Emperor Akihito addressed the nation on Wednesday. He said he was “deeply worried” for this crisis, the likes of which Japan had never seen. He also said that he was praying for the country and told Japan not to dismay.

Today the death toll has been estimated at 11 000, 3,500 confirmed dead and 7,500 missing and presumed death.

Amidst the mounting crisis there have been allegations of cover ups by the government, which has hidden the facts from the public opinion and the international community.

Cuban television airs new episode on cyberwar waged by Washington against Havana

From U.S. taxpayers money to promote terrorism in the world

A new episode of the series Cuba’s Reasons aired last night. Well-Paid Lies (Mentiras bien pagadas) continues looking into the latest manoeuvres of the U.S. government in its obsessive and criminal aggression  against the people of Cuba. It focused on the millionaire funds allocated to wage a cyberwar against the constitutional government of the island, using the tax payers money to fabricate, instruct, pay and protect individuals inside the country to plot against their legitimate government . A fact that Cuba has repeatedly denounced in international forums.

Frank Carlos and Corwin, a USIS official in Havana

The program showed Washington’s direct involvement as U.S. diplomatic officials with the USIS (U.S. Interests Section) in Havana instruct, fabricate and finance activists, who later are branded as “dissidents”, “independent journalists” or “civil society leaders”.

These individuals are part of the fifth column that the U.S. needs to create and foment inside Cuba to denigrate the Cuban Revolution and to make it appear as a significant opposition to the government.

Frank Carlos, Cuban security agent Robin

The episode also highlights the role that the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) has played in this war of subversion. In general this agency has received $ 2 720 391 038 in juicy contracts from US taxpayers money for the purpose of toppling a foreign government.

13th Terry Fox Run in Cuba this Saturday March 19, 2011

Terry Fox

Cancer is a worldwide health problem, affecting all countries regardless of race, culture, level of economic development or political system.

Every year, 10 million new cancer cases are diagnosed worldwide.

In Cuba, cancer is the second cause of death for all age groups and the main cause of years of potential life lost. Currently, one out of four deaths is due to cancer.

Betty Fox, his mother

Cuba is amongst the few countries in the world with a Comprehensive Program for Cancer Control. Launched in 1987, it is currently headed by the National Unit for Cancer Control, under the advisory of the National Group of Oncology. The program’s objective results have surpassed all other Latin American countries. Likewise, the National Institute of Oncology   and Radiobiology (INOR), created in the 60s, carries out important research on cancer.

Ever since the beginning of the Terry Fox Runs in Cuba, the funds raised have been devoted to funding of some INOR’s research projects. Two of those projects have already concluded with good results and another eight projects are beginning:

1. Determining profiles of genetic expression for possible implementation in breast cancer clinical management.

2. Determination of the expression of genes and proteins associated with the proliferation and the formation of metastasis in breast tumors.

3. Study of cases and control of breast cancer risk factors in Cuba.

4. Pre-clinical study of ozone-therapy in response against malign tumors.

5. HR3Tx, an immunotoxin strategy for cancer therapy.

6. New molecular markers in urine for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

7. Histocytological evaluation of IOR-HPV1monoclonal antibody.

8. Immunoregulation study of stage 3 breast cancer patients, and its relationship with prognosis markers and clinical responses.

Donations can be made directly to the account:

Name of the Account: Terry Fox

No. of the Account: 03 000 000 03776626

Cod. BFI: 106; Branch: Habana Libre

Cod. NAE: 21

Or presented in cash (CUC or CDN) or by check:

CUC: To “Embassy of Canada-CUC”

CAD: “Receiver General for Canada”

Please deliver donation to one of these locations:

Embassy of Canada

Calle 30 #518, esq. a 7ma. Avenida

Miramar, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

Honorary Consulate of Canada (Varadero)

Sra. Sylvie Leduc (Consul)

Calle 13 e/1 y Camino del Mar, Varadero, Cuba

Honorary Consulate of Canada (Guardalavaca)

Sra. Luisa di Tomasso (Consul)

Complejo Hotelero Atlántico

Bungalow 1, Guardalavaca, Holguín

Tonight, 8:30 PM, Cuba airs latest chapter of Las Razones de Cuba: Well Paid Lies

Cubavisión Internacional will broadcast tonight at 8:30 PM the next installment Well Paid Lies of the series LAS RAZONES DE CUBA (Cuba's Reasons). This program will cover the financing of the U.S. cyberwar against Cuba.

Lincoln Center, a factory of "leaders" and "independent journalists" at the U. S. Interest Section in Havana.

In the short video below, Cuban State Security Captain Mariana speaks of the fabrication of leaders for the so called Cuban civil society and "independent journalists" and how the superpower (USA) further finances all their activities against the constitutional government of Cuba.

This documentary will also disclose recently declassified documents that expressly involve the U.S. in the allocation of funds to its agency USAID to subvert the Cuban government.

Follow this link to watch Cuba Television live:
http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/7516.htm

Japan fears nuclear meltdown

Adding to the already chaotic situation caused by the largest quake experienced by Japan to date and the eruption of the Shinmoedake volcano in the southwestern region of the country, the Japanese now face the imminence of a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima No.1 of Tokyo Power Co. at Okuma in northern Japan, warned yesterday a senior government official.

It is believed that one of its uranium reactors has at least partially melted. Radioactive caesium, an element released when overheating damages the core of the nuclear reactor, was detected around the Fukushima Daiichi power station, northeast of Tokyo.

About 200 000 people have already been evacuated from the surroundings of the nuclear plant, while government officials disclosed plans to distribute iodine tablets to locals, which is a basic treatment for radiation poisoning.  

Japan is the third largest user of nuclear power with 17 of them in operations.

source: http://www.koinlocal6.com

U.S. SEIZES HEALTH FUNDS ALLOCATED TO CUBA BY “GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA”

Havana has denounced that the United States of America following its inhuman blockade against Cuba has seized 4.207 million USD in funds assigned to this country for the first quarter of 2011.

Eduardo Hernández, deputy minister of foreign trade and investment, also added that this was just one more step in the extraterritorial application of the financial, economic and commercial blockade imposed on Cuba by the U.S. more than fifty years ago.

“The seizure of funds is an illegal action that seriously obstructs the international cooperation provided by the United Nations system through its funds and programs. Worse still, the seized funds are for combating and preventing pandemics that the Cuban government and the international community are devoting their greatest efforts to eradicate”, also declared the Cuban official.

The U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control froze the funds in January 2011, according to a report by the UN Developing Program.

source: Prensa Latina

JAPAN'S QUAKE MAGNITUDE UPGRADED TO 9.1

• It may have displaced Japan 2.4 meters

Japan's mega quake, the fourth most powerful ever recorded in human history, has been upgraded from the original 8.9 magnitude to an astounding 9.1, said yesterday Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

According to this scientist only other three larger quakes have been registered, humans started recording seismic movements by the end of the year 1800. Those three major telluric adjustments  were: Chile - 1960 - 9.5; Alaska - 1964 - 9.2 and Sumatra - 2004 - 9.1.

This  massive quake may have displaced Japan 2.4 meters, said U.S. Geological Service (USGS) seismologist Paul Earle on Saturday. The Pacific fault lines adjusts itself by only 88 mm every year.

source: http://www.cubadebate.cu/

MORE THAN SEVEN MILLION CUBANS HAVE DEBATED NEW STRUCTURE OF SOCIALISM IN CUBA

More than seven million people have participated in the meetings where the Draft Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution (Proyecto de Lineamientos de la Política Económica y Social del Partido y la Revolución) is being debated, told Inter Press yesterday Marino Murillo, vice president of the Council of States. This Draft document is the central theme of the Sixth Party Congress to be held in Havana next month.

The Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba is expected to redefine the structure of the kind of socialism that Cuba wants to build. Preliminary results of the debates name the calls for more popular participation at all levels, a more practical approach to the solution of our problems, more accountability of officials in their responsibilities, and the realization that the Cuban state cannot afford the large subsidies that it has offered its citizens for more than fifty years no matter how precarious the economic situation may have been.

Representatives of Cuban civil society have also had the opportunity to circulate their opinions through alternate means such as blogs, social networks and e-mail lists reaching a wide audience, continues Inter Press.

Mariela Castro, head of the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) also talking to IPS said that “the only guarantee of democracy in a society is people’s participation, the fact that this is being given the importance it deserves fills me with hope that we will follow the path to a kind of socialism that is closer to the one I imagine.

Granma, the official Communist Party newspaper, has reported that 619, 387 proposals for deletion, additions and modifications, and expectations of doubts and concerns, regarding the Draft Guidelines have been duly gathered for reference. It also promises detailed information about the final results of the discussion process.

source consulted: Inter Press Service

Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba in Welland

Fuerza y Compás: A Magic Evening With Cuba's World-Famous Dance Ensemble

There is no cure for the frigid winter blues. But a serious helping of Cuba's finest music and its rich, exhilarating dance rhythms goes a long way to warm the coldest night and inspire the Canadian soul. And that is exactly what the spectacular Fuerza y Compás recital accomplished on the evening of March 6 before a standing-room only, sold-out crowd at Dr. J.M. Ennis Auditorium in Welland Centennial Secondary School.

Performed by the world-renowned Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba ensemble under the masterful artistic direction and coreography of its creator Lizt Alfonso, Fuerza y Compás turned the event into a marvellously enchanting evening. 

The audience realized they were in for a rather unique treat as soon as the live music of flamenco guitars, percussion instruments and piano, superbly played by consummate Cuban musicians, raised the curtain with composer Ernesto Lecuona's Malagüeña.

The haunting melody ushered in the all-women cast. Fourteen of the most elegant, stunningly beautiful dancers anywhere in the world took the stage to the sounds of castanets and the pounding of heels in a precise, intoxicating display of gypsy passion. 

Centuries before fusion became a music novelty in the modern age, Cuba had fashioned as its own the inspired musical marriage between the Cuban "son" and the traditional African and Spanish guitar sounds. At Welland's J.M. Ellis Auditorium the public witnessed the delightfully sensuous, visually stunning, sophisticated tour de force of Cuba´s rich musical and cultural history in all its splendour. 

For the next two hours, the professional dancers brought the public to their feet as they offered rousing renditions of Cuban-style fusion, a combination of flamenco, ballet, afro-Cuban and Cuban rhythms. 

In her opening introductory remarks Ms. Stella B. Crouch, artistic director of the Welland Port Colborne Concert Association, welcomed the Cuban performers and promised "a wonderful, unforgettable evening." Ms. Crouch was just as absolutely right as she was thrilled with the Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba ensemble. Entranced by every perfectly executed movement, the audience cheered, applauded and rewarded their efforts with well-deserved, prolonged standing ovation. 

Somehow, the magic of the Cuban dancers managed to dissipate the winter cold. It transformed the evening into a warm and wonderful love affair between Cuba and Canada. 

Publicado: 11 de marzo, 2011
Reportaje: Pastor Valle-Garay
Fotos: Ángela Bocchicchio

Promotional video.

Largest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history hits its northeast coast

Today’s earthquake in Japan, which registered 8.9 and has caused catastrophic damage and death, has prompted the government to declare a national state of emergency. An international tsunami warning has been issued affecting Canada, the U.S. Latin America and Taiwan.

Reports still sketchy from the battered area talk of more than 1 500 dead, more than 88 000 missing and a gigantic tsunami that swept 100 kilometers inland destroying everything in its path. So far, around thirty aftershocks have followed the main tremor which struck at 2:46 PM local time, on Friday, March 11th.

News agencies are also reporting that Hawaii's coast has already been slammed by two meter waves that has not caused major damage or loss. The southern California coast is now bracing for the impact of the tsunami generated by the Japan earthquake.

It is believed that this earthquake will impact the economies of the Pacific Rim when those countries are still under the effects of the current economic crisis. Asian stocks fell into red today losing more than one percent as an aftershock of the disaster.

This massive earthquake, the seventh largest ever recorded, may have displaced the rotation axis of the earth by 10 cm., according to a preliminary study conducted by the Italian National Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics.

Elusive justice “made in USA”

No wonder Justice is not served

If it were not because so many innocent lives were lost, and the damage inflicted to Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panamá is still so fresh, the farce that main stream media insists on calling "the trial" of the assassin Luis Posada Carriles in El Paso, Texas, would be a perfect comedy.

What disdain for the pain and the suffering of those who have patiently waited for justice!

Black flags in Havana in remembrance of the 1976 Cubana bombing victims

In the latest episode, a federal judge has ruled that jurors will not be allowed to see a fax that the prosecution was going to use as evidence because it links the defendant to a series of hotel bombings in 1997 in Havana.

Experts consider this incident as a setback for the prosecutors who now will have to do without that important piece of evidence. This fax contains indications that Posada “was discussing payments for the bombings”, they argue.

This is only another obstacle of the many placed on the way to sabotage the prosecution in this masquerade (as if someone high up somewhere were plotting to prevent justice from being served). Posada Carriles served the U.S. government and the CIA doing their dirty work in Latin America. A CIA asset (see Ex-CIA agent and professional assassin…, a previous entry in this blog) until 1976, the ex-agent is responsible, among other crimes, for the bombing of a Cubana airliner that year that killed all 73 people on board. However he is being prosecuted for obstruction, perjury and immigration fraud, as if the lives of his victims did not count.

The truth is that Posada Carriles enjoys extra-official protection of the government of the United States of America for what he knows and for services rendered in their dirty war against Cuba and the movements of liberation in Latin America.

What will be the next delay in this mockery, so that the assassin evades justice?

A professor from the School of Medicine in Bayamo collaborates

Professor Bárbara Ramírez

It is with great pleasure that Dignidad Cuba posts this collaboration from Prof. Ramírez, directly from Bayamo, via email.  Bárbara teaches English at Bayamo's School of Medicine. Thank you Bárbara for your opinion.

Here's the message.

It was marvelous to see what was published in this blog to honor women on
their day, and it is very sad to see how some women put a price to themselves and betray their country.

However, most Cuban women deserve a special honor because of their daily efforts to fight the U.S. blockade.

There are women scientists in their labs trying to find substitutes for some medications or products that cannot be brought into the country, due to the blockade and are necessary to save children’s lives.

Main stream media will never talk about our young women who once graduated as medicine doctors or nurses and go to work under difficult conditions in Latin American countries, in Haiti or in Africa, no matter how far they are from their families or the danger of getting infected by a disease they continue to offer their time and their knowledge. 

While the enemies of Cuba praise traitors, they do not mention  how Cuban women share their  responsibilities in their jobs with the daily tasks at home taking care of their children and also working actively in the construction of a new world. And also this is very important:  how Cuban men have changed their minds and how they help at home doing what is necessary.

No matter the awards given under obscure circumstances and the money that comes with it for those individuals: the presence of other Cuban women, side by side with men, all over the world is bringing positive change to the forgotten.
Barbara Ramírez Pantoja.