The artistic group Maraguán, from the Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz University of Camagüey, is attending the first of the eight international folk events in which it will perform during its 15th tour of 
The group is participating in the Peoples of the World Festival, which will end on Saturday in 
The program is composed of the works Cubanísimo, Por Los Campos de mi 
The group, mainly made up by students from the
Both received the Key to the City from Michael Moore at the opening ceremony in recognition of their work and career. He also urged the audience to watch the Cuban films.
Also present was director Juan Carlos Cremata, whose film " Viva
The Cuban film show includes tapes such as "El cuerno de la Abundancia" (The Horn of Plenty) directed by Juan Carlos Tabio, "Fuera de Liga" (Outside the League) directed by Ian Padron and "Fresa y Chocolate" (Strawberry and Chocolate) directed by Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio.
The 
Its main objective is to promote art and culture and an entrance fee is only larged in the conventional theatres, and those funds are allocated to cover the budget of the festival of about 150,000 dollars, although there are also contributions from private donations.
Children around nine and 10 years old are training to make building models of patrimonial value, which is the first course of its kind for infants in Cuba.
Sponsored by the Office of the Historian of Camagüey City, the program takes place in July and August, as part of summer activities, and includes the goal of contributing to the children's love for their city, whose historical sector has been declared a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The architect and professor Vladimir García, said that students and families are very interested in this course, which is also useful for manual labor at school, and it is part of the cultural offerings of the holiday period.
Learners use materials such as card, cardboard and sponge to reproduce - in miniature - different buildings, according to tasks assigned to them and on their own initiatives.
Garcia hinted at possible future editions of the course in which children also receive information about the local urban historic center, the largest area of this kind in the country, and with the status of a National Monument.
The main reference point for students is the model of that part of the city, where there are nearly 9, 900 buildings, in the foundational part of the last settlement of the then Village of Santa María del Puerto del Principe, one of the first main towns built by the Spanish in America.
The Cuban icon laid in a private ceremony a wreath at Jose Marti Memorial in
He then held a one-hour televised meeting at the Memorial’s small theater with painters, musicians, journalists, designers, print workers, local religious leaders who are members of Parliament, and members of the U.S. Pastors for Peace caravan among other guests.
In an open exchange of questions and answers, Fidel Castro discussed the huge challenges the humanity is facing, and recalled some of the historical events of the assault on the Moncada garrison on
The Cuban leader recalled some of the events of that action and the revolutionary struggle that followed.
He then announced the forthcoming launching of a book of his on the victorious struggle of the revolutionary forces over the tyranny of Fulgencio Batista in 1958 when 300 men were able to defeat an army of 10,000 well-armed soldiers backed by the air force and the navy.
Commenting on world issues, Fidel Castro specially referred to the great dangers of a potential war in the
He explained, too, that he had thought the war would erupt first in the
The Cuban icon recalled that in times of Nixon the
It’s been 107 days and they haven’t been able to solve the problem, and (Barack) Obama knows, but publicly does not accept that it is a very big problem, he stressed.
If the accident had not taken place, British Petroleum would have kept drilling, he warned, and said that BP has 27,000 non-productive wells. The
He announced that he would request an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly to talk about this serious issue.
On the increasing military deployment of the
In an answer to Lucius Walker, the Pastor for Peace leader, about
He recalled
Fidel Castro further mentioned the blockade
Victor Estevez from the National Ballet School of Cuba was second in the contemporary section, junior category, but only a gold medal was awarded in this case.
In the senior section the gold went for Oscar Carmenates from 
In the junior section, the winner was Nathan Chaney from the
The special jury prize was awarded to host Andile Ndlovu (22) in acknowledgement of his excellent artistic delivery in both the classical and contemporary genres.
The competition began on July 13 with three days of intense elimination rounds, culminating in Saturday night's grand affair with entrants from 
In his closing address, competition director Dirk Badenhorst expressed his gratitude to the Cuban delegation, made up of five dancers, one teacher and a jury member, for the example that the island's arts teaching system represents to the development of ballet in South Africa, which in his words, should be taken as a model to the world.
Cuba is currently presenting tangible results in the access of blind people to work, education and culture, allowing a greater development and integration of those visually impaired people.
The achievement were made possible by the National Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ANCI), created in July 1975.
Efforts are currently aimed at increasing access of the visually impaired to informatics, which will contribute to improve communications and access to work.
That strategy, implemented nationwide, has been supported by youth computing clubs, the Spanish National Organization of the Blind, and Handicap International's branch in
ANCI members are receiving computing courses since 2008, and the new labs created for that purpose are equipped with modern technologies, to guarantee online teaching and internet surfing, among other benefits.
Other factors contributing to this development are the education level the country has reached, the continuity of studies, the creation of special readings for blind people and the Braille printers.
The
Dulce Maria Loynaz, is one of the most relevant figures of Cuban letters and her name now occupies one of the leading places in Spanish American poetry, life president of the Cuban Academy of Language. This ultimate homage in life she received in the portal of her home, awarded by the Spanish embassy one month before her final departure.
Not because of this event but because of her contribution to ennoble the Spanish language, Dulce María was also an ambassador of
A great part of her work was carried out in her home, where she lived her last days and which was often a meeting place for outstanding artists and writers of
The warm and friendly building, now site of the Cuban Academy of Language, is a glorious representation of the eclectic architecture of her time and forms part of the complex of great mansions in the former aristocratic zone of Vedado, a neighborhood in Havana.
The mansion also has a museum area, containing valuable souvenirs of the historic and mystical memory and very dear objects of the author of “Garden” (Jardín). It also contains many precious objects that belonged to the outstanding Cuban family. Also there are heirlooms and decorations received by the poet during her fruitful life, among them the Cervantes Award, the National Literature Award and the Order of Alfonso X, El Sabio.
The number one collection of articles on Dulce María Loynaz’s work is the work of Pedro Simón. The writer’s private archives are very valuable, replete with a countless richness of documents (books, booklets, magazines, newspapers…)
As a poet, she won without even noticing, the hardest of awards. She gave great prestige to the Belle Lettres of the hemisphere, an absolute master of the profession she represented. More than once she gave real evidence that. One example is the Journalist Prize she received in 
Almost at the end of her days, Dulce María Loynaz was lucid and agile of mind, though fragile of health and almost blind. She used to say: “it is terrible and too hard having to give up reading and emotions. It is just like living in a well without a bottom”. And added; “Now I understand the Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges! Not being able to see is a curse for anyone, but much more so for a writer or someone fond of reading.”
In 1987, she donated her personal library to the city of 
Today, the library now keeps all the furniture arranged as it was in the poet’s home, it has unique examples that serve as a reference to readers of the city and keeps secrets of a linage that goes beyond the limits of time, bound for ever to the Western most province of the island.
Dulce María Loynaz was born in 
Her personal history is part of the island’s heritage. Dulce María represented with her ceremonious and authentic image, the last member of a prestigious Cuban family; that of General of the Liberation Army, Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, a Cuban hero, There were four Loynaz children: Flor, Enrique, Carlos Manuel and Dulce María.
The beautiful mansion of the Loynaz family in
Great things can be said about Dulce María Loynaz, but nothing too high-flown or motley for someone who was so modest like water and so transparent like her own poetry.
In one of the poems dedicated to her homeland, there are the well known verses in which she requests a petition for eternity: My island, fragrant island, island of flowers: have me for ever, rock me for ever, pluck one by one all my flights. And keep the last one for me, under a pile of sun bleached sand. …on the shore of the gulf perennial birthplace of hurricanes!
In her verses, she breathes love for all around her, Cuba and Cubanism.
Dulce María Loynaz has not gone. She is in her work, which is her true self. Dulce María is alive and remains there, close to us all, in the waters, in the island, in simplicity, in beauty, in all things loved, and above all in her home, with her lovely garden planted with trees and plants creating an exuberant tropical garden, today a part of Havana’s Cultural Heritage.
Cuban dance music fans in Russia were waiting impatiently Saturday for a performance by the island’s emblematic salsa band Los Van Van, back after a long absence.
Juan Formell and his group, Los Van Van, are honorary guests at the third edition of the "Viva 
"We have waited for years to see Los Van Van play in
After arriving in Moscow, Formell held a brief press conference and recalled the group's last performance there during a 1970 tour of several European countries, including the former Soviet Union, and Japan.
"We are full of expectations being back in
Founded on December 4, 1969, Los Van Van has four decades of successful performances in Cuba and abroad, and among the many awards they've been conferred they have two Grammies to the Best Latin American Music.
Before coming to Moscow, the group has been successfully touring the world since early this year, including Key West and Miami, in the United States, and in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy and Spain.
