Cuba News

Famed septet gets visa for Bronx concert

Cuba's legendary Septeto Nacional was granted a visa by the State Department to perform next month in the Bronx, N.Y., The Associated Press reported Thursday.

The group will play Nov. 7 in the 900-seat auditorium of the Hostos Community College's Center for the Arts and Culture. The concert is called "¡Échale salsita!", the title of one of the group's biggest hits.

The ensemble – which consists of two guitars, bass, two percussionists, trumpet and singer – plays traditional Cuban music. Created in 1927 by singer-composer Ignacio Piñeiro, it was an instant hit throughout the island. It is now in its third generation.

For information from Hostos about the concert, click here.
–Renato Pérez Pizarro.

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Cuban anticorruption Drive Nets Cronies

9/23/11
Cuban anti-corruption drive nets cronies

HAVANA, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A Cuban campaign against corruption in the government's higher echelons is in full swing but with results not entirely as anticipated by President Raul Castro's administration.

Government corruption, rated by analysts as a hallmark of single-party regimes with minimal public accountability, has bedeviled Cuba through the better part of authoritarian rule by the Castro brothers.

Only recently has the issue been discussed in the state-controlled media in response to Castro's economic reforms.

World: Americas Hurricane Irene lashes Cuba

BBC LINK

More than 100,000 people in Cuba have been evacuated from low-lying areas as Hurricane Irene moves across the island.

The hurricane has been battering southern Cuba with heavy winds and rains but has switched direction to put the capital Havana at risk.

In the capital, home to 2 million of Cuba's 11 million inhabitants, there were reports that a number of buildings had collapsed in the sea-front zone and some roads were blocked by fallen trees and lamp-posts.

Untold Story of the Bay of Pigs

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE FROM THE DAILY BEAST

From a transport ship floating in Cuba’s Bay of Pigs, CIA operative Grayston Lynch knew the U.S. mission to overthrow Fidel Castro was faltering. The Cuban exiles he had brought with him had abandoned their posts, so he grabbed the boat’s recoilless rifles and machine guns and began firing at the aircraft overhead.

On a day of chaos and infamy in April 1961, Lynch would soon understand the consequences of his shooting. He had fired on his agency’s own planes, which were trying to protect the U.S.-led Cuban exiles invading the island from being slaughtered by Castro’s forces. “We couldn’t tell them from the Castro planes,” Lynch later explained.

Cuba Lays Foundation for a New Leader

"HAVANA — Cuba made the most significant change to its leadership since the 1959 revolution on Tuesday, possibly setting the stage for a post-Castro era by naming someone other than Fidel or Raúl to the second-highest position in the Communist Party for the first time." - NY Times

CLICK HERE TO READ NEW YORK TIMES STORY

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