Mauricio Ortega, 57, is a native of Guanabacoa, a municipality of the city of Havana. With a ninth grade education, among the jobs he’s held are street sweeper, security guard and ambulance driver. HT interviews Mauricio (not his real name) who is currently working for AGESP,the Security and Protection Agency.
Read MoreI’m travelling soon to Cuba and would like to know the norm for tipping at hotels or restaurants. Is it legal to tip with gifts such as certain hygiene products (toothpaste, shaving product, makeup) or school supplies (pencils, notebooks)? Is this appreciated or insulting? What constitutes an appropriate gift?
Read MoreRubén González, a 51-year-old welder who is the secretary general of the Sintraferrominera ironworkers union, has spent over a year in prison in Venezuela for leading a strike by hundreds of workers outside the San Isidro mine in Ciudad Piar, 550 kilometers southeast of the capital.
Read MorePoor defendants on death row, immigrants in unfair deportation proceedings, torture victims, domestic violence survivors and victims of racial discrimination – all these groups are consistently being denied access to justice while those responsible for the abuses are protected, according to a new report by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Read MoreI would like to denounce the bureaucracy that puts limits even on how far one can go in struggling for life. I want to defend the right of people to feel like they’re running up against the limits of nature and not those of human whim.
Read MoreThe director of Hollywood exhibitions and special events, Ellen Harrington, said she was in favor of “continuing to dialogue and opening up ourselves to art” and expressed her hope that “in the future there be more exchanges” between Cuba and the United States, in statements she made at the Havana Film Festival, that concluded Sunday in the island’s capital.
Read MoreThe International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is interested in expanding to 28 the number of countries participating in the World Baseball Classic, an event held every three years and sponsored by the U.S. Major League, affirmed in this capital Ricardo Fraccari, president of that organization. The event, which emerged because of the desire to again include baseball in the Olympic Games, has been attended in its first editions by Cuba.
Read MoreThe Uruguayan film La vida útil won the first Coral Prize at the 32nd International New Latin American Film Festival, which concluded yesterday in the Cuban capital. The film tells the story of a man laid off due to the economic crisis who finds support in cinema to survive.
Read MoreThe Cuban population will be affected by the economic adjustments begun by the government at least during 2011 and 2012, but “in 2013 I have no doubts the benefits will start to be seen,” affirmed Joaquín Infante, National Economy Prize winner. “We have no other alternative but to rectify so many things,” said the expert, who recognized mistakes made in the management of Cuba’s economy over the last five decades.
Read MoreNearly three years into President Alvaro Colom’s presidency, Guatemala’s indigenous people have seen little improvement in their lives — and they represent approximately half the country’s population.
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