Author: Circles Robinson

Private Farmers Reviving Cuba’s Pineapple Production

The opening to the private farmer sector in 2008 made it possible to begin the recovery of pineapple production in the central province of Ciego de Avila, known in Cuba for the traditional cultivation of that fruit. The pineapple harvest dropped from more than 30,000 tons in 1991 to a bit over 200 tons in 2006.

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Cuban Playwright Wins Prizes in New York

The New York Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors awarded Cuban playwright Nicolás Dorr the annual HOLA Prize to the best premiered text in 2010 for the play Confesiones en el barrio chino, which was also given a prize by the New York Association of Variety Show Journalists, according to sources close to the author.

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Amnesty Int. Asks Cuba Gov. to Finish Prisoner Release

The Amnesty International human rights organization asked the Cuban government to finish the process of releasing political prisoners, begun in 2010, and to guarantee the integration of the dissidents into society, in statements by its spokesman Javier Zúñiga. AI also expressed its satisfaction for the release of dissident Guido Sigler last Feb. 4.

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Fate of Alan Gross Depends on Cuba

The U.S. government expects agent Alan Gross, under arrest in Cuba since December 2009, will be set free and will not negotiate his release with the Cuban authorities, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley affirmed.

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Fiber Optics Arrive to Cuba

The fiber optic cable that will link Cuba with Venezuela has just arrived in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba. Cuba is now five months away from considerably faster telecommunications and Internet capability, touted to be 3,000 times greater than present.

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No Political Obstacles to Internet Access, says official

“There is no political obstacle” for the Cuban government that prevents the development of telecommunications on the island, which would open access to the Internet for all of society’s actors, Deputy Minister of Informatics and Communications Jorge Luis Perdomo affirmed in a conference during the Informatics 2011 event being held in this capital.

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Cuba Police at Posada Carriles Trial

Two Cuban police officers and a forensic expert will appear as witnesses starting today in the trial against self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who is being processed in the United States for lying to the immigration authorities of that country. The island’s delegation will be questioned on the attacks against Havana hotels in 1997, in which Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo died.

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Cuba Hopes to Boost Coconut Production

Specialists from the Centre for the Development of El Salvador Mountain, in the eastern province of Guantánamo, are introducing new technologies in the cultivation of coconut, whose production has nose-dived in the last 20 years, the local press reported. The aim is to raise the results in coconut plantations through a management that is “more sustainable based on the use of local resources and adapted to the specific conditions of each area,” said Albaro Blanco Imbert, researcher with that scientific center.

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