Circles Robinson, Author at Havana Times

Cuba’s Vladimir Baños Tosses Milestone No-Hitter

The most attention-grabbing achievement of this season’s opening has been the near-perfect-game no-hitter tossed on December 23 by veteran Pinar del Río right-hander Vladimir Baños. No-hit games are nowhere near as commonplace in Cuban League action as they have lately proven to be on North American professional diamonds.

Cuba’s Luis Javier Fuentes: He’s Small, but he Grows on Stage

When I look back and recall how I began in elementary school as a little child who barely knew what it really meant to be a dancer, this is when I realize that I’m realizing a dream.

Peru’s Women Last in Line for Justice

Investigations of the raping of women in the 1980s during Peru’s counterinsurgency war have ground to a halt, even though the national Truth and Reconciliation Commission filed the respective complaints in 2004. Not one sentence has been handed down for the soldiers alleged to have committed the rapes, while more victims come forward.

Spanish FM Calls for Supporting Reforms in Cuba

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez called on the international community to “be conscious that the best we can do for the island is to support that process of reforms through a dialogue and greater opening,” when referring to the changes announced by the government of Raul Castro, in statements to that European country’s press. Jiménez also highlighted the “extraordinary relevance” of the release of more than 50 political prisoners this year.

Cuban 5 Member Alters Defense Strategy

Cuban Gerardo Hernández, one of the five prisoners in the United States charged with espionage, changed his defense strategy by highlighting that he was unaware of the intention of the island’s government to down the Brothers to the Rescue light aircraft in 1996 and recognizing that the event took place in international waters, according to details of his ongoing appeal reported by the Miami-based El Nuevo Herald.

Cuba Dedicates Book Fair to ALBA Countries

Cuba will dedicate the next Book Fair to the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the People’s of Our America (ALBA), reported the multinational Telesur television network. That event, the most important of the island’s literature, will be held February 10-20, 2011.

Rain May Disappear from the World’s Breadbasket

South America still has vast extensions of land available for growing crops to help meet the global demand for food and biofuels. But the areas of greatest potential agricultural production — central-southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and Paraguay — could be left without the necessary rains.

Interview with writer Felix Guerra on the 100th BD of Jose Lezama Lima

“…The system that closes — no matter how great it is or how much truth and logic that people believe it to possess internally — it quickly becomes something like a Great Dane covered with ticks,” notes Felix Guerra.

Africa Offers Easy Uranium Reveal Wikileaks Cables

Wikileaks cables have revealed a disturbing development in the African uranium mining industry: abysmal safety and security standards in the mines, nuclear research centers, and border customs are enabling international companies to exploit the mines and smuggle dangerous radioactive material across continents.

Cuban Jurists See Need for Gender Law

Cuban jurists stated their support for the promulgation of a gender law, which typifies domestic violence, the director of Training and Development of the People’s Supreme Court, Rufina Hernández Rodríguez, announced. According to Hernández, the persistence of the phenomenon “is partly due to the many roles women still carry out, the double work load: the professional and that of the home.”