News

The 10th Congress of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) began Friday in the Cuban capital, reported IPS. The representatives of the cooperative and small farmer sector will debate the means to increase food production, substitute imports and increase exports.

The European Union (EU) Common Position toward Cuba prevents the 27 member nations “from having the possibility of establishing a serene and respectful dialogue and backing the changes that the Cubans want to make when they decide to make them,” said Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, Spanish secretary of state for Iberian America. De Laiglesia denied that Madrid’s wish to establish a new framework of relations with the island means relegating “the political and especially the human rights demands.”

A group of Cuban intellectuals at the International Poetry Prize rejected the manifesto of their Spanish counterparts asking for support for “the democratization of Cuba,” according to a declaration released in the island’s capital. The signatories of the document released in Madrid “take on a position that attempts to wound the sovereignty of our country and plays along with the eternal enemies of the island who in the last 200 years have not ceded in their annexationist and colonial dreams.”

The nationwide activities on the occasion of the Day Against Homophobia began in the Cuban capital with an exhibition by visual artists and the opening of a cinema week, reported the local press. The activities will last until May 17, when the main ceremony will be held in El Mejunje, a cultural institution known for its defense of sexual diversity, located in the central city of Santa Clara.

Cuba’s National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX) is working with the countries of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) so that sex education “is established as a State policy and that all sexual rights also be included,” affirmed Mariela Castro, director of that institution.

The Cuban authorities will set up more than 50 agricultural polytechnic institutes to strengthen the training of young people in specialties related to food production, announced Orlando Lugo, president of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP). According to Lugo, only 21,000 youths from the island, the majority from farmer families, are linked to cooperatives.

The Cuban health authorities reported 69 deaths due to the A H1N1 virus since it was introduced in the island in 2009, according to data by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Moreover, 1,492 have caught the disease, while acute respiratory diseases have increased in recent weeks.

China will donate to Cuba high sensibility seismometers, accelerometers, radio plants and portable stations for seismic engineering studies, with which the island will modernize its earthquake monitoring system, reported the local press. The Caribbean country has reported an increase in seismic movements since last January 12, when an earthquake devastated the neighboring Haiti.

The Ladies in White will ask Holy See Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti to intercede with the Cuban government to achieve the release of political prisoners, announced Berta Soler, the spokeswoman for the group of wives and relatives of the inmates. Mamberti will arrive in the island’s capital in June to participate in the Catholic Social Week.

While there are more female university students and professionals than men in Cuba women represent only 33.4 per cent of the persons elected to head People’s Power local governments in last April 25’s elections, announced the National Electoral Commission (CEN). The figure does show a more than six per cent as compared to the 2007 elections. Meanwhile, IPS noted that the proportion of the persons less than 35 years of age was 16.3 per cent, while non-white persons were close to 40 per cent, exceeding their presence as part of the island’s population.