travel news
Most visited Caribbean countries and how they stack up during spring breakSkift Travel | By Samantha ShankmanBlocking American tourists from visiting Cuba has done little to thwart its tourism industry. The island was the second most-visited Caribbean island in 2012, according to the latest statistics released by the Caribbean Tourism Organization. Read more.

St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce extends invitation to Cuba: Cultural ConnectionBy Lacey ToledanoWhen you discover Cuba, you will see it is untouched by commercialism. The only billboards extol the virtues of socialism or celebrate the long-past revolution and its heroes. There are no ads to entice you to purchase phones, soda, cars or travel, and there are no popular venues for fast food or coffee. Read more.

cuba
Cuba moves toward wholesale for small businessesBusiness WeekCuba is shuttering a state-run company that supplied government businesses at wholesale and is replacing it with a new entity that will also work with the growing ranks of private entrepreneurs and independent cooperatives. Read more.

VP Diaz-Canel: Cuba’s man on the makeGlobal Post There are no elections scheduled any time soon in Cuba, but Miguel Diaz-Canel’s long campaign for president is already in full swing.
His public audition for Cuba’s top job began last month when he was named first vice president, designating him as chosen successor to Raul Castro. Read more.

Cooperatives Capture Attention of Jurists Meeting in CubaPrensa latinaThe subject of cooperatives, a central issue in the updating of the Cuban economic model, was the focus of dialogue at a workshop prior to the 7th International meeting of Labor Lawyers and the Workers'' Union, the press reported today. Read more.

Cubans on the move as new real estate market growsBY JEFF FRANKS | REUTERSAt an informal housing market on Havana's historic Paseo del Prado, Renaldo Belen puts the hard sell on a prospective buyer under a tree hung with hand-lettered signs advertising homes for sale. A house near Boyeros, the avenue to the city's airport, is being offered for the equivalent of $120,000 (U.S.), with all the amenities. Read more.

art & culture
Tomas Sanchez:  “culture is the soul of a country”On Cuba Magazine
“Cuba is something from which I’ve never been able to disengage. Because of certain circumstances –I was given no other choice– I went to Mexico in 1993 and then to Miami, but just two years after leaving, I returned to Havana, and since then I have been coming at least once every 12 months. I have participated in many different cultural events, such as landscape exhibitions, and have given talks to students. Read more.

Bebo Valdés, a Force in World of Cuban Music, Dies at 94The New York Times | By BEN RATLIFF Bebo Valdés, a pianist, arranger and composer who was a musical lightning rod in Havana during the evolution of the mambo and, after a long fallow period, a million-selling success in his last two decades, died on Friday in Stockholm, his primary residence since 1963. He was 94. Read more.

traveler
Beyonce, Jay-Z celebrate fifth wedding anniversary in CubaBY DAN BEEKMAN | NEW YORK DAILY NEWSJay-Z and Beyoncé enjoyed a Communist State of Mind on Thursday, celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary in Cuba.
The “Empire State of Mind” Brooklyn rapper and his “Crazy in Love” crooner wife were mobbed by starstruck fans as they toured Old Havana wearing dark sunglasses and vacation gear. Beyoncé also wore an eye-catching braided beehive hairdo. Read more.

First Olivet student mission trip to CubaBy lwwarfel1Community Contributor | Chicago TribuneA group of 18 students from Olivet Nazarene University were part of a landmark mission trip to the island country of Cuba in the Caribbean, March 2 to 10, 2013. Rev. Robert Prescott, missionary to Cuba for the Church of the Nazarene, escorted the team throughout their visit and served as the logistical coordinator and interpreter. Read more.

A visit to CubaJewish News | LEISAH WOLDOFF Managing Editor Members of Congregation Or Chadash participate in many social action projects throughout the year, but this month, the Conservative congregation took its tikkun olam to an international level with a humanitarian mission to Cuba. Read more.

Legal travel to Cuba symposium in CaliforniaHavana Journal Now that President Obama’s second term is underway, how - if at all - will the United States alter its rocky relationship with Cuba?
Leading experts will gather to offer opinions and observations about foreign policy and Cuba travel during a unique April 11, 2013 symposium that is free of charge and open to the public at the Santa Monica Public Library’s Martin Luther King Auditorium, in Santa Monica, California from 6:30-9pm. Read more.

Answering the call in CubaHernando Today | By Matt ReinigWhat would stand out somewhat from the historical timeline of U.S.-Cuban relations is mention of American citizens being granted religious visas for the purposes of traveling to Cuba. Read more.

Photos from Friends jazz trip to Cuba on displayWichita Eagle | By Jason DiltsA little piece of Havana is coming to Wichita for Final Friday. When students from Friends University embarked on a trip to Cuba last December to play during the Havana International Jazz Festival, a group of 24 supporters accompanied them to share in the exchange of art and culture. Among them were photographers James Siebert and Deanna Summers. Read more.

Supervisors laud Tam High Cuba tripMarin Independent Journal Tamalpais High School baseball and softball players and others who made an unusual goodwill and educational trip to Cuba last month got a round of applause this week from county supervisors. Read more.

remembering aruca
There are people who struggle one day and they are good, there are others who struggle one year
and are better
There are some who struggle many years and they are very good.
But there are people who struggle their whole lives
Those are the irreplaceable ones”
Bertolt Brecht

• Cuba A-Z
(from Aruca to Zoo-bio)
• Aruca forever
• Cuban-American Leader, Francisco Aruca, Dies

US-CUba
Key US decision on Cuba terror-designation comingBoston.com | By PAUL HAVEN | The Associated Press A normally routine bit of Washington bureaucracy could have a big impact on U.S. relations with Cuba, either ushering in a long-stalled detente or slamming the door on rapprochement, perhaps until the scheduled end of the Castro era in 2018. Read more.

US based On Cuba magazine to open office in HavanaReutersThe American magazine “On Cuba” recently received authorization from the Cuban government to set up a bureau in Havana and prepares the output of another trade publication dedicated exclusively to the visual arts of the island, reported today its editors. Read more.

Cuban media carry rare interview with US diplomatsChicago Sun Times | By Peter OrsiCommunist Party newspaper Granma published a lengthy interview with a U.S. diplomat Monday, making for highly unusual reading in a country where the official media routinely depict Washington envoys as hostile agents in cahoots with enemies of the Cuban government. Read more.

sports
A King in HavanaOn Cuba magazineRey Ordonez resembles a kind tourist kind this Friday morning. He arrived in Havana about an hour ago, maybe two, after much time away. He’s trying to put everything in its right place. With a shot of rum in his hand, or whiskey, Ordonez walks to a window of the Cohiba Hotel and stares at the Vedado buildings, the minimum composition of the city. Read more.

FEATURE STORIES
Oregon's Cuban Community is Growing    
KLCC Eugene Oregon | By Jacob LewinThe number of Cubans coming to Oregon has been growing in recent years.  That growth may soon get a boost due to Cuba's new policy that makes it easier to leave the country.
“Grab a partner please and let's do a bit of review of the stuff we've done......”
A world-class Cuban-style dance team—Rumbanana--teaches a class every week at a night club in Corvallis, Read more.