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USAID contractor work in Cuba detailed

USAID

Piece by piece, in backpacks and carry-on bags, American aid contractor Alan Gross made sure laptops, smartphones, hard drives and networking equipment were secreted into Cuba. The most sensitive item, according to official trip reports, was the last one: a specialized mobile phone chip that experts say is often used by the Pentagon and the CIA to make satellite signals virtually impossible to track.

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LOVE FOR EVERYONE FROM HAVANA

Concierto

From the heart of Havana in Pabellón Cuba, surrounded by very young people and the fantastic music of Cuban Singer Raúl Torres, I sat down and let my feelings of love flow freely. Love is a wonderful feeling that moves the world, no matter what your ideas are in science, arts, life and culture, politics or anything else. Everyone shares their love, so today is a day for all here in this little but deep and emotive space in Cuba, in the world.

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The Marketing of Yoani Sánchez: Translation as invention

blogeracubana-yoani

As one might have expected, Bloomberg and Reuters dutifully shaded their reports on the recent visit to Cuba of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff with mentions of the Yoani Sánchez Twitter campaign to pressure Rousseff to intercede on Sánchez’s behalf and persuade the Cuban government to grant her an exit visa to attend a propaganda event in Brazil.

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Happy 2012

Frei-Betto

My wish is for a Happy New Year where, God willing, all children will feel awash in Mozart, Pixinguinha Noel Rosa when they turn on the TV; will learn the difference between impressionists and expressionists; see shows re-enacting the Balaiada, the Confederation of the Equator and the War of the Emboabas and go to sleep after saying their prayers.

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22 Reasons Why We Could See An Economic Collapse In Europe In 2012

Planet Earth

Will 2012 be the year that we see an economic collapse in Europe? Before you dismiss the title of this article as “alarmist”, read the facts listed in the rest of this article first. Over the past several months, there has been an astonishing loss of confidence in the European financial system. Right now, virtually nobody wants to loan money to financially troubled nations in the EU and virtually nobody wants to lend money to major European banks. Remember, one of the primary reasons for the financial crisis of 2008 was a major credit crunch that happened here in the United States.

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La Colmenita in Washington: A Tuesday for Ramón (+ Photos and Video)

La Colmenita

Today it was Ramón…We talked with another of the Cuban Five! Topping off five days of one surprise after another, today, after having rehearsed tomorrow’s performance at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, located in the upscale neighborhood of Georgetown, where many luminaries from the arts world in the United States have studied, we received another huge surprise.

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La Colmenita in Washington: With Tony, on his birthday (+ Photos)

La Colmenita

Today, October 16, was another beautiful day in this tour of the U.S. capital. We had the enormous pleasure of visiting the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum where we had many moving experiences, among them the unforgettable Planetarium, the Apollo 10, and the first flight of the Wright brothers.

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La Colmenita at American University: Of “And yet” and “just in case” (+ Videos)

On October 15, the first performance of Abracadabra by La Colmenita [The Little Beehive] was held at the Kay Chapel at American University in Washington DC. It was a gorgeous performance, where the public was entertained by its beauty, and moved to tears (just as we’ve experienced in Cuba).

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La Colmenita’s First Performance in Washington (+ Video)

La Colmenita. Photo: Bill Hackwell

La Colmenita’s first performance in Washington DC was extraordinary. The audience began arriving at the Kay Chapel at American University at 5:30 p.m. even though the performance was not to begin until 7. People of all ages arrived along with plenty of children. The chapel filled up. Two young parents with their small children came from New Jersey, driving four hours to attend the event because they’d been unable to see the troupe when it was in New York.

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U.S. Congressional Representatives Greet Members of La Colmenita in Washington DC (+ Photos)

With Representative Laura Richardson

U.S. Congressional Representatives Barbara Lee and Laura Richardson, both Democrats from California, received members of the Cuban children’s theatre group La Colmenita at their offices next to the Capitol building on Friday morning, October 14.