Cuba US People to People Partnership

College Baseball Renews After 16 Years

2012-03-20T21:19:00.000-07:00

Posted: Tuesday March 20, 2012 5:51 PM

College baseball players to face Cubans in July

HAVANA (AP) - U.S. college baseball players will face a Cuban team this summer, renewing play after 16 years with a five-game series between nations with bitter relations.

The games between college national teams will be played July 5-9 in Havana's Latino Stadium as a warmup for the Haarlem Baseball Week tournament in the Netherlands that month.

"We could not be more excited or proud,'' USA Baseball executive director Paul Seiler said in Havana, where officials signed a letter of agreement.

Little League exchanges between the countries are common, and in 1999 the Baltimore Orioles became the first major league team to play in Cuba since the 1959 Cuban Revolution. Now, the Cuba-college agreement re-establishes what was an annual series between 1987 and 1996.

"Today is a day of happiness for baseball,'' said Antonio Castro, vice president of the Cuban Baseball Federation and a son of Fidel Castro.

"It is very important for the U.S. team, and for Cuba it's beyond explanation what it means to enjoy this kind of warmup,'' Castro said during a news conference at the stadium. "It is important for our athletes to have matches at another level of baseball.''

Cuba and the United States see eye-to-eye on very little, but do share a deep passion for baseball. At times, baseball diplomacy has been used to try to bridge the gulf.

Seiler and Castro declined to comment on whether the series could help improve strained ties between Havana and Washington, saying the focus of the day was baseball not politics.

The last time Cuba and USA Baseball played was 1996, a particularly bad year for relations. On Feb. 24 of that year, the Cuban Air Force shot down two Cessna planes piloted by an anti-Castro exile group that Havana accused of entering Cuba's airspace to drop leaflets on the island. Later that year, President Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act, toughening the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

USA Baseball said in a statement that Cuba would bring its national college team to the U.S. in summer 2013. U.S. college players last visited the island in 1993.

The U.S. team will be coached by Tennessee's Dave Serrano. Players will be invited over the course of the college baseball season.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/wires/03/20/2010.ap.bbo.cuba.us.1st.ld.writethru.0467/index.html#ixzz1pin6q7qf

Cal State Long Beach Cross Department Collaboration

2012-03-20T09:30:00.001-07:00

CSULB Students, and Faculty Members Set To Take HistoricVisit to Cuba

Four Cal State Long Beach (CSULB)faculty members will lead 25 students on a historic visit to Cuba from March23 to April 1 as part of a collaboration between the university’s Departmentof Romance/German/Russian Languages and Literatures’ (RGRLL) Spanishprogram and the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies.

The first visit to the country by a CSULB class since 2006,the trip will include a tour of Havanathat will feature visits to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the CentroMemorial to Martin Luther King and the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina.

“Trips to Cubahad been cancelled by many educational institutions, including CSULB, becauseof very strict conditions issued by the Department of the Treasury,” explainedRGRLL Professor Claire Martin. “Since the rules have been relaxed, we areconducting our first trip (with) 25 CSULB students who will be able toexperience and witness the interesting changes taking place in Cuba as itopens its economic system.”

Interest in the Cubatrip began when Victor Rodriguez, associate professor of Chicano and Latinostudies, approached Martin and RGRLL Professor Bonnie Gasior with the idea ofpromoting a Cubatrip to their Spanish majors and minors.

“I am the director of a program that used to be supported byIRA funds, ‘The Latino Transnational Experience in the Caribbean.’ Under this program, we carried out four previous trips to Cuba, but ourlast trip was in 2006. Since then, we have been traveling to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico,” noted Rodriguez, who will be joined on the trip by fellowChicano Studies Professor Jose Moreno. “Since the regulations wererelaxed earlier this year, we decided to resume the travel to Cuba. We thought this wouldbe a great opportunity to extend our collaboration with the RGRLL Department,and we decided to make it a joint effort. The response has beenoverwhelming.”

Gaisor added, “We realized immediately that going to Cubarepresented a great opportunity for our students and for us. As advisors,we know our students well, and we’re eager to share this experience with them,”she said. “This is the kind of trip they will remember for the rest oftheir lives.”

The braiding together of the two courses carried specialchallenges. Two classes were scheduled at the same time on Mondays sothat both cohorts of students could work together.

“When Dr. Rodriguez lectures about the historical context ofthe Cuban revolution, both groups will get a chance to hear it,” Martinsaid. “They will both read foundational literature about Cuban culturesuch as Columbus’ first descriptions of Cuba. Thetwo groups will meet and discuss the texts together and read secondarysources. Unfortunately, not all the students enrolled in the two classeswill go on the trip because Cuban accommodations offer space for just 25students – period.”

Martin also pointed out that all participating students arebilingual. “They all speak Spanish,” she said. “They will be ableto have direct communication with the people of Cuba without any kind of mediationor interference by government or media. There is the possibility of real,unfiltered communication between the students and Cubans.

“Their perspective on the country will carry the authorityof someone who has actually been to Cuba and who has seen firsthand howpeople live,” she continued. “I’m sure our students will be critical ofwhat they see in Cuba. There’s plenty to be critical of. But the goal of this university and ofthis course is to promote critical thinking, and I am certain the students willcome back with a critical eye, both for Cuba and for their own country.”

Both Martin and Gasior are pleased with what the studentswill see in Havana,believing the students will be interested in these sites because of theircultural and historical significance.

“Look at the significance of the Escuela Latinoamericana deMedicina to the Cuban people. The school offers free medical instructionfor all Latin Americans who must then return to their countries of origin andpractice for two years,” Martin noted. “The Museo Nacional de BellasArtes is one of the best museums of its kind in Latin America.”

This is the first visit to Cuba for both facultymembers. Gasior has traveled extensively through Latin America andanticipates a degree of culture shock in separating the media images of Cuba from thereal thing.

“Cubais kind of a question mark for me but I’m very excited about going,” shesaid. “I’m eager to talk with the Cuban people, but I’m also eager towatch our students. I’ve seen our students go abroad before and it’s anamazing sight. There is always a moment of epiphany when the studentdiscovers something they never thought about before.”

Their primary hope is that their students gain a newawareness of the world and their own country from their Cuban journey.

“Cubahas been a four-letter word to the average American for 50 years,” Gasior said. “I am confident, however, that our students will return from their timeabroad with a more positive image of Cuba. It depends on what eachstudent wants to get out of the experience.
I hope they come away with agreater awareness of everything from Cuban heritage to Cuban cuisine.”

Rodriguez hopes his students take advantage of Cuba at ahistoric turning point. “Cubais in the midst of liberalizing its economic (in some sense parts of itspolitical system), so we will have the unique opportunity to see a societychanging without the kind of turmoil (until now) that we have seen in the ArabSpring,” he said. “I hope our students will value their experience ofanother Latino culture.”

Read more http://www.everythinglongbeach.com/csulb-students-and-faculty-members-set-to-take-historic-visit-to-cuba/

Boulder Sister City June Trip

2012-03-20T09:20:00.001-07:00

We are pleased to announce that the Boulder-Cuba Sister City Organization has been granted a non-academic educational/people-to-people license to travel to Cuba by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

WE ARE CURRENTLY PLANNING A JUNE TRIP TO EASTERN CUBA AND HAVANA:

trip contact: CubaBoulder@gmail.com

June 2012 Delegation to Cuba

The Boulder-Cuba Sister City Organization will sponsor a trip to Cuba in early June 2012, on a non-academic educational/people-to-people license authorized by the US Department of the Treasury. We will visit eastern Cuba, (Holguin, Bayamo, Santiago de Cuba, Yateras, Guantánamo City, and Baracoa) and conclude our trip in Havana.

The intended focus of this trip is the Cuban education system, with emphasis on pre-K through high school, environmental, and public health/medical education. Members of the Boulder community with personal and professional interests in these areas are especially encouraged to participate in this delegation.

For more information:

http://www.bouldercuba.org/ or email CubaBoulder@gmail.com

Washington Times Reports AAA Travel Involvement

2012-03-19T21:49:00.000-07:00

AAA Travel has obtained permits through oneof their preferred suppliers for a U.S. Treasury Department License and aLetter of Authorization to bring American travelers to Cuba.

The Magellan Travel Club is currently offeringan 8-day package through AAA Travel to Havana,the Bay of Pigs and Playa Giron inAugust of 2012. Dates for the tour are August 2 – 9. Ground rates for a doubleare $2,795 plus air. Singles are $3,095 plus air. The group is limited to 16participants.

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/travels-peabod/2012/mar/19/cuba-american-tourism-slowly-making-comeback/

Grand Circle Foundation Trip Story

2012-03-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

Near and Far with The Friday Flyer: Patricia Hollingshead in Cuba

Patricia Hollingshead recently spent 12 days in Cuba with the Grand Circle Foundation. She says, "It was wonderful – this is pivotal moment in history for the people of Cuba who are in the midst of major government reforms."

The group visited three cities: Havana, Cienfuegos, a harbor town that is the center of Cuba's sugar, coffee, and tobacco trades, and the colonial gem of Trinidad, "where cobbled streets, pastel-colored houses and elegant plazas evoked Cuba's glory days," says Patricia.

She says the people of Cuba were warm, welcoming and eager to interact with Americans. She also took note of the many 1950's cars everywhere and in every color. They are called "Yank Tanks," and stand out next to the mule-drawn carts.

The first stop of the trip was Havana, where the group walked through "Old Havana." The site included many historic restorations. The trip also included a visit to the museum of the revolution, a senior center and a handcraft market.

From there, the visitors traveled to one of Cuba's neighborhood-managed, worker-owned cooperative urban organic farms. At this location they listened to a briefing on the state of U.S./ Cuban relations and what may lie ahead.

During the next part of the trip, the group visited Cienfuegos, where they enjoyed a concert, a meeting with the union of writers and artists and discussed how those creative groups manage to freely express their ides and push limits in both countries. Patricia says, "We were able to visit artist studios and were able to purchase artworks." An interesting stop was a pottery studio that had been run by the same family for generations.

After Cienfuegos, the group went to Trinidad where they visited the Sugar Mill Valley. This site includes ruins that represent Cuba's brief “heyday” as a center for sugar production. After this stop, part of the group enjoyed the Tropicana Nightclub, where, according to Patricia, "It was just like yesteryear – the women all in Carmen Miranda outfits."

The trip included visits to old forts around the country, and a stay at the "Hotel Nacional De Cuba," a place that “Mafios” frequented in the past. According to Patricia, the Grand Circle Foundation's hope for the trip was to create a better cultural understanding between the United States and Cuba.

http://fridayflyer.com/2012/03/16/near-and-far-with-the-friday-flyer-patricia-hollin

Health Care Trips Licensed

2012-03-10T22:19:00.001-08:00

MEDICC ANNOUNCES PROGRAMS IN CUBA FOR 2012

March 5, 2012-- Licensed by the US Treasury Department, MEDICC has announced eight travel programs for Cuba for 2012, using its 15 years of experience to offer a unique and exciting insider's view of health and health care on the island. "We are unmatched," affirms Diane Appelbaum, MEDICC's US Director. "Through our long relationships with Cuban health professionals and communities, we can offer travelers authentic and meaningful experiences that they will always remember."

FOR AN INSIDER'S VIEW OF HEALTH CARE IN CUBA...

TRAVEL WITH MEDICC!

Tired of travel experiences that herd you on and off the bus, with just enough time for a snapshot...but none for getting a better feel for the places and people you visit?

MEDICC provides you a unique opportunity for something more - an insider's view of one of the world's best kept secrets, the Cuban health system and the health professionals who make it work. Since 1997, MEDICC has guided over 2,000 people in health-related programs and research in Cuba - using our relationships on the Caribbean island to shape each experience to fit travelers' special interests.

MEDICC offers you travel with confidence. You are assured:

An exciting, deeper look at health care in Cuba, with ample chance to meet the health professionals responsible for achieving its impressive outcomes - on a shoestring budget - and to meet the challenges ahead.

A firsthand experience to see how health care delivery, schools, neighborhood projects, natural and traditional medicine, environmental protection, organic agriculture, art and culture all come into play in efforts to build and maintain healthy communities.

A pre-trip orientation, relevant readings, and itinerary tailored to your expressed interests.

Travel fully authorized under a US Treasury Department license granted to MEDICC.

A MEDICC expert and a specialized translator to facilitate your time in Cuba and ensure meaningful dialogue with Cubans you meet, including opportunities for cultural exchanges.

NOTE that MEDICC groups are limited to 20 participants, to ensure you a more personalized experience. Marazul Charters, the largest and most experienced agency in the US providing travel to Cuba, will assist you in making all your travel arrangements.

MEDICC's goal is for you to return home with an insider's view of Cuba, its people and its health care. Join one of the following 2012 MEDICC programs, or contact us to develop your own, tailored to your field in health, medicine, medical education, or another health-related focus that excites and intrigues you.

For further information, see MEDICC's website

MEDICC PROGRAMS IN CUBA 2012

These are just a few of the intriguing opportunities offered in each program. More will be added - designed with your expressed interests in mind.

April 22-29, 2012 - Healthy Aging (sign up now--just a few spaces left)

Cuba's is one of the fastest-aging societies in the Americas, with one of the highest educational levels. The challenge: how to ensure quality of life and health care for all Cubans beginning life's "third chapter". You'll visit specially designed health programs and meet seniors at the Older Adult University - an experience unique in the developing world. You'll also join seniors in Havana's parks for morning multi-generational exercises, tai chi, in neighborhood projects....and more.

May 13-20, 2012 - Gender and Health (sign up now...just a few spaces left)

Cuba's health-related organizations and professionals have taken the lead in addressing issues of gender health and rights. Through this MEDICC program, you'll visit the National Sex Education Center (CENESEX) - a pioneer in LGBT health issues and reforming school-based sex education. You'll also dialogue with specialists in women's health, and meet committed members of "Alas por la Vida" (Wings for Life), the support group organized by breast cancer survivors....and more.

May 27-June 3, 2012 - Community Partnership for Health Equity-Albuquerque (Full)
Through MEDICC's Community Partnerships for Health Equity (CPHE), a city's community health leaders and academic faculty join together to observe Cuba's working models of health care, generating insights and sparking innovation to confront major health concerns back home....and more.

September 16-23, 2012 - Health and Environment (Spaces open)

Cuba has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world, but faces economic challenges in enforcing environmental regulations and preparing for global warming. You'll be able to see Cuban environmentalists in action, working to protect the population and the natural habitats of this Caribbean island - their efforts involving NGOs, local clinics, schools and community organizations. You'll meet with dedicated activists and professionals at the Latin American Center for Disaster Medicine and the Meteorology Institute, both leaders in disaster preparedness and mitigation...and more.

September 23-30, 2012 - Nutrition, Agriculture and Health (Spaces open)

Cuba has been experimenting with urban and rural organic gardening since the 1980s. This program offers you the chance to meet some of the successful pioneers in this field, and to visit both the gardens and the markets that are contributing to sustainable agriculture on the island. At the same time, you'll hear from nutritionists and clinicians who make no bones about the difficulties--cultural and economic--in transforming Cubans' eating habits into a healthier diet for a healthier population....and more.

October 21- 28, 2012 - Medical and Population Health Journal Editors (Waitlist)

This program is intended for editors and editorial board members of journals focusing on health and medical research designed to advance health equity. Participants will share experiences with Cuban editors working to improve the quality of their country's medical journals; meet Cuban health professionals carrying out research on health care delivery, quality, equity and new medications and vaccines; have the chance to visit all levels of the Cuban health system in both Havana and outlying provinces....and more.

November 11-18, 2012 - The Cuban Health System (Waitlist)

Over the past 50 years, Cuban health policymakers and professionals have transformed the country's health institutions and indicators, resulting in a universal health system that contributes to making the population one of the healthiest in the Americas. How did this happen in a developing country? What are the challenges to maintaining such gains? This MEDICC program offers you an inside view and frank discussion with health care leaders and providers -from the neighborhood doctor-and-nurse offices that dot the island to grassroots projects, specialized institutes....and more.

December 2-9, 2012- Integrative Medicine (Waitlist)

In Cuba, "natural and traditional medicine" (NTM) has been systematically and scientifically incorporated into the country's public health system, offering an exciting experience in integrative medicine. You'll visit NTM centers; meet "yerberos" dedicated to use of herbal treatments; dialogue with professionals who combine various Asian medical practices, adapting them to the Cuban context; hear from patients who incorporate NTM into their health care and maintenance....and more.

For further information or to sign up for a program, contact Elena Huezo at ehuezo@mediccglobal.org or call directly 510.350.3053

OFAC Clarifies That Travel Can Be Promoted Through Agents and Organizers and Referral Fees Paid

2012-03-09T13:38:00.007-08:00

Advertising Educational Exchange Travel to Cuba for People-to-People Contact

3/9/2012

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has received inquiries concerning the advertising of travel to Cuba by organizations that have been granted licenses under section 515.565(b)(2) of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR Part 515 (the “Regulations”). These licenses authorize individuals to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba that are incident to engaging in educational exchanges not involving academic study pursuant to a degree program provided these exchanges take place under the auspices of an organization that sponsors and organizes such programs to promote people-to-people contact.

OFAC does not prohibit persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction from designing or accepting an advertisement related to licensed

Cuba

travel and publishing the advertisement in any medium, including providing a link to the website of the licensed organization (the “Licensee”) whose services are being advertised. For example, a Licensee may post information concerning the licensed activity on its Internet website or hire another entity to produce a brochure promoting the licensed

Cuba

travel program and send it to the public, including retail travel agents for further distribution. In addition, the advertiser also may engage in activities involving informational outreach, such as the promotion of the Licensee’s licensed travel program by phone or at a travel exposition.

The advertiser may collect, organize, and provide to the Licensee basic contact information from individual potential travelers, and the Licensee may pay the advertiser a referral fee for doing so. However, unlicensed parties, including the advertiser and retail travel agents, are not authorized to provide

Cuba

travel-related services on behalf of the Licensee. For example, they may not register the travelers or collect funds from the travelers to forward to the Licensee. Only authorized persons may handle

Cuba

travel-related funds. The handling of funds was also addressed in a July 25, 2011 notice posted on the OFAC website.

OFAC also notes the following information with respect to advertising people-to-people travel: (1) all advertisements must state the name of the Licensee that is conducting the travel, and (2) Licensees must use the name under which their license was issued. A Licensee wishing to use an alternate name in its advertising or for other purposes associated with its people-to-people trips must notify OFAC in writing explaining the reason for the use of the alternate name and requesting a license amendment to reflect the name.

Finally, a requirement of all licenses issued under section 515.565(b)(2) is that each traveler must have a full-time schedule of educational exchange activities that will result in meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in

Cuba

. Advertising travel that appears to deviate from this requirement may prompt contact from OFAC to ensure that the people-to-people travel meets applicable requirements and thereby complies with current U.S. policy with respect to purposeful travel to

Cuba

. Advertisements for people-to-people travel that give the appearance that trips will focus on activities travelers may undertake off hours after their daily full-time schedule of people-to-people activities may give an incorrect impression and prompt contact from OFAC that may potentially result in a license suspension while we investigate. OFAC does not authorize transactions related to activities that are primarily tourist-oriented, including self-directed educational activities that are intended only for personal enrichment, as provided in paragraph (c) of section 515.565 of the Regulations. Licensees that fail to meet the requirements of their licenses may have their licenses revoked or be issued a civil penalty, which can range up to $65,000 per violation.

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Pages/cuba_ppl_notice.aspx

*************************

The takeaway is that travel agents and Cuba activists can work with a people-to-people or general licensee to design and promote a trip as long as the licensee's name is on advertising materials and no money passes through their hands. They can in effect organize a group and present it to the licensee and be given a referral fee to compensate for their time and effort. Structured within the cost of the trip can be the expense of the participation of the organizer (air fare, hotel, etc.) who will go as an agent of the licensee.

The ability to "collect, organize, and provide to the Licensee basic contact information from individual potential travelers" which is OK and the stricture that the organizer/promoter "may not register the travelers or collect funds" is presumably the difference between a informational application and an actual registration to participate.

By implication, the explicit preclusion of travel that is, "primarily tourist-oriented, including self-directed educational activities that are intended only for personal enrichment" means that it is possible to do self-directed non-tourist oriented travel as long as it has a goal that is not exclusively for personal enrichment. The required "meaningful interaction between the travelers and individuals in Cuba" is certainly an attribute of any visit that is personally enriching.

One does have to wonder why OFAC is so up-tight about an agent or organizer collecting funds and sending them in a lump sum to a people to people licensee or, on the licensee's behalf, to the Travel Service Provider. The travel will still be within the parameter of the license regardless of who originally receives the funds. This is another echo of the Bush era mind-set to make travel as difficult as the rules allow that seems to pervade some sectors of OFAC.

Common Ground Offers New Trips

2012-03-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

New Programs to Cuba for 2012

Upcoming Trips

Life in Revolutionary Cuba - April 28

African Roots of Cuba - June 1

Cuba Today - April 21, May 26, June 26

Cuba Por Dentro, Programa por Latinos de los Estados Unidos - 7 Abril, 2 Junio

Cuba, History, Land & People - June 16, September 15

Spiritual Life of Cuba - July 7, September 15

Architectural Heritage - June 9, October 6

Cost of trips

Common Ground & the Center for Cuban Studies Team up to Offer New Trips

These days there are many trips to Cuba being offered under the renewed People to People travel category of U.S. permission. We have seen that many are offered with rubber stamp programs at stratospheric prices. At around $2800, Common Ground's programs may still be expensive for a number of people, but with Common Ground programs you get:

The same hotels and services as with the high priced programs
Programs developed with care, love and knowledge by people who know Cuba inside out
Connection with premier U.S. organizations such as the Center for Cuban Studies
The quality and attention for which Common Ground is known -- both in organizing your trip and during your time in Cuba
Direct attention in Cuba from experienced guides, group leaders, and CG's Cuban collaborators and friends

See the list of upcoming trips by title and by date at left, or scroll down. See special enrollment discounts at the bottom.

Life in Revolutionary Cuba - April 28 to May 5

What is life like for the ordinary Cuban in 2012? What is the history that has created modern Cuban society? What does Cuba look like and feel like? This trip is the opportunity to find out by experiencing Cuba for yourself. Beginning with a welcome dinner at an Old Havana microbrewery and outdoor tavern, the group will immerse itself in Cuba for 8 days and 7 nights. The trip will include the opportunity to walk Old Havana and learn about its history, to explore the modern Havana districts of Vedado and Miramar, and to visit neighborhood institutions such as the Callejón de Hamel and the Casa del niño y la niña in Cayo Hueso, a neighborhood founded by cigarmakers who settled there from Key West and Tampa en the early 20th Century. There will be visits to museums and a cigar factory, and the group will visit a hospital, a neighborhood clinic, a Family Doctor home or a center for the elderly. The group will spend an evening with a neighborhood Committee for Defense of the Revolution and Women's Federation Committee, and also will have the opportunity to visit with Cuban artists in their studios. At night, the group is invited to attend Havana's jazz clubs, experience the famed Tropicana nightclub, and attend the ever changing schedule of baseball games and cultural events. Cost includes membership in the Center for Cuban Studies and Art Cuba: The New Generation or The Cuba Reader, an anthology of writings on Cuba and the Cuban Revolution.

Go back to list of trips

African Roots of Cuba - June 1 to 9

A program led by Pedro Pérez Sarduy, Cuban writer, poet and lecturer on Afro-Cuban culture.

Up until the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Cuban elite ensured that European culture predominated, pushing African culture and even its history into the dark corners. But as Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén once said, "Show me a Cuban who says he is white, and I'll ask him to bring his Grandmother out from the kitchen." These days, Cubans are proud of their mixed heritage and it is shown in their literature, music, dance, film and the resurgence of interest in Afro-syncretic religion. This program explores the history of African presence in Cuba, through visits to Matanzas and the Museum to Slavery, exploration of African presence in Cuba's art in the Cuba collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, visits to sites of Afro-Cuban art and pride such as the Callejón de Hamel, and meetings with Afro-Cuban artists, filmmakers and writers. The group will also visit the Yoruba Association and Casa Africa, meeting with staff and specialists. As well the group will visit the Church of the Black Virgin in Regla and the Community of Atarés, two of the important centers of Afro Cuban community and spirituality in Havana. Cost includes membership in the Center for Cuban Studies and a copy of Afro-Cuba: An Anthology of Cuban Writing on Race, Politics and Culture.
Go back to list of trips

Cuba Today - April 21 to 28, May 26 to June 2, June 26 to July 4

Through this program, visitors will. learn and experience how Cubans themselves see the Cuban reality today. The group will walk the streets of Old Havana with a specialist on the life and architecture of the oldest part of this historic city and then view the room-size model of the City of Havana in Miramar to learn about the history of the city, urban planning and the challenges planners confront in their work to improve and develop the city within enormous financial limitations. The group will visit an open-air farmers' market, talking to both sellers and shoppers about both the impact that food shortages and the new opportunities for self employment that are part of ongoing economic reforms. A day trip to nearby Pinar del Rio will include the Center for Cuban Studies humanitarian project with Downs Syndrome children in the printmaking workshop run by local artist Jesús Carrete, a visit to Las Terrazas, a contained community within a UNESCO-designated biosphere known for its environmental work and a visit to a state-owned tobacco farm where farmers will talk about production in this type of state-controlled system. Back in town, the group will also have a chance to visit a community run organic farm at the Alamar housing project, with lunch at the farm's community restaurant. The trip will also include visits to the Museum of the Revolucion, the Literacy Museum and to several local art galleries, with the chance to meet and talk with artists, directors and curators. Another day trip will be to Matanzas, to Ediciones Vigía a privately run publishing house that produces handmade books of high artistic quality and also employs a number of local women. While in Matanzas the group will pass through Varadero to learn about the tourism industry and meet workers and waiters and hear their perspective. Finally, the group will also visit the Martin Luther King Center, an independently run community organizing and educational project linked to the Cuban Baptist church. Cost includes membership in the Center for Cuban Studies and The Cuba Reader, an anthology of writings on Cuba and the Cuban Revolution.

Go back to list of trips

uba por Dentro: Un programa especialmente para Latinos - 7 a 14 abril y 2 a 9 junio

En 8 dias y 7 noches, los participantes en este programa tendrán la oportunidad de sumergirse en la historia, la vida diaria y la cultura actual de Cuba y los cubanos. Aunque no estará excluida ninguna persona, el programa funcionara solamente en español y el propósito es introducir latinos de los Estados Unidos a sus hermanos y hermanas - y primos y primas en Cuba. El programa incluirá recorridos or La Habana Vieja y La Habana Moderna, visita a la Universidad de la Habana, al Museo de la Revolucón y de Bellas Artes, al Museo Hemingway, al Museo del Ron y al Museo de Alfabetización y la Ciudad Escolar Libertad para conocer del reconocido sistema de educación cubano. El grupo también visitara una casa del médico de la familia . Viajando por el día a Pinar del Rio, visitara una finca de campesinos, una comunidad campesina en las montañas y una fábrica del tabaco. Visitará a otros artistas en sus estudios y talleres en la Habana, y compartirán experiencias con un Comité de Defensa de la Revolución. También asistirá al Centro de Estudios Che Guevara. De noche, el grupo tendrá la oportunidad de asistir a los famosos centros de jazz y baile, como La Zorra y el Cuervo, El Gato Tuerto y Jazz Café para un contacto directo con la música y vida nocturna de La Habana. El costo incluye la inscripción en el Centro de Estudios Cubanos y The Cuba Reader, antología informativa sobre Cuba y la Revolución Cubana.

Go back to list of trips

Cuba: History, Land & People, June 16 to 23 and September 15 to 27

A 7 day trip that introduces you to the Cuban people, their history, land and culture through a series of visits to historic sites, museums, talks by experts on Cuban society, and opportunities to mingle directly with the Cuban people. Based in Havana, you will also travel to the romantic city of Santa Clara, seized by Che in the final days of the Cuban Revolution. Visits will include the Museum of the Revolution, the Museum of Fine Arts which takes you through several centuries of artists' portrayal of Cuban landscape and personalities, the Hemingway Museum, the Center for José Martí, and the Che Memorial and Museum. You will meet well known local artists José Fuster of Jaimanitas and Salvador González Escalona of the Callejón de Hamel, each of whom has created a work of art out of their communities, involving their neighbors and drawing on rich cultural heritages. Cost includes membership in the Center for Cuban Studies and The Cuba Reader, an anthology of writings on Cuba and the Cuban Revolution.
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The Spiritual Life of Cuba - July 7 to 14, September 15 to 22

An exploration of Cuba's spiritual life. After many years of disregard and at times outright discrimination against practitioners, since the first visit of the Pope to Cuba some 10 years ago, there has been a resurgence of religion in Cuba as well as a new acceptance of religious practice. The first set of dates coincides with the second visit of the Pope to Cuba but this and all other trip dates will explore the full variety of religious faith and practices in Cuba: Catholicism, protestant faiths, Judaism and a variety of Afro Syncretic religions. The group will visit the Yoruba Association and attend a ceremony; visit a variety of churches in Havana and in Matanzas, the Church of San Lázaro and the mission of nuns who attend it, and the extraordinarily vibrant and peaceful Evangelical Seminary in Matanzas. As well, the group will visit the Jewish Community Center in Havana and share a meal with the Jewish community there. There will be opportunities to talk with priests, congregation leaders and parishioners of all walks of life. Cost includes a copy of Fidel on Religion and membership in the Center for Cuban Studies. Go back to list of trips

Architectural Heritage of Cuba - June 9 to 16 and October 6 to 13

Old Havana and Trinidad have been declared by UNESCO architectural treasures of humanity. But these cities and other gems such as Cienfuegos are more than just buildings. They are the built expression of the culture and history of the people who built them and of those who still live in them today. The group will explore Old and Modern Havana with specialists from the Office of the Historian of the City, on foot and by bus; visit an extraordinary Art Deco neighborhood on the outskirts of the city; and the neighborhood of Jaimanitas where the artist Fuster has helped his neighbors decorate their houses with unique expressions of whimsy and flair. The group will also travel to the stately city of Cienfuegos, long an important port city with both a central colonial park and a fascinating waterfront area. Continuing on to the City of Trinidad, the group will stroll the old streets where often they will be welcomed in by the house proud residents to see the uniquely designed interior roofs and patios of their centuries old houses. Before returning to Havana, the group also will tour the Valley of the Sugar Mills with its Iznaga Tower.

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Program Costs

Cost of our programs is $2800 per person in double occupancy, with a single supplement of $220. Cost includes: RT Air from Miami or Ft Lauderdale (travel from other cities with supplement possible); accommodations at our preferred hotels, the Hotel Presidente in Vedado and the Hotel Plaza in Old Havana, or equivalent as available; with upgrade possible at Hotel Nacional; and accommodations at equivalent quality hotels in the provinces; breakfast daily at the hotels plus welcome and farewell dinners and at least 2 lunches and 1 other dinner; transportation by airconditioned bus for transfers and all scheduled program activities; program of activities as described; English speaking guide permanently assigned to group; entry visa for Cuba; program and service fees; membership in the Center for Cuban Studies; educational materials to help prepare for the trip. We would be pleased to have Cuban Americans join any of our programs and can process the entry paperwork for Cuba for them.
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So many trips! We're excited at the new possibilities for working with old clients, new clients and long time friends. And working with the Center for Cuban Studies! This is the premier organization in the United States, building bridges between the United States and Cuba since 1972. Between their associations in Cuba and those of Common Ground, these will be truly People to People experiences.

Hope you can join, and hope you will tell your friends,

Merri Ansara
Common Ground Education & Travel Services

The Center for Cuban Studies

read about the Center - click here r website

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If you bring 3 people with you on the trip, each of you saves 5%, if you bring 5 people, each person saves 10%. And if you bring 12 people with you, we will be delighted to send you for free.

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Offer Expires: March 30, 2012

Arcadia Trustees Look at Cuba

2012-03-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Posted: Thu, Mar. 8, 2012, 3:01 AM

Arcadia trustees to try out travel-abroad programs

By Susan Snyder

Inquirer Staff Writer

Arcadia University has long been known for its global education program, which results in more than 80 percent of its students studying abroad at some point - one of the highest percentages of any school in the country.

Now, that distinction has been extended. The university's 34-member board of trustees voted at their meeting this month to study abroad, too, at some point over the next three years.

They will participate in one of the university's seven- to nine-day "preview" courses for freshmen and entering transfer students.

The first group leaves this weekend for one of three destinations: Cuba, Mexico, and Ireland. The seven trustees have taken preparation classes with students at the Glenside campus since the semester started and studied the course materials.

Abroad, they will continue to study with and stay where the students stay, and that's not in four-star hotels, said Arcadia president Carl "Tobey" Oxholm III. They will be living among the locals and absorbing the culture, not following the tour-book recommendations.

"There's going to be dirt and wind. It's not going to be the prettiest thing," he said.

Trustees chair Margaret Wright Steele, a 1980 graduate, said trustees would critique the programs.

"This is not a frivolous thing," said Steele, 63, the retired president of Perez-Steele Galleries Inc. "We're really quite serious about it. This is our reputation, and we want to make clear that we take pride in it all the way around."

Steele, of Ambler, will go to Havana for the course "Myths and Realities," exploring U.S.-Cuban relations.

Trustees will pay for their own travel and expenses. Steele estimates that the trip will cost her about $3,000.

For years, trustees who are on the university's international programs committee have gone abroad to see Arcadia programs. They thought their colleagues should have the same experience.

"They said, if we really are going to be known as a global university and mean it, everyone ought to do it," Oxholm said. "I was really proud that they decided to make it an expectation for all of them."

All trustees elected to a four-year term will have to complete the abroad experience within their first three years.

"We want to be able to report back to our fellow trustees about what's going on," said John E. Riggan, executive chairman of Innovare Advisors, an investment fund.

Riggan, 71, of Mount Airy, will be going to Puebla, Mexico, for a service learning course on the Toltec and Aztec ruins and culture. He's an old hand at international travel, having spent time in the Peace Corps and having worked in internationally focused businesses.

More than 360 freshmen and third-year transfer students will be traveling to 17 locations for this year's preview courses. Among them are 18 students whom trustees agreed to fund with scholarships so that they could afford to participate.

The university requires students to immerse themselves in another culture at some point during their undergraduate experience. Most do so by going abroad.

Trustee Clair M. Raubenstine, a retired accountant who formerly served as executive vice president of PHH Corp., joined the board of trustees because of its global commitment.

"It's really important for students in today's global environment to experience travel outside of the United States," said Raubenstine, 70, of Huntingdon Valley.

He and his wife will go to Ireland for the course "Two Irelands, One Island," which looks at the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. To prepare, they've gone to Friday classes with students since the semester started.

Other trustees who will be traveling next week include:

Joycellen Young Auritt, '71, a psychologist, to Mexico.

Patricia DeBow, '02, a strategy consultant at Accenture, to Cuba.

Hugh G. Moulton, retired executive vice president of Unisource Worldwide Inc., to Cuba.

Babette Senker Krug, '68, a retired teacher, to Cuba.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/141850083.html

Collette Vacations Expands Offers

2012-03-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Collette Vacations Offers Second Tour to Cuba

March 01, 2012 10:09 PM

Collette Vacations is offering its second tour to Cuba. Collette Travel Service has been issued a license by the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which authorizes its registered guests under the auspices of Collette to legally travel to Cuba, to participate and engage in a full-time schedule of authorized educational exchange activities in Cuba, which will involve interaction with people in Cuba.

Prior to departure, Collette will provide clients with a Letter of Authorization to confirm their legal travel status, the authorized travel agenda and activities, and your recordkeeping responsibilities. Clients will spend seven nights in Havana, visit an organic farm in Pinar del Rio and explore the architectural heritage in Matanzas.

The Heart of Cuba tour, with departure dates from May through November, includes a walking tour through the four main plazas of Old Havana, a visit to the National Aquarium in Havana for a dolphin show and workshop with divers to learn about Cuba’s marine conservation efforts, a meeting with an organic farmer and his family while going on an informative tour of their harvest in Viñales, and a visit to the Afro-Cuban Religion museum in Guanabacoa to learn about the religious practices of the island.

Collette Vacations is also offering Rediscover Cuba -- A Cultural Exploration, which includes stays in Havana and Trinidad and a visit to Cienfuegos. Both tours offer visits to the Ernest Hemingway House, Finca Vigía (Lookout Farm), a meeting with a Cuban family in their own paladar (a privately owned and operated restaurant) for dinner, listening to live traditional music and a lecture on the instruments used to produce the distinctive “Sounds of Cuba,” and going to the Casa Fuster, the colorful home of José Fuster, where one of the artist’s apprentices or even the artist himself will be on hand to talk about his work, inspired by Antoni Gaudí, a notable figure in Spanish architecture.

http://www.travelpulse.com/collette-vacations-offers-second-tour-to-cuba.html

Society of International Business Fellows Trip Report

2012-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Cubans ripe for economic opportunity

Liberalized travel rules for U.S. citizens give glimpse of island's beauty

1:36 AM, Feb. 14, 2012

I was prepared for the travel hassles (mostly in Miami) and for the revolutionary slogans and signs, even the lack of toilet paper, but my most compelling impression of Havana upon arrival there for the first time a couple of weeks ago was the beauty, and poor condition, of the historic buildings.

This is a European-style city on a grand scale (think Barcelona without the beaches and first-class restaurants), but it was sad to see such a wonderful built environment literally crumbling. Yet, the spirit of the people and the vibrancy of the culture made our five-day sojourn a very pleasant experience.

Our group, members of the Society of International Business Fellows (SIBF), consisting mostly of business people from the Southern U.S., traveled under the aptly named “people-to-people” visa that is part of the recent travel liberalization under the Obama administration. This visa allows U.S. citizens traveling through the auspices of licensed tour operators to engage in humanitarian, educational and cultural exchanges with the Cuban population. As tourism grows, there will be additional resources for badly needed renovations; tourism revenue is dedicated to this purpose in Old Havana. The Cuban people are optimistic that they will be able to rebuild the city, but we were not given official timetables or budgets for the work.

Despite the dilapidated surroundings, our hotel was very nice, the meals offered little variety, but mojitos were prevalent as we followed in the footsteps of Papa Hemingway, reveled in the fabulous music, art and theater, rode in ’50s-vintage U.S.-made cars, and enjoyed great cigars, with a warm welcome afforded us everywhere.

Developing “people-to-people” relationships with our American neighbors to the south was a truly rewarding and special part of the trip; though it is hard to say if or when those relationships will become helpful in the development of business opportunities for U.S. firms. Lack of Internet access and restrictions against photographing living conditions testify that Cuba is still a closed society. There are a few small, privately owned businesses. Even the great cigar companies are state-owned and move production among each other’s factories. Some foreign interests, mostly Chinese and Venezuelan, but also some French and Canadian companies, are able to do business there, usually in joint ventures with the government.

There is a will and determination among the Cuban people that, if unleashed, could provide a spark for economic growth and opportunity. For the most part, however, people work for the government at very low wages, but with free, apparently good-quality health care, and without taxes and insurance. There is a shadow economy in which supplemental incomes are earned that demonstrates the initiative of the people.

Opening of the economy is occurring incrementally — individuals have recently been given the freedom to buy and sell homes, for example. Significant obstacles remain, of course, including history, politics and hard feelings, but under proper conditions, the human and natural resources of Cuba could support a new revolution — one of economic opportunity with improved quality of life and hope for the future.

J. Chase Cole is an attorney with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120214/OPINION03/302140014/Cubans-ripe-economic-opportunity

Portland, OR and Visalia, CA Business Groups

2012-03-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

Come visit Cuba, says the Portland Business Alliance. Pack euros, not dollars.

Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 2:36 PM Updated: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 3:16 PM

By Richard Read, The Oregonian

Communists and capitalists take note: The Portland Business Alliance is offering members the chance to visit

Cuba

, a nation long difficult for Americans to experience.

The travel brochure is enticing -- even if it misspells Ernest Hemingway's name -- with photos of old Havana and 1950s American cars. "Experience Cuba," it says. "A chance of a lifetime -- nine days in Cuba brought to you by the Portland Business Alliance."

The price is hardly socialist at $3,299 per person (plus a $600 single supplement), not including domestic flights between Portland and Miami.

It turns out that a growing number of U.S. organizations, including chambers of commerce, are allowed to offer people-to-people exchange programs in Cuba. The Business Alliance, greater Portland's chamber of commerce, is partnering with Chamber Explorations, a California venture that specializes in travel for chamber members.

For years, U.S. leftist organizations have found ways to get Americans to Cuba via Mexico and Canada. But now the Multnomah Athletic Club, that Portland bastion of athletic enterprise, is also offering a Cuba trip to its members. Travelers will stay in hotels such as the Meliá Cohiba and the Meliá Habana Libre.

Shoppers on the Aug. 2-10 trip can bring home souvenirs. But Cuban cigars, rum, coffee and communist literature are subject to confiscation upon return, given the continuing U.S. trade embargo.

And don't plan on using U.S. credit cards or traveler's checks.

"The best currency to take with you is the euro," the fine print says, "not the

U.S.

dollar."

-- Richard Read, twitter.com/ReadOregonian

Discover Cuba With The Visalia Chamber

Posted: Feb 03, 2012 1:33 AM EST

By Rich Rodriguez

VISALIA, Calif. (KMPH) -

Travel to Cuba has always been a political hot potato.

Recently the Obama Administration eased the restrictions on travel to Cuba and a Visalia Chamber group is set to head to Havana in June.

Imagine nine days and eight nights for you to discover Cuba. The Visalia Chamber's official unveiling isn't until February 15th but Lisa Salazar says people are already signing up. "Typically Visalia is a last minute town. People wait until the last minute to sign up but this trip has generated so much interest."

The Obama Administration is responsible for the renewed interest. Former President George W. Bush cut off travel in 2003 but President Obama kept a campaign promise from 2008. "It's time to let Cuban Americans see their mothers and fathers and their sisters and their brothers," President Obama said.

The Treasury Department grants so called "people to people" licenses. Those licenses expand travel opportunities for Cuban bound visitors. "It's very important that we help open up space for the Cuban people so they can work on the grass roots democracy that is necessary to move Cuba to a better future," said Dan Restrepo, President Obama's senior advisor on Latin America.

The Chamber's nine-day trip which begins in June will start in Old Havana. "

"There's quite a few UNESCO World Heritage sites that they'll take a look at. Bay of Pigs Museum, go to Ernest Hemingway's farm and see where he wrote Island's in the Stream and The Old Man and the Sea," said Salazar.

Travelers will also tour sugar plantations and get their hands dirty with pottery making demonstrations. The price for nine days discovering Cuba is $3,900 per person, double occupancy. It includes air, hotel and meals.

The Visalia Chamber will hold an informational slideshow February 15th at noon. The presentation will be held at the Chamber office.

http://www.kmph.com/story/16667307/discover-cuba-with-the-visalia-chamber

Orientation Program for Study Abroad Staff

2012-03-07T17:31:00.001-08:00

Times, sequence and content subject to change

Holbrook Travel Higher Education Orientation Program in Cuba
led by John McAuliff, Fund for Reconciliation and Development

June 15 ‑ 24, 2012

6/15/2012 Miami Airport Hotel D

Dinner in Miami with Cuban American friends. (Airport Hotel cost is not included)

6/16/2012 Havana Tryp Habana Libre D

7:30 a.m. check in for charter flight from Miami to Havana and transfer to our hotel. Lunch on own. 2:00 p.m. Gather for an orientation meeting with Dr. Rafael Hernandez, to discuss social and economic renovation in Cuba and in-depth programs available for students visiting Havana. [Director of Temas magazine and 2011 visiting professor at Harvard and Columbia Universities] 4:00 p.m. Dr. Carlos Alzugaray will give a presentation on US‑Cuba relations. [Former diplomat and 2011 visiting professor at Queens College, CUNY] Afterwards, walk to La Rampa, Copelia Ice Cream Palace, Malecon and the Hotel Nacional. 7:00 pm Dinner at La Divina Pastora restaurant (with guests) on the flank of fortress and witness the cannon firing ceremony.

6/17/2012 Havana Tryp Habana Libre BLD

9:00 a.m. Walking visit of Habana Vieja guided by an architect from the Office of the City Historian, ending at the Capitolio. 12:30 p.m. Lunch with guests at Yoruba Cultural Association and see a sanitaria religious exhibition. 2:00 p.m. Visit Finca Vijia, home of Ernest Hemingway. Stop at an agricultural market and shops opened by the self‑employed (cuenta propistas) to preview field visits suggested by Rafael Hernandez. 7:30 p.m. Enjoy an evening (with guests) at a performance of Opera de la Calle at it
'
s dinner theater El Cabildo.

6/18/2012 Havana Tryp Habana Libre BLD

9:00 a.m. Attend a briefing at the Ministry of Higher Education (MES) on Cuba’s university system, including presentations by representatives of Havana schools as appropriate to interests of participants. Have lunch with the staff of MES and presenting universities. (list below) 1:30 p.m. Divide up for visits to the campuses of presenters or to universities under other ministries. 4:00 p.m. Meet at the museum and office of the Fundacion Nunez Jimenez for Nature and Humanity, a non‑governmental institution dedicated to research and promotion of programs for the protection of the environment as it relates to culture and society and host of US student groups. 7:30 p.m. Dine at Paladar La Moneda de Cuba (with guests), then continue on to the rooftop terrace of Elsa Maria's home for an evening of Cuban music.

6/19/2012 Matanzas Villa Tortuga Hotel Varadero BLD

8:00 a.m. Depart Havana for Matanzas Province. Stop briefly at Cojimar, “site” of Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea. 11:00 a.m. Visit the University of Matanzas and have lunch with professors and administrators. 2:00 p.m. Drive to Cardenas to meet with the Christian Center for Reflection and Dialogue (CCRD), an independent non-governmental organization, which has hosted international student groups, to learn about its role in the community. See its organic farm, biogas generator, and computer education program. Dinner with staff and friends at CCRD followed by a local cultural program.

6/20/2012 Santa Clara Los Caneyes Hotel BLD

9:00 a.m. Depart for Santa Clara. 12:30 Have lunch with administrators and professors of the Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas and the Medical School. Visit campuses and the Che Memorial. As time allows, visit Parque Vidal and the square of the 12 families that moved from Remedios to found the city. Dinner with guests.

6/21/2012 Sancti Spiritus Hotel Los Laureles or casas particulares BLD

8:30 a.m. Depart for Sancti Spiritus. 10:00 a.m. Visit the permaculture organic farm training and research project and museum of the Nunez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Humanity (FNJ). 12:30 p.m. Lunch with FNJ staff 2:00 p.m. Meet administrators and professors of the Centro Universitario de Sancti Spiritus (Marti Peres) and visit the campus. 7:00 p.m. Dinner with guests from the university.

6/22/2012 Cienfuegos Hotel Jagua BLD

8:00 a.m. Depart for Cienfuegos, stopping for refreshments at the Torre de Manaca Iznaga. 12:00 noon. Lunch with administrators and professors of the University Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, followed by a visit to the campus. 3:30 p.m. Visit a community project, hosted by Arq. Iran Millan, Director of Cienfuegos Office for City Conservation and Restoration. 6:00 p.m. Dinner at a seaside paladar and casa particular Finca Los Colorados.

6/23/2012 Havana Hotel Ambos Mundos BD

8:00 a.m. Depart for Havana; lunch on own, afternoon for assisted self-directed time (museums, performances, special interest appointments, artisan market, etc.) 6:30 p.m. Farewell working dinner at Atelier paladar; later evening free. (Hotel Ambos Mundos was Ernest Hemingway’s residence prior to Finca Vijia)

6/24/2012 Miami B

7:30 a.m. Transfer to the airport for charter flight to Miami.

Land Costs:

Per person in double occupancy: $2,550.00

Single occupancy supplement: $225.00

Cost includes: local Cuban guide, all items as indicated in the itinerary such as meals, accommodations, speakers, entrance fees, and group transportation; tips for guide and driver.

Cost does not include: individual tips, tourist card for entry into Cuba, bottled water, departure tax of approximately $27 USD (25 CUC’s), and other items of a personal nature.

Price is based on a minimum of 10 participants. If fewer than ten enroll, a surcharge will apply.

Air Costs (to be confirmed):

Estimated price per person: $ 650.00

This price is based on current availability and pricing which is subject to change until ticketed. The price includes a Cuba Tourist Card and required insurance.

Air cost does not include connecting flights from home gateway or hotel at the gateway. Holbrook Travel is happy to assist with flights from your home gateway or you may make your own arrangements.

Due to the time of departure from and return to Miami, this trip will likely require an overnight at an airport hotel on the outbound portion of your trip. John McAuliff will be staying at the Miami International Airport Hotel, located within the terminal building. Rooms at this hotel can be reserved for $170 per night including tax. If you prefer another hotel, be sure that you are at airport check-in desk by no later than 7:30.

Please contact Laurie McLaughlin at Holbrook Travel at 800-451-7111 to discuss your air options or email Laurie@holbrooktravel.com.

Important Notes & Requirements:

This program is currently available only for participants who qualify for the general license for faculty and staff developing a student program for credit at a tertiary institution or who have a general license for professional research.

Before purchasing any connecting air tickets that are non-refundable, wait until you are contacted to confirm we have a guaranteed minimum number of participants. A minimum of 10 participants will be required for the trip and payments will be refunded if the trip cannot take place.

Due to the short preparation time for this program, participants who wish to confirm participation must send full payment by May 1 to guarantee a hotel in Miami and onward flight to/from Havana. After May 1, payment is refundable only if FFRD and Holbrook cancel the program.

Optional travel/trip cancellation Insurance is strongly recommended

See www.travelinsured.com or call Holbrook at 352-377-7111

**************************************

Tertiary Institutions Located in the Province of Havana

(Not all listed will be included in the program. Meetings will try to address the interests indicated by participants on the registration form.)

Under the Ministry of Higher Education

Universidad de Habana

Universidad de Ciencias Informaticas

Polytechnic Institute "Jose A. Echeverria" (CUJAE)

Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agricolas (INCA)

Universidad Agraria de la Habana

Instituto Superior de Diseno

Under other ministries

Universidad de Ciencias Pedagogicas Enrique Jose Varona

Universidad de las Artes (ISA)

La Escuela de la Medicina Veterinaria

Universidad de Ciencias de la Cultura Fisica y el Deporte "Manuel Fajardo"

Universidad de Ciencias Medicas de la Habana

Escuela Latinamericana de Medicina

Centro de Ingenieria Genetica y Biotecnologia

Centro Nacional de Rehabilitacion "Julio Diaz"

Acuario Nacional Cuba

For further information, contact John McAuliff, jmcauliff@ffrd.org, 914-231-6270. Our goal is 15 to 20 participants. Holbrook Travel is encouraging enrollment by April 16th to assure participation. Full payment is due May 1. To obtain a registration form, contact Michelle Korczynski <Michelle@Holbrooktravel.com> or call 1-800-396-0763.

Gilbert, Arizona, Chamber of Commerce

2012-03-05T14:24:00.002-08:00

Gilbert Chamber offers 9-day Cuba excursion

by John Stanley - Feb. 16, 2012 02:05 PM

The Republic | azcentral.com

The Gilbert Chamber of Commerce is organizing a nine-day excursion to Cuba this fall.

"This is really a unique opportunity for people to see Cuba before the tourists take over the experience," said Sarah Watts, spokeswoman for the Gilbert chamber. "It's a chance for travelers to go someplace new."

Although the trip is being organized by the Gilbert chamber, there's no business or commercial purpose, according to Watts. "It's nothing more than a travel opportunity," she said.

While Watts acknowledged the possibility that some people may have philosophical issues about traveling to a communist country, she saw no reason for them to object to others making a visit.

"We understand if people don't want to make a trip like that," she said. "But that's up to the individual. Americans are interested in knowing about other cultures and we're providing that opportunity."

Tempe and Glendale chambers found demand for their trips to Cuba so strong that they scheduled a second excursion.

Chamber Explorations, a California-based travel agency working with the Gilbert and other chambers to organize the trips, received permission for the trips from the U.S. Treasury Department, which authorizes registered guests to visit Cuba legally.

The Gilbert chamber's trip begins Oct. 2 and includes six nights' stay in Havana and two nights in the town of Trinidad.

A representative from Chamber Explorations will go over the itinerary and answer questions about the trip's logistics and paperwork at a March 2 meeting hosted by the chamber. The meeting is open to anyone interested in the trip and people do not have to commit to going in order to attend the briefing. They are asked to register for the meeting in advance by calling the chamber.

Highlights of the trip include a visit to an assortment of museums, including the Bay of Pigs Museum, a botanical garden, a sugar plantation and a trip to Finca Vigia, the house that Ernest Hemingway owned from 1940 to 1960.

Travelers also will visit the Catedralde la Havana. Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier once described the cathedral, built in 1748, as "music turned to stone."

And what trip to Cuba is complete without a visit to a cigar factory?

The travel package includes round-trip airfare from Los Angeles to Havana, plus eight nights in first-class hotels, 21 meals (daily breakfasts, seven lunches and six dinners), daily sightseeing excursions and sundry admission fees, modern bus travel, baggage handling, driver and guide fees, a Cuba entry visa, Cuban medical insurance and all taxes.

The trip will cost $3,779 per person, based on double occupancy. Travelers can opt for single occupancy for a $600 supplemental fee. The trip also will serve as a fundraiser, with $300 of each package going to the chamber, Watts said. There is a deposit of $500 per person to secure a spot. Final payment is due 75 days before departure.

Cuba travel meeting

When: 5:30 p.m. March 2.

Where: Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, 119 N. Gilbert Road, Suite 101, Gilbert.

Registration: Requested.

Details: 480-892-0056, gilbertaz.com.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2012/02/15/20120215gilbert-chamber-plans-cuba-excursion.html#ixzz1mwJKbV1r

Business Students Visit From Florida University

2012-03-05T06:34:00.000-08:00

A group of Stetson University students from the international business department left Saturday to go to Cuba over Spring Break.

Bill Andrews, chairman of the management and international business department at the DeLand university, and another professor took nine students for a week from the junior seminar "Business and Culture in Cuba" to experience the country firsthand.

The group plans to spend five days in Havana and two days in the historic Cienfuegos area. They will meet with a number of government and business leaders from Cuba; officials from the U.S. government and students from the University of Havana. Historical and cultural sites are on the agenda, too.

In preparation, the class studied Cuba's history, politics and other areas. Andrews has traveled to Cuba twice before, in 2003 and with Stetson graduate students in 2004. But travel restrictions were tightened shortly thereafter.

Andrews said students will be learning in person the relationship between Cuba and the U.S., the changing economic situation and the concept of social justice.

"It makes for a natural laboratory," he said about the trip.

Students will get "on the ground experience," he said, by talking with Cubans and listening to various government briefings.

The students when they return plan to share what they learned with others on campus.

Alisa Ring, 22, of Lake City, a business management senior, said this is her second trip to Cuba after going with a church group in 2009. But she didn't know as much as she does now and did not get to spend time in the city of Havana.

"It's an awesome opportunity to be able to go as students," she said on Friday before leaving. "I'm excited to get to see all the places we've talked about and be able to connect the stories that we've learned and heard of through our readings."

-- Compiled by Education Writer Deborah Circelli

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/west-volusia/2012/03/05/stetson-international-business-students-head-to-cuba.html

Paladar: La Moneda Cubana

2012-02-29T18:33:00.002-08:00

Lessons for Cuban business

January 30, 2012 8:19 am by John Paul Rathbone

President Raúl Castro wants the recent liberalisation of small businesses to bolster

Cuba

’s sagging economy and absorb the 1m state workers he says will eventually be laid off.

But

Cuba

’s budding micro-entrepreneurs – over 350,000 had registered as of November 2011 – lack almost everything that start-ups need, from premises and relevant skills to capital. Will they ever really get off the ground?

A bustling restaurant in Havana’s colonial centre – which opened in January 2011, is appropriately called “La Moneda Cubana”, the Cuban coin, and is run by Miguel Ángel, a 37-year old entrepreneur - suggests some answers.

First, the premises. The three-storey restaurant, which once belonged to Ángel’s grandfather, was nationalised in the 1960s. But the family has lived continuously at the premises since then – indeed, ever since 1924. As a result, Ángel was able to set up operations immediately.

And what a location it enjoys: La Moneda Cubana lies just a few steps from the cathedral, has a sweeping view of the Havana bay from its roof terrace, and enjoys a regular stream of tourists. Few are so fortunate. Indeed, the process of leasing state properties remains incipient.

Second, necessary skills. Ángel worked for several years in the state tourist sector, first at the Floridita, where Ernest Hemmingway once drank daiquiris; then in the kitchens of the nearby Hotel Sevilla. “I learnt there everything I needed to run my kitchen,” Ángel told beyondbrics.

However, similar backward linkages are rarer elsewhere. “A good restaurant also needs a manager and an accountant,” he adds. Such skills are hard to come by in

Cuba

’s Soviet-style economy – hence the business skills training program the Catholic church set up last year.

Third, funds. The usual supposition is that Cubans turn to their émigré relatives for start-up capital. This is entirely legal under Castro’s new rules – indeed, it is tacitly encouraged.

Be that as it may, the cagey habits of under-the-table informality that Cubans developed over decades socialism remain deeply engrained.

Ángel, for example, insists he restored the three-story building “all with my own resources”.

Be that as it may, Ángel says his operation is now self-financing. La Moneda Cubana’s intense footfall suggests this may indeed be so. That is just as well, as the notion of

Cuba

’s creaking banking system offering credit is entirely novel – although there is government talk it will do so.

Fourth, inputs. Cubans can now buy construction materials directly from the state. As for food, Ángel still buys from the state rather than private farmers. “They can’t ensure a steady and reliable supply,” he says.

That is changing fast, however. According to state media, 71 contracts have been executed between private farmers and state-run hotels – a huge change that will strip out the inefficient state-distribution system.

Cuba

’s small business sector is still fragile and Ángel’s success will not be replicated everywhere. Business generally remains very small scale. Most entrepreneurs sell out of their homes, or from makeshift street stalls. Havana is far from becoming a neon-wrapped landscape.

But the popularity of the reforms and Castro’s mantra that they will be implemented “slowly, but without pause” also means they are irreversible. Ahead of the Communist Party’s conference over the weekend, even state newspaper Granma talked of the need “to leave behind prejudices against the non-state sector” and to overcome the “psychological barrier” of “obsolete dogmas”.

One of these is work habits. Ángel, for one, has already turned on its head the old socialist rubric of “everyone pretends to work and the state pretends to pay.” Compared to state wages worth around $20 a month but paid in Cuban pesos, his staff get a percentage of profits in hard currency. “They like that, very much,” he says.

As for his own workday: “I get here early in the morning and usually leave around 3am.” Does he mind? “One has to do what one has to or wants to do – and I do. This is as much an emotional adventure as a financial one,” he says, with a smile.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/01/30/lessons-for-cuban-business/#ixzz1npPLo3HL

Arts and Culture Program Sponsored by Baruch

2012-02-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

Baruch launches Cuban Arts and Cultures Program

By Kimberley Goonie

News Editor

Published: Monday, February 27, 2012

Updated: Monday, February 27, 2012 13:02

Graphic by Jaina Teeluck I The Ticker

Baruch, along with CUNY, recently implemented a study abroad program to Cuba.

The City University of New York (CUNY) along with Baruch College recently spearheaded an effort in order to allow students to participate in a study abroad program in Cuba.

Dr. Richard Mitten, the director of Baruch's study abroad program, Katrin Hansing, a professor of Black and Hispanic Studies at Baruch, who, as an anthropologist, has studied Cuba for more than 15 years, and Dean and Vice Provost for Global Strategies Jeffrey Peck made this program possible.

From this program, students were able to gain three credits and also knowledge about Cuba's lifestyle and culture.

"I think Americans in particular are fascinated by Cuba because it is the only country in the world they are legally not allowed to travel to," said Hansing in an article on Baruch College's website.

However, the U.S. government recently lifted these restrictions, and now students enrolled in a formal course will be able to travel to Cuba.

A senior at Baruch, Maisha Hall, who participated in the study abroad program said, "The program provided for us a unique and intense immersion into Cuban culture. Everyday we attended a topical lecture, which was then complemented by a cultural activity that included everything from visits to houses of worship to observing youth culture through nightlife."

In order to facilitate the best experience possible, they were given the opportunity to live with Cuban families in private homes.

Hall added that, since our account of Cuban history is virtually one-sided, the trip was a great way to actually experience the lifestyle in Cuba.

"We developed strong bonds with the Cuban students at the Ludwig Foundation – a vibrant group of educated and ambitious people who both humbled and humanized our experience," said Hall. "I think we all faced an altered sense of reality while there."

Hansing was very pleased with the outcome of the trip even though it was the first time that they were testing out this new program.

"Personally, I have to say that it was truly a joy to see the students explore and learn about this very different culture and reality and watch them develop and grow as human beings," said Hansing. "This was a pilot program and so much could have gone wrong…but no, it was a real success on all levels: academic, social, cultural and human."

Hall was very pleased with her experience and maintains that it taught her a lot.

"It gave us an opportunity to become acquainted with a country that has such a complex history with the United States and has put issues like race, poverty, immigration and politics at the forefront of our experiences," she said.

Hansing hopes that this program will continue on in the future so more students will be able to participate in it.

"This is why studying abroad is so important; it not only helps students broaden their horizons and sharpen their critical thinking skills but also opens their hearts to new peoples and places," she said.

Hall is grateful to have been a part of this program, which changed her perspective on Cuba.

"This program caused me to think critically about my role and duties as an American citizen and as a human being."

Dr. Mitten did not respond in time for the publication of this article.

Irish Heritage Program, April 14-22

2012-02-27T08:37:00.025-08:00

The spirit of the visit is captured by a plaque on Old Havana's O'Reilly Street:

"Two island peoples in the same sea of struggle and hope: Cuba and Ireland"

and by this from the Irish Times:

Irish visitors to Cuba often remark on the identification they feel with the warmth and sense of fun of ordinary Cubans. While caution is wise with such generalizations, it is a similarity that others have noticed too. There is something Celtic about the Cuban that commands the affection of those fortunate foreigners who really know them.

Revealing discussions will be held with Cuban experts on the four century role of the Irish in their country’s history and culture (see below). Visits made to related historical locations in the UNESCO world heritage city of Old Havana offer opportunities to speak with their current residents.

The Irish and Celtic influence outside of Havana will be the focus of field trips to Pinar del Rio to the west and Matanzas to the east.

Coincident with the Irish Heritage program is Cuba’s third annual Celtic Festival. It offers direct involvement with Cuba's well-established emigrant societies from Spain's Celtic provinces of Asturia and Galicia that play a role in Cuba similar to Irish county societies in the US. With limited resources they foster a lively expression of traditional music, instruments, dance and costumes.

Participants are welcomed by evening concerts into the Asturian and Galician clubs. Workshops and sesiuns provide opportunities for spontaneous interaction with Cuban counterparts. A culminating public concert in Plaza Vieja, in conjunction with the Festival of Dance in Urban Landscapes, creates more chances to mingle and converse.

For the first time Irish American musicians, singers, dancers, academic specialists and fans can participate informally in a rich people to people experience, enjoying the craic while learning in the most direct and personal way possible about life in Cuba today.

For background, video from last year and the latest updated program, go to http://www.celtfestcuba.org/

CeltFest receives the support of Culture Ireland, the Historian’s Office in Havana, Na Piobairi Uilleann (Uilleann Pipers Club of Ireland), the Irish Arts Council, and the embassy of Ireland for Mexico and Cuba. It features workshops in uilleann piping, fiddle, singing and dance, pipe and reed-making classes, informal seisiúns and concerts with performers from Ireland and Canada.

Scheduled to date from Ireland are pipers Paddy Keenan, Gay McKeon and Donnacha Dwyer; from Canada the Tam O'Shanter Dancers of South Surrey/White Rock, Prince Edward Island fiddler Roy Johnstone and Cape Breton fiddlers Chrissy Crowley and Rosie MacKenzie.

Among the Cuban performers are Artistica Gallega Pipe Band, Asturian Pipe Band, Aires Galegos De La Habana, Asturian Folk Group "Resurrectio" of Pinar Del Rio, Band and Dancers of Monterroso y Antas de Ulla, Havana's Galician Dancers "Grupo de baile de la Sociedad Agrupación Artística Gallega de La Habana", and the symphonic prog rock band Anima Mundi with Galician bagpipes, the Celtic flute and the tin whistle.

There will also be opportunities to meet Cubans active in other aspects of the country’s music and dance, including conversation with students and professors at the University of the Arts, speaking with the performers of Opera de la Calle (Opera of the Street), and evening encounters with salsa and jazz musicians.

The Irish Heritage Program is a people to people trip sponsored by the Wyoming Cuba Society. It is coordinated by John McAuliff, formerly President of the Philadelphia Ceili Group and Assistant Editor of the Irish Edition. He has traveled frequently to Cuba since 1997 as Executive Director of the Fund for Reconciliation and Development.

Participants will fly non-stop from New York (or Miami) to Havana on Saturday, April 14 . Return will be on Sunday, April 22, via Miami with ongoing connection to New York or other city of origin. The cost per person will be approximately $2900, including airfare (except to New York and from Miami) and most meals. The final price will be affected by the number of participants.

We are using the Caribbean Hotel in Habana Vieja which is basic 3 star facility. Accommodations in a 5 star are also available. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147271-d151601-r121901633-Islazul_Hotel_Caribbean-Havana_Cuba.html

For further information about the program and cost, and to obtain a registration form, contact jmcauliff@ffrd.org or call 914-231-6270.

*****************************************************************

An abbreviated and selective history of the Irish in Cuba

The first report of Irish in Cuba dates to 1609 and speculates they were employed as sailors.

Manuel A.Tellechea, a Cuban American from New Jersey, summarized the important role of Irish who came to Cuba via Spain in a blog post on St. Patrick’s Day, 2005: [ http://reviewofcuban-americanblogs.blogspot.com/2008/03/cubans-too-have-bit-of-blarney.html ]

“The largest Irish migration prior to the Great Potato Famine of 1848 was to Spain in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Irish, who were awarded Spanish citizenship on arriving in Spain as persecuted Catholics, joined the Spanish army's Hibernian regiments and became Spain's best soldiers and most famous generals. Many of these were posted in Cuba and married into the island's aristocracy, establishing our own great Irish-Cuban families (the O'Farrills, the O'Reillys, the Kindelans, the Madans, the Duanys, the O'Gabans, the Coppingers and the O'Naughtens). Four Captains General of Cuba were of Irish origin (Nicolás Mahy; Sebastián Kindelán; Leopoldo O'Donnell and Luís Prendergast).”

Irish people served at high levels in government and in senior military positions. The lighthouse at El Morro, the fort that guarded Havana Bay, had been known as "O'Donnell's Lighthouse", after the Spanish governor, a relative of Red Hugh O'Donnell.

The O'Farrill family came from Longford via Montserrat. They rose to prominence as slave traders, importers and sugar plantation owners. The family mansion has been restored as a beautiful boutique hotel. O’Reilly Street was named after General Count Alejandro O’Reilly, a native of Baltrasna, County Meath. He organized the black and mulatto militias and the defenses of Havana in 1763.

The second wave of Irish came to Cuba via the US in the 19th century, as described in a comprehensive summary by Rafael Fernández Moya that was translated and published by the Society for Irish Latin American Studies. Moya currently works with the internationally famed Historian’s Office of Old Havana and its tour company Habaguanex and teaches a new generation of university students. [ http://www.irlandeses.org/0711fernandezmoya1.htm ]

He tells contrasting stories of the Irish experience in the first half of the century:

Juan O’Bourke, who was born in Trinidad around 1826 and twenty-five years later took part in the armed uprising of July 1826 organised by Isidoro Armenteros, collaborator of the expansionist general Narciso López, lived in this city [Cienfuegos] from 1839. The young revolutionary Juan O’Bourke was arrested and later condemned to ten years in prison in Ceuta from whence he escaped and headed to the

United States

….

In June 1855 a boy named Juan Byrnes, whose father was Gregorio and his godmother Margarita Byrnes, was baptised in Havana. This surname became part of the heart of the intellectual community of Matanzas. Firstly, this happened through the educational work of Juana Byrnes de Clayton, the first headmistress of the school for poor girls. This school would later become the Casa de Beneficencia, founded in 1846

He writes that the Irish who came to build Cuba’s first railroad in the 1830s did not have an easy experience:

“The Junta de Fomento brought the technicians, foremen, superintendents and a group of workers made up of 273 men and 8 women from the United States under contract, among whom were English, Irish, Scottish, North American, Dutch and German labourers. However, they were all identified as Irish, perhaps due to the greater numbers of those of that nationality.

While the work was being carried out, the so-called Irish workers and Canary Islanders were subjected to hard labour beyond their physical endurance, receiving insufficient food in return. Nor were they assured the pay and treatment previously agreed upon. After some weeks putting up with mistreatment and hunger the “Irish” workers and Canary Islanders decided to demand their rights from the administration of the railway works and when these were not adequately met, they launched the first workers’ strike recorded in the history of the island. The repression was bloody; the Spanish governors ordered the troops to act against the disgruntled workers, resulting in injury and death.”

Other Irish coming via the US to Cuba found a smoother path.

“It has been said that the introduction of the steam engine and other improvements in the sugar industry, Cuba’s main economic activity in that period, was mainly the work of North American growers who had settled on the island, particularly in the areas surrounding Matanzas and Cárdenas, north coast districts which, according to the opinion of the Irish writer Richard R. Madden, had more characteristics in common with North American towns than those of Spain.

One of the growers who had come from the United States named Juan D. Duggan was, according to the Cuban chemist and agronomist Alvaro Reynoso, one of the first farmers in the country to plant sugar cane over great distances…. The introduction of the steam engine on the sugar plantations resulted in the necessity to hire operators or machinists in the main from the United States and England. After the administrator, the most important job in a sugar plantation was without a doubt that of machinist, who had to work like an engineer because, besides being responsible for all repairs, sometimes they had to come up with real innovations in the machinery.”

The democratic instincts of the American Irish confronted the colonial attitudes of the Spanish Irish in the Cuban aristocracy:

“Some of these foreign technicians living in the Matanzas region became involved in a legal trial, accused of complicity with the enslaved African people’s plans for a revolt, which were abandoned in 1844. Six of them were originally from England, Ireland and Scotland: Enrique Elkins, Daniel Downing, Fernando Klever, Robert Hiton, Samuel Hurrit and Thomas Betlin.

The number of people arrested later grew and all were treated violently during interrogation. In November 1844 the English consul Mr. Joseph Crawford informed the Governor and Captain General of the island, Leopoldo O’Donnell, that the British subjects Joseph Leaning and Pat O’Rourke had died after being released. The doctors who treated them indicated that the physical and moral suffering they had endured in the prison was the cause of death. One of the streets in Cienfuegos was given the name of the infamous Governor of the Island, Leopoldo O’Donnell, who embarked on a bloody campaign of repression against the Afro-Cuban population and against the white people who supported their cause.”

Moya recounts the Irish role in Cuba’s ten year unsuccessful War of Independence against Spain (1868-1878):

“From the beginning, the Cuban Liberation Army had the support of patriots who had emigrated to or organized outside of Cuba, mainly in the United States where they raised funds, bought arms and munitions and recruited volunteers who enlisted to fight for the liberation of Cuba from the Spanish yoke. Among the foreign volunteers was the Canadian William O’Ryan.…Upon the US American general Thomas Jordan’s arrival, who was named Chief of the High Command and later Head of the Liberation Army in the Camagüey region, W. O’Ryan was named inspector and chief of cavalry, before attaining the rank of general. He was sent on a mission to the United States, from where he set out to return to Cuba at the end of October 1873. He sailed aboard the American steamship Virginius…. The Virginius was captured by the Spanish warship Tornado off Cuban waters and was towed into the bay of Santiago de Cuba on 1 December. Five days later, by order of the Spanish authorities, all the leaders of the revolutionary expedition were executed, O’Ryan among them. On 7 December the ship’s captain, Joseph Fry, and 36 members of the crew, were executed, causing a diplomatic and political conflict between Spain and the United States. In honour of the independence fighter O’Ryan a street of the Sagarra subdivision in Santiago de Cuba was given his name.”

The Ireland-Cuba Piano Project “Una Corda” noted these links:

One of the more colorful characters who fought for Cuban independence in the late 19th century was Captain John Dynamite O’Brien, who successfully ran guns and ammunition from the

to the independent Cuban forces. Revolutionary journalist and poet Bonifacio Byrne and writer Richard Madden were very much involved in espousing the cause of Cuban independence. One of the founders of the Cuban Communist Party was Julio Mella, whose mother was an Irishwoman, Cecilia McPartland http://unacorda.org/jornadas-culturales-con-irlanda/

While documentation is not conclusive, the grandfather of Ireland’s independence leader and President is said to have been Cuban, active in the sugar trade in Matanzas Province. Juan Manuel de Valera reportedly sent his son Vivion Juan, an aspiring sculptor and music teacher, to New York to avoid the Spanish draft. He married Catherine Coll from Bruree, County Limerick. Their son Eamon de Valera was born in 1882 and sent to Ireland to live with his mother’s family after his father’s death from illness in 1885.

Cuba's iconic revolutionary Che Guevara was from Argentina but his grandmother Anna Lynch hailed from County Galway.

Among contemporary Irish links in Cuba are monuments in public parks to the ten deceased hunger strikers and John Lennon of the Beatles.

************************************************************************

Potential Irish connections suggested by Rafael Fernández Moya that will constitute the basis for our educational program

For the Irish Connection and People to People we have the following subjects for the talks:

1) Irish presence in Cuban culture;
2) Priests and nuns in Catholic institutions of several orders (Jesuits, Ursulines
from New Orleans, Carmelites, Saint Augustin from Florida);
3) Dynamite John and the struggle for independence;
4) Irish struggle for independence in José Matrti's chronicles in New York;
5) San Patricio farm in Limonar owned by George and Mary Gowen from Boston.

There are several places of interest to show such as:

Havana
* Cuban telephone company Museum. Vesey T. Butler was the manager of the
first network of the city
* Central Railroad Station. Robert Orr from Glasgow was manager of The
Havana United Rail Road
* Alameda de Paula. A part of it is known as O'Donnel Hall.
* Plaza Vieja Brewery, formerly the home of Pedro Pablo O'Reilly
* Carlos Finlay's statue. Father's family from Scotland and mother's from Ireland
* Cecilia McParland's home in Obispo street. Mother of Julio Antonio Mella
* The Bank of Nova Scotia in O'Reilly St
* Captain General's Palace, in Plaza de Armas. Four of them had Irish origin
(Mahy, Kindelan, O'Donnell, Prendergast)
* Picture of piano player Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh in Mercaderes Street
mural
* Cathedral Church. Built by the Jesuits. One of them was Thomas Ignatius Butler
from Ireland
* Archbishop's building. former property of José Ricardo O'Farrill y Herrera
* O'Farrill Hotel, former property of José Ricardo O'Farrill y O'Farrill
* Cristina Railroad Station museum. Irish workers in the history of the first line
from Havana to Bejucal-Guines
* Sevilla-Biltmore Hotel. Initial managers were Bowman and Flynn
* Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje. Church and school under the rule of Saint
Augustin of Florida missionaries

* Casa Simón Bolívar. Former residence of James C. Burhnham, businessman

from Boston, whose three children owned the house till the end of the 19th

century. Their mother was Pamela Blakeley, from Charleston, S.C.daughter of

Robert Blakeley, from Savannah, Georgia and half sister of the mulatto
Charles Blakeley, also from Charleston.

* Calle Cárcel (Jail St.) Remains of the prison built under Captain General
Tacón, where Charles Blakeley was kept for several months. He was
involved in the freedom movement of the people in 1844, known as the
Conspiración de la Escalera (Ladder Conspiracy). He was the first non-white
surgeon dentist with an official licence in Cuba.

* El Cotorro (The Parrot) On the old road to Guines, now Central Road, at

kilometer number 20 at Loma de Tierra, Dr, Arturo O'Farrill, Chico
O'Farrill's father, had a estate named "Finca Casañas" close to the lands of the
Irish pioneer Richard O'Farrill O'Daly

* Tapaste (x), (San José de las Lajas, Havana Province) Town built on
O'Farrill's lands. Its church was also built with the aid of this family.

Pinar del Río

* There is a museum Äntonio Guiters, born in Philadelphia and son of Mary

Therese Holmes y Walsh, member of a revolutionary Irish family.

Matanzas
* Casa de la Cultura "Bonifacio Byrne", a Cuban poet of Irish origin whose
family is connected by marriage to another family of surname Daly
* Streets named Tirry, O'Reilly, Byrne and Madan denoting the Irish presence
* Casa de Beneficencia directed several years by Juana Byrne de Clayton
* City jail built in 1840 at Fernando VII or Saint Francis Square
* El Morrillo Castle where Amntonio Guiteras was executed
* Limonar. South of Cárdenas. (x) Two coffee estates named San Patricio (St.
Patrick) owned by Daniel O'Leary and George C. Gowen and his sister Mary
Brooks Gowen, from Boston. Another one named "Pamela", property of
Robert Blakeley, from Savannah, Georgia.
* San Antonio de Cabezas (x) Among the founders of this town were the Valera
family, headed by José María Valera, owner of a sugar estate named San
Antonio, known as San Antonio de Valera. He had several children, one of
them named Juan Manuel, and a grandson named Juan Luís Valera Acosta. It is
probably Irish President Eamon de Valera's family's home town

(x) Circled in the attached map

A Very Different Cuba

2012-02-27T07:52:00.001-08:00

Michael Dweck

Photographer

Welcome to Cuba, Asshole

Posted: 02/27/2012

In preparing for my first trip to photograph in Cuba, I prepared myself for a country for which my country had already prepared me.

The "unhappy island" Kennedy cursed. A place Bush, the younger, warned was devoid of pleasure, "a tropical gulag," a slum where it was "against the law for three Cubans to meet without permission," (something I imagined him researching when drafting the Patriot Act).

I scrambled before my flight to get my hands on the best anti-depressants, anti-perspirants, anti-freedom necessities (film, lenses, the name of a good lawyer). I told my family and friends where they could reach me -- not that they'd be able to. Reagan told of a Cuba that lacked basic material possessions, much less freedom. Horsecarts were apparently the norm, so phones and mail, it could be assumed, were out of the question.

I arrived to a March heat I can't describe without breaking a sweat. This was the mattress-thick humidity of which I'd been warned. It hung over coastline palms and Havana's worn charms with a stubborn omnipresence. Bush's voice rang its caveats in my ear: "this is the first invisible gunman guarding the prison that is Cuba" and I felt a palpable sense of dread in my stomach lined with the scarcest trace of hope.

That was 6 p.m.

By 11 p.m. the next night, I was soaked in sweat and picking my jaw up from the ground like a cartoon duck recovering from an anvil-whacking. Just twenty-seven hours into my stay in poor, sad, hellhole Havana, I walked into a seaside party that could refute six decades of American rhetoric; a tropical shindig that could wow Caesar, Cleopatra, Bond, Warhol, the Rat Pack, the cast of Jersey Shore... you get the point.

Waves crashed over the seawall on a 1950s-style oceanfront as 200 beautiful Cubans danced poolside in a 90-degree mist to the music of Kelvis Ochoa and his band. This wasn't an assembly of fat, disgruntled women rolling cigars and cursing Gringos while their grandchildren begged in rags. This was paradise -- for a tourist, for an American photographer, for anyone. And the best part? It happened every night.

My own voice rang in my ear:

"Welcome to Cuba, asshole."

What I was lucky enough to have stumbled into (with the help of a friend I made at my hotel) was a farandula -- a clique of well-connected, influential Cubans. In this case, they were artists (painters, photographers, actors, film directors, dancers, musicians, models, etc.) and they represented a side of Cuba that our well-informed presidents either missed, dismissed or intentionally ignored. These folks were glamorous, obstensibly well-off and, above all else, free. Watching them dance and mingle around the pool, I stopped worrying about my impressions and started worrying about theirs; their dark-eyed glances both sexy and suspicious. Did they see a wild-haired photographer cut from their cloth or some dumbass capitalist American with a pricey camera around his neck? Thankfully, after a few introductions, a few drinks and some enjoyable mingling, the group seemed to accept me as another artist in the fold. And like that, I became their pale tagalong; an honorary part of a farandula.

On a typical night on that trip (and on my seven return trips) I'd catch up on the group's whereabouts via text message (yes, they have phones, mostly smartphones, though reception is spotty and Words With Friends has yet to catch on) and we'd meet at an artist's or musician's studio somewhere in Havana. Things would start out like they must have in the Parisian salon of the 1930s and then, as we drank more, chatted and migrated about the city, they'd evolve into scenes from Studio 54 of the 1970s.

The artists (people like Rene Francisco, Rachel Valdez, Roberto Fabelo, et al.) danced, painted, drank, screened films on giant stucco walls in their courtyards, collaborated with one another, wrote and chatted while I photographed (and eventually joined them in the dancing, painting, drinking, etc.).

Now -- if it's not yet clear -- my intention was never to use my photographs to prove a social or political point -- no more than it was to use them as an excuse to drink 18-year-old scotch with glowing actresses and smoke Cuban cigars with famed directors like Jorge "Pichi" Perugorria (though I didn't shy away when the latter offers presented themselves). My goal, as I've said before, was to peek into everyday life on the island and pose the question to subject and audience (Cuban and American, respectively) whether the things we've been told about one another are true.

And the answer, it seems, was "yes" and "no."

Yes, Cuba is as poor as America is rich -- maybe poorer -- though neither country is without the notable exceptions they keep under wraps. Cuba's poverty is economic, not social. So, no, Cuba isn't unhappy, isn't a tropical prison, isn't a torrid police state. Cubans carry the burden of their government's restrictions -- and our government's embargo -- but they do so with a sincere hope and visceral joy that even America's well-off seem to lack.

In a way that won't make sense to many Americans, the well-off Cuban artists I met and photographed seemed the embodiment of the hopes of their poorest neighbors. (I know what you're thinking, that'd be like calling the Kardashians "signs on the road to America's recovery.") But this is different.

The existence of this farandula, for me, doesn't paw at the disparity between the haves and the have-nots, but rather provides a vision of what the island can be. Its members serve, in ways, as ambassadors for a country that needs ambassadors more than anything. They travel freely, spend lavishly and live lives of relative luxuriously. (The operative word being "relative." By U.S. standards, the artists -- which include the sons of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara -- would still be considered middle-class). And as for the rest of Havana -- well, take a stroll on the Malceon after dark on any weekend and tell me if the denizens seem to be quaking in cloistered groups; if the teens are faking their smiles and the lovers' their passion. Then go ahead and scan my photos of the all-but-unannounced Peace Without Borders concert in Revolution Square featuring Juanes and Miguel Bose.

Less than three people? Try more than a million.

All porcelain hope and horsecart mobility? Don't fucking bet on it.

I think it's important to note again that Habana Libre wasn't assembled as propaganda or counter-propaganda or anything in between. It doesn't represent it's photographer's point, so much as his point-of-view; my vision of Cuba and no one else's. It represents an island -- or my idea of one -- ripe with seduction, mystery, sensuality and, yes, a little danger. The Cuba depicted in my book isn't an overtly political place, but a thoroughly human one both accepting and defiant as it teeters on the cusp of change. At least that's what I thought when I took the photographs. When I flip through the pages of the book now, or prepare photographs to hang at the Fototeca de Cuba Museum in Havana, there are moments when I'm surprised to find definite points -- political or otherwise -- rising up from my overarching narrative. The images are mine, the impressions mine, but the meaning belongs to the subjects and their country and no one else. And with this dichotomy in mind, its only fitting that these definitions and serendipitous points rise from a place that most Americans -- most Cubans, for that matter -- will never get a chance to see: a talented heart beneath the ribs of a misrepresented society.

A diamond in the rough making the best of its burial.

A pearl polished by political sands.

And, I'm coming to see, that at a certain point the analogies do more harm than good.

Cuba is just Cuba.

And leaving, for me, felt a lot like arriving -- that is, it had me doubting my destination once again.

Despite what our leaders would like us to think, there are parts of Cuba and clusters of its people that bursts with joy, with creativity, with hope -- it all just happens to be filtered through a lens through which some Americans (and some of their leaders) would prefer not to peer.

Are we being lied to? Not exactly...

We're just not being told the truth.

www.habanalibrebook.com
www.michaeldweck.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-dweck/cuba-photography_b_1303721.html

****************************

An alternative viewpoint:

Privileges to those who deserve them

Letter to the editor, Granma, March 2, 2012

Translation: Marce Cameron

I’m one of the many youths who is concerned about the future of their country. I feel proud of its gains and advances in various sectors, thanks to the socialism we’ve defended for 50 years. I consider it to be the most just country and socialism to be the most viable option for saving humanity.

But I’m also the first to acknowledge the mistakes we’ve make in its construction and improvement. With constructive criticism I open the door to the empty minds of those who care only about the good life and who salivate at the American Dream.

I once read a commentary by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro that contained a phrase which made an impression on me. From that time on I’ve carried it with me wherever I may go as a devastating weapon, firing it at point blank range at whoever dares to make a superficial criticism: “Anyone who wants more than what is indispensable in order to live is worth less as a human being.” Most people are speechless at such a magisterial phrase; life shows that this is how it is.

Recently I graduated from law school, and ever since I was a student I’ve read and analysed the letters pages of this newspaper, created so that the people could raise their problems and propose solutions. I’d like to take up an issue, one of many that concerns me and makes me feel uncomfortable: the wholesome recreation of young people, whether students or not, for an affordable and fair price.

For some years there was a scheme organised by the Union of Young Communists in which entry was granted to discos, cabaret tables, swimming pools and camping cabins at a price that, while it was out of reach of most parents, did make them more willing to fork out for it. They could give a treat to their son or daughter, but they’d have to earn it by getting good grades; this is something any honourable family educated by the Revolution should do without hesitation. However, it’s true that it didn’t work well, and neither should granting subsidies be a function of the organisation.

Today, these kinds of activities are organised in some educational institutions, but it’s still insufficient, given that it doesn’t meet the needs of all youth who need this type of entertainment. In addition, while the entry price may be affordable, the prices of drinks and food are unchanged. If you go to a disco, the entry price ranges from 2, 3, 5, 10 and up to 20 Cuban convertible pesos. What son or daughter of a worker or farmer with an average income, what intellectual or official in the armed forces or the police, could pay such a sum of money? The same is true of the products sold in these places.

I’m aware that the world finds itself in a deep economic-financial crisis and that our country is not unaffected by this, so we have to eliminate excessive wastage, superfluous spending and gratuities, among other problems that were addressed in the Sixth Communist Party Congress, but this doesn’t justify these unaffordable prices. Why the difference in prices between the products sold in the chain of convertible currency stores and those in the recreational venues previously referred to? Why double or triple the prices in convertible pesos if wages are static and most of the people who frequent them are young students? Are they higher quality products? We all know this isn’t the case, they say it’s because of the venue and what it offers. It seems to me this justification is for the rich in capitalist societies, and not for a young person of modest means born in a socialist Revolution who burns the midnight oil studying in order to be able to contribute to their country in the future, or he or she who makes sacrifices by working in any state sector that contributes to economic development and they just want to go out with their friends or their girlfriend or boyfriend.

I think that if one of these venues attracted 50, 100 or more people at an entry price of 2 convertible pesos and with reasonable prices for additional purchases, it would be able to cover its costs and contribute to tax revenues.

Despite the high prices you see many youth frequenting the best places and consuming large quantities of the aforementioned products as if they were sold in regular Cuban pesos. There’s no doubt that the great majority of them neither study nor work, they live off the black market which does so much harm to those who really strive to take the country forward. Those who sell their bodies or do all kinds of denigrating acts also abound, as do the kids of the new rich, and I ask myself: is it for them that these recreational venues exist? If so, it’s not in keeping with the truly revolutionary youth in which our top leaders have placed their trust.

It’s hardly gratifying to arrive at work or school exhausted and see how in the corner of any square you meet a childhood playmate who spends the day lazing about, drinking beer, driving around and of course, entering and leaving nightclubs in the fanciest clothes and believing themselves to be the master of the universe. If you ask them what’s happening in Cuba or in the world, they tell you they couldn’t care less what’s going on, that they just want to leave the country, and other things I’m not going to repeat given their obscene and offensive content.

These and other related issues have been the subject of debate on various occasions by university students, revolutionaries, humble people, those willing to give their lives for the country and in honour of those youths that died throughout our history for the cause that the new generations enjoy today. Despite this, we lack things needed by young people that up to know only exist in dreams given the economic situation. If we oriented the social pyramid the way it should be we’d rescue ethical values and incentivise the importance of study and work, but for this we have to begin privileging those who really deserve it.

J. Martos Yapur

Chicago Tribune Review of Travel

2012-02-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

Getting to Cuba

Liberalized rules make it easier, but just don't call it a vacation

February 07, 2012|By Josh Noel, Tribune Newspapers

During her recent two-week trip to Cuba, Linda Rivers of Hayward, Calif., visited museums, walked along beaches, sipped rum and watched a professional baseball game.

Just don't call it a vacation.

Counter to conventional wisdom, Americans such as Rivers can get to Cuba legally and quite easily. In many cases, there is no wait for a visa, license or government approval. All that's required is a signature and payment.

The wrinkle is that the words "vacation," "tourism" and "leisure" aren't to enter the equation.

Though the United States maintains a prohibition against travel to Cuba — or, more accurately, spending money in Cuba, which is why such travel is regulated by the Treasury Department — there are still several legal avenues for getting there.

Among the most common are group "people-to-people" trips like the one Rivers joined. When you dig slightly below the surface, it's clear these trips are not so different from what people usually do on vacation.

What is mandated is "meaningful interaction" with Cuban people. Though that might cast doubt on scuba diving or sunning yourself at the beach, is dancing late into the night in a Cuban jazz club meaningfully cultural? Or taking in a baseball game where frenzied locals dance and beat on drums? For Rivers, the answer to the latter was an obvious "yes."

"It did give me more appreciation of the culture," she said. "We don't have a lot of drumming and dancing at baseball games in the States."

As part of her person-to-person trip in a group of 16 mostly Bay Area residents who work in affordable housing and academia, she also met with cultural and government officials from across Cuba to discuss the arts, racism and housing. But it was far from a fully programmed trip without freedom, mobility or choice.

"It was not a standard trip to any country, but I didn't feel hemmed in by the guidelines," said Rivers, 45. "They stuck close to the itinerary at times, but part of it included free time to talk to people and go to places you want to see."

People-to-people trips began in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, ended under President George W. Bush and were restored last year under President Barack Obama.

Yet they remain a hot-button issue. As recently as December, Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, whose parents moved from Cuba before he was born (and before Fidel Castro came to power in 1959), castigated person-to-person trips as "outrageous tourism, which, quite frankly, borders on indoctrination of Americans by Castro government officials."

Such watchful eyes make organizations with person-to-person licenses take pains to promote the educational aspects of their trips while playing down tourism. But it's still there.

"The purpose of the person-to-person program from our point of view is to get as much face-to-face time with local people as possible," said Sandra Levinson, of the New York-based Center for Cuban Studies. "That doesn't mean going to a lot of lectures or meeting with a lot of government officials. It means being involved in activities where you meet and greet a lot of Cubans."

But operators also acknowledge that despite full itineraries, travelers become free to do as they wish at some point in the day — usually in the late afternoon or after dinner. That might involve smoking a Cuban cigar or taking a walk on the beach.

"As I tell people, it is an island; you're surrounded by water and sand," said Savina Perez, senior marketing manager for New Rochelle, N.Y.-based Insight Cuba, which runs about 100 person-to-person trips per year. "In the evening, when you want to stroll down the Malecon, you can. You always see Cubans sitting there, hanging out after dinner."

Groups such as Insight Cuba offer several itineraries — "Cuban Music and Art Experience Tour" and "Havana and Colonial Trinidad Tour," for instance — but can tailor trips for smaller groups that can be as small as a gathering of extended family. They also can gear trips toward many activities in many regions.

Though the United States largely stands alone on restricting travel to Cuba, a stance taken since the communist revolution, most travelers, regardless of where they originate, go to Cuba with a group. The reasons are many: Poor infrastructure makes it difficult to get around; a hotel shortage can make accommodations difficult to come by; the cost of getting around the island, especially renting cars, can be prohibitive; and the dialect can be tricky even for Spanish speakers.

But Cuba does get an increasing number of solo travelers. From the U.S., that includes people who qualify for general licenses (journalists, academics, people with religious purposes and those with "close relatives" in Cuba, which is the vast majority of U.S. residents who travel to Cuba); they can go as easily as drawing up an itinerary, signing an affidavit through a Travel Service Provider (there are dozens, mostly in Florida) and swearing they'll keep to it. Those travelers do not need to interact with the Treasury Department.

A person who does not qualify for a general license can apply for a specific license, requiring a more laborious process that involves applying through the Treasury Department. That can take weeks.

The ease of traveling there alone "depends on the individual and how comfortable you are as a traveler," said Bob Guild, vice president of Marazul Charters, which sent 38,000 Americans to Cuba in 2011, mostly Cuban-Americans visiting family.

"It's a different kind of experience," he said. "Roads are not great. There can be potholes when you're not thinking about it and no lights on roads late at night. … But it's one of the friendliest places on Earth. Cubans have always made a distinction between the U.S. people and U.S. government."

The mechanics of actually getting to Cuba also are restricted: The only way to get there legally from the United States is on a sanctioned charter airline, as arranged through a Travel Service Provider. Flights leave daily from Miami and elsewhere in Florida and less often from larger cities, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Because of the strict regulation of individual travel, most curiosity-seekers stick to group trips, which can cost as little as about $3,500 (for seven to 10 days) or as much as $5,500, depending on the provider. Such costs usually include airfare, hotels, some meals, transportation within Cuba, admission to various venues such as museums, and a guide who doubles as a translator.

Rivers plans to take the trip again. "You take off, see the Keys and — boom — you're in Cuba," she said. "It was amazing. It seemed too close not to be able to go there more easily."

Trip providers

A few of the many agencies with people-to-people licenses providing travel to Cuba:

Center for Cuban Studies (cubaupdate.org

Insight Cuba (insightcuba.com

Cuba Cultural Travel (cubaculturaltravel.com

A few of the many agencies with Travel Service Provider licenses facilitating individual (and often group) travel to Cuba:

Marazul Charters (marazul.com

C&T Charters (ctcharters.com

Cuba Travel Services (cubatravelservices.com

More information about traveling to Cuba can be found at treasury.gov.

jbnoel@tribune.com

**********************

My comment:

1) Authorized travelers only have to use Travel Service Providers and charter airlines if they want to fly directly from the US. It is completely legal to make your own bookings and travel on a scheduled airline from a third country, e.g. Mexico, Cayman Islands, Nassau, Panama, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Canada.

2) Many Canadians, Europeans as well as Americans who ignore license requirements, go on their own, rather than with a group. There is a good public bus system and Cubans are helpful to foreign drivers who get lost. Only these travelers can stay in hospitable privately owned casas particulares (bed and breakfasts).

3) It would be far easier, and less expensive, to visit Cuba if the President used his authority to give all Americans, and not just Cuban Americans, a general license for non tourist people to people travel.

4) The President can also increase jobs in the travel industry by allowing all agents and tour operators to sell flights, hotels and programs in Cuba not just 250 mostly Florida mostly Cuban American Travel Service Providers.

St. Olaf Student Program Completes a Family Circle

2012-02-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

History student heals father's past in modern Cuba

By James Daly '13
February 22, 2012

When Allison Rodriguez '13 applied to participate in History 244: Revolutionary Cuba, an abroad course offered this past Interim, she told only her father. He first arrived in the United States 50 years ago via Operation Pedro Pan — a secret evacuation program run by the U.S. State Department, the C.I.A., and the Catholic Welfare Bureau of Miami that brought Cuban children to the United States to escape the Castro regime. Lasting from November 1960 to October 1962, it brought more than 14,000 children to this country.

Allison Rodriguez '13 (right) meets the current occupant of the apartment her father lived in before he was sent to the United States at the age of 7.

Rodriquez's father does not like to talk about his experience. In fact, it wasn't until her first year at St. Olaf when he began writing about his experience. Nonetheless, he was "elated" when she told him of her decision to visit Cuba as part of a class. But when other relatives found out, some initially expressed concern and dismay. One even asked her to reconsider.

"They're still very upset about the revolution," says Rodriguez. "There are a lot of deep-rooted emotional issues." But she was resolute in wanting to break the psychological barrier in her family that has impeded them from traveling to Cuba during the past half century. "I adamantly wanted to go to my family's hometown. I wanted to be a representative for them and see things for them and take pictures for them," she says.

And as part of the second generation of the first wave of Cuban exiles, she also hoped to explore her roots. "It's always been fairly difficult for me because I don’t look Cuban," she explains. "I wanted to cement what I have been feeling for 20 years as a strong part of my heritage."

In 1961 Ubaldo Rodriguez was sent to the United States at age 7 because his parents, like thousands across Cuba, feared that the Cuban government would take away their children. The catalyst for his journey came in late 1960, when a C.I.A.-operated radio station began broadcasting false claims that the Castro regime was going to take away parents' patria potestad — the legal authority over their children.

After arriving in Miami, the young Rodriguez was placed in an orphanage for several months before being sent to Detroit, where he lived four years with a foster family. He was then reunited with his mother (his father had since died in Cuba) and they settled in southern California.

"You can imagine a young boy from Cuba who didn't speak English going to Detroit to live with a foster family. I'm sure that a lot of who my dad is has been affected by that," his daughter explains.

Making it real
Due to travel restrictions that have only recently been eased, eight years have passed since History 244 last visited the island nation. While in Cuba, Rodriguez and her classmates, led by Associate Professor of History Jeane DeLaney, made a day trip to the Rodriguez family's hometown of Ciego de Ávila. There, Rodriguez located her family's church, the last apartment where her father lived, and the family store. The excitement of the day was tempered only when she found her grandfather's cemetery, but was unable to locate his grave.

Rodriguez leaves the cemetery where her grandfather is buried.

Back at home in California, Ubaldo Rodriguez hosted a large family party for his daughter to show her photos. Some 40 of her relatives crowded into a room and watched in excitement as she narrated the images. It was a profound moment for the family, who knew very little about modern day Cuba, and it gave Rodriguez a chance to reflect on what the trip meant to her.

"Now I feel more confident in my heritage," says Rodriguez. "I met so many Cubans who were excited by my story, and they openly accepted me as a Cuban."

And in uncovering her own roots, Rodriguez helped her father approach coming to terms with his. "My experience made it real to him. He feels conflicted in his Cuban identity because he had to Americanize very quickly. He was so excited when he found out I was going. That to me is the biggest indicator that he is emotionally ready to visit Cuba and wants to do it. I'm going to work on getting him to go. A trip like that would be amazing."

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.

http://www.stolaf.edu/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsDetails&id=5263

Pope's Visit Prompts Pilgrimage from Miami

2012-02-22T11:13:00.002-08:00

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/19/v-print/2647152/pilgrims-to-cuba-hope-popes-visit.html#storylink=cpy

Posted on Mon, Feb. 20, 2012

Pilgrims to Cuba hope pope’s visit will signal change

By Ana Veciana-Suarez
aveciana@MiamiHerald.com

Al Diaz / Miami Herald Staff

Hoping to visit Cuba, Carlos Saladrigas, a well-known Cuban businessman, is planning to return to the island for the Pope's visit in March. He will travel with the archdiocese when Pope Benedict visits the Cuba in March. Here is Saladrigas at his home in Miami.

For the businessman who has changed his politics, the Miami priest who tends to an exile flock, the retired college math professor who has searched her conscience for guidance and the lawyer who has long advocated reconciliation, the pilgrimage to Cuba next month represents more than an opportunity to see Pope Benedict XVI celebrate Mass.

The trip signals hope. Hope that the island will open itself up to freedom. Hope that Miami’s Cuban-American community has matured enough to consider other approaches. Hope that the pilgrims’ presence, and that of their religious leader, will show the world that change is possible.

The pope’s three-day-trip, which will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady of Charity, Cuba’s patron saint, is bringing together faithful from all walks of life who share one belief: Benedict’s visit to the communist island, the second by a pontiff in 14 years, marks one more step in the long journey of bringing the Cuban people together.

“This,” says Cuban-born Rev. Fernando Heria, pastor of St. Brendan’s Catholic Church, “is an opportunity to break myths on both sides. This is a pilgrimage of love.”

Many agree. “Our presence is the best testimonial,” says Margarita Cuervo, a parishioner at Epiphany Catholic Church and a professor emeritus at Miami Dade College. “I’m going to express my solidarity and share my faith and hope with the long-suffering people in Cuba.”
And from Miami attorney John de Leon, who calls his first trip to his parents’ homeland in 1992 life changing: “The pope is sending an incredibly important message to the world, and it’s a message that the Vatican is willing to keep engaging Cuba, that the world needs to open to Cuba and Cuba to the world.”

The Archdiocese of Miami is sponsoring the trip to Cuba during the pope’s visit, March 26-28, led by Archbishop Thomas Wenski. Hundreds have applied for the trip. Most pilgrims are from Miami, but faithful are coming from all over the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Tampa and St. Augustine. It’s not yet clear how many other pilgrims, both Cuban and non-Cuban, will visit the communist island on flights through independent charters.

One thing appears certain, though. The opposition that bedeviled Pope John Paul II’s historic visit to Cuba in January 1998 is not as large or as vocal. Back then, the Archdiocese was forced to cancel a cruise ship charter that was scheduled to take thousands of the faithful to the island. Now, 14 years later, “we as a community have matured,” says Andy Gomez, a senior fellow for the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American studies at the University of Miami. “I think we’re more realistic.”

Much has changed, too, on the other side of the Florida Straits. Fidel Castro is no longer in power, having ceded the reins to his more pragmatic brother Raul. And the Catholic church has become a social force in the island’s society, brokering the release of political prisoners and lobbying to halt the harassment of some dissidents. “Democracy is not going to happen overnight,” says Gomez, who will be in Cuba for the pope’s visit. “But the church also realizes it can play an important role in the changes that are going to come.”

In Miami, Gomez, adds, some of the entrenched hard liners have either died or evolved in their stance. A growing number of Cuban-Americans are questioning a 53-year-old failed policy of isolation. What’s more, the sight of enthusiastic throngs greeting Pope John Paul 14 years ago proved to be an eye-opening experience for some exiles — those who were there to witness it and those who refused to go but watched from Miami.

Businessman Carlos Saladrigas was one of them. He spearheaded the opposition to the church-sponsored cruise in 1998. But “after I saw the images on television and I heard what was being said, it was clear to me that I had made a mistake. I realized I wanted to be there,” he says.

Those powerful images got him thinking — and talking. He spoke at length with Father Jose Conrado Rodriguez, an outspoken priest from a parish in Santiago de Cuba. Father Rodriguez is best known for the 2009 open letter he sent Raul Castro condemning the restrictions on freedoms and the harassment of his parishioners. “He convinced me it was necessary to seek a neutral process,” Saladrigas said — a process the Catholic church could facilitate.

Saladrigas and wife Olga, practicing Catholics who met as teenagers teaching catechism classes in Miami, will be in Cuba for Benedict’s visit. He defends the church’s position against those who claim that a religious institution should not play into Castro’s hands. “The church is doing what it always does,” he adds. “It provides moral guidance. It spreads the gospel. This is about evangelization, about hope.”

Saladrigas echoes the words of other pilgrims, who say the gradual opening of a totalitarian government bodes well. De Leon, president of the Greater Miami Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, says Benedict’s trip — the second by a pope to the small Caribbean nation in less than 15 years — signals an opportunity to engage the Cubans on the island. De Leon also went to Cuba for Pope John Paul’s 1998 visit., a trip, he says, that made an impact on the island.

“The pope is serving as a force for reconciliation,” says de Leon, who will be representing la Asociacion Cubana de la Orden de Malta, a charitable Catholic group. “I’m very much a believer that when you open up doors to faith and religion, miracles happen.”

That’s also the message Cuban-born Felipe Estevez, bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, is spreading to the dozen faithful who will accompany him to the island in March. He calls the visit a viaje de re-encuentro, a trip of reunion. “It’s time to heal the separation between families, between Cubans,” says Estevez, who has been back to Cuba as a priest several times. “Cuba is more than a political party. It’s a people, a society.”

Estevez says he understands why some exiles have vowed to never return to the island as long as the Castros are in power. “There’s been a lot of oppression, a lot of hurt. But at the same time, the island doesn’t belong to the party or to one man. It belongs to the people.”

For some pilgrims, the trip back is expected to be very emotional. Cuervo, for instance, hopes to visit a cousin, whose son is now a priest. She also hopes to stop in on the nuns from Religiosas del Apostolado, the religious order who taught her in Cuba. “This is a religious pilgrimage,” she says. “It’s an opportunity to find out how we can be of help and to be blessed in a special way by Our Lady of Charity and our Pope.”

In 1998, she debated whether she wanted to return to the island. Wenski, at the time not yet a bishop, gave her this piece of advice: “Let the spirit guide you.” She did and applied to go on a one-day charter flight, but a visa mix-up kept her stranded in Miami. When she finally went several months later — the first time she had returned to her homeland in more than 35 years — she distributed rosaries and prayer cards.

“There was such a spiritual hunger,” she recalls, tears welling. She expects to see the same in March.

Not all pilgrims going to the island are Cuban. Ralph Gazitua is is Chilean, a devout Catholic ordained as a deacon 25 years ago. Accompanying him will be his wife, Maria Elena “Cookie,” a Cuban whose parents came here before the revolution, and one of his two sons, Luis Andres,a lawyer. Though they have no family on the island, they hope to connect with the Cuban people through their faith.

“The real focus of the trip for me is to bring a spiritual message,” Luis Andres says. “This can be the start of a cultural, political and economic renaissance on the island.”

Ralph Gazitua,has led the prison ministry for the Archdiocese of Miami for more than two decades and sees some similarities between his work in those institutions and efforts to spread the gospel in Cuba.

“I’ve seen amazing things happen through the force of prayer,” says Gazitua, who has visited the Vatican several times. “Our message as a group of pilgrims should be clear. Through strong faith, everything is possible.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/19/2647152_p2/pilgrims-to-cuba-hope-popes-visit.html

[Note that any religious organization can send members to Cuba for the Pope's visit. They have a general license, requiring only a letter from a responsible official on the organization's letterhead. For more information, contact director@ffrd.org]

Americas Media Initiative Announces Summer Cuban Film Delegation

2012-02-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

CUBAN CINEMA BEYOND FRESA Y CHOCOLATE
June 30 – July 8, 2012

Americas Media Initiative (AMI) announces their summer Cuban Film Delegation, CUBAN CINEMA BEYOND FRESA Y CHOCOLATE, a unique opportunity to study the history of Cuban Film and interact with young Cuban filmmakers. The delegation will spend four days at the world famous International Film and TV School (EICTV) located 45 minutes outside of Havana in the town of San Antonio de los Baños. Participants will take part in a 3-day intensive course on the history of Cuban film and 3 days in Havana meeting with young Cuban filmmakers. The delegation will be small so applications are accepted on a first come first serve basis.

AMI has developed a close relationship with EICTV and they have organized for us a special three-day course, CUBAN CINEMA BEYOND FRESA Y CHOCOLATE that will be taught by Luciano Castillo, renown Cuban film critic, researcher and film historian. The course will provide a unique opportunity to screen and discuss Cuban films beginning at the turn of the 20th Century up to today. EICTV has one of the most important and extensive Cuban film libraries and all films will be subtitled in English. Delegates will participate in the course during the day and in the evening have the chance to interact with the Cuban filmmakers who work at the school.

The last three days will be spent in Havana where the delegation will stay in Cuban homes (casa particulares) instead of a hotel and visit young Cuban filmmakers in their workplaces and homes. This is a very rare opportunity made possible through the relationship AMI has developed with these filmmakers. The filmmakers work in all fields and genres: animation, documentary, fiction, experimental. We will screen some of their work with them and engage in discussion around topics such as: what does it mean to be a filmmaker now in Cuba? How are independent films financed and produced? The delegation will also meet with staff of the Young Directors Film Festival (Muestra Joven) in the ICAIC that is now recognized as the most important showcase for young cinematic talent in Cuba.

The cost of the delegation is $3000 and includes RT plane fare from Miami to Havana, housing, transportation and all meals except for dinners in Havana.

Some partial scholarships are available on a case-by-case basis.

For more information please contact info@americasmediainitiative.org

americasmediainitiative.org

Tulane Restores Summer Program

2012-02-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

Stone Center revives Cuba student abroad

POSTED: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2012 6:45 AM | UPDATED: 6:51 AM, FRI FEB 3, 2012.

STACEY NEVE

The Stone Center for Latin American Studies will offer a new summer study abroad program in

Cuba

beginning in 2012.

The Stone Center had a popular Cuba program until 2004, when regulations tightened and schools were no longer allowed to have programs of less than 12 weeks in Cuba.

"But we kept our eyes on Cuba," said Valerie Marshall, Stone Center director of planning and management. "When [President Barack] Obama rolled back regulations, we jumped on it."

The four-week program is based in Havana but includes trips outside the capital to show students more of the country.

"The idea is to bring our students there to learn about the culture and the history of Cuba," program manager Natalia Porto said.

The Stone Center believes in the importance of having a program in Cuba in spite of the challenges it poses. Lauren Toppenberg, an alumna of the Office of Study Abroad's Cuba semester program, agrees.

"My interest was first sparked when my dad went on a legitimate trip to the island when I was 8 and promptly had his souvenirs destroyed by Dallas customs on his way home," Toppenberg said. "Finally, after taking many classes on Latin America and Cuba itself, I realized that I was never going to be able to actually understand Cuba without going there myself."

Even with lowered restrictions on travel to Cuba, maintaining a program there is still difficult.

"It is really hard to run a study abroad program with a country where you can't use a credit card," Marshall said.

In addition to the Cuba program, Tulane is introducing several other study abroad summer locations, which will send students to Cadiz, Spain; Cape Town, South Africa; and Paris.

"There is a definite need for summer programs," Director of Study Abroad Peter Alongia said. "We send a lot of students out on summer programs by other providers, and we recognized a need to have our own Tulane Study Abroad summer programs."

The summer programs run for four weeks.

"All of the programs will take into account the setting of the country they are in and are geared to that location in some way," Alongia said.

In Cape Town, for example, students will take a class in Xhosa, one of the official languages.

Porto said both the Stone Center and the Office of Study Abroad are dedicated to giving students more options to study in a foreign country.

"It can help you learn a new way of living," Porto said. "Without being exposed to different ways of life, you just aren't getting today's world."

http://www.thehullabaloo.com/news/article_39f8c36e-4e65-11e1-a14d-001a4bcf6878.html

USC: An Example of a Student Trip

2012-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

EDHE 832: Comparative Higher Education

This will be an exciting once-in-a-lifetime learning experience. See the itinerary on the left side of this page.

Trip Highlights

Highlights of the trip include (exact itinerary details subject to fluctuation):

•Lectures by professors at the University of Havana, including ones about Cuban history by director of the center for Cuba USA Studies and others about modern Cuba and a tour of the University (founded in 1728).
•A day focused on en environmental education including lecture by the national environmental education from Cuban Ministry of Education followed by an afternoon at the Parque Metropolitano, an ecological park being studied by Havana schools and universities,
•A day focused on the history of Cuba with site visits to Habana Vieja (Old Havana) to learn about historic restoration projects followed by an afternoon with Dr. Delio Carrera, historian of the University of Havana and professor of history and law,
•A day focused on life in urban Cuba with a visit a local organic farm El Vivero in a populated neighborhood, followed by lunch hosted by a ceramist and painterJose Fuster,
•A day at the Technical University of Havana, including lunch with students from various faculties (colleges) of the university,
•Overnight trip to Cienfuegos and Perché to see other parts of Cuba and learn about Colonial Cuba (including a UNESCO heritage site), about city conservation and restoration, as well as having plenty of free time to explore, and a night of dinner and dancing,
•We will wrap in Havana with free time to explore, closing out our time with a farewell dinner at the famousGato Tuerto restaurant,
•Free time will allow you to explore more about the universities, the cities we visit, and sites like Ernest Hemingway’s house…

The Class

The dates for the trip coincide with Spring Break: March 1st – 10th. We will meet as a class during the regular Thursday evening class slot on Thursday evenings and then not have class meetings, except one at the end of the semester, after the trip. Jennifer Engel, director of Study Abroad and Ph.D. candidate in higher education, will be the program assistant. She has been to Cuba once before, and describes Cuba as being the most complex and contradictory place she has traveled to. Like me, she is fluent in Spanish. Language proficiency is not required for the trip.

A Unique Opportunity

As you know, the history of Cuban-American relations is complex. The U.S. government recently eased restrictions on academic travel, which is what allowed us to make this trip happen. When further restrictions on general travel will be lifted is unknown; regulations could also change in the future with a change in U.S. president and restrict American academic travel again. As such, this will be a unique opportunity to see and experience a country restricted to most Americans.

I had a similar experience by traveling to the U.S.S.R. in 1988 as Gorbachev was introducing his policies of Glasnost and Perestroika that began to open up the Soviet Union internally and to foreigners. Very few Americans had been to the Russia at the time I visited and it was a fascinating snapshot in time of a society on the brink of change. (The U.S.S.R. collapsed in 1991.) Of course, I can return to Russia an the Ukraine, but I can never return the Soviet Union.

We hoped to make this announcement right at the beginning of the semester. However, finalizing the itinerary and arrangements has taken longer than expected because of how the Cuban government handles approval of these requests.

Cost

The other delay has been in trying to finalize the cost. The cost is $2,990 (including flight, hotel, excursions and entrance fees, gratuities, group land travel, and many meals). We negotiated as low of a price as possible (the original quote was considerably higher). This cost is due to a few factors out of our control. First, the only way to travel to Cuba from the United States is by charter flight from Miami so flight prices are not competitive. Second, the Cuban government requires we have a host with us at all times for the visits on our itinerary (but not for when you have free time), which is helpful, but also costly. And finally, the Cuban government sets prices for tourists and they adjust prices based on the country of origin and, not unexpectedly, set the highest price for Americans.

The Spring Semester 2012 HESA Study Abroad Program is headed to Cuba!

Date: March 1 - 10, 2012 (during USC’s Spring Break)

Open to: Any USC graduate student. Priority is given to HESA Master’s and Ph.D. students. (Seniors in their final semester may also be eligible.)

http://web.me.com/christiankanderson/Academic/HESA_Study_Abroad_2012.html

Joining the Pope in Cuba

2012-02-01T07:30:00.000-08:00

MIAMI -

Friday is the deadline for anyone interested in joining Archbishop Thomas Wenski on a historic pilgrimage to Cuba.

In January, Wenski announced he would be leading a group of Catholics from South Florida to Cuba to attended the masses given by Pope Benedict XVI. The pope will be in Cuba this spring. He is the second pontiff to visit the island since Pope John Paul II in 1998.

The 1998 trip carried much opposition, unlike this year's announcement. Archbishop Wenski hopes enough Catholics would want to come to fill at least two airplanes.

If you are interested in joining the trip to Cuba, Cuba2012.org will be accepting applications for the pilgrimage Friday, Feb. 3rd. The pilgrimage departs from Miami on Monday, March 26.

The itinerary is as follows:

March 26 - Departure from Miami to Santiago. The group will travel by bus to the "Plaza de la Revolucion Antonio Maceo" where Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass for the Solemnity of the Annunciation. After Mass, the group will travel by air to Havana.
March 27 - The group will be in Havana for a Mass at the cathedral with Archbishop Thomas Wenski.
March 28 - The group will travel by bus to the "Plaza de la Revolucion Jose Marti" where Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate Mass.
March 29 - Departure from Havana to Miami.

The pope's visit comes in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the statue of the Virgin of Charity, patroness of Cuba.

Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.local10.com/news/Deadline-Friday-for-Cuba-pilgrimage/-/1717324/8576044/-/17jv6dz/-/

Marist College Semester Program Open to Others

2012-01-31T23:29:00.000-08:00

Academic Programs International (API) is pleased to introduce Marist College’s innovative new semester-long study abroad program in collaboration with the University of Havana in Cuba, beginning in September 2012. This new program has been designed with faculty at the University of Havana to provide a focus on Caribbean Studies through coursework in the Facultades de Artes y Letras (Arts and Humanities) and Filosofía e Historia (Social Sciences) as well as the Colegio Universitario San Jerónimo located in historic old Havana. API is pleased to promote this program for Marist College, which is open to both Marist and non-Marist students. Marist is  currently accepting applications for the fall 2012 semester.

The program will include two courses specifically designed for students on the program, covering the culture, politics, and economics of the Caribbean, as well as a pre-semester intensive advanced Spanish language course. Students will also enroll in regular University of Havana courses from the areas of Latin American, Caribbean and Cuban art; music; Cuban and Caribbean culture literature and history; philosophy; and the cultural and political processes of Cuban society. Coursework will be complemented by educational excursions (included in the program fee) and tentatively include trips to Las Terrazas (eco-village and UNESCO Reserve), Cayo Jutía (tropical island off the northwest coast of Cuba); Soroa (Castle of Clouds); Trinidad (UNESCO World Heritage Site), Santa Clara (Capital of Villa Clara), Cienfuegos (UNESCO World Heritage Site); Oriente (Capital of the Eastern Province), and Baracoa (Cuba's oldest city). Students must have strong Spanish language skills and be ready to take coursework in the Spanish language.

Housing in a small hotel setting, with other program students, is guaranteed on the program. Breakfast is also provided as part of the program fee. A Resident Director will be on site in Havana throughout the program to assist students in registering for courses and cultural adjustment. Priority deadline for fall 2012 is February 22 (applications accepted thereafter on a space-available basis). Applicants are encouraged to apply early.

More information on academics, logistics, applying for the program, a selection of photographs, etc. is available on our website http://www.apistudyabroad.com/programs/cuba.

Best regards,
Jeramy Johnson

(Mr.) Jeramy Johnson - Vice President of Development 
Academic Programs International (API)
Learning Transformed. Life Transforming.

301 Camp Craft Road, Suite 100
Austin, TX 78746-6501 USA
+1.800.844.4124 (Toll Free) 
+1.512.600.8900 (Phone) 
+1.512.600/8999 (Fax)

First Flight from Houston

2012-01-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

Houston airport's first charter to Cuba takes off Thursday

By Ronnie Crocker

Published 07:10 p.m., Monday, January 30, 2012

The first Cuba-bound charter flight from Bush Intercontinental Airport departs Thursday with a Houston-based group taking advantage of relaxed travel rules that went into effect last year.

The flight, aboard a Miami-based 737, will include 80 passengers with visas specified for "people-to-people" exchanges, the Houston Airport System said. The group will fly into Havana and return to Houston on Sunday.

The Airport System issued a statement calling the trip "a wonderful, historic opportunity" that could help Bush Intercontinental with its goal of becoming a major "gateway" to Cuba.

"While we do not have word today on any other charters over the near term, this is the first of what we expect will be many flights between Houston and Cuba as IAH becomes the gateway of choice for travelers authorized to fly to Cuba by the U.S. government," the statement said.

No information was released on the travelers, who asked not to be publicly identified, or what they plan to do in Cuba.

The Obama administration a year ago announced it would ease travel prohibitions from the half-century-old embargo to increase family-related travel and trips by authorized groups in a small number of specific areas, including agriculture, medicine, education and religious activity.

Other restrictions remain in effect. For example, it is still illegal for Americans to vacation on the Caribbean island.

Last March, Bush Intercontinental was added to the list of U.S. airports that could handle flights to Cuba.

Laura Murillo, president of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said she was not aware of the plans for the Thursday flight, but she said the chamber welcomes "anything that can help our business community move around and get around to the places they want to visit."

Marazul Charters, a major player in arranging legal U.S.-to-Cuba flights, set up the Thursday flight.

The airplane belongs to Miami Air International, a carrier licensed to fly to Cuba. CEO Ross Fischer said he could not comment on his clients for Thursday's trip, but said the company is interested in increasing flights to the island from Houston.

Fischer praised the airport facilities and also noted that Cuba flights originating at Bush Intercontinental are more profitable because the longer flight time allows his company to charge more. He declined to say how much a seat costs.

ronnie.crocker@chron.com

****************************************

my comment

Like the new but suspended charter flights from Atlanta, JFK and Chicago and other cities without a large Cuban American population, the Houston flight will find it challenging to establish itself unless the White House further liberalizes travel for the rest of us.

The President could use his authority to give people to people travel a general license which would permit families and backpackers who attest to their non-tourist agendas a more economical way to travel. Their ability to rent cars, use public buses and trains, and stay in casas particulares (bed and breakfasts) will foster greater direct engagement with Cubans than afforded by the group tours which are currently required by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), plus provide more direct support to the emerging private sector.

An even easier intermediate step is for the President to grant general licenses to all IRS registered non-profits and third party providers of educational exchange as he did to universities and religious organizations. That would remove them from the time consuming and arbitrary bureaucratic log jam of OFAC.

Finally the President should allow all travel agents and tour operators to book authorized travel instead of only 250 licensed Travel Service Providers that are mostly Cuban American and mostly located in Florida.

The Cuban American caucus in Congress will oppose this as it does even the President's opening for Cuban Americans. They are terrified that too many people will draw their own conclusions about the complicated and evolving reality in Cuba. Their argument about economic impact of even 100,000 non-tourist travelers is nonsensical in the annual context of more than 2.5 million foreign visitors and 400,000 Cuban Americans.

In addition to increasing the impact of exchanges in both countries, a stronger initiative by the President will create hundreds and eventually thousands of jobs in the US travel industry and support services. He will also end the Jim Crow system which privileges the right of non-tourist travel by Cuban Americans over that of everyone else.

John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development

Marquette University Student Program on Theater

2012-01-26T06:35:00.000-08:00

Marquette University Summer Faculty-Led Program Announcement

Drama and Performance in Cuba Today

June 27-July 17, 2012

Join Marquette University's Dr. Raquel Aguilu de Murphy, Associate Professor of Spanish, on a program to Cuba this summer.  Through site visits, excursions and lectures by notable figures in the performing arts scene, this three-week program will provide students an intensive, first-hand experience with the Cuban culture, economics, healthcare, and religion, as well as offer an immersion experience in the Spanish language.  The itinerary includes a number of excursions, including viewing live performances of the plays studied and conversations with notable playwrights and actors regarding current issues in Cuban society.
 
This program offers students a unique opportunity to get to know first-hand a country of many stereotypes through the dynamic lens of theater, as well as engage the Spanish language.  Students with at least the equivalent of five semesters of college Spanish are eligible.

To learn more about the program visit our program page at:
http://www.marquette.edu/abroad/cuba-summer.shtml

or the study abroad website at:
http://www.marquette.edu/abroad  

The application deadline is March 1st and students can apply online.

Warm regards,

Mindy Schroeder

Study Abroad Coordinator
Office of International Education
Marquette University 
Tel: +1.414.288.7289
Fax: +1.414.288.3701
mindy.schroeder@marquette.edu
www.marquette.edu/studyabroad

[For students from other schools to participate they must be able to receive credit in their own institution.]

Report from a Road Scholar Trip

2012-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

Iowans on the Go: Cuba is land of contrasts

10:50 PM, Jan. 14, 2012

Written by

CAROL BRANNON

Special to The Register

Our dream to travel in Cuba came true in November. An adult Road Scholar People to People Program, “Cuba Today: People and Society,” made it possible.

We spent four days in Havana after an hour’s chartered flight from the Miami Airport. We stayed at the historical Hotel Nacional. We spent another four days in Cienfuegos on the southern coast. The weather was always sunny and about 85 degrees.

Our trip consisted of coach excursions, speakers and cultural performances, assisted by the Cuban government Tourism Bureau.

We have fond memories of Cubans. They were friendly and as curious about us as we were about them. Because English is taught as a second language there, we were able to speak with Cubans.

Our first evening in Havana, the head of Architecture spoke about the restoration work being done in Havana. Many public restoration projects were seen throughout the city. We toured a private restoration project — the Patranato Synagogue and Jewish Pharmacy.

Havana transportation provides a multitude of choices from horse-drawn carts, pedi-cabs, two-seater gas cabs, new Chinese coaches to foreign automobiles. American autos up to 1960 are still seen and kept running on Cuban ingenuity.

At the Museo Municipal de Guanabacoa, we met followers of the Santeria religion and witnessed a colorful performance of energetic dancing and music. Santeria is saint worship by Afro-Cubans. We then visited the Church of Regla, site of the Black Madonna.

Yearly pilgrimages are made to the San Lazaro Church, named for the patron saint of the poor. Barefoot pilgrims drag stones many miles. Flowers and religious items are sold outside.

Nearby is a leper hospital run by the nuns. We learned the history of the hospital and care of the ill. We were invited to tour the hospital and meet patients.

Later we visited Ernest Hemingway’s home. It looked like he just stepped out.

Our first day in Cienfuegos we visited the Benny More Art School. Students age 9 and older proudly performed ballet and guitar music.

On our walking tour of Trinidad, we discovered cobblestone streets lined with sugar baron-built homes. Artists create and sell their work there now. Our group of 22 was invited into a home of a 90-year-old woman who still cleans her own house.

Returning to Cienfuegos, we traveled through the picturesque Valley of the Sugar Mills. In 1988 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Once there were 43 sugar mills. We visited a site with a human powered cane press and shared some raw sugar cane juice. The press was made in 1864 in New York.

One evening we were serenaded by the Cienfuegos Cantores, an a cappella choir. Their repertoire included “Shenandoah.” Truly, music communicates the soul of people.

Cuba is a land of contrasts, much potential and natural beauty. We were pleased to be guests for a week.

Audubon Launches Birding Trips

2012-01-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

Cuba with Audubon Nature Odysseys

March 27, 2012 - April 08, 2012

Download Flyer

Join Audubon leader John Hannan for a unique opportunity to interact with Cuban naturalists as you study the birds of Cuba. This 13-day excursion is made possible by the National Audubon Society’s one-year license for travel to Cuba, focusing on the unique avifauna of the island and creating people-to-people connections with Cuban conservationists and environmental communities. The program provides the chance to observe a wide variety of Cuba’s reported 370 species of birds, including highlights such as the Bee Hummingbird and the Zapata Wren.

About Your Leader
John Hannan is an avid naturalist and ornithologist who has spent his entire life traveling and experiencing nature’s beauty. John is currently the Senior Director of Strategic Gifts for the National Audubon’s Atlantic Flyway Initiative and, through his work, he daily sees the birds in their natural habitats throughout their migratory life cycle from the Arctic to the tip of South America. John has columns in two nationally syndicated publications and is a regular contributor to several other publications writing on bird watching, nature travel and conservation. He is an excellent nature photographer documenting nesting and migrating birds for his work and for recreation. He is a frequent presenter at conferences and forums on the topics of conservation, outdoor recreation, and nature.

http://holbrooktravel.com/dated-departure/AudubonCuba

Cuba US People to People Partnership

College Baseball Renews After 16 Years

College baseball players to face Cubans in July

Cal State Long Beach Cross Department Collaboration

Boulder Sister City June Trip

We are pleased to announce that the Boulder-Cuba Sister City Organization has been granted a non-academic educational/people-to-people license to travel to Cuba by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

WE ARE CURRENTLY PLANNING A JUNE TRIP TO EASTERN CUBA AND HAVANA:

Washington Times Reports AAA Travel Involvement

Grand Circle Foundation Trip Story

Near and Far with The Friday Flyer: Patricia Hollingshead in Cuba

Health Care Trips Licensed

OFAC Clarifies That Travel Can Be Promoted Through Agents and Organizers and Referral Fees Paid

Advertising Educational Exchange Travel to Cuba for People-to-People Contact

Common Ground Offers New Trips

Arcadia Trustees Look at Cuba

Arcadia trustees to try out travel-abroad programs

Collette Vacations Expands Offers

Collette Vacations Offers Second Tour to Cuba

Society of International Business Fellows Trip Report

Cubans ripe for economic opportunity

Liberalized travel rules for U.S. citizens give glimpse of island's beauty

1:36 AM, Feb. 14, 2012

Portland, OR and Visalia, CA Business Groups

Come visit Cuba, says the Portland Business Alliance. Pack euros, not dollars.

Published: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 2:36 PM Updated: Thursday, February 02, 2012, 3:16 PM

Discover Cuba With The Visalia Chamber

Orientation Program for Study Abroad Staff

Gilbert, Arizona, Chamber of Commerce

Business Students Visit From Florida University

Paladar: La Moneda Cubana

Arts and Culture Program Sponsored by Baruch

Baruch launches Cuban Arts and Cultures Program

Irish Heritage Program, April 14-22

A Very Different Cuba

Michael Dweck

Welcome to Cuba, Asshole

Chicago Tribune Review of Travel

St. Olaf Student Program Completes a Family Circle

Pope's Visit Prompts Pilgrimage from Miami

Pilgrims to Cuba hope pope’s visit will signal change

Americas Media Initiative Announces Summer Cuban Film Delegation

Tulane Restores Summer Program

Stone Center revives Cuba student abroad

USC: An Example of a Student Trip

Joining the Pope in Cuba

Deadline Friday for Cuba pilgrimage

Pope heading to Cuba in March

Marist College Semester Program Open to Others

First Flight from Houston

Houston airport's first charter to Cuba takes off Thursday

By Ronnie Crocker

Published 07:10 p.m., Monday, January 30, 2012

Marquette University Student Program on Theater

Report from a Road Scholar Trip

Iowans on the Go: Cuba is land of contrasts

10:50 PM, Jan. 14, 2012

Written by

CAROL BRANNON

Special to The Register

Audubon Launches Birding Trips