Jauretsi: Word On The Street

Spoken from the mouth of a young mind in Cuba. Humberto Andres Hernandez wants to share a message about outsiders who move into Cuba, those who have more rights in their homeland than the locals themselves.

He sort of has a funny swagger in his delivery. Just like a regular island-born Cuban (raised in a non-MTV soundbite culture), it takes him much longer to express his point than your average A.D.D. American citizen. Just sit back, relax and hear him out.

Humberto Andres Hernandez gets his point across. He makes you feel like you are sitting in his living room in Cuba shooting the breeze over a bottle of rum.

The video below is called “Lo Negros” (The Blacks). Considering the 1959 Revolution was supposed eradicate racism, and some left-minded Americans I know believe that to be 100% true… it’s interesting to hear what a young locals point of view is from the island. Food for thought.

Could Humberto be the new Andy Rooney of Cuba?

(Juanita Castro, speaks out at a rally at the Tokyo Convention of the World Anti-Communist League in 1970)

Sometimes I usually laugh at the paranoia Fidel demonstrates by claiming everything and everyone is working for the CIA against him. The word “spy” is tossed around very liberally in Cuba. Then there are other times when I think, damn, maybe his paranoia has allowed him to outlast 11 American presidents and countless assassination attempts. At least this guy can trust his own sister right?

Today in the news, it was announced that Fidel Castro’s sister, Juanita Castro collaborated with US Intelligence promptly after she saw the 1959 Revolution turned from the original dream. Fidel’s mother joined the cause with Junaita at times when both women sought to protect opponents who were jailed.

After their mother died, it increasingly became more dangerous for Juanita to live in Cuba. With mom gone, Fidel grew scarier and frankly could have “offed” Juanita, so she fled for Mexico in 1964.

Only 10 days after she fled Cuba, she held a press conference telling the world: “I can no longer remain indifferent to what is happening in my country,” she said. “My brothers Fidel and Raúl have made it an enormous prison surrounded by water. The people are nailed to a cross of torment imposed by international communism.”

All the details are written in her new book Fidel and Raul, My Brothers: The Secret History. A mexican journalist Maria Antonieta Collins co-authored the book. Univisión-Noticias 23 has the exclusive interview. Juanita has refused to give interviews until the book was released.

Source: The Guardian UK

(1970 Photo by Bettmann/Corbis)

Ernesto Bazan has released a book of photography on Cuba entitled simply Cuba.

“There is the sense of sadness and waiting,” he said during a phone interview from Brazil, where he has led workshops. “Until when? They have 50 years waiting and nothing changes. A revolution which began in good faith but strayed from the path little by little and became something totally different from what Cubans expected when the revolution triumphed.”

To see more photographs and read about Ernesto Bazan, go to: NYTimes.com
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It was announced this week that the NY Phil Harmonic was invited to play in Cuba this month. They just sadly volunteered to nix the trip because the American government wouldn’t allow the patrons (their money sponsors) to go to Cuba with them. So the whole team decided to pull out.

The 150 board members had planned on forking over $10,000 each which would have paid for all the expenses for 2 concerts in Cuba. The supporters expected to tag-a-long on the Cuba trip (as they do on all international trips) with the orchestra because, well, who doesn’t want to go to Cuba?

The NY Philharmonic is USA’s flagship orchestra that travels around the world promoting the United States’ badass talent. They played North Korea 2 years ago (with no travel issues) and are playing Asia next week hitting up another Communist area, Vietnam.

“This exposes how arbitrary the rules are governing American citizens’ rights to travel to Cuba,” Julia E. Sweig, an expert on Cuba at the Council on Foreign Relations, said of the Treasury Department’s position. “If you have a family member there, you can go. If you play an instrument or sport, you can go. But if you’re a philanthropist who wants to support arts in Cuba, you can’t?”

There are several complex reasons why the sponsors were not allowed to go — ranging from specific license issues to economic reasons why they shouldn’t spend alot of money in Cuba. To read more facts, go to the BBC News Website or the New York Times website.
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