US embargo against Cuba denounced

[Mika]

US embargo against Cuba denounced
http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=34&NEWS_ID=131344

Havana, Dec. 15 (VNA) – Hundreds of delegates from over 30 organisations of friendship and solidarity with Cuba, who gathered at a meeting in Chile, issued a declaration on Tuesday, affirming their solidarity with the Cuban people and condemned the US embargo of over 40 years against the island country.

Speaking at the closing session, Jose Estevez, Latin American Director of the Cuban Institute for Friendship among the Peoples (ICAP), highly praised the Chilean people’s activities in support of Cuba’s revolution.

He also emphasised the Cuban people’s determination to protect their socialist motherland against any enemies.

They agreed to urge the US authorities to release five young Cubans who are being illegally detained in the US.

[arwalden]

1. Uh.... Is This What A Failed Policy Looks Like?

[Judi Lynn]

2. I just remembered the murder of the Chilean diplomat who believed in Cuba

after the revolution there, Orlando Letelier, and his assistant, Ronnie Moffit, and the injury of her husband. It's interesting to see Chileans bonding with Cuba again, isn't it?

Article on one of Cuba's famous bands, Los Van Van:

Cuba's Hottest Salsa Band Plays on After 35 Years
Wed Dec 15, 2004 08:09 AM ET

By Anthony Boadle
HAVANA (Reuters) - From the first note of the piano and the clang of the cow bell, thousands of hips start to gyrate and the party begins on Havana's Malecon ocean front.

Cuba's popular salsa band, Los Van Van, has been playing for 35 years and they are still the hottest dance number in town, drawing 5,000 people of all ages to an open-air birthday bash.

As the rum flows, couples spin around to the fast-paced steps of timba, Cuba's frenetic polyrhythmic version of salsa that makes its New York counterpart look formulaic.

"E, e, Pastorita tiene guararey (Pastorita is sexy)," chants a festive crowd energized by the driving voice of Mayito Rivera, lead singer of the group considered the Rolling Stones of salsa.

"This is the rhythm Cubans love. You can't have a party without Van Van," says Marta, a 25-year-old cafe worker, offering a sip of Havana Club.
(snip/...)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=7101246&pageNumber=0



Max Ramirez/Latino Link

Fire Dance: Los Van Van vocalist Pedrito Calvo and an
enthusiastic member of the audience sizzle on stage,
igniting the crowd with the Cuban band's 'songo' heat.

Despite U.S.-generated red tape, Los Van Van, Cuba's most popular musical group, headlines SC's Cocoanut Grove

By Ellen Farmer

WHERE HAS LOS VAN VAN BEEN all our lives? And why is Cuba's most popular salsa band, which performed in the U.S.--San Francisco, to be exact--last January for the first time in 27 years, playing the Cocoanut Grove next Monday night? And how did we get along without these guys for so long?

Basically, because we had to. While Los Van Van has played to enthusiastic audiences around the globe, strict travel and trade restrictions have barred these Cuban citizens from creating Cuban music on U.S. soil. But it was not until Santa Cruz and Bay Area producers decided to spend enormous numbers of hours dealing with paperwork and arrangements that local music lovers could join the international party.

And quite a party it seems to be.

Los Van Van has recorded 16 records and is the most popular band on Cuban radio. The group is known worldwide for live shows that feature improvised call and response between musicians and dancing audiences.
(snip/...)

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/cruz/06.19.97/los-van-van-9725.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~U.S. silences Cuban beat
State Dept. cracks down on visas for musicians
By Mary Murray
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 6:39 p.m. ET Feb. 24, 2004HAVANA - If you’ve never experienced a live dose of Los Van Van, Cuba’s ultimate dance band, you may have missed your chance.

Over the past few months, the State Department has cracked down on Cuban visitors -- specifically artists -- seeking to enter the United States. Since November, every Cuban musician who applied for a visa — 151 in all — has been turned down, including the five Grammy nominees invited to the recent awards' ceremony.

The State Department denies a specific policy against musicians, although officials appear to have raised the bar for performers who want to tour the United States.

This approach reverses a nearly decade-old warming trend that had exposed Cuban artists and intellectuals to western ideas and the American public to Cuba’s rich culture.
(snip/...)http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4286635/


Cuban-American protesters at the Los Van Van
concert.



Samples of their music at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00003004B/ref=pm_dp_ln_m_2/103-1267615-1567003?v=glance&s=music&vi=samples

[LynnTheDem]

3. bush sure showed the world what USA and "democracy" is REALLY about

when the 5 Grammy noms from Cuba were refused entry for the Awards show.

Typical bush Admin short-sighted idiocy.

Let's INVITE them in, let's show them how KIND and FRIENDLY and NICE we are. Let's show them the GOOD SIDE of America.

HONEY catches more democratic reform than VINEGAR.

But nooooo, that would make way too much sense. Show them the very worst, instead. That'll make them stop resisting us. :eyes:

[Judi Lynn]

4. Right! We'll show them "freedoms."

Another music act from Cuba, Chucho Valdez was actually in the U.S. to accept his Latin Grammy Award on 9-11, the very day of the Bush's Pearl Harbor.

The show was cancelled immediately, and the musicians all left town, but this man and his band stayed right there and they all gave blood before returning to Cuba. The next time he was up for another Grammy, even though he had just been in the States 9 months earlier on a tour, _Bush had the State Department claim they couldn't process his visa in time to get him to the Latin Grammy show, and he had to stay home.



Chucho Valdez

Here are some samples from his album
recorded "live at the Village Vanguard:"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004S9P0/ref=pm_dp_ln_m_2/103-1267615-1567003?v=glance&s=music&vi=samples

(He obviously sneaked in preemptively, to do that tour, knowing that someday _Bush would make himself the pResident and keep him out!)

[Mika]

7. Judi Lynn, that Chucho story is a metaphor for US/Cuba relations

:hi:

The Cuban people have no animosity towards Americans. Cubans and their representatives beseech Americans to push for their own freedom to travel to Cuba to see what the Cuban people's efforts and hard won freedom have yielded.

It is up to us to gain control of our government, as they have theirs. We could learn a LOT from Cuba.



Viva Cuba!

[Judi Lynn]

5. Cuba kick!

[countryjake]

6. Another kick for Cuba!