Thursday, November 1, 2012

OLGA CONNOR: Premio de Herencia Cultural Cubana a Ileana Ros-Lehtinen

Publicado en El Nuevo Herald, jueves, 1 de noviembre de 2012.


 
El Premio Libertad de la Cuban Cultural Heritage, o Herencia Cultural Cubana, le fue entregado este año a Ileana Ros-Lehtinen en el Country Club de Coral Gables, como un símbolo del papel que ha desempeñado la congresista en Washington, defendiendo las libertades en Cuba y en todos los países como presidenta del Comité de Relaciones Exteriores de la Cámara.
 
“Es el más alto honor que se le confiere a un individuo o institución que ejemplifique el compromiso con la libertad o por tener un excelente liderazgo cívico, en los negocios o en la vida religiosa”, citó el presidente de la junta de directores de la organización y coleccionista de cartografía cubana, el doctor en medicina Alberto Bustamante.
 
Se encontraba en el acto la mayor parte de la directiva, entre ellos, Luis Mejer Sarrá, presidente de Herencia, Marcos Antonio Ramos, vicepresidente, y Tony Otero, “Chair” de la gala Noche Azul, que fue una bellísima cena bailable, amenizada por el septeto de Norberto y Maricela. La portada de la invitación ostentaba el cuadro de Humberto Calzada: Si tantos sueños fueron mentira.
 
 
 
Este es el segundo año que se presenta este premio, el del 2011 le fue concedido a Horacio Aguirre, director del Diario Las Américas, por su contribución a la libertad de prensa y en pro de la libertad en el mundo entero.
 
En 1998 había instituido otro premio, el de “Herencia”, que se creó especialmente para Luis Aguilar León, “quien había sido con sus artículos faro y guía en el exilio”, dijo Bustamante. El último se le entregó hace unos meses al historiador Enrique Ros, padre de Ileana, que la acompañó a la gala.
Bustamante habló del dilema político en que se encontraban cuando decidieron instituir Herencia en 1994. “No se podía hablar de política en la organización ni en la revista Herencia, pero una verdadera cultura no existe sin libertades”, afirmó. “Una organización apolítica en Cuba es muy difícil de mantener, porque todo lo de Cuba es político”.
 
 
 
“Herencia es una organización dedicada a educar, preservar y fomentar los valores culturales e históricos de la nación cubana para las generaciones presentes y futuras”, insiste Bustamante. “Comenzó para proteger el patrimonio cubano y hacerles atractivo a las nuevas generaciones el enfoque positivo de la belleza de nuestra isla, su historia heroica en la lucha por la libertad, y los grandes avances económicos, empresariales y arquitectónicos, literatura, música y arte en general logrados en la República de Cuba”.
 
“Cada vez que se dice que no se puede hablar de política, yo he saltado para decir que si Herencia tiene que renunciar a la lucha por la libertad de Cuba pierde la esencia y base por la cual fue creada, ése es mi enfoque personal”, afirmó Bustamante. Por otra parte, como lo cultural es lo esencial de Herencia, él testimonia que han experimentado que este tema es el que más une al exilio y al pueblo dentro de Cuba.
 
“Tenemos todo tipo de contactos dentro de Cuba, que admiran nuestra obra, sobre todo, el grupo de preservación que es el más sólido en infraestructura dentro de Cuba después del ejército y la iglesia”, declaró Bustamante. “Varios de los jefes de provincias se me han aparecido en mi casa, traídos por amigos mutuos y hemos coincidido en todo los temas de conversación”.


Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2012/10/30/1332808/olga-connor-premio-de-herencia.html#storylink=cpy

Monday, October 22, 2012

Royal Wedding in Luxembourg

Prince Guillaume and Princess Stephanie of Luxembourg.
 Published by The Associated Press.

Under a canopy of soldiers' drawn swords as church bells tolled, Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Belgian Countess Stephanie de Lannoy emerged smiling Saturday from the tiny duchy's Notre Dame Cathedral after wrapping up a two-day wedding gala with a religious ceremony.

Onlookers and well-wishers lined the super-scrubbed streets near the cathedral and roared with joy as the newlyweds looked down from a red velvet-covered palace balcony, and haltingly — but deeply — kissed for the crowd.

The church wedding of Prince Guillaume — the 30-year-old heir to the throne and Luxembourg's grand duke-to-be — and the Belgian countess drew a top-drawer guest list. It came a day after a civil ceremony at Luxembourg City Hall.

The bearded groom and his 28-year-old blonde bride were trailed by a procession of well-known royals, including Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden, Prince Naruhito of Japan and Britain's Prince Edward — Queen Elizabeth's youngest child — and his wife, Sophie.

The Royal Family waves to the crowds.
* Note: Prince Guillaume is the son of Grand Duke Henri I and Grand Duchess María Teresa. The Grand Duchess was born in Marianao, Havana and was exiled along with her family following Castro's rise to power. She studied at the University of Geneva, where she met then-prince Henri. Upon ascending the throne, Prince Guillaume will become the first reigning monarch with Cuban roots in history.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

In memoriam: María Rosa Menocal

María Rosa Menocal
Published in Yale News

María Rosa Menocal, a renowned scholar and historian of medieval culture and literature, passed away on Oct. 15 after a three-year battle with melanoma.

Menocal, Sterling Professor of the Humanities at Yale and former director of the Whitney Humanities Center, focused her research on the literary traditions of the Middle Ages and on the interaction of various religious and cultural groups in medieval Spain.

Her 2002 book, “The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain,” describes the rich cross-fertilization that took place among those religious groups. The book placed the interactions of Jews, Christians and Muslims at the heart of the formation of a diverse and vibrant Western culture, and posed a vigorous challenge to the notion of inevitable polarization of Islam and the West in the popular imagination. It has been published in numerous languages, and received wide critical acclaim. A documentary for public television based on the book is under development.

Menocal once noted that she was inspired to write the book because "... the medieval period has been, and continues to be, so grossly misrepresented in almost all of our histories — from the fact that we have so little knowledge that medieval European culture included, centrally, the study of Greek philosophy as it was interpreted by hundreds of years of Muslim and Jewish commentaries to the fact that we still use the word medieval to mean 'dark' and 'unenlightened' when, in some respects, Europe has never been as enlightened … as it was then." Read the paper, a precursor to "The Ornament of the World," that Menocal presented at a Yale Law School seminar in 2000.

Among her other books is “Shards of Love: Exile and the Origins of the Lyric,” which finds in the idea of exile the origin of the lyric and the foundation of the genre of the love song. This acclaimed work embraces authors from Ibn ‘Arabi to Judah Halevi, from Dante to Eric Clapton. Her other books include “Writing in Dante's Cult of Truth: From Borges to Boccaccio,” and “The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History: A Forgotten Heritage.” She is the co-editor (with Raymond Scheindlin and Michael Sells) of “The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature: Al-Andalus,” a volume that places the Arabic literature of Islamic Spain in the context of the other languages and cultures of the Iberian peninsula. Her latest book, “The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture,” extends these themes through a rich investigation of cross-cultural interactions in language, literature, architecture, and the decorative arts. This work, undertaken in collaboration with art historian Jerrilynn Dodds and Arabist and historian Abigail Krasner Balbale, was named a “Best Book of 2009” by the Times Literary Supplement.

As director of the Whitney Humanities Center from 2001 to 2012, Menocal dramatically expanded the number and intellectual range of fellows at the center, with the goal of representing as many different fields as possible to stimulate dialogue, foster intellectual community, and encourage collaboration in teaching and research. All told, she appointed 285 fellows during her 10-year tenure. These included individuals from the fields of economics, physics, chemistry, medicine, management, architecture, law, and library sciences, as well as all the humanities disciplines. She created new categories of fellowships, such as the Beinecke-Whitney Fellows, the Whitney-British Art Center Fellows, Writers-in-Residence, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows in the Humanities, and Administrative Fellows. She also brought notable individuals from outside the University to serve as visiting fellows at the center.

Among the new programs Menocal introduced at the center are Films at the Whitney (Friday night screenings in 35mm format), a series of readings by major poets, and the Franke Lectures in the Humanities, which bring distinguished scholars and writers to campus for public talks and classroom seminars with students.

Concerning her work at the center, Menocal once said: “By providing a forum for Yale scholars, visiting fellows, and guest lecturers, and programs to enrich the cross-disciplinary education of Yale students, the Whitney not only maintains the humanities as a cornerstone of undergraduate education, it also becomes the University's center for conversations across the arts and sciences.”
Prior to her years as director of the Whitney, Menocal served as director of graduate studies and chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, and served on numerous university committees.
“María Rosa Menocal was among the most brilliant, creative, and original of Yale’s extraordinary scholars in the humanities,” said Yale President Richard C. Levin. “She was a humanist in the broadest sense of the term. She was passionate about all forms of human expression from literature, the visual arts, and politics to cooking, professional hockey, and the music of troubadours from medieval Provence and al-Andalus to Bob Dylan. Her passions inspired and energized her students and colleagues, and shaped a vibrant community at the Whitney Humanities Center.”

A native of Havana, Cuba, Menocal earned a B.A. in medieval Romance languages, an M.A. in French and a Ph.D. in Romance philology, all at the University of Pennsylvania. She became an assistant professor of Romance languages there in 1980, and also served as acting director of its Center for Italian Studies. She came to Yale in 1986 as a visiting associate professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, was named an associate professor the following year and was appointed a full professor in 1992. In 1993, she was named the R. Selden Rose Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, and in 2005 she became a Sterling Professor, the highest honor that Yale confers on members of its faculty.

An invited lecturer at universities and conferences throughout the nation and in Europe and the Middle East, Menocal was a visiting professor at Bryn Mawr College and held distinguished visiting professorships or lectureships at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, and the American University in Cairo, among others. The Medieval Academy of America named her a fellow in 2011.

Menocal is survived by her parents, Enrique and Rosa Menocal; her siblings, Lucia Pernot, Enrique Javier Menocal, and Elisa Menocal; her husband R. Crosby Kemper III ’74, director of the Kansas City Public Library; her ex-husband George Calhoun; her two children, George “Harry” Calhoun, a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and Margaux Calhoun ’12, who is currently employed at the U.S. Department of Justice; and one grandchild, George Bishara Calhoun, the son of Lt. Calhoun and his wife, Maya Calhoun.

Yale community members share their remembrances of María Rosa Menocal.

Cuban music legend Paquito Hechavarría dies

Pianist Paquito Hechavarria
Raul Rubiera / Miami Herald Staff

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/01/3029238/cuban-music-legend-paquito-hechavarria.html#storylink=cpy
Cuban pianist Paquito Hechavarría, who made music history with his “tumbao’’ rhythm for the Miami Sound Machine, died Thursday night in his Miami Beach apartment. He was 73.
 
“He was a great friend and a great musician. With him gone, a great part of the history of Cuban music is lost,” said music producer Emilio Estefan, who recalled that both “Conga” and “Oye Mi Canto,” as well as several more Gloria Estefan successes themes in which Hechavarría participated, won critical praise.
 
“Although many tried to imitate him, no one could do the ‘tumbao’ better than him,” Estefan said. “Paquito was Paquito, a man with a good heart whose main interest was music.”
Paquito Hechavarría was born Feb. 21, 1939. He studied in the Music Conservatory of La Habana.
While in Cuba, he performed with the Riverside Orchestra, Conjunto Casino and Los Armónicos of Felipe Dulzaides.
 
“We were friends since 1953, when we played with our small groups in Sunday programs at Radio Cadena Habana,” said percussionist Nelson “Flaco’’ Padrón. “And during the time of Los Armónicos, we alternated with La Lupe at La Red Club.”
 
After he arrived in Miami in 1962, the pianist played in the dance halls of the Fontainebleau Hotel’s Boom Boom Room and other clubs of the times. In 1964 he recorded a jazz album with Padrón and in 1965 he recorded American standards.
 
In the ’70s, he joined the Fly Out Band, playing the theme of the famous TV series “¿Qué pasa USA?”
 
“Paquito brought Cuba with him in his heart and in his hands,” said William Sánchez, conductor of the Sábado Gigante band. “With his death, one of the great legends of our music disappears.’’
Hechavarría also left his imprint in “Piano” (1995), a solo recording with singer Rey Ruiz.
“I had the pleasure of recording “Frankly” (2009), his last album, in which he was surrounded by great jazz legends like Phil Woods and Brian Lynch,” said filmmaker and music producer Nat Chediak, who considers Hechavarría a “giant” of the keyboard.
 
“Paquito was one of the piano giants of the Golden Era of the Cuban music,” said Chediak. “His contagious swing and his ‘tumbao’ were unique.”
 
Hechavarría is survived sons Félix and Franky, and daughter Jennifer.
 
Services were held.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/01/3029238/cuban-music-legend-paquito-hechavarria.html#storylink=cpy

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Latin jazz bandleader/promoter José Curbelo dies

 

Cuban-born band leader Jose Curbelo brought the cha-cha-cha to the United States in 1939, and later became a powerful Latin music manager. He died in Aventura on Thursday at 95. He is pictured in an old publicity still.
Cuban-born band leader Jose Curbelo brought the cha-cha-cha to the United States in 1939, and later became a powerful Latin music manager. He died in Aventura on Thursday at 95. He is pictured in an old publicity still.
 
José Curbelo, the Latin jazz bandleader, agent and promoter who helped popularize the cha-cha-cha in the United States, and made Tito Puente a star, died Friday of heart failure at Aventura Hospital. He was 95.Curbelo, of North Miami Beach, was born Feb. 18, 1917 in Havana, where his American-born father played violin with the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra.“He was the last of the pioneers of the Latin jazz band era,” said Freddy Montilla, whose father Fernando Montilla owned Montilla Records and was Curbelo’s friend.Curbelo began formal musical training at the age of 8, said son Rene Curbelo, a Miami web designer. By 16, he was playing with the orchestras of Los Hermanos Lebartard and flutist-composer Gilberto Valdés, and co-founded O rquesta Havana Riverside, his son said.He settled in New York in 1939 and formed a band that played around Manhattan, the Catskill resorts, Miami and Las Vegas. The Puerto Rico-born Puente, who became known as “The King of Latin Music,’’ got his start with Curbelo, said Rene. “He was one of the first ones educating American people on Latin and Cuban music,” Montilla said.Curbelo was beloved by musicians and disliked by club owners because he wouldn’t book a gig unless it paid Curbelo’s asking price, his son said.First to sign a three-year contract: the Charlie Palmieri Quintet. “Every music group of importance, including Tito Puente, Machito, Tito Rodríguez, La Playa Sextet, Pete Terrace, Orlando Marin, Ray Barretto, Noro Morales, Vicentico Valdés and Orquesta Broadway’’ followed, Rene Curbelo said.“I remember it was almost like my father was accused of having a monopoly. He changed the whole scenario’’ in favor of the artists — and took 15 percent off the top.“He affected the Latin music of today.’’A close friend of superstar Cuban songstress Celia Cruz, Jose Curbelo handled all of her Florida engagements “even though she had her own managers in New York,’’ Rene said.Various Latin jazz websites note that Curbelo made enemies by touting Puente, who died in 2000, as the greatest of all the genre’s musicians, and for insisting he get top dollar and top billing, second only to Cruz.Hansel Rodriguez, of the popular salsa duet Hansel y Raul, said Curbelo was known and admired by many in the music industry. Some of the biggest promoters in current Latin music learned from Curbelo, he said. “I learned that everybody has to pay in advance in this business,” said Rodriguez. Curbelo worked as a pianist with bands in New York, with the help of band leader Jose Morand, who’d later start the Fiesta record label.Curbelo once told an interviewer: “My first job was at La Martinique at 57th Street and Sixth Avenue. Months later in December I was at the union hall when I met a 16-year-old musician named Ernesto ‘Tito’ Puente. We were hired for the same gig and it was then I noticed what a great drummer he was.“That same week I was offered a job at Miami’s Book Club. I recommended Tito for the drummer’s spot; Tito accepted and we headed for Miami in my car. We roomed in a bungalow for $5 a week. Our septet played Latin, American pop, waltzes and fox trots. After three months we returned to New York.”He performed with Xavier Cugat, Juancito Sanabria and Oscar De La Hoya before organizing his own band in 1942.According to an online biography that Rene Curbelo cited, “the true Curbelo sound emerged when he cut loose with piano montunos. His arousing rumbas were mentioned by the columnists of New York dailies. His orchestra, along with Machito and the Afro Cubans, supplied music for La Conga Club’s diners and dancers. “A year at New York’s Havana Madrid (1943-44) was followed by stints at Zanzibar and then an upstate gig at Grossinger’s Resort in the Catskills. The next couple of years he spent in Miami at the Clover Club and the Latin Quarter...’’By 1946, “the Curbelo orchestra was among Latin music’s Top 10 orchestras and a pioneer of the then-developing Latin New York sound...Famous arrangers for the band included Rene Hernandez, Chico O’Farrill, Tito Puente and Al Cohn.’’ One of Curbelo’s most popular records was the 1947 RCA Victor release Managua Nicaragua.For Coda Records, he recorded Llora, Tu Come Pellejo, Canelina and Que No, featuring vocalist Tito Rodríguez . Jose Curbelo and his Orchestra, Live at the China Doll, in 1946 is considered a classic.In 1949, Tito Puente and vocalist Vicentico Valdés hit it big with the Curbelo-Bobby Escoto number Abaniquito. Curbelo’s Fiesta releases Cha Cha Cha In Blue, Que Se Funan and La Familia, became Latin jukebox standards.In 1971, Curbelo and his wife, Orchid Rosas, retired to Miami, where he booked bands for the Calle Ocho Festival. Rosas died in 2001. In a 1985 Miami Herald story about his collection of historic Cuban money, Curbelo said he had $20 to his name when he arrived in New York. He was especially proud of his rare Cuban gold coins.He said he once spent $2,100 on a 1915, 20-peso coin, and $1,450 for a 1915 4-peso coin.He sold much of his collection to a Texas publisher in 1969, but in 1985 he still had framed notes on the walls of his home and others in photo albums. “I learned more about Cuba’s history through my hobby than I ever learned in school as a boy,’’ he told The Herald.He referred to himself as “American to the bone.” In addition to his son, Curbelo is survived by a daughter, Marta Curbelo, of New York.A funeral will be held at 5 p.m Sunday at Bernardo Garcia Funeral Home, 8215 Bird Rd. A procession leaves from the funeral home at 10:30 a.m. Monday for Flagler Memorial Park, 5301 W. Flagler St., where Curbelo will be buried.Miami Herald staff writer Erick Lappin contributed to this report.




© 2012 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/21/v-print/3014678/latin-jazz-bandleaderpromoter.html#storylink=cpy

 

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/21/v-print/3014678/latin-jazz-bandleaderpromoter.html#storylink=cpy

Friday, September 7, 2012



 
HERENCIA CULTURAL CUBANA

y

LEON MEDICAL CENTERS


Se complacen en invitarlos a la presentación del libro


SAQUEO PATRIMONIAL CUBANO

Por

Alberto Sánchez de Bustamante y Parajón


Con este libro, de reciente publicación, el autor quiere dejar constancia de eventos ocurridos relacionados con el saqueo a que ha estado sometido el pueblo cubano durante todos estos años de dictadura castrista; las consecuencias de la pérdida de los derechos del pueblo cubano, de la destrucción de sus instituciones y persistente daño a nuestro patrimonio. Conocer la verdad de esta tragedia estimulará la investigación futura y contribuirá a que nunca más vuelva a suceder.

 
PRESENTACION: Marcos Antonio Ramos. Conferencista, historiador y columnista. Doctor en Teología con especialización en historia. Académico de Número de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española y Académico Correspondiente Hispanoamericano de la Real Academia Española. Historiador reconocido y autor de 15 libros de esa materia. Ademas de sus grados academicos por estudio se le han conferido varios grados de doctor “Honoris Causa”. Es Editor General de la revista Herencia y Vicepresidente de Herencia Cultural Cubana.


AUTOR: Alberto S. de Bustamante y Parajón. El Dr. Bustamante es médico retirado en Orlando, Florida. Fundador en 1994 de Herencia Cultural Cubana, cuyo motivo básico fue denunciar el saqueo patrimonial de Cuba. Presidente del Consejo de Dirección y Editor Ejecutivo de la revista Herencia. Premio Herencia 2002. Es un investigador y coleccionista apasionado de la cromolitografía de Cuba y Alemania, así como de libros antiguos ilustrados y mapas de Cuba y el Caribe.


PANELISTAS: Ninoska Pérez Castellón. Periodista. Comentarista Política. Univisión Radio.

Armando Cobelo. Graduado de Dentista en Cuba, fue Jefe del Dpto. Dental de Salud Publica hasta su retiro. Ha sido presidente de varias organizaciones, entre ellas Herencia Cultural Cubana, donde se le otorgó el Premio Herencia 2004.
Salvador Larrúa. Licenciado en Periodismo, Matemáticas y Economía por la Univ. de La Habana. Ha publicado 35 libros sobre temas técnicos e históricos. Sus trabajos de investigación culminaron con el hallazgo de nuevos documentos para la Historia de la Virgen de la Caridad.

 
INVITADO: Jesús Rosado. Especialista en obras de arte.

 
FECHA: Miércoles 12 de septiembre.

 
HORA: Recepción: 6:30 p.m. Presentación: 7:00 p.m.

 
LUGAR: Leon Medical Centers - Flagler Center

7950 NW 2 Street, Miami, Florida 33126

(Frente al Mall de Las Américas)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Cuban-American at Paralympic Games in London


Cuban-American swimmer Ileana Rodriguez will be competing at the 2012 Paralympic Games, which will take place in London from August 29 through September 9, 2012. A native of Matanzas, Rodriguez left Cuba at age 15 and began to train as a swimmer at Miami Palmetto Senior High School in Miami, Florida. Congratulations to this talented athlete and best of luck as she goes for the gold!

Monday, July 30, 2012

Cuban-American Stars of the 2012 Olympic Games


Among the many stars at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Cuban-American athletes have certainly made their mark. Swimmer Ryan Lochte won the first gold medal for the U.S. at the Games and has been called "the best swimmer in the world." Amy Rodriguez is an integral member of the U.S. Women's Soccer team. Gymnast Danell Leyva, triathlete Manuel Huerta and rower Robin Prendes left Cuba at a young age and have become sports sensations in the U.S. Congratulations to these talented athletes and best of luck as they go for the gold! For more information on these athletes, click on the athlete's name below their photograph.



Amy Rodriguez







 

Monday, July 16, 2012

Monumental sculpture inspired by Cuban exodus unveiled at Hermitage

Enrique Martínez Celaya's towering bronze work explores the plight of children exiled from Cuba
Enrique Martínez Celaya and his work The Tower of Snow, 2012
A monumental bronze sculpture by the Miami-based artist Enrique Martínez Celaya is due to be unveiled in the courtyard of the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg on 10 July (until 31 November). The Tower of Snow, 2012, which depicts a boy on crutches carrying a house on his back, is the latest large-scale sculpture to be installed in the Russian museum's courtyard following, among others, Louise Bourgeois's Maman in 2001 and three reclining figures by Henry Moore in 2011.
According to Martínez Celaya, who left his native Cuba as a child, the work is about his own experience of exile, but also about Operation Peter Pan, when more than 14,000 Cuban children were sent to the US between 1960 and 1962 by parents who feared the Cuban government would take away their right to decide how their children should be educated. “It's about the anguish of those children,” Martínez Celaya says. “I wanted to memorialise that event.” A smaller version of The Tower of Snow is due to be installed at the Freedom Tower in Miami on 19 October.

Martínez Celaya's first ever video work, The Master (edition of five, priced at $45,000 each), 2011, was bought by the Hermitage during Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2011. The work, in which the artist acts out Beethoven's death, is due to go on show at the museum this autumn.

The US is Free Thanks To Cuban Women

The Washington Times, (7/2000)
Editorial Section, by Antonio Benedi.
Benedi is a former special assistant to President George Bush and serves on the board of directors of the Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty.


The people of Cuba have a long history of respect and support for the United States . The national pride of a Free Cuba lives in every freedom-loving Cuban alive. Many Cubans bravely fought on U.S. soil in the War of Independence.

Cubans, as a people, helped raise much-needed funds for the Revolutionary Army of George Washington. The "Havana's Ladies," a group of Cuban mothers, heard General Washington's plea for desperately needed funds and raised an astonishing amount for that time. They sent to Virginia the equivalent in today's money of $28 million. This has received little exposure in American history books, but is well documented. The inscription that the "Ladies of Havana" wrote on their contribution was:

"So the American mothers' sons are not born as slaves."

The pledge of the Havana 's Ladies, remained very little known, with the exception of an American historian Stephen Bonsal, who wrote:

"That sum collected [by the Havana 's Ladies] must be considered as the ground whereon was erected the American independence."

Gen. Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau wrote in his "Daily Memoirs," available in the Library of Congress:

"The joy was enormous when it was received, the money from Havana: The contribution of 800,000 silver pounds which helped stop the financial bankruptcy (of the Revolutionary Army) and raised up the moral spirit of the Army that had began to dissolve."

Carmen Maria Rodriguez has also done research into this chapter of the Revolutionary war. She writes:

This July 4th, New York will be scenario of the largest maritime event in the history of humankind. In this regard, the city, and the nation are outdoing themselves to stage along with simultaneous fireworks, one of the most impressive displays of popular joy and freedom ever staged commemorating a nation's freedom.

Being Cuban born and living within sight of the Statue of Liberty, I cannot help but think of who and what made this possible. My mind races back to a demonstration held in New York by Cuban Americans when someone handed to me a piece of paper in which the former US Ambassador to Cuba Stephen Bonsal wrote, "The Contribution of Cuban women by way of their jewelry, could very well be the foundation on which is founded, the freedom of the United States". Bonsal, having lived in Havana , also penned a book, "When the French were here".

A friend of mine, Tirso Gonzalez, veteran of the 2506 Brigade, once heard me talking about this case, and both he and I sent out to investigate in the NY Public Library if this indeed was true. This is what we both found out:

General George Washington had a dream to liberate the colonies from the English. He also had a band of mercenaries whom to pay, since he relied on these type of soldiers to wage the war which he felt was just and necessary.
The French were here in the colonies helping out, and given that there was no money to finance the mercenaries or the war, Lafayette commanded the frigate known as "L'Aigrrette", to travel first to Cadiz , Spain , to see if money could be gotten. To no avail, the Spanish in Cadiz were very kind but not financially forthcoming. The ship then went on to Saint Domingue, what is now Haiti , and what was then the riches of all colonies given the enormous wealth to be had in the sugar industry. The French there told the French on the ship, "Nous n'avons pas d'argent", in other words, there would be no money from Saint Domingue sent to Washington . L'Aigrette then set sail to the Port of Havana to obtain water and supplies to return up to Virginia .
It was there that word got out, that Washington needed funding to stage a battle which was at the time only in the planning stage. Women, girls, from Havana , to Matanzas to Pinar del Rio gave freely of their jewelry, the French even documenting that they disposed of their diamonds, to help Washington in his quest for freedom and his financing of his mercenaries.

The women of Cuba came forth, knowing that this was a just cause, giving up of their only wealth, which was their gold, to assist the love of independence of another nation.

When L'Agraitte set sail and arrived in September of 1781 in Virginia, General Washington upon knowing that there was sufficient financing of over 1,200,000 pounds of Cuban gold, silver and diamonds, historians point out that he lost his usual sedate composure and threw his hat in the air from sheer joy.

Cuban Women's Contribution to the cause of American Independence thus made possible the financing of the decisive battle of American Independence, known as the then on 31 October 1781, that General Cornwallis of England, had his sable turned over to General Washington, as a sign of surrender of the English to a band of dreamers know as the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

"May God bless the children of these Cuban women who loved their own freedom, but knew that the cause of liberty and justice is one to be pursued at all costs everywhere in the world where there is need for such a state of affairs."

When New York rejoices this Fourth of July, I too in a way shall rejoice doubly, since it was our Cuban ancestors, and despite all the disdain for this land, that made possible, the freedom and bounty of so many. And by writing this, I hope to start waking up people's minds that Cubans even today as in 1781 maintain their unique tradition of defending freedom above all else.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Herencia at Cuba Nostalgia 2012


As in previous years, Herencia will participate in Cuba Nostalgia 2012. The event will take palce this weekend at the Fair Expo Center, located on Coral Way and S.W. 112th Avenue in Miami. The times are:

Friday, May 18:        11 AM to 11 PM
Saturday, May 19:    11 AM to 11 PM
Sunday, May 20:       11 AM to 10 PM

Please visit our booth and share this special event with us!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Beloved Cuban Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román dies in Miami at 83

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/11/v-print/2743529/beloved-cuban-auxiliary-bishop.html#storylink=cpy

The Miami Herald

Beloved Cuban Auxiliary Bishop Agustín Román dies in Miami at 83

Miami Herald Staff

Miami Herald Staff Report
 
Agustín Román, the beloved emeritus auxiliary bishop of Miami who was considered the spiritual leader of South Florida’s Cuban exile community, died Wednesday night of a heart attack. He was 83.
 
A humble, gentle man with an iron will and a steadfast moral compass, he was viewed by older Cuban exiles as a champion of freedom and faith. Román, who had retired in 2003, served his God and his people, said those who knew him.
 
He made his final public appearances in Miami during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Cuba last month and on Easter Sunday after the pope honored Cuban-born Rev. Felix Varela by bringing him closer to sainthood.
 
Román had suffered from heart disease for several years. He was found slumped over the wheel of his car on the grounds of Our Lady of Charity Shrine, known in Spanish as Ermita de la Caridad del Cobre, where for decades he lovingly served his flock and carried the Cuban exile banner.
 
“The Archdiocese of Miami has lost a great evangelizer who tirelessly preached the Gospel to all,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski said in a statement late Wednesday. “And the Cuban nation has lost a great patriot. Bishop Román was the Felix Varela of our time.”
 
“The Catholic Church has lost a beloved, humble spiritual leader,” said Mary Ross Agosta, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Miami.
 
As word of his death spread, parishioners began to gather Wednesday night at La Ermita in Coconut Grove.
 
The Rev. Juan Rumin, the chapel’s rector, joined mourners in prayer and offered words of comfort: “Román in now in front of God,” Rumin said in Spanish. “A man of God has died and also a glorious Cuban.”
 
Funeral arrangements were not complete Wednesday.
 
Román was stricken in his car as he was being driven home after his daily prayers at the shrine, which he had helped build. He had suffered cardiac arrest, was transported to nearby Mercy Hospital and, following extensive resuscitation efforts, was pronounced dead shortly before 8:45 p.m.
 
Román was prepared to die, said the Rev. Juan Sosa, who has known him since 1979.
 
“His legacy is one of total commitment in service to the poor, to the needy, to the church, to the homeless and to the exiles,” Sosa said.
 
Sosa said that while Román’s death is sad, it serves as a source of inspiration for others to follow his example “of selflessness and sacrifice.”
 
Román was honored on March 4, before the papal visit to Cuba, by the Miami Coalition of Christians and Jews.
 
His death also comes as the shrine, home to a replica of Cuba’s patron saint, the Virgin of Charity, celebrates the 400th anniversary of her apparition in Cuba.
 
Román spent more than half his life in exile, first in Spain, then in Chile and the United States, yet he never surrendered to bitterness, never lost hope.
 
“I am a Cuban, and I will always love the country where I was born,” Román once said. “I hope that before I go to heaven, I will see Cuba again. But I love America, too. This is the country that welcomed me.”
 
Román earned national attention as a mediator when Mariel detainees rioted in 1987 and seized portions of federal prisons in Atlanta and Oakdale, La.
 
In April 2003, he retired as auxiliary bishop emeritus. That year, he wrote a column for The Miami Herald that urged South Floridians to support asylum for Haitian refugees.
 
“How can I not want for others in similar circumstances all the benefits I found?” wrote the one-time refugee. “How can I be indifferent to their tragedy, when I see in the eyes of those Haitians the same bewildered look I had in mine when I arrived in Spain, the same desperate look I see in the eyes of my brothers, the Cuban rafters?”
 
Almost to the end, Román lived an ascetic life. His long-time home: a small chamber and tiny kitchen next door to La Ermita.
 
Awake at 5:45 a.m. Breakfast: salt-free, sugar-free bread. Back in bed at 12:30 a.m., the time between filled shepherding his flock.
 
This lifestyle seemed at odds with his local fame. “I remember the words of the Lord,” Román said, quoting from Matthew 23:11,12. “ ‘He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.’ ”
 
During his working years, he was not known ever to have indulged in a vacation. He never refused a call or visit. He did not believe in answering machines. He finally scaled back his work at the mandatory retirement age of 75.
 
Román suffered from persistent cardiac disorders, survived several heart attacks and, in 1992, quadruple-bypass surgery. He also battled diabetes.
 
His influence permeated the Cuban exile and Roman Catholic communities, and extended well beyond them.
 
In the early 1960s, Román led the campaign to build La Ermita de la Caridad. He asked each exile for 10 cents. He ended up collecting $240,000.
 
The shrine, on South Miami Avenue along the edge of Biscayne Bay, opened in 1967. It attracts almost 500,000 visitors a year.
 
Román found himself thrust into the national spotlight when he served as a key mediator during the Mariel prisoner uprisings at prisons in Atlanta and Oakdale, La. Refugees at both rioted and seized hostages after learning they might be deported after serving their time.
 
His help sought by the White House, Román spoke with the prisoners at Oakdale. He addressed them as “dear brothers” and assured them that a deal offered by authorities was fair and just. In minutes, they surrendered.
 
A week later, Román and his attorney and close friend, Rafael Peñalver, walked into the besieged prison in Atlanta. Alone. Angry prisoners lurked everywhere.
 
Their lives in jeopardy, Román whispered to Peñalver: “Bless you, and put yourself in the hands of the Virgin.”
 
The armed prisoners all dropped their shivs on a pile. Román kept one of the weapons in his home, framed, a gift from the federal government.
 
USA Today called Román the “crisis hero.” Two Hollywood movie producers sought the rights to his story.
 
Román declared himself baffled by this. “Hero? Me? I don’t think so. Maybe the people are confused.”
 
He sought to draw and share lessons from the experience.
 
“To the American people, on behalf of the Mariel detainees, I ask your forgiveness,” he said when it was over. “I know that it is not the American way to take over a building to make a point, but neither is it the American way to detain prisoners after they have served their sentence.”
 
For the wider South Florida community, Román served as an advocate of reconciliation. He was active in the Haitian and African-American communities, and maintained links with Jewish and Protestant leaders.
 
Agustín Román was born May 5, 1928, in a small house in the countryside of Havana province. His father, Rosendo Román, was a farm worker.
 
Román was a quiet, asthmatic child. Illness kept him out of school until age 8.
 
He studied philosophy at the San Alberto Magno Seminary in Matanzas, and then traveled to Montreal to study theology at the Seminary of Foreign Missionaries.
 
Ordained on July 5, 1959, he worked in backwater Cuban parishes. The next two years were difficult in a country turning Marxist, but Román was never tempted to leave.
 
But then, Román and 132 other priests was rounded up by Castro’s henchmen, loaded at gunpoint aboard a ship and sent to Spain.
 
Months later, he traveled to Chile to work with the poor. In 1966, his sister, Iraida, left her husband and Cuba to move to Miami with her two children. Román joined her in Miami.
 
An outsider within the church hierarchy and one of its few Hispanics, he was made associate pastor of St. Mary’s Cathedral. As the exile community grew roots, he moved steadily up through the ranks, becoming auxiliary bishop in 1979.
 
“I would like to see Cuba before I die,” Agustín Román said several years ago. “But I know that when I am in heaven, I will see Cuba even better.”


© 2012 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Pope brings Cuban-born priest Felix Varela closer to sainthood

The Miami Herald

Pope Benedict XVI, fresh from a visit to Cuba and Mexico, has given his approval for Father Felix Varela to be given the status of “venerable” — bringing the Havana-born priest who died 159 years ago a step closer to sainthood.
Becoming venerable means that Varela could be beatified with the recognition of one miracle granted and canonized with the recognition of a second miracle.
The pope’s approval was announced on Easter Sunday by New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The pope was following the unanimous recommendation of the Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’ Causes.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski praised the announcement: “In his homily in Havana, Pope Benedict called Father Felix Varela a shining example of the contributions a person of faith can make in building a more just society... In recognizing this holy priest’s heroic virtue by conferring on him the title of venerable,’ the pope offers to the world a role model who in was ‘the first to teach his people how to think’ and also show us a path to a true transformation of society.”
Already in Miami-Dade, there is a high school named in Varela’s honor.
Born in Havana on Nov. 20, 1788, Varela was ordained a priest at age 23. By then, Varela already had distinguished himself as “a man of culture and profound learning,” the archdioces said, and had even written a philosophy text that had been adopted by other schools.
In 1821, he was elected to represent Cuba in the Spanish Parliament. Among the laws he proposed were one calling for the abolition of slavery and another calling for self-rule for Spain’s colonies in the Americas.
After his exile from Cuba in 1823, Varela worked for 30 years in the Archdiocese of New York, as vicar general and advocate for Irish immigrants.
Varela died in 1853 in St. Augustine, Fl. His remains were later moved to the Aula Magna of the University of Havana, where they can be viewed today.
The declaration by the Congregation for Saints’ Causes can be seen at www.miamiarch.org.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Bacardi at a glance: Company’s 150-year highlights

Bacardi Ltd. Chairman Facundo L. Bacardi with a portrait of his great, great grandfather Don Facundo Bacardi Masso. CHARLES TRAINOR JR / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/30/2612854/bacardi-at-a-glance-companys-150.html#storylink=cpy

1862: Bacardi is founded by Don Facundo Bacardí Massó in Santiago de Cuba.
1898: In Daiquirí, Cuba, American mining engineer Jennings S. Cox originates the Daiquirí cocktail made with Bacardi rum.
1900: The world’s first Cuba Libre is created when Bacardi rum and Coca-Cola are mixed with lime to celebrate the end of the Spanish-American War in Cuba.
1919: Prohibition becomes law in the United States and Americans flock to Cuba to drink Bacardi rum.
1930: The iconic Edificio Bacardi opens in Havana and celebrities frequent its Art Deco bar.
1930s: Bacardi establishes facilities in Mexico and Puerto Rico. The facility at Cataño, Puerto Rico is the largest premium rum distillery in the world.
1944: Bacardi establishes an imports company in New York City to supply the United States market.
1960: Bacardi operations in Cuba are illegally confiscated without compensation by the Cuban government. Bacardi continues its operations from four other countries: the U.S., Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas.
1964: Bacardi moves its U.S. headquarters from New York to Miami, opening the landmark Bacardi Building on Biscayne Boulevard. Bacardi U.S.A. calls it home until November 2009.
1965: Bacardi opens a distillery in Nassau, Bahamas. Bacardi International Limited relocates from the Bahamas to Bermuda.
1978: Bacardi rum becomes the No. 1 premium distilled spirits brand in the U.S. with more than 7 million, 9-liter cases sold.
1992: Bacardi Limited is formed, unifying five separate strategic operating units of the Company (Bacardi International Limited – Bermuda; Bacardi & Company Limited – Bahamas; Bacardi Corporation – Puerto Rico; Bacardi Imports, Inc. – United States; and Bacardi y Compañía S.A. de C.V. – Mexico).
1993: Bacardi finalizes the acquisition of General Beverage, owner of the Martini & Rossi Group. With this acquisition, Bacardi doubles in size and becomes one of the top five largest premium spirits companies in the world.
1995: Bacardi launches Bacardi Limón in the U.S.
1998: Bacardi acquires Dewar’s Scotch whisky and the Bombay and Bombay Sapphire gin brands. Bacardi becomes one of the top four spirits companies in the world.
2002: Bacardi forms an alliance with Anheuser-Busch to develop, market and distribute Bacardi Silver, a clear malt beverage in the U.S.
2002: Bacardi acquires Cazadores 100 percent blue agave tequila, a top-selling premium tequila.
2002: Bacardi opens a facility in China.
2002: The Casa Bacardi Visitor Center opens at the Bacardi distillery in Puerto Rico, a tourist experience celebrating the history of the company and the brand.
2004: Bacardi purchases Grey Goose vodka, the world’s No. 1 super premium vodka.
2005: Facundo L. Bacardi, great-great grandson of the company’s founder, becomes chairman of the board of directors of Bacardi Limited.
2008: Bacardi announces an agreement to purchase a significant stake in the parent company of Patrón tequila.
2012: On Feb. 4, the company and Bacardi rum celebrates their 150th anniversary.
2012: Bacardi is launching several new products including Grey Goose Cherry Noir vodka and Bacardi rum’s, Black Razz and Wolf Berry.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/30/2612854/bacardi-at-a-glance-companys-150.html#storylink=cpy

Evolution of Bacardi: Company marks 150th anniversary


The company celebrates its past while looking forward to growth in the competitive spirits business.