Experts in Cuban Forum about Afro-descendants

Havana, Jan 4 (Prensa Latina)

Academics, researchers and artists from Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuatorial Guinea, Portugal and Cuba will begin on Wednesday in this capital the XVI Scientific Workshop on Afro American Social and Cultural Anthropology and the V Festival of Oral Narration.

Both events will be held in the House of Africa, attached to the Office of the Historian of Havana City, until January 7.

Both forums will stimulate reflection on issues such as culture and identity, the African Diaspora, resistance and maroons, oral history visual anthropology, religion and the role of museums in the community.

On the opening day, the Havana City Historian, Eusebio Leal Spengler, will deliver a lecture to mark the 26 anniversary of the foundation of the House of Africa and later Herman van Hoff, general director of the Regional Office for Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean of UNESCO, will give a special presentation on topics related to the forum.

The photo exhibition of musical instruments and dances of Ecuatorial Guinea and the Maferefum painting exhibition of Cuban artist Nelson Jose Garcia are two examples of works exploring African roots through art.

The books The Silence of the Garifuna and The Voice of the Garifuna, from the researcher Bienvenido Rojas, will also be presented at these meetings, which open the cultural program of the capital's historic center in 2012.

hr/as/cgm/jam
Modificado el ( miércoles, 04 de enero de 2012 )

PM praises Cuba-Venezuela over Argyle airport

SATURDAY, 13 AUGUST 2011
  
KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves says Venezuela will meet the multi-million dollar bill for hosting a number of Cuban workers at the Argyle International Airport project. “The amounts spent on the Cuban workers from July 2008 to the end of July 2011 is EC$8.76 million (US$3.24 million), “Prime Minister Gonsalves told Parliament.

He told legislators that St. Vincent and the Grenadines government has been permitted by Venezuela “to borrow monies in respect of the Argyle International Airport from the PetroCaribe fund” under which Caracas provides oil at concessionary rates to several regional countries.

Gonsalves said that EC$27 million (US$10 million) “so far has been borrowed…and we have repaid two million dollars (US$740,700). We fully anticipate that by the end of the project all necessary conciliations would be made.”

Gonsalves described the Cuban workers as “volunteers” telling Parliament that the amount of money paid to Cuba directly on their behalf “is only a fraction of what they would normally command if they were hired as workers in the open jobs markets.
‘In fact many of the junior engineers employed by IADC (International Airport Development Company) are being paid more than two times what we pay for an experienced Cuban engineer, similarly the amounts we pay under contract for engineers…the consultants, the overseas engineering company, is more than four time what we are currently paying for a similarly trained qualified Cuban engineer.”

Gonsalves said the contributions of  the Venezuelan and Cuban governments towards the project “are immense”.
The Argyle International Airport is being built on about 175 acres of land, with a paved runway 2,743 meters (9,000 feet) long, and 45 meters (150 feet) wide. It  is designed to accommodate jets as large as Boeing 747-400s and handle about 1.4 million passengers per year

The project is being developed by IADC, a private limited liability company wholly owned by the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The project team includes the Chatoyer-Che construction team and CECI Engineering Consultants of Taiwan.

http://caricomnewsnetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4815:st-vincent-prime-minister-praises-cuba-venezuela-over-international-airport-project&catid=82:latin-a-central-america&Itemid=457