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Cuba says Hemingway's home is being
restored -- with Cuban government funds
HAVANA, 3 (AFP) - Finca Vigia, where US
novelist Ernest Hemingway lived for more
than 20 years in Cuba, is being restored
with government funds, Cuban authorities
said, after a US group listed it as one
of the most endangered US historic places.
Hemingway bought the home in the San Francisco
de Paula neighborhood in 1939 and lived
there until his death in 1961. It has been
a museum ever since.
It was there that the celebrated author
wrote classics including "The Old Man
and the Sea" and "For Whom the
Bell Tolls."
Ada Rosa Alonso, director of the museum,
said she had unofficially heard of the decision
by the US National Trust for Historic Preservation,
which on Thursday, for the first time, included
a site on its list that is outside the United
States.
"The museum has funding for the remodeling,
given by the Cuban government, led by the
Ministry of Culture and the National Patrimony
Council," Alonso told AFP.
"I am not saying it isn't true that
(the museum) needs restoration," she
added. "But in this phase of restoration,
there is no problem with the funding. The
Ministry of Culture handles that, particularly
the National Patrimony Council.
"The house is being restored, there
is work going on. It is not just planned,"
Alonso stressed.
She said she believed the US body's decision
had been made without consulting Cuba.
The US trust said that "even though
it stands on foreign soil, this house is
part of the shared cultural heritage that
defines us as Americans." It also voiced
concern, however, as "structural instability
and damage by the elements have caused the
site to deteriorate so severely that experts
call it a 'preservation emergency.'"
Castro says US must be stopped, terror
suspect must be extradited
HAVANA, 2 (AFP) - President Fidel Castro
urged Latin American countries not to let
the United States get away with what he
said was US involvement in terrorism in
the region, at an international summit to
press Washington to extradite a terror suspect
to Venezuela.
"We have to tie down the Empire (US),
show what a liar, and how two-faced it is,"
Castro, 78, told 680 guests at the International
Summit against Terrorism, and for Truth
and Justice.
Among the guests were Nicaragua's Sandinista
ex-president Daniel Ortega and Salvadoran
politician Shafik Handal. Venezuelan Vice
President Jose Vicente Rangel also was expected
to attend.
The gathering is to press for the extradition
to Venezuela from the United States of Luis
Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born Venezuelan
and former CIA asset wanted on terror charges
in Cuba and Venezuela.
Venezuela wants to put Posada Carriles
on trial for the downing of a Cuban airliner
with 73 passengers aboard in 1976. He escaped
a Venezuelan prison while awaiting an appeal
of his Venezuelan trial.
Now 77, Posada Carriles has been under
arrest in the United States since May 17
on immigration charges after requesting
US political asylum.
Cuba also wants the United States to arrest
Posada acomplice Orlando Bosch, who lives
in Miami.
Declassified US documents show that Posada
Carriles worked for the CIA at least from
1965 until June 1976.
Cuba also had sought Posada Carriles for
the 1997 bombings of Havana hotels, one
of which killed an Italian tourist.
In 2000, Panama convicted and sentenced
Posada Carriles to eight years in prison
for trying to kill Castro at a summit in
the Central American country, but he was
pardoned in 2004.
Cuba and its ally Venezuela say US President
George W. Bush has launched an anti-terrorism
campaign worldwide while, in their view,
protecting terror suspects inside US borders.
Cuba's "El Duque" returns
for pace-setting White Sox
CHICAGO, United States, 3 (AFP) - Cuban
pitcher Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez
has returned to the Chicago White Sox after
a two and a half week absence with a sore
right shoulder, the club announced.
The 35-year-old right-handed hurler who
defected from his Caribbean homeland to
become a World Series hero with the New
York Yankees signed with the White Sox last
December and is 5-1 this season with a 3.91
earned-run average.
Hernandez, nicknamed "El Duque",
has helped lead the White Sox to Major League
Baseball's best record at 35-18 one-third
of the way through a six-month season.
Injuries have nagged Hernandez lately.
He was pulled in the third inning on May
16 against Texas in his most recent start.
Last year he made just 15 starts after shoulder
surgery, going 8-2 for the Yankees with
a 3.30 earned-run average.
Cuban filmmaker Pastor Vega dies at
65
HAVANA, 3 (AFP) - One of the leading figures
in Cuban filmmaking of the last few decades,
Pastor Vega, died in Havana, aged 65, the
International Press Center said.
"Cuban cinema and culture are in mourning,"
said the CPI in a statement, without giving
the cause of death.
The CPI called the film director "one
of the main figures in the great moments
of Latin American film in the last 40 years."
Vega was born on February 12, 1940 in the
Cuban capital, his career first launched
in theater in 1958 with the Cuban collective
Teatro Estudio. Later he moved into cinema,
working as an assistant director in several
documentaries, even taking a role in the
1964 film "The Decision."
Vega was married to actress Daisy Granados,
who starred in several of his films. He
is father to two children, including the
actor and cinema director Aaron Vega.
His first feature-length film, "Portrait
of Teresa" (1984), was followed by
"Habanera" (1987), "Love
in a Minefield" (1988), "In the
Air" (1992), "Parallel Lives"
(1993) and "Amanda's Prophecies"
(2001).
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