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Biennial of Havana Explores World Artists
By Fabiola Sanchez, Associated
Press Writer. March 28, 2006.
HAVANA - Painters, sculptors and other
artists from around the world will explore
the dynamics of urban culture during the
monthlong 9th Biennial of Havana, opening
this week.
Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura is among
230 artists from 52 countries participating
in the biennial, surprising his fans with
a new facet of his creative talents - photography.
Saura will exhibit a series of images taken
in train stations at home and abroad during
his travels, along with the people he encountered
or with whom he traveled - strangers, family
members and friends.
Another Spaniard showing at the event will
be Antoni Miralda, who will awaken visual
tastes with "Sabores y Lenguas"
- "Flavors and Tongues" in English
- part of a project by the Food Culture
Museum. French architect and designer Jean
Novel will also be featured during the biennial,
along with fellow French artists Anne and
Patrick Poirier.
Iranian Shirin Neshat, considered one of
the most emblematic artists of the Islamic
world, will exhibit a collection of videos
dealing with social and gender conflicts,
drawing inspiration from his own culture.
The public will get the chance to study
the work of U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick,
who traveled earlier this month to Caracas
to photograph thousands of Venezuelans posing
in the nude on a major thoroughfare. Tunick,
who delights in juxtaposing privacy with
public space, has organized more than 75
such photographs of nude gatherings in the
Americas and Europe over more than a decade.
Also participating in the biennial will
be a collection of Cuban artists, including
Agustin Bejarano, Luis Enrique Camejo and
Tania Bruguera.
Preservationist to help restore Hemmingway's
boat
MYSTIC, Connecticut, 25 (AP) - A team of
preservationists will travel to Cuba on
Sunday to examine author Ernest Hemingway's
fishing boat.
Members of the Boston-based Hemingway Preservation
Foundation will travel to Finca Vigia, Hemingway's
Cuban estate, where they will examine the
Pilar.
Hemingway sailed the 12-metre boat when
he lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1960, and
is said to have conceived some of his greatest
works, including The Old Man and the Sea,
while aboard.
The group is working with the Cuban government
to preserve the Pilar, Hemingway's home
and the thousands of Hemingway drafts, manuscripts,
letters, photographs and books stored there.
The home is considered of such importance
that the National Trust for Historic Preservation
placed it on its 2005 list of America's
11 Most Endangered Historic Places even
though it is not in the United States
The fear is that the warm, humid conditions
will eventually damage the papers, which
include the never-published epilogue of
For Whom the Bell Tolls.
The Pilar is stored under a metal roof
on a former tennis court on the estate.
Hemingway bought the Pilar, a Wheeler Playmate,
in 1934 from a shipyard in Brooklyn, New
York. In his will, he left the vessel to
his boatman, who gave it to the Cuban government.
Miranda adds Cuban salsa flavour to
Canadian diving double
MELBOURNE, 24 (AFP) - Canada scooped two
Commonwealth gold medals in the diving pool,
with Cuban-born Arturo Miranda erasing his
Olympic heartache with a win he said repaid
an emotional debt to his adopted homeland.
Canada won gold in the men's three metre
synchro springboard and the women's one
metre springboard, while Australia was victorious
in the men's 10 metre synchro platform.
Miranda was born in Cuba but married a
Canadian and moved to Edmonton in 1995.
His last trip to Australia in 2000 ended
with him cooling his heels in the Olympic
athletes' village after a last-minute protest
over his citizenship prevented him from
competing for Canada.
At 35, Miranda said he knew his diving
career was drawing to a close and he was
desperate to win on the international stage
for the Canadian people who had given him
so much.
He achieved the goal in Melbourne when
he won the men's 3 metres synchro springboard
gold medal with partner Alexandre Despatie,
ironically the man who replaced him when
he was pulled from the Sydney Olympic squad.
"This medal is just to give a little
back what Canada's given to me, it's incredible,"
Miranda said.
"They've taken me in, they fight for
me very hard and they did everything for
me, so I just work harder for them."
Miranda's Sydney disappointment was the
third time he had missed out on Olympic
competition after he qualified for Cuba
in 1992 but officials refused to send him
to Barcelona because they did not rate his
medal prospects.
He was ineligible for the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics because he had only just moved
to Canada.
Miranda said the Commonwealth gold made
up for the low points in his roller-coaster
career.
"It means a lot to me," he said.
"I tend to forget about the past and
keep moving, I just have fun every day."
The Canadians led throughout the six-round
final, finishing on 444.87 points, ahead
of England's Antonio Ally and Mark Shipman
(423.00) and Australia's Robert Newbery
and Steven Barnett (421.35).
The win was Despatie's third gold medal
in Melbourne and he remains on track to
become the first diver to take a cleansweep
of all the individual diving events at a
Commonwealth Games.
In the women's one metre springboard, it
was a case of third time lucky for Blythe
Hartley, who had to settle for silver in
the event at the 1998 and 2002 Games.
She won her event with 644.65 points, ahead
of Australians Sharleen Stratton (596.45)
and Kathryn Blackshaw (544.4).
Earlier, Australia's Newbery won a gold
medal in the 10m synchro platform to match
the one won by his wife Chantelle on Wednesday.
Newbery and partner Mathew Helm, Atlanta
Olympic bronze medallists in the event,
fended off a strong challenge from the young
Malaysian pair of Bryan Nickson and James
Sandayud.
They won with 440.58 points, ahead of Malaysia's
on 427.44.
England's Gary Hunt and Callum Johnstone
finished third on 404.82 but no bronze medal
was awarded as only four teams contested
the event.
Cuban Militant to Stay in U.S. Custody
By Curt Anderson, Associated
Press Writer. March 22, 2006.
MIAMI - A Cuban militant accused of masterminding
the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner will
remain in U.S. immigration custody for the
foreseeable future, but efforts to deport
him to a country willing to accept him will
continue, officials say.
Luis Posada Carriles was arrested in Miami
in May after illegally entering the United
States through Mexico. He is being held
by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
in El Paso, Texas.
ICE issued a statement saying that Posada
will not be released from its custody "at
this time" and that further review
was needed to determine where he could be
sent.
A federal immigration judge ruled last
fall that Posada could not be deported to
Cuba or Venezuela, citing the possibility
he could be tortured.
That prohibition, according to the ICE
statement, "does not impede ICE from
removing Mr. Posada to a third country."
Posada's attorney in Miami, Eduardo Soto,
said the agency's decision appears to be
an attempt to keep Posada in custody indefinitely
without just cause and that he plans to
ask a federal court to free him.
"Obviously, this is going to come
to a head very quickly here," Soto
said. "They've got to show some likelihood
that he is going to a third country or they
have to release him."
His lawyers have said they want assurances
that any third country would not then send
him to Cuba or Venezuela.
Posada, a former CIA operative and a fervent
foe of Cuban President Fidel Castro, is
accused by Cuba and Venezuela of plotting
the 1976 bombing while living in Venezuela.
He has denied involvement in the bombing,
which killed 73 people.
Posada escaped from a Venezuelan prison
in 1985 while awaiting retrial on the airline
bombing charges, and Venezuela has formally
sought his extradition. He also has been
linked to a series of 1997 bombings in Cuba,
one of which killed an Italian tourist.
In 2004, Posada and three others were pardoned
by Panama's president for their alleged
roles in a plot to assassinate Castro during
a conference in Panama in 2000. Some Cuban-Americans
consider him a freedom fighter.
Meanwhile, a federal judge has ordered
the U.S. Marshals Service to deliver Posada
to Fort Lauderdale for the May trial of
one of his close associates. Santiago Alvarez
faces federal weapons charges involving
a cache of machine guns, a grenade launcher,
explosives and silencers.
Growing number of exiles choose Cuba
to rest in peace
It costs more and takes
longer, but more Cubans are fulfilling their
wish to return to the island -- even after
death.
By Yudy Pineiro, ypineiro@MiamiHerald.com.
Posted on Sat, Mar. 25, 2006.
Magalis Hernandez hadn't seen her son since
he left Cuba for Miami seven years ago.
The 27-year-old, Michael Sanchez, finally
returned last month -- in a coffin.
Miami relatives and friends of Sanchez
paid $6,500 to return him to his mom in
Ciego de Avila after he died in a January
car accident near his Tennessee home.
''Thanks to them, I have him here next
to me -- even though he is gone,'' Hernandez
said.
Sanchez is one of a growing number of exiled
Cubans who returned home after death.
''That's where they grew up. That's their
heritage,'' said Evelyn Vargas, a licensed
funeral director who handles out-of-country
shipments for Florida Funeral Home in Miami.
"They wanted to go back to their country,
and I guess they never made it.''
Funeral directors say the number of shipments
has doubled in the past year or so as domestic
funeral costs rise, more people realize
tightened remittances and other restrictions
do not apply -- and older generations of
Cuban exiles continue to die.
''It's a shame they have to go back that
way,'' Vargas said.
There are no records on how many bodies
are shipped annually to Cuba, according
to the office of Vital Statistics for Florida,
the Cuban Interests Section, and the U.S.
Treasury Department, which oversees the
trade embargo with Cuba.
But Florida Funeral Home -- one of a dozen
licensed by the Treasury Department to make
the shipments to Cuba -- sent nearly 80
last year, up from 25 in 2004. National
Funeral Homes Group, another local operator,
sent about 240 last year.
HELPS CASTRO?
Some Cuban exile leaders and Cuban funeral
home operators oppose the practice, contending
it aids the Castro government, which collects
fees on shipments.
''The only purpose it serves is to give
Castro money,'' said Jose Basulto of Brothers
to the Rescue, an anti-Castro group that
flew missions searching for Cuban rafters.
Some refuse to go back -- dead or alive
-- until Fidel Castro no longer leads Cuba,
and many leave dying wishes to be sent once
he is gone.
More moderate exile leaders say nothing
should stop someone from burying a loved
one near family.
''Does Fidel Castro benefit? Yes,'' said
Joe Garcia, former executive director of
the Cuban American National Foundation.
"But you know what? Fidel Castro benefits
more from other things than a poor guy sending
his dead mother back. If my mother asked
me to bury her on the moon, I would send
her to the moon.''
Garcia did fault the Cuban government for
what it charges for the process. The average
cost, excluding airfare and storage of the
body: $2,795 for a body; $2,000 for ashes.
A chunk of the money -- $1,120 -- goes to
the Cuban government.
Price to ship anywhere else out of the
country, plane ticket and all: about $2,500.
COMPLEX PROCESS
The process is time-consuming, as well:
Shipping remains to Cuba takes up to a month,
compared to three days for other countries.
The trade embargo funnels requests through
the U.S. government's Cuban Interests Section,
and then the Cuban government ''takes their
sweet time'' in reviewing the paperwork,
Vargas said.
Eight documents, including a letter certifying
that the person did not have a contagious
disease, must be filled out in Spanish and
English and approved.
''Cuba won't take anybody with tuberculosis,
or another contagious disease,'' said Rafaiy
Alkhalifa, owner of National Funeral Homes
Group, which shipped Sanchez to Cuba.
He said he is seeing a rapid rise in the
number of ship-outs to other countries,
as well, in part because burying a loved
one locally costs even more.
The fees for a wake, coffin and cemetery
space in the United States easily can soar
past $6,000.
Many countries have public cemeteries where
people bury relatives for free, Alkhalifa
said. Buying a cemetery plot "is very
much an American thing.''
Alkhalifa said he prepares about 120 funerals
a month at his three funeral homes and ships
about a third to foreign lands -- twice
as many as he did two years ago.
BURIED NEAR FAMILY
He said some of the Cubans he ships out
have few relatives in the United States.
Hispanic customs also contribute to the
high figures.
''Hispanics like to be buried near family,''
he said. "What you have is closure.''
Daniel Tapanes, 30, of Miami, said his
father had been thinking a lot about home
in the weeks before he passed away in a
Boston hospital on Feb. 3. So he wanted
to send him back.
''My dad always told me that he didn't
care. He said I shouldn't spend the money,''
said Tapanes, who spent $6,000 on the shipping.
"But I think he'll like it there.''
Julio Tapanes, 65, went home to his sister
and brother in Matanzas on March 14.
As for the deceased Michael Sanchez, Miami
cousin Elbya Hernandez said his case was
a bit different. They sent him because his
mother "was desperate to see her son
again.''
Sanchez arrived at Clavel funeral home
in Ciego De Avila on Feb. 17, 44 days after
dying.
He was buried that weekend at Santa Catalina
Cemetery near his grandparents in the family
mausoleum.
In keeping with tradition, the family will
dig up the body after it has decayed, place
the bones in a container, and slide it to
the back to make room for the next relative.
Magalis Hernandez plans to visit her son's
grave regularly, a 40-minute bike ride.
''He always used to tell me to keep the
faith, that the day would come that we would
see each other again,'' she said in tears.
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