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Spear Due To Leave Fla. Hospital After
Being Stricken In Cuba
AUGUSTA, Maine, 19 (AP) -- Maine Agriculture
Commissioner Robert Spear is leaving a Florida
hospital Tuesday after being stricken with
an illness while in Cuba earlier this month.
Spear and his wife plan to return to Maine
Wednesday. Spear was flown from Havana to
Miami on April 8 after being stricken by
septic shock while leading an agricultural
trade mission.
The Baldacci administration said the trip
added two more companies under a $10 million
export agreement that was signed in December.
The agreement covered exports of Maine apples,
potatoes, eggs and maple syrup.
The Maine companies added to the agreement
include sardine packer Connors Bumblebee
and Robbins Lumber in Searsmont.
Cuba Says 96.66 Percent of Voters Voted
HAVANA, 18 (AP) - Cuban officials on Monday
said that nearly 97 percent of registered
voters in the country participated in municipal
elections over the weekend.
Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo,
who presides over the National Electoral
Commission, said nearly 8.2 million Cubans,
or 96.66 percent of those registered, went
to the polls Sunday to elect 169 municipal
assemblies across the island of 11 million.
"I don't think any other country has
such a high voter turnout," Cuban President
Fidel Castro said in a televised address
after Diaz presented the results.
Cuba consistently defends its system as
democratic, but critics of Castro's government
argue that tight state control, a heavy
police presence and neighborhood-watch groups
that report on their neighbors prevent any
real political freedom.
Though it is not obligatory to vote, pressure
to participate is high. Municipal and national
elections always have a high turnout.
The municipal elections, dubbed "the
most democratic in the world" by Castro
after he voted Sunday, take place every
2 1/2 years. The turnout in the last municipal
elections was reported to be 95.75 percent.
Under Cuba's one-party system, municipal,
provincial and national representatives
are elected by citizens on a local level.
Anyone can be nominated to these posts,
including nonmembers of the island's ruling
communist party - the only one recognized
in Cuba's constitution.
The island's top leader, however, is not
directly elected by citizens. Representatives
of the National Assembly nominate, then
elect the Cuban president.
Cuban salsa 'master' Juan Pablo Torres
dies at 59
MIAMI, 18 (AFP) - Cuban salsa legend Juan
Pablo Torres, member of the group "Cuban
Masters," has died at the age of 59,
producer Horacio Garcia announced.
Torres, who also played alongside Cachao
and Patato Valdez, died late Sunday in Miami
of an inoperable brain tumor after spending
days in a coma, Garcia said.
Torres was one of the top trombonists in
Cuban music, and recorded more than a dozen
albums with the likes of Bebo Valdez, Tito
Puente, Paquito D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval.
"Torres was, and will forever remain,
one of the true giants not only of Cuban
rhythm, but of music history. The Cuban
nation owes him a debt of gratitude,"
Garcia said in a statement.
The trombonist was born in Puerto Padre,
Cuba, in 1946.
In 2001, he joined the "Cuban Masters,
Los originales" with Cachao Lopez,
Patato Valdez, Jose Fajardo and Alfredo
"Chocolate" Armenteros. Their
album was nominated for a Grammy as well
as a Latin Grammy.
He is survived by his wife and six children.
British rocker Wakeman woos Cuba ahead
of concerts
HAVANA, 18 (AFP) - British rocker Rick
Wakeman, the former keyboard player for
Yes, wooed an audience of reporters and
Cuban musicians ahead of three planned rock
concerts later this week.
Speaking of his desire to visit Cuba for
the past 20 years, Wakeman said rock music
signifies liberty of the soul.
"Progressive rock signifies liberty.
Music touches what you want it to touch,"
the British rocker said through a translator.
"Progressive music, like jazz, gives
us the liberty of saying what we want to
say," he said.
The British rocker's statements appeared
to go down well with Carlos Alfonso, director
of the group Sintesis, who will support
Wakeman's final gig in Jose Marti plaza.
"It makes me very happy when he speaks
of the liberty of music, because it's the
best way to describe this music," Alfonso
said.
Wakeman often used humor during the press
conference. A ringing mobile telephone briefly
interrupted the session, before Wakeman
quickly quipped: "If it's one of my
ex-wifes, I'm not here."
The rocker will perform two concerts on
April 22 and 23 in the Karl Marx theatre
which has a capacity of 5,000, he will be
accompanyed by the Swiss group Cross Fires
and the New English Rock Ensemble from Britain.
His final concert will occur in Jose Marti
Plaza, when he will be supported by Sintesis.
Castro Criticizes EU Over Guantanamo
Probe
Monday April 18, AP.
President Fidel Castro on Sunday mocked
the European Union for failing to back Cuba's
call for a U.N. investigation into U.S.
treatment of terror suspects at the Guantanamo
Bay.
Cuba asked the U.N. Human Rights Commission
in Geneva last week to ask Washington to
authorize an independent investigation into
the situation at the U.S. naval base in
eastern Cuba.
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
called on European nations to back the resolution
asking for an inquiry.
The European Union "does not have
any intention of doing so," EU spokeswoman
Krisztina Nagy said.
Castro scorned the rejection Sunday.
"We were thinking too highly, and
too honorably, of the European community"
to imagine they would back the project,
Castro said.
Castro also downplayed the importance of
the European Union to Cuba, saying the island
doesn't accept financial support from EU
governments.
"We've renounced humanitarian aid
(from Europe), we don't need it," Castro
said.
The Cuban leader also lamented new alliances
between formerly communist Eastern European
nations and the United States, saying former
Soviet satellites "are now rotating
in the orbit of the (American) empire."
Cubans Fall In Kindelan's Absence
SportingLife.com, April
16, 2005.
Great Britain and Ireland recorded an impressive
6-2 victory over Cuba at Dublin's National
Stadium after Olympic champion Mario Kindelan
was forced to withdraw at late notice.
Kindelan, who has been lined-up to face
Amir Khan in a rematch of their Athens final
next month, said that he had sustained an
injury during his victory over Frankie Gavin
in Liverpool last week.
Ireland's Conor Ahern, Andy Lee, David
Oliver Joyce, Eric Donovan and Karl Brabazon
were all victorious while England's Ian
Lewinson won at super-heavyweight after
Leovan Hernandez suffered a shoulder injury
in the third round.
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