We, the Cuban artists and writers, kindly address you in relation with the outrageous and incredible policy change made the past June 16th by the President of the United States.

"Graphic design is the most difficult among all the specialties of the visual arts because you can not be yourself. It is about getting a large mass of people to acquire or take a service, product or idea that we show, unlike a painter, for example, who is self-confident first when doing a work. A graphic designer has to achieve a consensus, pure technical creation, with the client, be it an individual, a state or a system of faith. It is a matter of satisfying that demand of others and that which the public may have. However, as with design, in general, this specialty is sometimes underestimated. "

Three years ago, the young writer and promoter Yecenia Ramírez Sosa (Guantánamo, 1985) created, with some friends, the Literary Promotion Project ‘Graphomania'. It is a project that marked the beginning of a new generation of writers from the eastern province of Guantánamo, born since 1980, which has resulted in the presentation of their first published writing at this year's International Book Fair in February in Cuba.

Yubis Zapata had to stop playing baseball when he lost his eyesight during military service due to an explosion, so for him, it is a miracle to be able to play once more, in Cuba's growing league for the blind.

The album Sobreviviente, by popular duet Buena Fe, won the Grand Prize at Cubadisco 2017 International Fair, which took place in Havana 14-21 May.
Recorded with local record label EGREM, the work includes 13 tracks written by Israel Rojas, and one co-authored with Frank Delgado and Vicente Trigo. The album won two other awards for Best Fusion Album and Best Sound Realization, announced in the awards gala held at Havana´s Astral Theatre.

With a concert in the capital John Lennon Park, today (1 June 2017) Cuba remembers The Beatles, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, considered the best album by the legendary British band.

The most recent film by the Cuban director Fernando Pérez, Last Days in Havana, will go on general release across Cuba from 1 June, after winning several international awards.

Cuba's National Sex Education Center (CENESEX), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MINED), kicked off a year-long anti-bullying initiative that will focus on teacher training, support materials, and methodology to prevent homo- and transphobia bullying in the nation's schools.

Cuba will only be represented by one team from the University of Havana (UH) in the finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest of the Association of Computer Machines (AMC-ICPC), known globally as the Computing Soccer World championship, before the United States authorities' refusal to grant visas to a team of Pinar del Rio's Hermanos Saíz University.

At the event which took place in South Dakota, USA May 20-25 with over one hundred universities from 44 countries participating, Cuba was represented by the UH++ Alma Mater team, while Pinar del Rio's sUrPRise team was denied participation.

The oral narrator Zaida Montells Mendoza received the Special Award for Living Heritage 2017 during the opening session of the 7th Conference on Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, which takes place in Camaguey this May.

The 14th Design Week, May 8-12 in Cuba's capital, concluded with the convocation of the 2019 Havana Biennial of Design, to be focused on "Design beyond form."

Cuba celebrated Africa Day this Thursday, May 25, with an event held in Havana, attended by members of the Party Political Bureau, Salvador Valdés Mesa, a vice president of the Council of State; Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of the National Assembly of People's Power; and Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, minister of Foreign Affairs.

We have two tickets to see Cubanisimo! led by Jesús Alemañy in London on Friday 16 June to give away, courtesy of Marco and HavanatoLondres!

Dear Friends:

Waning cinema attendance is a phenomenon affecting today's film industry, as spectators abandon theaters, preferring to watch movies in the comfort of their own homes. In Cuba however, although the number of cinemas has been declining, there still exists a genuine passion for film.