To be an amateur boxer in Cuba is something to be proud of – not so much for the monetary compensation, as none of the athletes have achieved affluence through their fame, but for the widespread recognition as the whole country cheers the achievements of its players. As Alberto Puig de la Barca, president of Cuba Boxing Federation, once said to CNN: "Our boxers may not have a million dollars, but they have 11 million Cubans who support them."

Cubaexport and partner Pernod Ricard have won the rights to sell the rum brand Havana Club in the United States, after legal wranglings with Bacardi that spanned nearly two decades.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office confirmed recently that the Cuban state company has the right to use the Havana Club trademark and​ remain the official distributor of the spirited drink in the U.S. The brand has been sold under the Bacardi guise since 1994, when the drinks company purchased its naming rights in the U.S., and starting producing the liquor from Puerto Rico.

After three years of restoration efforts, Cuban officials reopened the iconic Great Theater of Havana Friday on the occasion of the 57th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.

On the eve of the annual Havana Film Festival, a camera crew wrap up a long day's shoot on the backstreets of the capital.

The Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema is one of the most popular events to take place in the capital, as well as other provinces. The long queues outside cinemas to see the films in competition, both Latin American and Cuban, are already familiar.

"Charismatic Acosta is one of the very best dancers of his generation. He has only to stand still on stage and all eyes are drawn to him." Evening Standard

Septeto Santiaguero won its first Latin Grammy this November, in the category of Best Traditional Tropical Album for its CD 'No quiero llanto: Tributo a Los Compadres', recorded with Dominican José Alberto, "El Canario."

So Cuba did not win the Guinness World Record for the biggest Rueda de Casino (salsa wheel dance) this November but 482 couples had a very good try on Havana's Malecon for 15 minutes, possibly the longest time

"La gozadera," by Puerto Rican singer, Marc Anthony, and Cuban band, Gente de Zona, won here two Lucas awards, for the best video clip of the year in Cuba, during a gala in which Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias was also awarded.

In November The Guardian news site offered a webchat with Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta:

Wifredo Lam's work lies between East and West, Surrealism and tradition, Africa and the Caribbean, Europe and America. Lam's career covers academic training in 1920's Madrid, an encounter with Cubism and Surrealism in Paris, collaboration with André Breton and others in Marseille in 1940-1, and his engagement with Caribbean intellectuals in Martinique, Haiti and Cuba during and after the Second World War. His work which defined new ways of painting for the New World, was greeted with consternation and acclaim in New York. Later in his career he worked alongside Fontana and the Situationists in Europe during the 1960s.
Tracing a career of fifty years, this exhibition is made in collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, Paris and the Reina Sofia in Madrid. It is the first museum exhibition in London since 1952 of this artist's work and confirms Wifredo Lam's place at the centre of global modernism.

As the U.S. and Cuba re-establish diplomatic relations, Latin music execs are scouting the island for crossover hits.

Ivan Giroud, president of the Havana Film Festival (3-13 December 2015, Havana) is now considered one of the most qualified specialists in Latin American Cinema.

NEW YORK — In 1973, a group of mostly classically trained musicians formed a band that changed the direction of Cuba's music and reached the American mainstream for the first time since the U.S. had severed diplomatic ties with the government of Fidel Castro in 1962. With a virtuoso technique, the group smashed together an explosive mix of traditional Cuban influences, Afro-Cuban rhythms, funk, jazz rock and classical.

"This is the time for curiosity and for skepticism, for openness and for critical thinking, for inspiration and for action" announces the spot promoting the TEDx festivals. This event comes to Cuba for the second time in its edition Futurisla with the purpose to facilitate a world communication about a shared future, and it is created from TED (technology, entertainment and design), a non-profit organization dedicated to those ideas that are worth to be spread.