All posts by Casa de las Americas

Casa de las Américas (Casa) is a New York-based organization of Cuban emigrants who support the revolution. Beginning in 1955, the July 26 Committee was established in NY for the purpose of supporting the armed struggle that was taking place in Cuba against the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Shortly after the triumph of the revolution in 1959, the Committee was renamed Casa Cuba, which later became Casa de las Américas.
Puerto Rico Struggle

El Comite del PIP de Arroyo

6 Comments

El Comité del PIP de Arroyo te invita a una Tarde Boricua

* Estará con nosotros el candidato a Alcalde y Compañero, Justo Echevarría
* Ven a compartir con muchos amigos y amigas
* Música, Videos, y Sorteos

CUANDO: SABADO, 2 DE JUNIO
HORA: 2 DE LA TARDE
ADONDE: CASA DE LAS AMERICAS – 182 ESTE CALLE 111
ENTRE LEXINGTON Y 3RA AVENIDA, MANHATTAN
(SUBWAY #6 HASTA LA 110 Y LEXINGTON)

* Entremeses
* Refrigerios para la venta
* Concluiremos con un asopao de gandules, con bollitas de plátano

[718] 810-3988 (Magdalena)
[212] 464-8089 (Eric)

DONATIVO: $20.00

¡Nos Vemos El Sabado 2 de Junio, 2012 – 2 de la tarde . . .

Frank Velgara

Campaña ProLibertad

Uncategorized

The people stand against NATO

4 Comments

Originally posted by A.N.S.W.E.R

“NATO: Shut it Down! Wall Street: Shut it Down! Homeland Security: Shut it Down!” That forceful chant rang out as protesters, many thousands strong, marched on the NATO Summit on May 20 in Chicago.

Responding with determination in the face of an organized campaign of government threats and intimidation aimed at anti-NATO protesters, an impressive number of young people, union members, antiwar organizations and community members filled the streets to demand “U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan Now!” during the opening day of the NATO Summit.

The Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda (CANG8) estimates the crowd size as about 15,000.

In the week leading up to the NATO Summit, thousands of people marched and rallied in Chicago. The actions included a large rally of nurses demanding higher taxes on the rich and a march on Mayor Emanuel’s house, 1,000 people strong, which demanded “Health Care not Warfare!”

People came in buses, by train and by car caravan from all over the country to take a stand in Chicago against imperialist war and capitalist austerity.

In a moving display of solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and the Middle East at the end of the march, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans took off their medals and hurled them toward the NATO Summit grounds. One of those who returned his medals, Marine Vince Emmanuelli, said: “Our enemies are right here and we look at them every day. … They are the millionaires and billionaires who control this planet and we’ve had enough of it.” (WBEZ Chicago)

Months-long campaign against protesters

Though the military machines of NATO are the greatest purveyors of violence in the world, local and federal law enforcement agencies and the media engaged in a months-long attack campaign against protesters and protest groups.

The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild set up a 24-hour hotline to provide support for people who were arrested before and during the NATO protest.

Prior to the May demonstration, the NLG Chicago chapter reported:

“More than two-dozen people had been arrested so far in the lead up to the NATO summit. At least 7 arrestees in addition to the ones with terrorism-related charges are currently in custody.

“During a Wednesday night house raid, police broke down the doors of multiple apartment units with guns drawn and searched residences without a warrant or consent. In addition to 9 arrests made that night, NLG attorneys believe that two undercover police or confidential informants were arrested with the others and were later released. Of the 9 activists arrested, 6 were released without any charges despite being shackled for at least 18 hours in solitary confinement and denied access to attorneys.”

At the May 20 mass march, a police mob surrounded and brutally attacked the demonstration as it was winding down, swinging their clubs at people’s heads and injuring many dozens. At least 45 people were arrested. Among those injured were ministers, community activists, journalists and others who tried to rescue people from police.

‘The people will not be bullied or silenced by the police and government’

The ANSWER Coalition in Chicago went all out to build the March on the NATO Summit, both through street outreach and social media outlets, and had a big presence at the protest with banners and placards and large amplified sound that unified large numbers of marchers with booming chants. The banners and placards read: “No War on Iran! Hands off Syria!”, “Troops Home Now! Money for Jobs and Education!”, “Unite the 99%: Fight Racism!” and “U.S./NATO Out of Afghanistan Now!”

Asked what she thought of the protest, ANSWER organizer Ymelda Viramontes said: “Today’s protest shows that the people can and will resist the government and Wall Street’s attempts to bully and silence us. The number of people that came out into the streets of downtown today to show solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, Iran and Syria and demand no U.S. or NATO intervention—that’s a good indication that we can build a powerful movement against war and racism right here in the U.S.”

The people stand against NATO

Cuban Culture

US Prize Awarded to Cuban Poet Nancy Morejon

10 Comments

By Prensa Latina

Cuban writer and poet Nancy Morejon said she was surprised for the work/life award granted to her recently in San Francisco, California, by the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).

“It took me by surprise; I did not expect it,” the author of “Piedra Pulida” (Polished Stone) told Prensa Latina.

She said it is not a book or an essay; it is an important award that recognizes an author’s career.

Born on August 7, 1944, Morejon is one of the most prestigious writers and poets in the Island, and has devoted part of her career to study Caribbean literature and the work by Nicolas Guillen.

She is a full member of the Cuban Academy of Language since 1999, and was awarded the National Literature Prize in 2001.

She also is bestowed with the Officer of the National Order of Merit of France.

Considered the largest association around the world, LASA groups figures and institutions devoted to Latin American studies. Its main mission is promoting intellectual debate, research and teaching about the region.

 

US Prize Awarded to Cuban Poet Nancy Morejon

Cuba - Social, Mariela Castro

Contemporary LGBT rights in Cuba with Mariela CASTRO‏

9 Comments

Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
PROGRAM LOCATIONS:
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street
New York, NY 10018-2788

Fully accessible to wheelchairs
First come, first served – Seating is limited and will be first come first served.
Initial funding of the LGBT Initiative provided by Time Warner Inc.

Mariela Castro¡Saludos! Greetings!

The program with Mariela Castro and Rea Carey on May 29 is ‘Sold Out!’ . . . and with all the negative publicity by the right it is important that those of us who did not get to register come out to show our support/solidarity with this important event.

Say ¡Presente! on May 29th! Bring your solidarity, flags, posters, etc. as we gather in front of the NYC Public Library.

Abrazos Solidarios,

Frank Velgara

 

In 2010 the Cuban government began providing sex reassignment surgery free of charge as part of their universal healthcare. This was the result of several years of work by the Cuban National Center for Sex Education under the leadership of Mariela Castro Espín, niece of Fidel Castro and daughter of current Cuban president Raúl Castro. The current developments in LGBT rights in Cuba are remarkable given the discrimination suffered by gays, lesbians, and transgender people in Cuba in the 20th century, as well as comparison with current LGBT movements in the U.S. and abroad.

Please join us on Tuesday May 29th at 7pm in the Trustees Room of the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building as Mariela Castro Espín and Rea Carey, Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, discuss the current international context of LGBT rights, including issues of sexual identity and orientation in contemporary Cuba.

Mariela Castro Espín is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX). She was President of the Cuban Society for the Multidisciplinary Study of Sexuality (SOCUMES) from 2000 to 2010. She is president of the Cuban Multidisciplinary Centre for the Study of Sexuality, president of the National Commission for Treatment of Disturbances of Gender Identity, member of the Direct Action Group for Preventing, Confronting, and Combatting AIDS, and an executive member of the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS). She is also the director of the journal Sexología y Sociedad, a magazine of Sexology edited by her own National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX). She is the author of 9 books, published in Cuba and abroad, among them Transexuality in Cuba (Havana, CENESEX Publishing House, 2008). In 2009 she was awarded with the Public Service Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), and in 2012 she received the Eureka Award for Academic Excellence, given by the World Council of University Academy (COMAU).She is married with 3 children.

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, is one of the most prominent leaders in the U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights movement. Carey, who came to the Task Force in 2004 as deputy executive director, has served as executive director since 2008.  Through her leadership, Carey has advanced a vision of fairness and justice for LGBT people and their families that is broad, inclusive and unabashedly progressive. Prior to her work with the Task Force, Carey worked extensively in HIV/AIDS prevention and in the LGBT community as one of the co-founders of Gay Men and Lesbians Opposing Violence and the founding executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition. She has also served as an advisor to major donors and foundations, and has served on the advisory boards for such wide-ranging publications as Teen People magazine and the Georgetown University Journal of Gender and the Law. She serves on the Advisory Board of theLGBTQ Policy Journal, of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government

Contemporary LGBT rights in Cuba with Mariela CASTRO‏