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☆ Cuban family business produces flour from coconut and yucca amid shortages
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Alien Fernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Entrepreneur Gabriel Perez, 38, poses for a photo as he checks slices of banana put to dry in his farmland in the rural outskirts of Havana, Cuba, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini Acquire Licensing RightsHAVANA, Nov 28 (Reuters) - On a small farm outside Havana, a Cuban family-run business produces gluten-free flour from banana, coconut and yucca, preferring locally-sourced ingredients to pricey imports as Cubans seek innovative solutions to a growing food crisis. His business, Bacoretto, dries and mills yucca, rice, banana and coconut into organic flour preferred by gluten-intolerant consumers, who have only recently been able to find food products tailored to their dietary needs in Cuba. Byproducts of their processes are used to make coconut oil, coconut-fiber rope, vinegar and fermented products and sweets, Perez told Reuters. It produces 6 to 8 kilograms (13.2 to 17.6 pounds) of flour a week, Perez said, in small batches, in addition to byproducts, with a staff of eight people.

Persons: Gabriel Perez, Alexandre Meneghini, Perez, Fidel Castro's, Alien Fernandez, Nelson Acosta, Bill Berkrot Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Havana, Cuba, Rights HAVANA, Caribbean

☆ EU human rights envoy in Cuba to discuss aftermath of 2021 protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

European Union's Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, speaks during a meeting with Cuban authorities in Havana, Cuba, November 24, 2023. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, on a visit to Cuba earlier this year, announced Gilmore`s visit but told reporters the EU would not "impose" demands on the island`s government. Rights groups say around 1,000 Cubans were jailed for their political beliefs following the demonstrations and several subsequent protests. "No one is convicted for their political opinions," Cuba`s foreign ministry said prior to Gilmore`s visit on social media. "We call on the Cuban government to respect the human rights of everyone, including the rights of political prisoners and those unjustly detained."

Persons: Eamon Gilmore, Alexandre Meneghini, Gilmore, Josep Borrell, Fidel Castro's, Luis Barrios Díaz, la Torre, Barrios Diaz `, Dave Sherwood, Alien Fernandez Organizations: Human Rights, Cuban, REUTERS, Rights, EU, European Union, U.S, U.S ., Thomson Locations: Havana, Cuba, Rights HAVANA, United States, EU, Cuban

[1/4] Karolina Vasquez Ramirez plays with her dogs Bingo and Dasha in her home before departing to the airport, in Havana, Cuba, October 25, 2023. It has been very cumbersome," said Osorio, who helped Cuban migrant Karolina Vazquez reunite with her dogs Bingo and Sasha in the United States. "Many of the migrants still cannot come (back to Cuba) and so they rely on third parties to send them their pet." The U.S., the top destination for migrants, has placed Cuba on a list of countries with a high risk of dog rabies, adding additional hoops to the process. Cuba does not have a U.S.-approved laboratory, Vidal told Reuters, which means rabies blood tests must be sent abroad for analysis.

Persons: Karolina Vasquez Ramirez, Dasha, Carlos Carrillo, Nathalie Osorio, Osorio, Karolina Vazquez, Sasha, Maria Gloria Vidal, Vidal, Alien Fernandez, Anett Rios, Dave Sherwood, Sandra Maler Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Cuba's National Center for Animal Sanitation, Thomson Locations: Havana, Cuba, Rights HAVANA, Fort Lauderdale , Florida, chihuahua, Cuban, United States, U.S

☆ As crisis deepens, Cubans scramble to migrate by any means
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Dave Sherwood | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The crowded terminal, a launch point for Cubans making their way by air to Nicaragua then overland to the United States, is one barometer of the frenzy to migrate from the communist-run island nation. For many, like Echavarria and his wife, it has also become a last resort as Cuba's economic crisis deepens with no end in sight. 'I GOT LUCKY'Artist Ernesto Perez, 51, told Reuters he had waited since 2015 for his turn to enter the United states legally under a family reunification program. Cuba blames the long-running U.S. trade embargo and Trump-era sanctions for fueling the economic crisis and the exodus of more than 400,000 Cubans leaving for the United States in the last two years. For many Cubans, however, Nicaragua remains the only viable option for getting off the island, said Yoany Bilbao, a 28-year old auto mechanic.

Persons: Alexandre Meneghini, Echavarria, Olga, Joe Biden, Alain Ferguson, Ferguson, Ernesto Perez, Perez, Brian Nichols, Yoany, Dave Sherwood, Ted Hesson, Ismael Lopez, Alien Fernandez, Mario Fuentes, Nelson Acosta, Mica Rosenberg, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, U.S, Central America, West, CBP, United, Trump, Senior U.S . Department of State, Thomson Locations: Panama, Havana, Cuba, Rights HAVANA, Havana's, Nicaragua, United States, Central, U.S, Florida, Mexico, Washington, San Jose

"Giselle," the Romantic ballet whose title role Alonso is best known for and performed through her 70s, will cap a special gala on Oct. 28, the anniversary date, at the National Theater of Cuba. "Ballet was never (for the) elite in Cuba," said Leonardo Vinageras, a Havana resident and ballet aficionado who attended a recent anniversary event. A ballet dancer warms up backstage before performing "Giselle" during the 27th Alicia Alonso International Ballet Festival of Havana, at the National Theatre, in Havana, Cuba, October 30, 2022. Alonso founded her namesake National Ballet Academy in Cuba in 1948 soon after becoming a star in the New York company that would become the American Ballet Theatre. Inspired by Fidel Castro, Alonso identified herself with his 1959 revolution and moved permanently to Cuba, becoming allies in popularizing ballet with strong government support for the renamed National Ballet of Cuba.

Persons: Alicia Alonso, Giselle, Alonso, Leonardo Vinageras, Alexandre Meneghini, King Louis XIV, Viengsay Valdés, Carlos Acosta, José Manuel Carreño, Fidel Castro, Grettel Morejon, Anett Rios, Alien Fernandez, Richard Chang, David Sherwood, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Ballet, Communist, National Theater of Cuba, Company, of, National Theatre, REUTERS, Bolshoi, Mariinsky, National Ballet of, National Ballet Academy, New York, American Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Thomson Locations: HAVANA, Cuba, Havana, of Havana, National Ballet of Cuba

☆ Cuban entrepreneurs use 'aquaponics' for efficient food production
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Alien Fernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

That's why two young Cuban entrepreneurs decided to turn to aquaponics to combine the two in a bid to get more bang for their buck and at the same time bolster the island's dwindling food supply, they told Reuters. Aquaponics is an aquaculture system in which wastewater from farming fish is fed to hydroponically grown plants like lettuce that purify the water. "From fish to the production of food plants, everything is natural," Lopez said on a tour of the facility outside Havana, home to arrays of fish tanks and greenhouses. Cuba is facing its worst economic downturn in decades, leading to shortages in food, medicine and fuel that has prompted the communist-run government to seek help from entrepreneurs in finding creative solutions. "There's a logic to it for young people, becoming entrepreneurs, to want to move forward, to be economically prosperous," said Jose Antonio Martinez, a former attorney who co-owns JoJo Aquaponics.

Persons: Joel Lopez, JoJo Acuaponics, Lopez, Jose Antonio Martinez, JoJo Aquaponics, Martinez, Alien Fernandez, Mario Fuentes, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Reuters, Thomson Locations: HAVANA, Cuba, Cuban, Aquaponics, Havana, United

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