Translated by Brian Schwarz
Originally published Friday, December 11, 2009 in "Cinco de Septiembre" (5septiembre.cu) under the heading Cumple Refinería de Cienfuegos plan anual de producción by Ramón Barreras Ferrán
[NOTE: Free press does not exist in Cuba, hence the “official” tone of this article.]
CIENFUEGOS, CUBA – In another demonstration that stability and efficiency are primary strengths of the Cienfuegos Petroleum Refinery since restarting operations, the plant’s annual production plan – which calls for more than 20.8 million barrels of processed crude – has been completed 11 days ahead of schedule.
That figure is expected to grow in the remaining days of December, bringing the number closer to 40 million barrels of processed crude. The new success of the Cuban-Venezuelan joint venture company, PDV-Cupet, which is charged with administration of the plant, makes for an excellent introduction to the next Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the first diplomatic efforts for which began in Havana today.
In time, [the success of Cienfuegos plant] will be joined by the kick off of the plants that will form [the company] Polo Petrochemicals of Cienfuegos, the first of which will be POLIALBA, or the Polyethanol Bags Factory.
The project to increase capacity from 65,000 to 150,000 barrels of crude daily at the Camilo Cienfuegos Refinery now will successfully be under way.
As part of the anticipated investments in the expansion program, four new storage tanks are in the final phase of completion, thanks to the progress made by the builders using a designated automatic welding machine for making the five steel wrings that hold the structure together.
Currently, the plant has the capacity to store 4.2 million barrels. The new tanks will be essential to hold even more crude and to securely maintain finished products, such as aircraft fuel.
The expansion program has the possibility of increasing added value through profound conversion schemes and by obtaining prime materials for the petrochemicals industry, which will guarantee its economic viability.
Planned projects include reactivating the diesel hydrorefinery in order to improve production quality, completing a comprehensive study of the bay for the provision of crude and delivery of finished products in a secure manner, as well as the revitalization of the Matanzas-Cienfuegos oil pipeline.
The building of a liquid natural gas plant that would double the country’s current production capacity is also forecast.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Eliana and Osvaldo: The first gay couple to formalize their union in Río Cuarto
Translated by Brian SchwarzOriginally published Friday, December 11, 2009 in "La Voz" (lavoz.com.ar) under the heading Eliana y Osvaldo, la primera pareja gay en formalizar su unión
RIO CUARTO, ARGENTINA - Eliana Alcaraz, 43, and Osvaldo Quevado, 47, became the first gay couple to register their civil union in Río Cuarto in a ceremony carried out at city hall.
Today, the couple of 23 years finally held a certified wedding ceremony, although Eliana was named “Ariel Ceferino”, the name that appears on his national identity document (DNI), according to Telediario Digital.
“I’m happy, proud. We’re going for more…for marriage. Thanks to all who have come with us”, said Eliana, according to Río Cuarto radio station Lv16.
The father of bricklayer Osvaldo appeared emotional at the end of the ceremony. “I’m happy that it turned out like this”, he said. “They are both hard workers. (…) They have been together 22 years. She is a very good person…they get along very well”.
Alcaraz’ mother said of her daughter, “She has a heart of gold; she deserves this”.
One of the witnesses of the union was town councilwoman Viviana Yawny, a proponent of the civil unions project.
Mayor Juan Jure met this noon with the couple to greet them, and he excused himself from being absent [at the ceremony], saying he would be traveling. He did promise, however, to attend the reception tonight.
Venezuela completes delivery of Mirage aircraft to Ecuador
Translated by Brian SchwarzOriginally published Friday, December 11, 2009 in "El Comercio" of Ecuador (elcomercio.com) under the heading Venezuela completa la entrega de aviones Mirage a Ecuador
MARACAY, VENEZUELA - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday dispatched during an anniversary ceremony for the Venezuelan Air Force the final three Mirage 50 aircraft being donated to Ecuador.
“With this act the departure of our Mirage airplanes to Ecuador becomes a reality, and there are those who say they are just scrap metal, but they are combat aircraft in perfect condition”, Chavez said.
Chavez stated that “three of these already have arrived there” in the month of October, and “these three make the six [we promised]”.
The ceremony, held in the city of Maracay, some 100 Kilometers from Caracas, Ecuadorian pilots led by the defense envoy from the Ecuadorian Embassy in Caracas, Colonel of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Ramón Paz y Miño and major Santiago Galarza.
The president emphasized that the gesture is a “reaffirmation” of the “true South American unity” that drives his government and and assures that the donated aircraft will “help defend the sovereignty and peace of Ecuador”.
In January, Chavez also recalled, the first six Chinese-built K8 airplanes and the Brazilian-made T27s arrived in Venezuela.
On Thursday the president issued a decree that changed the air force’s anniversary date to November 27 in commemoration of the uprising of pilots who sought to reissue Chavez’ failed coup [on then constitutional president Carlos Andrés Pérez] on February 4, 2002, nine months later.
The Zona Norte breaks down cultural barriers creating inclusive space for learning and entertainment
Translated by Brian Schwarz
Originally published Friday, December 11, 2009 in "El Colombiano" (elcolombiano.com) under the heading Zona Norte que derriba muros by Óscar Darío Montoya Gómez
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA - There is a place in Medellín without walls, a place that is open to everyone, is synonymous with social inclusion, and that has transformed into the premier place in the city for learning and entertainment.
Kicking off tonight with a free concert, this modern, safe and relaxed area where tourists and the general public alike can come to enjoy themselves will from now on be known as the Zona Norte.
The area is a cultural district that is home to nine educational and cultural institutions that plan to work more cohesively in an effort to look out for each other’s interests and to attract more visitors. This is according to a press release from the nine institutions, which are the Botanical Garden, Explora Park, the Pedro Nel Gómez House Museum, the Moravia Center for Cultural Development, North Park, The Medellín Planetarium, Atioquia University, and the Cemetery of San Pedro Museum, and the Park of Deseos.
“We are going to work together to be able to provide better service and bring people together”, said Botanical Garden Director Pilar Velilla, who mentioned the possibility of offering in the future a single book of vouchers that would be used by the public for admission to the various institutions.
“This union is more than a geographic; it seeks to impact the civic culture in science, technology and art”, said Martiniano Jaime Contreras, general vice-rector of the University of Antioquia.
A concert without walls
The Zona Norte will launch with a free concert at 6:30 p.m. today at the Paseo Urbano Carabobo Norte (in front of Explora Park). Participating in the concert are the German group Mil Santos, the local band Parlantes, and young people from the neighborhood.
It will be the first time Mil Santos will perform in the city. The Berlin-based group is funded by Mauricio Alvarez from Cali – who goes by the name Mil Santos – and is comprised of two Cubans, two Germans, a Uruguayan and a Dominican. The group performs a fusion of rap, hip hop, Latin jazz, Cuban son and salsa.
“We don’t come in the name of a country but of a language: music”, Mil Santos said, who recalls that the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago (November 9). “Today we have to tear down the mental walls that exclude minorities”, he said. And tearing down walls
Originally published Friday, December 11, 2009 in "El Colombiano" (elcolombiano.com) under the heading Zona Norte que derriba muros by Óscar Darío Montoya Gómez
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA - There is a place in Medellín without walls, a place that is open to everyone, is synonymous with social inclusion, and that has transformed into the premier place in the city for learning and entertainment.
Kicking off tonight with a free concert, this modern, safe and relaxed area where tourists and the general public alike can come to enjoy themselves will from now on be known as the Zona Norte.
The area is a cultural district that is home to nine educational and cultural institutions that plan to work more cohesively in an effort to look out for each other’s interests and to attract more visitors. This is according to a press release from the nine institutions, which are the Botanical Garden, Explora Park, the Pedro Nel Gómez House Museum, the Moravia Center for Cultural Development, North Park, The Medellín Planetarium, Atioquia University, and the Cemetery of San Pedro Museum, and the Park of Deseos.
“We are going to work together to be able to provide better service and bring people together”, said Botanical Garden Director Pilar Velilla, who mentioned the possibility of offering in the future a single book of vouchers that would be used by the public for admission to the various institutions.
“This union is more than a geographic; it seeks to impact the civic culture in science, technology and art”, said Martiniano Jaime Contreras, general vice-rector of the University of Antioquia.
A concert without walls
The Zona Norte will launch with a free concert at 6:30 p.m. today at the Paseo Urbano Carabobo Norte (in front of Explora Park). Participating in the concert are the German group Mil Santos, the local band Parlantes, and young people from the neighborhood.
It will be the first time Mil Santos will perform in the city. The Berlin-based group is funded by Mauricio Alvarez from Cali – who goes by the name Mil Santos – and is comprised of two Cubans, two Germans, a Uruguayan and a Dominican. The group performs a fusion of rap, hip hop, Latin jazz, Cuban son and salsa.
“We don’t come in the name of a country but of a language: music”, Mil Santos said, who recalls that the Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago (November 9). “Today we have to tear down the mental walls that exclude minorities”, he said. And tearing down walls
Study reveals fears of vulnerable schools as preferential subsidies compel municipalities to strengthen capacity
Translated by Brian Schwarz
Originally published Monday, December 7, 2009 in "El Mercurio" (elmercurio.com) under the heading Subvención preferencial obliga a fortalecer las capacidades de los municipios
SANTIAGO, CHILE - The law that allocates supplementary funds in the form of preferential school subsidies (SEP) to schools attended by socially vulnerable children has provoked concerns at public institutions that receive the benefit. This is according to a new study from the Center for Comparative Politics at the University of Diego Portales and UDP Extension.
Investigators Viola Espínola and María Ester Silva found that teachers worry about greater controls being placed on their schools and about the proposed heightened objectives for standardized tests that the SEP entails.
But the primary fear for schools is that the municipalities that support them may not have “the administrative, accounting and financial capacities to be able to manage the technical demands and resources required by the SEP”. For example, there is a fear that the additional monies will be lost in municipal bureaucracies and never make it to the institutions.
The analysis elevates the need for a restructuring within the supporting municipalities in order to be able to rise to this new challenge. In order for that to happen, the report proposes that funds play a role beyond the administrative to include the technical and pedagogical management of schools. It recommends the creation of a network of schools within a network of learning in which schools exchange and incentivize innovative teaching practices.
Originally published Monday, December 7, 2009 in "El Mercurio" (elmercurio.com) under the heading Subvención preferencial obliga a fortalecer las capacidades de los municipios
SANTIAGO, CHILE - The law that allocates supplementary funds in the form of preferential school subsidies (SEP) to schools attended by socially vulnerable children has provoked concerns at public institutions that receive the benefit. This is according to a new study from the Center for Comparative Politics at the University of Diego Portales and UDP Extension.
Investigators Viola Espínola and María Ester Silva found that teachers worry about greater controls being placed on their schools and about the proposed heightened objectives for standardized tests that the SEP entails.
But the primary fear for schools is that the municipalities that support them may not have “the administrative, accounting and financial capacities to be able to manage the technical demands and resources required by the SEP”. For example, there is a fear that the additional monies will be lost in municipal bureaucracies and never make it to the institutions.
The analysis elevates the need for a restructuring within the supporting municipalities in order to be able to rise to this new challenge. In order for that to happen, the report proposes that funds play a role beyond the administrative to include the technical and pedagogical management of schools. It recommends the creation of a network of schools within a network of learning in which schools exchange and incentivize innovative teaching practices.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Death toll rises to 10 after more attacks on federal police in Michoacán
Translated by Brian Schwarz
Originally published Thursday, December 10, 2009 in "La Jornada" (jornada.unam.mex) under the heading Suben a 10 muertos tras dos ataques más contra la PF en Michoacán by Ernesto Martínez Elorriaga
MORELIA, MICHOACAN, MEXICO – Following yesterday’s attacks on federal police in Michoacán state two more were reported today in the pre-dawn hours. One attack, in a hotel in the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, left one civilian dead. The second, in the municipality of Tumbicatío, left one uniformed officer dead and two others wounded.
Also, information officials from the local Secretary of Public Safety reported that Sergio Garcia Rebolledo and José Antonio Aceves Espinoza, the two police officers who were shot and wounded in yesterday’s attack in Apatzingán have died.
Around the 3 a.m. today an armed squad attacked facilities at the Sol del Pacifico hotel in Lázaro Cárdenas; federal agents housed there were able to rebuff the attack. In the shoot-out, which lasted some 10 minutes, a man identified as Juan Manuel Balderas Hernandez was killed in the crossfire.
In the town of Las Cruces in the municipality of Tumbicatío, a patrol of federal police was also fired on, leaving one officer dead and two wounded.
Counting yesterday’s clashes in Morelia, Apatzingán, Lázaro Cárdenas and Pátzcuaro, and the two today in the port city and Tumbicatío, at total of 10 are dead and a dozen have been wounded.
Originally published Thursday, December 10, 2009 in "La Jornada" (jornada.unam.mex) under the heading Suben a 10 muertos tras dos ataques más contra la PF en Michoacán by Ernesto Martínez Elorriaga
MORELIA, MICHOACAN, MEXICO – Following yesterday’s attacks on federal police in Michoacán state two more were reported today in the pre-dawn hours. One attack, in a hotel in the port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, left one civilian dead. The second, in the municipality of Tumbicatío, left one uniformed officer dead and two others wounded.
Also, information officials from the local Secretary of Public Safety reported that Sergio Garcia Rebolledo and José Antonio Aceves Espinoza, the two police officers who were shot and wounded in yesterday’s attack in Apatzingán have died.
Around the 3 a.m. today an armed squad attacked facilities at the Sol del Pacifico hotel in Lázaro Cárdenas; federal agents housed there were able to rebuff the attack. In the shoot-out, which lasted some 10 minutes, a man identified as Juan Manuel Balderas Hernandez was killed in the crossfire.
In the town of Las Cruces in the municipality of Tumbicatío, a patrol of federal police was also fired on, leaving one officer dead and two wounded.
Counting yesterday’s clashes in Morelia, Apatzingán, Lázaro Cárdenas and Pátzcuaro, and the two today in the port city and Tumbicatío, at total of 10 are dead and a dozen have been wounded.
Police capture two fugitives accused of fraudulently offering employment opportunities in the U.S.
Translated by Brian Schwarz
Originally published Thursday, December 10, 2009 in "FolhaOnline" (folha.com.br) under the heading Polícia prende mais dois suspeitos de oferecer falso emprego nos EUA by André Monteiro
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Sao Paulo civil police captured two more suspected members of a gang accused of fraudulantly providing temporary visas for work in the United States. The two have been fugitives since the Public Ministry discovered the plot and on Monday took 11 suspects into custody. The gang left some 9,000 victims in its wake and laundered approximately 90,000 Reals (about $51,000) over seven years.
Sean Michael Michele, 29, was arrested Tuesday in front of his home, in the region of Penha, in Sao Paulo’s eastern zone. According to the chief delegate of Garulhos Airport, Carlos Alberto Mezher, as an American citizen Michele was responsible for creating a bridge between companies in Brazil and in the United States. “He traveled several times per year between the two countries, Mezher said. Michele was living in Brazil and was registered as a foreign resident in the country, the delegate said.
Michele was taken to the 1st Police District in Guarulhos while police awaited an opening to transfer him to the city’s Provisional Detention Center.
Another suspect, Rodrigo Dozzi Calza, was detained Thursday at the entrance to a university in Liberdade, in the central region of Sao Paulo. Calza is from Brazil's upper class and lived in the region of Jardins, a noble region in city's the western zone.
The crime was also detected in countries such as Russia, the Dominican Republic, the Philipines, Romania, and the United Arab Emerites, but the fraud in these countries was not part of the investigation. Five of the 18 people formally accused of larceny and forming the gang called Operation Anarchy remain at large.
According to a police spokesperson, three of the accused are Brazilians thought to be living in the United States.
Originally published Thursday, December 10, 2009 in "FolhaOnline" (folha.com.br) under the heading Polícia prende mais dois suspeitos de oferecer falso emprego nos EUA by André Monteiro
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - Sao Paulo civil police captured two more suspected members of a gang accused of fraudulantly providing temporary visas for work in the United States. The two have been fugitives since the Public Ministry discovered the plot and on Monday took 11 suspects into custody. The gang left some 9,000 victims in its wake and laundered approximately 90,000 Reals (about $51,000) over seven years.
Sean Michael Michele, 29, was arrested Tuesday in front of his home, in the region of Penha, in Sao Paulo’s eastern zone. According to the chief delegate of Garulhos Airport, Carlos Alberto Mezher, as an American citizen Michele was responsible for creating a bridge between companies in Brazil and in the United States. “He traveled several times per year between the two countries, Mezher said. Michele was living in Brazil and was registered as a foreign resident in the country, the delegate said.
Michele was taken to the 1st Police District in Guarulhos while police awaited an opening to transfer him to the city’s Provisional Detention Center.
Another suspect, Rodrigo Dozzi Calza, was detained Thursday at the entrance to a university in Liberdade, in the central region of Sao Paulo. Calza is from Brazil's upper class and lived in the region of Jardins, a noble region in city's the western zone.
The crime was also detected in countries such as Russia, the Dominican Republic, the Philipines, Romania, and the United Arab Emerites, but the fraud in these countries was not part of the investigation. Five of the 18 people formally accused of larceny and forming the gang called Operation Anarchy remain at large.
According to a police spokesperson, three of the accused are Brazilians thought to be living in the United States.
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