Portal:Cuba

The Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame (Salón de la Fama del Béisbol Cubano) is a hall of fame that honors eminent baseball players from Cuban baseball. Established in 1939 to honor players, managers, and umpires in the pre-revolution Cuban League, by 1961 it had honored 68 players, managers, and umpires whose names are shown on a marble plaque at Havana's Estadio Latinoamericano. After the revolution, however, the Hall of Fame languished for more than 50 years, seldom mentioned or acknowledged and with no new inductees. Following a campaign led by Cuban filmmaker Ian Padrón, a meeting was held on November 7–8, 2014 to reformulate the Hall of Fame and to propose a museum in which it would be housed. The reformulated Hall recognized the original 68 members, and a jury of 25 people selected 10 new inductees—five from the pre-revolution period and five representing for the first time the post-revolution Cuban National Series. The planned site for the new museum is in the José Antonio Echeverría Workers' Social Club (also known as the Vedado Tennis Club). (Full article...)

• ... that Joan Boada was named a principal dancer at the Cuban National Ballet at age 16, but later defected and ended up at the San Francisco Ballet?
• ... that after his movement's victory in the Cuban Revolution, television broadcasts showed Camilo Cienfuegos freeing parrots from birdcages, declaring that the birds had "a right to liberty"?
• ... that before his Major League Baseball career, Leo Posada represented Cuba internationally in cycling?
• ... that after his release from a hospital for the criminally insane, Richard Dixon burgled $16 from a credit union and hijacked a jet to Cuba?
• ... that Rudi Kappel, co-founder of the first airline of Suriname, was arrested both on entering and leaving Santiago de Cuba?
• ... that Brooklyn Nine-Nine actress Melissa Fumero is the daughter of Cubans who fled to the U.S. as teenagers?

---

The Kingdom of This World (Spanish: El reino de este mundo) is a novel by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier, published in 1949 in his native Spanish and first translated into English in 1957. A work of historical fiction, it tells the story of Haiti before, during, and after the Haitian Revolution led by Toussaint Louverture, as seen by its central character, Ti Noel, who serves as the novel's connecting thread. Carpentier's work has been influenced by his multi-cultural experience and his passion for the arts, as well as by authors such as Miguel de Cervantes. The novel stems from the author's desire to retrace the roots and history of the New World, and is embedded with what Carpentier calls "lo real maravilloso" or "the marvelous real"—a concept he introduced to the world of literature (not to be confused with magical realism).

Throughout the novel, varying perceptions of reality that arise due to cultural differences between its characters are emphasized and contrasted. Carpentier explores hybridization, nature, voodoo, ethnicity, history and destiny, confusion, violence, and sexuality in a style that blends history with fiction and uses repetition to emphasize the cyclical nature of events. The novel was largely well-received with much attention paid to Carpentier's inclusion of magic realism and The Kingdom of This World has been described as an important work in the development of this genre in Caribbean and Latin American literature. However, some technical aspects of his style have been ignored by the academic community, and the novel's narrative organization has been criticized. (Full article...)

Walfredo Reyes Jr. (born Walfredo de los Reyes Palau IV; December 18, 1955) is a Cuban American musician who is an expert in drum set and auxiliary percussion, and a music educator and clinician. He has performed with many jazz, Latin, World music, World fusion, Afro-Cuban, and rock bands as a touring, session recording, and full-time player/performer.

Reyes is known for his fusion of many of the world's percussion techniques, including the ability to play a drum set with his hands in addition to the traditional use of drumsticks; it was said that he can "sound like a drummer and a percussionist at the same time" He was a long-term member of Santana. He was also a member of Chicago as the percussionist from 2012 to 2018, at which point he took over the drum seat. He also performed in the band of former Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton. (Full article...)

• ...that in 2005, Hurricane Dennis (pictured) left 16 people dead in Cuba and cost $1.4 billion in damages?

• ...that Cabildos were African ethnic associations created in Cuba in the late 1500s based on the Spanish guilds or fraternities?

• ...that Wifredo Lam was a Cuban artist who became close friends with Pablo Picasso in Paris during the 1930s, before forming close ties with André Breton and the Surrealist movement in Marseille in the 1940s?

• ... that Havana's International Book Fair takes place annually over a month, beginning in Havana's La Cabaña fortress before extending to other cities across the nation, ending in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba?

• ...that the Coat of arms of Cuba depicts a key charging a blue sea between two rocks, symbolizing Cuba’s geographical position as the key to the Gulf of Mexico?

More did you know...

New articles...