Fidel Castro Visits Havana Aquarium
The leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, paid a surprise visit to the Cuban National Aquarium and immediately began chatting with two girls and a small group of workers.
The facility's director, Guillermo Garcia, informally welcomed Fidel Castro and introduced him to staff members, most of whom are women.
After reviewing with visible happiness photos and mementos of the Aquarium's 2002 reopening and greeting a large number of workers, the island's revolutionary leader was invited to attend a underwater dolphin show, unique worldwide.
Workers included ocean biologist Celia Guevara March, daughter of legendary Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara.
This is Fidel's fourth public appearance during the past eight days. Last week he visited the National Center of Scientific Research; then discussed his views and concerns over the growing military tensions in the Middle East for the TV program Mesa Redonda (Round Table) last Monday, and also paid a visit to the World Economy Research Center.
In the fluid and pleasant chat with the facility's workers, Fidel Castro asked about the relationship between the trainers and animals, and possible risks of attack, which, it was explained, are rare and due to human mistakes.
After taking photos with the Aquarium's trainers and staff, the island's leader commented on the reasons for his initial questions regarding the trainers' time under water, due to his experience as a legendary scuba diver.
Later, he asked about the Aquarium's schedule and the staff's working hours, especially those who host the shows with animals three times a day, advised by doctors specializing in underwater medicine from the Naval Hospital for the underwater show, whose main risk is apnea repetition.
The Cuban National Aquarium, founded exactly 50 years ago, on January 23, 1960, has over 3,000 animals, 23 of them marine mammals, including eight dolphins, and 15 sea lions, the facility's main attraction.
The center receives some 3,000 visitors per day, and between 25,000 and 30,000 tourists per year.
Our regulatory system already provides a number of sticks (like the Clean Water Act) and carrots (like conservation programs, which pay farmers for eco-friendly practices) that can be expanded, funded and built upon to encourage agroecology. We should also shift our research priorities from technologies that benefit only industrial farming to ones that apply to agroecology (for example, identifying beneficial species, developing varieties of seeds that resist disease and discovering which combination of crops increases yield when planted together).
Also, like Cuba, the U.S. should get serious about urban and suburban agriculture. It makes all the sense in the world to grow food near our population centers, reducing the need to ship and store our food. Today, 70 percent of Havana's produce is grown within the city and other Cuban cities actually produce higher percentages of their own produce.
It's not outrageous to imagine Americans doing the same, as we produced 40 percent of our produce in Victory Gardens during World War II. We should allow urban food production by legalizing backyard chickens and front yard gardens (both of which are often banned in cities) and by establishing more community gardens so that urban gardeners without yards have nearby plots to cultivate. And we should protect agricultural land near cities from developers wishing to turn farm fields into subdivisions.
Cuba teaches us that we can feed ourselves locally and sustainably with far less oil than we use now, but we'll suffer terribly if we wait until the oil is gone to make our transition. Our diets will look different (with more vegetables and less meat), but we'll also be healthier. We'll spend a larger percent of our discretionary income on food and we'll need more farmers than we have now. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. If farming is a highly valued and well paid job (as it is in Cuba), increasing the number of Americans who farm from 2 percent to 10 percent could do wonders for our economy. And, most of all, we won't starve. Local, sustainable agriculture is not just a hippie pipe dream. It's possible, and we can do it.
The facility's director, Guillermo Garcia, informally welcomed Fidel Castro and introduced him to staff members, most of whom are women.
After reviewing with visible happiness photos and mementos of the Aquarium's 2002 reopening and greeting a large number of workers, the island's revolutionary leader was invited to attend a underwater dolphin show, unique worldwide.
Workers included ocean biologist Celia Guevara March, daughter of legendary Argentine-Cuban guerrilla fighter Ernesto Che Guevara.
This is Fidel's fourth public appearance during the past eight days. Last week he visited the National Center of Scientific Research; then discussed his views and concerns over the growing military tensions in the Middle East for the TV program Mesa Redonda (Round Table) last Monday, and also paid a visit to the World Economy Research Center.
In the fluid and pleasant chat with the facility's workers, Fidel Castro asked about the relationship between the trainers and animals, and possible risks of attack, which, it was explained, are rare and due to human mistakes.
After taking photos with the Aquarium's trainers and staff, the island's leader commented on the reasons for his initial questions regarding the trainers' time under water, due to his experience as a legendary scuba diver.
Later, he asked about the Aquarium's schedule and the staff's working hours, especially those who host the shows with animals three times a day, advised by doctors specializing in underwater medicine from the Naval Hospital for the underwater show, whose main risk is apnea repetition.
The Cuban National Aquarium, founded exactly 50 years ago, on January 23, 1960, has over 3,000 animals, 23 of them marine mammals, including eight dolphins, and 15 sea lions, the facility's main attraction.
The center receives some 3,000 visitors per day, and between 25,000 and 30,000 tourists per year.
Our regulatory system already provides a number of sticks (like the Clean Water Act) and carrots (like conservation programs, which pay farmers for eco-friendly practices) that can be expanded, funded and built upon to encourage agroecology. We should also shift our research priorities from technologies that benefit only industrial farming to ones that apply to agroecology (for example, identifying beneficial species, developing varieties of seeds that resist disease and discovering which combination of crops increases yield when planted together).
Also, like Cuba, the U.S. should get serious about urban and suburban agriculture. It makes all the sense in the world to grow food near our population centers, reducing the need to ship and store our food. Today, 70 percent of Havana's produce is grown within the city and other Cuban cities actually produce higher percentages of their own produce.
It's not outrageous to imagine Americans doing the same, as we produced 40 percent of our produce in Victory Gardens during World War II. We should allow urban food production by legalizing backyard chickens and front yard gardens (both of which are often banned in cities) and by establishing more community gardens so that urban gardeners without yards have nearby plots to cultivate. And we should protect agricultural land near cities from developers wishing to turn farm fields into subdivisions.
Cuba teaches us that we can feed ourselves locally and sustainably with far less oil than we use now, but we'll suffer terribly if we wait until the oil is gone to make our transition. Our diets will look different (with more vegetables and less meat), but we'll also be healthier. We'll spend a larger percent of our discretionary income on food and we'll need more farmers than we have now. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. If farming is a highly valued and well paid job (as it is in Cuba), increasing the number of Americans who farm from 2 percent to 10 percent could do wonders for our economy. And, most of all, we won't starve. Local, sustainable agriculture is not just a hippie pipe dream. It's possible, and we can do it.
Source:
Prensa Latina
Date:
15/07/2010