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A group of young girls, ranging in age from 6 through 8, form a line before a classical ballet session at the National Ballet headquarters.

Every little girl in Cuba shares the same dream: to become a ballerina. Thanks to a long-ago promise by the Cuban government that making classical ballet accessible to the public, and the talents of the National Ballet of Cuba founder Alicia Alonso, that dream can come true, writes Mar Roman

The dance studio is hot and muggy, but the aspiring National Ballet of Cuba dancers don't seem to notice as they twirl and jete with scrupulous precision to the beat of the piano.

Only a few of the dancers will be selected to perform the next "Sleeping Beauty" or "Cinderella" at Havana's elegant Gran Teatro, but that doesn't dim their enthusiasm. All remain hopeful, giving each class and rehearsal all they've got, secretly hoping that it's the girl next to them who doesn't make the cut.

Top dancer Viengsay Valdes made the cut, living proof that dreams do come true. "My childhood dream was to be a ballerina, just like any Cuban girl," says the 26-year-old.

After donning her first pair of ballet slippers at 9, Valdes went on to become one of the few top ballet dancers in a country whose ballet company is among the world's best and where masses, not the elite, are the true classical dance aficionados.

As Valdes leaves the studio, dozens of girls between 5 and 8 years old file into the room in their colorful leotards, forming lines to await their first ballet steps - and their first taste of the discipline that classical dance requires.

The popularity of ballet in Cuba is only natural, Valdes postulates. "Because dancing is part of our culture," she says, referring to the island's mix of African and Spanish roots.

The government-funded classical dance program is world-class, training dancers for a company that has performed in 58 countries and received about 300 international awards.

Founded by Cuba's living ballet legend Alicia Alonso in 1948, the National Ballet has managed to forge its own style from ballet's two major techniques, the Russian and the British.

Alonso, an 82-year-old former prima ballerina, retains a strong grip over the company, even though she now has trouble moving and can barely see.

A familiar figure with her proud, turban-wrapped head and wide mouth, Alonso built Cuba's classical dance program from the ground, training several generations of dancers who quickly became some of the most sought- after in the world.

After having been the company's director, choreographer and teacher, Alonso still decides what the dancers will wear, who will go abroad, with whom they will dance and what role they will dance.

And since the beginning, she has done it with the support of Cuban President Fidel Castro and his government.

"After the revolution triumphed in 1959, Castro knocked on Alonso's door to offer the new government's help. He promised that he would make (ballet) available to all social classes," said Miguel Cabrera, ballet school historian.

"The government paid for everything from the building to rehearsals, salaries and ballet shoes," Cabrera added.

Government support has been important in making ballet a prestigious occupation. As a top dancer, Valdes receives a government salary similar to that of an important scientist or doctor: about 600 Cuban pesos (US$25) a month.

She has toured with the Cuban ballet and as a guest with foreign companies, giving part of her foreign earnings to the government.

"Now my target is to achieve international recognition," says Valdes. "But no matter what I do, I will always be linked to this ballet and to my country."

(The Associated Press)

www.phillyburbs.com By ANITA SNOW The Associated Press

Warming up to the Roman Catholic Church while maintaining a distance from local church officials, Fidel Castro exchanged medals with the worldwide leader of an order of nuns that opened a convent here.

During a Saturday night ceremony at the Palace of Revolution where he keeps his offices, Castro bestowed the medal of the Order of Felix Varela, First Grade, to Mother Telka Famiglietti, general abbess of the Order of the Most Holy Savior of St. Brigid. The order was founded by a Swedish mystic who died 700 years ago last year.

Dressed in her dark habit, the abbess then bestowed on Castro one of her religious order's honor, the Ecumenical Cross with the Star of the Commander of St. Brigid.

"This will be a historic day for us," said Castro, who wore a dark suit and tie for the occasion. "This will commit us to being better and to giving ourselves more to those we believe are doing good."

The exchange was unusual amid the chill between Cuba's church and the Communist state with the release of a pastoral letter less than two weeks ago urging the government to ease up on its harsh treatment of citizens.

"The hour has come to pass from being a legalistic state that demands sacrifices and settles accounts to a merciful state willing to offer a compassionate hand before imposing controls and punishing infractions," Cardinal Jaime Ortega - Cuba's top Roman Catholic clergyman - said in that letter.

Ortega and cardinals from the Vatican and Mexico officiated Saturday morning at the Mass to celebrate the newly renovated building that the government donated for the convent.

Ortega read a letter sent by Pope John Paul II to the island faithful, urging them to "keep sailing a steady course."

But he was noticeably absent in the afternoon when Castro made his unprecedented appearance at the two-story convent in Old Havana for the blessing of the building where eight nuns will live. An official reason for Ortega's absence was not given.

Castro's government also has been irritated by a reform effort known as the Varela Project, which is supported by many Catholic laymen on the island even though it is not officially backed by the local church.

Authorities here say they have shelved the request for a voters' initiative on several laws that would guarantee civil rights such as freedom of expression.

The top Varela Project organizer, Oswaldo Paya - an active Catholic who met briefly with Pope John Paul II during a recent trip to Europe to receive the European Union's top human rights prize - downplayed the significance of Saturday's exchange of medals.

"This isn't an opening, it's an event," Paya said.

Castro's government expelled hundreds of priests, mainly from Spain, and shut down more than 150 Catholic schools island wide in the years after his 1959 revolution.

Cuba's church-state relations have improved considerably in recent years. The government declared it was no longer officially atheist in the early 1990s and let religious believers join the Communist Party for the first time.

The highlight of the gradual warming was John Paul's January 1998 visit to the island, along with the declaration of Christmas as an official holiday.

But the church has made no real progress since in efforts to gain greater access to state-run media and to open Catholic schools.

March 9, 2003 1:16 PM

www.sun-sentinel.com By Vanessa Bauzá HAVANA BUREAU Posted March 1 2003

HAVANA· In the early 1960s, with Cuba's revolution still in its infancy and the Sino-Soviet rivalry collapsing into an open feud, Fidel Castro made a strategic decision to align with Moscow as his chief benefactor and ideological ally. Today, hefty Soviet subsidies are but a fond memory here and Castro has turned to one of the last communist countries for trade and much-needed credit. China is Cuba's third-largest trading partner, and Castro, 76, has spent the past four days in Beijing, meeting with his contemporary and outgoing President Jiang Zemin as well as younger Communist Party leaders. Touring a country transformed by aggressive, capitalist-style economic reforms and an infusion of foreign investment, Castro seemed astonished by China's development since his last visit in 1995. "I can't really be sure just now what China I am visiting, because the first time I visited, your country appeared one way and now when I visit it appears another way," he said. "You can say that every so often your country undergoes great changes." Some have speculated Castro could implement similar market reforms to boost his country's economy, hard hit recently by low sugar prices and a regional decline in tourism. "When he's praising the economic achievements of his socialist allies it begs the question, what does he think of the measures that got them there," said Philip Peters, of the Lexington Institute in Washington, D.C. "And is he considering that maybe Cuba can embark on the same path?" The short answer is no -- at least not for now. "To date there's been a political calculation that it would be risky to open up more," said Peters, who has written extensively on Cuba's economy. "They're not going to embark on a slippery slope." In the early 1990s, Cuba spiraled into a deep recession following the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main trading partner and source of $6 billion in annual subsidies. Castro enacted a series of limited economic reforms, including legalizing the use of dollars, creating foreign investment, forming farmers' markets, and establishing small, private enterprises, from popular sidewalk pizza stands to modest shoe repair shops set up in building doorways. But far from encouraging greater private enterprise, the Cuban government has hiked taxes several times and implemented strict regulations. About 50,000 of Cuba's private businesses have closed since 1996, leaving 150,000 still operating, experts said. "China has been more pragmatic in terms of foreign investment and private enterprise in ways Castro would not contemplate," said Robert Pastor, vice president of international affairs at American University and former director of The Carter Center's America's Program. "If Fidel Castro were to release the energies of his people I think you would see dramatic growth very quickly." China is Cuba's third most important trading partner after Venezuela, which provides payment plans for oil, and Spain, which has a chain of hotels on the island. Last year trade between the countries reached $400 million, with China exporting about 600 products, from television sets and rice to plastics, iron and steel. "Over the last three years trade [with China] has increased dramatically. The Chinese government is giving substantial financing for virtually every product they are exporting," said John Kavulich, president of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, who recently traveled to China. "They are communist brethren so they'll help each other out regardless of whether it's in their economic interests to do so." On Friday, the front page of Cuba's Communist Party daily, Granma, headlined the "profound ties of brotherhood" with China. Analysts say Cuba has long looked to China as a counterbalance to the United States. China is the only communist country on the U.N. Security Council and has opposed a war in Iraq. Academics and State Department officials have said China and Cuba's ties run deeper than ideology or economic cooperation. In 2001, James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, confirmed the delivery of Chinese military equipment to Cuba, but provided no details. Other analysts say relations between two of the remaining one-party states are "more nostalgic and romantic than strategic." "Fidel has a romantic flair among communists," Pastor said. "They look at him and say he's the last communist." South Florida Sun-Sentinel wire services were used to supplement this report. Vanessa Bauzá can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com

www.dailytimes.com.pk

BEIJING: Cuban President Fidel Castro Thursday began his second day of meeting and greeting incoming and outgoing Chinese leaders, holding talks with Communist Party stalwart and parliamentary head Li Peng. Li at the Great Hall of the People greeted Castro only a week before Li’s parliament formally ushers in the nation’s next government to be headed by younger leaders promoted last November during a congress of the ruling party. “I’m very happy to have this opportunity to again meet with comrade Castro and our Cuban friends,” Li told the Cuban leader. “Your visit to China comes at a crucial time.” Li, who stepped down as party number two during the November party meeting, is expected to retire as head of the National People’s Congress during its annual session that begins next week. On Wednesday Castro met with outgoing President Jiang Zemin and was scheduled to meet Thursday with outgoing Premier Zhu Rongji and soon-to-be president Hu Jintao. During talks with Li, Castro praised the “great changes” China has undergone during its 20-year opening and reform drive. “I can’t really be sure just now what kind of China I am visiting, because the first time I visited your country appeared one way and now when I visit it appears another way,” he said. “You can say that every so often your country undergoes great changes.” The visit is Castro’s first to China since late 1995. As the last remaining leaders of the communist world, Castro has developed close personal ties with Jiang, who visited Cuba in November 1993 and April 2001. On Wednesday, the two leaders also signed an economic cooperation agreement. China is Cuba’s third most important trading partner after Venezuela, which provides the island with cheap oil, and Spain, which has hotel chains deeply invested in the tourism industry. China took over as Cuba’s main political and financial partner in the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union. The trade balance, however, clearly favours China. According to official figures here, in 2001 Cuba exported 70 million dollars worth of goods to China, while it imported 547 million dollars’ worth. —AFP

www.forbes.com Reuters, 02.24.03, 10:57 AM ET Latin America     By Marc Frank HAVANA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Communist Cuba's foreign trade declined by more than $900 million in 2002, as a foreign exchange crisis forced Havana to slash imports by $677 million, the official daily Granma said on Monday. "Trade was $5.574 billion ... a 13.9 percent decline compared with 2001," Granma said, reporting on a Foreign Trade Ministry meeting over the weekend. Cuba reported 2001 trade was $6.5 billion, of which $4.838 billion was imports and $1.662 billion exports. Granma said imports declined 14 percent last year and exports 13.6 percent, or by $266 million. The trade deficit was $2.725 billion, a 14.2 percent decline from $3.176 billion in 2001. The trade decline was the first reported by Cuba since 1994, when it began recovering from an economic crisis caused by the demise of former benefactor the Soviet Union. The recovery has slowed since 2000, with the government reporting the gross domestic product up 1.1 percent last year, compared with 3 percent in 2001 and more than 6 percent in 2000. A 5 percent decline in tourism, low sugar prices, hurricanes, shrinking foreign investment and credit and the U.S. trade embargo left the country short of cash to import oil and other products in 2002, Economy Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez recently said. EUROPE AND THE AMERICAS DOMINATE TRADE Western diplomats reported exports of machinery and nonessential items such as cars and computers declined significantly, as did supplies for the sugar industry in the wake of Havana's 2002 decision to close half the country's mills. Europe accounted for 41 percent of Cuba's 2002 trade, the Americas 39 percent and Asia 18 percent, Granma reported. Havana's top trading partners were Venezuela, Spain, China, Canada and Russia in that order, unchanged from 2001. Granma said oil and its derivatives accounted for 21 percent of Cuba's imports last year, and food 20 percent of imports. Developing food trade with the United States was a special focus of the weekend meeting, Granma said. In 2000, the U.S. Congress loosened the trade embargo against Cuba to allow for the sale of agricultural products for cash. Cuba began purchasing U.S. food in December 2001, with 2002 representing the first full year of trade since the United States slapped sanctions on the Caribbean island in the early 1960s. The United States recently reported 2002 agricultural sales to Cuba were around $140 million.