Chile has achieved its first successful equine cloning. The foal, an identical copy of the polo pony Capacidad, was born on September 26 in the O’Higgins region after a pregnancy of nearly a year. Fidel Ovidio Castro, 65, and Lleretny Rodríguez, 50, two Cuban-born academics working at the School of Veterinary Sciences of the University of Concepción in Chile and founders of the company Vi-Embryos, led a research team that accomplished this reproductive biotechnology milestone, together with the Los Abedules Equine Reproduction Center.
© Universidad de Concepción
The Jazz Plaza International Festival, one of the reference points on the world jazz calendar, will hold its 42nd edition from January 24 to 31, 2027, in Havana, its customary main seat, the organizing committee announced this Wedneday.
Organizers presented the plans at the “Benny Moré” Mexico-Cuba Cultural Center in Mexico City. Committee president Víctor Rodríguez García highlighted the growing participation of Mexican, North American and European musicians and reaffirmed the commitment to hold the festival despite the difficulties facing the country.
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“We want everyone to know that from January 24 to 31 there will be a festival in Havana with Mexican participation, and that there will also be a venue in this country,” Rodríguez said at the press conference.
According to a caption accompanying the original report, more than 120 U.S. artists have already confirmed their participation despite restrictions imposed by the U.S. blockade.
The 42nd edition of Jazz Plaza International Festival will take place from January 24 to 31, 2027 in 🇨🇺. It will also include tributes to Bola de Nieve, the Roberto Faz Ensemble and the Chepín Chovén, in addition to an inaugural concert by Frank Fernández. pic.twitter.com/1xlvCNvqs2
— Gabriela Glez (@Gabiglez06) October 14, 2026
The 2027 edition will be dedicated to dance. The program includes tributes to Cuban pianist “Bola de Nieve” and to the popular orchestra Chepín-Choven. Cuban performers will include jazz figures Hernán López-Nussa, Roberto Fonseca and Alejandro Falcón.
The opening night belongs to pianist Frank Fernández, a composer of at least 650 works spanning symphonies, choirs and ballets. Organizers also underscored one of the festival’s enduring achievements, its alliance with Cuba’s music education system, which has trained generations of jazz performers now recognized internationally.
The National Folkloric Ensemble of Cuba and the Maraguán Artistic Ensemble of the University of Camagüey, among other groups, will also take part. The official poster was designed by artist Lesbia Vent Dumois, a National Prize for Visual Arts winner.
That bond has made the festival more than a concert series. It functions as a bridge between conservatories and professional stages, giving young Cuban musicians a window into an international circuit that rarely opens to the island.
Text reads: “Abdala studios recorded the musical theme that will accompany the 42nd edition of the International Jazz Plaza Festival. A space for training and growth for the new generations. Thanks to master Roberto Fonseca and his entire team.”
Havana, with 20 stages, will be joined by Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Camagüey, Villa Clara and Matanzas as host provinces during the week devoted to jazz. One of the festival’s stated goals and achievements has been its link with the music education system, which in recent decades has trained some of Cuba’s most internationally recognized performers of the genre.
During the press conference, organizers announced several initiatives to facilitate Mexican participation and joint work. Mexican organizers announced a series of initiatives to ease attendance and collaborative work. The “Benny Moré” center has been proposed as a satellite stage, adding interactive presentations to its streaming broadcasts, a format that lets distant audiences follow the concerts in real time.
With the dates set for the final week of January 2027, Havana anchors the festival while the five additional provinces and the Mexican venue extend its reach. Streaming broadcasts from the Benny Moré center will carry portions of the program to audiences beyond both countries.
The Jazz Plaza Festival is one of the main fixtures on the international jazz calendar and, held each January in Havana, has long drawn musicians and audiences from several countries. The expansion to Mexico suggests organizers are looking to widen the festival’s reach beyond the island.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, denounced this Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is exerting pressure on several countries to change their position in the vote on the resolution against the U.S. blockade of the island, scheduled for the end of this month at the United Nations General Assembly.
Cuban FM Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla pointed directly at Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In a post on X, the Cuban diplomat wrote that Rubio, “nervous and anxious in the face of another new defeat at the United Nations, is pressuring and blackmailing heads of State and government of several countries to change their vote against the blockade in the UN General Assembly.“
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On October 29, the General Assembly will discuss and vote on a resolution calling for the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by Washington on Havana.
Cuban top diplomat framed the campaign as an attempt to erase accountability. He said Rubio, with his “repeated lies and new actions,” seeks to “silence the act of collective punishment he is committing against the Cuban people and make the rest of the international community complicit in this barbarity.”
The US Secretary of State is nervous and anxious in the face of a new defeat at the United Nations. He is putting pressure on and blackmailing Heads of State and Government from several countries so that they change their vote against the blockade at the UN General Assembly.… pic.twitter.com/t33OSSBI84
— Bruno Rodríguez P (@BrunoRguezP) October 14, 2026
The allegation arrives after months of tightening measures. The updated report Cuba presented to the UN in September places the economic damage between March 1, 2025 and February 28, 2026 at more than $8 billion, precisely $8,083,300,000, a 7 percent rise over the prior period.
That report covered only the first month of the U.S. oil blockade, ordered by an Executive Order signed on January 29. The restriction has obstructed fuel deliveries to the island throughout 2026, deepening an energy crisis and striking hard at production, transport, health services and water supply.
The accumulated toll runs far higher. More than sixty years of the blockade amount to over $178 billion at current prices, a figure of $178,700,500,000 that represents a 4.7 percent increase since the last report in 2025.
Once the oil blockade took effect, several vessels changed course to other ports as they approached Cuba, their original destination. More recently, Washington has intercepted and seized smaller fuel shipments bound for the island. Cuban authorities have denounced those operations as “piracy and pillage.”
The diplomatic record reflects broad opposition to the policy. In July, Cuba requested a special session at the UN to denounce the latest U.S. measures, winning 136 votes in favor, nine against and thirty abstentions.
In September, the UN Human Rights Council examined the report produced by special rapporteur Alena Douhan after her official visit to Cuba in November 2025. UN experts have separately condemned the siege against the island while Washington has imposed further sanctions.
FM Rodríguez Parrilla has argued that the report’s figures understate the current pressure, since the data closed in late February, just one month into the oil sanctions. The full cost of a year in which fuel shipments were diverted or seized has yet to be measured.
Cuba is expanding solar energy⚡️, installing new photovoltaic parks and investing in renewable power to strengthen its energy independence.
— Cancillería de Cuba (@CubaMINREX) October 14, 2026
Despite the challenges of the U.S. blockade, Cuba🇨🇺keeps working toward a more sustainable, resilient energy future.#CubaIsNotAThreat pic.twitter.com/hlX3JHtBGM
The October 29 vote will test whether Rubio’s pressure campaign shifts any position. For decades the General Assembly has delivered near-unanimous verdicts against the blockade, a streak Havana expects to hold. What Cuba now warns against is not the policy itself, but the effort to make other nations silent partners in it.
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