More than 200 professionals, amateurs and students make up the Holguín Photographers Club, officially founded with the name of Arnoldo Martínez, in honor of the master of generations who safeguarded the visual heritage of the northeastern province for several years.

“It is a well-deserved tribute to such an extraordinary photographer, because before, nobody helped you out since they were afraid of losing their jobs to you, but he always gave us a hand every time we had a question or problem. We were amateurs and he would go to the laboratory and teach us the way it should be done, he would say “this is not well developed”, “you gave it more time than needed” or “next time give it less temperature ”, recalls the president of the Club, Alberto Cruz Ruiz, who has more than 40 years in this important trade.

Meanwhile, Christopher Mike Araujo, one of the youngest members of the group, says that “having this group is a dream come true since it gives us the chance to share with other colleagues, exchange, meet, learn. Our province has always been one of the most traditional in the country in this profession and the Club will have an important connotation, since the interaction will allow us to improve professionalism and cultural level”.

Analog, digital, compact, wide-angle, automatic and manual cameras, GoPros and mobile phones come together in the heterogeneous collective, sponsored by Casa de Iberoamérica, whose members range from the most experienced active photographer in the territory to novices who seek to immortalize memories.

Another of its members, Kevin Manuel Noya, pointed out that “among the immediate projections we have it is to link ourselves to the process of computerization of society, actively participate in the dissemination of the province's work, publish a magazine systematically, improve actions on social networks and insert ourselves in the tenth International Festival of Self-taught Photography FotoFest, which is organized every year in the territory during the Pilgrimages of May”.

Thus, the Holguín "Arnoldo Martínez" Photographers Club institutionalizes and strengthens the work of the one created previously in 2013, in order to exchange knowledge and promote the professional improvement of its members, so as to demonstrate the importance of this artistic activity in the preservation of the historical-cultural memory of a tricentennial town.

The Cienfuegos Center for Environmental Studies (CEAC) announced the realization of a new appraisal of its national project called ISOVIDA, related to the State Plan to confront climate change, known as Tarea Vida.

The evaluation essentially relied on the results obtained in 2020 from the program called “Consolidation and improvement of national capacities to ensure estimates and actions for adaptation and mitigation of climate change in Cuba, with the use of isotopic and nuclear techniques”, in its 2021 edition.

Maikel Hernández Núñez, CEAC communicator, explained that last year they took two profiles in the Ciénaga de Zapata, in the province of Matanzas, which represents sampling under such difficult and unknown conditions.

He pointed out that the initiative will allow for the first time in the country an evaluation of the carbon capture capacity in the soils of the Ciénaga de Zapata wetland and puts the execution of the corresponding analyzes in an excellent condition.

Hernández Núñez, a member of the Network of Nuclear Communicators (RECNUC), reported that this year is expected the strengthening of national capacities for the analysis and use of environmental radionuclides and stable isotopes of the nautical environment.

Besides, he cited statements from the Master of Science Yusmila Helguera Pedraza, CEAC assistant researcher and head of the project, according to which the establishment of a marine radioecology laboratory is stipulated to assess the impact of climate change on this area organisms.

The studies include the hydrological vulnerability in areas of high risk to climate change, due to the increase in the mean sea level, so as the determination of the carbon sequestration rate in the peninsula of the Zapata swamp.

The latter from the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques and the improvement of the assessments of pollution in the marine environment by heavy metals and their impact on fauna; Helguera Pedrazaadded .

The scheme in question is already one year old since its inception and responds to the demands of the State plan for confronting climate change in Cuba, specifically in relation to "Sustainable development Goal 14, conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources".

ISOVIDA is a counterpart of the National Technical Assistance Project of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), approved for the 2020-2021 cycle, under the title of “Strengthening national capacities for monitoring the impact of climate change in the coastal marine area of Cuba, through the use of nuclear and isotopic techniques”.

One of its objectives is to complement actions for the transfer of nuclear and isotopic technologies in support of the management of basins and coastal zones in Cuba.

Such operations are contained in two projects, one on the establishment of a regional network for the observation of ocean acidification and its impact on the bloom of harmful algae, with the use of isotopic and nuclear techniques.

On the other hand, the other project is sponsored by the IAEA and is called “Strengthening the national system for risk and vulnerability analysis of the Cuban coastal zone, through the application of nuclear and isotopic techniques”, both in coordination with the Agency for Nuclear Energy and Advanced Technologies of Cuba (AENTA).

AENTA is one of the agencies of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, and the others belong to the Environment, Social and Humanistic Sciences.

The spread of the new coronavirus has been one of the main factors that caused the postponement of the national chess championships of the first category in both sexes.

Normally, in these days the province of Holguín would host for the fourth consecutive year the semifinals for women and then carry out the final phase of the event that as usual was dated the first days of February.

These would be the first commitments in the world of chess games in a season that, in addition to reserving the finals of the Cuban championships, must develop the “Capablanca in Memorian” and the remaining international competitions that usually complete the local circuit.

In 2020, except for the main national event in the world of the 64 boxes, the rest of the tournaments underwent transformations and were held online, variants that were consolidated through an unprecedented democratization given by the effects of the pandemic where the national Women's League excelled in the Island.

After staying very active in the midst of COVID-19, Cuban chess is preparing to resume its circuit of face-to-face competitions in this new year, starting with the aforementioned national fight that has already suffered unforeseen modifications conditioned by the current context.

In the case of "The city of parks", it is a reference of unobjectionable quality considering that has two of the main exponents of the science game in the country, Lisandra Llaudy and Isan Ortiz.

On this year occasion, the participants will have as a peculiarity a preparation founded within the virtual platforms to show from that point a level in correspondence with the quality that the event demands.