The Excelencias Group presented the 2014 Cuba Excelencias Awards to a number of outstanding Cuban personalities and institutions for their resounding contributions to the sociocultural, economic and tourist fields, in a gala held at the 1930 Hall of Cuba’s National Hotel.
The gala was attended by His Excellency Francisco Montalban, Edgar Ponce Iturriaga and Jean Victor Geneus, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors to Cuba of Spain, Ecuador and Haiti, respectively. Spain’s military attaché Jose Pardo de Santayana and Cuba’s deputy minister of Culture Fernando Rojas also attended.
The Excelencias Awards were created in 2005 by the Excelencias Group in an effort to foster excellence in different fields, all of them related to tourism and culture. Since then, the awards have become a benchmark for those who are involved in this major sector and get their jobs done with higher goals in mind.
In his keynote speech, Excelencias Group’s President Jose Carlos de Santiago thanked guests from attending the ceremony. “Our group has come this far thanks to each and every one of you and your contributions,” he said.
The 2014 Cuba Excelencias Awards were handed in to Cuba’s Healthcare System, the Organizing Commission for the 500th Anniversary of Santiago de Cuba, Mr. Roberto Chile, the Gran Caribe Hotel Group, the State-Run Working Group for the Havana Bay Environmental Project, Cubana de Aviacion Corporation, the General Immigration Directorate, Baracoa Historian Alejandro Hartmann Matos.
Meantime, the Caribbean News Digital Person of the Year Award went to Abraham Maciques Maciques and Erick Hernández Sánchez. The Excelencias del Arte Awards were given to Maestro Frank Fernández Tamayo, the Caguayo Foundation for the Monumental and Applied Arts, Nelson Domínguez Cedeño, Alexis Leyva Machado (K’cho) and Miguel Iglesias Ferrer.
The Excelencias Gourmet Awards went to Don José Pablo Navarro Campa, the Saborear lo Cubano Project by Habaguanex Travel Company, the Latin American & Caribbean School of Confectioning, Pastry and Patisserie, the cases of Stella Homemade Chocolates Decorated by Painter Zaida del Río, the El Romero Eco-Restaurant, and the Varadero Gourmet Festival. For his part, Ernesto Dobarganes Andreu walked out with the Excelencias del Motor Award.
Mr. Jose Carlos de Santiago recognized all award recipients and the National Hotel –the venue of choice for this year’s edition and home to other functions held by the Excelencias Group on its premises- as he called it the “soul of Havana”.
Well into the ceremony, the president of the Excelencias Group, escorted by photographer Pilar Rubi and scientist Concepcion Campa, praised the El Romero Eco-Restaurant and underscored both Campa’s and Rubi’s as advocates of a healthy diet based on natural and organic products.
One of the highlights of the night came when Mr. Jose Carlos de Santiago called on the authorities of Santiago de Cuba to do every within their reach to initiate the brotherly bonds between that Cuban city and Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
Gala attendees were entertained by soprano Laura Ulloa and tenor Saad Mohammed from the Conjunto Lírico Nacional. Guests also enjoyed a representation of the show staged by the emblematic Parisien Cabaret at the National Hotel.
2014 Excelencias Awards
Cuba’s Healthcare System
For its outstanding contribution to the world battle against different epidemics and diseases, especially the Ebola outbreak; for its steadfast internationalist commitment to medical staff training in developing countries and its excellent healthcare service programs that bring sanitary safety and security to tourists visiting Cuba.
Organizing Commission for the 500th Anniversary of Santiago de Cuba
For the number of actions aimed at the preservation, rehabilitation and embellishment of Santiago de Cuba’s historic center and the city’s most emblematic hallmarks, thus contributing to underscoring the territory as a travel destination on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the village’s foundation.
Mr. Roberto Chile
For his outstanding career as director of photography, cameraman and/or producer of different documentaries for major Cuban and foreign companies, standing out a an audiovisual chronicler of the most significant developments occurred in Cuba in recent years.
Gran Caribe Hotel Group
For its outstanding effort in the recovery of cultural and historic values within its facilities, a move that has allowed the group to embrace a great portfolio of heritage works, including a number of hotels that have been declared as National Monuments.
State-Run Working Group for the Havana Bay Environmental Project
For encouraging the conservation of ecosystems in the Havana Bay from the basis of the community surroundings and its contribution to curbing the deterioration of this enclave, thus turning this location into a place for social and tourist enjoyment.
Cubana de Aviacion Corporation
For its steady contribution in bringing larger numbers of Cuba visitors that eventually peaked three million tourists this year, as well as its plan to refurbish and streamline airport facilities.
General Immigration Directorate
For the modernization of migratory application registers and systems to cater to both Cuban and foreign citizens, thus cutting down on turnaround times.
Alejandro Hartmann Matos, Historian of Baracoa, Cuba’s Foremost Village
For dedicating a large part of his life to spread, promote and look into the history and culture of his hometown, Baracoa, and for his tenures as deputy president of the Office of Cuba’s Heritage Village Historians and director of the Matachin Museum since its foundation nearly thirty years ago.
CND Person of the Year Award
Abraham Maciques Maciques
For his dedicated career in the tourism and business realms, in which he has contributed to the advance of Cuban tourism and economy through different entities, especially the Palco Group.
Sportsman Erick Hernández Sánchez
For his many Guinness World Records in commanding a football, thus contributing and encouraging the love for soccer among Cubans, and helping to paint a different and one-of-a-kind picture of Cuba.
EXCELENCIAS DEL ARTE AWARDS
Maestro Frank Fernández Tamayo
For his brilliant artistic career for over half a century as a performer of just about every music genre, for the significance of his teaching mastery, his compositions, orchestrations, research studies, discography and work as a cultural promoter.
Caguayo Foundation for the Monumental and Applies Arts
For the contributions conducted by the Caguayo Foundation for the Monumental and Applied Arts, created by sculptor and painter Alberto Lescay Merencio with an aim to advance and foster Cuba’s monumental and applied arts.
Mr. Nelson Domínguez Cedeño
For his outstanding work as a fine artist and trainer of several generations, especially for his Atlas con Puntas project whereby he relies on an artistic vision to promote the work of outstanding figures of Cuba’s contemporary music and arts.
Mr. Alexis Leyva Machado (K’cho)
For his contribution to cultural development and his association to communities through his tireless work for the sake of fostering culture among people and train them in the protection of the environment; for his commitment to esthetics and ethics.
Mr. Miguel Iglesias Ferrer
For his outstanding work at the helm of Danza Contemporanea, a company that recently turned fifty years, and for his efforts in the company’s international projection, the esthetic renovation of its repertoire and his advocacy for national identity.
EXCELENCIAS GOURMET AWARDS
Don José Pablo Navarro Campa
For his lifetime dedication to safeguarding the prestige of one of Cuba’s flagship products: the Cuban Light Rum, a genuine spinoff of a centuries-old heritage passed on from generation to generation by master rum makers who have come up with a secret formula known to only a few.
Saborear lo Cubano Project by Habaguanex Travel Company
For its work in recovering and promoting Cuba’s gastronomic heritage, delving into the past from contemporaneousness and the decisive support of Dr. Eusebio Leal Spengler, historian of the city of Havana.
Latin American & Caribbean School of Confectioning, Pastry and Patisserie
For its work in the formation and training of nearly a thousand Cuban and foreign students, for its research efforts and the manufacturing of Cuban homemade chocolates, a project that turned out to be the first step to add chocolate to Cuba’s gourmet realm.
Cases of Stella Homemade Chocolates Decorated by Painter Zaida del Río
For being a project that combines the paintings of celebrated Cuban artist Zaida del Rio with Cuba’s genuine cacao, thus transforming homemade chocolates into extraordinary artworks, all packed together in marvelous cases that let customers enjoy and admire the most sublime creativity out of Cuban hands.
“El Romero” Eco-Restaurant
For its outcomes as an ecological restaurant that features signature cuisine and relies on local resources and foodstuffs, both wild and grown with sustainable techniques, thus becoming a major advocate of environmental protection and a healthy diet.
Varadero Gourmet Festival
For its effort to underscore Cuba’s gastronomic culture thanks to the engagement of different institutions, such as Palmares, Mintur, Formatur, the Federation of Culinary Associations of the Republic of Cuba and the Cuban Bartender Club, among others.
EXCELENCIAS DEL MOTOR AWARDS
Ernesto Dobarganes Andreu
For his effort to develop car racing and karting in Cuba from his position as president of Cuba’s Car Racing and Karting Association, as a former karting racer, commissioner of the International Car Racing Federation and founder of the Automobile Museum, built at the Baconao Park in the city of Santiago de Cuba.
