The Guardian has a short video on the challenges of skateboarding in Cuba, which although well done, is just about like every other one we’ve seen on the subject.  Public Radio International has a slightly different take on the situation, focusing on the difficulties facing girls who want to skateboard in Cuba.  According to a the trailer for Patinas Sin Fronteras En Cuba, Cuban skaters don’t want your pity, they just want access to skateboards. You have to imagine it’s about to get better now that relations between the U.S.A. and Cuba are more normal. You can help at Amigo Skate Cuba. – thanks to Everyone for the tips.

CNN has a follow up on the recent skateboard emissary mission to Cuba. You might recall we posted about a Christmas day session that was also a drop off for new and used equipment to be brought to Cuba. So how did it go? Check out the story and video on CNN.

Its Sugars 43rd Birthday so come skate with a dinosaur! Dress like an oldschool skater and get in free, ride a cruiser get in free, over the age of 30 get in free!!! The contest is mainly for fun, although there will be prizes and a product toss; but the real purpose of the event is to gather old skateboard equipment to be refurbished and to raise funds to buy new skateboards that will be taken to Cuba. There is a growing skate scene in Cuba but there arent any skate shops or any money to buy gear. Skaters only have the equipmet that is brought on to the island by tourists so if a skateboard breaks there isnt going to be another one to replace it. Unfortunatly, skaters in Cuba have gone weeks or even months looking for another deck to ride and if you skate you can imagine how bad that must suck! Please bring in your old wheels, trucks, decks and even tshirts or donate a couple of bucks and we will put it down on some new stuff. We have no political adgenda, we are just a family of skaters who see a need and want…

Spohn Ranch has put up a detailed video showing the installation of a prefab concrete bowl on the U.S. Millitary base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It’s the first time I’ve seen a prefab concrete installation covered so thoroughly. Regardless of your personal feelings about prefab concrete, it’s really interesting to see it all go down. It’s striking how mechanical the whole operation is. It’s progressed to a point where they almost don’t need more than one guy on the crew who whow skatepark specific concrete finishing, it’s very mechanical. The metal coping is cast into the forms. They lower everything into place, shim it up and then pour the flat and the decks. There’s some patchwork on the seams, then welding and grinding the coping and it’s done. The process seems to work well for non-organic skateparks and single feature bowls. Imagine the equivalent of building a skatepark like you would an HO model train. Pick your pieces and arrange them. Vid after the jump.

A Sofia Maldonado has a mural up in Times Square, NYC that has made some locals hopping mad, although you wouldn’t be able to guess why if you only saw the part we’re featuring here. Sonia is of Cuban and Puerto Rican descent. She was also involved in a project called Skate My Patria that brought skateboard equipment donations to Cuba in 2009. – Thanks to David Illingworth for the tip

Somehow or other we reported on a prefab concrete and metal skatepark being built at Guantanamo Bay by Spohn Ranch, and nobody made any torture jokes. For some reason, Mimi Knoop (with Zach Miller, Adam Taylor and Cara-Beth Burnside) recently travelled there to session the old park remnants as well as some of the new stuff. Photog Athena Lonsdale shot a tour diary, and Spohn Ranch has a set of the concrete shots from Guantanamo Bay on Flickr. – Thanks to Keith Hamm for the tip. [Source: Fuel TV]