Havana, August 6 ( Radio Habana Cuba / Prensa Latina ) — Four-time Olympic champion Mijaín López thanked Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel today for his conversation after reaching the final of the 130 kilogram Greco-Roman wrestling at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“Thank you for your call,” López said at the end of the conversation with the president, according to the Cuban sports newspaper Jit on social media X.
“Be sure that tomorrow [Tuesday ] that title will be for Cuba,” Mijaín assured Díaz-Canel.
The Cuban wrestler will fight Tuesday for his fifth crown under the five rings, after beating Azerbaijani Sabah Shariati, world ranking leader in 2024, in the semifinals.
The living legend of Greco-Roman wrestling managed to unbalance Shariati in the first half to go 3-0 ahead, and in the second, with a counterattack, he scored another to win 4-1.
For the title, he will face the Cuban, naturalized Chilean, Yasmani Acosta, who beat the Chinese Lingzhe Meng in the other semifinal. The five-time world champion also declared that he has always fulfilled what he has promised the Cuban people, in reference to the commitment to reach his fifth consecutive Olympic final.
“I know that in Cuba, everyone is in front of the television. There is only one step left to dance a little more,” he commented during an exchange with journalists accredited to the summer event.
“I am happy to be able to fight here for my fifth gold medal and to be able to give the Cuban people joy,” he expressed.
Lopez also said that with the 3-1 victory against the Iranian Amin Mirzazadeh in his second appearance on Monday, he overcame a major obstacle on the road to winning the competition.
Mirzazadeh, the current world champion, was considered the main contender for the gold medal, and for the native of Herradura, in the western province of Pinar del Río, the fight between the two was an early final.
“He is a young man who comes inspired, with the desire to win the title, but between youth and experience, experience always prevails,” stressed the legendary Cuban fighter.
Havana, Aug 6 (Prensa Latina) Cuban and Russian experts are conducting a series of studies on infectious diseases, including Oropouche fever, in this nation.
TASS reported that experts from both countries are analyzing the current behavior of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites common in the Caribbean region.
High-tech equipment, techniques, and systems designed and developed in the Russian Federation are being used in the research.
The release noted that these studies strengthen humanitarian exchanges between Russia and Cuba, besides global efforts to combat infections with epidemic potential.
The news agency announced that this exchange takes place within the cooperation framework between the two countries, to ensure the population’s sanitary and epidemiological well-being.
The information specifies that the Russian scientists arrived in Havana on Monday and will remain in Cuba until Thursday, August 8.
Havana, August 6 (Radio Habana Cuba) — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on Monday thanked 23 international and regional organizations for their statements against the island’s inclusion on the unilateral list of states sponsoring terrorism.
On the social network X, the Minister of Foreign Affairs expressed his gratitude for the complaints made against the measure that negatively impacts the Cuban people.
Recently, the Foreign Ministry reported that more than a hundred countries demanded the exclusion of Cuba from the list of alleged countries sponsoring terrorism, drawn up by the United States government.
Through a declaration, the nations that signed the document, addressed to the Human Rights Council, pointed out that the list “goes against the fundamental principles and imperative norms of International Law, including international solidarity.”
They stressed that the inclusion of the Caribbean nation “causes extraordinary negative consequences for the Cuban economy, due to its intimidating effect and the obstacle to economic and financial operations of third parties with Cuba, for fear of being fined.”
“It hinders the country’s ability to access food, medicine, fuel, medical equipment and other basic goods, which impacts the realization of economic, social and cultural rights,” the statement adds.
It also suggests that, “instead of imposing unilateral coercive measures contrary to International Law,” international solidarity and cooperation should be encouraged to face common challenges, protect human rights for all and achieve sustainable development goals. (Prensa Latina)
Mijaín López’s first victory in Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Havana, Aug 5 (Radio Habana Cuba) – Cuban wrestling star Mijaín López (130 kg) debuted with a 7-0 victory over South Korea’s Seungchan Lee in the round of 16 at the Paris-2024 Olympic Games.
In his next outing, the four-time Olympic and five-time world champion will face the reigning world champion, Iranian Amin Mirzazadeh, in the quarterfinals.
About to turn 42 years old, Mijaín is looking for his fifth Olympic gold in a row in the Parisian capital, an unprecedented feat in Olympic sport.
Mirzazadeh also made his debut with a 3-1 victory over Adam Jacob of the United States.
March in support of President Nicolas Maduro, Tachira, Venezuela, 2024. Photo: X/ @PartidoPSUV
The destruction of the Bolivarian symbols expresses the intention of conservative forces to return Venezuela to the past.
August 5 (teleSUR) In an article published in the Orinoco Tribune, Canadian political scientist Arnold August analyzed the importance of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the Venezuelan contemporary political history.
This institution is part of a process of institutional construction that began with the 1999 referendum, when the Venezuelans voted in favor of the formation of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
“The overwhelming popular approval was the key step in the evolution of the Bolivarian Revolution. It fulfilled the main promise that Commander Hugo Chavez had made in the 1998 elections,” August recalled, highlighting that the drafting of the new constitution was accompanied by a process of intense discussion in grassroots organizations.
“The people received assistance in procuring, reading, having read by others (illiteracy was still a problem) and making proposals for changes and modifications in the original draft. Containers with thousands of proposals were sifted through, with the result that 70 percent of the original draft was modified.”
But that was not all. The 1999 referendum gave way to the formation of a new state structure in which the National Electoral Council would be considered the fifth power.
Therefore, August notes that the criticisms of the legitimacy of the CNE made by transnational far-right forces actually represent attempts to disqualify the new forms of participatory democracy that the Bolivarian Revolution has institutionalized in Venezuela for 25 years.
???????? Venezuela President Maduro: "The United States has filled the whole world with war and misery in the name of a false freedom… Here, neither the gringos nor US Southern Command will ever govern again. In Venezuela, we Venezuelans are in charge… Oligarchs: Tremble!" pic.twitter.com/CHfHX5fhCO
“It is no coincidence that paid and drugged rioters destroyed several statues of Chavez on July 29. It was clear that they wanted to return Venezuela to the pre-Chavez situation under the pretext of electoral ‘fraud’,” the Canadian political scientist noted.
The allegations of electoral fraud, however, lack any basis. As an international electoral observer, August stressed that the Venezuelan electoral system has been designed to be “fraud-free” because it has various safeguards that guarantee respect for the citizen’s vote. Among them, for example, is the use of fingerprints as a mechanism for verifying the voter’s identity.
Once citizens casts their electronic votes, a paper ballot allows them to verify which election was made. Additionally, the electronic machines are not connected to the CNE during voting hours to avoid any manipulation or hacking of the votes.
“Then, the voter goes to another booth to deposit the ballot in a small ballot box. At the close of voting, each political party has the right to send a witness to observe the counting of the paper votes and the mechanical results to verify that they match,” August said.
Once voting is over, authorities conduct a random recount of 54 percent of the polling stations in order to issue the first rapid results. Subsequently, once the counting of all votes nationwide is over, political parties can file challenges if they have reasons to do so.
In the 2024 elections, the electoral system functioned normally, as hundreds of observers accredited by the CNE were able to confirm. Once over 96 percent of the transmitted votes were counted, the candidate of the Great Patriotic Pole, President Nicolas Maduro, was reelected with 51.95 percent of the votes.
Venezuelan coup-plotter María Corina Machado is a far-right extremist made in Washington. The US has funded her political organizations for years. So of course the US regime is blatantly meddling in Venezuela, helping this puppet that it invested so much in lead a coup attempt.
Although the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez came in second with 43.18 percent of the votes, the Venezuelan far right did not recognize the final result of the elections, thus ratifying a position that it had held since before voting day.
To thwart the attempts at destabilization, Maduro asked the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to initiate an exhaustive investigation into the 2024 presidential elections and their results.
The Bolivarian leader also ratified that his political organization will present to the Supreme Court 100 percent of the electoral records it held and called on all political organizations to do the same. This, however, did not happen as the Venezuelan far right did not present its alleged evidence to the judges.
August notes that Venezuelan conservative forces and their foreign allies did not want to use the existing institutional procedures to process their demands. Instead, far-right organizations, supported by the mainstream international media, reinforced narratives aimed at generating supposed certainties about the victory of candidate Gonzalez, rushing to proclaim him as Venezuela’s president-elect.
“By the end of day on August 1, the U.S. official stance, as articulated by the U.S. Department of State – citing “fraud” – was unambiguous: ‘We congratulate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on his successful campaign. Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition’,” the Canadian political scientist recalled.
This political ploy, however, was to be expected given that for months the Venezuelan far right and its allies had been creating the conditions to justify their electoral failure on the basis of an alleged fraud, thus seeking to open the way for the return of plans for political destabilization through the use of force.
“Their objective has been to effect regime change with the intention of destroying the Bolivarian Revolution and returning Venezuela to the status of a U.S. colony,” August concluded.
On the afternoon of Saturday, August 3rd, legitimate reelected President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, received thousands of Venezuelan men and women, at the Miraflores Palace, who mobilized in defense of peace and his electoral victory on July 28.#NicolasMaduro#Venezuelapic.twitter.com/05gnrbZHOo
Havana, August 3 (Radio Habana Cuba) — “I saw your appearance before the press on teleSUR, and I congratulate you again, Brother Nicolás Maduro,” declared Miguel Díaz-Canel, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The Cuban head of state assured that the U.S. recognition of the losing candidate of the elections of last July 28th is another proof of who is pulling the strings of the conspiracy against the Bolivarian Revolution.
Maduro denounced in a press conference this Friday that the United States is at the forefront of the attempted coup against him.
According to the Venezuelan president, he activated the mechanism before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) to clarify all the lies on which they intend to mount a cyber coup against the people and against democracy.
“The United States of America has put itself at the forefront of this coup d’état with its usual allies,” he reiterated from the Miraflores Palace.
He added that Venezuela has suffered a brutal attack, a cyber attack on its entire communication system; today they attacked the Patria System.
The National Electoral Council ratified Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela this Friday after reaching 51.95 percent of the votes, after counting 96.87 percent of the transmission of the minutes.
The number of voters counted was 12,386,669, representing a participation rate of 59.97 percentage points, while the number of valid votes was 12,335,884 (99.59) and the number of invalid votes was 50,785 (0.41). (Source: ACN)
August 1 (Belly of the Beast) “It was established many, many years ago that Cuba does not represent a direct threat to the United States….Millions of dollars are being devoted to finding dirt, creating dirt and assembling reports like this.” – Fulton Armstrong, former CIA analyst and American University professor
Welcome to the third installment of Belly of the Beast’s newsletter: Cuba in Context.
This is your one-stop shop for breaking news, incisive reporting and the untold stories about Cuba and U.S.-Cuba relations.
Recently, major media outlets and a prominent D.C. think tank have claimed there is a “China spy base” in Cuba.
Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández sat down with former CIA analyst Fulton Armstrong to take a hard look at the evidence (or lack thereof) that China is allegedly using Cuba to spy on the U.S.
Caracas, Aug 3 (Prensa Latina) The Speaker of Venezuela’s National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, presented evidence of the falsity of the minutes published by opposition Edmundo González and María Corina Machado they utilized to denounce an alleged electoral fraud and generate destabilization.
Speaking at the press conference offered by President Nicolás Maduro to the national and foreign media, the legislator showed the documents proving what he called “great farce” installed by the extreme right-wing losers in last Sunday’s elections.
Rodriguez pointed out that this was nothing more than the substitution of reality for another one supported by a media strategy and a “string of lies that were created”.
He recalled that none of the spokespersons of the opposition candidate Edmundo González never accepted nor signed the agreement of the candidates proposed by the National Electoral Council (NEC), and did not recognize the only body empowered to decide who was the winner of the suffrages.
The Venezuelan congressman showed the video in which opposition spokesman Biaggio Pilieri in a “shameless manner and in violation of the law” said that the United Democratic Platform “will chant fraud, will not recognize the result of the National Electoral Council, but its own minutes”.
The leader of the national leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela revealed that on the night of July 29, after the elections, Gonzalez made available to Venezuelans a web page where “supposedly some minutes with the election results” were to be posted.
He drew the attention to the fact that the day before the elections, the domain www.resultadospresidencialesvenezuela2024.com was rented for one year, which evidences that they had decided “not to abide by the results of the NEC, but rather they set up a pantomime with a sort of parallel electoral council”.
“They were never willing to accept the legal decision of the majority at the polls”, he insisted, and added that this website was bought in the United Kingdom and with an Amazon server, for which, he said, “Jeff Bezos is also in the coup d’état” against Venezuela, he denounced.
On Friday, NEC’s president Elvis Amoroso explained that the elections of July 28 had an electoral roll of 21 million 321 thousand 805 eligible voters.
There were 12 million 386 thousand 669 ballots counted, for a 59.97 percentage point turnout, while valid votes amounted to 12 million 335 thousand 884 (99.59) and invalid votes 50 thousand 785 (0.41).
Havana, Aug 3 (Prensa Latina) Cuba will reportedly increase sevenfold the generation of energy with the use of solar radiation through a macro investment program that is part today of the program to change its energy matrix and sovereignty on this field.
According to the director of renewable energy of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem), Rosell Guerra, the generation of electric energy through this modality will grow by more than two thousand megawatts with after two photovoltaic solar parks projects are completed.
This figure means a seven-fold increase in a short period of time of the power we have installed in the last few years, which at the end of last July was only 286 megawatts, the Minem official added.
The projection includes technologies that will allow taking advantage of photovoltaic energy beyond daytime hours, Guerra explained, which will be achieved with the increase of 200 MW in the accumulation of energy through battery banks, a concept for which Cuba currently has only 10 megawatts.
According to the Minem expert, the macro investment program for photovoltaic energy will not only provide electricity, but will also reduce the consumption of some 900,000 tons of fuel annually.
These clean energy projects and at the same time the generation with the use of national gas and crude oil will allow the country to meet the target of reaching 24 percent participation of renewable energy sources by 2030, said the executive.
He also highlighted the integration achieved between the Electrical Union and other ministries and agencies of the central administration of the State, together with the government of each province to make the photovoltaic development projection a reality.
