HAVANA, Cuba, May 28 (ACN) In a post on X, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for his pronouncement against the inclusion of the island on the spurious list of state sponsors of terrorism.
In its message, the Foreign Ministry shared a fragment of the Mexican leader’s usual morning press conference where he expressed his solidarity and support to the Caribbean nation and decried the U.S. blockade.
“What terrorism? Just an excuse (…) There are some people in the U.S. that get a lot out of the suffering of the Cuban people (…) and have made a lot of money with this extremist policy,” López Obrador said. “What I would like, as all the countries of the world have requested, is the end of the blockade of Cuba.”
Havana, May 31 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel toured economic centers in Sagua la Grande municipality, in the central Villa Clara province on Thursday to learn about the status of local economic and social programs.
The Cuban Presidency reported on its X profile that the head of State visited the facilities of the Héctor Rodríguez Sugar Agri-Industrial Enterprise. He was accompanied by the organization secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Roberto Morales.
During a meeting with managers and workers, Díaz-Canel learned that the Villa Clara sugar mill is not fulfilling its production plan due to fuel and lubricant shortages, and the weather conditions at the beginning of the harvest.
The president was interested in the mill’s prospects, and its managers and workers committed to milling sugar as long as possible and contributing 2,000-3,000 tons of sugar, in addition to 7,000 tons already produced, the source noted.
“You have to mill all the old crops,” Díaz-Canel said.
The tour also included the Electrochemical Company (Elquim), the only one of its kind in Cuba, which produces chlorine and its byproducts for sectors like health care, aqueducts and tourism.
The managers of Elquim explained to Díaz-Canel the actions that have been taken to increase exports to the Caribbean.
The president inquired about the installed technology, which makes it impossible for chemicals to escape, so that the smell of chlorine cannot to be felt in the production plant, which surprised the visitors.
He also spoke with the workers about the stability of the workforce, the difficulties in obtaining packaging for some of the products and the production of food, the Cuban President wrote on X.
Díaz-Canel learned that although there are profits above the plan, it has not been possible to pay the profits to the workers, due to the expenses of the workers’ dining room area.
Faced with this problem, the group requested land for self-consumption and they have already planted 31 hectares.
On the other hand, at the UEB Taller Ferroviario 9 de Abril, the president praised the company’s new ways of doing things and its high technological capacity.
That company currently assumes the reconversion of buses known as Diana to be used as railway buses, and the first one is already traveling in Artemisa.
Saint John, May 28 (Prensa Latina) The imbalances of the international financial system do not provide the necessary stability to achieve the objectives of sustainable development and meet the needs of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa asserted today.
During his speech at the high-level meeting on resources mobilization for SIDS, based in this country, he stressed that the challenges presented are exacerbated exponentially for Cuba, due to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States for more than six decades.
Also due to the country’s arbitrary inclusion in the unilateral list of alleged state sponsors of terrorism, he added.
The Cuban minister indicated that in the current context, comprehensively addressing the financing deficit will require, among other actions: recapitalizing the Multilateral Development Banks and improving their loaning conditions.
Furthermore, it is necessary to fulfill, once and for all, the commitment of first world countries to Official Development Assistance, through allocations based on vulnerabilities, not just income, he noted.
He added that it is important to define SIDS’ access to concessional financing and technical cooperation and to comprehensively review the International Monetary Fund’s surcharge policy, including its suspension, significant permanent reduction or elimination.
In relation to this, he mentioned another action: implementing a specific service to support the sustainability of the debt of these countries, involving multilateral, official bilateral and private creditors, under the auspices of the United Nations.
The only viable solution lies in rethinking the unjust and unequal international economic order and the current bases that define North-South relations and life on the planet, highlighted the Cuban vice president.
During the day, the Cuban vice president also held a meeting with the Foreign Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Douglas Denzil, during which he highlighted the excellent state of bilateral relations, based on friendship and cooperation.
Valdés is attending, leading a delegation from the Island, to the IV International Conference of SIDS, which brings together senior dignitaries until next Thursday, to discuss the priorities and objectives in terms of progress and sustainability for this specific category of countries, of which Cuba is part of.
At the same time, the Cuban vice president makes an official visit, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between both these nations.
As part of the bilateral program, he holds meetings with country authorities, representatives of solidarity, Cuban residents and aid workers.
Victoria, May 28 (Prensa Latina) The withdrawal of Cuba from the spurious list of countries that support terrorism was demanded today by the Seychelles-Cuba Friendship Association in a statement circulated here to the media.
The Republic of Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, in West Africa, and the text was issued to coincide with the non-inclusion of Cuba on the list of countries that do not fully cooperate with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, announced by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken recently.
Cuba was added to the list of countries that support terrorism during former President Donald Trump’s term in office as a gift to his supporters from Republican politicians who control the majority of the electorate in the state of Florida.
We believe that it is a contradiction to remove Cuba from the list of countries that do not cooperate in the fight against terrorism, and at the same time maintain it on the list of countries that “sponsor terrorism.”
The text adds that this relation “is used to increase the economic sanctions against Cuba: This is a great injustice, which causes much harm and suffering to the Cuban people.”
Havana, May 29 (Prensa Latina) The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum of the U.S. University of Arkansas and the National Council of Cultural Heritage (CNPC) recently signed in Havana a memorandum of understanding to strengthen ties with the Ernest Hemingway Museum in Cuba.
The Cuban Ministry of Culture informed today that this step will intensify academic contributions between the foreign institution and the museum dedicated to preserving Hemingway’s legacy on the island.
The executive director of Hemingway-Pfeiffer, Adam Long, who signed the agreement on the U.S. side, thanked the authorities of the Ministry of Culture, the CNPC, the Ernest Hemingway Museum and the Foreign Ministry for welcoming him.
He referred to his visit to Cuba in 2013 to participate in the Ernest Hemingway Colloquium and added that he was impressed by the work carried out by the Museum.
He stressed that this visit to sign the document, which is endorsed by the Arkansas University dean, is the beginning of future collaborations between the two institutions.
Also the president of the CNPC, Virgen Perez, signatory for the Cuban side, said the memorandum respects the strengths of those involved in its content, guided by the joint desire to promote the work they do.
These include research, training and cooperation in academic disciplines of mutual interest and benefit.
The exchange between professors and students is another way of socialization that can be carried out and become a platform to promote the Ernest Hemingway International Colloquium (organized in Havana) through the results of their research.
The president of the CNPC added that the most important thing is the opening of a new opportunity for collaboration between Cuba and the United States, whose main objective is to preserve the work and historical legacy of the American writer Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Prize in Literature.
Havana, May 28 (Prensa Latina) Religious institutions in this capital are celebrating on Tuesday the 83rd anniversary of establishing the Council of Churches of Cuba (CIC) with a gala that will bring together several Christian artists at Miramar Theater.
The non-governmental, non-profit institution will assemble more than 50 percent of Cuba’s evangelical churches immersed in the effort to promote meeting spaces and actions for churches and other Christian institutions to develop their social vocation.
It has 28 full-member denominations, in addition to 14 ecumenical centers and movements, which comprise an estimated 42 member institutions, to which another nine are added in the status of fraternal associates.
The CIC is legally established and recognized with its legal personality in the Registry of Associations at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Cuba. It is in tune with the country in the search for its sustainability, the development of social services, and the rescue of values.
It also promotes dialogue with all players in society and its relations with it to offer better community services, with the legal guarantees granted by the Constitution of the Republic.
As a responsibility of its secular State, the Constitution establishes the recognition, guarantee, and respect for religious freedom and confirms that different beliefs and religions enjoy equal consideration.
Article 57 of the Constitution guarantees everyone’s right to profess religious beliefs or not, to change them, and to practice the religion of his or her preference, with due respect for others and under the law, and protects against conduct related to any discrimination based on religious beliefs.
HAVANA, Cuba, May 26 (ACN) In a post on X to commemorate Africa Day, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel assured that he will continue to strengthen ties of brotherhood and cooperation with African nations and highlighted their role in the formation of the identity, culture, history and fighting spirit of the Cubans.
In other posts, Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly of People’s Power and of the Council of State, congratulated the African peoples, parliaments and legislative authorities on behalf of Cuban deputies, whereas Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla reasserted his support and commitment to the priorities of the African countries, whose legacy has been vital to Cuban history, nationality and culture, and thanked them for their permanent solidarity with Cuba.
Africa Day is observed every year on May 25 to mark the foundation of the Organization of African Unity—today the African Union (AU)—on this date in 1963, based on its pledge to support the work done by freedom fighters and eliminate military access to colonial nations and established a charter designed to improve living standards in member states.
The celebration hails the continent’s achievements and invites reflection on the challenges facing Africa in the near future.
Hanoi, May 28 (Prensa Latina) The definitive and permanent exclusion of Cuba from the unilateral list elaborated by the U.S. government and which designates States allegedly sponsoring terrorism was demanded today by solidarity organizations.
The United States should consider putting an end to and permanently eliminating Cuba from that list, thus stopping the imposition of a series of irrational and unfounded economic and financial blockade measures that seriously affect the life of the brotherly Cuban people, a statement issued by the Vietnam-Cuba Friendship Association emphasizes.
The statement also points out that through information from the press and diplomatic agencies, last May 15, it was announced, that the U.S. government decided to remove Cuba from the list of countries that did not cooperate with U.S. anti-terrorist efforts in 2023.
“This is a notable step for the Cuban people in its struggle against unreasonable forms of external imposition,” the text further stresses and adds that “it is also a necessary action on the part of the United States, although insufficient.”
The message, addressed to the president of the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association, Yolanda Ferrer, ratifies that the popular organizations in this Indochinese nation always trust and firmly support the revolutionary cause of the Cuban people in the struggle against the U.S. blockade and for the construction and development of the country.
Geneva, May 28 (Prensa Latina) Cuba denounced before the World Health Organization (WHO) the impact on this sector of the U.S. blockade on the island and the consequences of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip in the health sector.
In the continuation of the debates at the 77th World Health Assembly, Cuban Health Minister Jose Angel Portal also repudiated the inclusion of Cuba in Washington’s unilateral list of countries sponsoring terrorism, a measure created to tighten the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed more than 60 years ago.
The unjust blockade and Washington’s unilateral list, hinder a better functioning of our health system, he stressed in the forum that constitutes the highest decision-making body of the WHO.
Portal reiterated the island’s willingness to share, with other nations, its progress in public health, in which it has consolidated the comprehensive approach and intersectoral participation, with pillars such as primary care and work in the communities.
“We will continue to promote solidarity and altruism, principles with which for more than six decades we have provided services in 165 countries, no matter how many challenges or slander we have to overcome to do so,” he said.
The head of the Cuban delegation to the 77th World Health Assembly considered that these essences are not and will never be understood by the government of the United States.
Regarding the devastating situation in Gaza, subjected to indiscriminate attacks since October last year, Mr. Portal joined other speakers in condemning the ongoing crimes in the densely populated enclave, where its health system has collapsed under Israeli bombs.
“It is imperative to stop the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people there,” he said.
The island’s representative insisted to the WHO that there is no justification whatsoever for attacking health infrastructures, or the health and humanitarian personnel who work tirelessly in Gaza, to protect innocent civilians from such a terrible massacre.
HAVANA, Cuba, May 22 (ACN) The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis delivered a donation of medical supplies worth some 6,500 dollars to Havana’s “América Arias” Gynecobstetric Hospital, a center specialized in the care of women in fertile stage and clinical and surgical gynecological services and in assisted reproduction treatments.
The donation, which includes disposable materials such as gloves, surgical gowns, face masks, cotton rolls, alcohol gel and vaginal specula, will help improve patient care quality.
Verna Uwana Mills, Ambassador of St. Kitts and Nevis to Cuba, stressed that she was honored to make the donation of the said supplies in the context of the 29th anniversary of relations between the two nations as a sign of solidarity and friendship on behalf of the government and people of her country. She also thanked the Ministries of Public Health and of Foreign Affairs of Cuba and their counterpart agencies in St. Kitts and Nevis for facilitating the procurement and delivery of this aid and reasserted that both countries will keep working together to strengthen and consolidate their ties.
Dr. Dunia Rebeca Yi Mariño, director of the receiving hospital, remarked that this donation comes at a time when Cuba, and particularly Cuban health care, is coping with great hardship caused by the intensification of the U.S. blockade.
