Month of French Culture in Cuba with Olympic closure

Havana, May 27 (Prensa Latina) The Month of French Culture in Cuba, in force until May 31, exhibits a program with an Olympic closing and a broad sports presence saluting the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Expressive competitions, literature, storytelling, and sports films conclude in varied activities at the closing of this event which, in addition, has from today’s dance inspired by the work of the great French artist Henri Matisse.

Tomorrow, the Eloquence Contest 2024, organized by the French Language Specialty Group and other institutions, will be held at the Aimee Cesaire Media Library of the Alliance Française de Cuba.

In this contest, young people between 15 and 20 years old will show their expressive skills on the theme “Paris hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024”.

Also on this day, at 5:00 p.m. local time, the panel discussion “Writing Sport” will take place at the French residence in the capital, with interventions by prestigious writers such as Leonardo Padura (Cuba) and Thomas Bauer (France).

The moderator of this exchange table will be the popular Cuban sports commentator Carlos Hernández Luján, and the topic will deal with the profession of chronicler, journalist, observer, critic, and sports narrator.

Guests will be able to learn how the speakers convey sports emotions through writing.

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U.S. terrorist list is targeted to strangle Cuba, FM denounces

Havana, May 27 (Prensa Latina) Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez denounced that the inclusion of his country on the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism is a brutal measure by the U.S. government against the Cuban people.

On the social network X, the Foreign Minister stressed that this measure seeks to strangle the economy of the Caribbean nation and hold the government responsible for its impact on the population.

Recently, the U.S. State Department informed that Cuba was removed from the list of countries that, according to Washington, “do not fully cooperate” in the fight against terrorism.

The Cuban government considered the provision insufficient, which is not equivalent to eliminating it from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, which implies serious limitations for the economic and commercial exchange of the Caribbean country.

In a statement, the Cuban Foreign Ministry urged the United States to remove the Caribbean nation from that designation and assured that it is not enough just to recognize that Cuba fully cooperates with Washington’s anti-terrorist efforts.

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Cuban residents in Panama call on US to remove Cuba from SSOT list

Panama, May 27 (Prensa Latina) The Marti Association of Cuban Residents in Panama (AMCRP) on Monday asked the national Government to call on the United States to remove Cuba from the unilateral State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.

In a letter addressed to Foreign Minister Janaina Tewaney, the AMCRP respectfully asked the Executive to urge the White House not to stop this process.

They also requested in the document delivered to head of Panamanian diplomacy that the economic, commercial and financial blockade that Washington has imposed on Cuba for more than 60 years be lifted, as has been requested repeatedly by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

In the letter, the group also supported the statement issued by the Cuban Foreign Ministry on May 15, while taking note of the report sent by the Secretary of State to Congress “in which Cuba was excluded from the list of countries not fully cooperating with US counterterrorism efforts in 2023.”

In that text, Cuban diplomacy described Anthony Blinken’s report as arbitrary, because they usually qualify countries, without any international mandate or recognition.

However, the State Department itself maintains Cuba on the SSOT list, the statement added.

This is an absolutely unilateral and unfounded list, whose sole purpose is to slander and serve as a pretext for the adoption of coercive economic measures against sovereign States, such as those ruthlessly applied against Cuba, the official press release indicated.

The clear and absolute truth is that Cuba does not sponsor terrorism, but rather has been a victim of it, including State terrorism, the message highlighted.

The Association pointed out in its letter that as Cubans living in Panama, their second homeland, it fills them with satisfaction to be able to count on the Government. In this way, they conveyed their gratitude in the assurance that this will contribute to strengthening the ties of brotherhood between both nations.

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Cuban FM reaffirms support to Africa

Havana, May 25 (Prensa Latins) On Africa Day, we reaffirm our support and commitment to the priorities of our brother continent, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Saturday.

On X, the Cuban foreign minister heaped praise on the legacy of African nations which are vital in history and in shaping Cuban nationality and culture.

Rodriguez thanked Africa for its permanent solidarity with Cuba.

The Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Roberto Morales, on the other hand, praised the important date on his X profile.

Morales celebrated the deep ties that unite Cuba and Africa.

He also sent his heartfelt congratulations to the African Union (AU) and all continental brothers, on the 61st anniversary of its founding.

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Egyptian newspaper denounces the U.S. war and blockade against Cuba

Cairo, May 26 (Prensa Latina) The United States is defying and violating the principles of the UN and international law with its policy of blockade and war against Cuba, the Egyptian daily Al Ahram affirmed.

In an opinion article in the newspaper, renowned journalist Kamal Gaballa estimated that Washington’s actions could be considered genocide.

He recalled that the White House maintains the island on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a measure he considered an act of political and economic coercion.

The decision is part of the covert war, in times of peace, against Havana he stressed.

Gaballa pointed out that since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the Caribbean country has suffered numerous terrorist attacks against its diplomatic missions around the world.

In this regard, he cited the attack against the Cuban Embassy in Washington on April 30, 2020, when a man fired 32 bullets with a rifle, and the “complicit silence” of the U.S. authorities.

The communicator pointed out that testimonies of U.S. national security experts affirm that there is no evidence of Cuban support for terrorism, but rather the opposite, that Havana can be an important partner in combating it.

What is certain is that the island was the victim of hundreds of terrorist attacks, most were organized or financed by the United States, he said, including in recent decades the downing of a commercial airliner.

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FAO project gains ground in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, May 23 (ACN) The Cuba Office of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that the implementation of the project South-South Cooperation: Digital Transformation and Innovation in Agriculture, is advancing in the country with the support of the People’s Republic of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

According to a press release issued by the entity, talks about issues deemed key to digital transformation in Cuban agriculture were held, along with theme-specific workshops organized by the University of Havana and attended by private companies, academics and producers who discussed actions for the digitalization of farms and problems related to connectivity, energy use, irrigation and marketing.

The text also remarks that the project contributes to the FAO global initiative 1000 Digital Villages, designed to improve access to digital tools and increase their use in agri-food systems and rural areas, as well as to help local communities to take advantage of these instruments to promote and market their tourism services, boost their income and create more jobs.

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Uruguayans call for the exclusion of Cuba from the SST list

Montevideo, May 25 (Prensa Latina) The Uruguayan Anti-imperialist Committee of Solidarity with Cuba and the Peoples of the World demands on Saturday the exclusion of Cuba from the unilateral states-sponsor-of-terrorism (SST) list.

Several groups in the Committee issued a statement in which they add their voices to many others in the world with the same demand, and for the lifting of Washington’s economic, financial and commercial blockade against the Cuban people.

The statement notes that the United States removed Cuba from the list of nations that do not fully cooperate with terrorism, but kept it on the SST list is a contradictory and arbitrary stance to seriously affect the Cuba’s diplomatic, commercial, financial, cultural, academic and other relations with the world.

This is yet another imperialist and coercive action that adds to and aggravates the economic, commercial and financial blockade suffered, and above all resisted, by the Cuban people for more than 60 years, the manifesto stresses.

It adds that this U.S. policy is in violation of international legislation and has been repeatedly voted against the blockade at the United Nations.

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Cuban film ¨Night with the Rolling Stones¨ opens festival in Namibia

Havana, May 23 (Prensa Latina) The film ¨A Night with the Rolling Stones¨, by Cuban filmmaker Patricia Ramos, opens the 10th Ibero-American Film Festival in Namibia, according to the president of the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC), Alexis Triana.

With a packed hall in the capital Windhoek, the event is taking place this week, once again raising the name of Cuban cinema in honor of ICAIC’s 65th anniversary.

Cuba’s ambassador to the African country, Sergio Vigoa, highlighted during the opening ceremony the extraordinary artistic values of one of the most recent film productions of this archipelago, Triana commented on his official Facebook account.

¨A Night with the Rolling Stones¨ was one of the fiction premieres competing in the 44th edition of the New Latin American Film Festival of Havana, an event that takes place every year in December in this country.

Its director is also the screenwriter of the film produced by ICAIC and Mar y Cielo S.A., and the cinematographer is Alexander González, while the original music is by Magda Rosa Galván and Juan Antonio Leyva.

The film followed Rita in Havana in 2016, months before The Rolling Stone concert, a 45-year-old woman with several unresolved conflicts in her life, but with the hope that something big and unique is about to happen.

The leading role was played by actress Lola Amores, who was joined in the cast by Maite Galban, Santi Estupiñan, Jorge Martínez and Roberto Espinosa.

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Cuba’s first medical collaboration in the world is recalled

Havana, May 23 (Prensa Latina) Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez recalled the sending, 61 years ago, of the first medical collaboration brigade of his country abroad.

In his profile on the social network X, the Cuban Foreign Minister highlighted these six decades, in which those specialists performed 16,534,286 surgeries and offered 2 billion 242 million consultations in 165 countries.

Our health personnel are an example of solidarity and dedication to saving lives, Rodriguez said in his message.

The Caribbean nation’s Minister of Health, José Ángel Portal, also recalled that since that first international mission in Algeria, more than 600,000 health workers have provided their services in all latitudes with sensitivity, heroism, dedication and professionalism.

May 23, 1963 marked a milestone in Cuba’s history. On that day, a plane transported 29 doctors, four stomatologists, 14 nurses and seven health technicians to Algeria to provide permanent services to that nation, Michael Cabrera, director of the Central Unit of Medical Collaboration, recalled today to Granma newspaper.

Cabrera affirmed that 58 brigades of Cuban health specialists collaborated in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in 42 countries.

At present, more than 22,600 collaborators on the island provide these services, grouped into 54 brigades, which respond to the needs expressed by each of the governments that request their services.

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Cuba highlights recognition of United Arab Emirates

Havana, May 23 (Prensa Latina) Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez today highlighted the delivery to Cuba of the Order of First Class Zayed II, from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in recognition of the presidency exercised by this nation in the G77+China.

In his profile on the social network X, the top representative of Cuban diplomacy affirmed that Cuba worked with commitment in favor of the common interests of the South, the expansion of cooperation, and ensuring mutually beneficial relations with the rest of the world.

The day before, the Special Representative to coordinate the presidency of the G-77+China, Pedro Pedroso, received the distinction in Abu Dhabi, from the UAE’s President, for the fundamental role played in the unification of the G77+China around the COP28 negotiated outcomes project, especially the global inventory.

Cuba assumed the presidency of the bloc for 2023, in an international context still affected by the socioeconomic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and the combined effect of multiple crises.

According to experts, during this stage, the G77+China reaffirmed itself not only as the largest negotiating group of the United Nations, but also as a fundamental actor for the necessary transformation of the current economic order, and demonstrated its capacity to unite around issues of vital importance and common interest among member states.

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