Havana, Apr 16 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Cuba reported on Tuesday that it mobilized resources to support 19 neonatology services throughout the country in in 2023.
In its official X account, the UN agency noted that amid a complex situation for Cuba’s healthcare system, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they distributed incubators, thermal blankets and disposable materials to neonatology services throughout the Caribbean island.
As a result, 9,962 newborns benefited, according to the information provided by the UNICEF office in Cuba, noting that “nothing is more valuable than taking care of our most vulnerable children.”
The UNICEF office in Cuba has the goal to promote and defend the rights of all children in the country, as well as accompanying the Government in the implementation of its development priorities to promote equity and thus achieve a world appropriate for children and adolescents.
New York, Apr 16 (Prensa Latina) The premiere in the United States of the documentary film “Santa Canción” (Blessed Song) brought to this city the gratitude of its director, Juan Carlos Travieso, to one of the most consolidated cultural movements in Cuba: the Nueva Trova Movement.
The documentary film, included in the Havana Film Festival New York (HFFNY) billboard, reveals the director’s admiration for the “La Trovuntivitis” project that gathered thousands of followers at the Longina Festival in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara for over two decades.
In an interview with Prensa Latina, Travieso revealed that the initial idea for the documentary film came at the request of the troubadours themselves in the city of Santa Clara, 250 kilometers east of Havana, after being associated with this popular event in repeated editions.
After its premiere in 2023 at the iconic venue of “La Trovuntivitis”, the “El Mejunje” Cultural Center, the documentary film was screened at the New Latin American Film Festival and the Santiago Alvarez Festival, in which it won a collateral prize from the Universidad de Oriente.
Islamabad, Apr 16 (Prensa Latina) Three young Pakistanis have been chosen to study medicine in Cuba as part of the educational program conceived by the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, diplomatic sources reported on Tuesday.
Cuba’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Zenén Caro, reported on social media that Amir, Muhammad Annas, and Hamza received the necessary documents to travel to Cuba. They will begin their university studies in the new academic year.
Caro described it as a day of satisfaction that the young Pakistanis from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and North Waziristan provinces received their visas.
Cuba is known for its free healthcare system with high-quality professionals that it has managed to maintain despite its complex economic situation, mainly due to the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States for more than 60 years.
Cuba’s medical training programs are also internationally acknowledged for the excellence of its universities.
Inaugurated by Fidel Castro on November 15, 1999, Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) has become a university of excellence in the comprehensive training of healthcare professionals.
U.S. and Cuban flags at the Ernest Hemingway Museum in Havana. | Photo: X/ @WatchSalemNews
The Cuban delegation will point out that the U.S. blockade constitute the most relevant issue in the bilateral migration scenario.
April 16 (teleSUR) On Monday, Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that Cuba and the United States will begin a new round of talks on migration on Tuesday.
The new meeting for migration talks will take place in Washington D.C., as part of the alternating venue arrangement, stated Johana Tablada de la Torre, the Deputy Director of the U.S. Directorate of the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
The Cuban delegation will be led by Vice Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio Dominguez, while the U.S. delegation will be coordinated by Eric Jacobstein, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
“Cuba’s cooperation with the U.S. on migration matters has been serious and effective. Our country will reaffirm its commitment and willingness to maintain cooperation to promote regular, safe, and orderly migration,” said Tablada de la Torre.
Since 2023, the U.S. government has granted over 20,000 travel documents to Cuban migrants, and has returned the majority of those citizens intercepted at sea, within the framework of bilateral cooperation, which includes the holding of rounds of migration talks and the resumption of repatriation flights for migrants.
Among the priorities that the Cuban delegation will address in this talks is the reiteration that the U.S. blockade constitute the most relevant issue in the bilateral migration scenario.
The impact of these extreme and inhuman measures on our population is the main incentive explaining the unprecedented increase in current migration flows, the Cuban official noted.
Furthermore, the effect of the tightening measures of the blockade initiated in 2019, which have contributed to the growing irregular migration flow, will be acknowledged.
“We will insist to the U.S. on the resumption of the granting of non-immigrant visas in Havana. This is an issue that affects Cuban families, exchanges in various areas, and becomes an additional incentive for emigration, as those who wish to visit their relatives are not provided with another option,” she said.
Respect will be also requested for the right of travelers from third countries to visit Cuba freely and without reprisals, such as those currently suffering due to Cuba’s inclusion on the list of State sponsors of terrorism.
The Cuban delegation will call on the U.S. government to suspend the use of federal funds to finance major media outlets and digital platforms that promote irregular migration.
(Right) President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez and Dickon Mitchell, the Grenadian PM. | Photo: X/ @PresidenciaCuba
Both parts signed several mutual agreements of very importance.
April 14 (teleSUR) This April, 14 Cuba and Grenada celebrates 45 of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the both Caribbean countries. Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister Grenada, and the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez met today in Havana to commemorate the date.
Through his X account, the Cuban head of state qualified the meeting as “very pleasant and productive,” also, said “That sister Caribbean nation will always be able to count on Cuba’s modest support in terms of collaboration and the training of professionals.”
“We appreciate you as a young leader of Latin America and the Caribbean; we admire you, we respect you and we have much esteem for you”, Díaz-Canel told Mitchell after the official reception at the Palace of the Revolution.
????????| El presidente @DiazCanelB recibe #AHORA en el Palacio de la Revolución al primer ministro de Granada, Honorable Dickon Mitchell, quien realiza una visita oficial a #Cuba. pic.twitter.com/cmRULg2gv5
— Presidencia Cuba ???????? (@PresidenciaCuba) April 13, 2024
Very pleasant and productive meeting with Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister #Granada , a country with which we celebrate 45 years of diplomatic relations. This sister Caribbean nation will always be able to count on the modest support of #Cuba , in terms of collaboration and training of professionals.
During the event the Cuban president recalled his official visit to Granada in December 2022, which he described as unforgettable, for the conversations held, for the signs of affection of the people of Granada and for the act where the 24 Cubans killed in Granada were honored, as he expressed.
The official talks between Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and the Prime Minister of Granada, Dickon Mitchell, were also attended by the members of the Political Bureau, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, and Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Foreign Minister.
Also, both parts signed several mutual agreements, Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in the Protection of the Environment by Eduardo Martínez Díaz, Cuban Minister of Science and Joseph Andall, Grenadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, the document aims to promote cooperation in protecting the environment and addressing climate change.
Agreements for educational cooperation, technical cooperation in aquaculture and fisheries, agricultural cooperation were signed as well. Also present were the Ministers of Health of both countries, José Angel Portal Miranda, of Cuba and Philip Telesford, as well as directors of the foreign ministries of both countries, among other officials.
Havana, Apr 14 (Prensa Latina) Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang reportedly arrived today in Cuba on an official visit, which will last until April 16.
According to the Director of Bilateral Affairs of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Carlos Miguel Pereira, the Vietnamese high-ranking government leader was welcomed at Jose Marti International Airport by Deputy Foreign Minister Anayansi Rodríguez.
In welcoming Luu Quang, Rodriguez highlighted the historic relations of brotherhood and mutual trust that unite the two peoples and governments, the deputy minister noted on X social media.
San Juan, Apr 13 (Prensa Latina) The award-winning Colombian writer Laura Restrepo said in Puerto Rico that the former president of her country Iván Duque has great responsibility in the reinforcement of the US blockade that today overwhelms the Cuban people.
“Duque is responsible for placing Cuba on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism,” said the author of novels such as “Delirio y Demasiados héroes”, speaking at a meeting with personalities and journalists that took place at the headquarters of the Movimiento Independentista Nacional Hostosiano (MINH).
Restrepo, who is in Puerto Rico for the Annual Book Fair in Caguas, pointed out that the former Colombian president (2018-2022) showed his right-wing stance by running to the United States to attack Cuba, accusing it of receiving terrorists, in reference to the Colombian guerrillas who were negotiating peace with the government.
Contrary to Duque’s accusation, the writer said, Cuba has always been the only territory that opened its doors for all peace negotiations, for which the guerrillas had to move with the consent of the Colombian and Cuban governments.
Laura Restrepo said that this is the reason for Gustavo Petro’s determination to fight against the blockade on Cuba since he assumed the presidency of Colombia on August 7, 2022.
“In this way the blockade, which was already choking Cuba, was intensified,” stressed the Colombian writer, who was accompanied at the table by Julio Muriente, MINH president, and Puerto Rican lawyer and journalist Daniel Nina.
Havana, April 14 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Sunday congratulated the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Vietnam (PCV), Nguyen Phu Trong, on his 80th birthday.
On X, the Cuban leader wished Phu Trong great health, success and personal fortune.
Díaz-Canel also praised Phu Trong’s personal dedication in leading the PCV, which has been decisive in the path of building socialism in Vietnam.
In a message sent last February, Díaz-Canel expressed to the Vietnamese leader his certainty that in 2024 the unbreakable brotherhood between the two nations will be further strengthened.
Havana, Apr 13 (Prensa Latina) Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell continues his official visit to Cuba in the context of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the two nations to be celebrated tomorrow.
The day before, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero received Mitchell and highlighted the historic ties of friendship and mutual cooperation.
During the meeting, Marrero stressed that the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, fostered the ties of solidarity between the two countries.
The Cuban head of government expressed the will to advance bilateral commitments and highlighted the importance of the official visit made by President Miguel Díaz-Canel to Grenada, in December 2022.
In turn, Mitchell expressed that it is a honor and pleasure to be in Cuba and described his visit as very emotional.
He affirmed that the relationship between the two countries will continue to grow and will endure through time.
This Friday, the distinguished visitor also made a guided tour of historical sites near the Plaza de Armas in this capital.
Camagüey, Cuba, April 13 (Prensa Latina) For the Public Health system of the largest region of Cuba, the Electromedicine Center is crucial in solving the challenges imposed by the United States blockade.
The constant search for solutions has led this group, which has the Association of Innovators and Rationalizers (Anir) as its driving force, to important results which have allowed it to save the country more than a million dollars in 2023.
This was stated by the director of the institution, Rafael Ramírez, who assured that the more than 150 workers in its four departments “do not stop looking for solutions to carry out all the necessary equipment for the province.” With the Medical Orthopedics department, a set of actions includes the integration of its Repair, Medical Equipment, Laboratory, and Technological Surveillance counterparts, which form the Center.
“We have several work strategies with specialists with a high sense of responsibility, ”Ramírez says.
“The Technological Surveillance Center is crucial for supplying the bank with existing problems which we are preparing to solve,” the main person in charge of the institution added.
Cuba has an important movement in Anir, capable of becoming one of the shields to support the national health infrastructure.
“Anir is our potential, thanks to it, we carry out several of the ideas that the group has,” Ramírez said.
Spare parts, he said, and so on are difficult for us due to the blockade, but the work allows us, for example, to rebuild autoclaves that are used for sterilization, even complex technological equipment, thanks to which the tomograph at the Manuel Ascunce Hospital works.
“We are talking about a figure of much more than a million dollars per year. There is equipment worth that amount, and sometimes it is recovered at a low cost in national currency. It takes work, but we have had the will to fix them,” he added.
