Juba, Mar 21 (Prensa Latina) Cuba thanked South Sudan for supporting, every year, the United Nations resolution against the US blockade and is ready to strengthen bilateral relations, an official source informed on Thursday.
Havana’s Ambassador to Juba with residence in Addis Ababa, Jorge Lefebre, told Prensa Latina that he conveyed that message from Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir Mayardit during the credentials presentation ceremony held on Wednesday.
Lefebre also highlighted the ties of friendship that unite Cuba with the youngest nation in the world that is preparing to hold its first general elections.
As part of the activities in Juba, the diplomat met with a representation of graduates of the medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary faculties in Cuba, who expressed affection and especially gratitude for the opportunity to have studied there.
During the meeting, Lefebre addressed Cuban current issues and the scholarships granted by his Government each year to allow more young South Sudanese people to take higher studies.
Washington, Mar 21 (Prensa Latina) A private Swiss bank is perhaps the penultimate victim of the extraterritoriality of the economic, commercial and financial blockade that the U.S. government is applying with full force against Cuba.
A sum of approximately 3.7 million dollars was agreed to be paid by EFG International in order to get rid of the accusations that the Swiss banking institution violated the coercive measures imposed by Washington on the Caribbean country and individuals from other nations which, according to its standards, are part of a unilateral black list.
The U.S. Treasury Department reported the “violation.” It says that between 2014 and 2018, Zurich-based EFG allegedly processed 868 securities transactions for clients in Cuba and for a Chinese national included on that list.
A report published in The Wall Street Journal noted that EFG, which has about 40 global subsidiaries, also processed five payments last year for another person blocked by sanctions imposed against Russia abroad.
The allegedly illicit transactions amounted to $30.4 million, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) stressed.
As of June, EFG had some 146.5 billion Swiss francs (US$165.7 billion) in assets under management. The entity offers a range of financial services, including banking, investment, asset management and securities brokerage to institutional clients and individuals worldwide.
A spokesperson for the banking institution explained in an email that the company made the disclosures to OFAC in 2017 and 2023.
In the immediate term, EFG also restricted the accounts of clients blacklisted under U.S. sanctions. It will now require approval from its compliance department for any account activity of other clients that, although it did not emphasize on the agreement.
In calculating the fine, OFAC took into account EFG’s communication “of the alleged violations and its substantial cooperation, including through an internal investigation to identify exposure to customers facing U.S. sanctions,” the newspaper detailed.
The case highlights the risks faced by banks that have global customers and maintain general accounts in the United States, OFAC said.
But this is not the first time that a Swiss bank has appeared in a retaliation case for violating the blockade laws that for more than six decades have been the U.S. boot on Cuba’s neck.
There is a list of Swiss banks that have paid millions of dollars in fines for that reason.
Unfortunately, this is another irrefutable example of how the United States imposes its extraterritorial laws and tries to control with whom institutions in different parts of the world may or may not do business if they suffer the effect of its coercive measures.
Caracas, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) said on Wednesday that the United States contributes to the destabilization of democratic processes in the region, with its permanent and warlike interference.
“It is not enough for them to confess that they intend to steal the natural resources of our countries, to qualify and threaten the governments of the Bolivarian Alliance now,” the executive secretary of the group, Jorge Arreaza, stated in a message on his X profile.
The official condemned, at the same time, the recent statements made by the commander of the US Southern Command, Laura J. Richardson, who singled out Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua for allegedly supporting “destabilizing activities in the region.”
“As Executive Secretary of the @ALBATCP I reject the cynicism, arrogance and brazenness of this US “Military Chief” (…) This chief of the Southern Command, like all her predecessors, will fail in her expansionist intentions to dominate the sovereign peoples of Our Latin America and the Caribbean,” Arreaza added.
Richardson has recently met with the repulse of Latin American and Caribbean nations for her constant statements on domestic issues and the Essequibo territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana.
Damascus, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) The Association of Syrian Graduates in Cuban Universities issued a statement in which they strongly condemned the hostile and interfering policy of the United States in the Caribbean island.
We reject this negative and harmful approach that was intensified during the last few days in a dirty and cheap effort to instigate acts of destabilization, the Association noted.
The text added that similar interference and slanderous acts by Washington were carried out by the Empire in Syria and other Arab nations during the so-called “Arab Spring,” bringing only chaos and deaths.
The group also expressed support for President Díaz Canel’s statement on Cuban authorities’ willingness to attend to the demands of the Cuban people, to listen, dialogue and explain the numerous steps being taken to improve the situation, always in an atmosphere of tranquility.
The difficult economic situation and the shortages and difficulties faced by the population on a daily basis are due to the impact of the blockade imposed for more than six decades, the Association pointed out.
It considered that the millions used to fund the reinforcement of an economic and communication war seek to exploit the natural irritation of the population against the government.
According to the Association’s board of directors and members, in the current wars, collaborators, mercenaries and lackeys are employed, just as they have been in other countries with the aim of causing cracks and divisions in society.
We take this opportunity to condemn the blockade and affirm that if the US Government had an honest concern for the welfare of Cubans, it would have lifted this blockade and removed Cuba from the arbitrary list of States that allegedly sponsor terrorism, the statement concluded.
Havana, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) Cuba and Italy expressed willingness to strengthen bilateral relations and economic and commercial ties during the Inter-Ministerial Political Consultations.
During the meeting that concluded on Tuesday, the two sides reviewed issues of the multilateral agenda, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) informed in a review of the meeting led by Deputy Foreign Minister Anayansi Rodríguez and Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgio Silli.
Rodríguez thanked Italy for its traditional support in the United Nations, to the resolution against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba.
Italian Ambassador to Cuba, Roberto Vellano; Chief of the Cabinet, Jacopo Albergorni; and Counselor and Deputy Head of Mission of the Italian Embassy in Cuba, Guglielmo Pirrone, accompanied Silli during the meeting.
Cuba and Italy marked the 121st anniversary of their bilateral relations on February 4. In the last few years, they have been expanding in different fields of cooperation.
United Nations, Mar 19 (Prensa Latina) United Nations Secretary General António Guterres praised Cuba’s efforts in promoting multilateralism at a recent meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Gerardo Peñalver, the Cuban Mission here reported on Tuesday.
According to the information disclosed on social networks, Guterres particularly praised Cuba’s work during the presidency of the G77+China, a bloc that brings together 134 countries, as well as its commitment to the United Nations System.
Cuba’s permanent ambassador in the organization highlighted his country’s efforts to update the economic and social development model and advance in the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda.
The diplomat, who will concludes his work at the head of the UN Mission, insisted on the commitment to the route outlined for sustainable development despite the economic blockade sustained for more than six decades by the United States and Cuba’s inclusion on the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list.
Peñalver updated the UN chief on Washington’s recent failed efforts to suffocate the Cuban economy, cause hardship to its population and encourage demonstrations of discontent and violent actions.
Yuri Gala and Yusnier Romero, Cuba’s alternate permanent representatives at the UN, also participated in the meeting; as well as Counselor Alejandro González, and the first secretary of the Cuban Mission Martha García.
Washington, Mar 20 (Prensa Latina) The National Network of Solidarity with Cuba (NNOC) called on the Government of the United States again to delete Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list, and lift the sanctions that are causing the Cuban people’s suffering.
“We call on the United States to remove Cuba from the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list and lift all sanctions, measures that would immediately help alleviate Cuba’s economic crisis,” the NNOC stressed in a statement that is circulating on social networks.
The stance of the network, which brings together more than 70 US organizations, came after recent peaceful expressions of popular frustration in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba that “underscore the devastating impact of more than six decades of illegal US sanctions.”
The Miami regime changers and the US Government-funded propaganda media were quick to exploit these genuine frustrations to call for the overthrow of the Cuban Government, the statement emphasized.
In April 1960, a memorandum from the then Deputy Secretary of State Lester Mallory described what would soon become the exact pattern of the US blockade: making life difficult for the citizens on Cuba, causing hunger, desperation to try to overthrow the Government of Cuba, the text recalled.
“We are watching this policy unfold in real time and, as the people of the United States, we have every responsibility to fight against the United States’ attacks on Cuba’s sovereignty,” the NNOC stated.
True solidarity with the Cuban people requires respecting their right to self-determination and demanding an end to external interference by the United States that deny Cuba this right, the NNOC statement concluded.
Mallory’s memo specified at the time that “the only foreseeable means of alienating domestic support is through disenchantment and discontent based on dissatisfaction and economic hardship.”
Ottawa, March 18 (Prensa Latina) The Associations of Cuban Residents in Canada today strongly condemned the manipulations of political operators in the United States, who incite violence on the island in order to undermine the constitutional order.
It is shameful and hypocritical that, on the one hand, the United States government urges Cuba to resolve the needs of Cubans and accuses it of indolence, and on the other, it is the most responsible and promoter of the shortcomings and difficulties that families face. Cubans, the official statement highlights.
They also recognized the political siege established over 60 years by the US Government, which has imposed the most brutal and comprehensive sanctions, as well as millions of dollars for programs aimed at destabilizing the internal reality of the Caribbean country.
As if all of the above were not enough, the United States includes Cuba on a spurious list of unilateral sponsors of terrorism, which seeks to discourage and hinder the nation’s potential investments, the letter warns.
Regarding the latent situation in the country’s economy, which suffers from difficulties in the supply of food, fuel and medicine, they assured that it is a consequence of the cruel policy of asphyxiation established by the administrations of the northern nation and, finally, they reaffirmed the accompaniment to the Homeland with its labor of love and solidarity.
Havana, March 18 (Prensa Latina) The strengthening of solidarity communication networks with Cuba and Palestine is the focus of the debates of the 3rd Patria International Colloquium, which began today in this capital to analyze the challenges of digital communication.
In exclusive statements to Prensa Latina, Spanish journalist Ana Hurtado highlighted the importance of holding this meeting in Havana in a turbulent world scenario, of economic war and marked by the genocide that Palestine is experiencing.
She also highlighted the usefulness of this edition particularly analyzing new technologies and artificial intelligence, because left-wing media must make effective use of these tools to tell their truth and know how to transmit it appropriately.
Patria is a meeting between communicators from Latin America and the world so that we are articulated, creating a left without disunity and knowing that, despite our differences, we have to strike imperialism and capitalism together, Hurtado stressed. For his part, the Argentine influencer Bruno Lonatti referred to how much each participant or specialist in digital communication and data science can contribute, with the aim of developing a very enriching debate for alternative media.
He also stressed that this meeting allows for dialogue about how to generate community in an individualistic world. He also added that for those present it is a commitment to defend just causes, such as the denunciation of the economic blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba and the Israeli war against Gaza.
In this sense, the advisor of the pan-Arab network Al Mayadeen and Latin American specialist, Wafica Ibrahim, highlighted Cuba’s historical position in support of the Levantine nation; and in particular, her actions to condemn the ongoing war with popular demonstrations, led by President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
He said that the channel, with headquarters in Lebanon, also participates in this event to defend Cuba, because in one of the most difficult moments of the US blockade, the enemy takes advantage of these difficulties to try -through social networks or media- impose their interventionist plans.
She called on all friendly peoples to rise up in support of Cuba, because the Caribbean nation has been raising its voice in solidarity with oppressed peoples for 65 years.
Prensa Latina also spoke with Luis De Jesús, correspondent in Havana of the newspaper La Claridad, of Puerto Rico, who reiterated the relevance of journalists and communicators from various countries discussing communication alternatives, in a scenario stained by the blood of the Palestinians and where the West tries to silence the voice of the south and the nations in resistance.
The Patria Colloquium has the opportunity to function as a platform for exchange and to unite those voices, which from the progressive movement try to serve as a counterpoint to the hegemonic media.
Havana, Mar 18 (Prensa Latina) Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel denounced today that U.S.-based terrorist groups are encouraging actions against the country’s internal order, taking advantage of the harsh situation the island is undergoing.
On X social media the Head of State also informed that some people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the deficit in the national power service and the distribution of food.
Enemies of the Cuban revolution are trying to use such context with destabilizing purposes, Diaz-Canel stressed.
From Santiago de Cuba, the First Secretary of the Party Committee in that eastern Cuban province, Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, referred to the concerns of citizens about food distribution and electricity supply.
Beatriz Johnson also published in X that a group of people from the Antonio Maceo district in that eastern city were attended to. They showed dissatisfaction with the electricity supply and food distribution, she confirmed.
President Díaz-Canel pointed out that in the last few hours we have seen how terrorists based in the United States, whom we have denounced on several occasions, have encouraged actions against the country’s internal peace and order.
In this regard, the president said that “the willingness of the authorities of the Communist Party of Cuba, the State and the Government is to attend to the demands of our people, listen, talk, explain the numerous steps being taken to come out of the current hardships, always in an atmosphere of tranquility”.
The President reaffirmed that “in the midst of the conditions of a U.S. blockade that intends to suffocate us, we will continue working in peace to get out of this situation”.
