Havana, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) Cuba condemned the reward announced by the United States for information leading to the arrest of Venezuela’s legitimate president, Nicolas Maduro, describing it as another act of aggression against the South American nation.
Through the social media platform X, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called the reward, which Washington doubled from $25 million to $50 million, “fraudulent” due to the Bolivarian leader’s alleged ties to drug trafficking.
We condemn the fraudulent reward announced by the #US government against the legitimate President of #Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, which constitutes a new act of aggression against that sister nation. The US government lacks the legal and moral authority to take such a measure, Rodriguez wrote.
From the Venezuelan government, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil described the reward offered by US Attorney General Pamela Bondi as “pathetic,” calling it “the most ridiculous smokescreen” he had ever seen.
In a Telegram post, Minister Gil emphasized that Bondi only created “a media circus” to please the Venezuelan opposition, following the revelation of the new attempt to destabilize the country.
“It doesn’t surprise us, given who it’s coming from,” Gil added.
Havana, Aug 7 (Prensa Latina) The International Solar Alliance (ISA) today granted the University of Havana’s Photovoltaic Laboratory the status of Resource Center for Solar Technology Applications in Cuba (STAR Center), the first in Latin America.
During the award ceremony and inauguration of the STAR Center at the University of Havana, ISA’s general director, Ashish Khanna, emphasized that this status will open more doors to research and development, training, and the search for proprietary solutions, whether for public heating, solar fuel, solar pumps, or solar storage.
Khanna emphasized that the needs are quite unique for each country, although some problems may be similar, and added that he is excited to see what the future society will be able to achieve.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Higher Education, Walter Baluja, thanked the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) for trusting the University of Havana’s significant historical foundation to develop the STAR Center, reflecting its prestige, tradition, and results, both at the laboratory and the professionals involved in this service.
For his part, First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Argelio Abad, highlighted ISA’s initiative to promote research and the implementation of technology related to renewable energy, especially solar energy.
According to Abad, the STAR Center came to Cuba to strengthen the existing alliance between the academic and productive sectors in a context where the island is committed to rapidly advancing the energy transition, including the use of photovoltaic energy.
Facilities like the laboratory, he continued, are a true strength for the country in ensuring the massive deployment of solar technology in compliance with international standards, and in creating a quality infrastructure around it that allows for its efficient and safe exploitation.
He also thanked ISA for its support and continued willingness to work with Cuba, as well as for its commitment to regional integration and strategic development.
He also recognized the University of Havana for all its knowledge in the service of the country’s energy development.
Immediately afterward, the Rector of the University of Havana, Miriam Nicado, highlighted the leadership and scientific commitment of the Photovoltaic Laboratory, which had been awarded the STAR Center status, and described it as a school of knowledge and a space for research, innovation, and capacity building.
Nicado stated that the Laboratory will consciously assume its mission as a knowledge-building and reference center to raise professional standards in the field of solar energy, with the goal of improving capacities, access to knowledge, technologies, and process management for better implementation of solar energy in Cuba and the Caribbean.
The university we have today is more internationally integrated, rural, multidisciplinary, committed to sustainable development, and always willing to contribute to a better future for our people, the Rector emphasized.
Meanwhile, the head of the Photovoltaic Laboratory and STAR Center at the University of Havana, Lídice Vaillant, addressed the importance of the meeting, which also brought together the Latin American Energy Organization (LAE) in the workshop on Energy Transitions in Central America and the Caribbean, which concluded today.
It’s a momentous event, he said, because the energy transition has many facets and requires many alliances, and both organizations work systematically and effectively.
Vaillant reiterated the Center’s commitment to continuing its daily, sustained, and systematic work. This is how excellent science is built, innovation is managed, and social impact is achieved, he emphasized.
He thanked the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) for its strategic vision of developing tools to enable scientific leaders to transcend university walls. One of the most difficult barriers to overcome is bringing the knowledge generated and condensed in many scientific spaces to the place where it truly has an impact.
Pinar del Río, Cuba, August 7 (Prensa Latina) The Tele Pinar Gallery, located in this western Cuban province, will host tomorrow the opening of the exhibition “The Street Where We All Live,” the fruit of the talent of a group of American artists from the state of Ohio.
The group exhibition, which was part of the 15th Havana Biennial, was born from the project “Letters from Ohio/Cartas desde Cuba,” a mail art project developed by Michael Reese’s Artway Foundation.
She participated in exchanges with nearly 200 artists from both nations in the provinces of Cienfuegos, Matanzas, Camagüey, and Havana.
They presented themselves on that occasion as “The Street We All Live,” with a catalog of important visual artists from Cuba and the United States.
They exhibited their works in various locations, including the Behind the Wall project.
Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, installation, weaving, and other formats can be appreciated in this artistic proposal.
With this opening, the exhibition begins a touring cycle through several provinces throughout the country this year and next. The next destinations will be Matanzas and Villa Clara, in October and December, respectively.
Basseterre, Aug 7 (Prensa Latina) Hollis Prentice, president of the Association of Cuban Graduates in Saint Kitts and Nevis, today highlighted the human impact of training in Cuba for the development of his country.
Prentice’s statement came at the Cuban Embassy during the ceremony awarding scholarships by the Cuban government to a group of young Vincentians to study at Cuban universities.
The fellows, who include future doctors, engineers, and a dentist, signed the code of ethics before the national symbols of both countries and the image of the late leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, who promoted the educational cooperation program that benefited thousands of young people around the world.
The Cuban ambassador to the island nation, David Rivero, congratulated the students and urged them to make the most of this opportunity, despite the challenges they may face.
“Beyond the economic difficulties, Cuba maintains its commitment to solidarity with its sister nations,” he stated.
For her part, Daveen Wilkin, chief of medical staff at St. Kitts and Nevis General Hospital and a graduate of an anesthesiology program in Cuba, suggested young people focus on their studies. “Take advantage of this gift; it will be the foundation of your future,” she said.
Another graduate, Erick Browne, an agricultural engineer, also expressed his gratitude to Cuba and encouraged the fellows to learn from both the academic excellence and the human values instilled in the Cuban educational system.
Fernando Bretos has a unique claim to fame. He may be the only Cuban American whose parents both came to the United States as unaccompanied minors during Operation Peter Pan, the CIA-fueled exodus of more than ten thousand Cuban children in the early 1960s.
Bretos grew up in Miami Beach and years later visited the island for the first time as a marine biologist. He has led conservation efforts of Cuba’s coral reefs, which play a big role in maintaining marine biodiversity throughout the Caribbean, including in Florida.
In a recent Op-Ed on our website, Bretos writes about how the embargo affects scientific collaboration and threatens Florida’s ecosystem. According to Bretos, U.S. sanctions have “only hurt people – both in Cuba and in the United States.”
Hanoi, Aug 6 (Prensa Latina) In the northeastern province of Quang Ninh, just over 150 kilometers from this capital, the desire to contribute to strengthening the special brotherly relations between Vietnam and Cuba prevails today.
“Since we were children, we have always felt the affection Cubans have for the Vietnamese people, and we have also learned stories about the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, whom we always saw as a great man, an impressive man,” said Nguyen Thi Hanh, vice president of the provincial People’s Committee.
The head of the Union of Friendship Organizations in the country made these remarks upon receiving a working visit the day before from a delegation from the Cuban embassy, led by the acting chargé d’affaires, Joy Puentes.
At the meeting, Thi Hanh expressed her desire to establish cooperative relations in areas of greatest interest to both sides, and in this regard, she said she would like to welcome Cuban students to Ha Long University, which specializes in art, tourism, and foreign languages.
He also praised Cuba’s potential as a tourist destination and suggested collaborating in promoting the island’s tourism among the millions of national and international visitors who come to the province each year, particularly to explore the heritage site of Ha Long Bay.
Puentes, for his part, emphasized that Quang Ninh maintains a fruitful relationship with the Cuban Embassy in Vietnam and stressed that this work exchange is part of the Vietnam-Cuba Year of Friendship, which coincides with the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
Over these 65 years, he said, “Cuba and Vietnam have offered mutual support whenever necessary, and the Cuban people deeply appreciate the countless displays of solidarity received” from the Indochinese nation.
The Cuban diplomat emphasized the significance of the visit to Havana last September by To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party (CPV) and then-President of Vietnam, which relaunched bilateral relations to a new level.
He also highlighted the priority areas on which cooperation between the two countries is focused, given their potential and importance, and suggested the possibility of establishing a twinning relationship between Quang Ninh and a Cuban province with similar characteristics.
He also proposed considering holding a Business Forum and a seminar on investment opportunities in Cuba, both initiatives welcomed by the host.
Geneva, August 4 (Prensa Latina) Cuba is participating in the negotiations for the development of a binding treaty that seeks to do away with plastic pollution, the ISA mission to the UN in Geneva announced.
Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment Rudy Montero is leading the Cuban delegation to the forum, which will run until August 14 at the UN Headquarters in Geneva.
Montero noted that negotiations began in 2022 and that the challenge posed to humanity by plastic pollution is considered one of the main current environmental challenges today.
In this regard, Cuba reiterated its call to develop a multilateral instrument that duly reflects the realities, special circumstances, and priorities of developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States.
Montero also stated that his delegation in the negotiations will emphasize on the need for the future treaty to include strong guarantees from developed nations that developing countries will be provided with adequate means of implementation, including technological and financial resources, to meet the established obligations.
The island also insisted on adherence to the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Havana, August 5 (Prensa Latina) Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez decried the hostility of anti-Cuban politicians in the United States against Cuban migrants who maintain ties to their homeland.
In his profile on the social media platform X, the Foreign Minister stated that ‟anti-Cuban politicians, including the US Secretary of State, are determined to further separate Cuban families.”
‟The damage caused by their economic suffocation measures is not enough for them. They intimidate, threaten, and persecute Cuban migrants with ties to their homeland,” he added.
Donald Trump administration revoked the temporary legal status of more than 350,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, a measure effective since April 24.
The decision eliminated the so-called “humanitarian parole” granted during Joe Biden’s administration to these citizens, allowing them to legally enter the United States and remain there for a maximum period of two years.
Havana, agu 4 (Prensa Latina) Sri Lanka and Cuba have been cultivating ties of friendship, cooperation and solidarity for 65 years, with the willingness today to expand and consolidate them for the future.
At the reception to celebrate the 65th anniversary of bilateral relations, Ambassador Mahinda Dasa Ratnayake recalled that both nations established them on July 29, 1959, and stressed that Sri Lanka was one of the first countries to consolidate ties with the Caribbean nation shortly after the triumph of the 1959 Revolution.
“Since then, our relations have flourished and expanded to many areas,” said Ratnayake, who also recalled the visit made by Commander Ernesto Che Guevara on a special mission commissioned by historical leader Fidel Castro in that 1959.
After assessing that Cuba has always been on the side of the Sri Lankan people, the head of the mission stressed that following the tsunami that caused 35,000 deaths and injured thousands more, Cuban doctors with medicines and medical equipment went to assist the destitute population.
Subsequently, in 2009 when Sri Lanka was afflicted by a severe dengue outbreak, the Cubans also helped to curb it with a bio-insecticide program.
Cuba also awarded scholarships to young Sri Lankans to study medicine among other careers, who now work as professionals in various parts of Sri Lanka, said Ratnayake, who reviewed the many visits that have exchanged leaders from both countries.
The ambassador stressed that Sri Lanka has supported Cuba in all UN resolutions against the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States government, and reiterated his government’s willingness to continue doing so.
He expressed the will of his government to continue solidifying relations and fostering economic and commercial links and people-to-people contacts.
The ceremony was attended by the Director for Asia and Oceania of the Chancellery of Cuba, Ambassador Ariel Lorenzo, as well as other officials from that ministry, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples and other departments of the State.
Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued a warning today regarding the increasing shortfall in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda, as highlighted in a recent UN report.
Havana, Cuba.- In a post on social media platform X, the foreign minister stated that the UN document reveals how the agenda, despite being relatively unambitious and setting conservative targets, is moving further away from fulfillment.
Rodríguez Parrilla issued an urgent call for the establishment of a new international order capable of addressing today’s global challenges.
“The @UN report on ‘Progress toward the SDGs’ shows that the #2030Agenda is increasingly out of reach, despite being unambitious and setting conservative goals. It is urgent to move toward a new international order capable of addressing current global issues,” he posted. (Cuba Si)
