Havana, Sep 8 (Prensa Latina) The Canto de Todos event will continue today at Casa de las Américas in Havana, a prestigious Cuban cultural center linked to promoting the best of Latin American song for six decades.
This Monday morning, the celebration includes a theoretical event with speakers from Cuba and Latin America, while in the afternoon, guests from nearly 10 countries will meet with writer Abel Prieto, president of Casa de las Américas.
Then, at 4:00 p.m. local time, the albums “Canto de todos (Concert Cycle at the Casa del Alba),” “Horizontes blancos (White Horizons)” by Jesusin, and “Yo quiero un país” (I Want a Country) by Amaury del Rio will be presented.
Another special moment in the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Canto de Todos will be the presentation of the CD produced by the Ojalá label “Heréticas,” by Vicente Feliú (1947-2021), one of the main promoters of these gatherings.
According to the program, this Tuesday, an exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Nueva Trova Movement will be inaugurated at the José Martí National Library. The event will be accompanied by a concert by singer-songwriters Augusto Blanca and Mario Sergio Mora.
Over the years, Canto de Todos has promoted cultural exchange through song in Latin America, and this time it returns to honor its founder: the prominent Cuban troubadour Vicente Feliú, whose 78th birthday is on November 11.
According to the event’s organizers, several institutions will be present at this event, which will include guests from Chile, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Spain, Mexico, and their hosts from Cuba.
Concerts, presentations, thought-provoking gatherings, and community visits are included in the program for the event, which will be held at the Casa del Alba Cultural, the José Martí National Library, the National Museum of Fine Arts Theater, and the Casa de las Américas itself.
The event opened at the National Museum of Fine Arts theater last Saturday, with an opening concert featuring Brazilian singer-songwriters Pedro Luis and João Cavalcanti, sponsored by the Network of Intellectuals, Artists, and Social Movements in Defense of Humanity.
Under Feliú’s leadership, the Ibero-American Song Encounter took place in Cuba in 2000, which went down in history as Canto de Todos.
Vientiane, Sep 6 (Prensa Latina) Thousands of children and young people waving Cuban and Laotian flags greeted the arrival here today, for an official visit, of the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (PCC) and president of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The Cuban president “was warmly and honorably received at the foot of the plane’s steps” by the head of the Presidential Office of this Indochinese nation, Khemmani Pholsena, according to Laotian media outlets.
Díaz-Canel’s visit, his first to the capital as the party’s top leader and head of state, is in response to an invitation from his counterpart, the secretary general of the People’s Revolutionary Party (PPRL) and Laotian president, Thongloun Sisoulith, with whom he will hold official talks tomorrow.
According to an official statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this trip by the Cuban president to Laos, as part of a tour that began in Vietnam and continued in China, confirms “the priority that Cuba places on fraternal and friendly relations with that sister, socialist country.”
Last July, the first deputy minister of that portfolio, Gerardo Peñalver, also traveled here on a working visit, where he co-chaired the Inter-Ministerial Political Consultations with his counterpart, Maythong Tammavongsa.
Both sides then emphasized the systematic nature of the political dialogue based on mutual trust, the broad common ground on approaches to the international agenda, and the ongoing willingness to exchange experiences on building socialism.
They also emphasized the valuable contribution of their foreign ministries to bilateral cooperation and the importance of political consultations, as well as the existing exchange mechanisms at the party and parliamentary levels.
On the occasion, Peñalver reiterated the gratitude of the Communist Party of Cuba, the Cuban government, and the Cuban people for Laos’ constant and unwavering support in the battle against the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States, and for denouncing Cuba’s unjust inclusion on the spurious list of state sponsors of terrorism.
This visit, the Foreign Ministry emphasized, reaffirmed the deep brotherhood and shared desire to continue strengthening the historic ties of friendship and cooperation between Cuba and Laos.
The fraternal ties between the two countries, which established diplomatic relations in early November 1974, date back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the first Cuban medical brigade arrived at the Viengsay caves in Houapanh province.
Havana, Sep 5 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Ambassador Alina Aldama and the Deputy Minister for Institutional Strengthening of Timor Leste, José dos Reis Magno, signed today the Cooperation Agreement between the two countries.
Also present at the signing of the agreement for the continuation of Cuban medical collaboration were Narciso Fernández, head of the Cabinet of the Political Plan for Cooperation and Development of East Timor, and senior officials from the East Timorese Ministry of Health, as well as Sergio Rabell, head of the Cuban Medical Brigade, and Minister-Counselor Pablo Romero.
According to statements from the Timorese embassy, this historic collaboration “has its genesis in the 2003 meeting in Kuala Lumpur between (the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution) Fidel Castro Ruz and Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, the first Timorese president and current prime minister.”
Once again, the legacy of the Commander-in-Chief is confirmed, as well as the desire of the people of Timor-Leste to maintain collaboration in healthcare and education in this sector. This includes the training of professionals and specialists in both capitals through the exchange of experiences from the Cuban healthcare model, as a beloved symbol of the friendship between the two nations.
Havana, Sep 5 (Prensa Latina) The exhibition “Women of the Island,” by Mexican artist Enrique Flores, opened today in Old Havana. In it, the artist reflects his feelings of love for Cuba and the women born here.
The Experimental Graphic Arts Workshop received Flores’ works, and they are now on display in its Main Gallery as a tribute, celebration, and respect for the women of this country.
My work always keeps this being in mind, and the theme of them predominates in my work, as they play a predominant role, Flores noted.
I dedicate the exhibition to the Cuban people, but above all, to the women of the island because, as everyone knows, they are the driving force of society, he said.
I come from the generation of the 1960s in Mexico, and we grew up hearing news from the sister nation of this island. As time went by, we wanted to learn about the people here and their customs, but it was only a few years ago that I discovered Cuba, and I loved it, he commented.
The idea of exhibiting in this country is because the artist has joint works with Cuban institutions.
I want the people here to know my work, which isn’t anything special, but it’s made with a lot of love; for me, women are an important part of every society and every era, she noted.
There are historical passages that have been defined by women, and unfortunately, sometimes they don’t get the prominence they deserve, but they have made crucial decisions, and that has captivated me, she declared.
I don’t know when they coined the term “weaker sex,” because it’s quite the opposite, Flores concluded.
The Mexican artist plans to return to Cuba in January or February to work on several productions at the Taller Experimental de la Gráfica.
Mexico City, Sep 5 (Prensa Latina) Details of the 41st edition of the Jazz Plaza International Festival, scheduled to take place in Cuba from January 25 to February 1, 2026, were announced in this capital by its president, Víctor Rodríguez.
The prestigious event, under the artistic direction of Roberto Fonseca, will extend its performances to venues in different Cuban provinces, especially Havana, its main venue, and Santiago de Cuba, according to a press conference.
Also participating in the meeting were Samuel Fonseca Martínez, executive director of the Benny Moré Mexico-Cuba Cultural Center; Mario Escalona Serrano, general director of Prelasa; and Norma Rodríguez Derivet, cultural advisor at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico.
The organizers emphasized that Jazz Plaza has established itself as the most important event of its kind in the Caribbean nation, bringing together prestigious international figures and young talents each year in spaces that foster creativity, musical diversity, and dialogue between cultures.
According to reports, among the most anticipated offerings of the 2026 edition is an inaugural concert by maestro Frank Fernández, a symbol of Cuban piano, alongside students from the country’s art schools, on January 25 at the National Theater of Cuba.
Also considered top-notch performances are the concerts promised by pianists Ernán López-Nussa and Dayramir González, as well as composer and guitarist Héctor Quintana.
During the festival, a special tribute will be paid to the legendary Arsenio Rodríguez Group, and performances by Havana D’Primera, Alain Pérez, Isaac Delgado, and other renowned artists are expected.
The event will also include a wide range of musical genres, as was the case in the last edition, where more than 400 artists and five symphony orchestras participated.
The official poster for this 41st edition of Jazz Plaza is the work of maestro Sosabravo, one of Cuba’s greatest visual artists, who will celebrate his 95th birthday on October 25.
During her address, Norma Rodríguez Derivet, Cultural Counselor at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico, recalled that Cuba is known as “the Island of Music” and emphasized that, despite the difficulties imposed by the U.S. blockade, the Festival remains a space of resistance and international outreach.
He noted that the embargo has limited the participation of musicians from other countries, such as Puerto Rico, who will not be able to attend this time, although he reaffirmed the desire to maintain the diversity and spirit of unity that characterizes the event.
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday said that Beijing will “firmly support” Cuba in its “just fight” against interference and embargo.
Xi made the remarks as he hosted Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in Beijing, a day after China staged a large-scale military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Noting that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of relations between Beijing and Havana, Xi told his Cuban counterpart that the two nations should take this as an opportunity to enhance bilateral ties to a “higher level and bring more benefits to the two peoples.”
Xi urged the two sides to “commit to a shared future, deepen high-level political mutual trust, further intensify high-level exchanges, better share experience of Party and country governance, firmly support each other, and continue to deepen the special bond of sharing weal and woe,” according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
“China will continue to offer help and support to Cuba to the best of its capability,” he added, noting that Beijing “will continue to firmly support Cuba’s just fight against interference and embargo.”
Xi’s remarks came after US President Donald Trump last month signed a memorandum to intensify economic pressure and restrictions on Cuba, which was slammed by Havana for “punishing the entire Cuban people.”
Trump’s move to sign the memorandum was one of several decisions taken against the Cuban government, such as reinstating Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism,” and continuing efforts to reverse the Joe Biden administration’s attempts to improve the relationship with Havana.
In 2021, the total bilateral volume between China and Cuba amounted to $1.02 billion, and the two sides continue to maintain diplomatic relations since 1960.
HAVANA, Cuba, September 2 (ACN) Cuba reiterated today at the United Nations (UN) its support for UNICEF’s mandate and its commitment to the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents.
In his speech at the second regular session of the UNICEF Executive Board, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, Cuba’s permanent representative to the UN, recognized the organization’s work in contexts marked by conflicts, inequality and climate crises and stressed the importance of ensuring adequate, flexible and predictable resources so that UNICEF can meet its goals in developing countries.
Likewise, the Cuban diplomat underscored the value of UNICEF Strategic Plan for 2026–2029, as well as the need to harmonize statistical information on children and adolescents with national governments so that their actions address major social challenges.
Mr. Soberón Guzmán praised the sustained cooperation between Cuba and UNICEF in key areas such as maternal and child health, early childhood care, violence prevention, climate resilience, and response to natural disasters.
He also announced the 7th round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) between November 2025 and February 2026, which will provide key data to design of public policies and monitor the 2030 Agenda.
Amid an unprecedented economic crisis fueled by U.S. sanctions, Cuba’s universal and free healthcare system is struggling to provide patients with life-saving pacemakers. Doctors at Havana’s Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery say U.S. sanctions make it difficult for Cuba to import pacemakers directly from manufacturers.
We visited Cuba’s Cardiology Institute, where we talked with patients, their relatives and doctors about what the donated pacemakers mean to them. WATCH THE VIDEO.
Beijing, Sep 4 (Prensa Latina) The presidents of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, and China, Xi Jinping, emphasized here today the special nature of the bilateral ties that have reached 65 years of establishment.
During the meeting at the Great Hall of the People, Díaz-Canel highlighted China’s contributions to the world, its defense of multilateralism, and global governance.
He also highlighted the Asian giant’s achievements and the historical legacy of its revolutionary process.
In this regard, the Cuban president once again expressed the gratitude of the Cuban people and Communist Party toward the Asian nation and its highest authorities.
He also conveyed greetings from the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro, a tireless promoter of ties between the two countries.
Díaz-Canel expressed his gratitude for the invitation to participate in the activities commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the defeat of fascism.
The Antillean leader affirmed that it was a majestic parade and had previously commented that it was an honor for the island to attend this military parade.
For his part, Xi Jinping thanked Díaz-Canel for his presence at the commemorative activities.
In fact, the Caribbean leader was the only president from the Americas to participate in this historic event in Tiananmen Square, which was also attended by 25 other invited heads of state and government.
Xi has repeatedly asserted that the two countries are good partners, good friends, and good brothers, and that under the guidance of successive leaders, traditional friendship has developed from generation to generation.
The two sides also recalled that Cuba was the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish diplomatic relations with the new China, paving the way for ever-deepening ties and a strong foundation of mutual political trust.
Díaz-Canel previously laid a wreath at the Monument to the Heroes of the Chinese People, located in Tiananmen Square, as a tribute to the country’s martyrs.
The Cuban president expressed the island’s support for the Global Governance Initiative recently proposed by Xi during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, which is focused on promoting a more just and reasonable global governance system and jointly advancing toward a community of shared destiny for humanity.
As part of his agenda for this day, the president also meets with Li Xi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
China and Cuba will officially celebrate today the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, marked by multi-sectoral relations and deep mutual political trust.
While U.S. ships and submarines point their guns at Venezuela, the ship of dawn embodies the shared dreams of unity between Fidel and Chávez, Bolívar and Martí
September 1, 2025.- In 2014, Latin America and the Caribbean were declared a Zone of Peace. In this territory, countries do not sanction each other or threaten each other with nuclear arsenal ships. They do not attempt to delegitimize legally established governments, but rather support them, because offering a hand to a state is also helping its people.
These days, when Venezuela is under military siege by the U.S. empire, and Cuba knows it is continually harassed by the same enemy, their peoples forget the distance and build bridges to realize the shared dreams of Fidel and Chávez, which were also the aspirations of Bolívar and Martí: a united America, from the Rio Grande to Patagonia.
A ROUTE FOR SOLIDARITY
Like the peace that moves through the Caribbean, pure white, even though saltpeter tries to defile it… And in the cabin, in the center, watching over the cargo, those eyes—Chávez’s—launch not missiles, but messages, to remind the world that Our America is not alone.
Thus, while U.S. ships and submarines point their guns at Venezuela, the ship Manuel Gual departed from the port of La Guaira, later receiving the Mariel Special Development Zone, in the presence of members of the Political Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, and the first secretary of the Party in Artemisa, Gladys Martínez Verdecia, as well as Yudí Mercedes Rodríguez Hernández, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee and head of its Department of Services, and the Venezuelan ambassador to the island, Orlando Maneiro.
This is the first voyage of the shipping and trade route of the ALBA-TCP countries, in response to the need for a regional maritime transport solution raised at the 24th Summit of the alliance in December 2024.
This “brave crew” is, in the words of the interim Minister of Domestic Trade and Foreign Investment, Carlos Luis Jorge Méndez, the bearer “not only of a valuable cargo of material goods, but above all of the sincere affection of the people and government of Venezuela towards Cuba.”
“It is,” he said, “a reminder that our peoples, when they unite, are stronger and freer (…) a commitment to a shared future, joint development, and the dream that our nations can prosper on the basis of complementarity and unity, without depending on anyone but the strength of our own peoples.
“May every ship that sails the Caribbean on this route serve to honor the memory of Fidel and Chávez and (…) to promote the certainty that we are building together a more just, sovereign, and prosperous future for our peoples. While some impose blockades and sanctions, we open paths of brotherhood,” he said, while reiterating Cuba’s rejection of the deployment of U.S. military forces and resources in the Caribbean and the disinformation war they are waging to justify aggression against the South American nation.
More than 6,100 tons of products, such as food supplies and animal feed, fertilizers, and seeds, arrived in the containers of the Manuel Gual. With this inaugural voyage of the ALBA route, the experience becomes a commercial model that will reduce logistics costs, promote new productive niches, expand the market for producers, and generate direct benefits for consumers.
However, it is not only a regional tool for economic independence, as Fidel and Chávez dreamed of when they created ALBA, but also a demonstration of solidarity, complementarity, and collaboration in facing social challenges, according to Orlando Maneiro.
It is an expression of the commitment and political will of the heads of state and government of the member countries to integration based on principles of equity and resistance to imperialism, he said.
After this voyage, the ALBA ship will arrive at various destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean to establish the first regular maritime routes and thus lay the foundations for a sovereign logistics network.
CUBA WILL NEVER BE SILENCED IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE
The Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), together with the Cuban Chapter of the Anti-Fascist International, showed its unconditional support this weekend throughout the country for the people of Venezuela, threatened by the U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean.
In the capital, the meeting was chaired by Teresa Amarelle Boué, member of the Political Bureau of the PCC and Secretary General of the Federation of Cuban Women; Inés María Chapman Waugh, Deputy Prime Minister; Fernando González Llort, Hero of the Republic and president of ICAP; and Orlando Miguel Maneiro, ambassador of the South American nation.
Under the premise that “Venezuela is not a threat, Venezuela is hope,” the statements on drug trafficking and paramilitarism, without legal basis, promoted by the U.S. administration, which seek to violate the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and self-determination of the sister country, were condemned.
At the meeting, Fernando González Llort stated that ICAP supports the actions that the government of Nicolás Maduro decides to implement to guarantee the country’s security: “Keep in mind that Venezuela is not alone. Cuba will never remain silent in the face of injustice; we will defend the truth, equality, and the rights of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters.”
Santiago is also on the side of the birthplace of Bolívar and Chávez, as demonstrated at an event attended by, among others, internationalists from the island who served in that land.
“I fondly remember the welcome I received from the brotherly Venezuelan people when I provided medical assistance in 2003,” said Dr. Arelis Machado Elías, while denouncing that imperialism “cannot stand progressive ideas enduring among the peoples.”
The people of Cienfuegos, for their part, demanded an end to hostility against Venezuela and Latin America, which is, as was made clear there, evidence of the extraterritorial, colonial, and regional peace-violating nature of imperialist actions.
From the La Rotonda cinema in Santa Clara, a call was made to respect the region as a Zone of Peace and free of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, the people of Bayamo raised their voices as a bastion of dignity. Their words of solidarity, sharp as an insurgent machete, built a bridge across the Caribbean to embrace Venezuela, threatened under the pretext of false ghosts of drug trafficking. Ciego de Ávila was also the scene of solidarity and internationalist support.
“If the Yankees were fair, instead of a threat to their national security, they would recognize that Venezuela is a hope for other Third World peoples. But we can’t ask for pears from an elm tree,” said young Carla López at the ICAP headquarters in Guantánamo. Camaguey also demanded that hands be kept off that country, with which the Cuban people have had a special relationship for more than two decades.
The event also reiterated the right of peoples to self-determination and to democratically choose their path.
