From New York an affirmation: Cuba is solidarity, it is love

Posted on February 21, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

New York, Feb 20 (Prensa Latina) Cuba is known throughout the world for its solidarity, love, and desire to collaborate, even with the people of the United States. That is why its inclusion on a list of alleged countries sponsoring terrorism is inconceivable.

That is the feeling of Claudia De la Cruz, executive director of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization IFCO-Pastors for Peace, when expressing in an interview with Prensa Latina her rejection of President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke measures in favor of Cuba taken days before his predecessor Joe Biden left office.

He said that “it is very important to be able to expand and strengthen the ties of solidarity with Cuba, with the American and Caribbean region, with the world, and at IFCO we understand that there is a lot of work to be done.”

But above all, “we want to maintain the legacy of the Reverend Lucius Walker, the legacy of many who joined IFCO and Pastors for Peace (…) They set the tone and the path in this fight against the blockade,” the activist stressed.

At this time, it is essential to combat the disinformation against Cuba coming from the Trump administration and conservative sectors of the Democratic Party, he said.

And to this end, it is essential to work under the new conditions of hostility towards the island on the part of the United States Government, added the former presidential candidate in 2024 for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

For us, just as the Pastors for Peace caravans did in the 90s or early 2000s, which did a job of denouncing, confronting and demanding an end to the inhuman blockade, in the same way we have the need to continue demanding that Cuba be removed from that list, he added.

Part of the legacy of Reverend Lucius – which was continued by his daughter Gail Walker, who was executive director of IFCO – is support for Cuba and that is what we will continue to do from the United States, he said.

De la Cruz argued that, in the task of combating false narratives, we have to emphasize that Cuba has in no way been involved in terrorist actions; however, the United States has been a coordinator and promoter of terrorism against that country, a terrorism that has come from Miami many times.

Asked about the Trump administration’s ongoing deportations, IFCO’s CEO condemned the sending of undocumented migrants to the detention center located at the U.S. naval base on illegally occupied territory in Guantanamo.

“We are seeing that the conditions are being created to keep 30,000 people deported from the United States inside that naval base as if they were terrorists,” said the activist, insisting that the rights of those migrants sent there are being violated.

For us, within the project of solidarity with Cuba, it is also essential that the Guantanamo naval base be closed, that the territory that is theirs be returned to the Cuban people, and that the blockade that has been imposed against the Cuban people in an immoral manner for more than 60 years be ended.

“Cuba has promoted love, hope and has materially supported the world, so these are parts of the demands and the work that IFCO-Pastors for Peace will continue to develop from the United States,” he concluded.

In 1967, Lucius Walker founded IFCO and in 1988 conceived the Pastors for Peace project that organized humanitarian aid caravans as a way to support victims of U.S. foreign policy in the region.

Walker led 21 Friendship Caravans from 1992 until his death in September 2010, to bring humanitarian aid and medicine to Cuba in yellow school buses, without seeking permission or a license from the authorities.

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Cuban Foreign Minister reiterates high priority to ties with Laos

Posted on February 21, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

Vientiane, Feb 20 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla reiterated here today the high priority his country gives to developing ties with Laos, with which it shares historic bonds of solidarity and collaboration.

Rodríguez Parrilla spoke on the matter when he was received on a courtesy visit by the Secretary General of the Popular Revolutionary Party (PPRL) and President of Laos, Thongloun Sisoulith, whom he defined as a friend of Cuba.

During the meeting, which took place shortly after the arrival in this capital of the Cuban foreign minister and the delegation accompanying him, the Laotian president stressed that this visit has great significance, since its objective is to further strengthen and deepen the fraternal friendship and long-standing cooperation between both countries.

Laos and Cuba are strategic partners and fraternal nations with a long history of excellent collaboration. Bilateral political relations are at an excellent level and continue to strengthen, with constant coordination, communication and mutual support at the regional and international levels, Sisoulith said.

At the meeting, KPL news agency reported, both sides said they were committed to promoting and enhancing economic and trade cooperation along with their strong political ties, and continuing to expand it in potential fields such as human resource development, education, sports, public health and agriculture, among others.

Upon his arrival in the capital, the member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and his entourage visited the Kaysone Phomvihane Museum, which honors the memory of the founder of the PPRL, and placed a floral offering there.

This tribute is a demonstration of the solidarity and historical brotherhood between the Parties, Governments and peoples of Laos and Cuba, wrote Rodríguez Parrilla on his account on the social network X.

Following his visit here, the Cuban Foreign Minister will meet this Friday with the Laotian Prime Minister, Sonexay Siphandone, and will hold official talks with the new Foreign Minister, Thongsavanah Phomvihane.

Rodríguez Parrilla arrived in Vientiane from Vietnam, where he also made an official visit, with the results of which he expressed his satisfaction and where “the warm hospitality and the unwavering commitment to support Cuba exceeded all expectations.”

The official visit to Laos by the Cuban foreign minister is part of a tour that previously took him to Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, and at the end of which he will attend the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, which will begin on February 24 in Geneva.

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Cuban Ambassador receives Azerbaijani delegation to Habano Festival

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

Baku, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina) Cuban Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Carlos Valdes, on Tuesday received this country’s delegation that will participate in the 25th Habano Festival in Cuba, Prensa Latina news agency informed.

The diplomat stressed that the visitors agreed, in a pleasant dialogue, that this is the most awaited event every year by lovers of Premium cigars globally, which will have a wide program of activities around the knowledge of the best tobacco in the world and its exciting culture.

Valdes told the guests that those who attend the 25th Habano Festival will enjoy, in an international and exclusive environment, a program of activities to learn about this product.

The five-day festival will offer visits to renowned Habanos factories and plantations, exclusive pairings, and three particular evenings to get a sneak preview of the latest Habanos SA features.

The Habanos World Challenge Contest, the Trade Fair, and the International Seminar with attractive conferences will also be held during the festival.

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Cuba reaffirms commitment to multilateralism at the UN

Posted on February 20, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

United Nations, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina) Cuba reaffirmed its commitment to multilateralism and global governance on Tuesday, and reiterated its attachment to working with the international community to guarantee peaceful coexistence and preserve peace.

In his speech at the opening debate of the United Nations Security Council on the topic “Putting Multilateralism into Practice, Reforming and Improving Global Governance,” Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío referred to the current international situation.

A situation characterized by serious and growing threats to international peace and security and a progressive erosion of multilateralism, he said.

In this regard, he mentioned the withdrawal of the world’s biggest power from international organizations, with absolute disregard for multilateralism; and its support and participation, without ethical or moral qualms, in the expansion of genocide against the Palestinian people.

The Cuban diplomat also referred to plans for land usurpation, ethnic cleansing and annexation; the rise of racist and supremacist ideology; the violation of environmental agreements to favor transnational corporations, without taking into account the risks to the sustainability of life on our planet.

In such a scenario, Fernández de Cossío reaffirmed the importance of the role of the United Nations and described as essential the full respect for the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and the norms of international law in the face of the unprecedented challenges being faced by the international community.

For this reason, he urged to undertake profound transformations at the UN, which will allow progress towards a democratic, fair, equitable world order that respects the sovereign equality of the States, for the benefit of present and future generations.

The deputy foreign minister also condemned Cuba’s inclusion on Washington’s arbitrary and unilateral list of alleged sponsors of terrorism, “an instrument of coercion and an act of aggression, which provokes the repudiation of the international community,” he emphasized.

Fernández de Cossío rejected the enforcement of unilateral coercive economic measures as a way to achieve foreign policy objectives, and warned that “as long as punitive approaches against developing countries do not cease, there can be no talk of real and inclusive multilateralism for all.”

At the proposal of China, which chairs the Security Council this month, a meeting dedicated exclusively to multilateralism, led by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, was held.

Nearly eight decades later, the UN remains the world’s leading multilateral organization, harmonizing and coordinating international action in areas ranging from peacekeeping to economic development and trade.

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Cuban doctors’ work in Mexican health centers highlighted

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

Mexico, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina) The arrivals of Cuban medical experts in Mexico have helped to fill the gap in health services for people who lack social security, especially in places with unfilled medical positions, La Jornada noted on Monday.

According to the digital edition of the newspaper, the existence of unfilled positions is a phenomenon present in the country and more so in areas such as the southern state of Chiapas, where remote rural and indigenous communities in poverty predominate.

“In these places, the operation of a health center or a basic community hospital changes the lives of people who have never had anything,” the publication added.

La Jornada visited four municipalities in the state where doctors from Cuba are rendering their services and confirmed that “wherever they work, they have made a difference due to their willingness to care for patients, even doing more than they should and regardless of where they are.”

According to the article, “this is acknowledged by their colleagues in the medical units and the state authorities of IMSS-Bienestar,” an institution in charge of providing free care to citizens without social security.

Some specialists in clinical areas were assigned to health centers in indigenous communities, others to basic community hospitals and even to general hospitals, such as the one in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, which is a state reference center, the newspaper pointed out.

The Cuban professionals “have ensured that people do not have to leave their communities for illnesses such as a respiratory or gastrointestinal infections; or if it is a basic community hospital, women can give birth there.”

Simple operations are also performed, such as appendix or gallbladder surgeries, and others, and patients do not have to travel to one of 16 general hospitals in Chiapas, which are saturated, the newspaper highlighted.

Just because of this work, the demand for services in the hospitals associated with a network of health centers and basic community hospitals strengthened with doctors and equipment was reduced by 30-40 percent in the last year, which is a step forward, the head of Health Education at IMSS-Bienestar, Guillermo Pérez, said.

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Mexico opens doors to Cuban doctors while training specialists

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

Mexico, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina) President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that Mexico is opening its doors to doctors from Cuba and other nationalities to fill vacant positions in the sector, while increasing the training of local physicians.

In her regular press conference, the head of State recalled that for years, in the so-called neoliberal period, the door was blocked to general physicians in the country who wanted to specialize, “in this absurd idea that if you close the entrance, then you will have excellent students.”

“You get to the current moment and you say Mexico needs more hospitals, more health centers, but for that you need more doctors,” explained the president, who emphasized the existence of four-, five- and six-year specialties.

“In terms of training your specialists, what did the Mexican Government do and what we continue to do? The door is opened to other nationalities who want to come, resident specialists, to our country, including Cuban doctors,” she pointed out.

In response to a question about the work of the Cuban physicians in the southern state of Chiapas, the president noted that they are not only found in that territory, but in many other places in the nation.

Meanwhile, the administration is promoting the training of medical specialists in Mexico, she said, and noted that in 2011, only 6,000 people were admitted in the residency (specialty) nationwide and currently there are 18,799.

“What changed? Well, simply a recognition that the country requires medical specialists and that they have to be trained in public institutions,” she stated.

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Russia, Cuba expand mutually beneficial scientific-medical agreement

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

Moscow, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina) Directors of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB) of Cuba and the National Center for Medical Research in Endocrinology of Russia signed an agreement here on Tuesday to expand scientific-medical ties.

The signing ceremony took place at the centenary Moscow Institute of Endocrinological Diseases, where its director, Natalia Mokrysheva, described the event as an important step in strengthening Russian-Cuban ties in joint work within the field of endocrinology.

“We are confident that our cooperation will open new horizons for the implementation of innovative treatment methods and scientific research, which, in turn, will benefit our patients and the entire medical community,” the member of the Academy of Science of Russia noted.

We remain confident that the integration agreement with the CIGB will open new opportunities to expand and deepen scientific cooperation, facilitate the exchange of experiences and clinical training, friendly and business relations in the field of medicine and health care, Mokrysheva stressed.

CIGB Deputy General Director Jorge Valdés, in turn, told Prensa Latina that he was pleased that both centers had consolidated their long-standing friendship today with the signing of this agreement. “I hope that our cooperation will be very fruitful, both scientifically and in practice,” he added.

He pointed out that the project would expand the development of molecular genetic research for the treatment of hereditary, genetic and endocrine diseases, while combining the capabilities of the two institutions to continue to develop molecular genetic research for the benefit of Russian and Cuban patients.

“The step we have taken today is the result of joint work done over the last ten years, through the exchange of different therapies of Cuban origin, such as the treatment to fight diabetic foot ulcers with the use of Eberprot-P,” Valdés explained.

From 2017 to 2019, the Department of Diabetic Foot at the National Medical Research Center of Endocrinology of Russia conducted clinical trials with Eberprot-P, which demonstrated its pronounced efficacy in the treatment of chronic wounds of the lower limb in diabetic people, according to the research of the Russian institution.

Studies have shown that the drug, developed by the specialists of the ICSG, reduces the time of wound healing, hospital stay and disability in this category of patients significantly.

Based on the test results, this method was registered in the clinical guidelines for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers within the Russian healthcare system.

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Million-dollar investments by USAID against Cuba revealed

Posted on February 18, 2025 by Anthony Brenner

Havana, Feb 18 (Prensa Latina) The Cuban government today revealed data that reveal plans by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to overthrow the Revolution on the island.

According to Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, USAID invested more than 120 million dollars to subvert the constitutional order in Cuba, he wrote on the social network X.

He also asserted that it is unusual for an official development agency to use money to support a change of government and enrich those who see a business in the suffering of the Cuban people.

The administration of Republican Donald Trump discontinued the normal operation of that government agency, subordinating it to the State Department, while subjecting it to an audit on the use of its financial resources.

According to Granma newspaper, during fiscal years 2023 and 2024, the US federal organization disbursed some 1.7 billion dollars in Latin America and the Caribbean alone.

Based on data released by the website foreignassistance, the newspaper notes that much of these funds were allocated to less than humanitarian purposes.

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African Union reiterates condemnation of U.S. blockade against Cuba

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Anthony Brenner
Illustrative image taken from Radio Cadena Agramonte

Havana, February 16 (Radio Havana Cuba) — The African Union (AU) condemned this Sunday, for the sixteenth time, the U.S. blockade against Cuba and called for the removal of the Caribbean island from the list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism.

During the 38th ordinary session of the AU General Assembly, African heads of state and government approved the text called “Resolution on the lifting of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on the Republic of Cuba by the United States of America.”

The adopted document reaffirms the historic position of the mother continent in support of the sovereignty of the Caribbean island, and demanded the immediate end of a policy that has caused incalculable damage to the Cuban people.

This is the second time that the African continental organization has included the request to remove Cuba from the unilateral list of countries that allegedly sponsor terrorism by the US State Department.

The AU denounced the extraterritorial nature of the sanctions imposed on Cuba, which also affect third countries and companies seeking to establish economic and commercial relations with the Caribbean island.

The commitment of the African Union to the defense of Cuba is based on the historical ties of solidarity and cooperation that unite them.

In multiple international forums, African States advocate for the end of the blockade and recognize the Cuban contribution in key sectors such as health, education and the fight against colonialism.

The resolution adopted at the 38th Summit reinforces the global call to end a unilateral policy that violates the principles of international law and the human rights of the Cuban people.

(Source: Prensa Latina)

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Cuba and Bolivia will sign nuclear medicine agreement

Posted on February 17, 2025 by Anthony Brenner
According to the Cuban ambassador to Bolivia, Elba Rosa Pérez, the agreement will contribute to the advancement of medical treatments, thereby enhancing the holistic well-being of individuals suffering cancer

Havana, Feb 17 (Radio Havana Cuba) Cuba and Bolivia will sign today in Havana a collaboration agreement on nuclear medicine, as announced by the Cuban ambassador to the South American country, Elba Rosa Pérez.

The signing entities are the Bolivian Nuclear Energy Agency (ABEN) and the Isotopes Center of the Agency for Nuclear Energy and Advanced Technologies (AENTA) of Cuba.

This agreement is part of the long-standing Governmental Cooperation Agreement between Bolivia and Cuba, in which context numerous initiatives have been implemented in the field of science and technology.

However, Pérez pointed out that this new perspective provides a more tangible approach to addressing the issue of nuclear development and cutting-edge technologies.

With regard to ABEN, she acknowledged its highly equipped organization with advanced technology.

She said the agency is eager to collaborate and leverage the expertise of Cuban human resources, having been familiar with Cuba’s work for many years.

According to the Cuban diplomat, the new agreement will contribute to the advancement of medical treatments, thereby enhancing the holistic well-being of individuals suffering cancer. (Source: Prensa Latina)

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