New Delhi, Jan 1 (Prensa Latina) Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar today congratulated the Government and people of Cuba on their national day on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution.
We appreciate our long-standing friendship, said the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs in a congratulatory message addressed to his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez.
This year, India and Cuba celebrate the 65th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, which have been described as excellent, warm and friendly on repeated occasions by their authorities.
The South Asian country was one of the first to recognize the new Cuban government after the triumph of the Revolution on January 1, 1959.
Ernesto Guevera’s visit to India from June 30 to July 4, 1959 opened diplomatic ties that bore fruit with the opening of embassies in the respective capitals of the two nations.
In 2023, both peoples celebrated the 50th and 40th anniversaries of the first and second visit to India of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, who always professed an infinite affection for the land of Mahatma Gandhi.
The first head of the Indian mission to Havana presented his credentials in the Caribbean nation on January 12, 1960.
Tashkent, Dec 29 (Prensa Latina) Uzbek Foreign Minister, Bakhtiyor Saidov, on Sunday congratulated his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodriguez, over Cuba’s National Day falling on January 1st, Prensa Latina learned today.
In the message, Saidov conveyed his most sincere congratulations to Rodriguez and the Cuban people, whom he described as friends, on another anniversary of the relevant date, which marks the triumph of the Revolution, on January 1st, 1959.
The head of Uzbek diplomacy also recalled his meeting with Rodríguez in September this year, during the sessions of the 79th General Assembly of the UN, in New York City.
In order to continue the fruitful relations of friendship between Uzbekistan and Cuba, I am hereby extending an invitation to you to visit Uzbekistan at any time you consider suitable during the year 2025, the head of Foreign Affairs of the Central Asian nation specified.
Havana, Jan 1 (Prensa Latina) Cuba marks on Wednesday the 66th anniversary of its Revolution defending its sovereignty, self-determination, and development in the face of the United States’ growing hostility.
The results of the recent elections in the United States and the rise of the extreme right-wing groups in Latin America, among other factors, conform to the complex international scenario that the nation is facing as it promotes measures to resolve the domestic economic situation.
The more than 240 measures taken by President-elect Donald Trump during his previous term, which tightened the US siege and Cuba’s arbitrary inclusion in Washington’s State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list, have a global reach due to their coercive effect on governments and financial and banking institutions.
However, in a domestic context marked by a shortage of products, limitations in services, including several failures in the National Electro-energetic Grid (SEN), and the consequences of extreme weather events that affected the entire country, Cuba managed in 2024 to maintain cohesion and advance measures to resolve internal deficiencies and revitalize its economy.
This was possible thanks to the majority support of the Cuban people for the change process opened on January 1, 1959, by the historic leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, in defiance of Washington’s geopolitical interests.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel thanked his countrymen for their heroism “in the face of the barbarity of the economic war waged against us.
As an expression of this support, the Cuban Institute for Friendship with Peoples (ICAP) presented on Monday the Marathon of Love for Cuba, an initiative of the Latin American and Caribbean Continental Network of Solidarity with Cuba, which will run in 2025.
Havana, Dec 30 (Prensa Latina) Namibian President Nangolo Mbunba congratulated Cubans on the 66th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution and thanked the island for its support for the independence of that African nation.
In a letter addressed to his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Namibian president ratified the strong bonds of brotherhood between both nations, which were cemented by the unwavering solidarity of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro.
The letter highlights the significance of the date not only for Cuba but also for Angola, Namibia and other African countries that had the participation of Cuban combatants in the decisive moments of the struggle for their independence.
The Head of State also said that he remembers the pleasant moments he recently experienced during his visit to Havana and Santiago de Cuba, an occasion on which it was an honor and a privilege to receive the “José Martí Order”, the highest of the Cuban State, from the hands of President Díaz-Canel.
Havana, Dec 30 (Prensa Latina) We will be by the side of the Caribbean island that is under siege by the United States government, assured leaders of movements and organizations from various countries during the launching today of the Marathon of Love for Cuba.
The initiative, promoted by the Continental Network of Solidarity with Cuba and Just Causes, and the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), foresees actions to increase support for the island on all continents for the end of the United States blockade and all hostile policies against the island.
Delegates from various geographic areas presented in a virtual press conference a schedule of activities that include events such as the International Colloquium Patria, next March in Havana, and the 9th Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, scheduled for December 9-12, 2025 in Mexico.
They also advocated for intensifying the Caribbean island’s struggle in the legal field, which has already been condemned by an anti-imperialist court, but can be escalated to the level of governments and parliaments in their countries so that they approve antidote laws against the blockade, explained one of the participants in the press conference.
At the launch of the Marathon, representatives of groups supporting the island proposed evaluating the declaration of a World Day against the blockade of the Caribbean nation and raising actions during the annual week of debates on the subject at the United Nations General Assembly.
In this sense, they urged the involvement of feminist and environmental sectors and movements of various kinds in this purpose, to increase donations, the support of solidarity brigades, among other actions.
The confrontation of the communication war towards the Caribbean island, the articulation with more people who support the anti-blockade discourse, and the expansion of this cause to all the nations of the African continent, are among the scopes of the Love for Cuba Marathon.
In his speech, the president of ICAP (an organization that today celebrates its 30th anniversary of its foundation), Fernando Gonzalez, described the event as “a gesture of friendship that moves and unites in the effort to globalize solidarity.”
According to the sponsors of the Marathon, “the challenge is to go knock on the doors of all sectors in our countries, where all initiatives for the love of the Cuban people fit in.”
Cuba has many friends in the world. This Marathon will help strengthen the different movements and other just causes on the Continent, which is precisely intended to be socialized with other regions of the world, they assured.
Baku, Dec 29 (Prensa Latina) Azerbaijani President, Ilham Aliyev, has congratulated his Cuban counterpart, Miguel Diaz-Canel, on the occasion of Cuba’s National Day, January 1, the island’s Ambassador to Baku, Carlos Valdes, informed on Sunday.
The diplomat told Prensa Latina that Aliyev cordially congratulated the Cuban president and people and praised the good traditions on which current bilateral friendly relations
are based on.
Aliyev also stressed that “availing ourselves of the current opportunities, and with our joint efforts, we can further develop interstate relations and expand our effective cooperation in areas of mutual interest.”
Valdes said that the Azerbaijani president took the opportunity to express his and his people’s sincere congratulations on New Year 2025 and wished his counterpart good health and success in his work, as well as peace and prosperity for the friendly people of Cuba.
Havana, Dec 28 (Prensa Latina) Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez reiterated today the Cuban government is willing to discuss any bilateral issue with its US counterpart, without conditions.
“We are willing to engage in dialogue with the United States and develop relations of respect, on an equal footing,” Rodriguez wrote on the social network X.
He also added that the exchange should be mutually beneficial, as it is with the rest of the countries.
He also specified that Cuba will “forcefully confront any attempt to interfere in its internal affairs.”
Bogota, Dec 21 (Prensa Latina) Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Rojas reaffirmed his country’s willingness to support Cuba in its fight against the blockade imposed by the United States for more than six decades, which, he acknowledged, harms the people.
In exclusive statements to Prensa Latina, the deputy foreign minister noted that his government has a very clear foreign policy expressed by President Gustavo Petro, which demands Cuba’s exclusion from the State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list because it is an unfair classification.
Rojas made those statements at the Foreign Ministry in this capital, after a meeting with Cuban Ambassador Javier Caamaño; Gloria Flórez, a senator from the Historic Pact; members of the Cuba Solidarity Movement, and other officials and representatives of civil society.
The reason for the meeting was the announcement of the departure an Air Force plane on Saturday carrying a solidarity shipment to Cuba consisting of non-perishable food, medicines, transformers and other electrical appliances.
According to the deputy foreign minister, sending the aid is “a gesture of solidarity accompanied by a clear political statement from the Government of Colombia: the rejection of the blockade and the inclusion of Cuba in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.”
Rojas will travel to Cuba at the head of a delegation that will deliver the donations in Havana and will take the opportunity to meet with his Cuban counterpart, Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal.
He said that he expected to discuss with her counterpart the issues to be debated at the High Level Political Dialogue scheduled to take place between the parties next February.
Another member of the delegation will be Senator Gloria Flórez, who leads the Parliamentary Friendship Group with Cuba.
The congresswoman told Prensa Latina that this show of friendship reveals the deep commitment to Cuba, whose contribution she described as vital in the construction of peace in her country.
Symbolically, this is an important step, but the idea is to continue to strengthen the ties of brotherhood and solidarity so that, in the name of President Gustavo Petro and his people, the work of accompaniment and solidarity can be consolidated.
“For us, the most important thing today, in addition to this exercise of solidarity, is to work to remove the island from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, a profoundly absurd measure very far from reality, because what Cuba has done is accompanying the peace efforts in Colombia,” she stressed.
Jaime Caicedo, president of the Colombian Communist Party, who also helped collect the products that will arrive in Havana in the next few hours, said that the contribution means more than the delivery of material aid.
He considered that it entails a political act of support for and recognition of Cuba, its Revolution and its people, who are distinguished by their solidarity and friendship with Colombia.
Havana, Dec 21 (Prensa Latina) On two occasions on Friday President Miguel Diaz-Canel stressed that Cuba is open to establish respectful relations with the US, saying that Cubans have no animosity against the American people.
Diaz-Canel conveyed Havana’s stance both in his closing speech at the year’s last session of Parliament and at a rally in front of the US Embassy before a massive march that passed by the diplomatic headquarters in demand of the end of the economic blockade and the removal of Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism.
It has been the island’s position since the historical leader of the Cuban revolution Fidel Castro’s time, but successive US administrations have denied such possibility except Barack Obama’s that pushed forward a rapprochement in bilateral relations that proved beneficial for both countries.
However, after two years in the White House then president Donald Trump did away with all steps Washington and Havana took to dissipate tensions and look for ways to improve their relations.
Diaz-Canel said that Cuba is willing to talk and foster relations of respect and equality with the United States, but will not allow any attempt at interference in its internal affairs.
That stance is well known and should not surprise anyone, he pointed out on the closing day of the 4th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly, which debated key issues and mapped out plans to encourage economic growth.
“We will remain open to relations with the people of the United States, (…) trying to avoid the harsh prohibitions that the Government of that country imposes on its own people in order to prevent their natural ties with a worthy and friendly neighbor in the absurd attempt to keep them from knowing the true Cuba,” he stressed.
Later at the rally, he emphasized that Cubans feel no hatred towards the American people.
On Cuba’s international relations, the Head of State pointed out that despite efforts by Washington to isolate it, Cuba was admitted as an associate member of the BRICS, “a novel instance of agreement and cooperation that brings together a significant economic, productive, technological, population, territorial and great natural wealth potential,” he added.
The president added that Cuba maintains very good relations and shares similar purposes with all the member countries of the group.
He recalled that Cuba also participated in the celebrations that took place in Moscow on the 79th anniversary of the defeat of fascism in Europe, “a contest in which the Russian people played a decisive role, with whose government we have continued to strengthen bilateral relations,” he went on to say.
Regarding Cuba’s international ties in 2024, Díaz-Canel noted that the Caribbean island has received support and strengthened fraternal relations with China, Vietnam and Laos, defined the potential to increase the economic-commercial relationship with the Eurasian Union and achieved important advances in its ties with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
He highlighted the nearly unanimous rejection by the international community of the economic blockade imposed by the United States, which was evident at the United Nations General Assembly, a scenario in which the demand of numerous governments in favor of removing Cuba from State Sponsors of Terrorism (SSOT) list was also made evident.
In our America, he added, “we continue to bet on the indispensable integration and are committed first of all to the Bolivarian Alliance ALBA-TCP, (…) further strengthening the historic relations of friendship, solidarity and cooperation that unite us in the common fight against the aggression of the empire.”
The dignitary expressed his support for Nicaragua and the work of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC, in Spanish), whose members signed in Havana the declaration of the region as a zone of peace.
Cuba’s foreign policy, he stressed, continues to rest on positions of principle, on the anti-imperialist struggle, on the defense of peace, on the promotion of solidarity and internationalism, on the search for relations of friendship and cooperation with all countries.
Havana, 21 December (Prensa Latina) President Miguel Díaz-Canel thanked the more than 500,000 Cubans who marched along Havana’s waterfront avenue to demand an end to the US aggression against Cuba.
In his X account, the President thanked “for once again overcoming the most fertile imagination. For this great #MarchaDelPueblo (People’s March) with the Army General (Raúl Castro). For the unanimous cry: we are not terrorists, take us off the list and #TumbaElBloqueo (Knock down the Blockade,” he wrote.
Thank you for the infinite inspiration, the Head of State reiterated, a few hours before the end of the rally and parade along this important artery of the capital, where the US Embassy is located.
Less than a month before Donald Trump’s inauguration, Cuba continues to demand an end to the United States’ policy of maximum pressure.
The mobilisation of Cubans, led by Raúl Castro, José Ramón Machado Ventura (commander of the rebel army), the president himself, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero and his cabinet, demanded first and foremost the lifting of the blockade imposed by Washington for more than six decades.
They also called for the country to be removed from the State Department’s list of countries accused of supporting terrorism.
Díaz-Canel opened the march with words of denunciation against the outgoing administration of Joe Biden, who, he said, had not reversed the policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump (2017-2021), as he had promised during his presidential campaign.
He pointed out that with the implementation of 243 additional measures and the maintenance of Cuba in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism, Biden was disciplining and cruelly following the policy that Trump had approved during his term in office.
He stressed that to single out Cuba as a state that allegedly sponsors terrorism is false and immoral, to say the least, wherever the accusation comes from, but it is doubly so when it comes from the territory of the United States.
From there, he denounced, paramilitary groups are currently being trained to organise, promote and finance terrorist actions against Cuba’s social and economic structures.
The continued inclusion of Cuba in this list and the tightening of the blockade policy are actions against the Cuban people that must stop now, he stressed.
He affirmed that Cuba does not profess the slightest feeling of hatred nor animosity towards the American people, but it opposes the efforts of the US Government to deprive it of its sovereignty, independence and socialism, in the face of which it will always find rebellion and intransigence.
Diaz-Canel recalled that Cuba has extended its hand to all the governments of the United States since the triumph of the Revolution until today, always in a serious, respectful and equal relationship.
Against the plan of US imperialism and its claim to impose itself in Cuba by force or seduction, we will march now and always, the President asserted.
