Havana, November 9 (RHC)– Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez thanked the European Union for the efforts of this community of 27 countries to support Cuba in repairing the damage caused by Hurricane Oscar in eastern Cuba, specifically in the territories of the province of Guantánamo.
“We appreciate the efforts of the European Union to provide support to the areas affected by Hurricane Oscar in eastern #Cuba. International cooperation is an important aid in the country’s recovery process,” wrote the Foreign Minister on the social network X.
Bruno Rodríguez reproduced a message from the European Union that refers to the support of this economic and political association “to the Cuban people in difficult times” and that an air bridge has been launched to Santiago de Cuba with 100 tons of essential supplies and has allocated 600 thousand euros for communities affected by Hurricane Oscar.
This hydrometeorological event hit the northeastern region on October 20, and later transformed into a tropical storm, ravaging several of the easternmost territories of Cuba for hours, leaving eight dead, two missing and millions in losses to the economy, road infrastructure and society.
United Nations, Nov 5 (Prensa Latina) The United Nations Office in Cuba will present on Tuesday, at the Organization’s headquarters, its response plan after the lashes of Hurricane Oscar, which severely affected that country’s eastern region in October.
The initiative aims to raise 33 million dollars from partners and actors in the international community to provide assistance to nearly 150,000 people in San Antonio del Sur, Imias, Maisi, and Baracoa, the hardest-hit municipalities by the storm.
UN Resident Coordinator in Cuba, Francisco Pichon, stated that the appeal focuses on six vital sectors: water, sanitation, and hygiene; temporary shelter, housing, and early recovery; education; logistics; health; and food security and nutrition.
The plan, coordinated with national authorities, will support efforts to meet the urgent needs of the most affected people, restore basic services, and recover the territories and the livelihoods of their inhabitants.
First announced in Havana, the plan confirms the vitality of the United Nations’ collective work in the small island nation, which is accustomed to dealing with challenges such as Oscar, though not exempt from its consequences.
According to UN estimates, some 478,000 people were affected by the weather phenomenon, which lasted for nearly 25 hours on October 20 in the easternmost Cuban province of Guantanamo.
As a result, the region, which traditionally suffers from drought, experienced severe flooding, causing the loss of seven lives and essential goods.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel leads the recovery actions at the national level. (Photo: Presidency of Cuba).
The Ministry of Energy and Mines reported that in an area of the department of Matanzas to Sancti Spíritus, the electric service has been restored.
Nov 7 (teleSUR) Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday that the damage caused by hurricane Rafael in western Cuba was assessed early in the morning.
“The recovery is focused on Artemisa, Havana and Mayabeque. The SEN is already being set up from the center to the east, and the damage in the west is being assessed to begin recovery there as well. We are standing and fighting,” the president said on his social networks.
Since early hours of this morning, the Defense Councils of the affected provinces met to take measures aimed at the recovery phase, which formally began at 10:00 a.m. (local time) today.
According to Cuban television, Artemisa, the province where the meteor entered, has collapsed several high voltage towers (22,000 volts) that carry electricity to Pinar del Río, where specialists from the Ministry of Energy and Mines are already working.
#Cuba | President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the National Defense Council met to assess the damage caused by Rafael, a Category 3 hurricane that passed through the western part of the island, leaving significant impacts on homes, infrastructure, and crops. #HurricaneRafaelpic.twitter.com/aqiqD9Kd55
From the department of Mayabeque, the vice president of the National Defense Council, Salvador Valdés Mesa, pointed out the order and organizational capacity of the authorities to protect material goods and save human lives, while urging them to work to reverse the negative effects of Rafael on agriculture and the destruction of homes.
In that department, the boats continue to be well protected, as well as the containers, means and resources of the fishing companies.
Cuba advances in the reconnection of the electrical system
In the most recent update from the General Directorate of Electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, it was reported that in an area of the department of Matanzas in Sancti Spíritus, the electrical service has been restored and progress is being made to Ciego de Ávila.
According to the director of Electricity of the entity, Lázaro Guerra, at this time work is being done to reach Holguín, in eastern Cuba.
“We have two units starting up, which have their boilers on at this time: Guiteras and Unit Number 6 of Nuevitas, which is not yet integrated into the central zone microsystem, which is the largest. We are with an independent system. We are finalizing that we are going to reach the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant with the central system to synchronize both to that more robust subsystem, in order to be able to reach Felton and the easternmost area of the country,” Guerra explained.
Vientiane, Nov 5 (Prensa Latina) Cuban National People’s Power Assembly (Parliament) Chairman Esteban Lazo concluded in this capital on Tuesday an official visit, commemorating the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
The member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and the delegation along with him, visited this day the Thanelang Dry Port, the first stage of the development of the Vientiane Logistics Park.
Built at 125 million dollars and started up in December 2021 when the China-Laos high-speed train began operating, the port will save transportation costs and time, and allow this nation to become more competitive.
This is a great, new, and innovative idea, Lazo stated, and referred to the importance of this kind of infrastructure for landlocked countries, which is a tragedy for them from an economic point of view.
Lazo, who is also the president of the Cuban Council of State, commented on the principles that guarantee the proper functioning of a port of this nature, including the need for common interests and a thorough economic analysis to back them up.
Lazo took advantage of the exchange with the managers of the Thanelang dry port and the future logistics park of Vientiane to inform them about the characteristics of the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM), whose exceptional bay allows the docking of vessels of any draft.
Nov 2 (Belly of the Beast) For over 30 years, the vast majority of the UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn U.S. sanctions on Cuba. This year was no different.
Nov 4 (Belly of the Beast) The U.S. presidential election is just one day away, and Trump is vying to return to the White House.
As president, he launched an unprecedented economic war on Cuba that contributed to destroying its economy. Instead of reversing Trump’s policies, Biden embraced them.
Do Trump’s rank-and-file supporters support his hard-line policy toward Cuba? Are they even aware of it?
Would Kamala Harris continue Biden’s Trumpian Cuba policy or return to Obama’s engagement?
Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández tries to answer those questions and more HERE
Havana, Nov 6 (RHC) The President of the National Assembly of People’s Power (Parliament) of Cuba, Esteban Lazo, has arrived in Beijing today to conclude his official visit, which will last until November 12.
Lazo will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of the government, the Communist Party of China, and Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the highest legislative body in China.
Tomorrow he will meet with the main authorities of the country, and then travel to Shandong Province, where he will visit places of socio-economic and cultural interest, and engage in bilateral dialogues with the leaders of the region.
The Cuban delegation also includes Susely Morfa González, member of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and the head of its Department of Social Affairs; Mayra Arevich Marín, the Minister of Communications; leaders of parliamentary committees, and other officials.
As part of their tour of Asia, the representatives of the Caribbean island previously visited Vietnam and Laos. (Source: PL)
Oct 30 (Belly of the Beast) Since 2017, Cuba has been subject to a barrage of U.S. sanctions imposed by Donald Trump and largely kept in place by Joe Biden.
Among the most damaging has been the activation of an obscure but potent provision known as Title III. Part of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act, Title III allows U.S. claimants whose property was nationalized during the Cuban Revolution to sue companies for doing business on that property.
In 2022, a Miami judge ruled that four major cruise liners owed $439.2 million dollars to a company led by the grandson of Sosthenes Behn, a Nazi-connected telecommunications tycoon who had held a lease – now expired – to operate a cargo business on three piers in Havana.
It was the first successful Title III lawsuit against a company doing business in Cuba and contributed to chilling investment toward Cuba.
Last week, a federal appeals court overturned the ruling.
Belly of the Beast journalists Reed Lindsay and Daniel Montero exposed the politics and lobbying behind the law enabling the lawsuit and its ruinous impact on Cuba.
Read the article, originally published in The Miami New Times, HERE.
Tehran, Nov 2 (Prensa Latina) The development of bilateral cooperation is part of Iranian Minister of Communications and Technology Seyed Satar Hashemi’s agenda, based on technological diplomacy, during his visit to Cuba, an official source reported on Friday.
Facilitating and expanding cooperation between private companies from Iran and Venezuela, as well as communications and information technologies, is one of the topics of the meetings between the minister with his counterpart and other top officials from that South American country, according to a dispatch from the official news agency IRNA circulating in this capital.
At the end of his stay in Venezuela, Hashemi, who is heading delegation that is expanding cooperation with the Caribbean countries, will travel to Cuba, where he will meet with his counterparts from Communications and Trade Development, the source added.
The visitor and hosts plan to sign a memorandum of understanding on postal cooperation between Tehran and Havana, which might significantly increase the volume of trade between the two countries, IRNA pointed out.
Brussels, Nov 1 (Prensa Latina) The European Union defended the lifting of the US blockade against Cuba, saying that this would facilitate the economic opening of the country, benefiting the people.
After the United Nations General Assembly again called for the end of the blockade against Cuba, the EU said that the measure has a detrimental impact on the country’s economic situation.
The EU believes that lifting the blockade may facilitate the opening of the Cuban economy for the benefit of the people, stressed the delegation to the United Nations, which added that foreign trade and foreign investment in Cuba are damaged by the legislative framework approved by the United States in 1962.
The request of the United Nations General Assembly last Wednesday was again forceful in its demand to end the blockade against Cuba with 187 votes in favor, two against (the United States and Israel) and the abstention of Moldova.
Since 1992, the General Assembly has maintained a firm and almost unanimous stance against US blockade on Cuba, whose total losses are estimated at 499 billion dollars over more than six decades.
