Cuba Solidarity

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-04T08:05:00.002+13:00

New Year's Greetings from the Cuban Five

Who Killed Che?

2011-12-09T08:03:00.001+13:00

How the CIA Got Away With Murder
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“Ratner and Smith cut through the lies and distortions to provide a riveting and thoroughly documented history of the murder of Che Guevara. In an era when ‘targeted assassinations’ and ‘capture and kill operations’ have become routine, and are routinely glorified by the mainstream U.S. press, their examination of the U.S. role in Che Guevara’s death could not be more timely.” —

Amy Goodman,DemocracyNow!

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In compelling detail two leading U.S. civil rights attorneys recount the extraordinary life and deliberate killing of the world’s most storied revolutionary: Ernesto Ché Guevara. Michael Ratner and Michael Steven Smith survey the extraordinary trajectory of Ché’s career, from an early politicization recounted in the Motorcycle Diaries, through meetings with his compañero Fidel Castro in Mexico, his vital role in the Cuban revolution, and his expeditions abroad to Africa and Latin America. But their focus is on Ché’s final days in Bolivia where, after months of struggle to spread the revolution begun in Havana, Ché is wounded, captured and, soon after, executed. Bound and helpless, Ché’s last words to his killer, a soldier in the Bolivian Army, are “Remember, you are killing a man.”
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Referencing internal U.S. government documentation, much of it never before published, Ratner and Smith bring their forensic skills as attorneys to analyze the evidence and present an irrefutable case that the CIA not only knew of and approved the execution, but was instrumental in making it happen. Cables from the agency disavowing any U.S. role in the murder were merely attempts to provide plausible deniability for the Johnson administration.
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The spirit of Ché Guevara, as an icon and an inspiration, is as vibrant today as it ever was. News photographs of democracy protestors in the Middle East carrying his image have circulated the world in recent months. For anyone drawn to his remarkable life and its violent, unlawful end, Who Killed Ché ? will engage, anger and educate.
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By this book

Paperback

eBook

US Anti-Cuba Blockade Policy Punishes German Bank

2011-12-02T11:15:00.001+13:00

The United States Treasury Department Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed on the New York branch of Germany's Commerzbank a fine of $175,000 for accepting transactions that violate the 50-year blockade on the Republic of Cuba
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The US government claims the second largest bank in Germany was the consultant in a September 2005 transaction between a Cuban company and a Canadian partner, on which Commerzbank never informed the OFAC.
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This report of the Treasury terms the operation a notorious case of violation of US Laws and "Commerzbank should be aware of the prohibitions concerning the Cuba Case (.....) to prevent such violations in the future."
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Last November 186 among 191 countries voted for the 20th consecutive occasion at the UN General Assembly against the anti-Cuba coercive policy by every US Administration from the triumph of the Revolution.
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The government of Cuba has been exposing in world forums documented evidence of the over $975 billion loss it has endured through nearly six decades of commercial harassment.
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This very year and before the case of the German bank, JP Morgan Chase paid a $88.3M fine for alleged transgression of White House regulations to deal with Cuba, with the Treasury claiming that JP Morgan participated in 1,711 transfers for $176 million involving either private people or Cuban institutions.
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Earlier, the US branch of CMA-CNG, the third largest container shipping company, was fined $374,400 for transporting cargo to Havana.
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In December 2008, Credit Swisse Bank paid a $536M sanction because of its financial agreements with Cuba.
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In January this year, US President Barack Obama introduced slight changes to the regulations on the US blockade but the most stringent terms remain in force.
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He did approve of trips to Cuba for academic, religious, cultural or sports events, within a framework Washington defines as "promotion of people-to-people contacts."
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Click here to read Cuba’sReport of Resolution 65/6

Cuba to Unveil Monument in Honour of State Terrorism Victims

2011-11-22T10:45:00.001+13:00

As part of the activities of the Seventh Colloquium to Free the Cuban Five a monument will be unveiled in honour of state terrorism victims, on Friday, in the town of Boca de Sama, in the eastern province of Holguin, which was attacked by mercenaries 40 years ago.

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The monument, by Luis Silva, member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) in the province, is made up of three ‘gunshot’ marble rocks.
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The artists noted that with these pieces he condemns atrocities and barbarities brought about to the Cuban people by state terrorism, which has also caused countless victims.

Victims of Cubana Flight 455 blown out
of the sky by CIA linked terrorists

.As a result of the tragic events of 1971, when two pirate gunboats coming from Florida attacked the coastal village of Boca de Sama , in Banes municipality in the Eastern part of the island. Lidio Rivaflechas Galano and Ramon Arturo Siam Portelles died and Nancy and Angela Pavon, two sisters of 15 and 13 years of age, were wounded . The first one lost a foot. Also wounded were Carlos Escalante Gomez and Jesus Igarza Osorio.
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The attack, perpetrated by a group of mercenaries and organized by the Miami-based Alpha 66 terrorist group.
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The unveiling ceremony is one of the main activities arranged for Friday, within the context of the Seventh Colloquium to Free the Cuban Five, underway in the province since Wednesday with the attendance of more than 300 delegates from 47 nations.
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The program also includes a women’s walk for Fernando Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, and Rene Gonzalez –internationally known as the Cuban Five –, and the screening of materials produced by different Committees of Solidarity with Cuba worldwide.

Checkout the whole story

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These five Cuban antiterrorists were unjustly imprisoned in the U.S since 1998 and sentenced to harsh terms for trying to prevent terrorist actions against Cuba by Miami-based right wing groups such as the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), and Alpha 66, among others.
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Fernando, Gerardo, Antonio, and Ramon still remain in U.S. prisons for 13 years now; whereas Rene was imposed with an additional three-year “supervised release” that prevents him from returning to Cuba with his family.

New York Times highlights Cuba’s efforts in combating cholera in Haiti

2011-11-16T11:37:00.001+13:00

"Half of the NGOs are already gone, and the Cubans are still there."

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In an article published November 8, The New York Times recognizes that, "as the epidemic continues, the Cuban medical mission that played an important role in detecting its presence in Haiti, winning accolades from donors and diplomats for staying on the front lines and undertaking a broader effort to remake this country's shattered health care system."
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"Paul Farmer, the United Nations deputy special envoy to Haiti and a founder of Partners in Health, said the Cubans sounded an important early alarm about the outbreak, helping to mobilize health officials and lessen the death toll," the newspaper writes.

Cuban medical personnel were in Haiti when the earthquake happened and are still there, while half of the NGO’s have already left. (Photo: Juan Diego Nusa Peñalver)

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Even more, while the death rate peaked last December and the world's attention has largely moved on, Farmer noted, "Half of the NGOs are already gone, and the Cubans are still there."
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To date this year in Haiti, 6,600 people have died of cholera and more than 476,000 contracted the disease – close to 5% of the country’s 10 million inhabitants – considered by UN officials as the highest cholera rate in the world.
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Cuban medical personnel have been working in Haiti since 1998, when 100 doctors arrived there in the wake of Hurricane Mitch. They are part of the internationalist medical missions that Cuba has maintained for 50 years.

UN: U.S. Blockade Condemned for 20th Year

2011-10-27T07:53:00.000+13:00

The UN General Assembly approved by an overwhelming majority the resolution demanding an end of the US blockade of Cuba, a vote passed by the assembly for the 20th consecutive year.
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This year 186 UN member states voted in favour of the resolution, while 2 voted against (the United States, Israel) and three abstained (Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau).
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The resolution calling for an end to the blockade has been approved on 20 occasions with backing that has grown steadily from 59 votes in 1992 to the 186 today.
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Before the vote, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla spoke before the General Assembly and noted that it would have seemed impossible two decades ago that the United nations would be still discussing the same issue.
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He described the 50-year long blockade as an act of genocide. “The object of the blockade is to weaken the lives of Cubans and to cause hunger. The US has never hidden the fact that it wants regime change in Cuba.”
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Rodriguez added that the Obama Administration has spiked its chase of Cuban money transactions throughout the world, showing no respect whatsoever to the laws or governments of third countries. He also pointed out that Cuba cannot use US dollars in its transactions, or freely import or export products, including medicines, to and from the United States.

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As an example of the criminal policy, Rodriguez recalled the seizure by the US government of some 4 million dollars the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria had allocated for programs to be carried out in Cuba.
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After explaining how the blockade had cost Cuba close to a trillion dollars in losses in the last 50 years, Rodriguez urged the world representatives to back up the resolution, on behalf of his people.
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Read Cuba’s Report on Resolution 65/6

here

Download Cuba’s Report on Resolution 65/6

Also See
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> CARICOM: U.S. Blockade of Cuba Is Anachronistic
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> Cuba-UN Bonds Continue to Strengthen

U.S. Blockade Hinders Fighting HIV/AIDS

2011-10-12T11:43:00.000+13:00

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The US-imposed economic, trade and financial blockade hinders cooperation between Cuba and international multilateral agencies engaged in fighting HIV/AIDS.

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In January 2011, the U.S. government seized 4.207.000 USD of the Global Fund finance to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
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Those resources would be allocated to implement cooperation projects with Cuba to fight the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and tuberculosis.
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This deliberate act has hampered the implementation of three projects whose significant impact on segments of the affected population is known; states a report on Resolution 65/6 of the UN General Assembly entitled "The Necessity of Ending the Economic, Commercial, and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba."

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The action is even more serious because it affects funding for training, prevention and treatment of people affected by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, particularly the purchase of medicines, antiretroviral drugs, and foods for sick people.
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Cuba denounced this measure as an illegal action that also seeks to seriously hamper international cooperation provided by the UN system through its agencies, funds and programs.
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Despite intensive and increasing demands from the international community to the U.S. government for a change towards Cuba, U.S. President Barack Obama maintains intact that policy, the text recalls.
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It is in essence and objectives, an act of unilateral aggression and a permanent threat to the stability of a country, the document states.
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The direct economic damage caused to Cuba, if we take into consideration the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the value of gold in the international financial market, would exceed 975 billion USD.
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Read In Support of the Draft Resolution
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Click here to read Cuba’s Report of Resolution 65/6

Cuba insists that the UN must recognize Palestinian statehood

2011-09-30T12:48:00.002+13:00

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez speaking at the General Assembly insisted that the U.N. recognize Palestine as a free and independent state and oppose the Security Council or the United States government's attempt to use its veto of the resolution,
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"The General Assembly has the inescapable moral, political and legal obligation to guarantee the recognition of an independent Palestinian state with its pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as the capital, as a full member of the United Nations. It must do so with or without the Security Council, with or without a United States veto, with or without new peace negotiations," he specified.
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He also reiterated that the Palestinian people have been the victims of continual Israeli attacks, supported by the United States which, given its arms merchant strategy, sells Israel the weapons it needs to sustain this aggression.
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Mahmoud Abbas challenging U.S. hegemony

Cuba, which has a small Jewish community, likewise condemns the historic injustices of anti-Semitism, the crime against humanity which was the Holocaust, and also recognizes the Israeli state's right to exist. "Our people harbor only fraternal sentiments for the Israeli people, who are also victims of this conflict," he said.
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He repeated that the U.S. is obliged to "cease its continual vetoing of Security Council resolutions to protect Palestinian citizens."
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> Read the rest of the article

> Read Rodríguez full speech
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US Blockade Against Cuba Rejected at UN General Assembly

2011-09-27T22:09:00.003+13:00

Representatives from several countries have again criticized the nearly 50-year-old economic, commercial and financial blockade maintained by the United States against Cuba at the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Danilo Astori: contary to UN Charter

Prensa Latina reported that Uruguay’s Vice President Danilo Astori said Washington’s unilateral measure against Cuba is against the UN’s Charter, and added that his country condemns all types of violence, threats and the irrational use of force and terrorism.
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In his address to the Assembly, the Uruguayan Vice President also said his government considers all the conditions required for the UN to recognize Palestine as its 194th full member have been met, as requested by President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday before the UN’s organ, an AFP report reads.
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Lesotho’s Prime Minister Pakalitha Bethuel Mosisili, advocated the lifting of the US blockade against Cuba, as well. He said a solution to the long-standing dispute between the US and Cuba should be found, said PL.
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The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla is scheduled to address the UN’s General Assembly in New York on Monday afternoon.
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For 19 years the General Assembly, the UN’s main decision-making body, has witnessed the rejection of Washington’s blockade against Cuba on the part of an overwhelming majority of its member states.

Up to the present, this unilateral measure, which came into force in February 1962, has brought about direct economic damage to Cuba valued at more than 975 billion dollars.

Click to view

Cuban Foreign Minister thanks the People of the U.S

2011-09-26T15:38:00.000+13:00

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla expressed his gratitude to many people in the United States for their solidarity with Cuba in its struggle for peace and justice.
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During an ecumenical church service for the recovery of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at the Riverside church of Harlem, New York, Rodriguez passed on greetings from the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, “to an emblematic church that is close to God and away from Wall Street.”
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Rodriguez, who is in New York to participate in the 66th period of sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, spoke during the service and paid tribute to icons of the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X.
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The Cuban diplomat also paid homage to late Rev. Lucius Walker, former leader and founder of the Pastors for Peace U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, who always fought against Washington’s economic blockade of Cuba and for the release of the five Cuban antiterrorists who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998.
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“René Gonzalez, Ramon Labañino, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez put their lives at risk to protect the Cuban and also the American people,” Rodriguez highlighted.
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The Cuban Five —as they are internationally known— were arrested and given harsh sentences ranging from 15 years to two life terms for monitoring anti-Cuba extreme right-wing groups in South Florida that were planning and carrying out terrorist actions against the Caribbean nation.

Source

URGENT ACTION

2011-09-23T07:17:00.001+12:00

Call President Obama and Demand Rene Gonzalez be returned to CUBA!

On October 7th, René Gonzalez, of the Cuban 5, will be released on parole after 13 years of unjust incarceration. The U.S. government is forcing him to serve his three year probation in Florida; where he has no family and will be at the mercy of the hostile community of right-wing Cuban Americans that helped secure his incarceration.

The Popular Education Project to Free the Cuba 5 is calling on all Cuban 5 supporters to pick the telephone and call President Barack Obama and demand that René Gonzalez be returned to Cuba, where he belongs.

Tell your family and friends to call!

Forward this message out to your entire Address book, post on twitter, Facebook, or Google +!

Thousands of phone calls can make a difference!

Call President Obama at
202-456-1111 and leave a message!

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BACKGROUND
> Judge Lenard’s Cruel and Bizarre Decision against René

Lawyer: Probation in the U.S. would be Additional Punishment for Rene Gonzalez

2011-09-21T08:09:00.000+12:00

Phil Horowitz, attorney for René González, one of the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly incarcerated in the US, said the requirement that René spend the next three years in Miami would be “an additional three years of punishment” for Gonzalez to serve his probation in American soil.

Horowitz, in an article published by The Washington Post, said his defendant wants to return to Cuba immediately after his release from a federal prison in Marianna, Fla, scheduled for next October 7th, but federal prosecutors insist he must serve an additional three years of probation there.

He said he had asked U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard on humanitarian grounds to permit the probation to be served in Cuba, since Gonzalez doesn’t have any close relatives in the United States.

Horowitz noted that Gonzalez’s wife cannot get a visa to visit him in the U.S and that his two children and parents also live in Cuba.

The US government said there was no legal justification for Gonzalez to return before the three years’ probation is completed. In court papers, they contend that Gonzalez was unrepentant regarding the actions that landed him in prison and a return to Cuba would put him beyond any U.S. supervision.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Caroline Heck Miller contended Horowitz´s modification claiming that it seeks to eliminate the supervised release even before it starts, and added the Cuban hero could later request for permission to travel to Cuba.

Meanwhile, Irma Sehwerert, mother of Gonzalez, expressed concern that her son might be in danger if forced to serve out probation in the Miami area.

René González, along Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando González were detained on September 12th, 1998, and were later tried and received harsh sentences for infiltrating Miami-based anti-Cuba terrorist groups.

Source

"Close to Perfect:" A Different, Bloodier Nine-Eleven

2011-09-11T10:22:00.003+12:00

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The events of September 11th were horrific, tragic, and criminal on a monumental scale. Planes flew low over an American nation's leading city. Buildings erupted in flames. There was an official death toll of more than 3,000. Thousands of innocent people were ruthlessly slaughtered. Their loved ones were placed in horrible suspense, waiting to learn the fate of missing husbands, wives, sisters, cousins, and children. An American country was left in shock, with an uncertain future, as the perpetrators evaded capture and punishment. September 11th was a dark, bloody day of historic proportions. It was a prelude to regression, repression and heightened bloodshed.

Yes, the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Chile's president Salvadore Allende on September 11th, 1973 was a terrible watershed. The low-flying planes belonged to the Chilean Air Force. They came on the orders of Chilean General Augusto Pinochet to bomb La Moneda Presidential Palace, where Allende, a self-declared Marxist, killed himself before he could be assassinated. Hundreds of real and suspected Allende supporters were gunned down in Santiago's soccer stadium, fashioned into a torture center and concentration camp. Across the nation, in the streets and military detention centers, Pinochet's forces murdered 20,000 and tortured 60,000 in the first few months after 9/11/1973. One million Chileans were forced into exile. According to leading international relations analyst William I. Robinson, it was "the bloodiest coup in Latin-American history" (Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony [Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 1996], p. 46).

According to a report from Patrick Ryan, the US Naval Attaché stationed with the United States Military Group in Chile that black September, the coup was "close to perfect." It was, Ryan told his superiors, a great victory for "free men aspiring to goals which are to the benefit of Chile and not self-serving world Marxism."

Read the rest here

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The Other September 11
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Jorge Sandoval recalls the events of September 11, 1973 which saw him arrested, tortured and locked up in a Chilean concentration camp. And Victoria University Professor of Geography Warwick Murray talks about the legacy of General Augusto Pinochet, and the student protests, dubbed the Chilean Winter, which are currently sweeping the country.

RNZ National Sunday (duration: 51′26″)

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> Declassified Documents Relating to the Military Coup, September 11, 1973

Cuban defense minister, Julio Casas Regueiro, dies at age 75

2011-09-06T16:23:00.002+12:00

Julio Casas Regueiro, Cuba’s Minister of Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) died of a cardiac arrest in Havana on Saturday, 3 September. He was 75 years old. He was cremated according to his wishes and his remains will be transfered to the Mausoleum of the Frank País Second Eastern Front in the Sierra Maestra where he will receive military honors. The government has declared a 3-day period of mourning.

A veteran of the revolution, Casas Requiero was trained as an accountant but joined Fidel Castro’s troops in the 1950s. With the triumph of the revolution, he occupied many different posts in the Armed Forces including Chief of the Eastern Army and Chief of military economic activities.

In 2008, when Raúl Castro took over as President from his brother, Casas Requiero replaced him as the Minister of FAR. He was also member of the National Assembly of the People’s Power and Vice-president of the Council of State.

Casas Regueiro is replaced by his first deputy, General Leopoldo Cita Frias.

Source

Will the U.S. hear Gerardo's arguments?

2011-09-05T11:24:00.001+12:00

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The international solidarity movement calling for the freedom of the five Cuban anti-terrorists imprisoned in the United States continues to follow the habeas corpus appeal initiated by Gerardo Hernández, one of the prisoners.

Gerardo Hernández Nordelo with Danny Glover during

a visit the actor made to see him in prison

Hernández, sentenced to two life terms plus 15 years and held in a Victorville, California maximum security penitentiary, filed the appeal on August 16 before the Miami court of Judge Joan Lenard, the same judge who sentenced all of the Five in 2001. The 65-page defense reply includes new arguments related to this specific legal option.

This reply was the most recent step taken after the government's response to the defense appeal memorandum, filed in October of 2010 in the Miami court.

Among the documents submitted by Gerardo's lawyers on this occasion are three appendices with a sworn statement by Attorney Paul McKenna, in which he admits that errors were made in Gerardo's initial defense.

Additionally addressed in another two documents is the payment of $250,000 to Miami journalists who were instructed to demonize the accused and create an environment which would ensure a guilty verdict.

The standard processing of Gerardo's case has legally ended, but the defense resorted to this extraordinary procedure which is available only once to defendants who have exhausted all other appeal options.

A habeas corpus appeal is filed by a defendant when he or she believes fundamental rights protected by the Constitution have been violated, asking the court to reconsider the sentence.

Read more ...

> September 5 for the Five

United States fines another bank for its connections with Cuba

2011-08-31T08:52:00.001+12:00

The powerful U.S. bank JP Morgan Chase has confirmed that it paid a fine of $88.3 million for violating restrictions imposed by the United States on commercial agreements with Cuba, Iran and Sudan.

A notification from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), part of the Department of the Treasury, states that JP Morgan processed 1,711 transfers involving Cuban individuals and entities to a value of close to $176 million, PL reports.

According to OFAC, the Havana-related transactions took place from December 2005 to March 31, 2006. This is the second sanction in the context of Cuba announced by the Office this month. Other banking institutions have been subjected to the blockade’s extraterritorial measures.

The fine imposed on JP Morgan Chase is the fourth largest imposed by Washington since the George W. Bush administration, when controls related to the economic blockade of Cuba – in place for more than 50 years – were tightened.

Source

Australian aid boost to help Cuban health aid initiative in Timor-Leste

2011-08-23T12:37:00.003+12:00


Dr Dan Murphy of the Bairo Pite clinic in Dili

Australian contributions may become the latest asset for an already thriving Cuban health aid programme in Timor-Leste and this is likely to start later this year.

The Australian government has announced this year a $9 billion increase to foreign aid spending over the next four years with a significant focus on Timor-Leste.

The announcement comes in conjunction with the first independent review into the effectiveness of Australian foreign aid in 15 years.

The review panel has recommended a four-year strategy, where projects are frequently reviewed, and is currently working with the Australian government to set goals for the increased funding.

The panel drew particular attention to the need for value for money and maximum impact for the resources deployed. Building and making better use of effective international partnerships was also recommended.

The Cuban Medical Programme in Timor-Leste, established in 2003 by the previous Fretilin-led government, has saved an estimated more than 17,000 lives, remaining one of the most successful in the world.

Timor-Leste President Jose-Ramos Horta is a strong supporter of the Cuban aid programme, last month recommending the Cuban aid team for a Nobel Peace prize.

Favourable outcomes

University of Sydney lecturer Dr Tim Anderson has closely followed and studied the Cuban programme and says a tripartite agreement involving the government of Timor-Leste would be an effective use of Australian aid funds and produce favourable outcomes for the Timor-Leste Health Care System.

A linked Cuban/Australian programme was discussed by Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Richard Marles during his visit to Cuba last week.

Read the rest

Source: Pacific Scoop Report
– By Laura Stewart

The Doctors of Tomorrow - excerpt

The Pacific School of Medicine, part 1

The Pacific School of Medicine, part 2

Concern in Cuba over Likely Probation for One of the Cuban Five

2011-08-05T10:18:00.003+12:00

René’s wife Olga, daughter Yvette and René (insert)

The mother of the Cuban antiterrorist fighter imprisoned in the US Rene Gonzalez, Irma Sehwerert, expressed on Thursday her concern over a likely enforcement of a probation ruling for her son to be served in Miami, once he has totally served his sentence in the United States.

Rene would be at a higher peril in the streets of Miami than in jail, said his mother during a meeting with members of the 22th US-Cuba Friendship Caravan who are in Cuba until July 31.

"Imagine, Rene living in Miami for three years. We would not be at ease for one minute," said Sehwerert when referring to the legal situation of one of the five Cuban anti terrorist fighters imprisoned in the US since September 1998.

Due to this, his release after 15 years in prison is a cause of concern for all Cubans.

Irma Sehwerert mentioned the efforts of defense lawyers for returning her son to Cuba once he is released from prison.

"If not, we will keep you informed (Caravan members) to see what you can do to protect him," said Rene Gonzalez' mother in presence of other relatives of the Cuban Five, as the antiterrorist fighters are known in the international campaigns for their release. The leaders of the Caravan met with Sehwerert and another three relatives of Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez, who along with Gerardo Hernandez and Antonio Guerrero are serving up to double life imprisonment sentences in the US.

Click to take action

Hope for Haiti: Trained in Cuba, Bronx doctor drops everything to help

2011-07-26T16:49:00.002+12:00

Hope for Haiti: Trained in Cuba, Bronx doctor Melissa Barber drops everything to help earthquake victims

After the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, Dr. Melissa Barber received a call asking her to help treat people left injured and living in squalid conditions.

“There was no question,” said Barber, 30, who was born and raised in the Bronx and worked in quality assessment at St. Barnabas Hospital in the heart of the borough. “I actually resigned and I made plans to go to Haiti for a month. That is how much it’s ingrained in me to help the underserved communities when they are in need.”

Barber’s sense of service stems from her training at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana. Like thousands of fellow graduates from poor and indigenous communities in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, she received a full scholarship to attend the school in exchange for a commitment to work in areas that lack adequate access to healthcare. Haiti no doubt fit that definition before the earthquake, and even more so afterward.

So Barber joined six other Cuban-trained doctors from the United States — all of them women — who packed their bags full of donated medical supplies and arrived Jan. 26 in the Dominican Republic, beginning a commitment that could last for years.

Read the full account here

Also See

Revolutionary Doctors
How Venezuela and Cuba Are Changing the World’s
Conception of Health Care

CLICK HERE for freeexcerpt link

CLICK HERE to order the book today

The Pastors for Peace Caravan Arrives in Cuba

2011-07-26T16:21:00.002+12:00

The 22nd Pastors for Peace Caravan arrived in Cuba on Friday after touring almost 130 cities and collecting over 100 tons of humanitarian aid for the Caribbean island.

The 107 brigadistas were welcomed at Havana’s Jose Marti Airport by Kenia Serrano, president of the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP); Reverend Raul Suarez, director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center; and representatives of several political and mass organizations.

Leira Sanchez, head of International Relations of the Young Communists League, told the members of the contingent that the Cuban people and particularly the new generations of Cubans thank them for their effort of not letting the ideas of Reverend Lucius Walker die and for the fact that this convoy of solidarity is dedicated to youngsters.

Likewise, she praised the decision of the visiting friends of continuing with their effort of breaking the blockade imposed by the US on the island for over 50 years now, a task to which the founder of the initiative, Lucius, who died in September, 2010, devoted himself with conviction.

In a press conference, Tom Smith, president of the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO), expressed his satisfaction for being in Cuba once again, in a trip he had no doubt would be carried out successfully.

Bill Sales, who travels with his wife, thanked Commander in Chief Fidel Castro for giving their daughter the opportunity to study Medicine in Cuba, and said that both of them are happy for being able to attend her graduation ceremony on Saturday.

The visitors’ program, which will end on July 30, includes exchanges with students, artists, scientists and farmers, and their participation in the graduation ceremony of 20 US youngsters who studied at Havana’s Latin American Medical School.

Source

Pastors for Peace pass through Mexico

Also See
> Commitment with Cuba Grows, Say Pastors for Peace
> Pastors for Peace Caravanistas Tour Cuba
> Mores images from PhotosPL

Cuban Bound Pastors for Peace Caravan in Mexico

2011-07-22T08:09:00.001+12:00

The 22nd Pastors for Peace Caravan entered Mexican territory after crossing the Pharr-Reynosa border post, where US customs authorities seized seven computers part of a humanitarian aid delivery for Cuba.

Hector Fraginals, a political adviser at the Cuban embassy, told Prensa Latina that the Caravan members protested against the actions by the US custom agents.

According to Helen Bernstein, acting coordinator of the organization, US authorities confiscated seven computers at the border. For Bernstein, the seizure was nothing new. In 1993, a school bus was held by US customs and released after a 23-day hunger strike by 13 caravan members. In 1996, five people fasted for 93 days for the release of hundreds of computers, and last year five computers donated for Cuban schools were also seized.

Victor Vargas, the Pastors for Peace representative in Mexico, said that the caravan was welcomed by various members of the Mexican Movement of Solidarity with Cuba, among other organizations of support to Cuba, at the Reinosa international bridge, in Tamaulipas.

The more than 100 tons of humanitarian aid for Cuba includes medicines, computers, school materials, portable solar panels, and 14 vehicles.

The caravan is scheduled to arrive in the port city of Tampico, on Thursday, where they will board ships to Cuba with over the humanitarian aid collected in 130 US cities. After crossing the US-Mexico border in Pharr-Reynosa, the group of more than 100 activists reaffirmed its defiance of the US blockade of Cuba, saying "love is our license," in memory of the late Rev. Lucius Walker Jr.

The group, which will visit Cuba from July 22 to 30, plans to meet with students, artists, scientists and farmers, and to attend the graduation ceremony that includes 20 young students from the United States who have been studying at the Latin American School of Medicine – ELAM.

Source

Pastors for Peace’s Friendshipment Caravan Crosses U.S.-Canada Border

2011-07-12T15:29:00.002+12:00

The U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan, organized by the Pastors for Peace religious group, managed to cross the U.S.-Canada border carrying humanitarian aid destined to Cuba in spite of the intimidation of the American authorities there.

“The crossing was a success,” announced in a communiqué the organization Vancouver Communities in Solidarity with Cuba (VCSC), according to Prensa Latina news agency.

Last Sunday, the United States refused to allow a pickup truck carrying humanitarian assistance to Cuba to enter Canadian territory alleging that it was a commercial load that should comply with certain requirements.

The VCSC communiqué adds that the border guards threatened to fine the activists for the alleged violation but, shortly afterwards, thanks to the efforts of a lawyer of Pastors for Peace, they reversed their decision.

During the crossing, the activists carried banners and Cuban flags, and demanded the elimination of the almost 50-year-old U.S. economic blockade against the Caribbean nation.

Organized by the U.S. religious group Pastors for Peace, the Friendshipment Caravan tours several U.S. and Canadian cities collecting humanitarian aid. This year, they began on July 2 and will finish on July 21 with the crossing of the U.S.-Mexico border.

This caravan was founded in 1992 by Rev. Lucius Walker, a friend of Cuba who passed away in September 2010.
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Reporters for Sale

2011-05-11T09:15:00.002+12:00

Contracts reveal Miami journalists on the U.S. government payroll
Their media reporting was prejudicial to the Cuban Five during trial

In 1998, five Cuban men were arrested by the U.S. government and tried in Miami on charges of conspiring to commit espionage on the United States.

The five men’s mission was to stop terrorism, keeping watch on Miami’s ultra-right extremists to prevent their violent attacks against Cuba. “The Cuban Five,” as they are now known, were convicted after repeated denials by the judge to move the trial venue out of Miami. The U.S. government insisted that they be tried in Miami.

What the Cuban Five and their attorneys did not know during trial was that the U.S. government was covertly paying prominent Miami journalists who, at the same time as the government conducted its prosecution, saturated the Miami media with reports that were highly inflammatory and prejudicial to the Cuban Five.

A multi-year effort by the National Committee to Free the Cuban Five, the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and Liberation newspaper has uncovered thousands of pages of previously unreleased materials that demonstrates the case checkout the new website: www.ReportersforHire.org

U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay Violates Sovereignty of the Cuban People

2011-05-07T11:49:00.002+12:00

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“The illegal US military base established in Guantanamo Bay over a century ago is an insult to the sovereignty of the Cuban people and has to stop immediately,” said the President of the World Peace Council, Brazilian Maria do Socorro Gomes at the opening of the Second Seminar on Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, held in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo.

The Second Seminar for the elimination of foreign military bases began on Wednesday, in Caimanera, in the eastern Cuban province of Guantanamo, with a call for the withdrawal of troops in occupied countries and for the end of attacks against sovereign nations.

Socorro explained that in this Peace Seminar more than 80 delegates from 36 countries will demand the deactivation of all nuclear plants worldwide and will harshly criticize development of nuclear weapons, ACN news agency reported.

Solidarity and Freedom for the Cuban Five

She also urged participants to cut exports of radioactive minerals to countries that use them in the weapon industry, and to involve political and social leaders from all over the world in the struggle against foreign military bases, some installed for the alleged purpose of “fighting drug trafficking”.

Socorro encouraged the participants to join efforts internationally to demand the release of the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly imprisoned since 1998 in the US, a nation with military bases all over the world.

The president of the WPC noted that prisoners in the US base in Guantanamo are still waiting for President Barack Obama to close that facility, as he promised.

Socorro said that ever since the 2010 World Social Forum, peace movements from Latin America and the Caribbean embarked on a campaign for the elimination of all military bases in the planet.

Checkout Peace Messenger the quarterly publication of the World Peace Council

Socialism - the Only Option

2011-05-02T10:10:00.001+12:00

The General Secretary of the Cuban Workers Confederation (CTC) Salvador Valdes Mesa said that throughout Cuba the people parading on this May Day ratify that Socialism is the only option.

In the speech that opened the International Workers Day parade in Havana city, Valdes Mesa said that the millions of Cubans celebrating the date are happy for the recent Sixth Communist Party Congress, held in April, which set the guidelines to renovate the Cuban economy model and to improve life in the country.

He added that the heroes that made possible that today Cuba celebrates 50 years of socialism are walking along the young generations that celebrate the workers´ day.

The union leader said that workers, along the unions, are the ones in charge of the transformations and improvement of the economic model and society. To achieve both, he said, they need to work, save and be efficient and united.

He said that unity is necessary more than ever, that many new self-employed workers have been added to the Cuban labor force.

Valdes Mesa thanked friends from all over the world that came to this parade to express their solidarity with Cuba, and also those abroad that admire Cuba and its Revolution.

Cuba knows of this support, he said, because it had been under the fifty year long economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States upon Cuba.

Valdes Mesa concluded by demanding the US government to immediately free the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly incarcerated in US prisons.

Also see
> Machado Ventura presides over May Day event and march in the Cuba n capital
> Raúl presides over May Day event in Santiago de Cuba

Source Text. Pix

Sixth Congress meets as 50th Anniversary of Bay of Pigs invasion marked

2011-04-18T07:31:00.003+12:00

Raul Castro, presenting the central report, during the opening session of the Sixth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC)

Raul highlighted the fact that the inauguration of the Congress was taking place coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Revolution by its Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, on April 16, 1961, during a ceremony to pay tribute to those killed the day before during the bombings of Cuban air bases, which was the prelude to the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs mercenary invasion.

The Cuban leader noted that the military and people’s parade held earlier on Saturday at the Revolution Square, dedicated to the young generations, was eloquent proof of the fortitude of the Revolution to follow the example of the heroic Cuban revolutionary fighters of Bay of Pigs.

In this regard, he added that next May 1, on the occasion of the International Workers Day, “we will do likewise throughout the country to show the unity of Cubans in defense of their independence and national sovereignty, which as proven by history, can only be conquered through Socialism.”

Raul said that the Congress brings together 1,000 delegates representing nearly 800,000 PCC members affiliated to over 61,000 party cells.

“But, this Congress really started on November 9 last year, with the release of the Draft Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution, a subject that, as previously indicated, will be at the center of the debates of this meeting that is regarded with great expectations by our people,” he stated.

The Cuba president explained that, from December 2010 to February of this year, 8,913,838 people participated in more than 163 thousand meetings held by the different organizations and that over three million people offered their contributions in the discussion of the Guidelines.

“The data collected from the results of the discussions become a formidable working tool for the government and Party leadership at all levels, like a popular referendum, given the depth, scope and pace of the changes we must introduce,” Raul said.

He added that “in a truly extensive democratic exercise, the people freely stated their views, clarified their doubts, proposed amendments, expressed their dissatisfactions and discrepancies, and suggested that we work toward the solution of other problems not included in the document.”

In this regard, he pointed out that every opinion, without exception, was incorporated to the analysis, which helped to enhance the Draft submitted to the consideration of the delegates to the Congress.

“The principle that guided this process was that the validity of a proposal would not depend on the number of opinions expressed about it.

This is shown by the fact that several guidelines were either modified or removed based on the opinion of only one person or a small number of them,” the Cuban leader noted.

Raul described the Guidelines as an expression of the people’s will to update the Economic and Social Model in order to secure the continuity and irreversibility of Socialism as well as the economic development of the country and the improvement of the living standard of the people combined with the indispensable formation of ethical and political values.

> Congress Session Gallery
> Bay of Pigs Anniversary Parade Gallery

The Bay of Pigs - 50 years on

2011-04-14T15:55:00.006+12:00

Fifty years ago, Cuba defeated a US-backed invading force at the Bay of Pigs. It marked the ‘first defeat of imperialism in America’, and for the Cuban people, the beginning of half a century of heroic defence of their revolution

“the mercenaries came well organized, well armed and well supported. What they lacked was a just cause to defend. That is why they did not fight with the same passion, courage, conviction, valour, firmness, bravery and spirit of victory as did the revolutionary forces”.
Cuban General José Ramón Fernández (1999)

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On 15 April 1961 – simultaneous air strikes were launched against three airfields in Cuba with the aim of incapacitating the island and eliminating the possibility of an effective Cuban defence against impending invasion. The early assault killed 7 Cubans and destroyed two planes. The invasion was defeated within 72 hours and 1,180 members of the invading mercenary Brigade 2506 were captured. In total, over 150 Cubans lost their lives fighting an invading force trained, coordinated and funded by the United States. The Bay of Pigs – or Playa Girón as Cubans call it – marked a watershed in US-Cuban relations and billboards at Playa Girón remind visitors of ‘The First Defeat of Imperialism in America’.

Playa Girón can be viewed neither in isolation nor as the original counter-revolutionary act against the Cuban revolution. It is part of an ongoing narrative of American aggression and represents the culmination of a powerful campaign of sabotage and terrorism launched by the CIA in 1959. Bombs were laid, letter boxes blown up, water mains destroyed and sugar and tobacco plantations were set alight.

Cuba militia mobilised during the invasion

Playa Girón was a project inherited by President Kennedy from his predecessor Dwight Eisenhower. Kennedy was hamstrung because his electoral campaign against Nixon was dominated by fierce interventionist rhetoric. In 1960 he evoked memory of the Monroe Doctrine by declaring he would “not let the Soviet Union turn Cuba into its base in the Caribbean”. However, now in office, Kennedy feared that overt US involvement could provoke full-scale war with the USSR.

The CIA’s failure to provoke widespread rebellion through terrorism and sabotage prompted a shift in US strategy from fermenting insurrection to coordinating invasion. This was based on a four point plan inspired by the model of indirect US involvement in Guatemala against Jacobo Árbenz. The programme involved the establishment of a political entity outside Cuba aimed at encouraging the formation of counter-revolutionary groups; the formation of a counter-revolutionary front on the island under CIA influence and the training of paramilitary forces to infiltrate the country and improve underground operations. All this would be underpinned by a pervasive propaganda offensive against the Castro government.

Arming the people

The psychological impact of a concerted propaganda onslaught was central to Washington’s strategy for success. Radio stations such as Radio Free Cuba and Radio Swan were established by the CIA and funded by adverts for large corporations like Coca-Cola, Colgate, Pan American and Good Year. In October 1960, Radio Swan ran a feature – corroborated by falsified documentation – declaring that the revolutionary government planned to seize all children and send them to Russia. This fabrication was reinforced by the US-sponsored Operation Peter Pan which, in partnership with the Cuban Church, removed 14,000 children from their families within Cuba. This severely discredited the Church within Cuba and typifies the extant misinformation which contaminates the Western view of Cuba and is exacerbated by the ancestors of Radio Swan – such as Radio and Televisión Martí – which continue to regurgitate lies about Cuba.

Victory in Cuba required the US-backed mercenaries to hold Playa Girón long enough to declare a provisional government, gain international recognition and appeal for direct military invention from the United States. The primary assault was to be supplemented by small troop incursions in various places throughout Cuba and, if necessary, would be buttressed by the US air force. The dissident government – headed by former Cuban Prime Minister José Miró Cadona – was known as the Revolutionary Council or, as Castro preferred, the Council of Worms, and the tactics employed bear striking resemblance to those used during the failed coup against Hugo Chávez. As with the coup against Chávez, however, history has resoundingly shown that the imperialist offensive was an unmitigated disaster.

José Ramón Fernández

Popular Western accounts attribute American failure to US mistakes and deficiencies including the failure of diversionary paratroopers to land elsewhere; Kennedy’s decision to reduce exile-piloted air cover and delay the use of US planes; personal clashes between the President, senior advisors and the CIA; and an ignorance of local geography. All of these appraisals ignore a number of key factors including the actions of Cuban military leaders, the achievements of the revolution and an ability to mobilise popular support. As Cuban General José Ramón Fernández declared in 1999, “the mercenaries came well organized, well armed and well supported. What they lacked was a just cause to defend. That is why they did not fight with the same passion, courage, conviction, valour, firmness, bravery and spirit of victory as did the revolutionary forces”. In this sense, victory can only be understood as a product of the revolution.

Bay of Pigs Museum Playa Girón

Fidel Castro’s military leadership, forged during the guerrilla struggle in the Sierra Maestra, was crucial in ensuring Cuban victory. Castro knew Playa Girón intimately and had been planning against a foreign invasion since the revolution’s triumph. Landing points throughout the island were heavily fortified whilst Castro – wishing to avoid the same fate as Nasser in Egypt – had dispersed and camouflaged his few planes. Any out-of-service aeroplanes were grouped together and displayed as bait to hoodwink attackers. Castro’s hidden air force struck the invading landing squad on the morning of the attack as T33 jets chased away supply ships. The 5th Battalion refused to disembark under Cuban fire as the small but pugnacious air force dealt a fatal blow to the morale of mercenary paratroopers.

The main reason for Cuban victory, however, can only be explained through the achievements of the revolution. By 1961, great strides had already been made in favour of the people: agrarian reform and land redistribution to 100,000 tenant farmers and sharecroppers; nationalisation of large industrial and commercial corporations and banks; literacy campaigns; reduction in rates for electricity and telephones; urban reform and house construction; the rent-control act; and public beaches – previously off limits to black people – were opened to all.

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Visit our Bay of Pigs 50th Anniversary Page

Special thanks to the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the author of this article, CSC Campaigns Officer, Dan Smith. The full article can be read here.

Photographs courteous of Raul Corrales, Giron: The Glorious Days of the Bay of Pigs Battle (Aediciones Aurelia, 2007)Via CSC UK

Cuba Urges USA to Rectify Acquittal of Terrorist.

2011-04-12T10:36:00.001+12:00

Self-confessed terrorist Posada Carriles

.Cuba has called upon the U.S. government to rectify the acquittal of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles on charges of immigration fraud in an El Paso, Texas court, after a trial described as a farce.

Washington is familiar with Posada Carriles’s participation in the mid-flight explosion of a Cuban airliner in 1976 off the coasts of Barbados, in bomb attacks on Havana tourist facilities in the 1990s, and in plans to assassinate the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, according to a statement from the Cuban Foreign Ministry.

The trial of the former CIA agent on immigration charges instead of terrorism is an insult to the Cuban people and the bereaved families of the victims of this self-confessed terrorist.

The note termed shameful what occurred in El Paso, as it contradicts the anti-terrorist policy the U.S. government claims to have, using it as a pretext for military intervention in other nations that has cost thousands of lives.

73 passengers were murdered when Cubana Flight 455was blown out of the sky

And it asks if the U.S. government will be capable of putting Posada on trial again, but this time for terrorism, or extraditing him to Venezuela, a country that has made that request for the last five years.

The United States is legally obliged to extradite the terrorist because it is a signatory to international conventions, and by virtue of UN Security Council resolution 1373/2001, the statement says.

What is most ironic is that while Posada Carriles is exonerated, five Cuban antiterrorists are currently serving unjust sentences in U.S. prisons for gathering information about actions by Cuban-born terrorists who, such as Posada Carriles, freely walk the streets of Miami with impunity, the statement said.
(Prensa Latina)

Obama slaps ban on Irish musicians travelling to Cuba

2011-04-12T08:39:00.004+12:00

The Obama Administration has refused to allow Irish American traditional musicians (and Irish musicians resident in the US) to participate in the Second Annual Celtic Festival in Cuba, April 15-26.

The festival is being organized by Kilian Kennedy of Ireland who discovered during a vacation in Cuba a lively Celtic tradition sustained by immigrants and descendants from Gaelic provinces of northern Spain. Last year, he arranged for musicians from Ireland and Canada to come to Cuba for a week of performances, workshops and seisiuns based in the lovingly restored Old Havana. This year's festival is receiving support from Culture Ireland as well as Havana's Office of the Historian, Dr. Eusebeo Leal.

John McAuliff, who served in the 1980s as president of the Philadelphia Ceili Group and assistant editor of that city's monthly Irish Edition, applied for a license for traditional musicians from the US under the auspices of his 25 year old not-for-profit organization, the Fund for Reconciliation and Development of Dobbs Ferry, NY. Initially the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury Department turned him down on the grounds he did not provide sufficient detail as required by 2004 guidelines.
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McAuliff provide the requested information, only to be informed on Thursday, barely a week before the Festival begins, that his application was "beyond the scope of what was authorized," citing again the 2004 guidelines.

Although President Obama in principle opened the door to "purposeful travel" on January 14th, and new regulations were published in only two weeks, three months later OFAC has still not issued guidelines to implement them or issued any new licenses. Programs for undergraduate and graduate students and religious organizations do not require a specific license, but artists, performers and people-to-people exchanges must still jump through OFAC hoops.

McAulif has written to Adam Szubin, the director of OFAC challenging the use of guidelines, "issued at the direction of President Bush in 2004 that were intended to destroy purposeful travel as a concession to his political supporters in Florida " He asked, "How can Bush Administration criteria be relevant to implementation of the policy of President Obama who wants to do just the opposite, foster purposeful travel?"

click here to view a slideshow of CeltFest ‘10

McAuliff suspects that OFAC has its own bureaucratic agenda and has been under pressure from hard line Cuban Americans like New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez who oppose even Obama's authorization in 2009 of unlimited family travel by Cuban Americans.

Should OFAC reconsider at the last minute, McAuliff is not sure how many American musicians will still be able to arrange their schedules or raise the money to go.

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Festival organizer Kilian Kennedy reports that, "The main societies with Celtic music are from Galicia and Asturias in Northern Spain. In Havana, the two largest societies are the Agrupación Artística Gallega de La Habana and the Centro Asturiano de La Habana. Both of these societies have bands that play gaitas (bagpipes), drums, flutes and other Celtic instruments. They also have groups of dancers who wear traditional outfits when celebrating the music and dances of their ancestral Celtic homelands in Spain. These are not the only societies in Havana with Celtic origins - there are also the Monterroso y Antas de Ulla and the Rosalia de Castro Galician societies, all of whom performed at CeltFest Cuba 2010."

Cuba Criticizes Breach of Commitments to Haiti

2011-04-10T13:32:00.003+12:00

Cuba criticized the failure to meet the commitments for the reconstruction of Haiti and reiterated its willingness to work with any country or organization for the development of the Haitian Health System.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, noted that the amounts of financial and material aid promised have not been delivered, just as the will of the Haitian government has been disrespected, and their priorities unattended.

Haitis reconstruction, with which we are all committed, is a work in progress, said Bruno Rodriguez, speaking at a special meeting of the Security Council devoted to that topic.

The minister recalled that a year ago, more than 150 governments and other international organizations promised nine billion USD for that purpose, of which 5 billion would be paid out in the first two years.

But what happened since then has not been consistent with the spirit that prevailed at that conference, and many of the self-proclaimed major donors continue to devote exorbitant resources to war and military intervention, said Bruno.

Read full article

Read Bruno Rodríguez’s full speech

Visit the Haiti Action Committee website

Posada Carrilles Acquitted of All Charges

2011-04-10T12:13:00.002+12:00

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A US court which reserves the right to publish a list labelling nations as "sponsors of terrorism" declared international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles innocent on 11 charges of perjury, fraud and obstruction of justice during a trial before a jury in El Paso, Texas yesterday – a ruling which is unappeasable .

The jury, made up of seven women and five men, arrived at a verdict following a mere three hours of deliberations. The jury had been previously coached by Judge Kathleen Cardone – appointed by George W. Bush – who once again presides over proceedings which culminate with the acquittal of Posada Carriles.

"Every time a jury reviews a case, we cannot predict what it will decide, but we respect the jury's decision," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Reardon affirmed. Reardon, attached to the Department of Justice's Counter-terrorism Section, was curiously deployed from Washington, while the government still refuses to acknowledge that Posada Carriles is a terrorist and to try him on such grounds, as per the international conventions the country has ratified.

Posada is still wanted by Venezuelan authorities on 73 charges of homicide since he re-appeared in Miami in 2005.

Upon acquitting Posada, the jury refused to acknowledge his illegal entry into the United States via the Miami River, aboard the Santrina shrimp boat – despite all of the evidence presented – and opted to believe the "coyote" tale spun by the accused.

It also implicitly refuses to recognize Posada's involvement in the bombings perpetrated in Cuba in 1997, which resulted in the death of young Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.

A Batista police force collaborator, Posada was recruited by the CIA upon his arrival in the United States and incorporated into Operation 40, aimed at murdering supporters of the revolution during the Bay of Pigs invasion.

The CIA also recruited and trained him to conduct repressive campaigns in Venezuela, where he led the deadly DISIP "cleaning" squad operations, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where he was entrusted similar tasks.

He was detained in Venezuela and charged with masterminding the bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner in 1976, which resulted in the deaths of 73 people. Posada escaped from prison with CIA help and was tasked with heading a drug and weapons trafficking operation, controlled from the Ilopango base in El Salvador.

In November of 2000, Posada was arrested in Panama following an attempt to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro during the Latin American Summit. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for terrorism. He was released in 2004 on a pardon granted by President Mireya Moscoso, then under pressure from the Cuban American terrorist organization and its protectors in Washington and Miami.

El Paso Diary: The Posada Trial from the start or the last day

Source
By Jean-Guy Allard

Shut the School of Assassins!

2011-04-03T16:56:00.001+12:00

April Days of Action :

Bringing the Resistance to the Heart of the Empire

SOA Watch is mobilizing for a gathering in Washington, DC from April 4-11, 2011 to take their demands Shut the School of Assassins to the White House, the halls of Congress, and other places where military and foreign policy decisions are made.

Activity includes the Anti-Militarization conference, lobbying on Capitol Hill and for a march to the White House on Sunday, April 10, followed by a nonviolent direct action to shut down the SOA/WHINSEC and to resist the increasing U.S. militarization of the Americas!

Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured,
raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and
forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.

The School of the Americas (SOA), in 2001 renamed the “Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,” is a combat training school for Latin American soldiers, located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Initially established in Panama in 1946, it was kicked out of that country in 1984 under the terms of the Panama Canal Treaty. Former Panamanian President, Jorge Illueca, stated that the School of the Americas was the “biggest base for destabilization in Latin America.” The SOA, frequently dubbed the “School of Assassins,” has left a trail of blood and suffering in every country where its graduates have returned.

Over its 59 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins.

Cubadebate opens its new Web page in English

2011-03-25T08:39:00.003+13:00

With versions of Fidel Castro's Reflections, El Paso Diary of José Pertierra, exclusive materials from Cuba's Reasons series and news articles about various national and international themes, Cubadebate opens today its Web page in English that you can find here.

Of course, it will be always updated with information about the Cuban Five that are in jail in the United States, and the world wide solidarity for the freedom of these fighters against terrorism, that already have more than 12 years in prison after a judgment marred of irregularities and injustices in Miami.

This is the first of a series of blogs in many languages, at least 8, which we will publish in the next days, as beginning of the redesign of our Web site, public on the Internet since august 5th, 2009.

Although it is not a mimetic mirror of the Web site in Spanish, the English version of Cubadebate reproduces some of our most popular sections and the services for the Web 2.0, with its own channels on Facebook and Twitter, also it will keep opened its pages for the visitor's opinions.

Also

Twitter
Facebook

Documentary Denounces U.S.’s Cyberwar against the Caribbean Nation

2011-03-23T16:31:00.001+13:00

"Cuba is the target of permanent media warfare"

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The U.S. Government’s plans to subvert the Cuban Revolution were again denounced on Monday in the documentary ‘Cyberwar’, aired by Cuban television as part of a series of programs called ‘Cuba’s Reasons’, which reveal Washington’s ongoing efforts to destabilize the Cuban society, now resorting to the new communication technologies.

“The US Government earmarks huge sums of money every year to cyber warfare,” said American-Venezuelan lawyer Eva Golinger.

She added that, for 2010 alone, Washington approved a budget of more than 90 billion dollars to finance the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM).

Carlos del Porto, Engineering Director of the National Office for Informatization of the Cuban Ministry of Informatics and Communication, commented that diverse studies show that the US Government has almost 90,000 people working in cyber-warfare-related activities.

The editor of CubaDebate Rosa Miriam Elizalde, noted that most of these ‘digital wage-earners’ are hired as cyber-dissidents, who are not only used by the United States against Cuba but also against many other countries around the world.

“Cuba is the target of a permanent media warfare promoted by a group of people who —in the island and abroad— are paid to lie and defame,” said Enrique Ubieta, director of the newspaper ‘La Calle del Medio’.

Young Cuban blogger Elaine Diaz Rodriguez, a professor at the School of Communication of the University of Havana, pointed out that there are currently hundreds of personal blogs in Cuba, which are updated from any corner of the country.

These blogs show “a plural, diverse and multiple Cuba, of which each author presents his life experiences,” she concluded.

Source

CIA attack on La Coubre

2011-03-17T08:09:00.001+13:00

Publication of the secret file on the

CIA attack on La Coubre
restricted 150 years

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The complete file of the investigation of the French CGT shipping company into the sabotage of the La Coubre vessel, responsibility for which is attributed to the CIA, is being held in the strongbox of a French maritime foundation, with a 150-year restriction on its release set by the legal counsel of the vessel’s last owners.

The file, whose existence was unknown until recently, lay for close to 50 years in the enormous collection of records belonging to the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT), also known as French Line, the owner of La Coubre when the tragedy struck in Havana on March 4, 1960.

Alberto Korda’s iconic photo of Ché Guevara
was taken at the La Coubre memorial service.

The content of this file would seem to be of greatest interest, given its information on details of the act of terrorism in Havana that have never been made public. It came from the Legal Office of the defunct CGT and is marked "Classified," with the surprising prohibition "PUBLICATION RESTRICTED 150 YEARS."

The existence of such a dossier of information about La Coubre crime certainly constitutes one more mysterious element in the web of enigmas surrounding the most significant act of terrorism of the century in the Americas.

You can find the whole story here

Cuban volunteers return from Haiti

2011-03-17T07:54:00.001+13:00

Cuban Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda
presents Dr. Lázaro Gustavo Roque with a
special certificate of recognition for the
Brigade’s campaign against the cholera epidemic.

After four months of commendable work alleviating cholera in Haiti, 130 Cubans from the Henry Reeve International Contingent of Doctors Specialized in Disaster Situations & Serious Epidemics have returned home, proud of having lowered the death rate from the dangerous disease to 0.38%.

On welcoming the 52 physicians who arrived at José Martí International Airport, Public Health Minister Roberto Morales Ojeda commended the professionalism of these doctors and presented them with certificates of recognition for their unconditional aid to the Caribbean nation.

The other members of the Brigade had already been honored in Santiago de Cuba, where Lázaro Expósito, first secretary of the Communist Party in the province, placed similar certificates in their hands.

Dr. Lázaro Gustavo Roque, highlighted the sound intention of Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro when he perceived that mobilizing the Medical Brigade’s human resources and graduates from the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) would make it possible to mitigate the epidemic.

He also emphasized the contribution of the Proactive Monitoring Groups in Haiti’s sub-communes, where they identified and treated more than 5,000 cholera patients.

Source

Ché's Travelling Companion Alberto Granado Passed Away

2011-03-09T08:12:00.003+13:00

Alberto Granado, whose 1952 journey across South America with Ernesto Ché Guevara, which was recounted a half-century later in the film "The Motorcycle Diaries," began as a youthful adventure but turned into a political awakening that helped make Guevara a leftist radical and an icon of revolution, died March 5 in Cuba,

"He was a man who fought and died for what he thought was fair . . . and as time goes by and countries are governed by increasingly corrupt people . . . Ché's persona gets bigger and greater, and he becomes a man to imitate. He is not a god who needs to be praised or anything like that, just a man whose example we can follow in always giving our best in everything we do.” Alberto Granado

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Argentinean biochemistry doctor, writer, and scientist Alberto Granado, a close friend of Ernesto Ché Guevara who accompanied him during a trip around Latin America, died suddenly on Saturday in Havana at the age of 88.

A note read on Cuban television on Saturday afternoon informed that, in accordance with his wishes, Granado’s body is to be cremated and his ashes spread in Cuba, Argentina and Venezuela.

Between December 29, 1951, and July 1952, Granado embarked on a tour of South America with Ché Guevara. They witnessed firsthand the poverty of disenfranchised native peoples and their frequent lack of access to otherwise cheap and basic medical care. These experiences galvanized both men in realizing their future vocations.

Granado was the author of the book ‘Travelling with Ché Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary’, which served as reference for the 2004 film ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ in which he was played by Rodrigo de la Serna, while Ché Guevara was played by Gael García Bernal.

Read a BBC Interview with Alberto
..........> My Best Friend Ché

CUBA’S REASONS: There will always be an Emilio

2011-03-03T08:15:00.001+13:00

."GREETINGS to the audience of Radio República. Carlos Serpa Maceira, director of the Union of Free Journalists of Cuba, talking to you from Havana…"

.Until shortly before this interview he was considered the spokesperson for the damas de blanco (Ladies in White) and one of the so-called independent journalists. His revelations expose the prevalence of the subversive U.S. policy toward Cuba

"Right now, I can invent some news and
with no confirmation whatsoever,
without verifying anything, it will
be broadcast."

The surprise was a big one: Carlos Serpa Maceira, the "independent journalist," whose reporting for the anti-Cuba media during 2009 was the most prolific is, simply, State Security agent Emilio.

Agencies linked to the Ministry of the Interior decided to disclose his identity as irrefutable evidence of the work of counterrevolutionary mini-groups, thus exposing its principal mentors and the sick proposition of successive U.S. administrations to defeat the Cuban Revolution. They direct, finance, support and promote a dissident movement without legitimacy on the island.

Read the interview ...

Also see
> Undercover Agent Emilio: "I have always been and will be a revolutionary"

> Emilio, Honorary Journalist
.

May Day Celebrations in Cuba Dedicated to Bay of Pigs Victory

2011-02-17T11:55:00.004+13:00

This year’s celebrations on May Day will be dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the victory against the Bay of Pigs mercenary invasion and to the Fourth Congress of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC).

The call was issued on Saturday by Ermela Santiago, a member of the National Secretariat of the Cuban Workers’ Confederation (CTC), during the 87th annual plenary session of this trade union organization.

Santiago said the occasion will serve to pay tribute to those who participated in that heroic deed on April 19, 1961.

She added that the Cuban workers’ movement is supporting necessary social and economic transformations that are decisive to improve and upgrade the model of the Cuban society.

“Economic efficiency, production of food, profitability, energy saving, the reduction of imports and the fight against indiscipline are some of the areas in which workers will make emphasis during this period,” she noted.

On the date, she added, tribute will also be paid to workers’ leaders such as Lazaro Peña, Jesus Menendez and Jose Maria Perez.

CTC General Secretary Salvador Valdes Mesa announced that, as it has become a tradition, on May Day the Cuban people will march in squares and streets in support of the Cuban Socialist Revolution

Visit the Bay of Pigs 50th Anniversary page

6th “May Day" International Brigade 2011
to mark 50th Anniversary of The Bay of Pigs Victory
Download information

Man says ex-CIA agent Posada gave him explosives for hotel bombing

2011-02-10T10:03:00.001+13:00

.
In an exclusive interview Tuesday, a Salvadoran man told The Associated Press that a former CIA operative gave him powerful explosives and cash to carry out a 1997 hotel bombing in Cuba.

Otto Rene Rodriguez said that he was given C-4 explosives and $2,000 by Luis Posada Carriles to enable the bombing at Havana's Melia Cohiba hotel on Aug. 3, 1997. He was later captured in Cuba with 3.3 pounds of C-4 that he said was given to him by Posada.

"Truthfully, looking me in the eyes he cannot say he doesn't know me," Rodriguez told the wire service. "He does know me. He used me like a tool."

Posada, 82, is on trial for lying to US immigration agents about his arrival in the United States in 2005, charges that carry a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison.

"An American prosecutor came here and talked to me, and I promised that if I needed to testify against (the man I knew as) Ignacio Medina, I would," Rodriguez said.

Cuba made Rodriguez available for an interview with The Associate Press to show it was willing to cooperate with the trial.

Interviews with Rodriguez and another confessed hotel bomber, Ernesto Cruz Leon, were conducted Tuesday in the presence of Cuban officials. The Associated Press had no way to verify either of their stories.

With a history of anti-Fidel Castro militancy that dates back to the 1961 CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, Posada worked through the Cold War for intelligence services in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile and Argentina.

US documents show he also worked for the CIA from 1965 to June 1976.

More . . .

Also See

> Posada trial, Day 18

US Government Hides Truth about the Cuban Five

2011-02-02T14:27:00.001+13:00

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The president of the Cuban National Assembly (Parliament), Ricardo Alarcon, said there is evidence that the US Government paid media outlets in Miami to lie as part of a smear campaign against the five Cuban antiterrorists who remain unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998

Addressing participants in the 12th International Congress on Pedagogy last Thursday, Alarcon noted that the US mainstream media continues to hide the truth about the case of Gerardo Hernandez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino and Fernando Gonzalez —internationally known as The Cuban Five.

He added that their silence confirms the innocence of the Cuban antiterrorists who were arrested and given harsh and unjust sentences for monitoring extremist groups in South Florida, which were planning and carrying out terrorist actions against Cuba.

The president of the Cuban Parliament demanded the immediate release of The Five and pointed out that US President Barack Obama and his government both know they are committing “an inexcusable injustice and it is in their hands to bring back some decency to the White House.”

“The Five are our best educators,” Alarcon told the representatives from more than 20 countries who are participating in Pedagogia 2011, which concludes on Friday at Havana’s Convention Center.

Source acn

WORLD ATHLETICS PARALYMPICS

2011-02-02T12:40:00.001+13:00

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Cuba: Six for six

Cuba's three athletes participating in the World Paralympics performed like an equilateral triangle in the Christchurch event, which ended January 30 with China winning 21 gold medals, 22 silver and 15 bronze.

19-year-old Omara Durand, world champion in the 200 meters, with
a time of 24.24 seconds

The performance of Cuba's athletes was truly admirable. They not only won all of the events in which they competed, but also set records either for the competition or world-wide.

Omara Durand, from Santiago de Cuba, was the most recent star in the Queen Elizabeth II stadium, running the 400 meters in the T-13 category in 54.87 seconds, the fastest in events around the world this year, just 41 hundredths behind the all-time record held by Marla Runyan from the United States, established on January 3, 1995. Where Omara really flew was in the 200 meters in which she registered a time of 24.24 seconds.

In this event, Durand rediscovered the success which launched her as a star in the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) 3rd World Games in Sao Paulo and the Para-Pan American Games in Río de Janeiro, both in 2007, during which she dominated both the 200- and 400-meter competitions at just 16 years of age.

Also undefeated was Yunidis Castillo, 'daughter of the wind', who won the three races she entered, including her debut in the 400 meters, with a 57.67 time. In the 100 and 200 meter events she established world records of 12.20 and 24.86 seconds respectively. At 23 years of age, Yunidis enjoys the status of double world record holder and will certainly not stop until she sets more record times on the track.

Discus thrower Leonardo Díaz confirmed his dominance as a Paralympic champion and owner of the best world record within the F-56 category. This time his longest throw flew for 43.10 meters, with three more possible records in six attempts of 41.42; 42.22 and 42.78 meters.

Cuba's 'three musketeers' of track and field claimed the 15th spot for the country among 54 nations which won at least one medal. Accompanying the victorious Chinese athletes were those from Russia with 18 gold medals, 11 silver and six bronze; Britain (12-9-17), Brazil (12-9-7), Poland (12-7-6) and United States (9-10-14).

Harold Iglesias/Granma International

Full results are available from the IPC Athletics World Championships webpage

Cuban Wins 3rd Gold in Paralympic Track and Field Champs

2011-01-27T12:37:00.002+13:00

Cuban Omara Durand won the 200-meter event yesterday in the T-13 category at the International Paralympic Committee's Athletics World Championship in Christchurch.

This is the first time that Durand, 19, has participated in an international event. Her time was 24.24 seconds, breaking the world record set by U.S. Marla Runyan in 1995 of 24.45 seconds.

Durand has the possibility of becoming a two-time champion in New Zealand when she competes in the 400-meter event on Saturday.

With Durand's medal, Cuba now has its third gold medal at this international sports event, after Yunidis Castillo won the 100 and 200 meter races in the T-46 category.

Visit the official webpage

The 12th International Congress on Pedagogy (Pedagogía 2011)

2011-01-27T12:23:00.001+13:00

The more than 3000 delegates are attending the Pedagogy 2011 conference scheduled to end on Friday, January 28, will discuss on the need of contributing equitably to the general and comprehensive culture of all peoples by rescuing the best educational experiences in the region.

3000 delegates are attending the conference

The Event being held in Havana’s International Conference Centre has attracted delegates from some 20 countries

The Cuban Minister of Education, Ana Elsa Velazquez, urged participants to carry out profound discussions on the essence of education based in the Latin American origins as a guarantee for the future.

Education Minister Ena Elsa Velázquez

speaking at Pedagogía 2011

Early and postgraduate training, literacy and post-literacy processes in the area, as well as the shaping of values are among the topics to be analyzed during the event.

Venezuela, Brazil and Cuba are among the countries with highest participation in the 2011 International Congress on Pedagogy, which is also attended by education ministers from 11 countries.

Also see
> A meeting of friendship and scientific exchange
> Education Ministers from Eleven Countries Attend Congress
> Theoretical Discussions of Int’l Pedagogy Congress

Important Revelation in El Paso

2011-01-24T08:20:00.002+13:00

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In the trial underway in El Paso against Luis Posada Carriles for lying, a very important revelation has emerged.

In her sworn testimony January 18, 2011, an officer from the Department of Homeland Security admitted that on behalf of the DHS, she asked U.S. Attorney Caroline Heck Miller to charge Posada for his criminal activities, and Ms. Heck Miller refused to do so. This took place in August, 2005.

Heck Miller: Miller refused
to lay criminal activities

At exactly the same time - August 2005 - the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta decided to reverse the convictions from the trial in Miami of the five anti-terrorist Cubans who'd been indicted by this same Ms. Heck Miller. In its landmark ruling, the Court referred extensively to the long list of crimes that the Five had tried to prevent, committed by Posada and other terrorists, and described the Miami trial as "a perfect storm" of prejudice and hostility against the accused.

What will the judges in Atlanta say now that they know that the same attorney who urged the harshest possible sentences for Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René was the one who prevented Posada from being judged for his real crimes?

On this same January 18, 2011, Ms. Heck Miller reappeared in Miami. Coincidentally, on that very day, she asked for an extension in order to respond to the habeas corpus petition filed for Gerardo Hernández Nordelo. Her concern is understandable. The only purpose for the arbitrary and unjust indictment against the Five was to defend anti-Cuban terrorism, the preferred work of Miami prosecutors, as has been proven once again, in El Paso.

Of course there were representatives of the so-called news media in El Paso. Keeping a disciplined silence, as usual.

ALSO SEE
The Lead Prosecutor in the Cuban Five Case Refused a DHS Request to Press Criminal Charges against Posada Carriles

Source

Translated by Machetera. She is a member of Tlaxcala, the international network of translators for linguistic diversity (http://www.tlaxcala-int.org).

U.S. Measures Maintain Blockade

2011-01-18T22:11:00.004+13:00

Measures announced by the White House allowing some people from the United States to travel to Cuba are positive, but do not change the U.S. policy of hostility.

"Although the measures are positive, they fall far short of those just demands; they have a very limited scope and do not change the policy on Cuba," states a press release issued by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The new regulations are the result of an effort by large U.S. sectors that have demanded the lifting of the blockade against Cuba and the end of the ban on U.S. travel to the island.

The measures are an expression of acknowledgment that U.S. policy on Cuba has failed, and that the United States is seeking new ways to achieve its historic objective of dominating the island's people, the note says.

Only certain U.S. sectors will benefit, because the new rules do not restore the right of all its citizens to travel.

The people of the United States will continue to be the only ones worldwide who cannot freely visit Cuba, the press release says.
.

With the authorization of trips with academic, educational, cultural and religious purposes, that country restored some regulations from the 1990s, during the government of William Clinton, which were eliminated in 2003 by his successor George W. Bush.

Those measures confirm there is no willingness to change Washington's anti-Cuban policy, the MINREX statement stated.

After announcing them, U.S. officials said the blockade would remain intact and they proposed using new measures to foster subversion and interference in Cuba's internal affairs.

"If there is any real interest in expanding and facilitating contacts between our peoples, the United States should lift the blockade and eliminate the ban that makes Cuba the only country worldwide to which the U.S. people cannot travel," the press release says.

Source

Solidarity with Cuban Website Cubadebate

2011-01-18T21:55:00.001+13:00

Several media outlets have echoed the condemnation of Youtube decision to close the Cuban website Cubadebate account.

Immediately following the move by Youttube, which is owned by Google, several alternative sites offered spaces to host Cubadebate, impeding the attempt to silence the Cuban site, Cubadebate’s editor in chief Rosa Miriam Elizalde told Prensa Latina.

The first ones to come out were www.cubadebate.cu and Cubadebate 1, which are already posting reports by Cubadebate and distributing them through Youtube.

In Facebook, a group under the name “NO+CENSURA EN YOUTUBE (No more censorship in Youtube)” expressed its support of the Cuban website, along with the Bariloche Solidarity with Cuba Group in Argentina.

Elizalde said that the closing of the account is questionable since their justification is based on a video posted by Cubadebate that has been posted in numerous other websites inside and outside the network including CNN.

Luis Posada Carriles

who is currently on trial in El Paso

The famous video about the Legal Fund set up to support renowned terrorist Luis Posada Carriles —who is currently on trial in El Paso, Texas— includes a list of the fund’s main contributors. Among them are Republican Representative Ileana Ros Lehtinen; Senator Marcos Rubio, who supports the use of violent actions against Cuba; and other political figures from the state of Florida.

Youtube’s action against Cubadebate for publishing a six-minute extract of the video and not several US outlets that have stolen exclusive materials from that site without crediting the source suggests that the move is politically motivated, said Elizalde.

Rosa Miriam Elizalde explained that in order to make a complaint Youtube requires personal information that could run the risk of being handed over to the terrorist group headed by Posada Carriles.

Source

Billboard Demanding Release of the Cuban Five Removed in Miami

2011-01-14T08:50:00.001+13:00

.
A billboard which had been displayed in Miami on Tuesday demanding the release of the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly imprisoned in the United States since 1998 was removed on Wednesday thus ending the ambiance of tolerance and freedom of speech in this city of Florida in barely 24 hours, Granma newspaper reports.

The billboard had been paid by the Miami-based Alianza Martiana organization on 37th Ave. and 4th St NW, exactly in front of the entrance to Casino de los Perros.

Alianza Martiana, named after Cuban national hero Jose Marti, emerged on January 28, 2001, on the day of Marti’s birth anniversary. The alliance is made up of Cuban-Americans and Latin-Americans. It has repeatedly spoken out for the release of Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez —internationally known as the Cuban Five- in meetings held in different parts of the United States.

The organization has publicly denounced the biased trial to which the Cuban Five were submitted which condemned them to unfair sentences.

The Cuban Five were charged on alleged accusations of being a threat to the US national security when they were actually trying to stop Miami-based anti-Cuba groups from continuing to conduct terrorist crimes against the Cuban people.

Source

Trial of Posada Carriles

2011-01-13T09:19:00.004+13:00

Brian Becker, coordinator of the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, speaks at the Posada Tribunal held in El Paso, TX on Jan. 9, 2011, the night before the beginning of the sham trial of Luis Posada Carriles.

Also so see

> Prosecutor: Ex-CIA agent lied about militant past

> US Attorney’s Office Has Evidence of Terrorism against Cuba

> Lawyer of Posada Carriles Vetoed Candidates to the Jury

Cuba Registers Anti-tumor Therapeutic Vaccine for Lung Cancer

2011-01-12T11:01:00.001+13:00

Vaccine assits “control the growth of
a tumour without associated toxication”

.
A therapeutic vaccine against acute lung cancer developed in Cuba has been registered in Peru, reported the Spanish news agency EFE.

The vaccine, named CIMAVAX-EGF, is the “world’s first lung cancer vaccine,” according to Gisela González, medical researcher from the Immunologic Molecular Center (CIM) in Havana.

Gonzáles said it has been successfully applied in more than a thousand patients in Cuba.

The vaccine is currently registered in Peru and in process of being registered in Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Argentina, said González.

The specialist said the product will soon undergo a probation phase in China.

CIMAVAX-EGF is a result of 15 years of research in Cuba where it was registered in June 2008.

“It has been confirmed that it is a secure vaccine without severe secondary effects and it prolongs a patient’s life with quality standards,” said González to Trabajadores, an official Cuban weekly that published a feature about the vaccine, said EFE.

“The vaccine is based in a protein we all have: the factor of epidermis growth, related to the process of cellular proliferation that goes out of control when cancer is diagnosed,” she explained according to EFE.

González said that the human body tolerates what is “inherent” to its system and reacts against what is “alien” to it. Therefore they had to develop “a composition that generated antibodies against this protein.”

This vaccine is applied after a cancer patient has either gone through chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment as is considered “terminal without a therapeutic alternative,” she said.

Under this condition, the vaccines helps to “control the growth of a tumor without associated toxication,” added the Cuban specialist.

González said that after its success in Cuba, CIMAVAX-EGF is making progress in other countries and it is being evaluated to be used in therapies against tumor in prostate, uterus and breast cancer.

Source

Posada faces (minor) charges

2011-01-10T11:11:00.005+13:00

Victims of Cabaña flight 455

Today (Monday Jan. 10th ) in El Paso, Texas, a U.S. government farce will take place with the opening of the trial of terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in federal district court. Instead of facing charges of premeditated murder—for the bombing deaths of 73 people who died in a Cuban airliner on Oct. 6, 1976, and other crimes—Posada will only be tried for perjury and immigration
fraud.

It is widely known that Posada is responsible for the bombing of Cabaña Airlines flight 455 in 1976, which killed 73 passengers and crew members. In 1997, Posada directed a series of bombings in Havana hotels by hiring Central American mercenaries to plant the bombs. The perjury and immigration fraud charges are related to Posada’s illegal and secret entry into the United States in late March 2005, and false statements that he made to U.S. immigration officials.

In a 2006 interview with U.S. immigration, he was asked whether he had a role in procuring the help of mercenaries who planted bombs in Havana hotels in the summer of 1997. In one of those bombings, an Italian tourist, Fabio Di Celmo, was killed when shrapnel struck him in the lobby of the Copacabana Hotel in Havana on Sept. 4, 1997.

A proud, confessed killer

In a July 13, 1998 New York Times interview with journalist Ann Louise Bardach, Posada boasted of his directing role in those bombings. He also gave the names of his financiers in the Cuban American National Foundation. Posada notoriously told Bardach about Di Celmo’s murder, “I sleep like a baby … That Italian was sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles

Despite Posada’s admission to Bardach over the murder of Di Celmo, U.S. prosecutors are only using that evidence to prove that he made false statements to them. A twice-convened Newark, N.J., grand jury’s evidence of funds that were wired to Posada — for the hotel bombs he produced — will also be presented in El Paso. But again, only for the perjury charge.

By trying Posada for perjury and fraud, Washington is hoping that it will escape worldwide condemnation for its refusal to have Posada face real justice and prosecution for his terrorist murders. The U.S. government is fully aware of his murderous crimes because he carried them out in various Latin American countries on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The only reason Posada is even in court on Jan. 10th is due to national and international outrage over the impunity and freedom he continues to enjoy in Miami, where he walks the streets a free man.

This is why, as Posada is in the docket for charges that will only yield a minor sentence if he is convicted, activists will be outside the courtroom in El Paso to expose his real crimes of terror to the world.

As José Pertierra, Venezuela’s attorney in the extradition matter, has explained, Washington’s prosecution of Posada raises many doubts about the government’s real intent.

Pertierra says: “The real purpose of the pending trial in El Paso is to hamper the extradition request to Caracas, keep Posada on the street, and save the U.S. government a full trial that would place it next to the terrorist, on the defendant’s bench. That is why the strategy is to delay the process.”

People's Tribunal deals with the real issues

Luis Posada is a former CIA Asset
click

While Posada faces minor charges in federal court, he was tried by a “People’s Tribunal” yesterday (Jan. 9th ) in El Paso.

The “People’s Tribunal,” hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Community of El Paso, 4425 Byron St., El Paso,” will hear the charges of terrorism against Posada and his accomplices. The U.S. government’s support for the Miami terrorists will also be on trial.

Participants in the People's Tribunal included:

Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General
Jose Pertierra, Venezuela's attorney for the extradition order of Posada
Keith Bolender, author of "Voices From the Other Side: An Oral History of Terrorism Against Cuba," (hear an interview with Keith Bolender here)
Gloria La Riva, coordinator, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Brian Becker, National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Co-founder, Partnership for Civil Justice Fund

We’ll bring you the Tribunal’s results

as soon as they are available.

Also See
Excerpts from trial of Salvadoran terrorist shown 'soon' in Cuban TV special

Cuban Doctors Save 250,000 people in Haiti

2010-12-30T09:41:00.001+13:00

Cuban doctors have saved over 250000 Haitians during the twelve years of medical cooperation in Haiti, which was devastated in 2010 by a strong earthquake and after that by the cholera pandemic.

Cuban Health vice Minister Marcias Cobas said that international cooperation with Haiti began in December 1998; it was never suspended despite coups d’état, and was intensified this year after the earthquake and the pandemic outbreak.

Acording to the Cuban Round Table TV Program, Cobas affirmed that Haiti has received, during these years, more than 3500 health cooperants that have performed 16 million consultations.

Cobas added that the health system of Haiti was rebuilt, as part of a Cuban initiative after the earthquake, with the support of nations from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), especially from Venezuela.

She mentioned that under this initiative, in progress when the cholera pandemic started, they have created more than 24 campaign hospitals and 30 rehabilitation centers.

Cobas noted that nowadays, there are more than 1334 Cuban health cooperants and that not even the pandemic has been able to stop the rebuilding process.

Reflections of Fidel

The battle against cholera

Cholera was detected last October 20 in a health facility with Cuban doctors and it spread right away throughout the country causing death to 2707 people. Other 115 cases were reported in the Dominican Republic, Haiti’s closest neighbor, in addition to other three in the United States.

Cuban Health deputy Minister Luis Struch pointed out that after the earthquake Cuba began to monitor the epidemiologic situation of Haiti, which allowed noticing immediately this acute bacteriologic disease of high toxicity.

Struch said that the Cuban strategy against the pandemic in Haiti is to take the health services to every corner of the country.

The Rector of the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) highlighted the presence of tens of young physicians graduated in this school in the cooperation mission in Haiti.

Cuban vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Investment Ramon Ripoll noted that the solidarity of other governments with Haiti is channelled through the Cuban medical mission.

He cited the support of Norway, Spain, Australia and Namibia and stated that the distribution and use of the materials are made in conjunction with the Haitian authorities.

Source

Also See
> Cuban Doctors Lead the Fight Against Cholera in Haiti
> Cuba meets its commitments and Haiti responds
> New Henry Reeve Brigade arrives in Haiti

Posada Carriles’ Trial to Include Evidences of Terrorism against Cuba

2010-12-14T09:47:00.001+13:00

.

.
The evidence collected by Cuban authorities and the FBI on Luis Posada Carriles’s role in the bomb attacks carried out in Havana will be included in the next trial of this terrorist, reports ACN.

According to Cubadebate, it will be the first time that a recorded interview with Posada and a journalist from The New York Times, in which he admits that he planned the attacks of 1997 to hotels in Havana, will be presented before a jury.

Cubadebate adds that at the trial, which is scheduled for January 10, 2011, in El Paso, Texas, the intention is not to demonstrate he is a terrorist but a liar, who committed fraud to the US migratory authorities when he entered the country.

According to some information published in the New Herald, this terrorist arrived in the United States five years ago, and during this time he has been tried for minor crimes so as to delay his extradition to Venezuela.

Fighting terrorism and war

click to view

Since 2005 Venezuela demanded his extradition for the blowing-up of a civil Cuban airplane in which 73 people died.

On the Texas trial, Posada is accused of lying in a routine interview with the US migratory authorities who questioned him about his role on the attacks in Havana that killed Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo.

Judge Kathleen Cardone affirmed that she decided to allow the presentation of the five-hour recordings by journalist Ann Louise Bardach because she was trustworthy taking into account she testified on a closed-door hearing on November 15, on her interview with the accused and on the management of the tapes with The New York Times.

As said by The New Herald, attorneys from the Justice Department are planning to present in the trial more than 3 500 pages of official documents from Cuba and Guatemala related to the attacks.

The prosecution said that these documents detail the attacks in Havana, those who planned them and the explosive devices used. The documents focus on the arrests, the suspects, the witnesses and the fake Guatemalan passport which was allegedly used by Posada.

The attorneys from the Justice Department will also use evidence from the FBI, which were revised by a federal instruction jury in New Jersey.

FBI agents collected documents showing money transferences of nearly 19 000 US dollars from New Jersey to Posada in El Salvador and Guatemala between October 1996 and January 1998. The FBI assumes that the money was used to finance the attacks.

However, the judged blocked hundreds of documents on the links between Posada and the CIA for more than 25 years, as requested by the prosecution.

Summary of major acts of terrorism against Cuba

1959 - 1997 - 1990 - 2000

Source

Cuban Doctors Lead the Fight Against Cholera in Haiti

2010-12-12T14:27:00.002+13:00

.

With a tradition of service in the world’s poorest and most forgotten states, the Cubans are a major frontline force in the multinational response to the raging epidemic

They don’t send out press releases, don’t have public information officers and their contacts are not widely publicized by the huge international humanitarian operation helping cholera-hit Haiti.

But when the United Nations appeals for more doctors and nurses to combat the deadly disease that is killing dozens by the day, it is to Cuba’s medical brigade that U.N. officials are likely to turn to first.

With a tradition of service in the world’s poorest and most forgotten states, the Cubans are a major frontline force in the multinational response to the raging epidemic, which has killed at least 2,000 people and probably more, since mid-October in the impoverished country.

While many Western aid workers crowd Haiti’s capital, where more than 1.3 million vulnerable homeless survivors of the January 12 earthquake are crammed into tent camps, Cuba’s medics are seeking out cholera victims in hard-to-reach rural hamlets.

.

While many Western aid workers crowd Haiti’s capital,
Cuba’s medics are seeking out cholera victims in hard-to-reach rural hamlets.

A Cuban-led team trekked this week to one such settlement — the dirt-poor mountain village of Plateau in Haiti’s cholera-ravaged Artibonite department, where they set up an emergency makeshift cholera treatment centre on the benches of a Protestant church.

“We don’t look for publicity but we do look for the people,” Dr. Lorenzo Somarriba, coordinator of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Haiti, told Reuters at the brigade’s headquarters in a Port-au-Prince suburb.

“The Cuban doctors are working in the most difficult places. It’s our policy to concentrate on areas outside the national capital,” he said, a fact acknowledged by both Haitian and foreign health authorities.

Read the rest . . .

Also see
> How shameful, NATO talking about cannons in Lisbon while thousands are dying in Haiti

and

> Minustah and the Epidemic

> Duty and the epidemic in Haiti

> News on cholera in Haiti

Source

International Human Rights Day: 5 days for the 5

2010-12-10T08:21:00.002+13:00

Starting today (December 10) the International Day of Human Rights, and for the next 5 consecutive days, supporters of the Cuban Five around the world have been asked to call, or send faxes, or send e-mails, or telegrams to the White House to demand that President Obama Free the 5 Cuban Patriots imprisoned in the United States for defending their homeland.

Full information is available on the Free the Five Webpage click here to go

Angolan Literacy Campaign advances with Cuba’s Help

2010-12-09T09:08:00.002+13:00

Cuba’s support for the teaching of basic literacy to thousands of Angolans was highlighted during a meeting in Luanda between leaders of the South African country and a Cuban delegation.

The Secretary for Political and Social Affairs of the Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in that capital expressed his appreciation for the gesture of the Caribbean island of sending advisers to carry out this task, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.

Joana Quintas, first secretary of the MPLA in Ingombota, referred to the educational experiences they have acquired, and informed that, in two years, 108,000 adults of this municipality will learn how to read and write by way of the Cuban method Yes I Can.

Participating in the meeting were ambassador Pedro Ross; the third secretary of the diplomatic mission, Rosa Fonseca; and deputy Luis Ramirez, representing Cuba.

Ross stated that the fruit of the literacy campaign are the best tribute to the internationalists who died in defense of Angola’s independence.

On this date of 1989, the mortal remains of Cubans who fell in combat in Angola, Ethiopia and other African nations were buried in pantheons built in their municipalities of origin, in ceremonies held simultaneously throughout the island.

The national mourning ceremony took place at the mausoleum of El Cacahual, where Commander in Chief Fidel Castro and Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos addressed participants.

Source

Assange Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group

2010-12-09T08:24:00.002+13:00

Julian Assange’s chief accuser in Sweden has a significant history of work with anti-Castro groups, at least one of which is US funded and openly supported by a former CIA agent convicted in the mass murder of seventy three Cubans on an airliner he was involved in blowing up.

She’s a gender equity officer at Uppsula University – who chose to associate with a US funded group openly supported by a convicted terrorist and mass murderer. She just happens to have her work published by a very well funded group connected with Union Liberal Cubana – whose leader, Carlos Alberto Montaner, in turn just happened to pop up on right wing Colombian TV a few hours after the right-wing coup in Honduras. Where he joined the leader of the failed coup in Ecuador to savage Correa, the target of the coup. Montnaner also just happened to vociferously support the violent coup in Honduras, and chose to show up to sing the praises of the Honduran junta.

Read the whole story ...

From Democracy Now!

Attorney: WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Endangered by Bail Denial in London; Still No Charges Filed in Sweden.

Wikileaks: Stop the crackdown

The chilling intimidation campaign against WikiLeaks (when they have broken no laws) is an attack on freedom of the press and democracy. We urgently need a massive public outcry to stop the crackdown

President of East Timor Visits Cuba

2010-12-07T08:19:00.002+13:00

"I want to thank Fidel, Raúl and the Cuban government and people for their contribution
in developing sectors such education and healthcare in east Timor"

José Manuel Ramos-Horta

The President of the Democratic Republic of East Timor and Nobel Peace laureate José Manuel Ramos-Horta arrived in Cuba on Thursday to pay an official visit to the island at the invitation of the Cuban government.

Welcoming the visitor at the José Martí International Airport was the Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcos Rodríguez. Following, the distinguished visitor thanked Fidel, Raúl and the Cuban government and people for selflessly helping the Southeast Asian nation boost areas such as healthcare and education.

During his visit, Ramos-Horta will hold official talks with the Cuban President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Army General Raúl Castro. The program of activities also includes a meeting with relatives of the five Cuban antiterrorists being unjustly held in US jails for more than a decade.

Today, the Timorese president will place a wreath at the monument of National Hero José Marti at the Revolution Square, and will tour the memorial devoted to the lifework of the Cuban independence hero. Accompanying him are Timorese Foreign Affairs Minister Zacarías Albano de Costa, Timorese Ambassador to Cuba Egidio de Jesús and other officials.

Cuba and East Timor established diplomatic relations on May 20, 2002, the same day the Asian nation officially declared its independence.

Over the years, Cuban collaborators have fought against illiteracy in that nation, schooling an estimated 46,000 Timorese via the Yo, sí puedo teaching method. In addition, some 600 young people from that nation have graduated from the Havana-based Latin American School of Medicine; and currently, some 219 Cuban doctors are providing free medical assistance in the Asian nation.

Source

> Fidel meets with President of East Timor

Cuba Denounces U.S. and Israeli Policies against Palestine

2010-12-01T11:12:00.002+13:00

Cuba’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Pedro Nuñez, said that the United States’ veto at the UN Security Council hinders a solution to the Palestinian issue.

Speaking before the UN General Assembly in New York, Nuñez said that Israel attacks the Palestinian people with total impunity because it feels protected by Washington.
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Nuñez said that the UN Security Council has not been able to seriously tackle the Palestinian issue due to double standards and the veto threat by the United States, one of its permanent members.

The Cuban diplomat reiterated Cuba’s commitment to achieving a definite solution to the issue, including the delicate situation of Palestinian refugees.

He also condemned the illegal occupation of territories by Israel as the main obstacle to attain a just and long-lasting peace in the Middle East.

Source

International Brigade to Fight against Media Terrorism Founded

2010-11-24T11:50:00.001+13:00

Brigade participants at the exhibition of the ICAP communication products.

Photo: Raúl Pupo

The First International Brigade to Fight against Media Terrorism was founded on Monday at the Julio Antonio Mella International Camp in Caimito in an act lead by the president of the Cuban Friendship Institute (ICAP), Kenia Serrano.

The brigade is made up of 58 friends from 19 countries and will host documentary screenings, art and photograph exhibitions on the Cuban Five, conferences on Cuba and exchanges between media professionals.

The founding of the brigade comes as the Sixth International Symposium on Freedom for the Five and against Terrorism concluded in Holguin with the participation of activists, political representatives, union and youth leaders from 56 countries.

The main objective of group is to raise awareness about the case of five Cuban antiterrorists who have been imprisoned in US jails for more than 12 years now.

The misguided arrest of the Cuban Five in 1998 and the subsequent travesty of justice lead to their convictions on multiple unsubstantiated charges in 2001. The Cuban Five were dedicated to uncovering plots by ultra-rightwing Cuban-American organizations based in Miami with a long record of terrorist actions against Cuba and the Cuban people.

The Cuban 5: imprisoned for uncovering information about US based

In a trial plagued with irregularities and held in a highly biased Miami court, the Cuban Five —Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Fernando González, Antonio Guerrero and René González— were given harsh sentences ranging from 15 years to consecutive life terms plus 15 years. The five Cubans were working to uncover information about terrorist activities being planned and carried out against Cuba by ultra-rightwing organizations based in southern Florida with a long record of terrorist actions against Cuba and the Cuban people. When they turned their information over to authorities they were arrested and have been in jail ever since.

In her opening words, Kenia Serrano said that the creation of the brigade is a continuation of the Sixth International Symposium on Freedom for the Five and against Terrorism, and part of the series of actions organized by ICAP to commemorate their 50th anniversary.

Also participating in the act was the Minister of Justice from Lao, Chaleune Yiapaoher, who is also the president of the Laos-Cuba friendship association.

"Amateurish Foreign Policy"

2010-11-17T16:34:00.001+13:00

Colonel Wilkerson Censures US Foreign Policy

Former Powell aid Lawrence Wilkerson

The protection afforded by the US government to confessed Cuban-American terrorists, while it includes Cuba on a list of terrorist states, exemplifies Washington's amateurish foreign policy, admitted retired army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff of Secretary of State Colin Powell from 2002 to 2005.

Wilkerson gave an exclusive interview to Prensa Latina, in which he spoke on many issues, including his opinion on the connection between the paid Central American terrorists captured in Cuba and Venezuela and Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, who enjoy the protection of the US government.

New evidence is coming to light concerning the criminal aggressions carried out against Cuba by mercenaries of Central American origin in the 1990s, financed and organized by terrorists and anti-Cuban groups that receive protection in the United States.

In particular, the arrest last July of Salvadoran citizen Francisco Chávez Abarca in the Venezuelan airport of Maiquetía, and his subsequent transfer to Havana in accordance with a red alert from INTERPOL, provide the evidence of a plot that sought to sow chaos and that caused the death of Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo in 1997.

Read the whole interview

Cuba and Venezuela re-launch bilateral Integral Cooperation Agreement

2010-11-10T11:46:00.001+13:00

Raúl and Hugo during the event at Havana’s International Conference Center

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Presidents Raúl Castro Ruz and Hugo Chávez Frías, of Cuba and Venezuela, respectively, re-launched this Monday the bilateral Integral Cooperation Agreement for 2010-2020, following the successful development of that accord during the last decade, which has contributed notably to the socioeconomic advance of both countries.

After confirming that both nations are directing their efforts to economic union under a new kind of relationship, which should continue to grow, Raúl took advantage of the opportunity to convene the Communist Party and all the Cuban people to take part in the planning process for the 6th Congress of Cuban communists, scheduled for the second half of April, 2011, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs victory and the proclamation of the socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution.

During the event at Havana’s International Conference Center, President Raúl Castro also presented Chávez with a copy of Economic and Social Policy Development Project, which will be discussed at the Congress.
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Venezuelan Workers to March

in Support of Socialist Model

In response, the Venezuelan president thanked him for the honor and highlighted the great significance of Fidel, the Cuban Revolution and their resistance to imperialism.

Also present at the event were the Venezuelan delegation and Cuban leaders of the Communist Party, government, representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, the Union of Young Communists and the mass organizations.

Source

Hurricane Tomas Leaves No Casualties in Cuba

2010-11-08T08:13:00.001+13:00

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Hurricane Tomas has caused neither fatal victims nor considerable property damage so far in Cuba after crossing close to the eastern tip of the island on Friday night, Civil Defense authorities reported.

Chief of the National Civil Defense Council (DC), Major General Ramon Pardo Guerra made the announcement and extolled the effort made by the people and local governments to minimize the impact of Tomas in the eastern provinces.

The center of the category-1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale (of five) crossed the Windward Passage strait at around 6:00 p.m. Friday when its center was located around 46,60 miles east off Punta de Maisi and had with sustained winds of 74,56 mph. Tomas continued to move northwest at a speed of 13 mph.

Heavy rains were reported in the Cuban easternmost province of Guantanamo and also in the municipalities of Moa, Frank Pais, Sagua de Tanamo, Mayari, Antilla and Gibara, in Holguin; coastal flooding and a dozen collapsed houses have been also reported in those areas.

Coastal flooding in municipalities north of Havana are possible.

Upon passing by Haiti on Friday, Hurricane Tomas left five people dead, two missing and six injured, according to preliminary reports from Port-au-Prince.

Tomas is forecasted to continue strengthening in the next 12 hours before beginning to weaken in the next 24 hours. The hurricane will move in a direction close to the northeast near the eastern tip of Cuba, gradually increasing its speed.

Also see
> Cuban Civil Defense Program Among Best of the Caribbean
> Weaker storm still brings Haiti misery
> Sweatshops Over Homes in Haiti

Source

EU awards Cuban 'dissident' 50,000 euros

2010-10-29T08:11:00.001+13:00

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European Parliament encourages hunger strikes

by Helen Yaffe for RATB

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov Prize to Cuban ‘dissident’ Guillermo Fariñas in recognition of his contribution to 'human rights' in Cuba. Fariñas’ twentieth hunger strike, to demand the release of Cuban political prisoners, ended in July 2010 after 135 days, during which he was kept alive in intensive care by Cuban medics. The President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek said: ‘Fariñas is an independent journalist and a political dissident who has shown that he is ready to sacrifice himself and risk his health and his life as a way of applying pressure to achieve change in Cuba.’ However, Buzek did not mention Fariñas record of non-political violent crime or his employment under US programmes to destabilise the Cuban Revolution.

In 1995 Fariñas assaulted, battered and threatened to kill a female doctor, the director of a hospital. Sentenced to three years and a 600 peso fine, he initiated his first hunger strike, and joined the counter-revolution for the first time. In 2002, an old woman he attacked with a walking stick needed emergency surgery. Sentenced to five to ten years, Farinas began a second hunger strike. His third hunger strike was to demand a television in the hospital wing where he was recovering from dehydration caused by the second. In December 2003, Cuban authorities released him because of his medical condition, but in 2006 Farinas initiated another hunger strike to demand internet access from his home. This was to assist his work as a 'reporter' for the CIA radio station, Radio Martí. Fariñas works closely with the US Interests Section (a substitute for an embassy) and other European diplomats who direct subversion in Cuba, receiving instructions, money and supplies. He lacks popular support and the Cuban people, who Fariñas claims to represent, consider him to be a mercenary for US imperialism.

More ...

Helen Yaffe is the author of Ché Guevara The Economics of Revolution essential reading for those interested in understanding Ché’s full contribution to the Cuban Revolution.

World Condemns US Blockade against Cuba at UN General Assembly

2010-10-27T07:56:00.006+13:00

Cuba: 187

Abstentions: 3

USA: 2

For the 19th consecutive year, The U.N. General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to condemn almost a half-century of U.S. sanctions against Cuba, demanding an end to what member states say is a cruel Cold War anachronism that only hurts ordinary people.

Cuba´s report on the UN 64/6 Resolution received the support of 187 countries, while three abstained and the US, along with its traditional ally Israel, voted against .

Thirty heads of state and government and foreign ministers from several countries reiterated their condemnation of the blockade a month ago in the General Assembly.

The US blockade has a huge negative impact on the Cuban people’s everyday lives and has caused Cuba’s economy losses for over 751 billion dollars.

The US government’s hackneyed argument that this is a “bilateral issue” is demolished by the blockade’s extraterritoriality as it affects companies and citizens from third countries, making of it an actual economic war.

Sources 1 2 3

Also See

NZ Cuban Embassy Press Release October 27th 2010

Blockade Resolution Ready

2010-10-26T08:06:00.001+13:00

For the nineteenth consecutive year, the General Assembly of the United Nations will vote on a Cuban resolution demanding the end of the almost 50-year-old US blockade against the islan9

Prensa Latina news agency reports that the UN General Assembly will vote on the document as part of the discussion on topic 41 of the agenda under the title “Necessity to End the Economic, Trade and Financial Blockade Imposed by the United States of America against Cuba.”

The text of the resolution reaffirms the principles of equal sovereignty among States, non interference in domestic affairs and freedom of trade and international navigation.

It also rejects the approval and implementation of laws such as the Helms-Burton Act, “whose extraterritorial effects damage the sovereignty of other states and the legitimate interests of entities or individuals.”

The document mentions that a similar resolution has been approved by the UN General Assembly on 18 previous occasions. It also refers to other declarations and accords adopted by several intergovernmental forums, international organizations and governments rejecting the implementation of this kind of unilateral measures.

The text urges all states to abstain from passing and implementing similar regulations and to comply with the principles included in the Charter of the United Nations and international law.

Finally, it asks the UN General-Secretary to prepare a report on the compliance with the resolution to present it during the 66th ordinary period of sessions of the UN General Assembly.

Last year, 187 countries voted to lift US blockade against Cuba while only three voted against (United States, Israel and Palau) and two abstained (Marshall Islands and Micronesia).

According to conservative estimates, the blockade has cost the island more than 751 billion dollars.

Source

Also see

Cuba is the Second Haiti

A message from Fidel

2010-10-22T07:07:00.002+13:00

“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”.
Albert Einstein

Transcript

The use of nuclear weapons in a new war would mean the end of humanity. This was candidly foreseen by scientist Albert Einstein who was able to measure their destructive capability to generate millions of degrees of heat, which would vaporize everything within a wide radius of action.

This brilliant researcher had promoted the development of this weapon so that it would not become available to the genocidal Nazi regime.

Each and every government in the world has the obligation to respect the right to life of each and every nation and of the totality of all the peoples on the planet.

Today there is an imminent risk of war with the use of that kind of weapon and I don’t harbour the least doubt that an attack by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran would inevitably evolve towards a global nuclear conflict.

The World’s peoples have an obligation to demand of their political leaders their Right to Live. When the life of humankind, of your people and your most beloved human beings run such a risk, nobody can afford to be indifferent; not one minute can be lost in demanding respect for that right; tomorrow will be too late.

Albert Einstein himself stated unmistakably: “I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones”. We fully comprehend what he wanted to convey, and he was absolutely right, yet in the wake of a global nuclear war, there wouldn’t be anybody around to make use of those sticks and stones.

There would be “collateral damage”, as the American political and military leaders always affirm, to justify the deaths of innocent people.

In a nuclear war the “collateral damage” would be the life of all humanity.

Let us have the courage to proclaim that all nuclear or conventional weapons, everything that is used to make war, must disappear!

Fidel Castro Ruz

October 15, 2010

Cuba Policy to Remain Intact, says Obama

2010-10-21T08:18:00.005+13:00

2009 United Nations vote on a Cuban motion condemning the US blockade;

178 FOR : 3 AGAINIST

US President Barack Obama, ruled out a change of policy toward Cuba until the island’s government shows its gestures are serious on the road toward greater freedom in the Caribbean island nation, reported IPS on Wednesday.

Speaking during a press conference to Spanish-speaking media in Washington, Obama said “I think that any release of political prisoners, any economic liberalization that takes place in Cuba is positive, positive for Cuban people, but we’ve not yet seen the full results of these promises.”

Before Obama took office in January 2009, he gave the impression of his desire to make changes in the hostile US policy towards Cuba and possibly free-up ordinary US citizens to visit the neighbouring country.

Nonetheless, after nearly two years of the current administration, the half-century economic blockade and the travel ban remain firmly in place.

On Tuesday October 26, the United Nations is scheduled to once again vote on a Cuban motion to condemn the US blockade. In last year’s vote only Israel and Palau voted with the US, while 187 countries sided with Cuba’s position.

Havana Times

Also See

Open Letter to the President from Danny Glover on the Cuban Five

Cuban Parliament Calls for World Solidarity against US Blockade

2010-10-20T22:09:00.001+13:00

The Commission for International Relations of the National Assembly of the People's Power (Parliament) called upon the international community on Tuesday to demand the end of the economic, financial and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.

Ramon Pez Ferro, president of the commission, presented the members of this working group the draft of the call, unanimously approved after being read by Deputy Yenielys Vilma Regüeiferos at the island's Parliament office.

The document asks for the solidarity of parliaments and peoples from around the world, so they request their respective governments their support for Cuba at the United Nations, when there are only a few days left before the discussion at the UN General Assembly of the Cuban resolution against the blockade.

The absolute truth some intend to conceal –reads the call- is that for over 200 years the United States has tried to control Cuba's destiny in the face of Cubans' determination to live in a free, independent and sovereign nation.

The text recalls that that indefensible US policy against the island caused the death of 3,478 people and disabling injuries to another 2,099, as a consequence of terrorist acts.

Also see
> US Blockade Affects Cuban Civil Aviation
> US Economic Blockade: Without Change
> Call for Lifting the Blockade and Repeal of the Common Position

Two millionth visitor this year arrives in Cuba

2010-10-20T09:07:00.002+13:00

Cuba welcomed its two millionth visitor on Monday (Oct 18th) , a record attained 12 days earlier than 2009 and for the seventh consecutive year, according to the Ministry of Tourism.

Canada has the number one place as Cuba’s main market consumer, as does the United Kingdom in Europe, followed by Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Mexico, Argentina and Russia. In relation to last year, the island has seen a 3% growth as a destination.

The Cuban Ministry of Tourism is currently involved in a process of product enhancement with renovation strategies for each one of its traditional, emerging and future markets. The essential proposal is to take maximum advantage of our natural attractions, and cultural and social achievements.

Having once again reached this important number of visitors in the run up to the 2010-2011winter season, we have ratified our commitment to promote a peaceful, healthy, safe and secure tourist experience for those who choose to come here.

Cuba’s tourist development has been among the most important and dynamic in the Americas and the Caribbean for the past 20 years.

> Want to find out more about visiting Cuba

> Summer In Cuba - a photo gallery

Source

El arca cubana: a film about terrorism

2010-10-19T10:48:00.001+13:00

The documentary ‘El arca cubana’ (The Cuban Ark), by Cuban filmmaker Ramon Luis Perez Martinez which takes a look at the history of aggressions and terrorist actions carried out against Cuba by mercenaries and the US government.

There have been more than 3 terrorist attacks carried out against Cuba among them the Bay of Pigs invasion, Operation Peter Pan, which "stole" more than 14 thousand Cuban children, the sabotage of the Literacy Campaign in 1961, the Cuban Adjustment Act, which has claimed so many lives at sea and that it violates the migration accords, the criminal unleashing of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever which killed 101 children, and the 1976, bombing of a civilian airplane, killing all on board.

> Interview with Ramon Luis Perez Martinez

> View Trailer

Also see
“He said, I am totally responsible for all of those acts and others that will come”

a Democracy Now interview with Ricardo Alarcón

Be more than just a tourist

2010-10-15T12:41:00.001+13:00

Join the 28th Southern Cross Work/Study Tour and support Cuba in the most direct manner by working alongside Cubans for a few days picking fruit, pruning or planting fruit trees or slashing grass and then visiting schools, hospitals, cultural sites & urban agriculture projects, etc.

You will experience at first hand the cultural, political and social conditions in socialist Cuba. This year’s program will give participants an opportunity to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples & an insight into how the Cuban people have triumphed over adversity to keep the revolution strong.

> Find Out More
> Checkout the Programme

The Blockade Shoots to Kill and Wounds Everyone

2010-10-15T09:32:00.001+13:00

No Cuban escapes from the effects of the blockade. Age, sex, race, social position, education level, religious beliefs or political affiliation does not matter. Cuba does not exaggerate when it speaks of genocide. The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States during the last 50 years targets all of us.

Time has turned this measure a part of our daily lives. Millions on the island do not know any other way of living under this terrible measure and the Cuban people have done miracles to resist and open paths towards development and leave imperialism with the desire of destroying the Revolution or starving out the Cuban people.

Click to read the Report

Effects of the blockade? It would be impossible to list, but it is visible at all times, everywhere, even in the psychic of the Cuban people. In the health care system it is particularly painful. But in education no one escapes the blockade, because in a country like Cuba where human rights is fully guaranteed to its population, everyone goes to school and even after graduating we are all still tied to the sector in one way or another.

Since the literacy campaign in 1961, experiences and achievements have turned Cuba as a source of reference in the world as how to work in the field of quality education and its accessibility to all.

The National Literacy Campaign of 1961 is recognized as one of the most successful initiatives of its kind, mobilized teachers, workers, and secondary school students to teach more than 700,000 persons how to read. This campaign reduced the illiteracy rate from 23% to 4% in the space of one year

Despite the blockade, education is still there, intact and Cuba shares its experiences with other nations in the world. What affects education is its quality, because not one single child has been left without a school or teacher and this information is found in Cuba´s report on Resolution 64/6 of the UN General Assembly entitled: “Necessity to End the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”.

More ...

By María Elena Álvarez

Want more on the 1961 literacy campaign? - download

Perspectives on the Cuban National Literacy Campaign

(PDF)

Cuba Reelected to Council of the ITU

2010-10-13T07:50:00.002+13:00

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With more votes than in previous elections, Cuba was re-elected for the sixth consecutive time as a member of the Council of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

During the 18th Conference of Plenipotentiaries that is underway since October 4 in Guadalajara, Mexico, the island obtained one of the nine spots given to the Americas with 125 votes.

The other countries of the region elected as members of the ITU Council were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, the United States, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela.

The Cuban delegation described their election to this body of 48 members as a victory for the island and for regional integration.

In Guadalajara, Cuba denounced that Washington’s almost 50-year-old blockade of the island prevents the country from access to state-of-the-art technology, systems, software and access to Internet sites and services.

They also denounced that nearly 2,000 hours are broadcast through 30 frequencies from the United States to Cuba with subversive purposes violating international law and many other regulations.

The Cuban delegation to the ITU meeting, which is held every four years, is led by Ramon Linares, first deputy president of the Cuban Ministry of Informatics and Communication.

Source acn

Also see

> U.S. blockade makes Cuba's Telecommunication Company Loss Millions

> Twitter Admits Cutting Messages via Cell Phone to Cuba

34 Years of Impunity

2010-10-11T09:08:00.002+13:00

Family members of the victims of the Barbados's Crime

On October 6, 1976 a civilian Cuban airliner took off from the coast of Barbados towards Cuba. Among the 73 passengers on board was the Cuban Junior Fencing team who were proudly returning to their island with gold medals. Along with them were 11 humble students from Guyana who were to begin studying in Cuba, five passengers of the Democratic Republic of Korea, among them a young girl. There were 57 Cuban passengers and flight crew on that plane. But flight 455 never made it to its destination. Its 73 passengers died a horrible death when a bomb, ordered to be placed in the plane by the international terrorists Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch, blew up in mid air.

For the last 5 years the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has officially demanded from the United States the extradition of the criminal Posada Carriles who has been a fugitive from justice for the plane bombing and for other crimes committed in that country. After 34 years since that criminal act 73 families and an entire people continue to demand justice.

The Cuban government has declared October 6, the "Day of the Victims of State Terrorism". This declaration by Cuban President Raul Castro is an unconditional statement concerning this open wound of this small island nation as well as a symbol of the impunity of the US and the unwavering efforts of Cuba to fight terrorism.

The Committee of the Family of the Victims of the Barbados Crime, has sent an open letter to Obama demanding a trial and punishment to Posada and for the freedom of the Cuban 5.

Source

Also see

Fifty years of US terrorism against Cuba

The Very Dark Side of U.S. History

'Attempted Coup' in Ecuador

2010-10-02T10:43:00.002+13:00

Cuba Rejects Coup Attempt in Ecuador and Supports President Rafael Correa

Rafael Correa (with microphone), addresses his supporters from the balcony of the government palace in Quito after the coup attempt.

Photograph: Pato Realpe/EPA

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla read a declaration from the Government of the Republic of Cuba strongly condemning the coup attempt in Ecuador and expressing the island’s support of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Thursday afternoon.

The text reads that Cuba expects that the Ecuadorian Armed Forces will respect and observe the Constitution of their country and that they will guarantee the inviolability of the democratically elected president, Rafael Correa, and democracy.

The statement also challenges the government of the United States to condemn the coup attempt noting that, until now, the spokesman of the State Department has only said that the US “is closely following the situation.”

The statement of support says that events like this only serve foreign interests like the U.S. interventionist policies in the region, and obstruct independent processes in an attempt to silence the voice of Ecuador and its President.

The declaration concludes saying that Cuba already warned that the impunity enjoyed by coup d’état perpetrators in Honduras, with the participation of U.S. power circles, opened a new era of coup d’états and military dictatorships in the region.

Cuban Revolution Leader Fidel Castro also published written reflections, entitled "Unbelievable News”, in which he quoted the denunciations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Bolivian President Evo Morales of the attempted coup. Fidel wrote, ¨ President Rafael Correa is firm and unyielding.

The people are much more organized. In my opinion the coup is already lost.

Even Obama and Mrs. Clinton will have no other alternative than to condemn it.¨

Source

Luis Posada Carriles’ right hand man, spills the beans

2010-09-29T22:25:00.003+13:00

Chávez Abarca tells all!

Terrorist plans continue from the U.S.

Cuban television broadcast a special program called “Cuba’s Reasons: The Route of Terror” featuring Salvadoran terrorist Francisco Chávez Abarca confessing that he paid $2,000 for each blast during a bombing spree against Cuba’s tourist hotels in the late 1990s.

Chávez Abarca was arrested in Venezuela on July 1, travelling on a false passport, and he was later extradited to Cuba to face charges in the bombing campaign.

During the program, he said he was hired to plant bombs by international and self-confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, who currently lives in the United States, where he is awaiting trial on charges he lied to federal and immigration authorities.

He also said Posada Carriles told him the hotel attacks were backed by the CIA.

The program mixed Chávez Abarca’s confession with old footage of other terrorists already arrested in the bombing campaign detailing their roles, as well as interviews with Cuban security agents and military personnel.

Chávez Abarca commented that when one of these terrorists, Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, confessed to his crimes in Havana after being captured, he was ordered to kill his family.

Source

Read on Line

Download

Also see

Terrorist Francisco Chávez Abarca Linked to Venezuelan Counterrevolution

Cuba Solidarity

Welcome to 2012

Who Killed Che?

US Anti-Cuba Blockade Policy Punishes German Bank

Cuba to Unveil Monument in Honour of State Terrorism Victims

New York Times highlights Cuba’s efforts in combating cholera in Haiti

UN: U.S. Blockade Condemned for 20th Year

U.S. Blockade Hinders Fighting HIV/AIDS

Cuba insists that the UN must recognize Palestinian statehood

US Blockade Against Cuba Rejected at UN General Assembly

Cuban Foreign Minister thanks the People of the U.S

URGENT ACTION

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United States fines another bank for its connections with Cuba

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Hope for Haiti: Trained in Cuba, Bronx doctor drops everything to help

The Pastors for Peace Caravan Arrives in Cuba

Cuban Bound Pastors for Peace Caravan in Mexico

Pastors for Peace’s Friendshipment Caravan Crosses U.S.-Canada Border

Reporters for Sale

U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay Violates Sovereignty of the Cuban People

Socialism - the Only Option

Sixth Congress meets as 50th Anniversary of Bay of Pigs invasion marked

The Bay of Pigs - 50 years on

Cuba Urges USA to Rectify Acquittal of Terrorist.

Obama slaps ban on Irish musicians travelling to Cuba

Cuba Criticizes Breach of Commitments to Haiti

Posada Carrilles Acquitted of All Charges

Shut the School of Assassins!

Cubadebate opens its new Web page in English

Documentary Denounces U.S.’s Cyberwar against the Caribbean Nation

CIA attack on La Coubre

Cuban volunteers return from Haiti

Ché's Travelling Companion Alberto Granado Passed Away

CUBA’S REASONS: There will always be an Emilio

May Day Celebrations in Cuba Dedicated to Bay of Pigs Victory

Man says ex-CIA agent Posada gave him explosives for hotel bombing

US Government Hides Truth about the Cuban Five

WORLD ATHLETICS PARALYMPICS

Cuban Wins 3rd Gold in Paralympic Track and Field Champs

The 12th International Congress on Pedagogy (Pedagogía 2011)

Important Revelation in El Paso

U.S. Measures Maintain Blockade

Solidarity with Cuban Website Cubadebate

Billboard Demanding Release of the Cuban Five Removed in Miami

Trial of Posada Carriles

Cuba Registers Anti-tumor Therapeutic Vaccine for Lung Cancer

Posada faces (minor) charges

Cuban Doctors Save 250,000 people in Haiti

Posada Carriles’ Trial to Include Evidences of Terrorism against Cuba

Cuban Doctors Lead the Fight Against Cholera in Haiti

International Human Rights Day: 5 days for the 5

Angolan Literacy Campaign advances with Cuba’s Help

Assange Accuser Worked with US-Funded, CIA-Tied Anti-Castro Group

President of East Timor Visits Cuba

Cuba Denounces U.S. and Israeli Policies against Palestine

International Brigade to Fight against Media Terrorism Founded

"Amateurish Foreign Policy"

Cuba and Venezuela re-launch bilateral Integral Cooperation Agreement

Hurricane Tomas Leaves No Casualties in Cuba

EU awards Cuban 'dissident' 50,000 euros

World Condemns US Blockade against Cuba at UN General Assembly

Blockade Resolution Ready

Top Censored Stories of 2010

A message from Fidel

Cuba Policy to Remain Intact, says Obama

Cuban Parliament Calls for World Solidarity against US Blockade

Two millionth visitor this year arrives in Cuba

El arca cubana: a film about terrorism

Be more than just a tourist

The Blockade Shoots to Kill and Wounds Everyone

Cuba Reelected to Council of the ITU

34 Years of Impunity

'Attempted Coup' in Ecuador

Luis Posada Carriles’ right hand man, spills the beans