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

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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

Hurricane Tomas Leaves No Casualties in Cuba

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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

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