Category: EFE

The Assembly holds a specific session every year to request an end to the embargo, imposed in 1962, which prevents Cuba from making transactions in U.S. dollars, marketing with products that pass through the U.S. and have a minimum percentage of 10% of parts produced in the country, as well using the U.S. financial system.

The countries that vote in the Assembly in support of Cuba insist that the embargo is a “unilateral” measure, since it has not been decided by the Security Council, involves interference in other States and ends up punishing, above all, the population of Cuba, before the Government.

Everyone pretends to have forgotten that the embargo was decreed by Washington in response to the confiscations of companies and assets of American citizens by the Revolution

Everyone pretends to have forgotten that the embargo was decreed by Washington in response to the confiscations of companies and assets of American citizens by the Castro Revolution, a matter that is still pending.

The magnitude of the support that the Island receives in these annual votes is manifested in the fact that eight groups from different countries – Latin American, African, Islamic, Group of 77 plus China, among others – have presented this year particular motions to reject the embargo, and some intervene individually.

However, it also highlights the irrelevance of the General Assembly, which has been approving a practically similar resolution for 31 years without its making any dent in American politics.

Rodríguez regretted that Biden’s Administration has not changed one iota the policy of the embargo, which was hardened by his predecessor Donald Trump by including Cuba in its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

The Foreign Minister did not say that some of the sanctions established by the current U.S. administration against Cuba have their origin in the repression unleashed by the regime after the massive peaceful protests of 11 July 2021.

For his part, President Miguel Díaz-Canel described the vote in the General Assembly as a “triumph of dignity… a new victory for the Cuban people and their Revolution. The recognition and support of the international community for the heroism and resistance of Cuba. The triumph of the dignity and courage of our people,” Díaz-Canel celebrated on the social network X (Twitter).

Similarly, after the vote, Díaz-Canel criticized the U.S. representative, who reiterated to the UN that the embargo aims to “promote democracy and promote human rights and freedoms” on the Island.

“How ridiculous the speech of the imperial representative. Full of lies, slander and hypocrisy. He should be ashamed of the immense majority condemnation of his genocidal, unjust and criminal policy. Our slingshot is David’s,” wrote the Cuban president, using the biblical metaphor of the fight against Goliath, which José Martí and Fidel Castro often repeated.

The text, presented by Cuba since 1992, always receives an overwhelming majority with hardly any votes against, beyond the U.S. and some of its allies.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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“(López) remained in custody for more than 12 hours without criminal justification. She was accused of alleged disobedience for not attending the previous day’s summons and resisting detention, a false accusation that many people witnessed, and was placed under a precautionary measure of home detention under threats by order of the Prosecutor’s Office without any judicial protection,” denounced Prisoners Defenders.

Subsequently, the crime of resistance was dismissed. However, it involves precautionary measures such as house arrest and a ban on movements, according to the NGO.

In the order of the Prosecutor’s Office she is pointed out for being “linked to the enemy press project La Joven Cuba, where she served as a writer and coordinator. Her association was marked from its beginning by a hypercritical language from the harmful perspective towards government management, denigrating and discrediting the achievements of the Revolution.”

Lopez maintained that her country “is at the final moment of a model of political, social and economic conception” and said that she did not believe it was “capable of reform under these conditions

In an interview with EFE in April, López maintained that her country “is at the final moment of a model of political, social and economic conception” and said that she did not believe it was “capable of reform under these conditions.”

Prisoners Defenders censored the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, for meeting with López during his visit to the Island at the end of May without making their meeting public.

The denunciation joins that of more than a dozen organizations that have already sued the Cuban authorities to annul the judicial process against the teacher.

The left-wing dissident organization CubaxCuba also called for the closure of the process and an end to the harassment of the activist. “Unfortunately, the intellectual is not the only one on the Island who suffers the violation of her rights. Also for political reasons, hundreds of citizens serve long sentences; others suffer discrimination, harassment and other forms of intimidation and punishment, while dozens have had to go into exile fleeing various forms of state violence,” the organization said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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It is estimated that in 2022 around 4% of the Cuban population left the country

In recent days, 27 Cuban migrants were also deported from the United States and another six by the authorities of the Cayman Islands.

Cuba is experiencing an unprecedented migratory wave both for the volume of migrants and for its duration due to the serious economic crisis it suffers, with a great shortage of basic products (food, medicines and fuel), galloping inflation, frequent power cuts and a partial dollarization of the economy.

It is estimated that in 2022 around 4% of the Cuban population left the country, and this year’s figures could be similar according to those accumulated to date.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“We can do a lot if we help each other. The meeting is called “For a Fraternal Neighborhood and in Search of Well-being,” so let’s see what we can do together, how we can help each other,” he said.

The meeting will take place while Mexico and Central America face an “unprecedented” migratory flow, as the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned last month, with up to 16,000 migrants arriving at the Mexican borders every day, according to López Obrador.

“(The meeting) is very important because it’s a problem that can get worse. It is already worrying, because the number of migrants is growing and we have to attend to it,” said the Mexican president. López Obrador will insist on “attending to the causes, going to the bottom of things, not just holding back or thinking about militarizing the borders or building walls, which don’t solve the problem.”

Questioned about whether he will ask Latin American countries to detain migrants before arriving in Mexico, the president said that all governments should do everything possible to address migration. “In all cases there is interest in helping migrants, in all cases, but many countries are going through difficult economic situations. They don’t have a budget or there are conflicts, either due to political confrontations or due to the blockade in the case of Cuba, which is inhumane,” he said.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The Cuban president did not offer more details of the meeting with the Russian politician and businessman

So far in 2023, the Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov; the president of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin; the economic adviser of the Presidency, Maksim Oreshkin, and other important political figures of Vladimir Putin’s government have traveled to the Island.

Despite their political ties, in 2022 the bilateral trade exchange was only 451 million dollars, a figure that the Russian representation hoped to improve.

A few days ago, the meeting at the Meliá Cohiba hotel of 100 professors and students from the Moscow State University Rosbiotech showed that the alliance between the two countries involved the teaching of Russian.

Similarly, last September, Russia and Cuba addressed the construction of new generating capacities for power plants on the Island, but without further details. Russia is still, in any case, one of the main fuel suppliers to Cuba, behind Venezuela and Mexico.

Relations between Havana and Moscow, which have been going at full speed since May, have advanced more cautiously since several international media reported the presence of Cuban soldiers in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Titov’s visit, however, shows that the projects are not stopping.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In a statement this Saturday, the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba detailed the arrival on the Island of 95 men and 43 women on a Viva Aerobus flight that arrived at the José Martí International Airport in Havana at 11:55 am. Counting this group, there are now 922 Cubans who were returned by Mexico on 12 flights this year.

The Ministry of the Interior specified this Saturday the arrival on the Island of 95 men and 43 women on a Viva Aerobus flight that arrived at the José Martí International Airport in Havana

The official press indicated that with this operation “returns from the Aztec nation to the Island resume, which have not been carried out since March 3,” when Mexico deported 107 Cuban irregular migrants, including the remains of the Cuban Anet Patricia Aguilera Canto, Anyelina Rodríguez Aguilera and another native of the Island who died in a traffic accident in Veracruz.

Cuba also has a deportation agreement with the United States, in force since last November.

The return of “inadmissible” people was agreed in 2017, but was suspended with the outbreak of COVID-19 and the cooling of bilateral relations after the period of “thaw” promoted by the then leaders of the United States, Barack Obama, and of Cuba, Raúl Castro.

The first flight with deportees from the U.S. arrived in Havana on April 24 with 123 people. That group was followed by another 66 and 36 returnees, respectively, who traveled by plane on May 10 and June 22.

The fourth flight arrived on July 21 with 33 irregular migrants, coinciding with the return of other Cubans by sea, and the fifth took place on August 17.

Last September, the United States returned 35 Cubans who tried to enter irregularly. It was the sixth flight of deportations of nationals of the Island so far this year

The agreement to return the so-called ” inadmissibles ” was added to the current one that allows the return of all Cubans who arrive in the U.S. by sea.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

In 1986, the ARC statement continues, Perdomo went into exile in the United States, where “he continued his struggle for the freedom of Cuba until the last days of his life.”

During his exile in the United States he was elected president of the patriotic organization Plantados hasta la Democracia y la Libertad de Cuba (“Planted” until Democracy and the Freedom of Cuba. (Plantados)

In the statement, the ARC expressed its condolences to Perdomo’s widow, family, friends and “all Cuban political prisoners, especially those who were his companion Plantados.

“We have lost one of the bravest and noblest children of the Cuban people,” the exile organization stressed.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Worldwide, these phenomena caused the forced displacement of 40.9 million children in the same period

Worldwide, those phenomena caused the forced displacement of 40.9 million children in the same period, mainly in China and the Philippines.

In these circumstances, “children and adolescents not only lose their homes, but also their access to education, health, water and protection,” Conille stressed.

In the coming decades, “this worrying trend will only accelerate, giving rise to a generation of ’climate migrant children and adolescents’ throughout the region,” said the regional director of UNICEF.

In the next 30 years it is expected that in Latin America and the Caribbean floods alone will displace 4.6 million children, the report indicates, although it warns that “due to the increase in the frequency and severity of meteorological phenomena as a result of climate change, the real figures will almost certainly be higher.”

In Brazil, the document mentions, floods and storms could displace 1.5 million children and adolescents in the next 30 years

In Brazil, the document mentions, floods and storms could displace 1.5 million children and adolescents in the next 30 years, and in Mexico, up to 672,000.

In this context, UNICEF urged governments, the private sector and donors to protect minors and adolescents by ensuring that essential services, including education and health, “can respond to shocks, are easy to move and include most people, such as those who are already uprooted.”

The UN body asked to prepare children and young people to live in a world of climate crisis, “by improving their capacity for adaptation and resilience and encouraging their participation in the search for inclusive solutions.”

That is why UNICEF also urged to give priority to children and young people, “including those who have already been uprooted, in action and financing in the field of disasters and climate, in humanitarian and development policy, and in investments to prepare for a future that is already here.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The activists also warned of five sexist assassination attempts and a similar number of cases that require access to the police investigation.

The joint under-registration of these platforms that collect data on femicides – in the absence of official statistics on sexist violence – accounts for 62 cases verified so far in 2023.

The activists also warned of five sexist assassination attempts and a similar number of cases that require access to the police investigation.

At the end of September, 23-year-old Yolanda Justiz Utria was allegedly murdered by her ex-partner on the 24th of that month in Guantánamo. The Yo Sí Te Creo and Alas Tensas platforms also lamented the murder of the victim’s eldest son, 11 years old.

The number of 34 femicides in Cuba verified in 2022 has already been exceeded in 2023.

The work of these feminist groups and their dissemination in the unofficial media have contributed to focusing on the cases of sexist murders and disappearances of Cuban women in recent years.

Activists insist on declaring a “state of emergency for gender violence”

The activists insist on declaring a “state of emergency for gender violence” and regret that the Government does not take action in this regard.

In addition, they advocate a comprehensive law against gender violence. Sexist murder is not in the Criminal Code; nor is the implementation of protocols to prevent these events, as well as the creation of shelters and rescue systems for women and children in danger.

Last April, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, assured that there would be “zero tolerance” for sexist violence.

The official Cuban Women’s Federation created at the beginning of June the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality, which includes statistics on “women who have been victims of intentional homicide as a result of gender violence in the last 12 months.”

This record totaled 18 cases in 2022 – compared to the 34 verified by independent platforms – a figure that coincides with the number of convictions for murder handed down in that year and linked to gender violence, according to the People’s Supreme  Court.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“Cuba has repeatedly warned about the risks associated with the illegal smuggling of migrants and human trafficking, which place migrants in a vulnerable situation” 

“Cuba has repeatedly warned about the risks associated with the illegal smuggling of migrants and human trafficking, phenomena intimately linked to irregular migration, which place migrants in a vulnerable situation and makes them victims of organized crime, traffickers, extortion, abuse and illicit activities associated with this scourge,” the statement says.

The Foreign Ministry added that it has alerted the Biden administration about its “responsibility” for “the irregular and disorderly emigration of Cubans who arrive or intend to reach its borders.”

The statement also criticized U.S. immigration policy, because it  “privileges” the irregular Cuban migrant with the Cuban Adjustment Law, which grants a “differentiated and unique treatment” by providing “an expeditious way to obtain residence, regardless of the forms and means used” on the way to reach the United States.

“This behavior affects not only Cuba, the Cuban emigrant and the U.S. itself, but also has consequences for several countries of transit in the region,” the statement stressed, adding that this issue “has been repeatedly discussed” with the U.S. government.

Despite this, both countries continue to coordinate the returns of migrants intercepted at sea. Recently, 38 irregular migrants were returned to the Island in two groups by the U.S. authorities, 23 of them yesterday. There have been 4,380 Cubans returned from different countries in the region so far in 2023.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Coast Guard delivered five women and 18 men to the port of Orozco, in Artemisa, who had participated in two illegal departures by sea, according to a statement released by the Ministry of the Interior.

The majority of this group of rafters are residents of the provinces of Holguín, Camagüey and Matanzas. The statement indicates that one of those returned was arrested for “an alleged commission of a serious criminal act,” for which he was being investigated before leaving the country irregularly.

On September 30, another 15 rafters (14 men and one minor) also arrived at the port of Orozco after being returned by the U.S. Coast Guard.

On September 30, another 15 rafters (14 men and one minor) also arrived at the port of Orozco after being returned by the U.S. Coast Guard

Since October 1, 2022, U.S. Coast Guard crews have intercepted more than 6,500 Cubans at sea headed to the coasts of Florida, according to official data. During the last fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2022 and ended on September 30, 2023 about 7,000 Cubans have been intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs underline Cuba’s “commitment” to “a regular, safe and orderly migration” and say that they will continue to “work and cooperate” with the region’s governments to warn against irregular, unsafe and disorderly migration, to prevent risky departures and to fight against acts of violence associated with this phenomenon.

Cuba has been experiencing an unprecedented migratory exodus for more than two years, linked in the first instance to the severe economic crisis that the country is suffering. According to data from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (Comar), Mexico is on its way to establishing a new record for asylum applications during the current year, now more than 129,000, and one of the largest groups of applicants are Cubans.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.