Search results for: mario penton

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 6 June 2018 — The General Customs of the Republic of Cuba threatened on Wednesday to confiscate packages sent from the United States through ‘mules’ (people who travel specifically to the island to carry merchandise) who serve shipping agencies based in the U.S.. The practice of sending goods  through agencies, which Havana … Continue reading “Cuban Customs Threatens to Seize Goods Brought by ‘Mules’ from the U.S.”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 30 May, 2018 — Representatives of the Cuban exile in Miami joined their voices with those of Venezuelan and Nicaraguan exiles to ask for an end to the murders of young students in Nicaragua, where there have been intense social protests for more than a month. In a press conference sponsored … Continue reading “Cuban and Venezuelan Exiles Join Nicaraguans in Miami to Demand Respect for Human Rights”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 30 may 2018 — “Hard news arrives from Nicaragua,” a friend writes. “Bismarck, our brother, passed away.” Confusion, disbelief, a feeling of emptiness. These were my first reactions. It was Sunday night when I received the news from Guatemala. The next day his death was confirmed by family and close friends. Bismarck Badilla López was found … Continue reading “Bismarck, Another Young Idealist Who Dies in Nicaragua in the Struggle for Democracy”

Mario J. Penton/Newsroom, Miami/Havana | Mayo 23, 2018 — Luis Posada Carriles, one of the Cuban regime’s most bitter enemies and a former CIA agent, died Wednesday in Miramar, southeast Florida, at 90 years of age after a long illness. The activist died around 5:00 am local time “in a government veterans home,” said his lawyer, Arturo Hernandez, … Continue reading “Hero in Miami, Criminal in Havana, Luis Posada Carriles Dies at 90”

14ymedio, Mario J. Penton, Miami, 17 May 2018 — The presence of Mariela Castro blessing LGBT couples on Saturday draped in a Christian stole, on the day against homophobia and transphobia in Cuba, has generated scorn among some Cuban believers. In recent days the press has focused on a new church established on the island … Continue reading “"Mariela Castro Is Our Friend But That Does Not Make Our Church Communist"”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, 19 April 2018 — In the city with the largest Cuban population after Havana, the appointment last Thursday of Miguel Díaz-Canel as president of Cuba took no one by surprise. As the only candidate for president just the day before, the 58-year-old electrical engineer is hardly unknown in Miami. “I don’t care … Continue reading “Diaz-Canel’s Arrival Generates Much Skepticism and a Bit of Hope in Miami”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón/Reporting Team, Miami, 17 April 2018 — On the last day of July 2006 Cuba’s prime time news program broke with its usual monotony. Carlos Valenciaga, Fidel Castro’s chief of staff, announced to Cuba and the world that the hitherto invincible Commander-in-Chief had temporarily ceded power, after suffering intestinal bleeding. Raúl Castro, his younger brother, took … Continue reading “What Has and Has Not Changed in Cuba Since Raul Casto Came to Power”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 20 April 2018 — The almost unanimous support received in Parliament by Miguel Diaz-Canel, who assumed his duties as head of state on Wednesday, has not been accompanied by a concrete commitment to rebuild the country left in ruins by almost six decades of state control of the economy under the … Continue reading “Recipes to Reconstruct a Country in Ruins”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, 20 March 2018 —  Marta Elisa Deus is only 30 years old and has started three businesses in Cuba. This young Havanan, who lived in Spain for more than a decade, returned to the island “all fired up” to innovate and revolutionize the business world, taking advantage of the timid reforms undertaken by … Continue reading “"With Obama There Was Hope in Cuba, But That’s Over"”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, 7 March 2018 — The sound of a phone call broke into the monologue of Maydelin Alfonso Vázquez in the lobby of the Montecarlo hotel, about six blocks from the US embassy in Bogotá. Some of the Cubans staying there, waiting to get an immigrant visa to the United States, listened to the litany of … Continue reading “An Ordeal and More Than 6,000 Dollars to Get a US Visa in Columbia”

14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, 16 February 2018 — The requests from Cubans seeking refuge in Chile have multiplied by a factor of thirty in a single year. According to the information provided to this newspaper by Chile’s Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, 1,603 Cubans requested that status at land borders in 2017. The previous … Continue reading “Cubans Form "Tremendous Lines" on the Borders of Chile”