Cuba Shows Support for Venezuela in 18th ALBA Political Council.

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# 18th ALBA-TCP, # Political Council Venezuela., # Jorge Arreaza, #Cuba, #Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Havana, Raul Castro

Cuba reiterated its support for Venezuela during ALBA-TCP’s 18th Political Council in Havana.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba Raul Castro received Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza Monday in the lead up to the 18th Political Council of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America-Peoples Trade Treaty (ALBA-TCP) that begins May 21.

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Venezuela has the Means to Defeat the US Blockade

Venezuela’s ambassador to Cuba, Adan Chavez, along with Arreaza met with the Cuban leaders Monday where they discussed regional and international issues, Arreaza said via Twitter.

Castro and Diaz-Canel reiterated their support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and stressed the members of ALBA-TCP will defend the South American nation against “imperialist” tactics to overthrow his government.

“The Political Council of ALBA-TCP will meet today in Cuba. Faced with the great challenges imposed by the imperialist offensive bent on destroying the integration of the region, we will defend Venezuela and preserve the gains achieved by the ALBA-TCP. Together we will win,” Diaz-Canel posted on Twitter Tuesday.

Cuban Caricaturist Wins Award in Canada.

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#Alfredo Martirena, #Canada, #Cuba, #Cuban cartoonist Alfredo Martirena, #won the Award for Excellence in the Cartoon Contest on freedom of the press in Canada.

Santa Clara, Cuba, May 21 (Prensa Latina) Cuban cartoonist Alfredo Martirena said that ”a good journalist prefers to save his news better than his own life” so does he with his work, and won the Award to Excellency at the Caricature Contest on Freedo

The winning cartoon work by Martirena at the 19th edition of the Cartoon Contest on Freedom of Press, describes a reporter at a trench while protecting his own laptop computer machine with his own body, in a profesional gesture, preserving his professional work, before preserving his life.

‘The cartoon is a tribute to the hundreds of journalists who are killed every year in different parts of the world, acting as reporters, photographers or cameramen, with the healthy purpose of reporting acts of corruption or maltreatment of citizens,’ he said.

This event was organized this year by the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom and the central topic was ‘Open Season for Journalists’, with 370 entries from 29 countries.

Trump and his advisors on the international chessboard.

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#Cuba, #Imperialism, #Trump and his advisors, United States

Imperialism is plunging deeper into a desperate, increasingly dangerous phase in its attacks against Venezuela.

Businessman Donald Trump, who became president with a minority vote of the U.S. people –received a smaller share of the popular vote than his rival Hilary Clinton, in an election that saw a high abstention rate – is at a real crossroads, one of the many in the labyrinth in which his administration is buried.

Little is going well for the President. One of his most cherished dreams, negotiations on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) denuclearization, which saw him approach the laurels of glory, was snatched away. The “deal of the century” went up in smoke, among other reasons, due to the ill will and ineptitude of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and National Security Adviser John Bolton. Bolton’s latest statements on the subject were described as “nonsense” by the DPRK’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.

These two politicians appear to be competing to see who can come up with the biggest lie, and especially who can say it first. They contradict each other; they get things wrong, in what was described by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, during a press conference at the Ministry as a sign of “haste and improvisation.”

On April 17, Bolton stated before the ignoble remnants of the mercenary 2506 Brigade (Bay of Pigs veterans), in Miami, “Together, we can finish what began on those beaches.” Such nonsense is truly laughable. On the sands of Playa Girón the arrogance and vain pride of the empire were buried. What began to fall on that beach was the power of the United States on the continent. Do they really want to finish what they started?

Blockade impacts Cuban anti-doping lab.

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#Anti-Doping, #Blockade impacts Cuban, #Cuba, #Imperialism, United States

Given the impossibility of accessing the U.S. market, the Havana Anti-Doping Laboratory was obliged to invest an additional one million dollars to acquire supplies last year, yet despite the constraints, 4,050 tests were carried out during the period, more than 3,000 for international entities

Founded on February 13, 2001, by Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, this prestigious institution has done nothing more than protect the Cuban sports movement and, at the same time, provide services to many nations that recognize in its workers – including service personnel and qualified scientists –a committed collective.

The representatives of the United States government who today tighten the blockade are well aware that if Cuba had access to the necessary reagents for the full operation of the capital’s Anti-Doping Laboratory, it would be able to analyze more than 5,000 samples a year, even though the minimum number required by the World Anti-Doping Agency is 3,000.

Despite the constraints, the institution carried out 4,729 tests in 2017, and 4,050 last year, among them more than 3,000 ordered by international entities, which demonstrates confidence in results provided by the center, recognition earned through the dedication of its staff.

The impossibility of accessing the U.S. market forced the Havana Anti-Doping Laboratory to invest an additional one million dollars to guarantee imports between April 2018 and March 2019, in order to meet its commitments. The reliability of its work is evidenced by 15 years of consecutive reaccreditation, while more than ten similar establishments in developed countries around the world have had their licenses withdrawn.

U.S. lies and threats against Cuba denounced around the world.

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# the world condemn new U.S. sanctions on Cuba, #Cuba, #Imperialism

Voices around the world condemn new U.S. sanctions on Cuba, in particular the recent activation of the Helms-Burton Act’s Title III.

Voices around the world continue to condemn new U.S. sanctions on Cuba, in particular the recent activation of the Helms-Burton Act’s Title III.

The government of Mexico reiterated its rejection of the re-activation of this stipulation in violation of international law, and reaffirmed its commitment to legally protect Mexican companies that may be affected. In an official communiqué, the Ministry of Economy recalled that, in order to counteract the extraterritorial effects of the Helms-Burton, Mexico enacted a law that specifically protects commerce and investment from foreign regulations that contravene international norms, in effect since October 1996.
“Like other countries, Mexico has analyzed the relevant legal procedures to file complaints for violations of international law that the Helms-Burton Act represents,” the Mexican government states.
The Islamic Republic of Iran also confirmed its support for the Cuba. “Washington demonstrated, once again, that it resorts to illegitimate mechanisms to pressure independent countries,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Abas Musavi said.
According to Prensa Latina, a professor at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law, Pan Deng, commented that the Trump administration is attempting to pressure Cuba and affecting the entire international community.

U.S. citizens want to visit Cuba, despite the tourism ban and travel restrictions imposed by their government.

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#Blokade, #Cuba, #Imperialism, United States

Cuba continues to be the only country in the world where U.S. citizens can not freely travel as tourists, thanks to their government’s discriminatory policy.

The U.S. tourist sector remains committed to Cuba as a holiday destination, even as the U.S. government is tightening the blockade against the island. This was stated at a press conference by Michel Bernal Quicutis, commercial director at the Cuban Ministry of Tourism (Mintur), who assured that “We will not give up on reaching the planned 5,100,000 visitors for this 2019.”

As he explained, U.S. citizens continue to occupy second place among visitor source markets to Cuba, behind Canada, with a total of 257,500 visitors in the first four months of the year, representing growth of 93.5%. Of them, 55% arrive to the country aboard cruise ships, a modality that continues to grow, up 48% this year.

“Despite smear campaigns against Cuba, 13.5% of tourists who visit us claim to have chosen the island for its safety, both personal and epidemiological; also because it is a country where there is no organized crime, drug cartels, kidnappings do not occur, and one can enjoy the destination at any time,” Bernal added.

He also reported that, despite the growth of the U.S. market, Cuba’s commercial development is taking place within a complex scenario. “Cuba continues to be the only country in the world where U.S. citizens can not freely travel as tourists, only through one of the 12 authorized licenses,” he recalled. This precisely in the U.S., the same country that claims to be the land of freedom and democracy..

The blockade is more than the Helms-Burton and the Helms-Burton is more than Title III.

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#Cuba, #Imperialism, #Law that violates the principle of sovereignty, #The Helms-Burton Law, United States

A panel of experts dissects the infamous law during a public hearing called by the Association of Cuban Jurists and the Cuban United Nations Association.

Members of Cuban civil society, intellectuals, journalists, and students gathered on May 3 in Havana, in a public hearing convened by the Association of Cuban Jurists and the Cuban United Nations Association to discuss the activation of the Helms-Burton Act’s Title III, a law that violates the principle of sovereignty, and seeks to destroy our nation and subordinate it to the power of a foreign government.

The public hearing was held at the Higher Institute of International Relations in the Cuban capital and featured a panel that included Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, former president of the National Assembly; attorney Rodolfo Dávalos; Luis Solá Vila, president of the Cuban Society of Public International Law; and Johana Tablada, deputy general director for the United States at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry.

Professor Solá Vila clarified in his speech that the Helms-Burton Act should be viewed as a whole, “not only Title III, but the complete law, from the first letter to the last.”

He reminded those present that on July 6, 1960, the President of the United States announced the cancellation of Cuba’s sugar quota in that country’s market, a heavy blow to the Cuban economy, based on a single product and dependent on sales to the U.S.

Days later, the administration decreed an oil embargo, and the Revolutionary Government responded to these measures in kind, with nationalizations.

Johana Tablada warned that we are facing a dangerous context, in which the current U.S. government seeks “to cause the greatest possible damage to Cuba in the shortest time possible,” and will not be satisfied with full application of the Helms-Burton.

We have fought like men, and sometimes like giants, to be free.

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#Cuba, #Imperialism, #Title III of the Helms-Burton Law and Cuba, #Trump Administration, United States

The application of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act will not stop Cubans from advancing.THE government of U.S. President Donald Trump activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act on May 2, another hostile measure against Cuba, carried out in spite of immense international condemnation, turning a deaf ear to the calls of various U.S. sectors, the European Union (EU), Canada, Spain, Mexico, and many other countries of the world.

U.S. cruise company Carnival is the first to be sued under the controversial Helms-Burton Act, for using port facilities in Santiago de Cuba and Havana, following the filing of the first two lawsuits that take advantage of the reactivation of Title III of the infamous act this May 2, in a federal court in Miami, Florida.

The aim of this law is to impose additional obstacles to Cuba’s economic development, attack the sovereignty of third countries, and economically strangle and destroy the Cuban Revolution, as denounced by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ana Teresita González Fraga, during the International Solidarity Meeting for world peace and against war, which took place May 2 at Havana’s International Conference Center.

Rising up against imperialist barbarism, for peace and a world without exploitation

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# Barbarism, #Cuba, #imperialist, #International Solidarity Conference for World Peace and Against War, #Rising up against imperialist barbarism

The International Solidarity Conference for World Peace and Against War was held May 2, in Havana, with more than 1,400 participants attending, from more than 103 organizations in 57 countries.

The International Solidarity Conference for World Peace and Against War, held May 2 in the Cuban capital, was a great embrace shared by brothers and sisters from around the world. Approved was a Declaration of international solidarity and for world peace, in which the Helms-Burton Act was condemned; and demanded were an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the U.S. government on Cuba for 60 years and the return of territory illegally occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.

The declaration calls on the international solidarity movement to denounce the illegal nature of new sanctions levied on Cuba that violate the United Nations Charter and international law, and reiterated support for the struggles of peoples around the world for sovereignty and self-determination.

“Let us rise up against imperialist barbarism, for peace and a world without exploitation,” the document concludes.

U.S. lies to justify further attacks on Cuba.

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#Blockade, #Cuba, #Imperialism, #U.S. lies, United States

I

In statements to the press on Wednesday afternoon, the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director for the United States, Johana Tablada, reiterated that “Cuba does not participate with military troops or personnel in military operations in Venezuela”.

“There are no Cuban troops in Venezuela. There are no security forces from Cuba in Venezuela. Cuba does not participate with military troops or personnel in military operations in Venezuela. These falsehoods constitute an affront to the people of Cuba, the government of Cuba, the people of Venezuela, and the international community, sovereign states and the U.S. people who deserve to know the truth,” reiterated the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director for the United States, Johana Tablada, in statements offered to the press this Wednesday, May 1.

Tablada stressed that in recent weeks the Cuban government has denounced a series of accusations, falsehoods and slander regarding the nature of the cooperative relationship between Cuba and Venezuela, headed by “a pathological liar, former ambassador John Bolton, who has a long history of conflicts with the truth,” and today is National Security Advisor to the U.S. government.

She recalled that Bolton lied about the existence of chemical weapons in Iraq, and of biological weapons in Cuba in 2002, lies that cost him his appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, following a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, which led to his own party voting against him and recommending that he be prevented from returning to public office at such a high level.