Viewing from November 2016

Why black Americans love Fidel Castro

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 30 November 2016

When it came to matching words with deeds on the topic of racial equality, the most stalwart leader of the Western hemisphere, over the course of the 20th century, was Fidel Castro. I say this as a black American who came to bond closely with Latin America as an adult, living ... read more

UN Holds Minute of Silence for Fidel

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Fidel Castro was remembered fondly by UN President Peter Thompson before the assembly went on condemn Israel's belligerence towards Palestine. Adding to the tsunami of praise and respect pouring in for Fidel Castro from around the world, the United Nations General Assembly held a minute of silence in honor of the ... read more

'Hasta Siempre, Comandante': Thousands of Cubans Mourn Fidel

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Cubans began to pay final respects Monday to the late president and revolutionary, known simply as El Comandante on the island. Tens of thousands of Cubans flocked to Havana’s Revolution Square Monday to pay final respects to revolutionary leader and former President Fidel Castro, who passed away Nov. 25 at the ... read more

Donald Trump threatens to freeze US-Cuba thaw days after Castro's death

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 29 November 2016

Donald Trump has threatened to reimpose sanctions on Cuba that had been lifted by the Obama administration, but has provided no details or explanation. The threat came – like many of the president-elect’s statements since his upset victory on 8 November – in the form of a tweet, that raised more ... read more

Under Fidel Castro, Sport Symbolised Cuba’s Strength and Vulnerability

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 29 November 2016

By JERÉ LONGMANNOV. 27, 2016 On July 24, 1959, months after coming to power, Fidel Castro took the mound at a baseball stadium in Havana to pitch an exhibition for a team of fellow revolutionaries known as Los Barbudos, the Bearded Ones. He pitched an inning or two against a team from ... read more

A giant for people on every continent of the world: Fidel Castro 1926 - 2016

Campaign News | Monday, 28 November 2016

AN OUTPOURING of tributes to legendary Cuban leader Fidel Castro was heard at a sombre and defiant Latin America solidarity gathering at the weekend, following his death at the age of 90. News of his passing broke hours before delegates, including trade unionists, politicians, academics and ambassadors, arrived at the annual ... read more

Fidel Castro's revolutionary life and legacy

News from Cuba | Sunday, 27 November 2016

Fidel Castro dedicated his life to resisting empire and the ocean of injustice and oppression inflicted in its name. His death marks the end of the man, and the birth of a legend that will endure for centuries to come.Such is the legacy that Fidel leaves behind it is impossible ... read more

Castro was ‘champion of social justice’ despite flaws, says Corbyn

Campaign News | Sunday, 27 November 2016

Fidel Castro’s stubborn defiance of the US struck a chord with many oppressed people in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, who saw parallels between Cuba’s struggle and their own. But he also inspired many on the left of British politics, for what he achieved both domestically and abroad, notably ... read more

Cuba Solidarity Campaign statement on the loss and legacy of Fidel Castro

Campaign News | Saturday, 26 November 2016

The Cuba Solidarity Campaign is deeply saddened by loss of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro Ruz who died at 10.29 on Friday 25 November, aged 90. For more than 50 years the Cuban Revolution has been an inspiration for countries fighting for independence and equality. Cuba’s remarkable achievements in health, education, ... read more

Cuba Declares 9 Days of Public Mourning to Honour Fidel Castro

News from Cuba | Saturday, 26 November 2016

Fidel's ashes will be buried next to Cuban independence hero and Latin American literary figure Jose Marti. The Cuban government announced Saturday that the public memorial service for former leader Fidel Castro will be held on Nov. 28-29, at the Jose Marti Memorial, located on the northern side of the emblematic ... read more

Fidel Castro: A Latin American Legend

News from Cuba | Saturday, 26 November 2016

The Cuban revolutionary remained influential in Latin America and across the world for half a century. Fidel was born in 1926 during a period when then-President Gerardo Machado was cutting off the traditional elite from its long-held power and defending the island’s sovereignty from the United States. As a child, Fidel was ... read more

Fidel Castro, Leader of the Cuban Revolution Dies at 90

News from Cuba | Saturday, 26 November 2016

The leader of the movement that won Cuban independence and champion of the Global South has died in Havana. Fidel Castro, former president and leader of the Cuban revolution, died Friday night at age 90, Cuban state television confirmed. Raul Castro, Cuba's President and Fidel Castro's brother, announced that Castro would ... read more

Eric Roberts (second from right) pictured with Che's daughter, Aleida Guevara(second from left), and members of Unison's NEC at the 2012 Vigil for the Miami Five

Eric Roberts: a true friend of Cuba

Campaign News | Friday, 25 November 2016

Eric Roberts, Unison President died suddenly on Thursday 24 November. Eric was a good friend of Cuba and had worked for many years to forge links between the British and Cuban trade union movement, especially between health workers in Cuba and Unison. Below are statements from CSC, the CTC and Unison's ... read more

Mandela and Fidel: Friends, Comrades and Allies

News from Cuba | Friday, 25 November 2016

The world remembers Nelson Mandela as the freedom fighter and president who liberated South Africa from apartheid. But many look back with a selected memory of how the former prisoner's story unfolded. The man who former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher branded a “terrorist” was a close personal friend and political ... read more

The Battle of Cuito Cuanavale is credited with ushering in the first round of trilateral negotiations, which secured the withdrawal of Cuban and South African troops from Angola and Namibia.

Cuba’s decisive role in African liberation

News from Cuba | Friday, 25 November 2016

It was the “most beautiful cause of mankind” that motivated Castro's intervention, writes Shannon Ebrahim. The myth that Cuba operated in Africa during the Cold War at the behest of the Soviet Union has finally been shattered. The declassification of CIA and US State Department documents and the memoirs of key ... read more

Revolutionary Cuba Trains 80k International Doctors—For Free

News from Cuba | Thursday, 24 November 2016

Cuba began awarding free scholarships to students from across the Global South in the 1960s, many of whom had been affected by conflict and war. Cuba has trained more than 80,000 doctors from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the United States, Pakistan and China in the last 50 years for free, ... read more

Obama: End the blockade before Trump presidency

Campaign News | Thursday, 24 November 2016

Trump’s elevation of pro-blockaders to his administration signals new threats to the people of Cuba, warns OLLIE HOPKINS in the Morning Star THE election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States, where he will be in office alongside Republican Party majorities in both houses of Congress, raises new ... read more

Trump adds Cuba embargo supporter to transition team

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 23 November 2016

President-elect Donald Trump Monday named Mauricio Claver-Carone, executive director of the most active pro-Cuba embargo group in Washington, to his transition team. Claver-Carone has been one of the harshest critics of President Barack Obama's efforts since December of 2014 to improve relations with Cuba, and his appointment to the Trump team ... read more

Cuban doctors in Chattar Plaim, northern Pakistan

International Medical Collaboration - Lessons from Cuba

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 23 November 2016

CUBA currently has over 50,000 health professionals working in 67 different countries.This is a greater number of health professionals than Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the Red Cross and Unicef combined. However, most people in Britain — including health professionals — are unaware of Cuba’s collaboration in health or the benefits to ... read more

How Cuba came of age on early childhood development – podcast transcript

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 23 November 2016

More than 99.5% of Cuban children attend an early childhood education programme or institution. Kary Stewart visits Havana to speak to families, doctors and teachers about a Latin American success story. Kary Stewart investigates Cuba’s highly successful programme of early childhood development (ECD). In the first years of a child’s life ... read more

Recovery efforts in Baracoa praised

News from Cuba | Friday, 18 November 2016

Despite slow progress in coconut producing areas, efforts to repair damage to agricultural facilities linked with cacao and coffee production are steadily moving ahead Baracoa, Guantánamo.— On November 16, Nancy Acosta Hernández, vice president of the Provincial Defense Council (CDP), praised the strong work ethic of residents of the municipality and ... read more

COP22: Cuba Reaffirms Commitment to Face Climate Change

News from Cuba | Thursday, 17 November 2016

Marrakesh - The head of the Cuban delegation to the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22), Jose Fidel Santana reaffirmed today Cuba''s commitment to fight the climate change. During his speech at COP22, Santana said challenges, faced with deterioration of the planet, generate an increasing sense of urgency in taking concrete ... read more

Fidel Castro greets Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang

Cuba, Vietnam Celebrate Historic Friendship with Official Visit

News from Cuba | Thursday, 17 November 2016

Cuba's relationship with Vietnam has withstood the test of time, celebrating its 56th year of common struggle against imperialism. Cuba’s revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, met with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang today to advance their historical friendship and discuss their ongoing collaboration in different areas. According to a government statement, the two ... read more

U.S. imposes new fine for trading with Cuba

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 16 November 2016

The fine was levied on National Oilwell Varco, and its subsidiaries Dreco Energy Ser­vices and NOV Elmar, by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, as part of U.S. government efforts to enforce the blockade On November 14, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed a ... read more

Cuba must shun capitalism and seek development solutions from within

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 15 November 2016

As Cuba seeks to revitalise its ailing economy, it could learn much from countries where development has gone hand in hand with state involvement Cuba is attempting serious economic reform, influenced in part by the promise of the calamitous US embargo being lifted. Cuba’s social achievements are the envy of the ... read more

Cuban Medical Brigade celebrates 18 years in Guatemala

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Health professionals from the island have returned eyesight to 156,000 Guatemalans Guatemala.— Cuban doctors, nurses, technicians, and other professionals continue sharing their love today in all corners of Guatemala, just as they first did 18 years ago. The dedication of this army of white coats, as Comandante en Jefe Fi­del Cas­tro named ... read more

Fidel Castro with Pierre Elliott and Margaret Trudeau during their state visit to Cuba in 1976

Justin Trudeau Visits Cuba 40 Years After His Father Befriended Fidel

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Late former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin's father, made fast friends with Fidel Castro when visiting Cuba in 1976. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will pay a visit to Cuba this week, retracing the steps of a historic trip made by his father and former prime minister 40 years ago, when ... read more

Trying to Bring Home Hope From Cuba in the Form of a Cancer Vaccine

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 15 November 2016

Zuby Malik is an unlikely candidate to violate international law. A 78-year-old mother of four with a crown of silver hair, she is a retired obstetrician-gynecologist with a penchant for order. But Ms. Malik is fighting for her life. After receiving a Stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer diagnosis a year ago, ... read more

New threat to Cuba following US election results

Campaign News | Wednesday, 9 November 2016

International solidarity is vital in coming months CSC is concerned about the results of the US presidential elections and what they will mean for the future of Cuba-US relations when President Obama leaves office in January 2017. The election of Donald Trump with Republican Party majorities in both houses of Congress ... read more

Productive exchanges between British and Cuban teachers

Campaign News | Wednesday, 9 November 2016

AN interest in learning about the Cuban educational system marked the visit to the island October 22 - 28 of a delegation composed of primary and secondary school teachers from the UK. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) delegation visited primary, secondary, music, sports, and special education schools in Havana and ... read more

Universal Condemnation of the US Economic Sanctions against Cuba

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 9 November 2016

For the twenty fifth consecutive year, the UN General Assembly expressed its condemnation of the economic, trade and financial blockade imposed by Washington on Cuba for more than half a century. The obsolete sanctions – which date back to the Cold War – are immoral, affecting the most vulnerable sectors ... read more

The next US president – what does it mean for Cuba and Latin America?

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 8 November 2016

The upcoming presidential election in the United States has been called one of the most important in the country’s history. Political observers are keenly watching America’s choice between a polarising outsider with no political experience or a long-established beltway insider considered too politically sophisticated. While the difference in choice seems ... read more

Cuba Leads Latin America Once Again, This Time: Girl's Rights

News from Cuba | Monday, 7 November 2016

The Caribbean island, once again, is a leading example in human rights and social equality in the world. From the high-profile rape and killing of 16-year-old Lucia Perez in Argentina to new statistics indicating that 40,000 women have fallen victim to femicide in Mexico alone since the mid-1980s, when it comes ... read more

Trump, Pence seek Cuban American vote, vow to repeal Obama's Cuba deal

News from Cuba | Saturday, 5 November 2016

Donald Trump and GOP running-mate Mike Pence this weekend made final-hour pitches in Florida to critical Cuban-American voters, vowing if elected to repeal Democratic President Obama’s executive order that removed Cuba from the federal government’s list of state sponsor terrorism. Cubans who fled Cuba for southern Florida and other parts of ... read more

The US in Guantánamo: Washington at its worst

News from Cuba | Friday, 4 November 2016

The detention centre established by the U.S. government in Cuban territory illegally occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base, will be remembered as one of the darkest chapters in Washington’s long history of human rights violations. Under the George W. Bush administration and its supposed war on terrorism, the facility began to ... read more

Time to finally end the Cuba embargo

News from Cuba | Friday, 4 November 2016

On Oct. 26, the U.S. embargo of Cuba was condemned in the United Nations by virtually every country in the world. This has become an annual ritual for the past 25 years — last year the vote was 191-2, with only Israel standing by the U.S. in opposition (this year’s ... read more

Cuban collaborators celebrate 16 years of cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Health, education, sports, culture and other sector professionals celebrated the strong ties of friendship between two revolutions CARACAS.— During a cultural event with Cuban music, dance and verse, collaborators of all the social missions in the Venezuelan capital celebrated 16 years since the signing of the Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement between the ... read more

NUT in solidarity with Cuba

Campaign News | Tuesday, 1 November 2016

A National Union of Teachers (NUT) delegation, organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, visited Cuba in October half-term to explore Cuba’s achievements in their world class education system and how international solidarity can help the island which has been under US blockade for over half a century. 22 NUT members including ... read more