CSC news

Viewing from February 2016

U.S. Company Fined for Violating Blockade of Cuba

News from Cuba | Monday, 29 February 2016

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 29 (acn) The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed a fine on the U.S. company Halliburton for violating regulations of the blockade against Cuba, the Cuban Foreign Ministry confirmed on Saturday. This new extraterritorial sanction demonstrates how the U.S. economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba continues to ... read more

Stars add support to Cuban art show

Campaign News | Monday, 29 February 2016

Actors Emma Thompon and Peter Capaldi have lent their support to the Cuban art exhibition ¡PRESENTE! which is due in the UK in October. They join British actors Frances de la Tour and Maxine Peake who have also given support to the project.“Contemporary Cuban art is as intense and vivid as ... read more

US Has 'No Plans' to Return Guantanamo Territory to Cuba

News from Cuba | Friday, 26 February 2016

Days after President Obama announced plans to close the controversial prison, Secretary of State John Kerry said the land is not headed back to Cuba. Despite new U.S. plans to close Guantanamo seven years after President Barack Obama promised to shut down the military detention facility, Secretary of State John Kerry ... read more

Even as Cuban relations warm, Obama renews state of emergency against Cuba

News from Cuba | Friday, 26 February 2016

WASHINGTON — President Obama renewed a 20-year-old state of national emergency to enforce the blockade against Cuba Wednesday, even as he plans a trip to the island nation next month to continue talks on normalising relations between the two countries. Obama's Proclamation 9398 continues the blockade first instituted by President Clinton ... read more

Republican Presidential Candidates Want Guantanamo to Stay Open

News from Cuba | Friday, 26 February 2016

Despite widespread criticism from human rights advocates, the U.S. Republican candidates oppose closing the Guantanamo detention facility. President Barack Obama announced plans to close the controversial U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay Tuesday, hoping to honor a unfulfilled campaign promise in his last year in office. Previous attempts to close the facility ... read more

¡PRESENTE! Contemporary Art from Cuba

Campaign News | Thursday, 25 February 2016

¡PRESENTE! Contemporary Art from Cuba October 2016, London Help bring a young Cuban artist to Britain for the show The Music Fund for Cuba, in collaboration with the Cuban Ministry of Culture and the GX Gallery, is organising a major exhibition of art from Cuba in London this Autumn. They need your ... read more

Will The Thaw In US-Cuban Relations Chill Cuba’s Revolutionary Zeal?

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 24 February 2016

HAVANA, Cuba — The December 2014 announcement that Cuba and the United States would be normalising relations was met with both eagerness and suspicion. The diplomatic negotiations which led to the release of the remaining three members of the Cuban Five being held in the U.S. in exchange for USAID ... read more

Ramón Castro Ruz dies

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 24 February 2016

On the morning of Tuesday, February 23, compañero Ramón Castro Ruz passed away in Havana aged 91. He was born in Birán, in the present province of Holguín, on October 14, 1924. In 1953 he was imprisoned by the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship. During the revolutionary struggle he worked with the July ... read more

The latest victim of the blockade: U.S. fines another French company

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 24 February 2016

French company CGG Services S.A. received a fine of $614,250 for the use of spare parts and equipment of U.S. origin on oil and gas exploration vessels operating in Cuban territorial waters WASHINGTON.—The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed a fine on French company CGG Services S.A. for violations of U.S. ... read more

Obama Tries One Last Time to Close Guantanamo detention centre

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 24 February 2016

President Obama is making his case to the nation to finally close the much maligned detention centre in his final year in office. President Barack Obama presented a four-point plan Tuesday to “close Guantanamo once and for all” the president said. The plan now lies in the control of Congress to ... read more

Like the Last President to Visit Cuba, Obama Seeks a Change

News from Cuba | Monday, 22 February 2016

WASHINGTON — Imagine an American president in his final year in office, making a historic and carefully choreographed trip to Cuba to extend a hand of friendship to an island neighbour after decades of hostility and mistrust. Long before President Obama had the idea, Calvin Coolidge made the journey to Cuba ... read more

Cuba and Latin America: Zone of Peace and Nuclear Weapon Free

News from Cuba | Monday, 22 February 2016

In 1967 Latin America and the Caribbean agreed the Treaty of Tlatelolco banning nuclear weapons from the whole region. This commitment was reaffirmed last month, January 2016, by all 33 countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC). The CELAC Special Declaration 21: ‘On the commitment to advance ... read more

Cuba to Raise US Occupation of Guantanamo During Obama Visit

News from Cuba | Monday, 22 February 2016

The 50-year U.S. blockade on Cuba, the return of Guantanamo Bay, and human rights will all be considered when the two presidents meet. A senior Cuban official confirmed this week that topics such as the blockade on Cuba, the status of U.S.-occupied Guantanamo Bay, and human rights issues will be up ... read more

Malmierca: Obama has support to continue dismantling the blockade

News from Cuba | Friday, 19 February 2016

WASHINGTON.— President Barack Obama has the necessary support to continue dismantling the blockade, the main obstacle to improving relations between Cuba and the United States, Cuban Foreign Trade and Investment Minister, Rodrigo Malmierca, assured his U.S. counterpart Penny Pritzker in Washington yesterday. Malmierca and Pritzker inaugurated the second meeting between officials ... read more

President Obama to visit Cuba

News from Cuba | Friday, 19 February 2016

Normalisation of relations is dependent on the resolution of key outstanding issues, including the lifting of the blockade, and the return to Cuba of the territory illegally occupied by the Guantánamo Naval Base. THE Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations Director General for the United States, Josefina Vidal, confirmed during a press ... read more

Obama to Make Historic Visit to Cuba

News from Cuba | Thursday, 18 February 2016

The restoration of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States is widely seen as one of Obama's most important legacies as U.S. president – but the blockade remains in place U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Cuba on March 21-22, marking the first trip by a sitting president since 1928. It ... read more

Cuba and US Sign Deal on Commercial Flights

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 16 February 2016

The deal will allow for up to 110 flights per day from the United States to Cuba. Commercial flights between Cuba and the United States are set to begin soon with the two countries about to sign a civil aviation deal Tuesday that will allow airlines to freely travel to Cuba ... read more

Cuba hosts the Pope and Russian patriarch’s first meeting in nearly 1,000 years

News from Cuba | Monday, 15 February 2016

Pope Francis has met the head of the Russian Orthodox church, Patriarch Kirill, in Cuba. The meeting marks the first encounter in history between a Roman Catholic pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch in the nearly 1,000 years since Eastern Orthodoxy split with Rome. The two religious leaders met at a ... read more

4 Million Books Up for Grabs in Cuba at 25th Annual International Book Fair

News from Cuba | Monday, 15 February 2016

Cuba inaugurated its 25th annual International Book Fair on Thursday in Havana — a major event in the Spanish-speaking literary scene — with 4 million books on sale from 37 countries. The featured country, Uruguay, celebrated the "friendship, solidarity and brotherhood" between the two leftist nations and honoured the role that ... read more

Infographic: What President Obama can - and cannot - do to change the blockade against Cuba

News from Cuba | Friday, 12 February 2016

Despite the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba, the blockade remains in place. This ACN infographic lays out what President Obama can do with his executive powers to change the blockade and what has to be done by Congress. The CSC website has up to date information and ... read more

U.S. President can modify blockade of Cuba

News from Cuba | Friday, 12 February 2016

The same powers used by John F. Kennedy to establish the blockade can be used today to dismantle it Fifty-four years ago, February 3, 1962, the signature of President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office was enough to order the complete blockade of Cuba, which went into effect four days ... read more

Almost 400 liver transplants in Cuba in 29 years

News from Cuba | Friday, 12 February 2016

Cuba has carried out nearly 400 liver transplants since it first began the procedure in 1986. Dr Jose Antonio Copo Jorge, head of the group of abdominal organ transplants at Hermanos Ameijeiras Surgical Hospital (HHA), told ACN that the results are similar to those of the world’s wealthiest nations, despite the ... read more

Organic honey is a sweet success for Cuba as other bee populations suffer

News from Cuba | Friday, 12 February 2016

When the Caribbean state was no longer able to afford pesticides – which have been linked with declining bee populations – it made a virtue out of a necessity Long known for its cigars and rum, Cuba has added organic honey to its list of key agricultural exports, creating a buzz ... read more

Win flights to Cuba in 2016

Campaign News | Wednesday, 10 February 2016

With a fabulous first prize of two return flights to Cuba, why not try your luck in the CSC blockade buster raffle today? By your raffle tickets - 5 for £10 here The draw is a fantastic way to support CSC and hopefully win flights or one of the great runners up ... read more

Revealed: The secret international blacklist that can lock you out of your bank account

Campaign News | Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Liberal Democrats, Bank of England advisers and Cuba fans have all found themselves locked out of financial services we take for granted. Here's why He’s the founder of an anti-extremism organisation. He’s advised prime ministers on the best way to counter radical Islam. He also stood for election as a Liberal Democrat. So ... read more

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs thanks Cuba for support

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 9 February 2016

Cuban Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, held talks yesterday with his Palestinian counterpart, Riad al-Malki, who is currently on an official visit to the island, where he will preside a meeting of Palestinian ambassadors to the Americas. “It was an open, friendly and frank meeting, in which we discussed the ways ... read more

Cuban health workers in Venezuela on alert to threat of Zika virus

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 9 February 2016

CARACAS.—Alert to the threat of the Zika virus, which is spreading across Latin America, Cuban health collaborators in Venezuela are stepping up protective measures to prevent infection, while promoting actions within the population to tackle the mosquito that spreads the disease. In their own residences, as well as the institutions where ... read more

Cuba develops biopharmaceuticals to treat cancer

News from Cuba | Thursday, 4 February 2016

Cuba currently has a total of 28 drugs registered, or in various stages of investigation, for the treatment of cancer, which include therapeutic vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, interferons and peptides, developed in different scientific institutions linked to the country’s biotechnology sector. Dr. Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, of the Centre of Molecular Immunology, reported ... read more

Study Confirms that US Introduced Dengue Fever in Cuba in 1981

News from Cuba | Thursday, 4 February 2016

New scientific research from Cuba has confirmed that the 1981 Dengue fever outbreak in the country was deliberately introduced by the United States. Cuba has always maintained that the Dengue epidemic which caused 158 deaths, including 101 children, was was caused by the US. In an article in Cuban magazine Bohemia ... read more

Zika Is Circling Cuba. What Will Happen When It Lands?

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 3 February 2016

The spread of Zika warns of cataclysm to come. Rising temperatures have increased the range of the Aedes mosquito that carries the pathogen, initially concentrated in Brazil and now “spreading explosively” through the Americas. Zika leads to, among other things, severe birth defects; in Brazil, a “million people have been ... read more

U.S. fines company for violating blockade

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 3 February 2016

First such fine levied in 2016, for $140,000 The United States government has imposed a fine on a company for allegedly violating the economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, according to a statement released by the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations (Minrex), January 29. This past January 20, just before new ... read more