Viewing from July 2017
Dame Carmen Callil writes to OU against Cuban students ban
Campaign News | Monday, 31 July 2017
The publisher, writer and Open University Honorary Doctorate, Dame Carmen Callil DBE, has written to the Open University to protest against their ban of Cuban students. "I am an honorary doctorate of the Open University, an award of which I have always been immensely proud. But I am most distressed to ... read more
ELAM graduate is named Minister for Health in Costa Rica
News from Cuba | Monday, 31 July 2017
ELAM graduate is named Minister for Health in Costa Rica Dr. Karen Mayorga Quirós, a graduate of Cuba's Latin America School of Medicine (ELAM) was appointed as the new Costa Rican Minister of Health on 29 June.Mayorga is a surgeon, with masters in Health and Quality Management. Since 2015 she has served ... read more
Three hundred UK charities hit by global crackdown on illegal funds
Campaign News | Friday, 28 July 2017
Co-Operative Bank has closed accounts for dozens of organizations in the last few years including branches of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign and the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign. Amnesty International UK in December 2016 published a report criticizing the bank's handling of those closures, which were often abruptly communicated to the charities. The ... read more
Morning Star: NUT Joins Calls Against Open University Cuba Ban
Campaign News | Friday, 28 July 2017
BRITAIN’S largest teaching union NUT joined the growing chorus of voices yesterday against the Open University’s (OU) “discriminatory” ban on Cuban students. NUT general secretary Kevin Courtney has written to OU secretary Keith Zimmerman, calling for the policy to be revised. Mr Courtney wrote: “On paper, the Open University and the National ... read more
NUT calls on the Open University to end discrimination against Cuban students
Campaign News | Thursday, 27 July 2017
"It appears that the OU not only prioritises US law over UK law, but US law over fairness and equality", the NUT general secretary wrote Kevin Courtney, National Union of Teachers (NUT) General Secretary, has written to the Open University (OU) to urge the institution to revise their “discriminatory policy” of ... read more
Comunicado de prensa:Universidad británica se ve presionada por prohibir el ingreso a estudiantes cubanos debido a la legislación del bloqueo estadounidense
Campaign News | Thursday, 27 July 2017
La Campaña de Solidaridad con Cuba (CSC) en el Reino Unido ha lanzado una campaña para abolir la prohibición de las solicitudes de ingreso de estudiantes cubanos por una de las mayores instituciones educativas del país. La Universidad Abierta (Open University) ha sido expuesta a críticas por operar una política que ... read more
Morning Star: Open University Slammed for Kowtowing to US Demands over Cuba
Campaign News | Thursday, 27 July 2017
THE Open University was forced to admit yesterday it was bowing to US pressure by begging for a licence to be allowed to enrol students from Cuba. As reported in the Star, the Open University (OU) has banned students from Cuba from enrolling on any of its courses as it feared ... read more
Cuba Solidarity Campaign response to Open University statement on its policy of banning Cuban students
Campaign News | Thursday, 27 July 2017
In response to pressure from campaigners, trade unions and MPs, the Open University has released a statement in which it attempts to justify its ban on Cuban students and seek sympathy for the “regrettable” situation it finds itself in. Far from validating its actions, the OU’s response exposes it as being ... read more
The Telegraph: Open University under investigation after it emerges that Cuban students are banned from institution
Campaign News | Wednesday, 26 July 2017
The Open University has become embroiled in a row with Cuba, after it emerged that they do not allow Cuban students to enrol on their courses. The ban - which has been in place since 2014 - came to light when a Cuban student was accepted by lecturers for a PhD ... read more
Morning Star: Call for government to step in over Open University Cuba ban
Campaign News | Wednesday, 26 July 2017
University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Sally Hunt called on the government yesterday to step in to overturn a ban on Cuban students by the Open University. She has written to Open University vice-chancellor Peter Horrocks and Universities Minister Jo Johnson to take action. She told the Star: “There is no ... read more
Cuba Kicks Off ‘National Rebellion Day’ With Revolutionary Tour
News from Cuba | Wednesday, 26 July 2017
National Rebellion Day is held every year on July 26 to mark the anniversary of the 1953 attempted attack on the Moncada Barracks led by Fidel Castro. Cuban heroes who participated in the 1953 assaults on the Moncada and Manuel de Cespedes Garrisons and the Granma yacht expedition visited the the ... read more
UCU writes to Open University and Jo Johnson in protest at Cuban student ban
Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 July 2017
UCU has written to both the vice-chancellor of the Open University and universities minister Jo Johnson to call for a ban on Cuban students attending the Open University to be overturned. The university says its policy is justified on the basis of concerns about repercussions from the United States. However, as ... read more
Guardian letter: Ban on students from Cuba is a sign of changes at the Open University
Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 July 2017
Behind the progressive rhetoric are many unwelcome developments, writes Dr Paula James Cuba Solidarity is rightly leading protests at the banning of applications from Cuban students by the Open University. It has been policy for a while now that the OU does not accept applications from Syria, Sudan, Iran, Cuba and ... read more
Morning Star: Britain's Open University Bows to US Pressure over Cuba
Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 July 2017
The Open University states that their policy that bans applications from Cuban students has been adopted to avoid repercussions from the U.S. The Open University, OU, is one of Europe's largest universities with 250,000 students, 50,000 of which are based overseas, and primarily serves students who study off-campus through long-distance courses. The ... read more
CSC update on the Open University ban on Cuban Students
Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 July 2017
People are rightly outraged at the Open University’s discriminatory ban on Cuban students. Around 1200 people have now written directly to their MPs on this matter and staff at the OU are raising the issue with their management. A letter was published in the Guardian today and various media are ... read more
Study International: Open University under probe over Cuban student ban
Campaign News | Tuesday, 25 July 2017
The distance-learning institution is being investigated by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for possible discrimination on grounds of race or nationality when it was revealed they do not allow Cubans to enrol with them. When a Cuban student’s application to study for a PhD in Teaching English as a ... read more
Union News: UCU writes to Open University over Cuba student ban
Campaign News | Monday, 24 July 2017
The UCU has written to both the vice-chancellor of the Open University and universities minister Jo Johnson to call for a ban on Cuban students attending the Open University to be overturned. The university says its policy is justified on the basis of concerns about repercussions from the United States. However, ... read more
Morning Star: 'Open' University Blacklists Cubans from its courses
Campaign News | Monday, 24 July 2017
Institution accused of blocking enrolments to bolster US embargo – in breach of British laws CUBANS have been banned from enrolling at the Open University (OU) because the institution fears repercussions from the United States, which has been illegally blockading the island for 55 years. The distance-learning university has been accused of ... read more
If Cuba can, why can't we?
Campaign News | Monday, 24 July 2017
GWEN CROSS reports on the young trade unionists’ brigade to Cuba where she saw how ordinary Cubans live under the US blockade THIS past May Day I had the privilege to represent my trade union, Unite South East region, on this year’s young trade unionists’ brigade to Cuba, organised by Cuba ... read more
Open University accused of banning Cuban students
Campaign News | Monday, 24 July 2017
The Open University has been accused of banning Cuban students from attending. The trade union-backed Cuba Solidarity Campaign, which says the policy is unethical and illegal under UK law, is asking supporters to take action to overturn it. A spokesperson said: “The Oxford University cites fear of prosecution from United States’ anti-Cuba ... read more
Press Release: Open University ban on Cuban students is unethical and illegal
Campaign News | Sunday, 23 July 2017
Press Release: 24 July 2017 One of Britain’s biggest educational institutions, The Open University, is operating a policy of barring applications from Cuban students due to US blockade laws against Cuba. The OU says it is operating a “restricted countries” list in its admissions process because it fears it may be fined ... read more
US State Department drops Cuba entirely from annual detail of terrorist activity
News from Cuba | Friday, 21 July 2017
For the first time, Cuba is not included in the US State Department's report on terrorism After spending 33 years designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. government, Cuba no longer has any activity that even merits its own report in the State Department’s annual review of terrorist threats ... read more
Social security in Cuba, a civil right
News from Cuba | Thursday, 20 July 2017
The country’s Social Security budget set to double by 2030 There are currently around two million people 60 years of age or older in Cuba. Statistics from the latest Population and Housing Census show that the island is set to have the oldest population in Latin America by 2025. Population aging is ... read more
Castro's casa: social work lessons from Cuba
News from Cuba | Tuesday, 18 July 2017
In Cuba, we see social work lessons for all societies, writes Rory Truell in the Guardian In a street of salmon and teal painted houses, once home to wealthy colonial administrators, sits the Casa del Abuelo. Now a community centre providing free day services for older inhabitants of the neighbourhood, Casa ... read more
Nelson Mandela on How Cuba Destroyed the Myth of the Invincibility of the White Oppressor
News from Cuba | Tuesday, 18 July 2017
In 1991, Nelson Mandela travelled to Cuba to thank Fidel Castro and the Cuban people for supporting the fight against apartheid and colonialism in southern Africa. "The decisive defeat of the aggressive apartheid forces [in Angola] destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor," Mandela said. "The defeat ... read more
Havana Honours Nelson Mandela on His Birthday
News from Cuba | Tuesday, 18 July 2017
Mandela found inspiration in Fidel and the Cuban Revolution of 1959, after which he led the South African resistance militia to end racial oppression. Cuba's Havana announced Wednesday a mini-marathon for the upcoming International Mandela Day slated for July 18-that marks the birth of the legendary South African leader who led ... read more
Raul Castro Denounces Trump’s Cuba Policy as a ‘Setback’
News from Cuba | Monday, 17 July 2017
The Cuban revolutionary leader said his country remains open to negotiating with the United States. Cuban President Raul Castro on Friday denounced U.S. President Donald Trump's changes to relations with Havana, saying they ignored broad public support for better relations. In his first public comment on Trump’s new Cuba policy, Castro told ... read more
Trump’s New Cuba Policy: Analysis and Response from Cuba
News from Cuba | Friday, 14 July 2017
Trump’s New Cuba Policy On June 16 2017, US President Donald Trump announced his new Cuba policy, where he outlined plans to further strengthen elements of the US extraterritorial economic, commercial and financial blockade. (Read ACN's article, ‘Trump takes US policy towards Cuba one step back’) The full details of the policy ... read more
Date set for new U.S. regulations on Cuba to be published
News from Cuba | Friday, 14 July 2017
WASHINGTON.— The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury will publish new regulations regarding Cuba on September 15, reported the U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council, July 10. The announcement appeared on the organisation’s Twitter account. The U.S.-Cuba Economic and Trade Council is New York ... read more
Striving to maintain advances in Venezuela
News from Cuba | Tuesday, 11 July 2017
A Cuban internationalist doctor heading a medical centre in Miranda talks about the achievements of the Bolivarian Revolution which, despite facing a non-conventional war, continues to resist MIRANDA, Venezuela.— The heat was stifling at the Manguito Siete High-Tech Medical Centre (CAT), in Paz Castillo municipality, located in the western part of ... read more
Cuban parliamentarians reject European Parliament’s Non-Legislative Resolution regarding the island
News from Cuba | Friday, 7 July 2017
On July 5, the European Parliament endorsed a legislative resolution for the provisional implementation of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Cuba, signed on December 12, 2016; which aims to promote the development of diplomatic and economic relations between the EU and the Cuba. However, ... read more
Cuba strongly rejects European Parliament Resolution
News from Cuba | Friday, 7 July 2017
HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 6 (ACN) The Cuban People´s Power Assembly issued an statement strongly rejecting a Resolution on Cuba approved by the European Parliament this July 5 in Strasburg, France. Cuban News Agency reproduces the full text on the Declaration: Declaration of the Commission on International Relations of the National People's Power ... read more
European Parliament approves provisional implementation of EU-Cuba agreement
News from Cuba | Thursday, 6 July 2017
The pact, which puts an end to the so-called "Common Position", was approved by the European Parliament On July 5, the European Parliament endorsed a legislative resolution for the provisional implementation of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union (EU) and Cuba, signed on December 12, 2016; which ... read more
