Viewing from August 2020

School year to start in Cuba under strict hygiene measures

News from Cuba | Monday, 31 August 2020

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel has urged for adopting the most rigorous hygiene measures in every educational institution for the resumption of the school year next September 1. In a meeting to assess preparedness for this step, Education Minister Ena Elsa Velazquez said that schools are being evaluated to certify their ... read more

Cuban FM denounces that United States attempts against peace in Latin America

News from Cuba | Friday, 28 August 2020

Bruno Rodriguez, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, denounced today that the government of the United States violates the principles of peace in Latin America and the Caribbean.In his official Twitter account, the Cuban FM said that the peoples of the region have committed to fostering relations of friendship and ... read more

Deputy Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum thanks Cuba´s solidarity

News from Cuba | Thursday, 27 August 2020

Dr. Filimon Manoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), thanked Cuba for its solidarity, especially during the confrontation with Covid-19 and its willingness to cooperate with the region. Manoni expressed his gratitude for the Cuban solidarity when he received Carlos Manuel Rojas, Cuba´s Ambassador in Fiji, at ... read more

Havana Announces Curfew to Curb New Coronavirus Peak

News from Cuba | Thursday, 27 August 2020

Havana's governor announced an overnight curfew, ban on travel from the Cuban capital to other provinces and greater restrictions on the circulation of vehicles on 27 August in a bid to curb a new peak in coronavirus cases. The new measures will come into effect on Sept. 1 for 15 days, ... read more

Panama abandons Cuban doctors plan under US pressure

News from Cuba | Thursday, 27 August 2020

Panama's government this week abandoned plans to bring in Cuban doctors to help combat the worst coronavirus outbreak in Central America, under pressure from the United States and local unions. Two weeks ago, President Laurentino Cortizo said his government was "trying to come to an agreement" with Cuba to bring in ... read more

Why Cuban doctors deserve the Nobel Peace Prize

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 25 August 2020

Five years ago, I read the story of Dr. Félix Báez, a Cuban doctor who had worked in West Africa to stop the spread of Ebola. Dr. Báez was one of 165 Cuban doctors of the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade who went to Sierra Leone to fight a terrible ... read more

What media moguls don’t want you to know: Youtube and Google attack Cuba and Venezuela

News from Cuba | Saturday, 22 August 2020

AUG. 21 UPDATE: YouTube restored Mesa Redonda’s account today affirming the account did not infringe on the Conditions of Service. No explanation was given. But as President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted, “Those who don’t want the world to know about our vaccine blocked Cuban digital channels. Anyway, no one has been vaccinated ... read more

COVID-19 Vaccine: Cuba's Among Top 30 Worldwide Candidates

News from Cuba | Thursday, 20 August 2020

Cuban science authorities confirmed on 20 August that the vaccine candidate FINLAY-FR-1 would be commercialized under the name of SOBERANA once it finishes the clinical trials successfully, which are slated to start on August 24. During an interview with national television program Mesa Redonda, Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV) director Vicente Vérez ... read more

Cuba to Start a Clinical Trial for a COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate

News from Cuba | Tuesday, 18 August 2020

Cuba advances in the development of its COVID-19 vaccine as the country already has four vaccine candidates and one of them has already been approved for clinical trials. The Finlay Vaccine Institute (IFV) registered a clinical trial for one of its vaccine candidates on August 13 in the Cuban Public Registry ... read more

British cruise company confirms Havana as a base port for the 2021/22 season in the Caribbean

News from Cuba | Friday, 14 August 2020

UK-based cruise company Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, has announced that Havana will be the embarkation and disembarkation based for the cruise ship MS Braemar during the ship's 2021/22 season in the Caribbean. “Using Havana as our new home port allows us to really show the Caribbean in all its glory. It ... read more

The Cuban who saved Havana

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 12 August 2020

Eusebio Leal Spengler, tributed with rescuing the Cuban capitol from decay, died aged 77 in August 2020. Leal was City Historian of Havana, the ‘City of Columns’, as Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier liked to call it. A Doctor of Historical Sciences (University of Havana), he was a specialist in archaeological science ... read more

Cubans bid farewell to Eusebio Leal Spengler, the saviour of Havana

News from Cuba | Wednesday, 12 August 2020

Fidel Castro embraces Spengler as Mexico’s President Vicente Fox applauds. Photograph: Reuters The old town of Havana has sheltered many famous faces over its 500 years, Alexander von Humboldt and Ernest Hemingway among them, but few more loved than Eusebio Leal Spengler, who died on Friday. The city historian could be seen ... read more

Motion to congratulate Cuban women's organisation tabled in the Scottish parliament

Campaign News | Wednesday, 12 August 2020

Member of the Scottish parliament and Convenor of the Cross Party Group on Cuba, Elaine Smith MSP, has laid down a motion in the Scottish parliament congratulating the Federation of Cuban Women on its 60th anniversary and the acheivements that women have made in Cuba since the Cuban Revolution in ... read more

Fighting for women’s rights - 60 years of the FMC

Campaign News | Tuesday, 11 August 2020

As the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) approaches 60, Natasha Hickman looks back on its achievements and the struggles still to be won. The history of Cuba’s independence struggle and the 1959 Revolution is peppered with courageous women who receive little recognition outside of Cuba. Mariana Grajales, known as the “mother ... read more

The misrepresentative and flawed Human Rights Watch report on Cuba

Campaign News | Tuesday, 11 August 2020

Statement from the Cuba Nobel Organizing Committee In July 2020 Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a spurious report entitled “Cuba: Repressive Rules for Doctors Working Abroad,” repeating shameful and already debunked accusations that Cuban medical missions are a form of human trafficking because the personnel are alledgedly subjected to “regulations and ... read more

Cuba is getting a crash course in internet culture — and it’s changing everything

News from Cuba | Monday, 10 August 2020

Cubans didn’t spend their days glued to digital screens, posting carefully curated versions of their lives online. They didn’t experience a near-constant state of FOMO (fear of missing out) if they felt their own lives didn’t measure up to what was showing up in their social media feeds. They met with ... read more

Cuba launches its One-Stop Foreign Trade Window

News from Cuba | Sunday, 9 August 2020

In its first phase, the tool is able to group 210 regulations related to foreign trade activity, and reduces by 50% the steps required for business registration.Cuba launched its One-Stop Foreign Trade Window (VUCE) this Thursday, a tool to facilitate the management of national and foreign businesspeople who carry out ... read more

Online Meeting: THE REVOLUTION WITHIN THE REVOLUTION - Celebrating 60 years of the Federation of Cuban Women

Campaign News | Saturday, 8 August 2020

As the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) celebrates its 60th anniversary, join us live to look back on its major achievements & future challenges on Tuesday 11 August at 6.30pm. Join the Zoom Meeting at: https://zoom.us/j/97419990728?pwd=cFlSZ0duSmZZYlZFQk1vekhUNytKQT09 Meeting ID: 974 1999 0728 Passcode: VivaCuba Or watch live on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/SM4Yzpqwfbo Guest speakers: Teresa Amarelle ... read more

USAID: $3 million to expose “exploited” sex workers and other laborers in Cuba

News from Cuba | Thursday, 6 August 2020

U.S. officials on Wednesday announced plans to spend up to $3 million for a “development program” aimed at “exposing exploitation” of Cuban laborers, including hotel employees, sex workers and others who are ostensibly part of the country’s hospitality and tourism industry. The U.S. Agency for International Development will award as many ... read more

   Sen. Marco Rubio, seen here discussing Latin America in 2019, is widely known in Washington as a major force behind the president’s policies in the region. | Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo

Why Trump is focused on making Marco Rubio happy

News from Cuba | Monday, 3 August 2020

The Florida senator plays an outsize role in Latin America — and he makes little secret of it.When President Donald Trump took office, he passed down one key instruction on how to handle Latin America: Make Marco Rubio happy. Rubio, a Florida Republican and son of Cuban immigrants, had already built ... read more

CONGRESS PUT THE BRAKES ON CUBA RELIEF TO PROTECT FRONT-LINE DEMOCRAT

News from Cuba | Monday, 3 August 2020

LAST WEEK, several House Democrats quietly killed an attempt to roll back aspects of the Trump administration’s sanctions on Cuba, which have exacerbated the economic fallout of the pandemic and hit the country with severe food and medicine shortages — to protect a front-line Democrat. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., had proposed ... read more

Cuba and the U.K. Start a Joint Venture to Develop Medicines

News from Cuba | Monday, 3 August 2020

Cuba's BioCubaFarma and the British. company SG Innovations Monday announced the creation of the company BioFarma Innovations for the production and sale of innovative medicines in Europe.The initiative seeks to provide access to a portfolio of biopharmaceutical products that are protected by BioCubaFarma patents.BioFarma Innovations will expand its distribution networks ... read more