Cuba Archives - Page 3 of 24

A Socialist Survival Tactic: Cuba’s Worker Parliaments

28Apr

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba

A Socialist Survival Tactic: Cuba’s Worker Parliaments

BY EVE OTTENBERG Photograph Source: Keith Ruffles – CC BY 3.0 Defending itself from the extremely hostile bully to the north is old hat and a constant activity for Cuba. This was especially so, after the collapse of the USSR and European socialism roughly 35 years ago nearly crushed Cuba, which immediately lost its chief trading partners, while the U.S. blockade strangled it. Forced to turn inward, Cuba strove to improve its productivity and workforce, without damaging the twin foundations of the revolution, education and health care. That it did so, that this small, besieged nation turned a dangerous even deadly situation around, happened thanks to the efforts of committed revolutionaries like Pedro Ross, who helped found the workers’ parliaments – specifically to save the...

24Apr

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba, Politics, Venezuela

Marxism and Colonialism

Marxism and Colonialism: An Interview with Vijay Prashad BY JOSÉ ERNESTO NOVAEZ Photograph Source: Soman – CC BY-SA 2.5 Vijay Prashad is above all a militant. His intellectual work is an attempt to understand and respond to some of the great challenges of our time. Of Indian origin, this Marxist historian has displayed an intense vital activity that has taken him to numerous countries, always in defense of the cause of humanity.He currently works as executive director of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a task that alternates with his work as a teacher and researcher at various universities, as well as with a prolific work in which we can highlight texts such as The Darker Nations, The Poorer Nations and the most recent Th...

17Mar

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba

The Havana Syndrome Case Cracked

BY ROGER HARRIS The U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba. Photograph Source: U.S. Department of State – Public Domain The Havana Syndrome was first reported in Cuba in 2016. The mysterious malady initially afflicted US embassy staff in Havana, especially those attached to intelligence missions. It then spread to Canadian embassy officials. The sudden headaches, debilitating dizziness, and hearing excruciatingly painful sounds struck both at work and at home. Oddly, the Cubans themselves appeared immune to the pathology. Soon other cases of what the US Defense Department called “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs) were reported in Russia, China, Colombia, Uzbekistan, and then even in the US. This mass psychogenic illness was experienced mostly by US government spies, diplomat...

13Mar

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba

A Socialist Survival Tactic: Cuba’s Worker Parliaments

BY EVE OTTENBERG Photograph Source: Keith Ruffles – CC BY 3.0 Defending itself from the extremely hostile bully to the north is old hat and a constant activity for Cuba. This was especially so, after the collapse of the USSR and European socialism roughly 35 years ago nearly crushed Cuba, which immediately lost its chief trading partners, while the U.S. blockade strangled it. Forced to turn inward, Cuba strove to improve its productivity and workforce, without damaging the twin foundations of the revolution, education and health care. That it did so, that this small, besieged nation turned a dangerous even deadly situation around, happened thanks to the efforts of committed revolutionaries like Pedro Ross, who helped found the workers’ parliaments – specifically to save the...

Cuba is Not a State-Sponsor of Terrorism

24Feb

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba

Cuba is Not a State-Sponsor of Terrorism

BY NOAM CHOMSKY – VIJAY PRASHAD Photo by Ricardo IV Tamayo Cuba, a country of 11 million people, has been under an illegal embargo by the United States government for over six decades. Despite this embargo, Cuba’s people have been able to transcend the indignities of hunger, ill health, and illiteracy, all three being social plagues that continue to trouble much of the world. Due to its innovations in health care delivery, for instance, Cuba has been able to send its medical workers to other countries, including during the pandemic, to provide vital assistance. Cuba exports its medical workers, not terrorism. In the last days of the Trump administration, the U.S. government returned Cuba to its state sponsors of terrorism list. This was a vindictive act. Trump s...

Fidel Castro’s legacy lives on as Cuba keeps sending ‘doctors, not bombs’ all across the world

19Feb

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba

Fidel Castro’s legacy lives on as Cuba keeps sending ‘doctors, not bombs’ all across the world

The iconic revolutionary leader stepped down as president 15 years ago, but his nation sticks to his course Daniel Kovalik teaches International Human Rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and is author of the recently-released book Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention & Resistance. FILE PHOTO. Cuba's leader Fidel Castro speaks on International Workers Day in Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba. © AP Photo/Javier Galeano In the immediate aftermath of the recent devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, Cuba dispatched medical teams to the affected areas to provide care to victims. Their departure was marked by a farewell ceremony, which featured a large photo of Fidel Castro. It was quite appropriate, for the inter...

What’s Driving ‘Irregular’ Cuban Emigration to the United States?

6Feb

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba, USA

What’s Driving ‘Irregular’ Cuban Emigration to the United States?

BY HELEN YAFFE Photo by Ricardo IV Tamayo In 2022, an unprecedented number of Cubans arrived in the United States through irregular, or ‘illegal’ channels. Historically the United States has encouraged and weaponised Cuban emigration. Cuban migrants fuel US propaganda about the failure of socialism and about political persecution and the lack of freedom and human rights on the island. However, it is an issue which can spiral out of control, forcing US administrations into dialogue with the Cuban government in the past. The current surge is creating political problems for President Biden as his opponents exploit the issue for electoral gain. As a result, in January 2023 the administration introduced legislation that it hopes will halt the wave of ‘illegal’ Cuban entrants and...

The U.S. Blockade of Cuba Hurts Medical Patients in Both Countries

2Feb

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba, USA

The U.S. Blockade of Cuba Hurts Medical Patients in Both Countries

BY NATALIA MARQUES Photograph Source: Susan Ruggles – CC BY 2.0 Scientists in Cuba believe that the breakthroughs they have made in the health care and technology sectors should be used to save and improve lives beyond the country’s borders. This is why the island nation has developed important scientific and medical partnerships with organizations and governments across the globe, including with those in Mexico, Palestine, Angola, Colombia, Iran, and Brazil. However, such collaborations are difficult due to the blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States, which has now been in place for the last six decades. In a conference, “Building Our Future,” held in Havana in November 2022, which brought together youth from...

Cuba Says Biden Applies Blockade Even More Aggressively Than His Predecessors

16Jan

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba, USA

Cuba Says Biden Applies Blockade Even More Aggressively Than His Predecessors

Biden has maintained many of Trump’s sanctions against Cuba. He must fulfill his promise to reverse Trump’s actions.By Marjorie Cohn , TRUTHOUT A demonstrator holds up the Cuban flag while protesting in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2021. “[T]he current U.S. government, the one of Joseph Biden, of all those that the Cuban Revolution has known, is the one that has most aggressively and effectively applied the economic blockade,” Carlos Fernández de Cossío, vice minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, declared in a speech on December 14. “It is the one that punishes the most, the one that causes the most damage to the daily life of Cubans and the economy as a whole.” Fernández de Cossío cited the disruption of Cuba’s fuel receipt by sea, and e...

Left Resurgence in Latin America and Tasks Ahead

6Dec

By Shoah - The Palestinian HolocaustNo Comments

Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Left Resurgence in Latin America and Tasks Ahead

LATIN AMERICA: LEFT RESURGENCE, FAR RIGHT THREATS Recent developments in Latin America epitomise the global struggle between a resurgent left, and a powerful, internationally linked far-right, between visions of social justice and environmental protection, and a destructive corporate capitalism bent on escalating plunder. The rise to power of left wing political forces in Chile and Colombia, and the hair's-breadth defeat of the fascist Bolsonaro by Lula's Worker's Party in Brazil have been deeply heartening for progressive observers across the world. At the same time, there are many complexities to this picture including the limitations of 'post-neoliberal' welfare measures based on extractivism and high commodity prices, continuing deeply embedded structural racism and exclusion o...