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Cuba Haiti

Cuba, Haiti, the Helms-Burton and the crime of insubordination

Cuba, Haiti, the Helms-Burton and the crime of insubordination
Empires never forgive rebels; an insubordinate rebel plants a seed that can sprout many generations later

Author: Raúl Antonio Capote | informacion@granmai.cu
june 23, 2022 09:06:21

It took Haiti 122 years to pay off its debt of independence, a neocolonial strategy that remains in place and leads to chronic underdevelopment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Juvenal Balán

Haiti was the first free nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, the first nation in the modern world emerging from a slave revolt, and the second most long-standing republic in the Western Hemisphere. The Haitian people overthrew the French colonialists in 1804, abolished slavery, and declared independence.
Their revolution was worse nightmare of colonial powers with possessions in the Caribbean – the ghost of Saint-Domingue disturbed the sleep of slave holders for years.
The imperial powers imposed a rigorous cultural, economic and political blockade on the new Haiti, to prevent the extension of its example.
Two decades after independence was proclaimed, in 1825, French warships returned, blockaded the young nation and issued an ultimatum: pay compensation or prepare for war.
An emissary from King Charles X delivered the message. France demanded payment for properties confiscated by the Haitian Revolution: 150 million gold francs, some 21 billion dollars today, payable in five installments.
According to the colonial empire, the young nation was obliged to compensate French planters for the property and slaves they had lost.
On April 17, 1825, Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer signed the Royal Decree presented by Charles X, who promised French diplomatic recognition in exchange for a 50% reduction of tariffs on French imports and the outrageous compensation.
For Haiti the figure was impossible to pay, given the conditions of its economy, ravaged by the French naval blockade and a devastating war, but the “generous” colonialists made a proposal “they couldn’t turn down.”
A group of French banks offered Haiti a loan to cover the compensation, resulting in a double debt that, along with the interest, bled the small country to death, over the course of the 122 years required to pay off its “independence debt.”
What’s more, The New York Times recounts in a recent five-part series of articles, when the U.S. army invaded Haiti in the summer of 1915, a group of Marines entered the national bank and stole some 500,000 dollars in gold, that days later made its way to a Wall Street bank vault.
The United States, using the financial and political chaos the island was experiencing as a pretext, occupied the country militarily, continuing its longstanding policy in the region. Haiti was to be governed by a U.S. military proconsul.
For more than ten years, a quarter of all Haitian income went to pay off debts to the National City Bank, incurred by the country to cover the expense of “assistance from the U.S. government,” according to The Times.
ANOTHER ISLAND DARES TO CHALLENGE THE EMPIRE

In January 1959, another small Caribbean island, Cuba, defying U.S. imperial power, declared itself the first free territory of the Americas and dared to announce its decision to build the first socialist nation in the hemisphere.

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Three times more tourists than last year arrived in Cuba

Through the month of May, three times more tourists than last year arrived in Cuba
In 2020, tourism in the country declined to a level last seen in 1996, when the landmark first million international visitors arrived, and in 2021 only 356,453 vacationers visited

Author: Liz Conde Sánchez | internet@granma.cu
june 23, 2022 10:06:12

Cuba currently has available more than 80,000 hotel rooms and 20,000 in private B&B’s.










Photo: Ariel Cecilio Lemus


After a precipitous decline caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other international issues, the Cuban tourism sector is recovering, and evidence of the rebirth is the number of visitors who have arrived through the month of May: 1,070,350, three times more than this period in 2021.
The news was announced by tourism expert DSc José Luis Perelló, during the XV International Seminar on Journalism and Tourism, which took place in Havana.
The researcher recalled that, in 2020, tourism faced a crisis never before seen, both in depth and scope, since the impact of COVID-19, aggravated by the Trump administration’s intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade, and led to a decline to a level last seen in 1996, when the landmark first million international visitors arrived. In 2021, only 356,453 vacationers arrived.
In 2020, 1,085,920 tourists visited the nation, well below the four million who arrived annually between 2016 and 2019.
In 2021, the expert continued, the extremely negative impacts of the pandemic and the economic crisis affected most countries; while, due to a temporary situation, travel to the Caribbean by Russians increased, mainly to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Other emissary markets tightened travel restrictions, which further limited tourism to the Island, with the arrival of only 356,453 vacationers that year.
A recovery process began in 2022, although far from our potential. In January, the main emissary market continued to be Russia; but during February, March and April, Canada (historically the origin of the greatest number of tourists to Cuba) once again occupied the first position, Perelló noted.
He emphasized that Cuba currently has available more than 80,000 hotel rooms and 20,000 in private B&B’s, with a projection of 95.000 rooms in 2030, of which 28% will be in Havana.

Cuban Medicine

BioCubaFarma broadens collaboration with Belarus

BioCubaFarma broadens collaboration with Belarus
BioCubaFarma deputy director Eulogio Pimentel signs memorandum of understanding to expand cooperation with the Eurasian nation in the biopharmaceutical sector

Author: Internacional news staff | informacion@granmai.cu
june 23, 2022 10:06:01

The Cuban delegation was led by Dr. Eulogio Pimental Vázquez, deputy director of BioCubaFarma.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: BioCubaFarma
Belarussian Minister of Health Dimitri Pinevich received a BioCubaFarma delegation, June 21, visiting the country to discuss efforts to further develop commercial and scientific cooperation in the production of biopreparations and medications, reported Cubaminrex.
Pinevich highlighted the two countries great potential in this field, noting the need to strengthen the current Compensated Exchange Agreement between Cuba and Belarus.
During the Cuban delegation’s stay in the Eurasian nation, deputy director of BioCubaFarma Eulogio Pimentel signed a memorandum of understanding to expand collaboration in the biopharmaceutical sector with the chief executive of the Belarussian BelFarProm holding company.
Cuban scientists also met with pharmaceutical manufacturers to analyze the prospects for bilateral cooperation in the production of medicines and medical devices, and discussed proposals to expand cooperation, including the possible use of Cuban anti-COVID vaccines in Belarus, the Cuban state enterprise group BioCubaFarma reported on social media.

US attempts coup d’etat

Criminal Proceedings Related to July 11, 2021: Sedition; Sabotage; Robbery with Force and Violence

Attorney General’s Office details progress of criminal proceedings related to July 11, 2021, disturbances
Given that the established time period has elapsed for defendants and prosecutors to file appeals, and those submitted have been resolved, the People’s Courts reports that 76 verdicts are now final

Author: Granma | internet@granma.cu
june 21, 2022 11:06:37

 

 

 

 

 



Photo: FGR
Given that the established time period has elapsed for defendants and prosecutors to file sentencing appeals, in exercise of the right that legally assists them, or because these have been resolved, we report that, to date, the Prosecutor’s Office has been notified by the People’s Courts of 76 verdicts which are now final.
The Attorney General’s Office continues to provide the people information on the legal response to the events of July 11, 2021, which threatened the constitutional order and stability of our socialist state.
A total of 381 personshave beenconvicted, including 16 youth between the ages of 16 and 18, mainly for crimes of sedition; sabotage; robbery with force and violence; attempt; contempt and public disorder.
A total of 297 defendants were sentenced to prison terms, based on the seriousness and circumstances in which the events occurred and their personal conduct. For the crime of sedition, 36 were convicted and sentenced to between five and 25 years in prison.
The prison terms of 84defendants were substituted with alternative sentences that do not imply their confinement in prison, in principle,dependent on good behavior, providing instead correctional work with or without time in prison and limitation of freedom. Fifteen of the youth between the ages of 16 and 18 were included in this decision.
It is important to point out that the breach of obligations dictated by the Court in its sentences or the commission of a new criminal act, will result in the revocation of the substitute sentence and the obligation to serve the remainingportion of the sentence originally set, in prison.
In the sentences handed down, the People’s Courts established, in each case, the civil responsibility to compensatethose injured as a result of the acts committed, and the reparation of property damage caused.
Underway at this time isthe process of executing the final sentencesestablished, and ensuringthroughout their duration that educational, coercive and preventive goals are achieved, including the reinforcement of values, rectification ofthe behavior of those sanctioned and their social reintegration.